On legalization of grass

[SHRED]

Legalize industrial hemp now...



http://www.naihc.org/brochure.pdf

http://www.naihc.org/

The medicinal/recreational cousin called "marijuana" should be made legal to grow 3 plants max.
Transport 1 ounce max.
No DWI.
No minors.
No commercialization allowed. Didn't we learn anything with the glorification of cigs and alcohol?
Barter or trade only.

Tax money loss by no sale of pot will be more than made up for with industrial hemp products, as a wood, cotton, and petroleum replacement.

Just some thoughts.
:)

[msatty99]

1. The basic question I ask

and have never gotten a sound answer to is this, "Why doesn't the
government want you to get high?"

I certainly agree that, like alcohol, you should not be allowed to
be high and drive, and, because of physiological development issues,
pot should not be available to minors. But, as one who has been
a warrior in the drug wars (I am a defense attorney) I am not
satisfied with the answers as to just what is it about getting high
that the State doesn't like?

Needless to say that pot smoking to the point of neglecting children
would be verboten. But neglect of any species is.

No, I am just talking about your regular old pot head, recreational
pot smoker.

Why do they not want you to feel good and think those wacky thoughts?

[NanceGreggs]

3. Welcome to DU, msatty99!

I think my avatar speaks for me on this thread.

I've actually been quite surprised that the current Administration isn't FOR more pot-smoking among Americans. With all of the crapola they're trying to get past us every day, you'd think they would find a slightly stoned-out citizenry a lot less focused on the evil-doing that's going on within our own government.

And if you think such a posture would be too 'far out' for the GOP, just remember that they've got alleged 'Christians' behind them on torturing our fellow human beings ...

[Mabus]

7. Have you ever seen "The Marijuana-logues"?

A parody of, what else, "The Vagina Monologues"? There are a couple of lines that are absolutely killer.

"The country's all fucked up, why shouldn't I be too?"

Here's a link to their video when they were on Bill Maher. It is hysterical. http://www.marijuanalogues.com/videos/ Trust me, you will enjoy it.

[NanceGreggs]

8. Thanks, Mabus!

Will check this out - and thanks for the link!

[Mabus]

5. Money, women, control - the usual stuff

But more than anything the names Anslinger, Hearst, Mellon and DuPont are the ones that come to mind when I think of why marijuana is illegal today. For the most part it was banned because of racism. First it was the usage by black musicians and the fear they would use marijuana like a Micky to get white women later it was the Mexicans who helped serve as an impetus because they were seen as corrupting forces.

For a good run down on the history of why it is illegal check out a movie called Grass (http://imdb.com/title/tt0214730/) The plot summary is as follows:

This film explores the history of the American government's official policy on marijuana in the 20th century. Rising with nativist xenophobia with Mexican immigration and their taste for smoking marijuana, we see the establishment of a wrong headed federal drug policy as a crime issue as oppposed (sic) to a public health approach. Fuelled (sic) by prejudice, hysterical propaganda and political opportunism undeterred by voices of reason on the subject, we follow the story of a costly and futile crusade against a substance with questionable ill effects that has damaged basic civil liberites (sic). http://imdb.com/title/tt0214730/plotsummary

AS imdb.com plot summaries go, this one is pretty accurate.

For some of the yellow journalism that was the impetus check out: http://www.ukcia.org/potculture/20/madness.html

For information on the first "drug czar" check out Anslinger's bio on the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger

Above all, check out Grass. It's fun to watch, informative and just all around good entertainment.

[scot]

2. Drug laws are a drug dealer's best friend.

No laws - he's out of business. Doonesbury did a great series on this about 15 years ago.

[msatty99]

4. Prohibition of drugs

is what makes the drug dealer. Its obvious of course but I can't help
re-stating it. The viciousness I see comes out of the criminal who
regards the black market as an opportunity for fast easy bucks and
is willing to accept all of what that means to be a PROFESSIONAL
criminal.

I do see that some drugs lead to ultra destructive lifestyles.
The scourge of meth addiction is not just hype. Also of course
the crack pipe or any highly addictive drug takes people further
into hell than they expected.

But pot? Nope, I have never seen someone 'destroyed' by pot.

[SHRED]

6. An irony is...

...that industrial hemp can ruin pot farms:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2735.html

[DrBloodmoney]

9. Never gonna happen

there's not enough social outrage for change. People have been brainwashed for years with propaganda.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. I have always thought..........

that limited cultivation should be allowed, but trafficking should still be criminal. It would have the double benefit of eliminating the need for black market/drug-dealers, and would put the responsibility of the substance getting in the wrong hands firmly upon the user/grower. Hell, you can legally brew more beer than you could ever drink (at least me, anyways), how is growing your own smoke any less responsible? And has anyone thought about the nascent (and taxable) industry that growing supply stores could create?

However, I don't see a foreseeable end to this insanity anytime soon. Its clear that there is too much money being made by law enforcement (RICO), the pharmaceutical industry and big liquor/tobacco to legalize. There are "acceptable" ways of getting high in this society and such an unregulated product like pot would wreak financial ruin on the above that I honestly believe legal pot doesn't stand a chance. But hell, I guess I'm just cynical.

The crazy thing is that the "drug war" could so easily be refocused to the drugs that are actually killing folks and ruining lives. Here in WV, methamphetamine use has blossomed in an epidemic fashion. It has been responsible for death, disability, break-ups of family and high amounts of property damage. It has eclipsed the "pot problem" by leaps and bounds, but still a perfect photo op like a pot field bust gets all the press. And how many people has pot killed?

I believe a paradigm shift in pot attitude is needed. I believe the people are ready for it, but big industry lobbyists and LE will continue to puppeteer politicians into preaching the big lie about pot.

[afrosia]

11. Hemp powered motoring

The Ford Model-T was designed to run on ethyl alcohol, petroleum or hemp (I got this from one of the hemp museums I visited last time I was in Amsterdam so this is kinda dependent on my recollection). Hemp is fooking incredible!

[sweetheart]

12. the plant numbers

3 plants is nonsensical for several reasons. Firstly, when is it a plant?

If it is a seed sprouting, seeds damp-off, just like with any sort of sewing
seeds, and plants that are 2 inches tall, hardly compare to plants 3 meters tall.

Lets presume you are growing 1 plant under lights, and 4 months it takes from when
the plant is full-grown to when its flowers are ready, and another few weeks until
the result is ready to be smoked at all.

Then 1 plant can be harvested 3 times a year, and the idea that 3 plants harvest,
3 times a year sounds good, but all that presumes a mature female plant is ready
to flower, if you stagger them. When a plant finishes flowering, it dies at
harvest.

All this presumes you've managed to sex your 3 plants, and if they are all males,
then you need to start over. You wont' know the sex until flowering, and that
takes 3+ months of growth from seed.

I guess what i'm saying, is that the guidance needs to be more realistic given how
many people grow cannabis... its a hit and miss sort of thing, the number of plants
is less critical than the gross weight of female plant matter. If someone is growing
for their own use any police action should only be warrented if there is scaled
commercial growing.... I've seen 1 plant grows at 4 meters that were bigger than
30 plant grows under sea of green.

The issue you're trying to regulate, is that any medicinal grower is not a pharmaceutical
company. In that regard, if it were legal, you could simply ask that home growers
get a license, and that a fire officer can approve that the wiring and whatnot of
people's indoor and outdoor grow arrangements is safe for fire.

If we can get past the "legallization " concern to helping people get past that its
just a plant, then we can bring in all the safety regulations in to this otherwise
unregulated market.

/ I'm not advocating growing here, but rather that you make any legal guidance
sensical. 3 plants is nonsense, the concern is "intent to distribute" and how
that is ascertained needs be more flexible.

[Asgaya Dihi]

13. The numbers are an issue

Every seed isn't the same, grow out a crop and roughly half will be males to start with. Of the ones that are females you might have one in five or ten, or more, that turns out to be special. Depending on variety more or less maybe but it isn't a one shot thing. You'd need to grow out a few before you really even start.

Then we've got the problem of how to keep it going, that means a clone mother. Need multiple clones for every one you grow out to account for failures, so that's more. And that's all for one variety. What if you want a daytime strain and a medical or evening type, a Sativa and an Indica?

The numbers need to be higher even for reasonable personal or medical use. With legal clones available we could lower it some, but not with them growing it out for themselves from seed and probably not as far as two or three even with legal clones.