Obama dismisses pot-legalization talk: 'I don't know what that says about the online audience'
When President Obama opened his Online Town Hall session today, he offered some generic remarks about why the White House was undertaking this:
Now, I'm looking forward to taking your questions and hearing your thoughts and concerns. Because what matters to you and your families and what people in Washington are focused on isn't always one and the same thing.
He apparently forgot this when the questions from the American public came in and the votes were tallied, because one of the issues that came rising to the surface was marijuana legalization, as Politico reports:
Given the opportunity to say what’s really on their minds without going through the filter of the mainstream media, people “buzzed up” a series of questions that seemed to suggest broad interest in legalizing marijuana and taxing it.
In this moment of national economic crisis, the top four questions under the heading of “Financial security” concerned marijuana; on the budget, people voted up questions about marijuana to positions 1-4; marijuana was in the first and third positions under “jobs”; people boosted a plug for legalizing marijuana to No. 2 under “health care reform.” And questions about decriminalizing pot occupied spots 1 and 2 under “green jobs and energy.”
After taking questions lower on the list, Obama addressed the pot issue head on, noting the huge number of questions about marijuana legalization and remarking with a chuckle, “I don't know what that says about the online audience."
"The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy," he said, as the audience in the room applauded and joined him in a laugh.
Politico tries to fob the intense interest in the matter off on NORML activists, but that overlooks the real dynamic: the "war on drugs" is a kitchen-table issue that affects millions of Americans in their homes, especially as we watch the tremendous waste of national resources spent criminalizing people who need medical treatment, and we witness the costs to our national and personal security in the form of the raging drug war on the Mexican border.
Indeed, just yesterday Secretary of State Clinton just observed that "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade" and that "what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity... to be creating a situation where people are holding the Mexican government and people responsible." At what point will we finally wake up and recognize the high cost of an ineffectual drug policy maintained purely out of political cowardice?
It's understandable that Obama wants to keep his eye on the ball and not let his agenda get derailed by a national argument about drugs. But dealing intelligently and effectively with drugs in the end is part of that economic and national-security picture too -- perhaps not as big a driver as health care or energy, but it plays a role. The president would be wise to heed his own words about listening to what people outside the Beltway are actually saying to him.
Meanwhile, as Jeralyn notes, the Obama administration has already gone back on its promise that it will cease raiding medical-marijuana operations ...
A Fucking Waste of Money
On All Fronts (investigation, arrest, trial, imprisonment, not taxing)
That We Don't Have
me-oww!
if you work for the Law Enforcement Industrial Complex.
F*ck, without the "war on drugs" a big percentage of our prisons, police force, and related industries would be redundant...
True...however they are a bit redundant right now...
cause god forbid they get off their fat asses and go after the dope dealers, instead of writing traffic tickets.
I figured Obama would have at least have half a brain when it comes to legalizing weed. Guess not and that sucks because I had a lot of hope he would.
you have half the brain you need.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
No. Far better to waste time, credibility, and money arresting 1 million innocent people.
Pot and cocaine in his book:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/24/news/d...
Someone should ask Obama if he thinks his drug use should have stopped him from attending college or becoming POTUS? Or if he thinks he should have gone to jail at any point for his using?
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
"...because I'm not the sort of man I'm preaching to."
I smoked more than my share of weed in my teens, medical reasons please. That list is short, but I'm sure if you made it legal a marked increase of people needing pot would go up.
Most who are crying to legalize pot just want to get high, why not just be honest and admit it. This topic is laughable.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
I don't smoke. Never had, never will. I have a hard enough time breathing when San Francisco has a "Spare the Air" day. I have to use a rescue inhaler when my husband uses the fireplace or BBQ.
I am adamantly in favor of legalizing pot.
On a strictly governmental level, do you see the laws against pot any different from Prohibition in the 20s? How'd that work out?
As I wrote below thread, California prisons are at 150%+ capacity. Think of how much better it would be to simply release the pissant possession charges taking up bedspace (and tax dollars).
The majority of folks who want to legalize it just want to get high, I understand this because I smoked a fair amount of it. When I smoked it, you bet I was all for it. The legitimate arguments for pot are dwarfed by the arguments against it.
I know how bad the air is in the City, I lived in Piedmont for 10 years. I also know the strongest proponents for legalizing pot typically setup ironing boards with petitions on Telegraph Ave or in the Haight. OK granted it doesn't stop there but you know what I'm talking about.
The health effects of smoking marijuana (not that pot smokers care) are significant. Of course proponents have flooded the Internet with a lot BS to suggest otherwise. The facts are pot inhibit normal functioning of the brain, heart, and lungs predominantly. Pregnant women run similar risks as cigarette smokers do when pregnant.
No doubt some will try to debate it but I have a background in nutrition and have seen a number of clinical studies both foreign and domestic not mention past personal experience. So for any who happen on this post, debating the merits of pot with me is fruitless.
But if people want to legalize it, well they can expect pot to cost more after it's legalized than when it was illegal. The government will tax the hell out of it, and companies that manufacture it will add significant markup for it.
Look I'm not for or against legalizing pot, people who want to smoke it will smoke it, to them I say fine toke until you can't see straight. But all the passionate reasons and efforts to defend legalizing is ridiculous and laughable. Just the kind of defense expected from an someone who can't get enough of the plant. I think if people want smoke pot fine, but at least be honest about why you want to smoke it.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
It makes me feel good. I don't burn that often.
I've made a thorough comment around here somewhere about it.:)
Tell me Vegas, What is your drug of choice?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
It's a habit that makes me feel good, I am addicted to it and would have terrible headaches if I quit drinking it. The primary difference between coffee and pot is it does not impair my motor functions, it has little risk of effecting the quality of my life or those around me Nor does it endanger others if I drink too much of it. (Unless I start throwing hot pots of coffee around). It is also far less likely my addiction will cause me to resort to desperate or unethical acts to support my habit.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
signifying nothing.
This is where you stepped in it.
"It is also far less likely my addiction will cause me to resort to desperate or unethical acts to support my habit."
Right here.
Ok, I can see your point. To some people, they just want to get high. They shouldn't be made criminals for wanting to smoke a joint.
Now, your comment above. If people could grow their own legally, that would erase your premise.
Wouldn't it?
My position is this. Hard alcohol is far worse. I think you know that.
So what if someone wants to get high.
It's their life and their business. But people shouldn't be labeled a criminal for possession of small amounts for personal consumption.
I dare say gambling has ruined more lives than pot has.
you have a nice evening Vegas.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
If people want to legalize it, I really don't care. Everyone should live how they see fit as long as they don't hurt others. The reasons many are plopping down here are simply dishonest and all I'm saying, just be honest.
The it's good for rope and clothes and I smoke it but I don't want to get high non-sense is pretty much what got me started.
That's like buying alcohol and saying you don't want drink it to help you relax. Maybe some don't want to get fall down drunk or totally stoned but none the less it's all about loosening up a bit. There isn't much more to it, I've done my bit, I know all too well what it does.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Also oils, paints, fabrics and a number of other items as well.
It all depends on the amount of personal use.
If someone is pounding a fifth of booze a day,well, they won't be with us long.
Pot is like beer. To me anyway.
I enjoy a rip every now and then. Most people I know, that used to burn as much as I did back in the day don't burn anymore.
It gets old. I actually found being straight a new kind of buzz in it's self.
Moderation .
But there is an argument to be made for medicinal marijuana. It does help some people. Especially if you don't want to ingest chemical drugs. Big Pharma is far worse.
Or how about allergy medicines?
Side affects vary, Nose Bleeds, headaches, congestion. You know what I'm talkin about.
Some of those Rx drugs can kill you stone dead(side affects).
Eh, to each his own.
have a nice one Vegas. Thanks for responding.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
And screw you for telling me that we need to resort to desperate and unethical acts to get out hands on weed. It's NOT ADDICTIVE. I go weeks and months sometimes and it doesn't phase me.
And my motor functions are quite fine. I just have to deal with the caffeine addicted tim horton nutjobs all hopped up on their liquid energy that keeps them going for 20 hours a day.
Going so fast they don't realize they are destroying their lives.
I'm getting my neighbour some weed for her cancer and my mom smokes it (housewife) and so does my mother in law (teacher)
Preach your bullshit elsewhere and leave us well enough alone.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
is an argument either in favour of ending prohibition or making coffee illegal...
pot isn't addictive and therefore doesn't compel people to resort to desperate or unethical acts... and pot has been demonstrated to actually increase intelligence...
http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=...
whereas
coffee does impair your motor functions... too much makes your heart race and reduces sleep effectiveness which can risk affecting your quality of life as well as of those around you... being hyperactive under the influence of caffeine while driving can pose a danger to others...
http://www.naturalnews.com/012352.html
Why do professional athletes keep getting caught smoking weed, you think they do for the negative affects you allude to or the reality based enhancing effects I allude too?
Slow time ever heard of it? You are completely full of shit, I smoked pot almost every day for 20 years, I also smoked cigarettes the same span of time, I had my heart and lungs checked just a year ago all is in perfect working order, just as it would be with anyone else. I lived in a substandard apartment for 3 months got a terrible infection in my throat and lungs by using a combination of Tylenol and breathing the rich man toxic fumes from his crawl space.
God put this plant here for us to use. I want it for the medical benefits that I notice, I want it for the increased senses and ability it creates. I challenge you to and sort of hand eye coordination activity, you do your coffee and ill smoke a joint, I will win and be much more healthier than you afterward.
I have read your comments before you are just the opposition willing to say anything just to oppose.
Oh I smoked a lot of pot, that's why you should believe me,and on top of that I have a"background" in nutrition and lived in piedmont. And "look" I'am not for or against pot. Just what is a background in nutrition? You eat food? Is that some kind of collage degree I have not heard of, and just how does that give you standing to comment on pot and health issues? It's just the"hippies" that want pot legal(hippie steal your wife?) I think it is way past time for you to pull your head out of the same place you get your facts,your rectum. Yea lets be honest, your information put forth here is nothing less than pure bull-shit and you are a troll, and a poor one at that. Hey I drive a car, does that make me an auto tech? Ignorant dickhead do your homework or go post your crap on rush's show.CEO,citizens,eyes,open.
A load of words not properly spaced and improper capitalization, how many bowls did you smoke before butchering that post?
[Knock it off-Sitemonitor]
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Just pointing that out.
but what kind of defense would that be? It's one thing to say I have my head up my ass, it's another to be able to explain how or to defend why your position is better.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
......have to explain anything to you. There is an overwhelming arguement for weed. Your attitude is one of someone who has no clue but spouts off crap anyway. My friends call it the "Pelosi" syndrome.
Yeah and Smoking Cigs and Alcohol is good for you? To think you have bullshitted yourself into thinking that you cannot make decisions for your own body is laughable.
It's legal and open in the Netherlands and its clearly not screwing up their country.
Also, in Canada every single person I know smokes it. And if you think that they all deserve to be in jail your crazy. We live much longer than you guys.
According to the research here (not the biased stuff from the states, or whatever crazy sources you cite) you can see it HELPS many situations including but not restricted to CANCER. If you want go look at the online National Archives of Canada for an open discussion form the 1970s that talks about the benefits of it. Also another Invesigative report here (Fifth Estate maybe?) talked about the health benefits.
So sorry if you think we are all crazy retards. I'm sure we wouldn't want to be subjected to your ideas of purity and bigotry.
But... I'm glad you won't listen to us crazy folks.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
A double post, I deleted this 1.
So Vegas Rage, do you just think that people shouldn't have the freedom to smoke pot if they want to? Maybe you don't like pot, but if someone else smokes it, it's none of your business, really.
Drug of choice is?
Beer? Vodka? Coffee? and the list goes on.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Not to mention, vast quantities of rage from being stuck in mom's basement. Inability to mind own business. Definite neocon troll tendencies. Feelings of superiority (where did that come from). Finally, general dickishness.
because I like it...that doesn't mean it's not an important topic. DO you know how many people's lives are destroyed because pot is illegal? Something tells me you wouldn't be so dismissive like Obama is) if it happened to you.
because people smoke it regardless of it's legal status?
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
that destroys lives!
, auto accidents, criminal behavior to support drug habits, getting fired for poor work performance, etc. as a result of abusing drugs like marijuana, hardly just a cigarette
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Auto accidents?criminal behavior?fired from a job? You forgot to add working for owl-kater and molesting kids. Not one person has ever died from pot.Here's a hint for you dumb-fuck, reefer madness was not a true story. If you expected to find ignorant and uninformed people here who would believe the tall tales and pure crap that you posted then you must be drunk as well as well as a purveyor of lies, get along little toadie,CEO
Dude...pot doesn't break up families!
"drugs like marijauna"? What other drugs are even REMOTELY similar to marijuana? You're a jackass!
If you don't know that of which you speak...then shaddup!
You MUST be high if you've bought into that BS!
Aaaahahahahaaaaa!
You will hear lots of stories by people who lost all that and more to just little ole pot. What makes you think chemical uniqueness has anything to do with it not being addictively abused? Even food can be abused like a drug and result in many of those things above.
But again I don't care if you want to get high, I just don't like watching people lie to themselves about why they do what they do.
You want a good defense for pot, here try this.
Now that is a defense for pot, the reason I'm posting here is because there a bunch really lame defenses being proposed.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Dude...my brother went to NA, and there was not ONE person there who was addicted to pot.
I'm not denying it's addictive. But most people I know who smoke it, are highly productive citizens, they've had the same career for years, and don't commit crimes to support their "habits".
The people you refer too must have ZERO willpower, and likely have addictions to other, harder drugs and can't get their shit together anyway.
Your argument reminds me of Reefer Madness.
...but it is habit forming.
This is not a valida argument against legalizing however. Obviously, whether it's legal or not, people are still using it and alcohol is probably responsible for far more social problems than pot. The difference is, they are only social issues, not criminal issues.
who lost nearly everything to their addiction to smoking pot. One of my oldest and dearest friends has lost jobs, his wife, has resorted to theft, and found himself in a number of bad situations all because he can't stop smoking pot. I have gone to NA meetings with him and I have met many people who were addicted to pot.
Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol is not a trite drug, will power in the case of addiction does not work, that has been proven billion times over. That is why 12 step programs were started because will power wasn't enough.
If you want to slow your mind and smoke pot, have it, by all means smoke until all earthly feeling has left your body. I don't care. But at least be honest about why you want to smoke it to yourself if no one else.
People here are trying to feed every reason in the world why they smoke pot except getting high, pots primary function. Watching these posts are sad and funny:
Bull shit, it's about getting high, and why and every person I know who smoked it, catching a buzz.
I have more respect for someone who can just come out and be honest and say I like to get high than people who have all these sideline benefits from the stuff.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
seriously, wtf ? "Broken families" ? "Auto accidents" ? Maybe in a parallel universe !
has diverted too much time and energy better spent elsewhere already, but I'll try shut him/her the hel up for all our sakes:
Most of your arguments are half-true, some make you sound like you never actually smoked "weed." Regardless of all that wasted verbiage, addictive or not, bad for you or not, it's highly hypocritical to say nothing of excessively damaging to the fabric of society as a whole to criminalize pot without criminalizing the other similar--many would argue worse--practices of drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and I would add drinking coffee.
In fact, the latter, dear nutritionist, is arguably much worse for the body and mind than marijuana. Go to Seattle to see plenty of evidence for that.
As one who's enjoyed the noble weed himself in the past, I've had more than one caffeine-head upbraid me for my "addiction." But none of them has admitted they can't live without caffeine, nor have they, from what I've seen, been able to go a day without it. It's the most traded commmidity in the world after oil, you could say it powers many people in an analogous way, so I'll wager you use it.
Go without for a week or two then come back and preach against smoking pot. Until then, thank you and buzz off.
because people here seem to need to defend their positions. Again it matters not to me if you want to smoke pot or if it's legal. But it's been fun to see people go to great lengths to justify why they do what they do.
Have you noticed how up in arms people have gotten over a little thing like smoking pot? Folks here debating with me act like I robbed their wallet or something.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Where you in the LBJ White House?
You are just a hater, the echo chamber you guys create with that "just want to get high" is crap.
I want pot legalized, so I can use it to work again with out pain, so I can take a number 2 on a regular basis, so I can tune you out.
* hemp makes, plastic, fuel,paper, clothes
* hemp restores the farm land no need for crop rotations or pesticides
* pot people don't like war and get politically involved
* pot people are more aware of the issues
Just a few good reasons, but the best number 1 reason is that dumb ass brainless cops can't continue to degrade me and treat me like a second class citizen, just like Obama did. It really sucks being smarter faster and more skilled than these holly than tho, memorization automatons.
I agree with you that pot should be legalized. The first three points you make though, show exactly why it wont be legalized. Using hemp to make products takes money away from those that already make plastic, fuel, paper etc. Hemp restoring farm land would be a wonderful thing, again though, Monsanto would not like that one little bit. The really, really big reason it will never be legalized is the third point you make. The powers that be DO NOT want people to think about anything but what they put in front of us to think about. Richard Nixon saw hippies in the streets protesting the war and put 2 + 2 together, smoking pot = thinking about stuff, drinking alcohol = not thinking about stuff. If we as a people sat down and thought about how we're getting screwed every day by our "leaders" there would be revolution. The "leaders" know that and do everything in their powers to prevent us from looking too carefully behind the curtain.
then ditch weed should suffice for you. LMAO!
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Your a liar. A worthless lump of human, go spread your lies with your kind.
* hemp makes, plastic, fuel, paper, clothes
* hemp restores the farm land no need for crop rotations or pesticides
ROLMAO! Yeah it almost does!
You guys are so full of it. It’s blatantly obvious this board is loaded with pot smokers who’s only intention is to be able to walk down the street and get high. Proof is the posts and all the rabid defense leveled here just to have the right to get high.
Just look number of comments posted on all the threads on this page starting from the bottom and working up. Almost 3 times as many posts were made here on defending legalizing pot beating out all other threads and the top issue since WWII, the economic crisis. There are three threads here talking about the economic crisis and yet legalizing pot single handedly beat all 3 threads on the economy combined by almost 100 posts (as of 8:41PM pst).
Yeah pot smokers are politically active alright, trying to legalize pot. Pot smoker’s priorities are coming across loud and clear. The world might going to hell in a hand basket but damn it we need pot.
C&L 03.26.09 thread at 8:41PM pst, older threads allowing for the most amount of comments start at top, newer threads work down to this current thread.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Alright mr. simple so concerned about a subject that doesn't concern or effect you. I retort with this. I think Viagra and boner drugs should be illegal, just because a group of guys wants a harder stronger 3rd member is no reason to make that substance legal. idiot.
Your concern is foolish, your points are irrelevant to the issues. You are wasting your time, with the foolish attempts " I just want to get high". No I just want to work and be as creative as I can be, as healthy mentally and physically as god will allow.
Ok fuck it, you convinced me I am driving to Florida, I am gonna get that Ar15 I have been looking for, I get my jollys blasting rounds off at target while drinking beer, taking Viagra, and depression drugs, woot look out I'm gonna buy me some kuntry music too.
I know you want me to get that job at the big ol giant corporation for 8 bucks and hour live with my parents go to church on the weekends. So mr.holly what the fuck should I do, what is acceptable to you?
Hu dick spank, so concerned about a pot smoker you fighting tooth and nail with out giving up here. Maybe I should mimic U, and just harass people about things they are concerned about.
Yea notice the people are more concerned about legalizing pot because we all know it will improve everyone's life, weather they do it or not, cross fire isn't political.
I already said I don't care if it's legal or not, the law doesn't stop people from doing drugs. I don't care if Viagra suddenly became illegal either. I just think it's funny and silly that people sit here trying to come up with all kinds bull shit reasons why they want pot legal. The lengths people have gone to here are hilarious to justify getting loaded.
All that non-sense you posted about church and everything after, where the hell did you get that? Really I don't care, but at least be honest with yourself why you want it, you want to get stoned it's that simple. At least when I did it I knew why.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
No you are an absolute dick, I have a spinal injury, and I am constipated. How fucking simple can that get.
These reasons to legalize it are overwhelming. All the poor kids in the projects would benefit the most, the cops would stop killing them, they could focus their attention on more harmful substances, you are an uneducated fool, take a read and step away from the keyboard.
You ought like hydrocodone, it's a narcotic like marijuana. There are no lack of powerful pain killers and laxatives that will do the trick. The need for pot is largely a sham, but I'll say it again. If it's legalized I care not. Careful what you ask for you might get it.
After pot is legalized you will pay 2 to 4 times as much for it. They will tax the hell out of it and companies allowed to sell it you will set gouging prices. In the end you will be looking for a sideline dealer anyways.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
and marijuana is not a narcotic. Opiates are narcotic. Go look the word up. And ignore the US govt definition. They call cocaine a narcotic too.
Powerful pain killers opiates or the synthetic opiates like hydrocodone slow down the digestive system and cause addiction, constipation and intestinal blockage which can lead to surgery. In addition, hydrocodone and the whole family of opiates can cause disturbing dreams in some people. I still vividly remember the nightmares dilaudid gave me, which were different from the hydrocodone dreams I had, also not pleasant.
Marijuana does not block the digestive system and increases appetite in people who have lost interest in eating. I speak from personal experience about all of this, except the addiction part. And relieving constipation via laxatives can be very uncomfortable. Painful even.
So unless you are a doc, or have experienced this on your own, you should really give the old STFU option a thought. You really are looking, sounding and being jackass stupid. In other words, you have no idea wtf you are talking about.
me-oww!
What ever dude, I would pay more and be happy if it stopped the destruction of other peoples lives. Perkaset sux BTW, why my guts are destroyed. A couple days of smoking weed and I take a giant dump, explain that. Vicoden is the best for my bone pain next to pot, but it also screw up my digestive system. Dude Bro, i just wanna get high, haha, you figured me out.
Simp that was sarcasm there at the end, in case you couldn't grasp that.
A pack of cigarettes cost 5.60 ATM, so mass produced pot would be about the same, I am sure of it. A case of beer cheaper, you just oppose to oppose.
not because I'm trying lay some kind of morality down. Sometimes it's good to have someone push the buttons, but that is my nature. I'm that way in person too, not to be a dick but plant a thought.
In the end you may not agree but you may think about it a little differently. I welcome people doing the same with me, sometimes I learn something that way. It was that kind of interaction that caused good changes in my life. Live bold.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
to rationalize your BS posts.
I'm not the one rationalizing taking drugs. I don't care one way or another if they legalize it because I don't smoke it. They could ban alcohol again tomorrow and I wouldn't care because I don't drink. Therefore I have nothing to rationalize in this thread of 404 comments.
That is a lot of posts beating out the economy here on C&L, were facing the worst downturn since the great depression and people here are more passionate about smoking pot than a global contraction. That says a lot.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
How silly to make an issue of the number of posts in a thread, as though that were an agreed-upon indicator of anything.
How hypocritical & narrow-minded of you to make such a specious argument in a thread where you've made so many posts. It's as though you're deliberately driving up the post count, then whinging that there are too many posts in the thread. Just goofy.
"the cops would stop killing them"
"Despite the president's flippant comments today, the grievous harms of marijuana prohibition are no laughing matter," said Jack Cole, a former undercover narcotics officer and founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition,
→ → →( http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Sens._Webb_Spec... )
→ → →Law Enforcement Against Prohibition,
( http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php )
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
121 Mystic Ave.
Medford, MA 02155
Things are changin in MA?
Study the symptoms not the virus...
VegasRage, pot is NOT a narcotic ! Please educate yourself before posting such misinformation. Narcotics such as hydrocodone are FAR worse for you than pot. Oh, and please stop dismissing everyone who posts in favor of legalizing pot as a bunch of tokers. Your straw man "defense" is weak and disingenuous.
It's still a mood altering chemical and is addictive. If I get a paper cut on my finger does it really matter if it was an 8x11 or 11x17 paper?
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
If you get a headache, does it make a difference whether you take an analgesic or a laxative? I suppose in your case, it doesn't.
Guess what? Different substances have different effects on humans and it actually is important. You're either an extremely lazy & sloppy thinker or you just don't have a lick of common sense.
I get loaded off beer not weed, yes I did like getting high, exactly the reason I kept doing it in the first place, although in my mind I was depressed from all the programming I had in high school. Since then I did research and read about the subject, I listened to both sides. I thought about it and I know better now.
Well jerk offs like you that want to control another persons life are typically church people.
You still didn't answer my question, as an American what is an acceptable activity, an acceptable life? What should I do, read the bible, maybe god will magically increase the blood flow to my spine?
You are an American irritant, if we released you into the atmosphere you probably even destroy ozone.
nor do I care if you get high, it's no skin off my back. You can protest naked in Peoples Park and smoke whatever you feel like for all I care. Dude I live in sin city, what makes you think I care? I just find it funny how people lie to themselves about why they get high.
You could say my purpose is to add some candor here.
BTW if they legalize pot you can be assured I'll be among the first to invest in the company manufacturing and selling pot, it ought to defy the rest of the stock market.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
You's blew out 5 pixels on my new Flat screen monitor... It's a good thing there located in the corner of the screen... not a problem :-P
Study the symptoms not the virus...
that brings that out in me. Truly I don't care if someone wants get high but there is somethings about dishonesty, even to lying themselves that just annoys me to no end.
It's probably not right, but when I see someone who is clearly full of crap I am just compelled to call them out on it. In this debate I know they are full of it because I have walked that path and used all those lame excuses when I was doing it too. Deep down though I knew it was just about getting high.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Just because you couldn't handle it.
Don't project your inadequacies on those of us who can.
if want to get high, go get high. It's your life.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
You're right, hemp doesn't get you high. So why is it not legal to grow?
Perhaps because it would cut hugely into the oil companies profits?
And you've yet to give anything close to a convincing argument as to why walking down the street getting high should be a crime.
Cocaine and heroin are man-made, concentrated forms of their respective plants. Pot grows right out of the ground, and before you go off on "what's smoked today is concentrated thus not natural blah blah blah" you can get high--very high--from non-cultivated pot.
So just let it grow, and, again, make an actual convincing argument for its criminalization or STFU already.
Maybe if you actually read about the plant and what it can do, besides the obvious, you can come back with some knowledge and be taken a bit more seriously.
But right now, you can't be.
No one should get a CRIMINAL RECORD for pot smoking. It bars you from many many things. You could not be a teacher, like I am.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
You sound like every other dumbass who has no clue about weed and who it helps.
Vegasrage ruined this thread, just as he has done before, trying to irritate and confuse the conversation, he effectively pushed all the good first reaction posts to the second page using 1980 arguments that have been disproved a trillion times. He said a billion times, that is not true just as the war in Iraq all the evidence making a positive point were thrown out by the corporate money masters in the white house. There are plenty of good information websites on the internet, actually the first to stream video over the internet was Pottv.net. Pottv was the first in line to have online TV, imagine that.
http://www.pot-tv.net/
Nutritional information Vegas rage should know;
Its promoters bill hemp seed as the soybean of the new millennium. In addition to containing vitamins and minerals (calcium, iron, thiamine, niacin and riboflavin), hemp seed, like the soybean, is a vegetable source of complete protein, having all eight amino acids. Hemp oil (pressed from the hemp seed) is, according to many, the best source of the two essential fatty acids (or EFAs) we can't live without: omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid and omega 6 linoleic acid.( http://www.coolove.org/modules.php?name=News&... )
Henry Ford;
Ford recognized the utility of the hemp plant. He constructed a car of resin stiffened hemp fiber, and even ran the car on ethanol made from hemp. Ford knew that hemp could produce vast economic resources if widely cultivated.( http://www.hempcar.org/ford.shtml )
Pot and cancer;
People think pot just brings back the apatite and stop the nausea effects from cancer treatments, allot don't know that it actually shrinks tumors too;
http://americanmarijuana.org/pot.shrinks.tumo...
Hemp for fuel;
HEMP IS THE NUMBER ONE biomass producer on planet earth: 10 tons per acre in approximately four months. It is a woody plant containing 77% cellulose. Wood produces 60% cellulose. This energy crop can be harvested with equipment readily available. It can be "cubed" by modifying hay cubing equipment. This method condenses the bulk, reducing trucking costs from the field to the pyrolysis reactor. And the biomass cubes are ready for conversion with no further treatment.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/hemp...
Obama blowing off this subject by rewording the question and giving a shit "no" for an answer only shows he is uneducated in this area. I was so looking forward to green energy and the removal of the police state, but the opposite is about to happen, we are gonna get dirtier, less efficient, less freedom. May as well have Vegasrage as the president, for a nutritionist Vegasrage missed 1 the hemp seed.
Vegasrage is still spamming this thread now, he won't give up trying to dilute the positives legalizing this plant could produce, hopefully I gave some of you a good start.
The research on pot is clear, it's harmful on multiple levels. That is just a bunch of pro-pot propaganda. I've seen a number of clinical results on pot, it's benefits are far overshadowed by the negative effects. I'd link them but you wouldn't believe them anyways, you have made up your mind and that is all there is too it.
You also seem to forget I have smoked pot, a fair amount of it in my teens and I know what it did my health. When you go to scrape your pipe for resin that is the crap that is in your body, it's doesn't just leave. I have seen autopsy photo's of brains of people who smoked pot for prolonged periods. Literally a permanent resinous coating between the skull and the brain forms after years of use.
Again by all means smoke away but leave your "it's good for you" tripe at home.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Sitemonitor, I believe a ban is in order.
And you simply don't like someone challenging your assertions? It's called debate, and there is nothing wrong with a healthy debate.
In fact look at the posts, the personal attacks on me have been direct. I have not called any one here a name, nor have I personally defamed anyone, spare one where the personal attack was pretty direct and so i made one snip back at them. Yet I have received a number of these attacks here because I challenge your position.
Food for thought
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
and in part, agree with your allegations. Though I'm sure you know when your point has been made? I didn't read all your comments in this ≈≈CRAZY≈≈ long thread, though I do think at some point, it does become unproductive to all parties involved? To each his/her own I say. That sticky black resin must go somewhere?
I see your main concern, as more targeted at the disingenuous, (albeit a presumption) commentaries.
In ending, I'd just want everyone to know... I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express® last night! :-P
PS. And as far as "If I get a paper cut on my finger does it really matter if it was an 8x11 or 11x17 paper?"... Would that be [E-Z wider] or [zigzag], [Banana] or [Strawberry] √ Peace
Amended: Don't mean to be "Blunt". :-P
Study the symptoms not the virus...
people who disagree with me. In fights like that, the one person is typically swinging harder than the 10 so I know my posts are standing out.
You ought to see me debate on a podium, I would destroy folks like Hannity or O'Reilly, I was the top of my debate class in school, some things never leave you.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Your old school republican empty arguments are outdated and actually failed in the last election, facts are beginning to win and bullshit is being put where it belongs.
Far from Legitimate more like moronic.
You say we wouldn't believe your links, but come on, give us a chance. Why not post a link or two? Some source for all of these hard and fast, non-negotiable "truths" you keep laying down.
I won't hold my breath while I wait...
The only way to control drugs is to legalize them, and establish the government as the sole distributor, in the mode of state ABC stores. Make them amply and cheaply available, so much so that their is not incentive for gangters, the CIA or whoever to try and get rich in the drug trade.
As a taxpayer and am sick and tired of seeing the squandering of our tax money on the so-called war on drugs. It does nothing but grant a monopoly to the criminals. I see the war on drugs as being directly and soley responsible for the trouble Mexico is having.
I know that Mr. Obama's response amounted to reflexive laughter, but he's showing his ass on thei issue.
Full diclosure: I neither use alcohol or recreational drugs of any kind.
Well...I figured he'd say something to that effect...
miss_kitty!
you are obviously high as fuck
:D
me-oww!
I am NOT as a matter of fact...
BUT...I am higher than a lab rat.
are lab rats generally higher than the ones in my attic, and do they exhibit the paranoia of people I once knew who stoned domestic animals?
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
But it is worth pondering at length.
Pass the pipe along.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
How disappointing. I feel for ya...
me-oww!
and they tend to frown upon me being stoned whilst on the clock.
to check your work on the old computer, eh?
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305vRNoofr8
if Obama wants to be abe Lincoln
legalize marijuana
fdr ended prohibition
end don't ask don't tell
indict the bush administration for war profiteering
and enact a healthcare program for everyone in the US
We'll need that healthcare after we roach our lungs.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
my mom's special Matanuska Thunderfuck brownie recipe can be adapted.
me-oww!
Hash oil brownie recipe...
and my sis makes the BEST pot butter sugar cookies.
I could go for some of that right about now: 2 days 1 hr of sleep. Damn journal publication deadlines!
Mr Durden.
fatty
me-oww!
They do go together quite well.
"Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica." - Abraham Lincoln (from a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany)
And here's an enjoyable (and related song) from the good ol' 70's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyX3a-kryhA&fe...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Well as it turns out, I am related to Mary Todd Lincoln.
That explains my love for pot AND my bat shit craziness!
Yeah, ha fucking ha.
He didn't say it wasn't a good strategy for having a good time.
Well how else do you explain this
Fur allergies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD42I7rFEIM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...legal here in Chicago...you can get it almost everywhere here. I don't smoke, but this marijuana issue is a waste of law enforcement.
I lived in Chicago for 5 years....I didn't know that! Wish I did.
But, when I lived in The Netherlands....that's another story! Then, again, those Dutch are evil socialists; no wonder they allow pot smoking.
That they're more informed on the issue than you?
This is the problem with Obama, he invites opinions and then doesn't listen to them.
I could provide Americans with a shovel ready project right off the top of my head:
Build a Floodwater relief ditch around Fargo and Grand Forks.
We have one around Winnipeg. When the floods are imminent we fling open the doors and let the water flow through the ditch, dropping the level of the Red River so that the city stays dry.
GET ON THAT, BUDDY.
...hall site. Now if Obama addressed those folks with all the more pressing difficulties facing this nation, he would have been slammed. Just because the President doesn't agree with legalizing pot does not necessarily mean he doesn't listen to them.
back to nature, the Sioux, or to Canadians as compensation for not having a government worth bitching about.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
I see. That status quo loving jerk wants to keep people filling the jails and raiding tax paying business (just yesterday, one in SF was raided by the DEA) and harrassing citizens.
Someone could have thrown his ass in jail when he smoked, then perhaps he'd have more of a clue.
...the Prison Industry has become quite a player in the lobby scene, and they don't make no bling without the bodycount. Start making stuff legal and suddenly lots of layoffs. And the people being layedoff are trained in how to subdue and use weapons in both less-than-lethal and lethal methods. Not a good combo.
Only way you could start to re-employ that many people is to retrain them as paralegals to assist in the overturning of all the drug convictions that have been handed down for prohibited substances.
Prohibition was never fully repealed. They just gave us back booze...threw the masses a bone as it were.
two judges who took bribes from the prison industry to throw a bunch of kids in jail?
Lemme find the link..
here ya go
http://snipurl.com/edvcs
You know, I was going to ask who benefits financially from pot being illegal. Sheltered life: I didn't know jailing people was a profit game.
How completely evil is capitalism in certain facets of life? Health care, law enforcement... The motivation isn't to make everyone's lives better, is it?
The desire for making a profit overrules the basic sense of decency toward other humans.
This is like something you'd hear about happening in other countries.
But no such luck...it's happenin right here in our own backyard.
An economic system based upon the lower angels of our nature (greed). Meh.
and a lot more complex than you allude to. I am surprsided this case has not gotten more attention nationally. These guys were able to use their power to get the county operated facility in which they serve shut down so as to funnel kids to the private facility. It was a town small enough that the locals should have known what was going on but it lasted for years. Incredible.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
Those bastards had better pay dearly for their crimes.
I find the whole thing astounding. Sounds like the whole town of Wilkes-Barre had to be a bunch of stoners for this kind of crap to go on for so long. This is a hell of a lot better story than Paris does time in the LA slammer.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
Good god...that's bullshit...all the lives they ruined?
And the fucking principle of the thing! They're JUDGES for fucks sake! They're supposed to uphold the law, not help smarmy rich fucks get richer!
Bastards oughtta hang!
http://www.kfor.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-m...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Free Lynch!!!
crack or pot??
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Pot. But I suppose the same would hold true for cocaine.
Okay, I must have a lame sense of humor because I thought answering a question about making marijuana legal by using the phrase "to grow our economy" was funny. Maybe that's because I flushed my grass down the toilet one day, gave away my pipes, papers and such and haven't smoked in a whole bunch of years
MSNBC cut away from this broadcast to cover the GOP as it was going to reveal its big budget plan only to hear the repubs complain about Obama's plan. They brought nothing to the table.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I thought it was funny too!! Truthfully I was a bit taken back when I checked out the questions that had been asked and given all that is going on in this country a majority of them were about legalizing pot.
The assumption is that the only people online are potheads/DFHs, etc.
The Obama administration had indicated that they were going to move away from Federal raids. Obviously, they've gone back on that.
When he said what he did about the people on line I think he was kidding because there were so many questions about the topic. I really don't think he intended anything mean about it. Sometimes teasing is just teasing and I think this was one of those times.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
The condescending chuckling of the audience made it seem serious.
This is not a laughable issue, to me. This is a serious American problem we have, it needs resolved and not laughed at.
It's worth noting that while marijuana issues get lumped together, there are really two significantly different things going on with them. It's not very fair to a lot of sick people to address medical marijuana and broader legalization and taxation as if they're the same thing.
After all, is anybody arguing that, say, oxycontin should be completely illegal in the US? No, there are a lot of people in a lot of pain who benefit from it. Same can be said for anti-anxiety drugs that are frequently abused. And there are relatively few people who are arguing that the same valuable medical drugs should be made legal for recreational use. People recognize that they're two different issues.
So it's a little sad that medical marijuana gets so often placed right alongside broader legalization efforts.
I consider this significant because medical marijuana has a lot of potential to help a lot of people. I have NEVER done a recreational drug in my life--I don't even drink--but when my doctor prescribed marijuana to me for a life-threatening stomach disorder, I tried it, and it helped. Where a lot of other, "more legal" drugs, did not (and by the way, marinol, the legal synthetic marijuana pill, did work, but it irritated my stomach, so was a wash).
It's unfair to these people, in my opinion, to muddy the issue by conflating medical use of an effective drug with a more major change in the way we view recreational drug use. Yes, medical marijuana has a lot of potential for incidental recreational abuse, but then so do Viagra, Xanax, Vicodin, and a host of other drugs that NO ONE is suggesting we should make illegal.
None of this is to say that I'm not in favor of broader legalization (though living in the famed Humboldt County, it would probably be disastrous to my local economy), but let's keep the two issues separate to help the people who need it most.
And to be honest, I'd say that a federal-level fight to legalize marijuana for recreational use is just to politically costly and messy to take on at this moment, even if from a financial standpoint it would be a good idea in the medium-term.
there shouldn't be a fight about it at all. The lies that were told to Congress in the 1930's by Harry Anslinger should be reason enough to overturn this draconian law. Which, BTW we DEMAND other countries do as well. Under threat of trade sanctions. Did it to Canada, Janet Reno and Chris Gregoire, then atty gen of WA state (now gov), positively leaned on them, when BC was looking to decriminalise/legalise pot.
PS. You are right. Dronabinol/Marinol not only sucks (I get a metallic taste in my mouth just thinking of it) I had to fucking beg for it. It's frightfully expensive on top of that.
me-oww!
The way I see it, medical use and recreational use are inseparable when it comes to political advocacy.
First, because to make a change democratically, we have to tilt the balance of opinion in our favour. This requires changing the minds of some of the people who hold the opinions expressed by "VegasRage" in this thread. It also means convincing more of the rest of us to risk arrest & out ourselves as pro-legalization. Both of these tasks require honesty, so as long as we pretend that recreational use is incidental, we will alienate the allies we need as well as continue to be s******ed at by people like "VegasRage" and the President (himself a former pot smoker).
Legalization of marijuana rests on the same foundation as freedom of religious choice, contraception & abortion, assisted suicide, etc. - individual liberty. On this one, the small-"L" (non-Rand), libertarians have it right. Given the history here, you can't make a convincing argument for medical use without first addressing the fundamental issue of personal choice.
[Edit: Heh. Apparently the site's filters are a wee bit ham-fisted. So, why don't we pretend that I wrote "snickered" in the sentence above? As an African-American, I do have to say that I think it's funny that the word "s n i g g e r" isn't allowed. After all, George Bush has been doing it for years... http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/s******]
I've worked on a lot of construction sites and a few different factories and from what I've seen at least 1/2 of the work force that keeps this country running smokes a little green. And as I said on another site I remember overhearing the First Sarge I had when I spent a little while in the army telling a Master Sargent that he could always spot the hash smokers because they were the better workers. And a guy I did carpentry for who said he wouldn't hire drunks because they alwasy wanted to borrow money and then not show up for work in the morning but that pot heads were alway great workers. So screw Barak Obama and the yuppy scum who thought he was witty with his dissing the very people who keep this country running!
So because two people think pot smokers are better workers, you think it's true? Really?
[Deleted. Abusive. Site Monitor]
Cameron, it depends on which two people tell me, dude.
"We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it's legal."
Paul "Vouchers" Ryan
With your IQ, have you considered working someplace like NASA or a think tank instead of the army, factories and construction jobs? Nothing wrong with an honest day's labor but I would hate to see you let intelligence go to waste. Or, with your vocabulary and temperament, perhaps you could get a job writing for Bill O'Reilly. The world is your oyster when you have a genius level IQ, isn't it?
Unfortunately, as I've learned, even a super-genius level IQ only gets you so far.
But I have managed to stay out of jail so far.
It's truly amazing how many geniuses post on internet message boards or comment on blogs.
I agree, drinkers suck come to work hung over and dragging ass, loss of motor functions and dehydrated. Weed men always take the time to measure twice and cut once, Now it's 3 people.
Why does everyone want to legalize pot so badly? Stop arguing about what it will do for this economy, because it won't have much impact at all. The argument about alcohol and tobacco being even deadlier drugs is a fine one, but the logic that pot should be allowed is ridiculous. We should obviously try to discourage Americans from smoking and drinking, not give them more options.
Personally, I see things like these as degrading vices. I can't think of someone as being intelligent if they are advocating an activity that negatively affects ones intelligence.
Out of all the issues in the country, the online poll is asking about pot? That really does say something about them.
"Personally, I see things like these as degrading vices. I can't think of someone as being intelligent if they are advocating an activity that negatively affects ones intelligence."
And I'm SURE that YOU don't engage in any activities that someone ELSE might consider a "degrading vice."
Why don't you go back to your pissant little prison guard job and stfu.
And well you're sitting on your ass there maybe you can finds a shred of evidence that pot smoking negatively effects intellegence. You don't need to look for the negative intellegence effect of alcohol though. That one is pretty well documented already.
Look. Alcohol and smokes, an incredible drag on the economy of health gets a pass, while ill people are made criminals because this country is following a path based on lies that are over 70 years old. Money is wasted going after people who use it, even sick people.
Medicine as a degrading vice. Thanks. Asshat much?
me-oww!
Maybe its because having a criminal record makes you a 2nd class citizen for life? Maybe because it can keep you from getting a student loan? I could list about 1000 more quite easily, but mostly because its none of the governments business!
I don't really care about it being legalized. I will be able to get it anyway.
I would however, like for industrial hemp and medicinal marijuana to be decriminalized. It can't really be argued that doing so wouldn't be a HUGE help to the economy.
It also says alot about those who dismiss the idea out of hand.
It does have it's merits. And the majority of those who took the poll think it's important.
That DOES say a lot about us yes...we think that legalizing it, or at least decriminalizing would A) save tons of money on law enforcement.
B) it would create jobs for the private sector and tax revenue for the govt.
c) so many useful products can be made from the hemp plant. Fuel oil, high protein food from the seeds, clothing, rope, paper naturally fire resistant building materials that are SUSTAINABLE!
It could help solve so many issues.
But the powers that be, would lose money.
So it will stay illegal for now.
Prohibition does not work and has never worked.
1) We're missing out on a HUGE revenue stream not being able to tax the sales of marijuana.
2) We're overcrowding the jails with pissant possession charges. In California, we're at 150% capacity. Think how much better things would be to not go after the small time drug user.
3) There are medicinal benefits to marijuana use. I'm not a smoker (I have severe asthma, I couldn't inhale if I wanted to), but I had a friend who died last year from a brain tumor. The ONLY thing that helped his nausea and allowed him to keep food down was pot. My husband will have cataracts--the beginnings of them are detectable now. Marijuana can stem that progression.
4) Basically, there is no difference between marijuana and alcohol in terms of intoxication. Legalize it, tax the sales (you can even add a sin tax as California does to alcohol to discourage people), make it available to those who want it and then if they endanger anyone else's life with their intoxication (like by driving), throw the book at them.
Comments are closed on this entry