DrugReform.com Debates

 

A story out of Columbia MO has me wondering where cops got their information.  A family home was raided in the evening hours by SWAT on suspicion of distributing marijuana.  They found a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of pot. The disturbing part, the SWAT team shot their dogs and the occupants 7 year old child was present.  Then they charged the father with child endangerment.  A fully armed SWAT team uses a weapon to kill animals and this man is charged.  If the bullet had gone astray and injured, or kill this child, who would be charged?  Leave your comments here or read either of the tragic stories at the following links.

 

Original Story

Follow Up 

 Dont forget to watch the video of these events as recorded by the SWAT team.

Official SWAT video

 

Recently California voters have elected to put legalization of recreational marijuana on the ballot.  Could this mean that the East Coast is again leading the way for the rest of the country?  Probably so, because like medical marijuana, which is now regulated by seventeen other states, California was first.  This seems to be an inevitable trend nationwide, while people begin to loosen up to the realization that marijuana usage is a common practice everywhere, it's time to get informed.  To read more about this measure, visit the following link and feel free to rebut this thread.

 

 http://stash.norml.org/california-will-vote-on-legalization-in-november-prohibitionists-will-go-reefer-mad-until-then

I just read an article on NORML about CBS refusing to run a pro marijuana legalization ad during The Super Bowl.  Seems to me that the Big business in America wishes to cram morality down our throats!  I am referring to the two ads they refused to run, Pro-legalization and a Gay internet dating site, versus the decision to run Tebow's anti-abortion ad.  I applaud CBS for running the anti-abortion ad but boo them not running the other ads.  They should run ALL pertinent information and allow the public to make an informed decision.  The family unit is still responsible for implementing their own values and the choice of every American should still be that, Their Choice!

 Read More About the AD here:   NORML

If you have questions about the pot laws where you live, follow this great link to NORML.  

http://norml.com/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516

 

 

 

 

 

After all, Kansas was the first to embrace Prohibition, and one of the last to end it.  Even today, you can't find full-strength beer on a grocery store shelf. 

Yet in the same week that state lawmakers voted to make Kansas the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, a Wichita legislator introduced a bill to legalize marijuana with a doctor's prescription. 

"I just think it's the right thing to do," said Rep.  Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat. 

Finney has lupus, which she said makes her sympathetic to those with chronic diseases such as Parkinson's, cancer and HIV. 

Finney's bill would set up state-registered "compassionate care centers," where those with prescriptions could buy marijuana for the treatment of pain or debilitating illnesses.  Finney's bill also would require the marijuana be grown in the Sunflower State. 

Fourteen states already legalize medical marijuana in some fashion, including Kansas' neighbor Colorado.  Medical marijuana bills have been introduced in several other states, including Missouri. 

But Kansas? The state that made Carrie Nation and her hatchet famous?

Indeed, many lawmakers said they're not convinced there's a need. 

"Let's be honest, this would be an attempt to legalize marijuana," said Rep.  Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican.  "It has no benefit for pain management.  All it does is make you crave another bag of chips."

Kansas lawmakers are more apt to outlaw a drug than legalize it.  In the past five years, lawmakers voted to criminalize salvia divinorum and jimson weed.  This year they're targeting synthetic cannibinoids, lab-produced chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana and are sold as incense. 

"It's a lot easier to outlaw ( a drug ) than it is to get one legalized," said Rep.  Rob Olson, the Olathe Republican who sponsored the House bill outlawing synthetic marijuana.  The bill passed a final House vote on Wednesday. 

But Finney suspects the times may be a changing.  She said several lawmakers have quietly endorsed her idea. 

"Everybody said 'oh, it's a good idea, but I don't want to touch it,' " she said. 

That confirms the suspicion of Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.  Stroup said NORML's studies show that 80 percent of Americans favor medical marijuana. 

"Even in Midwestern states like Kansas, where the politics can be conservative, people support this," he said.  "We've largely won the hearts and minds of the American public, but we haven't yet figured out fully how to translate that into public policy."

Bob Stephan, former Kansas attorney general, has advocated for medical marijuana for years.  He endured years of chemotherapy in the '70s and said fellow patients found that marijuana worked wonders on the pain and nausea. 

Stephan predicts Kansas will someday legalize medical marijuana - but only after lawmakers realize it won't hurt them politically. 

"For some reason marijuana just drives people up the wall," he said.  "It's OK to have morphine and every drug known to man - some with just awful side effects.  But not marijuana."

A legislative hearing for Finney's bill hasn't been scheduled.  Rep.  Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican and chairwoman of the House health committee, said she opposes medical marijuana.  But she's open to holding hearings. 

"If we have time," Landwehr said. 

More good news for those persecuted by law enforcement over medically recommended marijuana usage!  It's becoming more and more evident that Americans are beginning to loosen up a little bit.

 

Hooray!

    During these unpredictable times of economic stress the government may be required to look to nontraditional sources of taxation for relief.  Legalizing the production and use of Cannabis has become a hot topic nationwide and shows promising results for economic stimulus.  The use of marijuana, both medically and recreationally, has increased nationwide.  Taxation of such usage could bring about major economic growth as well as relieving the burden law enforcement bears policing a drug that is practically everywhere.  Statistics from other countries can provide us a window into the economic benefits of the legalization and taxation of Cannabis.
    Cannabis has been illegal since 1937 when congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which placed marijuana in the same category as cocaine and opium.  Although many proponents of legalization believe this law was supported by the timber industry after it was discovered that hemp products were poised to replace timber as an alternate source for paper and cloth.  President Nixon strengthened this law in 1970 when he signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control Act.  This law consolidated more than fifty drug laws into one.  
    Recently, Oakland voters sent a message to the nation that cannabis is better treated as a legitimate, tax-paying business than as a cause of crime and futile law-enforcement expenditures.  Oakland voters said "yes" to Measure F by a margin of 80 percent to 20 percent,  which asked: "Shall City of Oakland's business tax, which currently imposes a tax rate of $1.20 per $1,000 on 'cannabis business' gross receipts, be amended to establish a new tax rate of $18 per $1,000 of gross receipts?"
The city estimates that the measure will raise $294,000 in additional tax revenue in 2010 and more in future years. Some say the measure will provide funds to help offset the city's current $83 million deficit as well as allow police to direct their limited resources to more serious crimes and drug offenses.1
    Ian Mulgrew is legal affairs columnist for the Vancouver Sun and the author of Bud Inc.: Inside Canada's Marijuana Industry. His book is an eye-opening account of the nation's most valuable agricultural product -- worth at least $6 billion a year at wholesale prices -- and a convincing argument for its legalization.2  The possibility for economic growth to the United States is staggering considering nearly twenty percent of the current population uses marijuana illegally.  The legalization of marijuana would create jobs and business opportunities, generate taxable revenue and provide a much needed influx of money to the economy. 
    The eyes of the nation will be on Oakland for the near future to see if the revenue generated from the taxation of the sale of medical marijuana will provide the much needed economic growth for one city.  Nearly $300,000 a year is what is expected to be made from the new law annually.  Currently there are fourteen states that have a medical usage law and several more are poised to adopt the law themselves.  Even the current Federal Government has taken a "stand back" approach and will not be conducting raids of the states' licensed "pharmacies". 
   

Watch videos and read stories from the CBS archive detailing the "War On Weed' over the past 30 years!! Good Stuff

Check It Out Here

 

 

The prince of pot took shots at the government and praised parenthood yesterday in his last words to Edmonton supporters before heading to jail this fall.