Who is profitting from keeping Hemp illegal?
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We all know that the politcians will bow to public opinion - unless some special interest group is paying them money - in which case they follow the money. So what special interest group is paying our elected officials to keep hemp and marijuana illegal even in the face of overwhelming medical, industrial and economic evidence that it is a beneficial plant? It required a constitutional amendment to outlaw alcohol. It took a single law to outlaw hemp.
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A damn good question Terry. How any government can make a PLANT illegal just beggars belief, it really does. But I have no idea who would have a vested interest in keeping it illegal - other than the usual conservative middle-classes who think that if you smoke a joint on Monday you'll be a crack-addict by Friday. Sigh. Here in the UK, cannabis is more socially acceptable now than at any other time. In my age group I would be hard-pushed to find someone that hasn't even tried it once. There ARE problems associated with it, but the effects these problems have on the rest of society are minimal IMHO. Certainly no worse, and probably much better, than alcohol. There is definitely a more relaxed attitude about it in most parts of the country, especially in the cities where they have a REAL drugs problem to worry about. If it were legalised, the government would have a new source of income in the taxation that would be levied. This would potentially be an ENORMOUS source of revenue. The cigarrete paper manufacturers would be over the moon. Late night food stores would be happy. Chocolate manufacturers would be ecstatic. The only downside is that it would expose more people to tobacco, which isn't a good thing (yes, I know you could "take" it using other ways, but believe you me, eating it just isn't the same!). If I could choose between hash and booze, hash would win every time. It just annoys me that if I want to smoke a joint, I am breaking the law which could potentially lead to a criminal record. Me and millions of others - otherwise law-abiding people that could face the prospect of a criminal record - for smoking a fucking plant! Madness. However, attitudes are changing and though legalisation may still be a long way off, I think it is going to happen. Sure, it would need to be regulated in some way, same as booze (no smoking and driving thank you, or smoking and then, you know, driving buses and stuff) and there is also the problem of dealers turning to harder drugs to fill the gap (legalize them all and that problem goes away too!), but I think it is unstoppable.
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That is always a first guess, but I can't imagine politicians being willing to risk taking money from drug dealers for fear of negative publicity (not that they wouldn't take it if they knew they would never get caught). Or maybe the drug importers pay off some shell company and that company makes the donations. It is very hard to take. Cannabis is so damned useful, fun and harmless. FYI - The reason we call canvas canvas is because that is the Dutch pronunciation of cannabis!
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A damn good question Terry. How any government can make a PLANT illegal just beggars belief, it really does. But I have no idea who would have a vested interest in keeping it illegal - other than the usual conservative middle-classes who think that if you smoke a joint on Monday you'll be a crack-addict by Friday. Sigh. Here in the UK, cannabis is more socially acceptable now than at any other time. In my age group I would be hard-pushed to find someone that hasn't even tried it once. There ARE problems associated with it, but the effects these problems have on the rest of society are minimal IMHO. Certainly no worse, and probably much better, than alcohol. There is definitely a more relaxed attitude about it in most parts of the country, especially in the cities where they have a REAL drugs problem to worry about. If it were legalised, the government would have a new source of income in the taxation that would be levied. This would potentially be an ENORMOUS source of revenue. The cigarrete paper manufacturers would be over the moon. Late night food stores would be happy. Chocolate manufacturers would be ecstatic. The only downside is that it would expose more people to tobacco, which isn't a good thing (yes, I know you could "take" it using other ways, but believe you me, eating it just isn't the same!). If I could choose between hash and booze, hash would win every time. It just annoys me that if I want to smoke a joint, I am breaking the law which could potentially lead to a criminal record. Me and millions of others - otherwise law-abiding people that could face the prospect of a criminal record - for smoking a fucking plant! Madness. However, attitudes are changing and though legalisation may still be a long way off, I think it is going to happen. Sure, it would need to be regulated in some way, same as booze (no smoking and driving thank you, or smoking and then, you know, driving buses and stuff) and there is also the problem of dealers turning to harder drugs to fill the gap (legalize them all and that problem goes away too!), but I think it is unstoppable.
Robert Edward Caldecott wrote: But I have no idea who would have a vested interest in keeping it illegal - other than the usual conservative middle-classes who think that if you smoke a joint on Monday you'll be a crack-addict by Friday. Sigh. It is this issue that makes me think that there may very well be a secret cabal running the show from behind the curtain. I know that hemp oil can do everything petroleum now does. Hemp fiber can do everything cotton does. Processed hemp seeds are the most nutritionally complete single-source food item on the planet. etc, etc, etc. Robert Edward Caldecott wrote: If it were legalised, the government would have a new source of income in the taxation that would be levied. This would potentially be an ENORMOUS source of revenue. Not only that, but the govt. would be spending far less of our tax-dollars on elaborate pot-stings and would empty a lot of jails. I heard a stat recently that over 40 million prison years have been levied in the US against marijuana users. Multiply that by the average annual cost of keeping a person in jail for a year and you have an incredible amount of wasted money. Other stats: Annual deaths from alcohol, cigarettes & illegal drugs other than pot: >400,000 Annual deaths from pot: 0
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Dum di dum di dii... *whistle* What? I don't understand what you're getting at. :rolleyes: -- Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward you will service us.
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;) I checked out your Blog - cool! I noticed though that in your wedding picture you referred to as your wife as "lovely" but you referred to your dog as "beautiful". I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder :)
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Chris Losinger wrote: and, since blacks make up 35% of the prison population, and in some states, nearly a third of black men can't vote, there's fuel for a race-based argument... Disturbing. I fail to see any convincing argument for not letting convicted felons vote. I believe it's ok if people who are still serving time is not alowed to vote. A convicted person have been stripped of all rights until the due is paid. But afterwards it's just absurd to prevent someone from voting. With a little hope, it'll change... -- Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward you will service us.
we were discussing the absurdity of this at work the other day ( coz otherwise we'd have to code ). In Australia you only don't vote if you're in prison and then you need to provide that as your reason for not voting ( i.e. you can't get to a polling booth ). Otherwise you get fined. I don't think compulsory voting is good, but I also don't see any reason to ban someone from voting because they have been in prison. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder
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Chris Losinger wrote: and, since blacks make up 35% of the prison population, and in some states, nearly a third of black men can't vote, there's fuel for a race-based argument... Disturbing. I fail to see any convincing argument for not letting convicted felons vote. I believe it's ok if people who are still serving time is not alowed to vote. A convicted person have been stripped of all rights until the due is paid. But afterwards it's just absurd to prevent someone from voting. With a little hope, it'll change... -- Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward you will service us.
Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: With a little hope, it'll change... Perhaps. Keep in mind though, we never really liked the concept of convicted felons being reinstated in society. Probably because we've never really made up our minds on just what debt they owe anway, much less how they're gonna pay it back. Also, we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Just in case it takes us that long to grind them down...
Your sincerity about keeping the soapbox organized and civilized is so obvious. I solute your effort. -- Anonymous, 10/18/03
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We all know that the politcians will bow to public opinion - unless some special interest group is paying them money - in which case they follow the money. So what special interest group is paying our elected officials to keep hemp and marijuana illegal even in the face of overwhelming medical, industrial and economic evidence that it is a beneficial plant? It required a constitutional amendment to outlaw alcohol. It took a single law to outlaw hemp.
Have you answered an MTQ? Check out the stats!
Simple - public opinion. Most people are simply against making marijuana legal. Hemp is less clear - I know here (in Ky) they contempalte making it legal from time to time since it has many other uses besides... um... :-O I believe not too long ago Alaska had a referendum on making marijuana legal, and it overwhelmingly failed. Even here in Ky, where mary jane is a big part of the economy (unoficially, of course), candidates who champion legalizing marijuana are few and far between, and usually don't get voted in. Why is the public against it? Probably becuase the perception that it is a harmful intoxicant is still there. They are afraid that if it is legal, there will be a big increase of, for instance, driving while stoned, and the like. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but that's what most people think. If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.
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Simple - public opinion. Most people are simply against making marijuana legal. Hemp is less clear - I know here (in Ky) they contempalte making it legal from time to time since it has many other uses besides... um... :-O I believe not too long ago Alaska had a referendum on making marijuana legal, and it overwhelmingly failed. Even here in Ky, where mary jane is a big part of the economy (unoficially, of course), candidates who champion legalizing marijuana are few and far between, and usually don't get voted in. Why is the public against it? Probably becuase the perception that it is a harmful intoxicant is still there. They are afraid that if it is legal, there will be a big increase of, for instance, driving while stoned, and the like. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but that's what most people think. If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.
Navin wrote: Why is the public against it? Probably becuase the perception that it is a harmful intoxicant is still there. They are afraid that if it is legal, there will be a big increase of, for instance, driving while stoned, and the like. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but that's what most people think. I know, but it is crazy. If that made sense, then alcohol would also be illegal. It makes me sick to my stomache when I look at the pot laws in various states and see things like: Simple possession of less than 1 ounce - mandatory minimum sentence - 6 months. 6 months in jail and your life ruined just for having the leaves of a naturally occuring weed in your pocket. I don't smoke it anymore, not in years - it makes me too jumpy now that I have my little insomnia/hyper-alertness/heightened startle response thing going on. But I know we shouldn't be wasting our tax dollars busting adults who want to partake of the stony buds.
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;) I checked out your Blog - cool! I noticed though that in your wedding picture you referred to as your wife as "lovely" but you referred to your dog as "beautiful". I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder :)
Have you answered an MTQ? Check out the stats!
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;) I checked out your Blog - cool! I noticed though that in your wedding picture you referred to as your wife as "lovely" but you referred to your dog as "beautiful". I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder :)
Have you answered an MTQ? Check out the stats!
Terry O`Nolley wrote: I noticed though that in your wedding picture you referred to as your wife as "lovely" but you referred to your dog as "beautiful". :laugh: Guess that's being changed pretty sharpish! :-D
Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog Photography - The product of my passion -
Cool scan! :cool: You should allow visitors to add comments on your blog :)
Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog Photography - The product of my passion -
FAIL - the Fear And Ignorance Lobby ImgSource | CheeseWeasle
Not to mention if it was legalised - the goverment would be adminiting a huge mistake, and ultimatly look stupid. Probably some truth in the fact of why alcohol is not illegal - the powers that be would be adminiting to years and years of profiting from poisoning us. Not something you want to admit to. James Simpson Web Developer imebgo@hotmail.com P S - This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
Mitch Hedberg -
Cool scan! :cool: You should allow visitors to add comments on your blog :)
Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog Photography - The product of my passion>Cool scan! Cheers Megan! The original 12 week scan is on there somewhere too. We had another scan yesterday too (to check the heart). All OK and ... ssshhh ... likely it's a little girl! (though they couldn't give us great odds, but then they wouldn't!). Comments. Well, I use blogger.com - not sure if you can have a message board/comments feature. I have a lot of updates pending too - we have all the baby stuff we need now - pram, moses basket, changing unit, etc. etc. so I need to get some pics up. And, BTW, it isn't as expensive as you'd think Megan! Go for it girl! ;)
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That is always a first guess, but I can't imagine politicians being willing to risk taking money from drug dealers for fear of negative publicity (not that they wouldn't take it if they knew they would never get caught). Or maybe the drug importers pay off some shell company and that company makes the donations. It is very hard to take. Cannabis is so damned useful, fun and harmless. FYI - The reason we call canvas canvas is because that is the Dutch pronunciation of cannabis!
Have you answered an MTQ? Check out the stats!
I'm no fan of it (being high feels like the early stages of a hangover to me, and that's not a feeling I enjoy!), but I've no objection to it being legalised provided the right safeguards are put in place. Anyone who drives while stoned deserves to be jailed, for example. Anna :rose: Homepage | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work. Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Visual C++ Add-In
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Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: With a little hope, it'll change... Perhaps. Keep in mind though, we never really liked the concept of convicted felons being reinstated in society. Probably because we've never really made up our minds on just what debt they owe anway, much less how they're gonna pay it back. Also, we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Just in case it takes us that long to grind them down...
Your sincerity about keeping the soapbox organized and civilized is so obvious. I solute your effort. -- Anonymous, 10/18/03
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Shog9 wrote: Also, we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Huh? I've been voting since I was 18 years old. "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better."
Oh... right. Was thinking drinking. :-O
Your sincerity about keeping the soapbox organized and civilized is so obvious. I solute your effort. -- Anonymous, 10/18/03
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Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: With a little hope, it'll change... Perhaps. Keep in mind though, we never really liked the concept of convicted felons being reinstated in society. Probably because we've never really made up our minds on just what debt they owe anway, much less how they're gonna pay it back. Also, we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Just in case it takes us that long to grind them down...
Your sincerity about keeping the soapbox organized and civilized is so obvious. I solute your effort. -- Anonymous, 10/18/03
Shog9 wrote: we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Huh? That's blatantly illegal! How does any state get away with that? BTW - Around here a convicted felon, after serving his/her time, must petition the court to have rights restored; it isn't automatic. Is that the norm, or is it unique to Arizona? "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
Robert Edward Caldecott wrote: But I have no idea who would have a vested interest in keeping it illegal - other than the usual conservative middle-classes who think that if you smoke a joint on Monday you'll be a crack-addict by Friday. Sigh. It is this issue that makes me think that there may very well be a secret cabal running the show from behind the curtain. I know that hemp oil can do everything petroleum now does. Hemp fiber can do everything cotton does. Processed hemp seeds are the most nutritionally complete single-source food item on the planet. etc, etc, etc. Robert Edward Caldecott wrote: If it were legalised, the government would have a new source of income in the taxation that would be levied. This would potentially be an ENORMOUS source of revenue. Not only that, but the govt. would be spending far less of our tax-dollars on elaborate pot-stings and would empty a lot of jails. I heard a stat recently that over 40 million prison years have been levied in the US against marijuana users. Multiply that by the average annual cost of keeping a person in jail for a year and you have an incredible amount of wasted money. Other stats: Annual deaths from alcohol, cigarettes & illegal drugs other than pot: >400,000 Annual deaths from pot: 0
Have you answered an MTQ? Check out the stats!
Terry O`Nolley wrote: Hemp fiber can do everything cotton does. Not to mention the fact that hemp makes the best rope available.:-D "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
Shog9 wrote: we prevent people under 21 years of age from voting as well. Huh? That's blatantly illegal! How does any state get away with that? BTW - Around here a convicted felon, after serving his/her time, must petition the court to have rights restored; it isn't automatic. Is that the norm, or is it unique to Arizona? "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot."Roger Wright wrote: Huh? Sorry... what do you call a typo when it's your brain and not your hands that make the mistake? Ah, stupid. Well, i was tired... :-O Roger Wright wrote: BTW - Around here a convicted felon, after serving his/her time, must petition the court to have rights restored; it isn't automatic. Is that the norm, or is it unique to Arizona? AFAIK, in Wisconsin you're fine so long as you've served your time and are off probation, etc.
Your sincerity about keeping the soapbox organized and civilized is so obvious. I solute your effort. -- Anonymous, 10/18/03