Why Marijuana Is Illegal

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

Why marijuana is illegal.

Because it can be turned into currency simply by trading what you grow at home for products and services. Meaning. You could grow money. If weed was legal, unless everybody had a degree in botany, or everyone mysteriously became an expert weed would have a monetary value assigned to it. So in essence one day it may not be worth bartering but in the mean time it could destroy capitalism and make the big guys at the top fucking shake.

So yeah. Unless you want to cripple the big fish trying to feed off the little fish.

I suggest. You say or do nothing. =D

[Homicidalheathen]

Its illegal cause it works for spasms and pain (both of which I have)

Otherwise I gotta take bentyl and vicodin.

[know_buddy_kares]

because americans are fucking stupid when it comes to laws.

[Steven]

I suppose then that viggies and grains will be illegal soon too? cause you grow them and sell them - and the market for them is secure.

[know_buddy_kares]

I suppose then that viggies and grains will be illegal soon too? cause you grow them and sell them - and the market for them is secure.

I know you meant for that to sound absolutely rediculous in a sarcastic manner but I wonder if you have any idea just how close you are to a serious issue that is basicly just what you said.

I read an article about 6-9 months ago about our government trying to regulate what farmers grow in the manner of what seeds they use. They tried to make the farmer's self grown seeds illeagle as they're not able to be regulated to see if they meet "standards" and instead, are trying to force them to purchase geneticly engineered seeds (bad enough as it is) that are rediculously expensive and designed to produce food, but food wich does not yield fertile seeds. Meaning the farmers cannot use the seeds from his harvest for new harvests, he'll have to buy more seeds. Seeds that cannot produce more seeds, just the produce for consumption. If I can find the article later on today after work I'll post it. But that's threadjacking this thread so maybe a new thread.

[Steven]

I know you meant for that to sound absolutely rediculous in a sarcastic manner but I wonder if you have any idea just how close you are to a serious issue that is basicly just what you said.

I read an article about 6-9 months ago about our government trying to regulate what farmers grow in the manner of what seeds they use. They tried to make the farmer's self grown seeds illeagle as they're not able to be regulated to see if they meet "standards" and instead, are trying to force them to purchase geneticly engineered seeds (bad enough as it is) that are rediculously expensive and designed to produce food, but food wich does not yield fertile seeds. Meaning the farmers cannot use the seeds from his harvest for new harvests, he'll have to buy more seeds. Seeds that cannot produce more seeds, just the produce for consumption. If I can find the article later on today after work I'll post it. But that's threadjacking this thread so maybe a new thread.

sounds interesting....start the thread, Id like to know more.

[ttogreh]

Any crop, mineral, or whatever product that required human effort to acquire can be used as currency. Indeed, the American government DOES heavily regulate the farming industry, as well it should. We don't want wheat or corn crashes to happen, which can happen in unregulated markets. Of course, we can go back and forth on how much regulation is too much, and how little is too little...

Marijuana is indeed ideal to be a cash crop. However, that is not the end-all be-all reason for why it is illegal. There are many reasons, such as irrational racism, puritanical disgust, and basic conservatism.

First, the irrational racism. Long ago, at the turn of the last century, marijuana was a popular drug amongst black and latino communities. Whenever there was a horrible crime in either of these communities, there was marijuana. Authorities, not quite clear on the concept that correlation does not necessarily mean causation, in conjunction with scandal loving print media, blamed the herb for the crime. Never mind the soul crushing poverty and racism that these communities lived under...

Secondly, we have puritanical disgust. The heroin and opium epidemic of the new prior century was in full swing. The temperance movement, buoyed by the legitimate danger that heroin and opium offered, pushed for and eventually banned heroin, opium, cocaine, marijuana, and finally... alcohol itself.

The alcohol ban was short-lived, as anyone who has watched an old gangster movie knows.

Finally, basic conservatism has pretty much kept marijuana illegal for all these years. Simply put, the mindset that "if it has been illegal for so long, there must be a reason for it" permeates most law enforcement and conservative government lines of thought.

Or at least, that is how I see it...

[pomba gira]

I know you meant for that to sound absolutely rediculous in a sarcastic manner but I wonder if you have any idea just how close you are to a serious issue that is basicly just what you said.

I read an article about 6-9 months ago about our government trying to regulate what farmers grow in the manner of what seeds they use. They tried to make the farmer's self grown seeds illeagle as they're not able to be regulated to see if they meet "standards" and instead, are trying to force them to purchase geneticly engineered seeds (bad enough as it is) that are rediculously expensive and designed to produce food, but food wich does not yield fertile seeds. Meaning the farmers cannot use the seeds from his harvest for new harvests, he'll have to buy more seeds. Seeds that cannot produce more seeds, just the produce for consumption. If I can find the article later on today after work I'll post it. But that's threadjacking this thread so maybe a new thread.

oooh, I wonder who lobbied that one in? "Standards", that's pretty funny. What standards, Monsanto et al's for sucking every dime they can out of farmers?

[Destroit]

I actually read that it was made illegal in the 1930's during the great depression. The reason for this being migrant workers from Mexico. When the US had a great economy boom in the 1920's (the best we've had in our history just outside the 90's) we needed farm workers and grunt workers - FAST! So...where did we turn? Mexico!

Now here's the kicker. Weed boomed in the 1920s among white people. For crying-out-loud there were people in movies smoking joints like cigarettes because MANY people used it regularily. Many WEALTHY white people might I add. It was all due to the Mexicans coming up and bringing it with them, which introduced it to our community and made it more available and appealing. Another contributing force was Prohibition. If you can't drink...how the hell else are you going to get your buzz on. It was an easy way for people to have fun the legal way!

So...fast forward to the 1930's. The Great Depression happens. Not only can we not afford to keep paying these migrant workers, who weren't American citizens legally, we couldn't even find work for our own natural born citizens. So...what to do, what to do, right? The government had to find SOME way to send them back to Mexico in a politically correct manner. Had to find SOME way to get out of our contract with ALL THOSE workers.

The quick and easy answer? Weed makes you "crazy"! So...they said that all the Mexicans were crazy and psychotically violent because of marijuana use. They emphasized ANY...LITTLE...CRIME a latino committed in the media to try and show the public how "crazy they were" . To seal the deal, they shipped them all back south of the border and marijuana has been illegal ever since.

That's the story I've heard, through reading and I saw a program on the Discovery Channel fittingly enough called "Reefer Madness". Feel free to correct me if you're some big history buff, I may have made some errors, I was going off the top of my head.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Reefer Madness was a cool film.. made back in the 20's. Propogande film to get people to stop smoking.

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/200...anaIllegal.html

[sass_in_the_pants]

It was all due to the Mexicans coming up and bringing it with them, which introduced it to our community and made it more available and appealing.

Gawd! The Mexicans! Again!

They take our jobs, get us hooked on weed and put worms in my tequila.

Steven, isn't there something you can do about this?

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

I never use big words like conservative to describe small people like lemmings myself.

It's all good if you want to be a lemming and all, but I know a lot of lemmings that think they're amazing people.

I'm sorry if I don't share their sentiment. I'm sure they're great people in a lot of ways, but I don't even think I'm all that great, and I'm far from a conservative.

I'd like to think of myself more as like a guy that radicals should run away from. I don't think conservatives are "conserving" anything.

Conservation usually implies spending slowly, because you're not to the point yet where you really want to make things worse, but you're so afraid of that, you're willing to LET them get worse as long as you don't FEEL like a DIRECT CAUSE.

On the other hand if you're trying to conserve on something you don't even have yet, that would make you a preservative, and preservatives belong in food not politics.

So we can all agree on this one thing for sure. Preservatives are meant to conserve on food. The food will still be spent. Nothing will be SAved, but the planning of it will ensure that food stays ok enough to consume if you can afford it and despite the fact that we have plenty of trash that is food, our methods of conserving food have yet to feed our populace.

We have not conserved on anything at all really. Money, natural resources, food, everything we were given and told we had to work for, we throw away......

Jesus once fed a lot of people by being a conservative.

Can we honestly say we have anything at all to do with conservation though? Come on. What are we trying to save here? The ass beatings? The fear? The hatred?

That sounds like a great time for most people, but I'm not really about conserving things that suck.

As a matter of fact. When I find that something sucks in my life, I usually try to throw it away immediately instead of bitching about to all my friends, not ever doing anything about it, and conserving it until it's made me so disgusted that I held on to it in the first place that it just makes me want to die.

If you think that freedom means working your ass to the ground so large corporations can do an equation on how much they think it costs you to live, before they DECIDE HOW MUCH THEY THINK YOU CAN AND WILL PAY FOR THEIR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.......

This is not conservation, unless we're talking about preserving a way of life that demoralizes man, dehumanizes women, and criminalizes children.

I mean fuck if you want to throw a party for THE DEVIL BE MY GUEST! I WON'T BE HERE. I'M OUT OF THIS FUCKING COUNTRY AS SOON AS I GET THE OPPORTUNITY.

I'LL LET THE CONSERVATIVES CONSERVE AS MUCH BULLSHIT AS THEY WANT UNTIL THEY HAVE SUCH A STOCKPILE OF BULLSHIT WITH INTEREST.

I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT WE AS A PEOPLE COULD OVERCOME AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT. I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT WE CAN SET THE STANDARDS INSTEAD OF LETTING OUR ANCESTORS. I THINK OUR ANCESTORS WERE FLAWED AND THIS IS TOO NEW OF A COUNTRY TO JUST LET IT GO DOWN LIKE ROME.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK DO I KNOW?

I'M JUST SOME CRAZY JESUS FREAK WHO NEVER SAW ONE DAMN GOOD THING ABOUT CONSERVATION OF AMERICANA.

WE WERE WARNED

ABOUT THE LOVE OF MONEY.

AND HOW IT COULD DESTROY US.

WE WERE WARNED.

SO LET'S KEEP CONSERVING.

AND PRAY.

THAT GOD FORGIVES.

OUR ETERNAL SOULS.

BECAUSE WHEN WE CONSERVE MONEY FOR TODAY.

THAT REPRESENTS ALL THE BULLSHIT YESTERDAY.

WE SAVE FOR OURSELVES.

THINKING SOMEHOW.

SOMEWAY.

IT WILL BENEFIT US.

AND OUR CHILDREN.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND PEOPLE.

WE'RE ALL BINARY NOW.

AND FOR ALL OF OUR GENIUS.

OUR CHILDREN ARE GETTING DUMBER.

MORE VIOLENT.

MORE ANGRY.

AND ALL WE CAN DO.

IS SHAKE OUT FISTS AND OUR HEADS.

AND SCREAM!

ADHD ADHDADHD ADHDADHD ADHDADHD ADHD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH DUDE.

YOUR KID

HAS ENERGY

AND IS CURIOUS

AND WANTS TO LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD.

BECAUSE OF ADHD.

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR LAZY FUCKING ASS.

NOT HELPING EXERT YOUR CHILD'S ENERGY.

BY SHOWING HIM A WORLD

AND OPENING HIS MIND TO NEW

POSSIBILITIES.

NOPE.

NOT IN THIS COUNTRY.

WE WANT TO CONSERVE SOME SHIT.....

SO LETS DRUG UP OUR CHILDREN............

LET'S BE LAZY.

LET THE TV BE MOM AND DAD..........

THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY WANT AT ALL............

CONSEVATION IS GOOD..............

I PROMISE YOU...............

IF YOU NEVER TRY TO CHANGE THINGS...............

IT WILL ALL HAPPEN BY MAGIC...................

AND ONE DAY.................

YOU'LL BELIEVE IN LOTTERY TICKETS AGAIN..........

BECAUSE HOLLYWOOD..................

MEANS GOD........................

AND YOU.....................

MEAN CONSERVATION.................

SO YES.

THANK YOU CONSERVATIVES. IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT THAT I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAY THE BEST FUCKHEAD FRATBOY WIN!!!!!!!!!!

YAY IT'S ALL A GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN HARDLY WAIT.

TO SEE THE LOOK.

IN MY LITTLE GIRLS EYES.

WHEN SHE SEES HOW WONDERFUL.........

YOUR CONSERVATIVE STEWARDSHIP..........

HAS MADE THIS WORLD.............

AND HOW MUCH.................

WE'VE REALLY LEFT BEHIND..................

BY BEING CONSERVATIVES...................

BY LETTINGS LAWMAKERS VOTE ON LAWS.................................

TO LET PEOPLE THINK THEY HAVE.......................

ANY VOICE AT ALL..........................

DO YOU KNOW WHY I'M INSANE????

BECAUSE I VALUE YOU'RE LIFE OVER MINE...................

BECAUSE I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ANYMORE..................

IF SOMEONE PULLS A FUCKING TRIGGER ON ME 165 TIMES IN MY MOTHERFUCKING SKULL..............

THAT WOULD BE JUSTICE FOR ME.....................

THANKS FOR TAKING ME OUT.............................

OF YOUR SHITTY WORLD...........................

SO I COULD GO SEE SOMETHING BETTER...............................

IF ONLY I HAD THE OPTION OF DOING IT MYSELF............................

SO MAYBE I'LL JUST TRY TO MAKE SOMEONE KILL ME INSTEAD...........................

BY RUNNING MY FUCKING MOUTH..........................

SO MUCH.........................

FOR SO MANY MORE PEOPLE THAN ME..............................

THAT THESE CONSERVATIVE FUCKS...........................

WON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH ME.................................

I'M NOT GETTING HELP...............................

I'M NOT GETTING WELL............................

I WANT TO BE SICK...............................

CAUSE I'M SICK OF THIS HELL......................

[pomba gira]

I actually read that it was made illegal in the 1930's during the great depression. The reason for this being migrant workers from Mexico. When the US had a great economy boom in the 1920's (the best we've had in our history just outside the 90's) we needed farm workers and grunt workers - FAST! So...where did we turn? Mexico!

Haven't heard that but have no trouble believing it since opiates were criminalized under almost identical circumstances, with the demonized "foreigners" being Chinese laborers who were no longer needed once the transcontinental railroad was finished.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Same time, same people. Read the link I posted... it's good info.

Crunchy.... conservatives are everywhere... not just the USA.

[jadnifer]

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."-Quoted from Gaf's link.

The funniest thing about this is that they actually believed this. In my opinion, marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes because it helps people with glaucoma and people with cancer. I know people that have had both of these things and if something like that could help them...I don't see what the problem would be. If they didn't want it, they wouldn't have to take it, but at least it would be an option for them so that they didn't feel so sick.

[ttogreh]

Jadnifer, American drug law is seriously fucked up. According to the DEA, marijuana is a schedule one drug, meaning

(A) The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.

© There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Whereas COCAINE... Is a schedule II drug.

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.

© Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Look, I see cocaine, and then I see marijuana... and I find the scheduling of marijuana to be in error.

[Head Wreck]

ugh. sometimes some posts on here are like plugging a speaker into a mind of a schizophrenic with ADHD

[jadnifer]

Jadnifer, American drug law is seriously fucked up. According to the DEA, marijuana is a schedule one drug, meaning

(A) The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.

© There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Whereas COCAINE... Is a schedule II drug.

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.

© Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Look, I see cocaine, and then I see marijuana... and I find the scheduling of marijuana to be in error.

I'm confused. Cocaine has medicinal purposes? I don't think that I have ever heard that before. What are the uses? I know that I have read articles about medicinal uses of marijuana and that it helps nausea. I would rather see my neighbor who is suffering from stomach cancer smoke a joint every now and then, then see him puking almost non-stop for two days after chemo. It's seriously fucked up.