Roky Mountain High!, Almost?

[JackLuis]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/cannabismarijuanaleaf-commons.jpg

Coloradans to decide marijuana legalization in November

Residents of Colorado will have the opportunity this November to legalize marijuana possession and allow regulated sales of marijuana in their state.

The Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler on Monday certified a ballot initiative for the state’s November general election after Denver-based activists gathered more than 170,000 signatures.

If approved by voters, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act would allow for the limited possession and cultivation of cannabis by adults age 21 and over. It would also allow the state and local governments to enact regulations on the commercial production and distribution of marijuana, as well giving local governments the option to prohibit marijuana sales altogether.

State's Rights, or Federal Fearsome Big Brother?

Although Colorado has legalized medical marijuana, those who distribute the drug still risk running afoul of federal law. The Obama administration’s Department of Justice has made a practice of not prosecuting medical marijuana patients in states where the drug has been approved, but it still considers distributors to be fair game for arrest.

In January, U.S. Attorney John Walsh sent letters to 23 medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, warning them that they faced legal repercussions if they did not close down within 45 days.

How long before someone challenges the Government allegations about Weed?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Those allegations have been challenged millions of times. The gov. just ignores the challenges, for reason of their own. As far as I can see, legalization of MJ, with the same restrictions that apply to alcohol, is a win for everybody, except the liquor industry.

From personal experience, I know booze is vastly worse than MJ. That's not an endorsement, because I think people are better off not using either, unless needed medically.

 

[lance gt]

The issue has been the same since the very beginning. Major misunderstanding and negative propaganda by Harry Anslinger since the 30's has been propagated and perpetuted by every administration ever since. All the tests and research into the safety of Marijuana have been ignored by the Feds, because they hate to admit they were wrong and imprisoned millions of otherwise law abiding citizens unjustly The lawsuits would put the country under, so they are stalling on legalizing it. Once they figure a way to save their ignorant asses from persecution, they'll sign off on it.

A former U.S. Surgeon General stood before Congress and Committees and extolled MJ as the safest substance known to man. Even though it has never been responsible for a single death, it's still considered a deadly killer.

I applaud Colorado in its steps. I watched the doc on it recently and how ridiculous the process is for them to get approved. Once more states get it legalized, the Feds will be forced to take a new vote.

Don't hold your breath.

 

[mikey2much]

better ways to spend the money

I bet that if you took all the money spent to keep potheads in jail, you could build a new school in every county of the country.

Not to mention the fact that you have turned the police into a bunch of pirates when you give them the right to take private property.

 

[lance gt]

I bet that if you took all the money spent to keep potheads in jail, you could build a new school in every county of the country.

Not to mention the fact that you have turned the police into a bunch of pirates when you give them the right to take private property.

As an example of how much money, in Canada, over 500 million is spent on fighting drugs. Out of that, 400 million is used on cannabis alone, leaving 100 million for coke, speed, ecstasy, etc. In the States, the numbers are out of this world. 600 billion is spent fighting drugs and 450 billion was allocated to marijuana eradication alone.

There's enough for universal health care right there. Legalize it and tax it sensibly and another few hundred billion are raised for the betterment of America's debit. Empty the prisons of pot smokers and hundreds of billions of more dollars are saved. The offshoot businesses that arise will generate billions more.

Ostrich government, how democratic.

 

[mikey2much]

people don't understand

Most people don't believe that the government is spending over eighty percent of the drug war money on pot.

I read several years ago that when ten percent of GNP is in the black market, that all the projections are made useless. I would think that we are above that level.

I stopped paying taxes when the war on drugs was started back in the seventies and I'm sure that I was not alone. Why would anybody support a system that wants to imprison them?

I personally think that the war on drugs was the first step onto the slipperly slope of becoming a police state, which is what we are now.

 

[Handley_Page]

Think of the potential in Tax revenue on Mj cigarettes.

 

[JackLuis]

As an example of how much money, in Canada, over 500 million is spent on fighting drugs. Out of that, 400 million is used on cannabis alone, leaving 100 million for coke, speed, ecstasy, etc. In the States, the numbers are out of this world. 600 billion is spent fighting drugs and 450 billion was allocated to marijuana eradication alone.

There's enough for universal health care right there. Legalize it and tax it sensibly and another few hundred billion are raised for the betterment of America's debit. Empty the prisons of pot smokers and hundreds of billions of more dollars are saved. The offshoot businesses that arise will generate billions more.

Ostrich government, how democratic.

With the cost reductions and revenue possibilities, it seems a no brainer, but perhaps the Government is just too inflexible in their need for prestige, face saving and perhaps we need to re-aline their population demographics in the November Election?

 

[lance gt]

With the cost reductions and revenue possibilities, it seems a no brainer, but perhaps the Government is just too inflexible in their need for prestige, face saving and perhaps we need to re-aline their population demographics in the November Election?

All it takes is a majority vote. One passes it and the rest see what happens. Once the stats are in, it's dominoes from there.

 

[Boxlicker101]

All it takes is a majority vote. One passes it and the rest see what happens. Once the stats are in, it's dominoes from there.

I thought it would pass in CA in the last election. I was wrong, but I believe legalization of most recreational drugs is an idea that cannot be stopped.

 

[lance gt]

I thought it would pass in CA in the last election. I was wrong, but I believe legalization of most recreational drugs is an idea that cannot be stopped.

It's ironic really. Alcohol and tobacco contribute to more deaths per year and business losses than all drugs combined, yet they're legal, go figure.

 

[Boxlicker101]

It's ironic really. Alcohol and tobacco contribute to more deaths per year and business losses than all drugs combined, yet they're legal, go figure.

Some other drugs actually do a lot of harm, although not as much as alcohol and tobacco. I'm really just arguing for the complete legalization of MJ, as a substance controlled as alcohol is.

 

[JackLuis]

Some other drugs actually do a lot of harm, although not as much as alcohol and tobacco. I'm really just arguing for the complete legalization of MJ, as a substance controlled as alcohol is.

You mean controlled by "Big Weed Inc" , Packaged and stamped in packs of 20 like Ruby Queens?

Or baggies of BC Bud?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxlicker101
Some other drugs actually do a lot of harm, although not as much as alcohol and tobacco. I'm really just arguing for the complete legalization of MJ, as a substance controlled as alcohol is.

You mean controlled by "Big Weed Inc" , Packaged and stamped in packs of 20 like Ruby Queens?

Or baggies of BC Bud?

Probably not in packs of twenty. Maybe in packs of five or so. Nobody would smoke twenty joints in one day, and they would get dried out in such large quantities. More likely they would be sold loose in lids, along with rolling papers, the way they are now, except they would cost less when sold legally. Maybe not much less, because MJ would probably be taxed as heavily as cigarettes and booze are.

It would still be a net gain for everybody except those who sell them illegally now.

 

[lance gt]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxlicker101
Some other drugs actually do a lot of harm, although not as much as alcohol and tobacco. I'm really just arguing for the complete legalization of MJ, as a substance controlled as alcohol is.



Probably not in packs of twenty. Maybe in packs of five or so. Nobody would smoke twenty joints in one day, and they would get dried out in such large quantities. More likely they would be sold loose in lids, along with rolling papers, the way they are now, except they would cost less when sold legally. Maybe not much less, because MJ would probably be taxed as heavily as cigarettes and booze are.

It would still be a net gain for everybody except those who sell them illegally now.

My average is about 5-6 joints a day, so a pack of 10 would be ideal and save a trip to the store every day. Tobacco companies have had names, packaging and machinery ready to roll for decades. The price would drop immensely if it was legal. Farmers would convert crops and the abundance would lower the price according to market demands.

MJ stays potent for years, no matter how dry it gets. It's like wine and ages and mellows and increases in potency as well. Pipes and bongs are the popular choice, with vapourizers coming on strong. The market is open for inventors, like it was in the 70's, to create ways to smoke it.

The market is there, the product is there, the people are there, we just need to get the gov't to catch up and get on board. They're having a hard time defending their stand, when all the proof shows they're totally wrong. Can't call something a killer drug, when, in over 6 thousand years of evidence, has never been the cause of one single death. Aspirin has killed millions since it was developed in the 1920's, but no one calls it a killer drug.

 

[JackLuis]

International News

‘Job creators’ in Spain offer land to cannabis growers

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A Spanish village plans to rent out its fields for growing cannabis in an urgent bid to create jobs and money to pay off its debts, officials said.

The Catalonian village of Rasquera, population 900, voted late Wednesday in favour of a plan to rent land to an association that promotes the legal recreational or therapeutic use of cannabis by its 5,000 members.

“The village, like so many others, has many difficulties, a big crisis, a lot of inhabitants without work,” said Insausti. “Now we are being asked to pay off our debts impossibly quickly for a small village.”

He said the cannabis growers will plant fields that are currently unused.

If they do lease the fields, it will probably increase their tourism!