The economy has been stimulated by marijuana for many years

” The proposal would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis – all of which is barred by federal law.

Ammiano, a Democrat in his third month as a state lawmaker, said taxes and other fees associated with regulation could put more than a billion dollars a year into state coffers at a time when revenues continue to decline. “

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…..#038;tsp=1

Smoking is not all that good an idea.
Perhaps you people might be interested in Marinol.

http://www.solvaypharmaceutica…..2-0,00.htm

marijuana seeds are quite nutritious – shouldn’t be just for the birds!

better to use a volcano vaporizer

A tip of my hat to you.

Tom Ammiano is my assemblyman, and was a longtime friend and ally of Harvey Milk’s as well. He appears in a cameo in the movie, when the crowd confronts John Briggs about his initiative to fire gay schoolteachers in California. Ammiano is standing next to Sean Penn, in a red jacket, and yells to Briggs, “How are you going to determine who’s gay?”

Which is kind of ironic, because when Tom was a schoolteacher fighting alongside Harvey to defeat Prop 6, there was never any question about Tom’s sexuality. He is a treasure in our city, responsible for our universal health care plan as well as many other progressive measures that make this a wonderful place to live.

I am very excited that Tom has made this issue his first initiative in Sacramento; tying it to our state’s chronic budget deficit is especially brilliant.

Arnold should get aboard.

So once we let out the smokers THEN we can let out the rapists and killers?

Afraid you’ll be lonely?

Arnold admitted to smoking marijuana in the 70’s, so you never know what he might decide. The only true reason that pot is illegal is because of the big pharmaceutical companies. It has been proven to relieve pain without the side effects that synthetic drugs have. Many reports of it being effective in treating cancer and other illnesses as well. You have not got single payer health care because of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. They will lobby to stop the legalization to their dying breath and the corrupt FDA will back them up. The sale of legal marijuana cigarettes would pay for single payer health care, or at least, a large portion of it. His tying to the budget was a smart move.

The war on drugs is a total farce. The poor go to prison and the dealers deal. We know who unleashed drugs into the US and we know who continues to import them. The legalization of marijuana would instantly show a huge drop in crime rates. I live in BC..the home of the infamous BC Bud that US dealers exchange cocaine for. It is dangerous even for those not involved. Armed home invasions to steal the crop are not a rare occurrence. Sometimes the wrong home is invaded; sometimes by criminals and sometimes by the RCMP. Our RCMP are not liable for repairing the damage they might cause to an innocent person’s home. It is hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys sometimes.

Landlord’s have their rental units destroyed by the high humidity needed which causes mold and ,of course, insurance does not cover the damage. The cost of the enforcement from cops to courts to prisons, etc. is a waste of the taxpayer’s money. Organized crime is involved because of the huge profits that are made. Anybody that looks at the situation in Mexico and on your border has got to soon realize that this insanity must stop. Some of your states allow medical marijuana and then the feds raid the shops. How crazy is that? In Canada, when it was first allowed for medical reasons, people still had to go out on the street and buy it. The lack of intelligence in politicians never ceases to amaze me.

We meet again. Unfornately I find you once again remiss of facts. Marinol does not work. A dear friends father was a district attorney and very anti-pot. Of course all of his 4 kids smoked religously. The father came down with cancer. He could not keep food down while doing chemo. He was perscribed Marinol which did nothing. A couple days before he died, he finally relented after repeated begging from his son. He smoked a joint with one of his kids and an hour later ate a half of tuna sandwich. This was the first food he at is days. This story is not unique and in fact is the reported norm with Marinol. Man is very arrogant to think we can artificially improve a perect plant. This is why it is here after all. Denying it is a form of denying god. As far as buring/carbonizing organic material and putting it in your lungs, this is where you are correct in suggesting it is not good for ones health. The solution to this is to use a vaporized which allows the THC to to be “vaporized” off the organic matter without turining into carbon.

This honestly is the most assanine posting I have ever read at FDL. What a fool.

” The bloody war between rival cartels, fighting for control of drug trafficking into the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of cocaine, has produced internal chaos in Mexico.

Unrest related to the drug trade has caused the violent deaths of some 5,300 people throughout the country last year alone, according to official figures, despite a government crackdown that saw the deployment of nearly 36,000 troops. “

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._0225.html

Not only should Cannabis be legal, but all other plants as well. If coca leaves were available and people were taught the traditional way of consuming them, it would put us on the path toward responsible recreational drug use. I imagine that chewing a quid of coca leaves for a mild pick-me-up is a more pleasant and healthy experience than inhaling expensive white powders of unknown purity purchased from people with guns.

As for the proposal to legalize and tax Cannabis, the 21 year old age requirement is unrealistic (as it is for alcohol). Eighteen would be a better number in both instances.

Never happen. Makes entirely too much sense.

Morning and sorry to have been asleep when you posted.
Firstly, I am sorry to have heard about that the man you write about wasn’t helped by Marinol.
Someone here was also undergoing chemo, had spent many years smoking, and said that the Marinol was a slower, and lesser high, but long-lasting.
As far as I can tell, Marinol is nothing other than THC coated eith sesame oil. Maybe a dosage adjustment was in order.
I hope that you won’t be disappointed if I agree with you that the vaporizor, as Suzanne suggested, is the best idea.

had to laugh when i read this on the sacramento bee website – california’s new cash crop. “reason for coming to california?” the weed. why california cows are happy? weed. keep a criminal in our overcrowded prisons – buy california weed.

actually, there will be more room in our prisons for the rapists and killers.

The amount of gang shootings in Canada had gotten so high, our Criminal Code is being changed.
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” The government introduced new legislation that would label gang killings as first-degree murder, carrying a sentence of at least 25 years without parole.

The bill introduced by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson would also create a new offence and a minimum jail term for drive-by shootings.

Such attacks would carry a minimum sentence of four years in prison and a maximum of 14 years. “

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/593434

Number 27 of a PDF…”Smoked marijuana is not medicine”. The FDA’s justification for this is that marijuana has not been subjected to scientific scrutiny.
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http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/stati…..a_2008.pdf

“Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference Wednesday that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that are established legally under state law. His declaration is a fulfillment of a campaign promise by President Barack Obama, and marks a major shift from the previous administration.

Holder’s declaration is a high point for the movement to legalize medical marijuana, which has been growing for decades despite federal hostility. ‘

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..70119.html

The vaporizer provides a taste like burned popcorn; really destroys flavorful ganja BUT for low quality mexican weed, it’s a good way to go.
What others should also understand is the chemical crap used in cultivating by the mexican’s that gets into the pot; much more danger from that ‘witches brew’ than from the pot.
Citing marinol is like the idea that by taking the sulforane supplement -’active’ ingredient in broccoli- one cans the same effects as eating broccoli; just not so.

I take your point about not getting the same order of psychotropic effects from oral THC as from smoking a bunch of marijuana.
I worry about lung capacity, though.

Weed should have never been illeagal in a so called free country. But no matter which side of the issue you stand on you should think of why it was illegal because more money can be made on illeagal stuff than on legal stuff. It came out many years ago that there are a bunch of big rich men who sit everyday in a penthouse office in New York and control and support all of this. That why even the so called war on drugs hasn’t worked because they don’t want it to. The government can make more tax money if it was legalized but those guys will make less. Who do you think will win this fight. Money talks and bull walks no matter how much we try not to admit it.

A few more cases like this would help. The x number #3 at the CIA just got sentenced to 37 months.
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http://www.google.com/hostedne…..gD96JEUJ83

So sorry to suggest a typo with wit.
I was only questioning the authors intent.
The article itself says smokers THEN killers, it should read “better to let out smokers THAN rapist….” NO?

I will certainly keep this exchange in mind before posting again.

I failed to understand what you meant or were referring to. Your comment certainly, by itself, looked way odd.
Sorry.

A 78 minute video..starts off with a brief history of hemp use in the US.
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” BC’s illegal marijuana trade industry has evolved into a business giant, dubbed by some involved as ‘The Union’, Commanding upwards of $7 billion Canadian annually. With up to 85% of ‘BC Bud’ being exported to the United States, the trade has become an international issue. Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he demystifies the underground market and brings to light how an industry can function while remaining illegal. Through growers, police officers, criminologists, economists, doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business – an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal. “

http://www.veracityvideos.com/…..ed73c26183

A different take.

Legalize cannabis, but do not tax it. Allow individuals to grow their own. Continue to enforce laws that prohibit furnishing it to minors, as with alcohol. Make the age of consent 21 (some oppose this, but one has to be practical politically – while were at it raise the tobacco age to 21, as this is the true ‘gateway’ drug). Enforce laws that make it illegal to sell cannabis without reporting it as income.

The price and supply will drop and equalize with the demand. The money now being used to purchase cannabis will no longer be untaxed, and no costly bureacratic structure will be needed to regulate the drug.

States can deal with such issues as public consumption, and driving under the influence (which needs verifiable and objective criteria – experienced cannabis users are arguably not more dangerous behind the wheel than the sober are). If legal, thefts of crops (to, say, sell to minors illegally) can be reported as crime, and the lowered value will discourage a lot of theft in the first place.

That “$7 billion Canadian” will no longer be sliding around in the black market, outside of taxation and consumer use.

…an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal… Indeed, but that doesn’t make it right.

An added alternative could be a required Federal (or state) drug cannabis (as opposed to fiber hemp) growers permit, which fees could be dedicated to the health and other effects of ‘hard’ drugs. I contradict my dislike of just another bureaucracy noted above, but politics involves compromise. Producing drug cannabis without such a permit could involve forfeiture of a crop and / or fines, but no jail time, like most traffic violations.