E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
An unlikely coalition that includes student activists, police officers, and a former Reagan associate deputy attorney general has launched a national campaign to mobilize 2010 and 2012 voters in support of marijuana legalization.
The "Just Say Now" campaign -- a joint effort between the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the progressive blog Firedoglake -- aims to end what they describe as the federal government's failed war on marijuana.
"It's a moral issue," Jane Hamsher, founder of Firedoglake, said in a conference call yesterday. "It's been a policy failure at every level."
The "Just Say Now" organization plans to circulate a petition online and across college campuses asking President Obama to end the federal ban on marijuana. They will then use this petition to target and mobilize supporters in the five states with marijuana initiatives on the ballot this year-- Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, and South Dakota.
"California is going to turn into a turnout election," Hamsher said, noting that the ballot initiative has tremendous support among young voters.
Aaron Houston, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, mentioned that the campaign had received support from Tea Party activists, as well as liberal and libertarian groups. "On the right and left, it's a very popular issue, and it remains to be seen who will be smart enough to grab it... It's a win-win-win situation and probably the biggest sleeper issue out there right now."
He cited nationwide surveys conducted by his grassroots organization and said that if "Just Say Now" can mobilize more young and first-time voters before November, the initiatives could pass in their respective states.
Former Reagan associate deputy general Bruce Fein said that marijuana legalization is another "major initiative to bring our government back in line with the Constitution," and that states -- not the federal government -- should have the power to choose how to address this particular issue. Fein stated that the federal government should tax marijuana, but leave the regulation to the states.
"Prohibition isn't going to end in November," Hamsher said, adding that they aim to make marijuana legalization an issue in 2012 battleground states. "Young people polled said they'd show up if legalization was on the ballot."
Houston, who testified last summer before the House Appropriations Committee in support of clearer guidelines on the Department of Justice's medical marijuana policy, emphasized the importance of educating people about where candidates stand on the issue. "We're going to send a corps of students out [to follow campaigns] with Flip cameras," he added, in order to capture footage of congressional and presidential candidates speaking about legalization.
Per NBC's Pete Williams, state legalization of marijuana would create legal tension with the federal government, as marijuana is a Class-I controlled substance.
Leave a Comment:
It's way past time to legalize it and tax the hell out of it, like we do with cigarettes & alcohol.
Legalization removes the criminal element! And clogging up the criminal justice system with posession by recreational users is a waste of time and tax payer $$$!
I was against legalization of marijuana but have done some research and talked to some people and now I have turned around on this issue. I agree that by legalizing the stuff we can tax the hell out of it. Those who complain about taxation can take to heart the same thing that applies to tobacco, if you don't want to pay the tax don't buy it. Control keeps the growing and selling in a safer and cheaper environment than one might find today. yes, for the most part, most users don't go on to harder drugs and to clog our court system with petty crimes like possession of an ounce of weed is ridiculous and way too expensive.
The "Just Say Now" campaign -- a joint effort
LMAO! great choice of words First Read!
I don't smoke the stuff but I'm fine with legalization. Sin tax the hell out of it and pay down the debt. Whoever wants to smoke the stuff already does anyway.
I agree I don't smoke it either, and am all for legalizing it. I thnk whichever side supports legalizing it will definitely secure the young vote. It might be a smart political move.
Steven,
You're right. I found it interesting in Breckridge there's a cannabis club on Main Street.
Hear, hear! Legalize and tax it!
My, my how times have changed. Clinton smoked it, but said he didn't inhale. Now it may become legal. Wow! Far Out! (I couldn't help myself.)
Four posts ahead of mine. None from the conservatives. Wonder what they are thinking?
Ron,
Working on their lefty hippie quips no doubt.
What is wrong with this idea? Is alcohol not the same or worse? Would we rather keep it illegal and line the pockets of Drug lords? or legalize it, regulate it, and bring some money into the U.S. Economy?
Seems simple to me.
Alcohol is definitely worse. How many marijuana related driving fatalities do you hear about?
Hey Guys, Steven and Dan:
I don't have a dog in this fight. I didn't smoke it, never did. Just brought back memories of the 60's.
hmmmmmmmmmm...........maybe because you posted at 1:30pm and people work or maybe a conservative suggest to legalize it and you want to turn the story into a Liberal verses Conservative thing. Pick one, you can't be wrong...........WOW!
"Four posts ahead of mine. None from the conservatives. Wonder what they are thinking?"
Thanks Paul, FL for proving you have nothing to add to the conversation other than being an antagonist!
Legend in your own mind indeed! lol
Your point again what WHAT?
Feisty,
A legend eh? Thank you!! lol..............but I did comment above and yes it should be legal and taxed, pretty much agreed on what you say.
Just responded to a comment..............antagonist-No...........the comment below is.....
"Four posts ahead of mine. None from the conservatives. Wonder what they are thinking?"
I know Paul it 'stings' when you get called out... but like the rest of the right wing nitwits... you too will get used to it! ;0)
Rule #1 = you don't get to pick and chose... then again you already knew that and just decided to ignore it! lol
Have a NICE night m'kay?
No sting here........Right wing-me? I don't think so, well maybe you're right, your adminastration called me a Right-Wing Terrorist for being a retired combat vet.
As for rules, didn't know an opinion was a rule, thought it was a right. I think serving 20 years in Army might had been a mistake. If I knew I was protecting a Rule, I would had never served. Thanks Feisty for pointing that out to me. I'm going to change my voting card from NPA to Sheep right away. Then I'll watch MSNBC to tell me who to vote for.
As A guy who use to smoke, i don't know if its a good idea to legalize Weed, its bad enough we have Drunk drives, do we really need High Drivers!!!!
There is nothing worse on the road than these morons who TEXT while driving!
They are 10X worse than a drunk driver!
I don't condone driving impaired in any way and that includes the freakin cell phone addicts!
Bonus points for the mini-van driving soccer Mom's with a bunch of kids in her car and texting over the steering wheel!!! You all know who you are!
Weed being legal or illegal won't stop people from getting high, or driving high no more that prohibition would prevent drunk driving.
Even if there wasn't an increases tax revenue and reduced costs of holding trials and imprisoning people using weed, it should still be legal. People should be able to choose for themselves if they want to use weed just like they can with booze and tobacco. There should be age limits like being over 21 and similar laws as we have with alcohol, but it should be available to any adult that wants it.
If you get a DUI you get buried by fines and other penalties. Make the same hold true for driving while stoned. You get busted you pay 1000s in fines and lose your driving privileges for a year. You get caught driving with license suspended you go to jail for a few days...And the punishment continues to go up from there. It's not a perfect system that we have currently for DUI but it does make people think.
What makes you think there aren't any now?
Legalize it, tax it, use the by product (hemp) for paper rather than trees, reduce overcrowding in our correctional facilities and criminal justice system, and then, please, please put some in the tea the partiers are drinking. Gawd knows they need to chill the eff out!!
Like they said back in the 70s "The whole Marijuana Issue could be settled with a Joint Session of Congress."
It is way past time to end the war on this particular substance that happens to be MUCH safer than alcohol, after all, how many people die every year from drinking too much alcohol and poisoning themselves?? We hear about the deaths in college from that all the time. When is the last time you heard of someone dying from smoking too much pot?? NEVER!! Like researchers found a long time ago, if you smoke a lot of pot you just go and take a nap. It would take eating around 150 lbs of pot within a couple hours to get a fatal dose of THC and THAT is for sure not going to happen!! While people call marijuana a 'gateway drug, leading to harder drugs' I for one would say that sugar, tobacco, coffee (caffeine) and alcohol are the worst of the so-called gateway drugs, especially since they are legal and also affect one just like any other drugs.
We spend billions every year just picking up low end users and jailing them. This takes a lot of police time, courts time and of course the money to jail these people who are exercising the right to put into their own body a NATURAL substance. If we legalized it Nationally and taxed it reasonably and licensed responsible growers then we could cut out the criminal element, just like we did with alcohol early last century. By taking the money for the risk out of it we could actually lower the prices, tax it and everybody would still come out ahead. There would actually be a lot of new jobs associated with not only the cultivation and sales, but the making and distribution of 'paraphernalia' for it's use. The issuing of Medical marijuana cards and the like would then be moot and people could purchase their medication legally.
When I was in Oregon, shortly before I had my neck extensively rebuilt , my Neurologist told me that I should try marijuana because it helps with the inflammation, neuralgia and pain. I tried it and found that it indeed helped considerably, it cut down on the neuralgia and pain that made it very hard for me to get regular sleep and increased my appetite, which was good because I was having a hard time eating because of the pain. There are a LOT of good reasons for legalization and very few (most of them based on religion) for not legalizing.
It is time to stop using marijuana and the war on drugs as a wedge issue just for politics. Let's get realistic about this, legalize marijuana and increase efforts to treat addicts of the harder drugs rather than just making them a crime. If you make something criminal then you create an entire class of new criminals, overnight. If we legalized marijuana then we would suddenly have millions fewer criminals for the police and courts as well as the jails to deal with so that they could go after the REAL criminals, rapists, murders and thieves both blue collar and white collar (like the Banksters and other corporate rip off artists)!!!
Groovy Man!
Like the the GOP's head's exploding, aint Funny enough, now it seems, we may get to Smoke some weed, Legally, & it'll look like Fireworks!
Talk about ROFLMAO!
That'll make Flashbacks, back in Style.
Jeff, i'd venture to guess that DWI, includes, under the Influence(Not just Intoxicated),buts its just a guess.
Come on Jeff, You knew that already, did'nt ya?
Yes but its easier to hide the fact your high than your drunk. right!!! i worked for me, i got stopped a few times and when the cop asked me if i had been drinking i was proud to say No, thank god he did not ask if i had smokes some weed.
Yea and there is no breath test for pot so people get away with it. So, no way to really count the number of auto accidents related to mari-jane.
Hey Rick -
Can you imagine the amount of popcorn I'd have to pop if they do in fact legalize it? lol
Next thing you know they'll be clamoring for M & M's and Dorito's ;0)
Feelin Groovey!
@M.Fisher: I know for a fact that day drinkers get away with accidents all the time, it’s what conceals the identity of most alcoholics. If you talk to a substance abuse counselor, they will tell you the reason why most 9-5 working alcoholics don't get DWIs is because they don't start looking for intoxicated drivers until around 6 or 7pm, and stop around 4-5am. Most people who work 9-5 are at home or in bed by that time. Also, have you not heard of blood tests? If the officer suspects something, they can have the driver take one. This happens in most serious accidents, and you still don't see larger numbers of high drivers. Awful argument against legalization.
From NBC's Ellie Hall
An unlikely coalition that includes student activists, police officers, and a former Reagan associate deputy attorney general has launched a national campaign to mobilize 2010 and 2012 voters in support of marijuana legalization
From NBC's Ellie Hall
An unlikely coalition that includes student activists, police officers, and a former Reagan associate deputy attorney general have launched a national campaign to mobilize 2010 and 2012 voters in support of marijuana legalization
They were correct. Grammatically, "coalition" is the subject, so, "An unlikely coalition... has launched" is the main sentence. "...that includes student activists, police officers, and a former Reagan associate deputy attorney general" is a relative clause modifying the noun, "coalition."
If it is legalized taxing marijuana is of course a good idea. But one would have to be careful not to tax it too high. One of the pros of legalizing marijuana is to take the drug pushers out of the marijuana business. Tax it too high and folks will be able to get it off the streets cheaper than at your local tobacco store. And if that happens then the illegal pushers will maintain control of the market.
True enough but I still think that a big part of the cost currently is due to production in an illegal environment among other things. Legalizing it means growing it in quantity using the best resources available which will drastically lower costs.
I feel pretty confident in saying that the gov. could tax it pretty heavily and still keep the total price below current black market levels. Just a guess...
Another point which will be a big factor will be the number of people who will just grow their own. I mean, why buy when you can grow it right next to your tomatoes??
In regards to growing your own weed: I agree that many will try to grow their own once it's legalized. But to produce a quality plant takes a lot of time and effort. There's more to it than just planting a seed and watering it. A grower would have to take into account many variables like soil quality, lighting, negating male plants, trimming, etc. My prediction-people will try it at first and those who don't have the time, knowledge and patience to grow a plant that is comparable to a commercial product would rather buy it. It's all about convenience. People can grow tobacco or distill their own beer. Not too many people take this route because it is much easier to just buy it from a distributor. After legalization, I'm sure after time that more people will just buy there weed than try to grow it. And those who grow it will still have to buy some to tie them over till the plant matures and can be harvested. I'm all for legalization but I think it is still very important to prosecute illegal drug dealers-maybe even make those penalties even stricter. For this to work people will need to get their pot from licensed distributors and not off the street. Once pot prices go down, what's to stop the dealers, in desperation, to under-cut the legal price? I say make the penalties for illegal drug dealers even more strict. Of course that won't get rid of all of them. It's going to take time for sure.
@M.Fisher: I agree about the growing your own issue, but look at the number of people who make their own wine, brew their own beer and grow their own produce. If it was available at a store, how many people are going to harvest their own? Yea people grow their own food, but can they sustain life off their crop? No, and the people that make their own wine and beer also go to the store.
Hemp can not only be used for medical purposes, but as a replacement for paper and textiles, but it also can replace over one hundred thousand products in the petro-chemical industry and as a high octane gasoline or bio-fuel. Only take ninety days to produce a crop.
The only reason it was made illegal in the first place was a deterrent to Mexcan nationals migrating to this country back in the 1920s and 30s.
Wonder how that has been working out for us!
Actually it has been documented that hemp was made illegal because DuPont had invented nylon and wanted to use it for ropes and the like, which hemp was the world's mainstay for high quality rope. In the 20's a man invented the hemp decorticator, which would have vastly increased the amount of hemp that could be processed in a shorter time as opposed to the old fashioned retting process. DuPont got together with the folks that were outraged that alcohol became legal again and used that as a false issue to get hemp made illegal opening the way for nylon to be used for rope and other products like real canvas that were produced from the cheaper, and less oil dependent, hemp. The US requiring that any Nation allied with it had to make hemp illegal as well destroyed a huge portion of the world economy at the time and made a captive market for the nylon to replace it. Going back to hemp products, aside from being cheaper, are longer lasting, less toxic and better for the environment.
Also, marijuana used to be wrongly considered to be used only by blacks, jazz musicians and Mexicans and so the racial tinge of it made it easy for the majority of religious whites to go with making it illegal. It is way past time to make marijuana and hemp products completely legal here in the US and stop the insane, unwinnable war upon it, let sanity reign!
Just think how many jail cells would be vacated and then opened up for the REALLY bad violent guys!
This makes me feel all stony inside! It's encouraging that, at last, science prevails over dogma (at least in this particular instance).
Should have been legalized years ago................ better late than never.
Fascinating concept, legalizing marijuana, in regards to the hemp industry.
I've heard over and over all of the oh so wonderful things that can be done with hemp but it was illegal? I'm assuming because it is too closely related to marijuana? I will have to read up on that... I wonder if hemp could realistically replace a lot of petroleum products like nylon or others..?
Anyone have some legit info on the subject because, if so, some interprising person could start producing goods from hemp and can sell based on the "green" label. Being "green" is big money these days. I know because I work for a company with a green product and we sell it faster than we can produce it. It's crazy.
There could be a lot of money to be made making green products from hemp. Maybe more than growing marijuana for recreational purposes because anyone can grow pot but very few have the capability of making their own products from hemp.
The smoking kind and the industrial kind are different from each other, but both are currently illegal.
Until WWII farmers had to set aside a certain portion of their field for the growing of hemp, which is a very low THC form of the same plant as marijuana, Cannabis. It was considered a National Resource especially in times of war because of the extreme utility of hemp cloth and rope as well as hemp seed oil and other products stemming from hemp. Like I said in the above post, DuPont was largely responsible for the laws against it and there are TONS of things that hemp has been found to be good for. There is already a growing market for hemp cloth products and related items. Hemp seed is very high in protein and essential oils and is a very good food additive.
When I was told I should try it I did a lot of research on it and found that even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson used marijuana as well as growing hemp, amongst others of the era. It used to be a Patriotic thing to do to support the Nation by growing hemp. We should get back to that paradigm and go green with hemp products rather than using, say, corn for bio-fuels, the leaf and cortex of the hemp plant could be used for the bio-fuels and the fibre used for textiles, seed used for food and oils, including the manufacture of certain plastics, etc. There could be a massive industrial change surrounding the use of hemp today and would solve a portion of our petroleum dependence. Of course, the petroleum industry will throw lots of money at the idea of keeping it illegal along with the alcohol industry and the religious sectors, however, reality needs to take a firm hold and make sure that it becomes legal: it just may save the world from the greenhouse gas problems by capturing the carbon and then us using it in everyday products rather than pumping carbon out of the ground just to burn it.
Now, would that not be Patriotic today??
What happens to the cartels and illegal boarder crossers? Might solve several problems.
In 1919, Prohibition was passed. Crime skyrocketed and gangsters grew into multi-millionaires who never/rarely paid taxes.
In 1932, Congress was losing so much money, and gathering so much debt, that the moral opinion swung. In February, 1933, they proposed the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, so that they could tax the hell out it to alleviate their financial problems.
The only states opposed to repeal were the Heartland/Bible-belt states, which rejected or never considered the repeal. Go figure...keep the debt down but don't raise money to do so. Will somebody please explain how we (then, as well as now) get rid of monstrous debt without raising taxes/fees/funds, etc.?
Geez, after 40 years of sneaking a joint, it's finally going to get legalized? You're taking all the 'daring' out of my 'golden years'... LOL....
We can not afford to question the reasoning of American's founding fathers. The annals of history provide the resulting evidence of this paradigm for those wise enough to see it. For that reason I firmly stand with Abraham Lincoln "A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
If you want to know just why cannabis should be legalized, you need look no further than "Granny Storm Crow's MMJ Reference List". For just the medical reasons alone, even without considering the multitude of industrial uses of hemp, cannabis should be legal!
I have compiled a collection of 100s of links to MMJ studies and articles gathered from sources like PubMed and WebMD. My list is posted up at various forums for you to use to educate yourself. If you are going to make an informed decision, you need factual information! Please take the time to learn about this amazing herb!
If you decide you like my list, and wish to have a free copy, run "Absolutely free! Granny Storm Crow's MMJ Reference List" and you will find a post with info how to get your own copy. I email it out as a PDF as a public service. Thank you for your time.
To anyone seeking the truth,
It is extremely important to educate yourself and others about the topics we so passionately argue. Here are a few links to get started.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_law1.shtml (The DEA's own Judge Francis L. Young ruled that marijuana is the safest known therapeutically active substance. If you don't want to read the whole thing, skip to page 58, item #16)
http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/Drug_Guide/Marijuana (please note that this kingpin website of prohibition DOES NOT MENTION ANY OF THE MISINFORMATION COMMONLY TOUTED BY PROHIBITIONISTS!!!)
http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html (here is some free information about the the various uses and the prohibition of cannabis)
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000884 (These peer reviewed studies find that, overall, marijuana is a safe and useful substance)
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000145 (This link presents a table displaying the number of deaths attributed to marijuana...look if you want to but I'll save you the effort of clicking and tell you right now, it's ZERO)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafer_Commission (I try to avoid wikipedia but, here it is anyway and I quote "[T]he criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only 'with the greatest reluctance."
If you would prefer to watch a movie instead of reading;
The Union
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#
In Pot We Trust
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2200160322729097762#
American Drug War; The Last White Hope
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2200160322729097762#docid=-8231634812734884936
Grass
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2200160322729097762#docid=-5024743677399496923
Please educate yourself.
I was hoping to see some divergent opinions here. Is this the one issue that can unite First Read commenters of all political stripes? I never thought it was possible.
Does anyone else get the sense that this could be a HUGE help to turn out the vote in these states in Novembers? I think there could be an under reported effect to this with masses of young votes showing up to vote.