Open Thread

“bullet” Don’t Smoke It by Peter Gorman in the Fort Worth Weekly, is an extensive article about industrial hemp.

In fact, he said, traditionally independent Texas farmers could come to see hemp-growing as a right they’re being denied. “Texans don’t like their personal rights abridged,” he said. “And once they understand the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, your average Texas farmer would probably demand the right to grow it.
Daniel Leshiker, who farms near Ralph Snyder in North Central Texas, agreed with Snyder that hemp sounds intriguing.
“We already need another crop, that’s for certain. I just planted 200 acres of sunflowers for their seed for the first time,” he said. “So while I don’t know much about hemp except they used to make rope with it, well, you tell me I could make money with it, and I’ll grow it. That’s what we are in the business to do.”

“bullet” Where will Christians fall when the marijuana debate lights up?

But younger Christians might be a different story. In late April, the evangelical blog Burnside Writer‰s Collective quizzed its young-ish readers on a series of pot-related questions. Should marijuana be legalized? Fifty percent of responders thought so, and the next largest percentage said it should at least be decriminalized. Have you ever smoked marijuana? Fifty percent said yes, 40 said no. The 10 percent in the middle respond, in uniquely young evangelical fashion, that they have smoked once or twice. (Doesn‰t that just mean ‹Yes?Š)

“bullet” This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever seen. The Wheel of Justice? Spinning to see what drug dealer you’ll arrest next. If that isn’t proof that the drug war is idiotic in itself, I don’t know what is.
“bullet” Dr. Joycelyn Elders: Americans need to be more healthy. The former Surgeon General writes:

“To me, [marijuana is] not nearly as toxic for our bodies as tobacco or alcohol. It should be legalized.”

“bullet” Via Scott Morgan: Police Will Do Anything to Arrest People for Marijuana

The Tigard Police Department has ended a sex-for-marijuana Internet sting because officers posting the online ads posed as promiscuous women, not prostitutes.
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The officers posting the Craigslist ads posed as women willing to a have casual sexual encounter with men who had marijuana. No cash was involved. When the men showed up for the encounter, they were charged with prostitution and delivery of drugs.
Defense attorneys say the program was entrapment.

No kidding.
Also from Scott: Federal Prosecutor Drops Medical Marijuana Charges

And the universe didn‰t collapse. Not only that, the story has gotten no press whatsoever. Often, when the government refrains from doing something cruel to someone, there isn’t much of a news story left to report. This just goes to show how silly it is to assume that there’s a political imperative requiring us to continue aggressively enforcing bad drug laws. There isn‰t.
See how easy it is to just leave patients alone? Next time, try not arresting them in the first place.