From Tech Insider: An Expert Blog on the State of Federal Technology by Emily Long
While many people had serious policy concerns, others wanted to know about marijuana legalization, a mandated national bedtime and the president’s World of Warcraft skills. One even asked, “Why does God hate the Vikings?” [emphasis added]
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “I strongly disagree with Servetus’ statement about Dave Weldon. His views on marijuana are not only outdated but also harmful…” Dec 17, 07:40
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “Brain volume changes seen in opioid users: 10-Dec-2024 — OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine…” Dec 12, 22:14 on Catholic bishops fear marijuana and freethinking: “Doctors and medical professionals working on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic found significant relief from psilocybin while participating in…” Dec 7, 14:24 on Catholic bishops fear marijuana and freethinking: “Ayahuasca (DMT) effects on the brain in reducing fear and anxiety are modulated by cross-talk between two serotonin receptor sites:…” Dec 7, 13:38
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “If you thought Bondi and Weldon are bad, I know plenty of Louisiana politicians in both parties who are even…” Dec 6, 11:26 on Catholic bishops fear marijuana and freethinking: “An evaluation prepared in Germany demonstrates that severe tobacco addiction can be medically treated using nicotine or the drug varenicline:…” Dec 1, 09:19 on Catholic bishops fear marijuana and freethinking: “Cannabidiol (CBD) is investigated as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): 25-Nov-2024 – Current medical guidelines for ADHD…” Nov 26, 18:55
You know, if cannabis regulation is something so easy to laugh off, the question needs to be asked: why are we still spending billions and arresting millions to enforce the prohibition of something apparently everyone thinks is a joke?
A very good question,but also very dangerous,the last thing we want to do is make these neanderthals do is think.
Every time they think,their budget goes up 25%.
oops,dyslexia kicking in,must medicate,,,,where are those damned papers?
Maddening, isn’t it?
Kansas
——-
After all, Kansas was the first to embrace Prohibition, and one of the last to end it. Even today, you can’t find full-strength beer on a grocery store shelf.
Yet in the same week that state lawmakers voted to make Kansas the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, a Wichita legislator introduced a bill to legalize marijuana with a doctor’s prescription.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do,” said Rep. Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat.
Finney has lupus, which she said makes her sympathetic to those with chronic diseases such as Parkinson’s, cancer and HIV.
Finney’s bill would set up state-registered “compassionate care centers,” where those with prescriptions could buy marijuana for the treatment of pain or debilitating illnesses. Finney’s bill also would require the marijuana be grown in the Sunflower State.
Fourteen states already legalize medical marijuana in some fashion, including Kansas’ neighbor Colorado. Medical marijuana bills have been introduced in several other states, including Missouri.
But Kansas? The state that made Carrie Nation and her hatchet famous?
Indeed, many lawmakers said they’re not convinced there’s a need.
“Let’s be honest, this would be an attempt to legalize marijuana,” said Rep. Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican. “It has no benefit for pain management. All it does is make you crave another bag of chips.”
Kansas lawmakers are more apt to outlaw a drug than legalize it. In the past five years, lawmakers voted to criminalize salvia divinorum and jimson weed. This year they’re targeting synthetic cannibinoids, lab-produced chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana and are sold as incense.
“It’s a lot easier to outlaw ( a drug ) than it is to get one legalized,” said Rep. Rob Olson, the Olathe Republican who sponsored the House bill outlawing synthetic marijuana. The bill passed a final House vote on Wednesday.
But Finney suspects the times may be a changing. She said several lawmakers have quietly endorsed her idea.
“Everybody said ‘oh, it’s a good idea, but I don’t want to touch it,’ ” she said.
That confirms the suspicion of Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Stroup said NORML’s studies show that 80 percent of Americans favor medical marijuana.
“Even in Midwestern states like Kansas, where the politics can be conservative, people support this,” he said. “We’ve largely won the hearts and minds of the American public, but we haven’t yet figured out fully how to translate that into public policy.”
Bob Stephan, former Kansas attorney general, has advocated for medical marijuana for years. He endured years of chemotherapy in the ’70s and said fellow patients found that marijuana worked wonders on the pain and nausea.
Stephan predicts Kansas will someday legalize medical marijuana – but only after lawmakers realize it won’t hurt them politically.
“For some reason marijuana just drives people up the wall,” he said. “It’s OK to have morphine and every drug known to man – some with just awful side effects. But not marijuana.”
A legislative hearing for Finney’s bill hasn’t been scheduled. Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican and chairwoman of the House health committee, said she opposes medical marijuana. But she’s open to holding hearings.
“If we have time,” Landwehr said.
Rollin,rollin,rollin,keep that reefer rollin
Light em up,toke em down
Light em up,toke em down
Rawhide
Wow, what a cunt, sorry for the name-calling but comparing our question to those others is about the most offensive thing I’ve read in awhile.
Heh, I tried to leave a comment at the source, but they are moderating them all.
It’s asinine to assume that just because marijuana is still a taboo subject among many that any questions about it are not serious.
And clearly, if the author of that article were a serious journalist, she’d know that.
Has anyone else tried to post comments on that article? I’ve tried twice but neither comment has appeared.
Heh, the comments are obviously being modded there, and I’m sure that dopey author is getting an earful, just like the idiots over at youtube, where the forum is just about 99% outraged over their “censorship” of the marijuana question.
http://www.citizentube.com/2010/02/your-questions-for-president-obama.html
I’m sure that would be a good place to leave your comment, if you have not done so already.
This makes me think about something I have been thinking about recently and was reminded of a couple minutes ago.
A comedian on tv said, mimicking a stoner, “wanna smoke some pot?” “no” “why?” “because I’m not in 7th grade!”
Last week I was reading a comment on here where an employer told an employee to “stop that childish stuff”
WHY THE HELL DOES EVERYONE THINK MARIJUANA IS CHILDISH??? Isn’t that exactly the opposite of the “but the children!” argument? Out of one side of their mouth they think we need to shield our children from the “scourge of marijuana” but out of the other they think that it is kid’s stuff!
This is dangerously hypocritical, they are basically saying to kids that marijuana is for them and saying to responsible users that they can’t smoke because it might make a child think it’s ok! WTF!
Incidentally, about the CitizenTube crap, they are probably having the last laugh, their omission of the question has only made it something to be talked about, gotten more attention than the actual asked questions have.
“Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are in my opinion more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality.”
— Frank Zappa,
Statement to the Senate Hearing on “Porn Rock,” 1985
everyone thinks is a joke?
Dude the Ganjawar is a joke, it’s just not funny. The only reason it ever existed is profit and eliminating competition. Religions can spout all the gospels and tambourines they want but they have no power other than propagandists. Politicians work for those corporate donations or they aren’t politicians very long. Everything else from pissant Senators bills to citizens initiatives that over ride them is bickering over who cleans up the red herring droppings.
The game is perpetuation. Not win or lose. “Treatments” not cures or prevention. I know the entire television format and the high school books all say we are a free market democracy. But they lied, then agreed upon it. Their means to their end is always justified by the end goal, profit and removing competition.
If we yell back they tweak a few sentences onto a tabloid or cable entertainment news show but nothing changes. Prop 215 making a few some big bucks they were already making without Ganjamarts. Cops never went crazy on patients using unless they turned activist and got their names in the paper. Or was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The “law” randomly enforced is not a law, its a joke that isn’t funny.
Even with prop 215 thousands were caged and millions arrested. Ask Charlie Lynch or Eddy Lepp. Trying to legitimize International non sovereign Fascists bankrolls is like trying to take their war profiteering business. Just say “Mission Accomplished” then rename it “police action” and profit all you want. The “Authority” in the BAR pulls the strings of the lawyers. Both sides. Though the state rarely punishes liars for the state. Defense adhere to 404 Free Speech violations. Both cash their checks win or lose.
AMA/AIG blackmails the doctors. FDA ain’t never gonna see Ganja or Hemp. Medicinally its been file 13ed at the Health and Human Services. Until this government corporation FDA waves its magic wand, it ain’t medicine. If it ain’t medicine, politicians and courts can bust you. Until someone calls for an investigation into the CSA and placement of Ganja and Hemp, the game will be played. People will die people will get sick and then a new generation can play the game.
Hemp is even more corporate competition removed as long as the DEA calls it “marihuana”. The major moneysluts in fossil fools, wood, plastic and cotton. All supporting a cast of thousands of poisons makers and steel and lumber. Plus those their processes make sick, make profits for the Pharmaceutical subsidiaries. Those thousand points of light as Boosh 1 dreamed of. They are the Banksters and Coal barrens buying the politicians or stealing their votes. Keeping a non debate fired up to continue the cycle of appeasement, ConPromises and stalling. Remove the lie Nixon fabricated and its all legal by default.
Then the drug war will end by dealing with individuals chemical dependencies. The Portland Hotel Society seems to be dealing with it. Rehabs by court order, especially for non addictive Ganja only profits the rehabs. People like Califono profit on the misery of thousands of Californians. The politicians he lobbies are voted in or appointed by huge campaign financing bound to increase with the latest weasel power grab giving corporations the right to donate unlimited amounts as a private citizen.
Factories shit toxic waste and exhale poisonous fumes, eat up tax subsidies. Marry other corporations while some consider them parent companies so I guess they breed too, must be citizens. Fascist have lost all trace of humanity. Plastic replacement parts like Haliburton Asbestos Co. ceo Cheney’s heart. it won’t be long before they intermarry. Screwing the workers long enough might as well take them from illegitimacy. Most piss tasted already have a ring through their nose. Intermarriage.
The Ganjawar is only a leg of the Fascist octopus. Several “cold wars” and maintenance on past “police actions”. Vote rigging or stigmatizing or falsifying medicinal values or potency as long as no one is held accountable, no change can take place. Shelving alternative sources of energy and building materials. Wall St Casino’s and the Fed’s corporation printing worthless paper. NAFTA/GATT or prison slave labor keeping a living wage out of reality.
It looks more like we’re all a bunch of dogs chasing a car. Barking our asses off, spending energy and if we ever do get close enough to catch it… Now I can smoke this quasi legal Ganjamart joint or this not quasi legal homegrown locally and it all taste the same and does the same. Prove how crooked any politician is by asking them to sponsor a bill to remove all profits from elections, police actions, health care and Justice. When they stop the nervous laughter vote em out. No incumbents No Vested Ignorance. Thats what makes the WoD go round.
“The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.”
— Frank Zappa, interview, Playboy, May 2, 1993
Clay Gooding:
Do you have a link to the article you posted? I am typically not one to push the MMJ agenda first before looking at full legalization. In my mind, I feel that no matter the reason for your drug use and no matter what drug, the concept of taking away liberty or authorizing government theft of personal resources is absurd.
However, after reading the following…
“Let’s be honest, this would be an attempt to legalize marijuana,†said Rep. Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican. “It has no benefit for pain management. All it does is make you crave another bag of chips.â€
… that pissed me off. A lot. In fact, I had to take a walk to cool down and that’s rare after all of the infuriating stuff I have read regarding our government. A man that likely has never experienced a chronic illness and probably has never taken one hit of weed in his life becoming the source of knowledge on cannabis and using that as justification for himself and others on why cannabis is outlawed.
However, the frustration I feel reminds me of at least one good thing: I could never be as heartless a person as Scott Schwab.
Wow… I just can’t believe that guy.
See this is why marijuana will never be fully legalized. Fear + groupthink + psychological pedophilia.
claygooding, reefer madness is very real. This concept eludes many very intelligent people because they mistakenly believe that it’s the people that consume cannabis that are the ones driven mad.
“Let’s be honest…”‘
A possible rejoinder:
“Yes, let’s be honest. Particularly about the nature of cannabis prohibition, and why some people support it, in much the same way they supported racial segregation…and in some cases, for exactly the same reasons.”
Turn it around, throw it right back into their teeth. Support for drug prohibition is racism, and we can prove it.
And as to the ‘childish’ aspect, I suppose a real He-Man proves his mettle by imbibing alcohol to the point of being seriously poisoned but not throwing up?
I know that in some cultures – as in Japan, until recently – it was a very big deal and an sign of adulthood to go out drinking and get totally sh*t-faced but it was a sign of weakness to have to barf. But even there, the culture is changing, and fewer people are tolerant of that behavior.
So, who’s more adult? The mainly peaceable cannabis indulgers who pay a very small price physically for their choice of intoxicant (and don’t act like flaming arseholes), or the drinkers, whose choice includes a long string of ‘side-effects’ more suitable for the breathy tail-end cataloging of a Big Pharma TV ad?
One reason people think marijuana is childish is because children can’t enter a bar or liquor store. Prohibition makes weed a “rebellious” kiddie drug and in the process it introduces them to dangerous street chemicals/narcotics as well.
Partially related: we’ll see how ‘serious’ an issue this when this kind of thing happens all over the country:
Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many
from the article:
“COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.” (Emphasis mine -k.)
I keep telling people that this is coming. It’s coming soon, to every city, every county, every State. The pols and the prohibs are living in the past of flush budgets and unquestioned appropriations. But the economic reality of Post-Meltdown America is fast overtaking the illusion.
The bean-counters will rule, eventually. and the biggest bean-counting operation of all, the Fed’s Government Accounting Office has turned thumbs-down on the ‘anti-drug’ bureaucracy every time, due to the cost/benefit analysis showing it was a bust.
All some opportunistic pol has to do is ‘discover’ the waste and fraud that is the DrugWar and claim it as an tax efficiency issue. The leg work’s already been done by the GAO. All that’s needed is the starting gun, and the pols can be off and running. And that starting gun is in or hands, by writing these goofs as irate taxpayers and letting them know how we feel about spending what few tax dollars are left on this idiocy. The smarter (and hungrier) ones will tumble to that real quick.
“While many people had serious policy concerns, others wanted to know about marijuana legalization…”
What’s more serious than the ownership of your own body’s biochemical & cognitive functions? I think a person’s sovereignty is the paramount policy concern. President Obama’s and his minions’ reactions to this question drives right to the heart of the War on Certain Drugs. It’s all about control and identifying those who would stand up and be counted among free men and women.
I hate to say it, but the racial aspect of the War on Certain Drugs has been twisted around to the point where one of the very people who would have been targeted by its rules, is now, in a position of power and is doing nothing about it. You just can’t make this stuff up, this is the best psychological operations campaign I have ever seen.
my sister has dyslexia but she can live a very normal life eventhough she can’t read that much’`”