The people who get excited about a drug seizure and say that this will really hurt the cartels… are the same people who claim legalization won’t hurt the cartels because they’ll find another way to make money.
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Both of us want to get drugs off the street. I want to do it for good through legalization. You, apparently, like the exercise of picking them up one at a time.
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There’s something sick about a society where they take kids away from pot-smoking parents, but don’t take them away from politicians.
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If you’re going to make a plant illegal, why can’t it be poison ivy?
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When marijuana is legalized, will unemployed DEA agents have to apply for jobs at cannabis stores? If so, what kind of random test should they have to take to be able to work there?
You’re working your way up to being labeled an anarchist.
Couldn’t happen to a better blogger.
I love to spread your random thoughts.
Thanks again.
The last time I checked, the marijuana use in the U.S. was estimated to be 40 tons a day. That kind of puts the significance of a 200-pound seizure in perspective, and even seizures of a few tons are insignificant overall.
The speakers of LEAP point out, time and again, that no matter what they did, it never made any discernible difference on the street.
Why have we spent a trillion dollars on a program that for 40 years has been 100% ineffective, if not actually counterproductive?
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One of the fun facts that I’ve picked up on this journey is that for the year ended June 30,1969 The US Border Patrol seized a grand total of 57,164 pounds of cannabis. That’s for a full 12 months, at a time when there was no significant domestic production. That’s about 30% less than the figure quoted above for average daily consumption.
The youngsters think there never was a time when there was no significant home production? Gosh, I wish I had a tape recording of all the people who told me, “Duncan, you’re an idiot. You can’t grow good pot in Northern Virginia!” Nowadays no one says part 2 of that statement, but in or around 1978-1982 it was common knowledge.
When I see someone in the MSM say that people are growing pot under heat lamps I almost always flashback to the home of the very first black market cannabis vendor that I met. This guy actually had a plant growing under an honest to god heat lamp. The thing was 8 feet tall, a single stalk, and the stretch was so pronounced that it had about 6 leaves total. That wasn’t because he was pulling a Fat Freddy* either. It was just from a color temperature that was too damned warm and the lamp too far above the plant.
*Fat Freddy was one of the Fabulous Furry Freak brothers who was perpetually growing a cannabis stalk with only its top leaves still attached. Oh well shit, would you just look at that; they’ve actually gone and produced a full length feature film with the Freak brothers called “Grass Roots” with a 2011 production date. Apparently there’s nothing from the 1960s that they aren’t going to update and re-release. Claymation eh?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944952/plotsummary
> Why have we spent a trillion dollars on
> a program that for 40 years has been 100%
> ineffective, if not actually counterproductive?
Because it’s actually been _highly_ effective, just not in the way proponents claim as cover.
I suppose that’s true. For example, it has been highly effective in creating a demand for prison guards and in getting lots of federal money for police departments.
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Well it looks like it’s time to crack down on people who are named Jared. It’s pretty obvious by now to even the most casual observer that being named Jared causes people to become insane and violent. Hey, correlation = causation, right? Can we really risk a massacre at a sub shop at lunch time? There are children who eat submarine sandwiches you know.
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DEA agents should be subjects of DNA testing to prove that they are in fact human beings.
I thought you couldn’t get blood from a stone?
If we have no problem distinguishing tomatos from deadly nightshade then why do police have trouble telling the difference between hemp and marijuana (Or marijuana from actual weeds?)
Or as a corollary if the general public can tell the difference…do we really want people less capable then the average joe doing detective work?
If people want a chane in political direction why do they keep voting for the same parties?
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If I take illegal drugs to work my honest job harder, then is the extra $ I make dirty? If I feed the homeless with that $ is it clean again? If so/not, why?
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If I own a hemp rope made from stalks of cann. indica is it possesion of a controlled substance… the law says cann. L sativa.
#7360 just says “marijuana”
#7370 is “Tetrahydrocannabinols” further described as THC, Delta-8 THC, Delta-9 THC and others”
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html
Even at 3/10ths of 1% hemp contains THC.
Interesting. I hadn’t realized until just now that the DEA classifies merrywanna as non-narcotic.
What if I vape that 1% out? lol
Random thoughts: Why would anybody hire an ex-dea schmuck for the best wage-paying job in the world- bud tender?
Perhaps these people would be better suited to a job that requires the use of the phrase “You want fries with that?”
They should be DRUG tested, of course. They should be made to urinate publicly, in front of EVERYONE, once a day, to prove they want that job at Wendy’s. Failure to urinate on demnd would be cause for dismissal. A large window would have to be installed for the purpose. Pointing and laughing would be encouraged.
In my ideal world we could take the children from prohibitionists, and give them to loving, cannabis smoking homes….
And after legalization it would be legal to poke ex DEA agents with sharpened sticks.
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You are just plain mean. Your proposal is simply gratuitous. Why not make them record it on video and require them to post it to youtube as well? I knew there must be a reason why I like you.
Hey, anybody Hempfesting this weekend in Seattle? I’ll be ’round about, stopping into the NORML/HT table to lend a hand now and again. And I be wearing a stylish DrugWarRant hat, so I’m easy to spot….
IF they don`t test positive for thc put the scum on “the list”.
Seldom have I come across a better idea:
“When marijuana is legalized, will unemployed DEA agents have to apply for jobs at cannabis stores? If so, what kind of random test should they have to take to be able to work there?”
The type of person who works at DEA is likely to embody any number of stereotypes which could be used to torment them. To whit:
Make the DEA men dress feminine, and the DEA ladies too. Then conduct the interview. During the interview, create loud explosions behind them and take points off their score if they flinch. Shoot their dogs right in front of them, and dock them if they flinch. Torture their wives and children right in front of them, and tell them they will lose the job if they react. Then, after hours/days/weeks of this, tell them they don’t qualify and better luck next time. Repeat as often as DEA agents try to find work.
In short, torture them exactly as they do us. No quarter. Make them believe suicide is a good option.
Protect & Serve (Themselves!)
…kind of random test should they have to take…
Well I would have to test them for I.Q. first (and often), frequent polygraphs (’cause we know how much they like to lie and steal -oops I mean misappropriate), random vision tests because they can’t seem to be able to see the trees through the forest, purity tests to make sure they’re not commies (oops, showing my age) I mean teeeerrroooorriiiissstssss!, alcohol testing, steroid testing, animal compassion testing, constant anger and impulse management classes… Damn this is fun!
Here’s a really random thought: What would gold be worth if we were still on a gold reserve instead of fractional reserve monetary system and how would that effect the drug war?
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It really is silly to think that the fractional reserve system is at fault, or that the gold standard would have saved our economy. Good lord, are you aware of how many economic catastrophes were precipitated in this country alone when we were married to the gold standard?
Two very simple questions: Do you believe that the fractional reserve system necessarily allows unlimited printing of money?
Do you believe that the gold standard would prevent the unlimited printing of money if those in control of the economy were so inclined?
The correct answer to both is no, it doesn’t. The value of seashells is only as much as the people grant them. You can wake up one morning and realize that somebody walking on the beach realized that it was lousy with seashells, and your seashell backed currency is now totally worthless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_money
Look, I don’t claim to understand much about “commodity-backed currencies” versus “fiat currencies,” the “Federal Reserve System,” “fractional reserve banking,” or any of that other happy crappy, but if we were going to make a change to our monetary system, why back our currency with something boring like gold which (as best I can tell) has no intrinsic value. Why not a cannabis-backed currency? Instead of fixing the price per ounce of gold, the government would guarantee the price per ounce of that sweet, sweet cheeba. We could call it the “Acapulco gold” standard.
Hmm… maybe this should be the platform for my presidential run.
You’ll get MY vote, Francis.
Awesome, darkcycle! Thanks for your support, and you can just make that check out to “cash.” (FYI, I’m also open to the “silver haze” standard, if that ends up testing better with the focus groups.)
Lol. Hey, it was just a sto… I mean random thought. I don’t even know enough about $ to even hang on to any. haha
Well this is close to cannabis currency… Silver Sativas!
I found an ounce of Silver with a Cannabis Leaf on it. Check it out at libertyleaf.com
Asher, about a year ago I bought a bunch of silver and very seriously considered buying those coins, but in the end decided that the premium was too high. That design reduces the number of willing buyers and that’s a bad thing if you’re investing.
Silver is a much better purchase than gold because industry uses more every year than is mined. The supply of gold increases every year. Copper may be even better if you want to bet that China is going to continue to expand and build new infrastructure. But China’s industry is very dependent on the US economy so I’ll pass on that speculation. Gold is up about 1/3 while silver has more than doubled from when I bought mine.
Since marijuana is the #1 money crop in America,,,more than corn,wheat and cotton combined,,,our economy already is partially dependent on it’s local production.
Been there, done that, got the powdered wig.
In the 17th/18th money was backed with tobacco, at least in Virginia. The problem with a cannabis backed currency is that the store of value needs to be fungible, and it’s ludicrous to think that cannabis could even fantasize about being fungible. Fungible means that cartel brickweed = organically grown top shelf medicinal grade cannabis. Would anyone want to argue that’s possible?
I admit I’m skeptical of the claim that there was cannabis backed currency. I couldn’t find any supporting evidence and the fact that it’s listed as cannabis backed rather than marijuana of Indian hemp backed currency makes be suspect that entry was written by a pothead. How do you add one of the ‘citation needed’ things in a Wikipedia page?
BTW after I wrote my response to tintguy I realized that there’s been a very significant change just recently that means I’m going to have to sit down and totally re-evaluate my position on this subject. You see, I do agree that a currency needs backing, and up until a couple of weeks ago the full faith and credit of the United States of America was just fine and dandy. Now that the US has squandered our national faith and credit asset it’s just not true anymore.
Well, well, what a coinkydink. There’s been some conversation above about how much power a POTUS has in issuing executive orders and that’s how FDR forced everyone to sell him their gold in 1933. Did you know that in 1933 Mr. Roosevelt issued an executive order forcing people to sell all of their gold to the Treasury for $20.67 per troy ounce?
So does everyone notice and understand how FDR “printed” $14.33 per troy ounce of gold with a single stroke of his pen? OK, maybe it was two strokes but it certainly wasn’t much harder than that to expand the money supply despite the fact that it was backed by gold. The premise that commodity backed currency will prevent inflation of the money supply is simply false on its face and easily provable throughout history.
It’s just shameful that a pothead could believe that the government has the power necessary to regulate the invisible hand. We engage in bucking the government on a daily basis. We of all people should understand that the invisible hand is very real. One of the greatest thing about studying history is that by and large people do the same things over and over and over again. Have you ever heard the old saw “those who do not learn from history will almost certainly repeat the very same failures of people in the past”? Well quite frankly not learning from history is probably peoples’ most frequently repeated behaviors.
Any way you look at it this economy is going to take a dump. (IMO of course) I believe that my foundation for that assertion is valid based on my knowledge of history. It’s hideously frightening that we me yet end up in a nominal deflationary spiral. People don’t seem to understand just how much money that the gov’t has pumped into the economy with debt repurchasing in order to jump start the economy and therefore don’t understand that an increase of that size in the money supply without corresponding price inflation means that we’re actually already in a deflationary economy. If the gov’t quits expanding the money supply we’re fucked.
We need to get Gerry Ford on the phone and find out where he bought all those cute little WIN buttons and bumper stickers. WIN meant Whip Inflation Now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_inflation_now
That certainly seemed to promote inflation.
It is true that inflation sucks, but deflation sucks way more than inflation especially with so much debt. You know there must still be homes with bomb shelters. They were very popular among homeowners back in the 1970s/early 1980s. Not so much because of the economy but because they were scared we were going to get (nuclear) bombed by commies. That threat was a fantasy but the collapse of our economy is a very real possibility, and I doubt that it can be stopped now. Downgrading our country’s credit rating was a very serious body blow to our economy. I’ll hope for the best but I do expect the worst. Fuck gold. Got canned goods, silver, copper, a generator with a supply of diesel fuel to run it, guns and ammunition?
Silver has a new problem Duncan. I had invested somewhat heavily and I too watched my investment double….then Dodd-Frank happened. Inside Dodd-Frank there was an ammendnment that essentially said the only people whoo could trade in Silver Futures were LISENCED commodities brokers. The result of this is that the paper silver market and the bullion market no longer have any real ties…you see, Morgan-Stanley and Goldman had been pumping the silver paper market to maintain the dollar’s value in the face of huge quantitative easing (read: printing dollars as fast as you can feed the paper into the press). It is an ugly state of affairs that has by some estimates three times as much papaer silver on the market than exists in the entire world (mined or UNMINED). They are trying like hell to protect that vestige of the bubble, and have swept so much of their crap under that rug that if the market ever normalizes, silver will balloon to about $125 dollars an ounce, but the peak will likely be closer to $1000 before it steadies at it’s traditional relationship to gold. All it will take for that balloon to bust will be one large silver paper holder (like China or India)to call in their bullion. See, for years they’ve been shipping their bullion to the U.S. in exchange for that paper….
Duncan have you watched any of Max Kieser’s video’s from RT t.v.? They’ll set you’re hair on fire…but take it all with plenty of salt..
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/floridas-welfare-drug-testing-costs-more-it- Link about the scheme of drug-tests which are costing the state of Florida for only 2 positive screens out of 40. The injunction only applied to state employees, like I figured…