Debating Drugs

Transform has come out with yet another useful publication: Debating Drugs: How to Make the Case for Legal Regulation

In it, they’ve assembled all the standard prohibition arguments with effective responses to each of them in a variety of areas. Very handy tool for those looking for well-crafted responses.

I’m not always in agreement with Transform – sometimes the degree of regulation they seem to desire goes a little far for me – but they’re doing absolutely wonderful work.

debating-drugs-risk

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63 Responses to Debating Drugs

  1. Frank W. says:

    Facebook and Twitter icons? “Nuanced messaging”? Buh-BYE

    • claygooding says:

      Do not underestimate the power of FB and twit..I have found FB handy because nearly every legislator has a homepage and I visit them with articles about how much taxes CO has collected and how badly WA’s overtaxed and over regulated market is doing.
      I have a state Rep that has MS and he is against MMJ,,I keep him posted with every MS research so he can’t say he didn’t know,,handy indeed.

  2. Crut says:

    Wow. Really useful bullet points.

    I agree about your over-regulation stance also Pete. Until I can legally grow some medicine in my backyard, whether that be cannabis or opium, we still have work to do.

    • strayan says:

      Transform are not opposed to self cultivation. Where did you get the idea that they were?

      • Crut says:

        I should’ve clarified. I didn’t look specifically into their stance, was just generalizing based on my impressions of the differences between Colorado and Washington’s regulations.

        Either way, I think my statement stands alone.

  3. Francis says:

    CONCERN: I’m worried that if drugs are legalized, I might have to get a real job and contribute something of actual value to society.

    RESPONSE: Tough shit, Kevin.

  4. claygooding says:

    LEADING ANTI-MARIJUANA ACADEMICS ARE PAID BY PAINKILLER DRUG COMPANIES

    http://tinyurl.com/pfyzrf5

    Kevin Sabet has ties with the rehab industry and so does NJ Gov Christie while Dr.Dupont owns one of the largest drug screening companies in the US and all these people have instant access to mainstream media while being quoted as gospel by their disciples.

  5. Mike Parent says:

    Prohibitionists are parasites who profit from their morally bankrupt policy. There’s no lie they won’t tell.

    “Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt international bureaucracy … and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with ‘scientific support’ … fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others. … The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents.”
    — William F. Buckley,

  6. kaptinemo says:

    Tangentially topical: The left’s secret midterm weapon: How marijuana ballot initiatives can change turnout.
    With so much support for medical marijuana, Dems could get surprising boost on the ballot. Except one big holdout.

    Remember Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her standing in the way of MMJ in FL? The Dem blogosphere hasn’t forgotten, either.

    • Jean Valjean says:

      Looks like Debbie didn’t get the memo.
      At heart she’s just a right wing clone of Hillary. Both are war mongers and both are more concerned with starting new wars (Iran), than ending any old ones (Drugs)… god I hope Florida kicks her sorry ass to the curb.

    • Windy says:

      My Stars, I so hope that is merely wishful thinking on the part of democrats, the very LAST thing this country needs is more democrats in political office.

      http://goo.gl/wb5i3b

      Better if voters ALL forget about democrats AND republicans and vote for the real libertarians on their ballots, that is if they truly want freedom as the millennials seem to.

  7. Servetus says:

    New research adds evidence that marijuana’s THC reduces the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Tampa, FL (Aug. 26, 2014) – Researchers from the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute showed that extremely low doses of THC reduce the production of amyloid beta, found in a soluble form in most aging brains, and prevent abnormal accumulation of this protein — a process considered one of the pathological hallmarks evident early in the memory-robbing disease. These low concentrations of THC also selectively enhanced mitochondrial function, which is needed to help supply energy, transmit signals, and maintain a healthy brain.

    “THC is known to be a potent antioxidant with neuroprotective properties, but this is the first report that the compound directly affects Alzheimer’s pathology by decreasing amyloid beta levels, inhibiting its aggregation, and enhancing mitochondrial function,” said study lead author Chuanhai Cao, PhD and a neuroscientist at the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and the USF College of Pharmacy.

    There’s more than one way to win a drug war. While marijuana consumers remain relatively healthy and mentally active, marijuana prohibitionists can expect their limited brain functions to further deteriorate with age. Victory through Alzheimer’s, who would have thought it?

  8. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    Damn Servetus, you must not have had your Wheaties this morning. Alzheimer’s requires that the person have a working brain to fail!

    Say, where do I send an application to get some grant money to do a scientific study? If I can get my hands on a couple of million dollars I’d like to quantify just how safe it is to presume that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west every day.
    Married Couples Who Smoke Marijuana are Less Likely to Encounter Domestic Violence

  9. DdC says:

    Always nice when official Science catches up…

    The times when cops and drug worriers could just make shit up unchecked are over. Same with quacks using their titles as weight, its not just old stoners making the claims, science is catching up. Those tired of being embarassed by paid liars and their weak lapdogs repeating the gossip are countering with MSM editorials and articles. Each day another hobgoblin bites the dust and another family discovers a remedy for their loved ones. Imagine how they must feel about liars keeping their kids having seizures or parents with alzheimers. Looks like its time for the tar and feathers and a rail to run these bastards out of the policy making business.

    Many natural alternatives to white powders, especially cannabis.

    The Answer To USA Painkiller Epidemic
    https://www.facebook.com/222DdC/posts/10152520379397326
    Always nice when official Science catches up…

    Dumping ice water won’t remedy ALS, cannabis will.

    Cannabis and ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease)
    AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1962

    Marijuana compound may offer treatment for Alzheimer’s disease

    Really. Using Pot To Save Brains!
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/601

    Leading Anti-Marijuana Academics Are Paid by Painkiller Drug Companies

    Guess Who’s Profiting From Pot Prohibition?
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/878

    Come gather ’round people
    Wherever you roam
    And admit that the waters
    Around you have grown
    And accept it that soon
    You’ll be drenched to the bone
    If your time to you is worth savin’
    Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
    For the times they are a-changin’

  10. allan says:

    The Sebat in Oregon Marihuana Miseducation Tour:

    Madras:

    Living Hope Church 25 NE A Street Madras, OR 97741
    *Summit Registration Required
    Cindy Brockett 541-475-4884
    http://www.BestCarePrevention.org
    OCT 1-2 2014 8am-5pm

    Bend:

    Venue (To Be Determined) Jessica Jacks 541-330-4632
    7pm-9pm

    Salem:

    Keizer Civic Center 930 Chemawa Road NE Keizer, OR 97303 Lisa Miller
    503-981-2461 or Matt Stevenson 503-623-9664
    8am-10am

    Clackamas:

    Clackamas Comm College Gregory Forum Building 19600 Molalla Avenue Oregon
    City, OR 97045 Brian McCrady 503-650-5681
    3:30pm-5pm
    THU OCTOBER 2, 2014

    Tigard:

    Tigard High School Deb Fennell Auditorium 9000 SW Durham Road Tigard, OR
    97224 Connie Ramaekers 503-431-4022
    6:30pm-8:30pm

    Corvallis:

    Oregon State University LaSells Stewart Center 875 SW 26th Street
    Corvallis, OR 97333 Alicia Griggs 541-766-6033
    8am-10am

    Eugene:

    University of Oregon Gerlinger Hall, Room 220 1468 University Street
    Eugene, OR 97405 Lindsey Adkisson 541-682-8772
    12pm-2pm

    Roseburg:

    Umpqua Comm. College Jacoby Auditorium 1140 Umpqua College Rd Roseburg, OR
    97470 Jerry O’Sullivan 541-672-2691
    4pm-6pm

    Grants Pass:

    Hull Center Parkway Christian Center 29 NE Beacon Drive Grants Pass, OR
    97526 Shawn Martinez 541-474-5234
    7:30pm-9:30pm

    Ontario:

    Four Rivers Cultural Center 676 SW 5th Avenue Ontario, OR 97914 Sarah Poe
    541-889-9167
    9am-11am MDT/8amPST

    LaGrande:

    Blue Mountain Conference Center 404 12th Street La Grande, OR 97850 DeAnne
    Mansveld 541-962-8822
    1pm-3pm

    Hood River:

    Hood River Middle School Auditorium 1602 May Street Hood River, OR 97031
    Belinda Ballah 541-387-6890
    7pm-9pm

    Astoria area:

    Camp Rilea Log Classroom 33168 Patriot Way Warrenton, OR 97146 Jill Quackenbush 503-325-8673
    11am-1pm

  11. Nunavut Tripper says:

    An article in the Washington Post about drug czar Michael Botticelli.
    Apparently he’s a reformed alcoholic and gay.

    Isn’t he the guy that Senator Cohen embarrassed with the facts ?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/drug-czar-approaches-challenge-from-a-different-angle-as-a-recovering-alcoholic/2014/08/26/fa518dd0-2883-11e4

    • primus says:

      link no workee

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .

          I’m not sure that a gay drug czar is such a good idea when I consider just how many monobrowed knuckle draggers there are on the other side of the table. When I say a “good idea” I do mean a good idea if the goal is for our society to prolong the stupidity of prohibition. But far be it from me to look a gift pony in the mouth.

    • DdC says:

      Meet Michael Botticelli: Obama’s Openly Gay Drug Czar | Health | Lifestyle | SFGN Articles http://southfloridagaynews.com/Health/meet-michael-botticelli-obama-s-openly-gay-drug-czar.html#.U_7TK6qtb8Q.twitter
      Botticelli, acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has been with his husband for almost 20 years and they have been married for the past 5. They already own a condo in Wilton Manors and hope to retire to the area someday.

      Michael Botticelli understands all too well the effects alcohol and addiction has had, and continues to have, on the LGBT community. The acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is not only gay, but also a recovering addict.

      “You can take the rum out of the fruit cake, but you’ve still got a fruit cake!

      Dry Drunk Syndrome
      http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/info/a/aa081397.htm
      Not Drinking, But Not ‘Of Sober Mind’ Either

      What is a Codependent Dry Drunk?
      http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/14/1216293/-What-is-a-Codependent-Dry-Drunk
      I’m going to be talking about a codependent dry drunk rather than an alcoholic dry drunk. The alcoholic dry drunk is an alcoholic who has stopped drinking and expects others to respect their new sense of moral authority. The alcoholic dry drunk still has all the glaring character defects and personality traits of an addict, but now they feel entitled to lecture others. The codependent dry drunk has many of the traits of the alcoholic, and may even become a drunk, but the crises in their lives usually revolve around other people’s addictions.

      Joe Biden Will Ensure Obama Administration’s Tough Drug War Stance
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/joe-biden-drug-war_n_2279702.html
      But who is responsible for the administration’s decision to prolong and even intensify the drug war, both domestically and abroad? In a Rolling Stone article published last week, Tim Dickinson quotes a former White House official with intimate knowledge of the matter who claims that Vice President Joe Biden is a prime culprit:

      The RAVE Act Has Landed
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/408
      A prestigious scientific journal is retracting a study about the effects of the drug Ecstasy on the brain because the animals used in the research were given a different drug. SECOND ECSTASY STUDY RETRACTED Mon, 15 Sep 2003

      The DEA used the new RAVE Act to shut down a May 30 benefit concert for two Montana groups advocating marijuana legalization, proving critics’ fears that the law would not only be used to keep kids off ecstasy, but as a tool to silence drug war opponents. The concert, a joint benefit for the Montana chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Students for Sensible Drug Policy, was called off by the manager of the venue after she received threats from a local DEA agent of a $250,000 fine if someone at the event smoked a joint, according to a report by Phillip S. Smith of DRCNet.

      The RAVE Act, authored by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), was intended to target the electronic music shows, called raves, which are known for open use of the drug ecstasy, by making it a crime for the owner of a venue to knowingly host an event where illegal drugs are used. Opponents of the law, fearing that it would be used to infringe on the free speech of groups advocating drug law reform, were able to block it in Congress last year. But Biden attached it as an amendment to the popular Amber Alert bill passed in May.

    • Howard says:

      “An article in the Washington Post about drug czar Michael Botticelli. Apparently he’s a reformed alcoholic and gay.”

      So Michael Botticelli decided at one point to stop hiding and lying about his sexual orientation. Good for him. But he ends up at a job where, by law, he has to lie about Schedule I drugs in the face of any attempt — no matter how legitimate and factually based — to re- or de-schedule those substances.

      What a tangled web some of us weave.

    • Jean Valjean says:

      Drug Czar Michael Botticelli, a “recovering alcoholic” is being used to dress the drug war in in touchy feely clothes to cover its innate brutality.

      “Decades later, he is tasked with spearheading the Obama administration’s drug policy, which is largely predicated on the idea of shifting people with addiction into treatment and support programs and away from the criminal justice system.”

      Notice the vagueness of the term “shifting people.” He doesn’t want to tell us that shifting people means threatening them with jail unless they agree to “voluntarily” enter treatment, followed by endless urine drops, the failing of which means jail.
      Botticelli smugly tells us how, at the start of his recovery 25 years ago he would never have believed that he would end up at the White House. I so hope some journalist will do her job and ask him if he would still have been the drug czar if he had been arrested for smoking cannabis instead of drunk driving. Imagine him at a 12 Step meeting telling a bunch of addicts that in his day job he sets policy to send “people like you” to jail. If I ever saw him at a meeting I would leave at once feeling nothing but paranoia.

      • B. Snow says:

        Right, the “Public Health Approach” – Means they still arrest you, and then they take you to rehab or jail = Your choice (they may make snitching a condition to “get the reward of only going to rehab = Fuck Them…

        This isn’t a police change it’s a fucking whitewashing at best), and it’ll be more expensive for all those involved. You know the social+fiscal Conservatives are gonna want to charge people for this “Treatment” – (Because you watch, They’ll try to call it a privilege – if we let them.

        Nothing would make them happier to lock you up in “Rehab” [Until you finally see the choice of what you choose to consume THEIR WAY, and promise to behave & live the way they tell you to!]

        And of course – they’ll charge you for the stay in their luxury Rehab-Prisons, which could put you in debt effectively forever! (IDK maybe, “the upside” is they’ll be a bit “less rape-y”?)

        Although, On the bright side President Obama can’t say, “there should be a way of steering nonviolent, first-time drug offenders – “into the straight and narrow.”

        That’s a real quote from the last time he said made a big fraking deal about: “Moving to more of a public health approach…” – He almost seemed to expect a positive response from the public for making that “concession”!

        ‘Okay then, I’m “changing/softening” our drug policy a smidgen’
        ‘Pardon me a sec, What was that Joe? – Wait, WHAT, they’re still not happy?’
        “Dammit, How can they not like me now?”

        • Uncle Albert's Nephew says:

          Drug Court always reminds me of the old Peanuts gag where Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown.

  12. thelbert says:

    seems we may need to grow more biomass to slow down global warming:http://tinyurl.com/lhrmm2r i want to see cannabis plantations all over the place.

  13. DdC says:

    They ask and answer their questions wrong, simultaneously. Prohibition is the cause of harm and yet they still blame the “criminals” who have provided Ganja for 4 decades to millions of people. There are no legal markets as far as the feds are concerned. Obama is not enforcing the laws but that doesn’t make them legal. So again the “criminals” have provided dispensaries with menu’s of dozens of strains, oils, edibles and apparatus’ as public servants. The only “criminal” using violence are those attacked by the Military in Mexico and the Americas. Not much in the states concerning Ganja. Even when the Militarized Police attack them.

    So this straw man is now used to justify regulations they think we need to protect us from what has caused no harm in 4 decades. Like the DEAth drug worriers protecting us from pleasure or pain relief. Let it Be. Remove it as a controlled substance and let the people deal with it. So far, at least from where I’m sitting there is more civilized Ganja businesses than ever imagined. Without any politician or cop, all regulated by the people and not many are complaining here. The prices are reflective of the streets and its mostly all the same people growing. So another prohibidiot lie crusade is not what we need. Regulations are punishments and profits.

  14. DdC says:

    U.S. Government To Grow 30 Times More Marijuana
    Posted by CN Staff on August 27, 2014 at 20:18:30 PT
    By Lauren Raab
    Source: Los Angeles Times

    Washington, D.C. — The U.S. government has upped the quantity of marijuana it’s growing this year, to more than 1,400 pounds from the originally planned 46. The federal government classifies marijuana as a substance that has no medical use and is more dangerous than cocaine. But it’s willing to let researchers have access — under a few conditions.

    One condition is that each project needs approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Another is that researchers get the substance from a particular source: the federal government.

    Read More… http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread28248.shtml

    Getting High Would Be Legal If It Weren’t For THIS
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/880

  15. claygooding says:

    http://www.fbo.gov/index

    http://tinyurl.com/k3dl79y

    The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) intends to solicit proposals from offerors having the capability to perform the following tasks: (1) cultivate and harvest, process, analyze, store, and distribute cannabis (marijuana) for research, (2) extract cannabis to produce pure and standardized (current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)-grade) cannabis extracts containing varying concentrations of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), (3) isolate cGMP and research grade THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, (4) periodically analyze cannabis extracts, and isolated cannabinoids for authenticity, purity and stability, (5) develop new methods for growing cannabis plants containing high THC, low CBD; high CBD, low THC; and equal strength of CBD and THC, (6) manufacture, analyze, determine stability, store, and supply marijuana cigarettes, and (7) supply cannabis, cannabis extract, other phyto-cannabinoids, and marijuana cigarettes to research investigators and/or to the NIDA Drug Supply program upon NIDA authorization. “snip”

    NIDA is posturing for the oncoming blitz of medical trials that Congress will surely require,,they will need a lot more ditch weed to produce enough extracts,,or will they finally grow some Afghan,,they have access to all the seeds they want.

    • Windy says:

      Yep, this is what was reported in that newscast, last night.

    • Tony Aroma says:

      Uh, how about the University of Mass? You know, the ones whose application to grow mj for research was denied after several years of delays. I wonder if they, or anybody, will even bother to apply. You know this contract is going to the University of Miss.

  16. sfoneye says:

    It is just my opinion [and hunch] that medical marijuana is the wrong way of dealing with totalitarian fascist cop lovers who serve the bureau-rat-eaucracy which manages the enslavement process through Inculcation of fear and dependency. Big State-rs are infected with something real. Severe dementia brought on by habitually auditing deliberate false and misleading disinformation to a point of qualified Alzheimer disabling syndrome. Add vaccine poisoning and frankenfood and you get the real picture. The psychos own this franchise

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      There are some things that a person should do for no other reason than because it’s the right thing to do.

      But I am still looking for someone to ‘splain to me how promoting medicinal cannabis patient protection from arrest is supposed to lead to re-legalization. Care to give it a go?

  17. Servetus says:

    VICE magazine just busted several academics and a private practitioner for being on the payroll of Big Pharma and who advocate against legalization of medical or recreational marijuana. The three culprits are true, cold-blooded prohibitches, people who are deeply involved in helping the government and corporatists engage in human rights violations.

    They include:

    Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University:

    his writing has been cited by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police in its opposition to marijuana legalization, and has been published by the American Psychiatric Association in the organization’s statement warning against marijuana for medicinal uses.

    …Kleber has served as a paid consultant to leading prescription drug companies, including Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Reckitt Benckiser (the producer of a painkiller called Nurofen), and Alkermes (the producer of a powerful new opioid called Zohydro).

    Dr. A. Eden Evins, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School:

    … is a frequent critic of efforts to legalize marijuana. She is on the board of an anti-marijuana advocacy group, Project SAM, and has been quoted by leading media outlets criticizing the wave of new pot-related reforms. “When people can go to a ‘clinic’ or ‘cafe’ and buy pot, that creates the perception that it’s safe,” she told the Times last year.

    … as of November 2012, she was a “consultant for Pfizer and DLA Piper and has received grant/research support from Envivo, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer.” Pfizer has moved aggressively into the $7.3 billion painkiller market. In 2011, the company acquired King Pharmaceuticals (the makers of several opioid products) and is currently working to introduce Remoxy, an OxyContin competitor.

    Dr. Mark L. Kraus, who runs a private practice and is a board member to the American Society of Addiction Medicine

    …submitted testimony in 2012 in opposition to a medical marijuana law in Connecticut. According to financial disclosures, Kraus served on the scientific advisory panel for painkiller companies such as Pfizer and Reckitt Benckiser in the year prior to his activism against the medical pot bill.

    Kleber, Evins and Kraus is not a law firm. Each are well-paid academic or professionally-based drug lobbyists. They are also drug war criminals who should be protested against every time they show their greedy faces in public.

  18. Howard says:

    Looks like some pretty Big Marijuana in the works;

    GrowHealthy’s planned farming facilities

    http://tinyurl.com/p3wblxe

    But if they’re going to grow indoors in Florida I sure hope they put solar panels on that big roof. Plenty of sunshine to help offset the electricity to run their lights.

    • claygooding says:

      In TX right now the grasshoppers are destroying crops,,,the dryer the weather the more of them seem to show up.
      I have about decided the only way to fly is in one of those in-ground greenhouses with the opaque roof that allows light through,,then grow your personal grow every year full term.

      Six plants per adult with a 9 ft height limit should take care of most people’s needs for all year,,and give a lot extra for most to barter and swap out with your neighbors for variety.

      • DdC says:

        Hemp Beats Bedbugs!
        http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1802
        Cannabis sativa. The green plant collected in the spring, and 2 or 3 twigs placed in or between beds, will, it is asserted, certainly and effectually cause bedbugs to remove from the room in which they are used. (zipcodezoo.com)

        Cannabinoids are produced in surface glands and possess insecticidal properties (Rothschild et al. 1977)

  19. Howard says:

    Are the days of the University of Mississippi being the only federal cannabis supplier coming to an end? From FedBizzOps.gov.;

    Production, Analysis, and Distribution of Cannabis and Related Materials

    http://tinyurl.com/q3bjlm4

    Of course, at the end of the proposal: “This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a contract.”

    Why, of course not. And somebody is going to point this out so I might as well do it first — maybe that site should be FedBuzzOps.gov? Yeah, that’s a groaner…

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      Maybe they just decided that after a couple of decades of patiently waiting it was time to quit hoping that Doc ElSohly would ever to figure out how to do it right. These people need to be sent a message: Next time, call a hippie!

      • Howard says:

        Yeah, I suspect the defamed “ELSohly Schwag” just isn’t cutting it anymore. The proposal has some curious elements. Part of the requested requirements are the ability of the potential vendor to;

        “manufacture, analyze, determine stability, store, and supply marijuana cigarettes, and supply cannabis, cannabis extract, other phyto-cannabinoids, and marijuana cigarettes to research investigators and/or to the NIDA Drug Supply program upon NIDA authorization.”

        ————-

        Is NIDA doubling down on finding only harm? Is it remotely possible they are opening up to the possibility of positive outcomes of medicinal cannabis use? Or [fill in the blank]? I wonder…

        • claygooding says:

          The DEA has kept the marijuana produced in MS at a low street level for a reason,,any approved research would have to be done with low quality marijuana.
          After CMCR used their ditchweed and still showed efficacy of smoked marijuana for pain (http://tinyurl.com/ygs9o43) I am sure they have given up on that idea,,I even heard MS raised their THC content this year.
          Then you add in extracts,,the THC oil extracted from ditchweed (RSO)is the same strength as the oil extracted from top shelf,,it just produces a hell of a lot less of it.
          So no matter what THC content they start with the research will have the same results on RSO. Other extraction methods should work out close to the same.
          So low THC marijuana is not going to hide the medicinal efficacy when it is researched,,as I said,,if nothing else someone is going to force NUDA and NIH to do medical research on marijuana,,there is too much money becoming interested not too.
          That’s how I see it Vern.

  20. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    The Santa Fe (New Mexico)City Council has decriminalized petty possession. Up to one ounce will now be a civil infraction with a $25 fine. We hadn’t heard anything about this possibility because no one had thought it possible. The vote came because there was a citizen generated ballot initiative which had qualified the initiative to get it on the ballot. The City Council decided that they’d rather not spend the $80,000.00. The City Council also cleared up the controversy concerning the cause of Len Bias’ death and established that violating cannabis prohibition laws is a gateway crime.

    In her vote in favor of the ordinance, Bushee urged that it was time to act now after a long failure of the “war on drugs.” Both Ives and Dominguez spoke about their concerns about people caught up in the justice system who start out on marijuana crimes.
    /snip/

    Santa Fe Decriminalizes Marijuana

    /snip/
    “Look at what happened to Len Bias,” [City Councilor Ron Trujillo] said in one of the more bizarre moments of the night.

    Len Bias, the No. 2 National Basketball Association draft pick of 1986, died of a cocaine overdose before his professional basketball career got started.
    /snip/

  21. DdC says:

    NFL announces sweeping new penalties regarding domestic violence
    https://www.facebook.com/222DdC/posts/10152528245607326
    Since January 2000, 77 players have been involved in 85 domestic violence incidents with six being cut by their teams, according to USA Today’s NFL Arrests Database. The NFL suspended six players for one game each, and Rice was the second player to be suspended for two games.

    An initial domestic violence offense will draw a six-week ban without pay, although the memo says “more severe discipline will be imposed if there are aggravating circumstances such as the presence or use of a weapon, choking, repeated striking, or when the act is committed against a pregnant woman or in the presence of a child.”

    ☛ NFL’s Buzzkill
    The 29-year-old was suspended last month for the entire 2006 NFL campaign after he lost the appeal on his fourth failed drug test. The marijuana was to help Williams deal with his oft-crippling social anxiety disorder.

    ☛ Marijuana Lowers the Risk of Domestic Violence
    The use of alcohol significantly increases one’s likelihood of becoming either a perpetrator or a victim of a violent act, including acts of intimate partner violence.

    As for cannabis use — that’s a different story.

    In fact, according to a just-published study in the journal Psychology and Addictive Behaviors, couples who use pot are particularly unlikely to engage in intimate partner violence.

    ☛ A New Study Proves That Couples Who Consume Marijuana Are Happier
    Zip 420:

    ☛ Couples who smoke marijuana together a happier lot?
    World, News – India Today
    @IndiaToday

    ☛ Couples Who Smoke Together, Stay Together:
    New Research Links Weed To Happier Marriages

    ia @EliteDaily

    How often does our irrational prohibition of marijuana end up forcing people to take drugs that are more harmful to them?

    ☛ Fewer Painkiller Deaths in States With Medical Marijuana

    ☛ The NFL Thinks Smoking Weed Is Eight Times Worse
    Than Beating a Woman Unconscious

    Alcohol use makes domestic violence 8 times more likely. . .

    ☛ Broncos kicker Matt Prater to be suspended by NFL for first four games for substance abuse. The violation was alcohol-related

    ☛ Steelers running backs Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount were charged with Marijuana Possession
    Steelers plan to address discipline for Le’Veon Bell, LeGarrette Blount internally.

    http://i.imgur.com/72D7V0E.png

    ☛ Fans Too Relaxed for Fights
    ☛ Cannabis Helps Keep Fans Calm
    ☛ Euro 2000 Soccer Violence Could Vanish in a Puff

    ☛ Mothers Against the Drug Czar’s War on Kids
    Drug laws fertilize teen violence

    ☛ California police use of body cameras cuts violence and complaints

    Unofficial Cannabist for the SF Giants

  22. This just makes me ill reading about it.
    http://tinyurl.com/o52xmky

    The state health secretary in New Mexico has denied a petition to add Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia to the list of medical conditions eligible for the program.

    The day before, University of South Florida Health reported a study that determined that “extremely low levels of the compound in marijuana known as
    delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, may slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”
    http://tinyurl.com/l7lntra

    Something is really wrong with this. Politics sure shouldn’t take the place of medical science. New Mexico really called it wrong on this one. There is no sense in their medical marijuana program or in their health secretary.

    • jean valjean says:

      i expect gov. martinez’ views on cannabis are dictated by the that other non-medic, pope frankie

      • jean valjean says:

        she is the daughter and husband of police officers so she s not in favor of killing their drug war milch cow.

    • B. Snow says:

      Believe me there’s plenty of weed in New Mexico, Albuquerque & Sante Fe in particular (partly because that’s where a huge portion of the population lives)…
      And its a Blue State now, and will only get more Blue and “Liberal” (more or less) Santa Fe has been a Hippie Haven of sorts for a long time.
      I spent about a week visiting an old-school commune outside Albuquerque in about 95′ = it was out toward Santa Fe, kind of a woodsy ‘church’ of Zeppelin & Floyd so to speak… It was pretty foreign to me back then, but an enlightening experience – one I wouldn’t trade for anything.

      New Mexico is like Texas the Cities are fairly cool, Its the small towns with more churches per capita than you can imagine, those tend to be still fairly conservative. But, I suspect they’re WAY more worried about meth than weed these days. Braking Bad wasn’t based off nothing – although it was pretty hyperbolic about it all.

      I suspect they’d all like to get some of the Tourism Cash that Denver is raking-in right now, Sante Fe especially – they are a very touristy kinda town. Lots of stuff to see, but it’s artsy kinda stuff that’s even better stoned… New Mexico’s got truly Amazing Sunsets, and some unique “New Mexican Food” with stuff like green chiles instead of jalapenos (just part of a distinct bit of native-American influence), its very good food!

      Dammit – Now, I really wanna go visit!

      When does that law go into effect? I’m not sure which is better the “$25 Fee” part or this:
      “It also instructs the city’s police officers to treat possession of small amounts of marijuana as the lowest law enforcement priority.” = I mean, That’s kinda epic for me = Somewhere I could actually visit without flying!
      I haven’t seen more than a couple people from there in the last 15 or so years, but still, I know some of them are still “L-I-V-I-N” there. *sigh*

    • DdC says:

      WTF’s Up with New Mexico?
      Have they been annexed by Texas?
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/723

      The AÊ‚Ê‚hole Police
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/717

  23. DdC says:

    Raid Of The Day: Florida Cops Raid Cathy Jordan, Medical Marijuana Activist Who Suffers From Lou Gehrig’s Disease http://huff.to/13QoWZM

    Medical Cannabis Helps ALS Patient Outlive her Own Doctors
    http://www.examiner.com/article/medical-cannabis-helps-als-patient-outlive-her-own-doctors via @examinercom

    Cannabis and ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease)
    AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1962

  24. claygooding says:

    “”Swatting”

    Hackers using police as a tool to attack innocent people.

    http://tinyurl.com/o3hse6m

    In recent years, a small amount of hackers and gamers have been anonymously reporting fake hostage situations, shootings, and other violent crimes designed to send elite police units, like SWAT teams, to unsuspecting people at their residences.

    Swatting is a dangerous and expensive prank, which is easy to pull off. Swatters are utilizing easily accessible technology to mask or even alter the ID during calls to 911 dispatchers. With SWAT teams and paramilitary gear becoming the norm across small town America, these calls have predictably chaotic results.

    Despite the hyper-vigilance of America’s law enforcement, authorities still struggle to defend themselves from the unlikeliest of threats — tech-savvy teenagers. Police militarization meets hacker culture as VICE News investigates the dangerous crime of swatting. ‘snip’

    If this catches on how long until the innocent people rise up and strike back at the people killing them?

    • kaptinemo says:

      Clay, that’s how a terrorist works: incite such fear that leads to losses of liberties normally never acquiesced to, which then leads to the Gu’bmint becoming so tyrannical in ‘protecting’ the people that the people, themselves, overthrow it.

      Needless to say, that’s also how ‘legitimate’ governments operate, too…by inciting that same fear.

      Or as HL Mencken said:

      “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

    • Windy says:

      The easiest way to stop that activity is to completely demilitarize the police, and stop PDs from using SWAT to serve search warrants and do no-knock dynamic entries no matter what the alleged situation appears to be. A uniformed officer should be sent first to any call to make certain it is legitimate, if it is legitimate, s/he can call in the SWAT to handle it; if it is not a legitimate hostage situation or shooter or whatever, no harm done.

  25. Jean Valjean says:

    More thuggish police behavior:

    http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/outrageous-video-cops-tase-and-arrest-man-sitting-and-not-stating-his-name

    Doesn’t seem that we’ve moved very far from the Dred Scott case and Chief Justice Taney’s ruling that “..blacks… had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” I’m sure these two officers would agree with that.

  26. primus says:

    And they wonder why the public has a negative feeling about cops! Duh!

  27. DdC says:

    Debating Drugs

    UberFacts ‏@UberFacts
    Exposing a man’s genitals to sunlight can cause his testosterone level to rise by 200%.

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