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Originally Posted by Cataract Tobacco isn't radioactive, it has no half-life and does not emmit beta particles, alpha particles or gamma radiation. It is stable. |
hmm, can you provide a source? if so, I can edit my paper. Currently I'm using this article as proof for the claim:
http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco...co_info1.shtml
btw,here's some of what i just wrote:
In 1969, Life magazine published an article claiming that nearly twelve million Americans had smoked pot. This year was also the year that Richard Nixon became president. Next to Anslinger, Nixon is perhaps the most prevalent person in American history to demonize marijuana. Nearly two years after his election, Nixon proclaimed a “War on Drugs,” declaring the current state of drug use in America as constituting a threat to national security
Shortly after Nixon’s election, Operation Intercept was initiated. Operation Intercept was conceived as being a preventative measure by which marijuana would be intercepted as it flowed into the United States from the U.S. Mexican border. A complete failure in retrospect, Operation Intercept did less to prevent drug trafficking, and did more to further weaken international relations with the Mexican citizens, and lowered Nixon’s approval ratings among Mexican American immigrants.
The vast unpopularity of the United States Government in its failure to control drugs via harsh penalties and preventative measures became very apparent by 1969. So much so, in fact, that in 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, created by a series of Congressional committees, “removed mandatory minimum sentences and reduced possession of marijuana to the level of a misdemeanor.”(Martin Booth) Part of this Act called for the creation of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, later known as the Shafer Commission, which was to investigate claims concerning marijuana within the context of the past fifty years.
In its final report in 1973, the Shafer Commission concluded that the problems associated with marijuana had been grossly overstated and that the laws and penalties regarding possession should be reconsidered at great length. Nixon, who had hand picked nine out of the thirteen commissioners with the intent of creating a biased report, was enraged that his corrupt tactic had backfired on him. He allegedly never read the report. That same year, Nixon combined the numerous governmental agencies involved in drug prevention and drug law enforcement into one organization known as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which is still in operation today.