http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-marijuana-legalization-shift-20140728-story.html#page=1 yeah, well nobody is going die from weed. so this argument is horribly flawed. and what does mj have to do with tobacco? if you don't want to smoke it... try other methods of ingesting. a great article, but we still have to deal with opinions of these idiots? why? by leaving their ignorant remarks in publicly viewed articles, these people only dig themselves into a deeper hole.
Even light marijuana use, Gitlow said, can harm brain function And the American people want to harm thier brains. Now STFU and legalize it bitch.
The argument regarding alcohol prohibition being a success is basically cherry picking facts. What it fails to mention is why it was successful. When the 23rd amendment repealed the 18th amendment, and alcohol became legal again, a three tier system was put into place to govern how alcohol would be manufactured, distributed, and retailed. Prior to that there was very little control. It's this control that helped make alcohol safer, and bring down the death rate, abuse rate, monopolies in the industry, and the criminal element that was present during prohibition. In my opinion a similar structure can be put into place successfully with marijuana as well. Standards regarding how marijuana is grown, who sells it, how it's taxed etc can be established. We're already seeing this in CO. And it seems to be working rather well.
As soon as corporations and financial fraudsters find their niche in the market, we'll start to see even more legalization and a shift from a cash only currency to something that is backed by paperless, worthless paper, like the economy that we have today. If marijuana is allowed in our current banking system the entire economy should be re-shaped to get off the dollar which is loosing credibility every second.
The whole problem with the tobacco argument, is that it's not everyone demanding the eradication of all smoking practices, and not everyone demanding outrageous taxes to deter public use. People want to do what they want to do, and as long as we're not harming someone else, as long we don't take a liberty which impinges that of another, or damage property which does not belong to us, then there is no legitimately justifiable basis for any penalty to be imposed... especially not the cruel and disproportionately excessive penalties which have been somehow legislated against the will of the people, in direct and blatantly obvious, deliberate violation of the constitution and bill of rights. They were never able to prove that cannabis was legitimately dangerous, but they arbitrarily declared and defined and prohibited it as such, and then authorized themselves to oppress and persecute and sieze assets and even murder people... people who just wanted to fucking feel better and enhance the quality of their lives through use of a relatively harmless, naturally occurring substance. It's a heinous affront to the fundamental notions of liberty and humane treatment, and it needs to end, immediately, if not sooner. All other arguments are superfluous and irrelevant. I demand the right to live my life as i choose, under the condition that i do my best to not unduly harm any person or property. As human beings, we should all be entitled to this fundamental right: it is MY body, and MY body is MY property, and NO ONE can Own me, or any other person. Each of us are the final authority on our own self-determinism. No one has any legitimate right or authorization to harm or restrict anyone who has not either already harmed someone or their property, or intends to behave in ways which endanger others. An individual's responsible cannabis practices (cultivation, possession, consumption, combustion, etc.) DO NOT ENDANGER ANYONE ELSE, and therefore there can be no legitimate grounds for calling any of that "crime." The establishment has usurped powers to which it never was or will be entitled. Their claims to authority over cannabis rights, are false and invalid. They must cease and desist in their continued abuses of false authority. Edit: The Only acceptable regulations should be reserved to Commerce and allowing access to minors. We should be allowed to barter w/ cannabis, with other adults, but anything involving a non-personal amount of money, let's say $1000 a year, should require some kind of business license and tax records. Allowing access to minors (with the exception of medically justified use), should still be restricted, but without absurd excessive penalties. It's not THAT dangerous to the young... but we should still restrict it, on the grounds that the young are typically not yet developed enough to handle consciousness alterations. Edit 2: If i want to grow a pound and then take a cross country tour, i should be allowed, and so should you, and everyone else. The only time there should be a problem, is when minors and money are involved, and there should be "proper channels" to allow minors to have medical exceptions, and to allow private citizens to operate their own micro-business, or even become well-established as breeders, producers and distributors.
Good article, except what was already discussed on this thread about alcohol prohibition being a success and how they interviewed the president of The American Society of Addiction Medicine who just shared his opposition to legalization. I also didn't like how they tried to only focus on the negatives of Colorado's legalization. Saying that lots of weed is being smuggled out of state, more kids are being brought into the ER, the two deaths from edibles that the media was over exaggerating, and how that kid in Greely got caught selling his grandparent's weed. They didn't mention one positive thing about Colorado like the new tax revenue, new job market, and how the crime rate has lowered.
"It wasn't just the violent Prohibition-era gang wars that were dangerous to Americans drinking homemade moonshine and bathtub gin. According to the Dec. 26, 1922 edition of the New York Times, five people were killed in the city on Christmas Day from drinking "poisoned rum." That was only the beginning. By 1926, according to Prohibition, by Edward Behr, 750 New Yorkers perished from such poisoning and hundreds of thousands more suffered irreversible injuries including blindness and paralysis. On New Year's Day 1927, 41 people died at New York's Bellevue Hospital from alcohol-related poisonings. Oftentimes, they were drinking industrial methanol, otherwise known as wood alcohol, which was a legal but extremely dangerous poison. One government report said that of 480,000 gallons of liquor confiscated in New York in 1927, nearly all contained poisons." http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1864521_1864524_1864626,00.html
The article is pure bullshit. When the bars were closed, the number of speakeasies doubled the amount of bars. WTF. It also made the mafia richer, stronger, and larger! The author is an asshole who doesn't history. Ever hear of Al Capone,moron! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Propaganda. Baseless claims meant to disrupt unity. What science has shown, if you look at all the pharmacological effects, no toxicity, oxidative stress and mental stress reductions, the endocannabinoid system, etc. we come to the clear observation that cannabis is a top supplement. It's not a drug it's a plant. Dandelion, alfalfa, garlic, many plants have pharmacological effects like anti viral and so on. But cannabis is similar but different. It has a broad range of action and would likely be in a rotating top five best herbs to utilize. So, from there, the idea of outlawing a plant. Outlawing nature. That is ludicrous and not in our long term best interests. People need cannabis on and off for the same reason you need omega 3s, fiber, vitamins and mineral supplements.
Were seeing the beginning of the end for prohibition in this country. It's inevitable that it will go kicking and screaming.
"profound cultural shift" is really not a "shift" at all, so much as it is people finally being fed up with the bullshit enough to become very vocal, instead of being "discreet" out of fear of persecution, prosecution, ostracism, or worse. People eventually get tired of being pushed around, and start pushing back. "Each one teach one" is approaching critical mass. Assembly will be required at some point. Start preparing.
I disagree that it is not a shift. It is a huge shift, but not really about cannabis. People are pushing back against government interfering in their lives. Being able to voice their opinion at the ballot box and it having a direct result is very powerful for the people. Cannabis just happens to be the mechanism.
i am going to disagree here... not everyone (and i do not mean your average user) is "tired" of all the b.s. ... many people are very misinformed .. and only now with all the new sources of information telling the truth about the drug can they see what was going on. those who are smart and can think for themselves (whether they use mj or not) see the clear picture. that doesn't mean everyone is being pushed around by the government... majority of people do not use mj, but they are the masses that will influence which way we are headed. so the only danger here is misinformation, and thankfully despite stupid statements like quotes in this article even non-users are beginning to see the light.