I wrote the following long article. I have included only a brief introductory excerpt. I have put a link to the entire article at the bottom. Prohibition of the Superplant as protection of a certain global monopoly. What could Oil, Diamonds, and Marijuana possibly have in common? Answer: A global Campaign of Lies. Not one of them is presented truthfully in the mass media. Defined by an ability to simply rake in the bucks, each appears to be highly desirable. Only 2 are actually valuable, as defined by their essence as a means of production, two are finite and depletable, and only one is renewable. By the very fact we are all born here, all naturally belong to all of us. However, laws have been crafted by a handful of wealthy men to keep the bulk of the human race from touching 2 of them, leading us all, oddly enough, to be over-reliant on one of them, one that is running out. Cannabis is more useful and valuable than diamonds, more on par with oil in terms of its overall potential as a means of production. It has been totally repressed, defamed as an Evil Weed by a massive campaign of lies, stifiling the people's interest in and access to it, and wiping it from the public record for 3 generations. Diamonds, conversely, simply are not that valuable. They are not a means of producing much of anything, but because people have been convinced they are unique symbols of love that they simply, must have, they generate mind-boggling amounts of money. This belief was created with a massive campagin of lies. Cannabis prohition is simply not about "marijuana". Cannabis prohibition makes "pot" or "marijuana"- the popular "drug" part of the cannabis plant - artificially more valuable than gold, which in and of itself is a truly ridiculous thing. What one is supposed to believe and endorse is that "pot smoking is bad, so laws providing penalties for touching it are good: they will help people - and send the right message to children. It is but a sanctimonius veneer on a policy that, stringently enforced, creates a billion-dollar black market industry, and a massive nightmare for law enforcement. 750,000 people were arrested for cannabis-touching in 2001. That is more than the number of people arrested for all other (real) crimes combined. That is a nightmare of squandered resources (money) and effort in our "New America". Despite a $20 billion-a-year prohibition effort, people smoke pot every hour of the day, and lots of it @ 4:20. Might as well prohibit the wind - it does more damage than pot smoking. The total suppression of industrial and medicinal applications of cannabis is where cannabis prohibiton earns it's coffee and donuts. It's outstanding accomplishmnent is the fact that people aren't using it to make paint bases, or distill biofuels, or make fiber, or research medications, or make cereal. This is what's important. Cannabis prohibition is NOT about pot smoking. You don't get arrested for smoking it. You get arrested for touching it (possession), growing it (manufacturing), moving it (trafficking), trading it (trafficking), selling it (trafficking); talking about it on a telephone is conspiracy to traffick and is treated worse than rape in the eyes of the law. Law-abiding business -the good kind - is out of business. If it ever really was about "gettin' high", it isn't any longer and hasn't been for decades. It's about Oil. http://my.marijuana.com/article.php?sid=4434&mode=nested&order=0&thold=-1