Letter To The Editor -- Rob Wilton Source: Abbotsford News People who think legalizing marijuana is a solution to anything can't see past their habit. Marijuana is grown for one reason, profit. Legalizing it in Canada will change nothing. An estimated $2.6 billion worth of pot reaches the United States every year from Surrey alone. Regulation will have no effect on growers dealing illegally around the world for huge profits and illegal trade. As long as there is a market outside Canada, there will be criminals evading police to supply it and fill their pockets with tax-free millions. Legalizing it would be a law enforcement nightmare. Look at the legal tobacco trade. Cheap cigarettes from Eastern Canada and the U.S. are being smuggled into Western Canada, fueled by profit. That is thousands of dollars for cigarettes compared to billions for marijuana south of the border. Legalization will only compound problems already facing police and communities. Why add to the social and criminal problems associated with alcohol for a noisy few? Some short-sighted people believe they have a right to consume whatever they want because it is their bodies. Well, they have the same rights as I to not to wear a seat-belt while driving, or a helmet while riding a motorcycle. Smoking pot is not an activity isolated to the user. The U.S. Department of Health reports that in 1998, 77,000 people were admitted to emergency rooms with marijuana-related problems. Pot diminishes co-ordination and contains 400 known chemicals, including four times the cancer-causing tar than cigarettes. Continued use is damaging to other systems such as the lungs, brain and immune systems. In an age when governments are winning multiple billions in compensation settlements from tobacco companies, why is this even a discussion? It's such a bad idea on so many levels its nonsensical even to consider it. This drug is not harmless. Marijuana is used to obtain guns, cocaine and cash to finance methamphetamine labs. Police are currently investigating 60 homicides related to marijuana, according to the solicitor general of B.C. and the RCMP. B.C. is known world-wide for this drug and the profits are too high for organized crime to ignore. And the cost to society is too high for us to ignore. Marijuana is big business, gang-controlled and always will be, as long as it's illegal somewhere. Letter to the Editor by Rob Wilton -- Surrey Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC) Author: Rob Wilton Published: Saturday, April 26, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Hacker Press Ltd. Contact: editor@abbynews.com Website: http://www.abbynews.com/
they say its a gang related industry, and that there have been homocides over weed.. you think there would be these deaths if weed wasnt legal?
ummm didn't read too long but how can growing and selling marijuan be illegal if marijuan is legal? ofcourse there's the tax thing and goverments profit but if they make it legal they should made it legal in all forms (growing, using, selling). And do pepole really think that if marijuan becomes legal everybody will suddenly start smoking it? and if they do there aren't going to be "social and criminal problems associated with alcohol for a noisy few? " because weed doesn't make you angry, it doesn't maske you want to go out and streal stuff etc. "his drug is not harmless. Marijuana is used to obtain guns, cocaine and cash to finance methamphetamine labs." coacine and methamphetamines are illegal even if you make marijuan legal and goverments spend more money on guns than anything and peole in the US can buy guns from almost everywhere without any real limitations. Marijuana is big business, gang-controlled and always will be, as long as it's illegal somewhere. I think that speaks for itself.... make it legal all around the world so peole can grow it by themselves and not have to deal with "drug pushers" etc....
first of all the problem with marijuana is we dont know many of the real facts. the anti MJ governments will produce anti MJ propaganda by saying in newspaper "a new study has to been made and we have come to the conclusion that there is more tar in sigarets than a pure weed joint" and holland for example will produce tons and tons of leaflets saying there isnt a valuable reason why it shouldnt be illegal. second, the legal use of MJ in Holland has decreased the number of hard drug users. third, i'd invite anyone to go to holland just to check one thing out : are all dutch people stoned 24/7? hellz no. everytime i go to a coffee shop, one thing shocks me, all the people that come in to buy MJ are all from the same (pseudo) "social" class so to speak. they're all between 18-30, mostly guys, and u can tell they're no daddy's boys. so no, the legalisation of cannabis use hasnt motivated anyone to start smoking since its the same people who smoke in countries where its illegal. actually, i've witnessed more people of elder generations smoke weed in countries like norway where its so strict you're completely F***ed if u get pinched with 0.4 gram (a friend had to spend night at cops station and pay big fine). and finally, legalisation of a drug (such as siggies and MJ) gives the government the possibility of controlling the use of the drug around the country to some extent. like pricing. prices of sigarets are increasing every 6 months over here, and yet people continue to buy them. luxembourg is a country neighbor to mine with low taxes and cheap sigs, but there are hardly any contreband of Luxembourg siggies in belgium. one very last thing, have u ever seen a small weed dealer in the streets of holland? nope, they dont exist anymore trust me, i've tried looking for them to compare prices with the coffeeshops, in vain. i dont know about prices of weed around the world, but if they are anywhere near the ones here (legal or not, its still expensive, especially since the dutch Gov make cash off taxes) weed isnt the illegal drug industry which is gonna buy anyone weapons and such. those are reserved for all the highly illegal and dangerous drugs which are sold much more expensive, costs less to produce. so anyone please tell me why it isnt world wide legalized yet? i did some research about the illegalisation of weed in the beginning of the twentieth century, and i found out (well from the sites visited) that it had been rendered illegal around prohibition time, well that industrial hemp was illegal (and as a consequence MJ) to help the chemical paper industry thrive (chemical paper being used for newspaper, whereas before it was produced from hemp). is this anywhere near true? WEED MUST BE LEGALIZED, ANYONE CLAIMING THE OPPOSITE SHOULD GO MAKE THEIR OWN ANTI WEED FORUM AND LEAVE US ALONE
yes weed will not become legal becuase of the simple fact that the government will have no real control over the product, therefor the governemnt will not get the tax money from it. bottom line that is pretty much the only reason why it is not legal today. think about how hard it would be for the government to gain absolute control over marijuana..
Exactly Tobacco is legal because America has the good tobacco (this product kills) Weed is illegal because America has the bad shit and the government will not earn any profit. Cocaine is illegal because columbia has the best shit and america doesnt. Its all govt crap And so on and so on.
its pretty sad that the government would rather spend billions and billions of dollars trying to catch people with marijuana and throwing them in already overcrowded prisons. The government can spend this money on more productive things, like busting the real drug criminals, or theives, and rapists. Did you know that there are more harmful chemicals in a raw potado than in marijuana? fuck the government when they want to say how bad it is for you,like they give a shit where are they when they when thousands amoung thousands of people die each year from alchohol and over the counter drugs?
Damn guys you gotta stop resurecting dead threads! This was from 2003. I was half way through a rebuttle letter to the editor before i realized it.
legalizing mj would be harmless. it would no longer have the monetary value for trading for guns, meth labs, etc.
Its actually short-sighted and closed-minded to think that marijuana SHOULDN'T be legal. Fuck the author of the article. Oh and of course they use the word "pot", instead of acknowledging the fact that its a plant which is endemic to huge areas of the world...
wooligan is wrong to say they'll never get the tax money from legalized MJ sales -> billions of $ in Hollands gov's pockets per year just from the MJ industry! quoting myself "gives the government the possibility of controlling the use of the drug around the country to some extent" i was talking about controlling the USE of the drug, not the drug itself. i mean the use of it as in, lets say country M has legalized MJ and decide to try and make people quit, they'll start by increasing the price. tenfold in a matter of days will shock the customers enough to make sure they dont come back. its the situation in Norway with alcohol. anything stronger than normal beer you have to get in what americans know as liquor stores. thing is, in norway, there is only one chain of those stores, which are government controlled obviously. the prices are completely insane, and i can tell you people hardly buy anything during the week and wait with much anticipation friday and saturday night to ruin themselves on gov. controlled alcohol. the thing is, if industrial hemp got re-introduced into the market as raw material, all the oil, wood, cotton, wool (etc etc) providers would go broke straight away as hemp can replace them all (it can be used to make clothing, oil, paper, fuel..etc) and entire industries would dissapear and the world economy would just collapse. imagine what would happen if they found out that the fossile fuel/oil we've been pumped for decades now wasnt needed anymore by anyone... shell, texaco (and all other gas stations) would dissapear leaving a huge blank in the economy and so on and so on. cause who wins from letting corporations thrive and dominate -> Governments -> "The System". this link is a must to all pro - MJ & anti - cops ppl : http://www.siegelsuniforms.com/pages/details.php?subcatid=85 (check out the details of first item, designed for cops to wear !) this is taken from an interesting document i just found on the web "the marijuana conspiracy - the real reason hemp is illegal by doug yurchey : And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land. -- Ezekiel 34/29 THE REAL REASON CANNABIS HAS BEEN OUTLAWED HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ITS EFFECTS ON THE MIND AND BODY. MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies. which is confirmed by all the different sites that told me the same when i did some research about the topic about 5 years ago. (by the way, didnt notice before today that the original post was indeed 3 years old ..)
ok when i said the government wont acquire tax money from legalizing marijuana it was merely an over exaggeration. If marijuana became officially permitted in the United States, let me know how they can manage the cultivation of it? The united states knows that if the drug is legal there is no way to control the product. Where did Holland come from this? The united states has a complete and total different means of government. Yes the united states will increase some tax money on the legalization, of course. But there setback is that the government needs absolute and total control over the sell and cultivation of the product. And this is what they lack; consequently it will not become legal, until otherwise.
no need to quote the whole msg true, but like tobacco, it could be legal to smoke and carry in very small amounts (nowadays in central europe, like in holland, u can easily get away if u have a gram or a spliff in ur pocket. circumstances can change that of course, but i was thinking of a mere ID check or whatever) but not legal to cultivate. like alcohol, ur not supposed to make ur own home made liquor. doesnt the canadian gov. have gov. cannabis plantations for medical MJ? that could answer the "how to control it in the US". if seeing MJ as a social equivalent to bear, why couldnt it be rendered legal to use, grown and produced by gov. controlled fields in say ONE state (for example) and sold through very specific mediums following strict regulations? like liquor shops for booz. or coffee shops in holland. despite the gov. differences and whatnot it could still be done. by the way, coffeeshops cant sell more than 5gr per person. and if controlled by a cop, you arent supposed to have more than 5grams. besides, it works fine with cigarets which are pumped every year with more and new deadly toxins. why couldnt work with a harmless plant that hasnt and cant possibly kill anyone and which helps cure illnesses ??
i started watching this video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8155987587286487895&q=marijuana on Bill C-17 (decriminalisation of cannabis) in canada, dating from oct. 2005. i stopped it when it got to a debate between two political parties. got as far as the introduction which literally said "opponents (to the bill) say traficking and selling in the streets are a all time high problem blabla" yes i completely agree. make something illegal and it will continue to be used by people, but in contreband, illegal traficking. which is completely uncontrolled. whereas make it legal, ie weed, and there won't be a market for street dealers. if conscious willing parents want to make sure their 16 year old kid dont smoke cristal meth mixed weed they can go buy him some at the store and/or encourage him to grow some plants in the garden. we're talking about legalising MJ for personal use. alcohol and tobacco are legal but it isnt aloud to produce them on ur own. legalising MJ doesnt mean more drug trafick, it means less penalties for MJ related (as long as not considered mass traficking) cases, but doesnt mean less for the big time home growing dealers ! by making legal, they should (dont know if they did) make it even more harsh for the people involved in traficking and selling. i believe one should be able to buy it from a shop in regulated doses, and grow it home. as long as it is for strictly personal uses!