April 20th (4/20) is the sort of an international holiday for fans of marijuana and those that support the legalization of it. Myself, I'm all for legalizing it, but not necessarily because I want to use it. In general I'm only a fan of ingesting things I can find a liquor store!
When you look back at how much money has been spent over the past decades to 'bring down' drugs in my country to never make a dent in 'end user' consumption it's a sin. Focus instead on getting the people who use hard drugs like heroin to stop using. Once the demand is gone, so is the supply.
Take the money dumped into the 'war on drugs' and put it into the education system. Make pot a legal and regulated substance like tobacco or alcohol. And, being the good old U S of A – tax the hell out of it.
h/t to +Lee Allison for the original muchie-delicious share!
Embedded Link
Let's Be Blunt: It's Time to End the Drug War – Forbes
Apple still thrives without Steve Jobs. Drug gangs would still thrive without Mr. Big. It's time to end the drug war.
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Yes yes yes!
Smoke em if you gotem
LOL! "Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 seized in a civil asset forfeiture."
Estoy de acuerdo, simplemente es un show
happy 4/20: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-NZCgV_4XXI4/T5GctwUFt8I/AAAAAAAAEsU/UwOxNplAzSE/w497-h373/8793021.gif
whats 4-20
+julian villafana read the post
teohl my bad
Yes we should eliminate big Pharma's synthetic drug war. I especially would love to see them not be able to make-up "diseases" in order to make drugs for their many phantom "diseases". The FDA should also allow substances that occur in nature (and that help many existing conditions) to be sold – not banned. They should simply make sure their manufacturing is consistent and safe!
+Stephen Dow /cough/ ED is not a disease, it's old age /cough/
I completely agree, I live in "Pharma Alley" in NJ with a gazillion drug and phara companies here.
Well played +Matt Keithley, well played….
its a cold world
+Lynette Young … have you ever noticed that anything government decides to have a war on turns out bad? When will governments learn that you can't legislate morality? The more they push against it the harder it pushes back. I say "make it legal," then tax the hell out of it.
ED… ha ha. Educational Dysfunction "right" – not…
Most of the businesses I know would be happy to be taxed. I would be happy to pay a tax on my medicine if it was going to education, roads, stopping corruption in politics (ha, I know, that would take lots of $$$). These businesses can't even find a bank that will take and manage their money because of the Feds. If someone wanted to open a credit union for Medical Marijuana businesses, they would not only be helping the businesses, but they'd make a fortune.
In my younger days when I was smoking marjihuana in a small Italian country town back in the Seventies they considered me a criminal I quit smoking anything about 25 years ago. Pot helped me a lot overcoming depression and I would recommend it (moderately used) as an anti-depressant
Like alchool it should not be permitted when driving but legalizing it would eliminate many social friction and also help to create jobs. Heavy drugs like cocaine crack and heroin should be fought where they are produced and are the real cancer of our society
my two cents from a non-weed user and a non-drinker: Like alcohol, marijuana should be legalized. The prohibitions on it's use should be the same for alcohol, ie, don't smoke and drive, no smoking in the workplace, etc. Marijuana is a VAST untapped sales tax base… I'd be willing to bet that California could have a balanced budget with the windfall from marijuana tax alone!
+Marvin Cox I agree, but just because the people's republic of California legalizes it does not mean the Fed will. Still lots of battles to be wages there. Like you I don't partake, but it would be a nice relief for our economy.
+David Bynon the only federal laws against it are the sale and transportation… Mostly because they don't get their cut.
If the state has it legal and appropriately taxes the growers and transporter the feds will take their money and leave the system be.
If Congress can't agree on common ground to re-do the tax code and cut the proper programs "fairly and equitably" then forget about them getting to legalizing marijuana. They don't even get what's on the "to do" list for all Americans… Lost, we are.
I personally want the quality of hemp products. It is must more durable than cotton. The lotions and shampoos smell better.
+Sharanda Payseur great observation! Hemp is an amazing and versatile product, but is illegal. I heard that the type of hemp grown for non-smoking purposes doesn't actually have that much of the chemical in it that makes you high. I know you don't need all the pesticides for it like cotton requires.
Years ago, I was working for a major publisher, and there was talk about moving to hemp based paper… One of the things that I learned, was that it take 20 years to produce a tree used for paper, and only 20 months for hemp…
That's because hemp is a weed. It doesn't need cultivating.
+Marvin Cox great point
Obviously need a different strategy than arming and financing Mexican drug cartels, which is what illegal US consumption is doing. Better to focus efforts on treatment for meth and crack addiction, which over crowds our prisons, Moreover, there's the endemic underclass that spawns addiction. There's not a lot of discussion about that, probably because its the dark side of the upperclass.
They have a hemp festival in Maine every year! I've checked it out… It's quite large, but the authorities let it happen every year. Everything you all have mentioned (and more) can be seen made out of hemp there. I was shocked. Many people in Maine grow and use hemp constantly. The authorities just turn a blind eye to it too – as it should be!