Via Sully, the drug wars claim another life:
Robin Prosser, a Missoula woman who struggled for a quarter century to live with the pain of an immunosuppressive disorder, tried years ago to kill herself. Last week, she tried again. This time, she succeeded.
After her earlier attempt failed, Prosser wound up in even more trouble after investigating police found marijuana in her home. She used the marijuana to help cope with pain.
That marijuana charge was eventually dropped in an agreement with the city of Missoula, and Prosser had reason to rejoice in 2004 when Montanans passed a law allowing medical use of the drug.
She was a high-profile campaigner for the Montana Medical Marijuana Act, and like others, she was dismayed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that drug agents could still arrest sick people using marijuana, even in states that legalized its use.
I have had a couple drinks, so let’s be blunt (pardon the pun)- and this goes out to anyone, of any political persuasion, anywhere, who had a problem with this woman using marijuana to alleviate her pain (especially the alleged “conservative” federalists who can’t handle the thought of states making their own drug laws):
Go fuck yourself. To death.
I am tired of being patient with you nannies and your stupid self-serving rules and your slippery slopes and your bullshit and your need to be tough on crime and your earnest concerns about society. Mind your own business, get your own house in order, stop fucking interns and little boys and cheating on your wives and on your taxes and being found dead wearing two wetsuits with a dildo shoved up your ass. Just mind your own damned business, and let people do what they must to deal with their own screwed up lives, and let people handle their pain the best way they can.
I am sick of the bullshit. Life is hard for most people out there, and damned near impossible for people in chronic pain. Quit making it worse, you allegedly compassionate sons-of-bitches.
*** Update ***
If I could choose one person to force to run for office who would represent my views a portion of the time but would be fair when he didn’t, it would be James Joyner.
*** Update #2 ***
This woman is now dead, in large part, because of DEA behavior condoned and encouraged by compassionate conservative George Bush, who supported the rights of states to decide these things when he was running for President. As President, he allowed his Justice Department and his DEA to continue to menace people. Karl Rove probably decided it was better to go with the Christians than the middle, yet again.
Robin Prosser is dead, and George Bush doesn’t even know or probably care who she is, but his government had a hand in her passing.
I don’t know yet who I am supporting in 2008 for President, but something needs to be done about the current state of affairs in this country. The status quo in America is just not working for most Americans. That isn’t left-wing radicalism to recognize that. Across the board, this administration has pushed policies which are not only deeply unpopular with Americans, but bad for them. Stem-cell research immediately comes to mind. I don’t support government solutions to every problem, and never will, but I don’t think it is too much to ask for the government to at least do no harm.
Well, I didn’t think that was too much to ask until I realized what Bush and Cheney and their allies in Congress have done to this country. It is beyond time for them to grab their bibles and get the fuck out of the way.
Mister Magoo
Compassionate conservatives. Pro-lifers. Fiscal conservatives. Believers in small government. Believers in the right to be left alone by the government. opponents of activist judges. Everything about modern conservatism, as expressed by the Republican party, is a lie.
CDB
If I could have said it better, I wouldn’t read this blog.
jrg
Prohibition does not work, especially when you’re talking about prohibiting a plant that can grow almost anywhere.
How many cops are going to die this year for this?
Why on earth do we continue to throw money and lives at this bullshit? People have been smoking weed for thousands of years, and they will continue for thousands more. To believe otherwise is foolish.
Don’t like grass? Don’t smoke it. It’s that simple.
incontrolados
You left out soliciting cops in public restrooms, but I guess that falls under “cheating on your wives” right?
When I read the article earlier, what bothered me most is that it’s pretty clear she was a target. Having recently known someone (he died earlier this year) who struggled with unbearable pain and fought hard not to rely on pain killers, the feds in this case make me sick. Really, did they not have any cases to work other than a woman in her 50′ in incredible pain? From the article:
The feds made an example out of her.
Assholes.
Ted
They might as well try to ban coffee
louisms
The Bosses Of All Of Us decided over 70 years ago that there was something inherently subversive about pot. It was, after all, associated with Negroes and other unsavory types. That same anachronistic mindset is every bit as strong today as it ever was. Study after study has shown weed to be innocuous, but the PTB will have none of it. They still willingly cripple the “war” on really harmful drugs by persisting in telling the most outrageous lies about this harmless weed, lumping it in with coke and heroin (and assuring that those who want to toke get hooked up with people who can likely provide them with those hard drugs). They just know that marijuana is a terrible danger to Our Way Of Life, and nothing in the world is gonna get them to allow legalization or even national de-criminalization.
empty
So who exactly is the constituency for criminalizing medical marijuana? That’s a sincere question.
Nancy Irving
Whew! Good one, John.
michael72
this story, which i saw through another site/link has really affected me today, got me all choked up. i’ve had to deal with chronic back and muscle pain for 23 years myself, but i mostly use natural healing methods.
i couldn’t agree with you more john. fcuk them all, especially the feds in the DEA and 4 or 5 reactionary rightwing dogs in the supreme court who should be put on trial for treason and lethally injected…..
jake
John, you’re superb.
And this is why I tend to lose my fucking rag when the rich n’ famous get a swat on the ass and a month in rehab after they’re caught with a pocket full of coke for the fifth damn time. I think if you roam from doctor to doctor whining for oxycontin they skip the spanking. Meanwhile, people who have a clear need for a drug that is less dangerous than things you can buy OTC are treated like serial killers.
incontrolados
empty, prolly not what you were looking for, but this article (sorry it’s from 2005) about Colorado addresses it — specifically the question of why there is more focus on weed than meth in drug enforcement.
Fwiffo
Tell us how you really feel.
cleek
clap clap clappity clap
in the words of the late great Jimi :
i’m the one who’s gonna have to die
when it’s time for me to die
so let me live my life
the way i want to
ConservativelyLiberal
I am sorry to hear of her passing, and it is sad to have happened like it did. I am glad that she was a successful advocate of medical marijuana and accomplished what she did. There are a lot of medical users out there, including myself, who are thankful for the trailblazers like her.
I first smoked pot when I was 11, and I was one of many in my neighborhood who did so. More people smoked weed than not, and for some reason throughout my life I have always been around more people who do than don’t. Granted, they are fellow blue collar workers, but I have lived in four cities in my life, and it is the same everywhere I have been.
After my sixteen operations on my elbows, wrists, forearms, with three of the ops for spinal fusion (one was a re-do), I find that smoking it is not really much of an option now. Without smoking it, I end up needing full doses of my medications (Talwin-NX (opiate), Orudis, Tegretol & Vistaril) to handle the pain, and then I can’t eat because I am queasy. A six foot tall, 140 pound guy with a medium frame looks like a P.O.W., I was that skinny. I felt like crap, and I looked like it. Smoking weed allows me to take as little as 1/8th the daily dose of the opiate, and half to one third of the other meds. Plus I have a healthy appetite, and I am now back up to my normal 170 pound, pre-accident weight. Damn that evil weed!
Granted, the pain is still higher than without the meds, but I can handle it much better. Still, I work for a living and I have found a balance between pain and the need to do what I have to in life. I have found that it is easy for me to over do it (for example, should have taken it easier replacing the ball joints on the Mustang…), but the fact that I am doing something that I was unable to do because of pain only five years ago makes me happy. Having a type A personality anchored with pain flat out sucks.
You can’t overdose on it. Dr. Dean Edell reported a study out of a Colorado university that found that you were up to six times less likely to get lung cancer. It is a plant, and nothing has to be done to it other than grow it. No processing, only light, water and feed. One side effect is that I find I drink very little alcohol now. That is a good side effect, IMO! But the booze industry would not like that much…lol
The social conservatives likes to say one thing John, but they have almost always meant another. The wingnuts tell us how much they want government out of our lives, but there are a host of ‘buts’ they append to that. You are free, yes. Free to live as they say.
The left are a bunch of cattle that are cowed by the right, and few on either side are willing to stand up for weed at the federal level. Our jails are full of people who are doing time for possession, growing, use and so on. I know, I was one of them in the late 80’s. I did my time (that in itself is another story that is beyond stupid, I may tell it here one day…) and got out. I saw many others there, blue collar workers who have/had a job, family and were being good citizens but were busted for pot. What is happening is beyond stupid.
Oh yeah, I have my Oregon Medical Marijuana certificate… :)
War on drugs, right… More like War on Morals.
DougJ
I have a theory about marijuana which is probably loony and paranoid, but here goes: a large part of the reason it remains illegal is that there is no obvious way for big pharm to make money off it. When you read about all the weird side effects with stuff like Ambien, it’s pretty clear there’s tons of prescription — and probably over the counter as well — medication that’s a thousand times more dangerous.
It also seems to be me that a few clinical trials for big pharm drugs can’t begin to compare with the thousands of years of trials that marijuana has been subjected to. Seriously: if marijuana gave you heart disease or made you go crazy, we’d know by now. And, yes, I know the dangers of tobacco weren’t understood til somewhat recently but in a way that reinforces the point: we’ve had a good 40 years during which tons of interest groups were gunning for pot, trying to show it had some awful health risk. And they’ve come up with next to nothing.
That ought to tell us something.
Cain
Great post, ConservativelyLiberal.
cain
srv
John,
Whatever you’ve been taking lately, you are on fire.
Justin
The War on Drugs = The War on Your Neighbors
Justin
So well put, John. You are a credit to the blogosphere, really. I’m going to light one up as a tribute to this post! lol
Tony Alva
Amen brother, amen…
Mark S.
Bravo, John!
And Doug, I think you may be right on the Big Pharm angle. There is something seriously weird with our policy on pot, namely, making it a Schedule I drug, which is total bullshit. I can see why some politicians are leery of seeming pro-drug, but taking the moderate step of making marijuana Schedule II (making it legal with a prescription, which is the case with cocaine, morphine, and a whole host of drugs) seems a reasonable position. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single politician suggest it.
Anne Laurie
So who exactly is the constituency for criminalizing medical marijuana? That’s a sincere question.
DougJ’s right about one group — Big Pharma makes a good chunk of its profits on “new, improved” prescription painkillers like Celebrex… because people with chronic pain issues will pay Whatever It Takes. And organized crime appreciates the fact that prohibition not only keeps the price of the Banned Product high, it also diverts police resources from fighting real crime. But perhaps most importantly, there’s significant support from the National Security Apparatus for treating marijuana as though it were plutonium… simply because there are so many Americans who use or have used or even know people who use it. Big Brother loves all the D.A.R.E. bullshit where anyone can be pulled in, pulled over, strip-searched & probed for “suspicion of illegal drug activity”. Having the legal right to take someone’s car because the cops think that fuzzy gunk from the trunk seams *might* be marijuana residue, or being able to evict some trouble-making union agitator because somebody showed up at a house meeting with a joint in their jeans, or denying a college education to some “bad attitude kid” who violated the local Drug Free School extraspecial superlimits, or being able to force everyone to pee in a cup at any time as a condition of employment — it’s enough to make any Supreme Leader weep tears of joy!
And that special class of American puritans who Mencken defined as people “haunted by the fear that someone, somewhere, might be having a good time” stands ready to support Our Guvmint in its efforts… because Drugs Are Bad, and only weak/spineless/immoral people need “chemical crutches”, and besides, Think of the Children!!!1!!! If there’s one place where the far-Left your-body-is-a-temple health cultists join hands with the far-right what-my-religious-leaders-tell-me-about-Gods-laws-should-bind-everyone Talibangelicals, it’s when insisting that medical marijuana is merely a “gateway” for the (further) spread of laziness, individualism, and other sins against Teh Community. Because, Left or Right, so-called Progressive or self-declared Libertarian, there’s always a good excuse for insisting that *other* people just can’t handle being treated like adults.
OniHanzo
A few drinks?
Liquor makes you mean, John. Junkyard dog mean. :)
Now would somebody, please, pour that man another shot.
MarkusB
Amen, brother John. Amen.
Punchy
Mark pretty well nails it. The first politician to even suggest it be “legalized”–let’s be honest, that’s how it will be sold by his/her opponent–will be pilloried as “soft on drugs”, or “pro-drug use”, or “promoting a lifestyle harmful to children” (gotta get the children angle involved).
The same reason feds have to stick a guy with a handful of chronic in the pokie for 5 years and nobody will attempt to change it that insanity. “Soft on crime!”
It’s political suicide.
Punchy
Mark pretty well nails it. The first politician to even suggest it be “legalized”–let’s be honest, that’s how it will be sold by his/her opponent–will be pilloried as “soft on drugs”, or “pro-drug use”, or “promoting a lifestyle harmful to children” (gotta get the children angle involved). The commercials write themselves
The same reason feds have to stick a guy with a handful of chronic in the pokie for 5 years and nobody will attempt to change that insanity. “Soft on crime!”
It’s political suicide.
Punchy
John, can you delete on of the double posts? Thx. Damn intertubes.
UNK
10 years ago today the Oregon Death with Dignity Act was passed. During that time we have had to fend off many attacks against the act from the Federal guv-mint of the Bushies. Each time we either re-passed the Act or won in the supreme court. Every time it was brought up we heard the same nonsense about slippery slopes and elder abuse and after ten years, none of the above has come to pass.
People at the end of life, in our state at least, have options that they can’t even begin to consider in other states. The Death with Dignity Act has been a success, ask any of the families that have gone through it to this point. Doctors have become so much more responsive to pain management and Hospice care now, and any patient, still capable, can ask for a legal lethal prescription.
John, I join you in saying to the Fascists who demand we buy and use their products until we simply cannot, Fuck Yourselves.
sneakerchad
AMEN BROTHER!!
Fraud Guy
In our local paper, in the police report section, they reported 11 arrests. 10 were for DUI, multiple DUIs, driving on suspended licenses due to previous DUIs, warrants for not showing up for their DUI hearings, etc. 1 was for possession of marijuana.
Two quick questions:
Which offense(s) are more dangerous to other citizens?
Which offense(s) are more likely to bring jail time?
Second thought–you don’t hear much lately about the THC-based painkillers that pharmaceutical companies were developing, touting that they would eliminate the need for “medical” marijuana.
Eric
“I now know why Pot is illegal”
Please read thos piece from Democratic Underground:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×2148805
MNPundit
I agree with what you wrote but you should have said “Go Skull Fuck a Kitten until you die.”
Thematic unity please.
snorkel
Slightly OT: Do all you commenting here know that your opinions re legalizing marijuana are enough to keep you off a jury in any trial where drugs are somehow involved? Worked for me at least twice. The prosecuting attorney in questioning a panel of potential jurors will usually throw in a question about drug laws. Once, he asked a panel I was on “are any of you in favor of legalizing marijuana?” At first no hands went up, then my hand went up, then about half the panel raised their hands and we were all dismissed. It seemed as though quite a few people who raised their hands were just thinking this question over for the first time. Or maybe no-one wanted to be the only one with such an “outrageous” opinion.
Media Glutton
Amen brother
TenguPhule
But the very serious people in DC believe that we dirty fucking hippy outsiders (and yes John, you are now considered one of the unwashed masses by the faithful) can’t be trusted to know what’s best for us.
The Brooks of this world will decide what’s best for us.
And it will be civility and bipartisanship happy fucks while passing condemnations on ads calling Stupid Fucking Generals Stupid Fucking Generals.
Forever.
Or until we take a page from France’s book and break out the axes.
nicrivera
It wouldn’t be the first time a chronic pain sufferer died as an indirect result of our governments War on (some) Drugs, and it certainly won’t be the last.
And if that makes you mad, just stop to think about all the innocent people who died as a direct result of the drug raids committed in the name of the War on Drugs.
Our government is out of control.
curtadams
If I ever get called for jury duty and some judge asks me about marijuana legalization, I am *not* going to raise my hand. I’ll consider it my civic duty to do my best to keep some innocent out of jail.
Jay
Every Nation need strict laws on drugs. Next generation is easily get caught in this war.
Jay
Articles Search Engine
gypsy howell
Great stuff John. Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m glad I have two middle-class white children, because when they (inevitably) get caught smoking pot, at least they’ll be a little less likely to end up doing prison time than some poor black kid. What a fuckin’ waste of… well… everything. Lives, money, resources, everything.
TR
Big Pharma.
If people can grow their own solutions to pain and stress in their gardens, they don’t need to shell out big bucks for Tylenol and Valium. Simple as that.
There’s a reason they spend so much money on lobbyists.
Heather
DougJ said: “I have a theory about marijuana which is probably loony and paranoid, but here goes: a large part of the reason it remains illegal is that there is no obvious way for big pharm to make money off it.”
A dear friend of mine is a biochemist who manages an NIH repository for experimental AIDS and cancer drugs. That is exactly his take on why marijuana is illegal, and I believe him.
Snarky Shark
Come on John
It was made illegal because the dirty fucking negros were smoking it in the 20s, and it remains illegal because the Dirty Fucking Hippies(tm) smoked it and caused us to loose Vietnam.
Would the Boomers hurry up and die all ready? I mean, we aren’t even allowed to discuss it. Advocate legalization and you will be accused of wanting to sell heroin to 6 year old kids. So here in the land of the free, we will continue to imprison more of our own population than anybody else because a bunch of narcissist can’t get over themselves.
Just go live in your gated communities, drink your bourbon and leave the rest of the hell alone.
Oh, and history will not be kind to you fucks.
Abe Froman
I love this blog! Thanks John and Time!
Equal Opportunity Cynic
It’s too bad that no one ever talks about the Libertarian Party as a serious alternative to this kind of silliness. I recognize that many of the LP’s wounds are self-inflicted but it’s still sad that so many who wish there were a libertarian party can’t see a way to make that vision come to fruition.
@Anne Laurie:
Because, Left or Right, so-called Progressive or self-declared Libertarian, there’s always a good excuse for insisting that other people just can’t handle being treated like adults.
Who is “self-declared Libertarian” and can’t handle treating others like adults? Maybe you’re referring to generic small-government rhetoric from the GOP from people like Grover Norquist, which incidentally doesn’t pass the laugh test, but I certainly can’t imagine those people trying to use the term Libertarian
numbskull
Snarky Shark,
You’re showing your (lack of) age. Blaming the older generation, what a novel approach. Realize that this attitude about pot goes back much further than the generation one degree older than you. Realize, also, that the minority that supports the WOD has ALWAYS been with us. And possibly of surprise to you, exits in your generation.
So instead of whiny and bitching in a way that separates people with common cause, you could … do almost anything else and be more effective.
maxbaer (not the original)
Thanks, Mr. Cole. I’m as sorry about what’s happened to your party as I am about what’s happened to mine. Hopefully, we’ve almost hit bottom.
Patrick
John,
Great post.
Thank you!
RSA
Are you saying John is old? :-)
Count me as another fan of this post, and as yet another person who’s seen marijuana use reduce pain to manageable levels.
JoeTX
Prohibition was sent to the crapper when we had the great depression and the government was hurting for revenue. Maybe when the next republican depression hits (I’ll take bets on home soon that will be), they will decide that taxing drugs instead of spending billions to regulate them, isn’t such a bad idea…
Katherine Hunter
despite my advanced age and limited income i am a proud monthly donor to the Marijuana Policy Project which is devoted to sponsoring the legalization of medical mariuana and working hard for legislation in its favor / i encourage the commenters here to check them out and give them support.
Timothy Leary said it well in a small pamphlet that came out in the 60’s entitled The Politics of Consciousness Expansion / he, oc, was referencing LSD but marijuana is also a wonderful drug for promoting enlightenment / if you dont find it that way you are smoking the wrong weed / smile
http://www.mpp.org/site/pp.aspx?c=glKZLeMQIsG&b=1086497
from another granny
allan
Wow… outstanding and inciteful post John. Nice follow-up comments as well.
After reading all these there isn’t much for me to add. It is important however to put a face and a voice to the opposition, to those who think medical cannabis is a scam. Check out my “friend” Linda (Linda is a regular at the Modesto Bee’s blog, the Hive) from Modesto:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7neQrpc94
She has made many comments at that youTube page as well.
And make sure the kids aren’ t around the ‘puter when you watch the video… scary lady that one… Gives me nightmares and I’m in my 50s.
Libby Spencer
Bejus John. You have just been on fire for months now. Another brilliant post.
laneman
Uhhmmmmm, holy f@rk, you just made my day with that skreed.
So on point it hurts … the righttards, I hope
laneman
Have to add this
Hay, moonbat, french are evil. **blink** **blink**
TJ, outraged
John, clearly you should drink a half-bottle of wine every night. It makes you a kick-ass writer…
jcricket
I hear this a lot, usually from alternative medicine people claiming their untested herb that cures cancer (or whatever) is being blocked from the market because there’s no profit in herbs. Of course no one attributes the same “profit only” motive to the herbal supplement companies who are making billions (really) each year selling questionable amounts of the same “natural herbs” as cure-alls.
The truth is that someone, big Pharma or big Agra, would totally find a way to market and sell anything, natural or not. Especially if pot required a prescription.
And all the medical researchers I know (I work among the kind who have contributed more to reducing cancer deaths than any naturo/homeo-path ever will) are actively looking at anything that might offer help, including herbs, in either their natural, diluted, or combinatorial state. It’s just rubbish to suggest otherwise.
Marijuana is illegal because (except for tobacco and alcohol), we have been conditioned by the puritanical streak that runs this country to think “all drugs are bad”. It’s the same streak that led us to ban alcohol during prohibition. It’s the same streak that makes us freak out more than anyone about affairs politicians have (vs. caring about their actual political scandals). “Upright” moralists combine with the fearful “mommies” (figurative) of the US and all drugs are gonna kill our kids, so they must be opposed at all costs.
As I said in my other post, I’m a pragmatist. I don’t take illegal drugs now, and don’t plan on starting, even if marijuana were completely legal. But the drug war is a colossal failure. It doesn’t make people take less drugs and doesn’t result in less criminal activity. If we want people to take less drugs we should legalize (at least some of) them, regulate them, and then subject them to the same scrutiny as tobacco. Kill the criminal market (mostly) for the drugs and related crimes (murder, blackmail, robbery) go way down. Incarceration costs go way down. Sure, you’d probably have to deal with increased rehab or healthcare costs, but you can address those through the same public health campaigns that are actually working with smoking. Smoking use has been declining for years despite wide availability and legality of cigarettes, due to the public health campaign against them.
Tom Daubert
Thank you for recognizing the importance of Robin Prosser’s life story. Robin was a friend of mine and was much-loved by the patients, caregivers and other Montana supporters of the rights of medical marijuana patients. What’s saddest of all, for us, is that new caregivers were literally just a few weeks away from being able to supply Robin with the specific strain of marijuana that best met her needs — but she couldn’t hang on, couldn’t endure her agony any longer. The DEA intrusion earlier this year had crushed her spirit and hope for a better future.
Robin lost her physical struggle but not her moral one; everything she stood for fights on. We at Patients & Families United, Montana’s patient support group, have established a Robin Prosser Memorial Patients’ Defense Fund. Lots of patients here face legal problems, despite the fact that our medical marijuana law received more votes than Bush or our Governor or Congressman.
Robin Prosser would have wanted everyone who knew her or her story to redouble his/her commitment to ending the lunacy of our federal government’s war on science and the welfare of suffering patients. We are determined that our state’s leading medical marijuana patient-activist will not have died (nor lived) in vain.
To learn more about our defense fund, please see:
http://www.mtmjpatients.org/robin.html
To view a video of Robin taken soon after the DEA intrusion, please see the You Tube on this page:
http://www.montananorml.org/
Thank-you, all.
-Tom
http://www.mtmjpatients.org
Xanthippas
Amen.
Eric
Please read thos piece from Democratic Underground:
I recently came across some Handspun Antique Hemp Nightgowns – I now know why Pot is illegal Updated at 3:32 PM
Edited on Sat Oct-27-07 04:01 PM by debbierlus
My fiancee deals in antiques & I help him on the side. I went to an estate sale & purchased a bunch of handspun cloth nightgowns from the 1820s/30s era. The woman at the sale was telling me about the process of how the woman made the cloth from hemp & showing me the beautiful tiny details of their work.
There was not a hole in ANY of the fifteen I purchased. They were thick & sturdy. I brought them home & gently washed them with some oxyclean & put a little fabric softner in with them. They came out white & beautiful.
I was awe-struck. I have always known, intectually, that hemp was suppossed to make great clothing & it has a million & one other uses as well. But, it wasn’t until I put my hands on these nearly 200 YEAR OLD pieces of fabric that I realized why industry would want to fight this plant. It lasts, if not forever, then for a couple of life-times or more. How on earth would they be able to generate profit, if we weren’t wearing holes in our Chinese factory made clothing every two weeks? And, of course, this is a plant that anyone could grow, it is a WEED. If it was used as fuel source (as I was told it would be a excellent use for…), how would they ever profiteer once the average person figured out how to make hemp oil, or each local community had a grower who would supply the fuel. Where would the oil billionaires be?
It is absolutely CRIMINAl that this plant is illegal. How DARE they take away such a valuable resource that could provide such benefit for people & the earth, at a low cost?
I have always been for the full legalization of Marijuana. Now, I think I will be more then for it, I will become a advocate & activist. And, I am going to start carrying one of the nightgowns in my car for show & tell. I am convinced, if people saw what this would do first hand, the laws would be demanded to change.
On Edit: Here are the links to the images of one of the hemp nightgowns. One of a full shot & two close ups. Here yeah go:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/
Xanthippas
What’s worse is that you can’t even count on Democrats to even try to fix this. If the two major parties accept things, no matter how jacked up they are, what are the rest of us supposed to do?
Snarky Shark
Of course you are right, but there is a certain amount of boomer narcism involved in this. The 60s turned out to pretty much be a circle jerk that colors almost everything that is happening now. I really do believe that Marijuana is the stand in for the DFHs for all the ‘hardhats’, and other assorted chickenhawks.
The fact is, every time I see some idiot saying “there is no medical use” or some pinch-faced hag saying”we must protect the children”, its a damn boomer.
The Iraq war? Boomer WW2 envy! Thats why the war on terra(tm) has to be the most important thing ever.
The older generation was taken in by some Hearst style yellow journalism with few alternative sources of information, Boomers don’t have that excuse.
In short, time is getting short for the Boomers to start making amends for the sorry state of things they are handing off to the Xrs. Legalization is but a start, and I am seeing zero movement. In fact, here in Texas the have upped possession from a class C to class B, which means loss of driving privileges and 6 months in jail. And they are sending people to jail.
So yes, I got some tude towards people who indulged in their youth, then turn around and have kids and turn into the same kind of nanny authoratorians they hated back in the day.
I think when Gen X assumes power their will be some enlightenment, but none until that power is wrested or inherited from the boomers that have so poisoned the well.
As for doing anything about it, good luck with that. Short of revolution nothings going to change till then. Any of the Democrats going to have the courage to change things? Hell, Clinton was worse than Reagen.
pfrets
Don’t drag hemp into the marijuana argument…you’ll only confuse the issue. The intellectually lazy among us do not care that industrial hemp contains only a fraction of the amount of THC as other cannabis family plants and is cultivated in EVERY OTHER country but the US for a wide range of uses. That is too much for their limited world view to process. They only know that cannabis (in all forms) is bad and to think otherwise means you’re in league with the terrorists.
Keep the two arguments separate, please.
BTW, great post John.
Andrew
I’m dating a sort of fundie who thinks that the MJ is really evil. I’m for complete legalization. Ironically, she has smoked and I haven’t. But I think that’s sort of par for the course.
VidaLoca
John,
Great post. Agree with the others: if this is what drinking wine does to you, drink more wine.
SnarkyShark:
Speaking as a baby boomer, I agree with a lot of what you said. Except this:
Thirty years on, a lot of our high-minded ideals look like nothing but … high-minded ideals. Don’t hold your breath waiting on that enlightenment. Time was when we thought the same thing too.
AkaDad
I usually just snark, and rarely do I comment on what John or Tim write, but this post was pure, 100% awesome.
I fully share your anger.
Grumpy Code Monkey
I dimly remember hearing some mumblage about William Randolph Hearst initiating the war on hemp because hemp fiber was being considered for making paper, and Hearst had extensive lumber holdings which would have been threatened by that. Don’t quote me on that, though.
And yeah, you need to drink more, John. That rant was awe-inspiring. Even though I technically don’t believe in the place, one of my favorite sayings has always been “Hell burns hottest for hypocrites.” This cohort of Republicans could probably raise the temperature of the place by a couple of thousand degrees.
As for whether Commander Decider Guy gave two shits about Prosser, remember that this is the guy who (allegedly) made fun of people on Death Row when he was Governor.
My dream for next November? Complete turnover. Every single one of these bastards needs to be sent home.
wasabi gasp
gWeed, for lack of a better word, is good. gWeed is right; gWeed works. gWeed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. gWeed, in all of its forms, gWeed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind and gWeed, you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Rolling Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Snarky Shark
Actually what happened was this-The same year that a patent was given for a new wonder fiber called Rayon, there was another patent given for a hemp retching(sic?) machine. This retching machine was to hemp what the cotton gin was to cotton.
Rayon was made from hydrocarbons and invented by the DuPont corp. The DuPonts and Hearst were good buddies. DuPont knew that Rayon couldn’t compete with Hemp processed by the new retching machine so he conspired with his buddy Hearst to demonize it. They coined the term marijuana and enlisted the head of what was the 20s version of the DEA,one Harry Anzlinger, into the cause. Now old Harry hated weed because he was convinced that black musicians in New Orleans were using ‘muggels’ to seduce white women.
Anyway, the deed was done behind closed doors in circumnavigation of existing laws. Kind of a prototype of the way the Cheney administration does things. It’s all spelled out in gory detail in Jack Herers book “The Emperor Wears no Clothes”. The AMA actually protested but got rolled by Anzlinger who threatened retaliation.
Perhaps, but I think changes are coming that are monumental. One thing you guys didn’t have was a proceeding generation determined to suck down all the resources with nary a thought to future generations. The Chinese credit card debt alone to pay for the Vietnam do-over in the sandbox will probably necessitate a re-thinking of weed as a tax revenue.
Plus, look how more accepting the newer generations are about gay rights and such.
AkaDad
BTW, If you oppose weed, then you’re rejecting God’s creation and you will burn in hell for all eternity…
James Joyner
Thanks for the endorsement, John. My chances of getting elected likely approximate yours, however.
Punchy
If I wanted Mary Jane representation in my gov’t, I’d elect Cypress Hill.
demimondian
Sorry, Snarky — power brings out corruption. Always.
Yes, the future will not treat the boomers kindly, at best reckoning them to have been a narcissistic, self-righteous generation which has squandered their birthright, and also that of their younger sibs and their childrens. But, trust me — they’ve got not monopoly on that.
Leisureguy
The constituency for keeping drugs illegal is, by and large, those whose livelihoods depend on it being illegal: the DEA is a prime example. They enjoy a large budget and good jobs by keeping drugs illegal. I lived in Oklahoma when it was a dry state (no liquor), and every time the vote came up the bootleggers and the Baptist ministers would work hard to keep Oklahoma dry. When liquor finally did become legal and the local state liquor store opened, many in my small town thought the town would bust wide open: gunfights, cars roaring through town, etc. In fact, nothing happened. A day like any other. That’s the same thing that will happen, I imagine, when drugs are finally legalized.
There is, BTW, an organization known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) that consists of police officers, including many chiefs of police, who ask that Prohibition be ended—it’s not working. They say:
Michael Brown
Liquor definitely agrees with you, John. So do I. Thanks for saying this.
Evan
I guess she should have been addicted to OxyContin instead of smoking pot. God forbid someone should use a pain relief medication that doesn’t cause chemical dependency. These idiots talk about medicinal cannabis as if it consisted of passing out blunts to 12 year olds who go to the nurse’s office. People who use this stuff are SICK and in most cases DYING. They are already on much harder drugs. If you think cannabis is more serious and more dangerous than the medication they give these people legally, like morphine, oxycodone, diazepam, and the millions of other toxic substances pumped into people’s bodies to fight illness and pain, then while you are entitled to your opinion, you have no business making medical decisions for yourself, let alone others.
dennis brown
You said it all as it needs to be said
Jess
The alcohol industry also has a HUGE stake in keeping it illegal. Another interesting thing about the alcohol industry is that it only survives because 10% of the people drink 60% of the alcohol–in other words, it survives because of alcoholics. If you pay attention you’ll notice that many ads for alcohol speak to the rationalizations alcoholics use to justify their addiction. I love alcohol, and don’t particularly like pot, but the industry is nearly as evil as the tobacco industry.
Tim F.
Sob.
maxbaer (not the original)
I love this blog! Thanks John and Tim!
ConservativelyLiberal
I don’t think of the alcohol or tobacco industries as evil, that is unless they are fighting to prevent the legalization of weed. In that case, yes. Other than that they are providing something for those who wish to partake of it. As far as advertising goes, I would like to see ALL pharma, cigarette and alcohol advertising halted. That or at least restricted to certain types of adult only media.
The war on drugs is a sad joke. I got busted for growing and possession in the 80’s, and when I had to see a drug counselor for pre-sentencing evaluation, she had me return three times as she “wanted to get through to me” and “save me”. She said things like “look what drugs have done to your life”, to which I responded “What?! I was working a 40+ hour a week job, I am married with a kid, I vote and pay my taxes and I did not get in trouble with the law. Until I was busted, life was just hunky dory for me and mine. Heck, if you want to help me then get me off smoking cigs. If I am out of weed and cigs, guess which one I will go get right away?”. We went round and round, but I stood my ground and refused to budge. I even told her that once this was all over, I would still smoke pot as before. We got along great, but were on different sides of the coin. She was nice, but seriously deluded in her thinking.
In the end, she came into court and, God bless her little soul, told the truth to the judge. She said that I “was nominally addicted” and “would not be amenable to therapy/counseling”. As a first time offender (with a job, and that is another story that led to this whole mess happening), I got 90 days in work release (instead of the 5-10 years I could have got with prior felonies).
I was my own supervisor at work (work release people did NOT like that), so I set my own hours. The gave me two hours to get to work, and two hours to get back. My work was a mile from the work release facility, so I would run home to visit the wife and kid, or park at the end of the runway at the airport, watch jets take off and get royally stoned. I drove the whole time without a license too. Work release did not care as long as they got their cut out of my paychecks (which I was supposed to turn over to them but never did, I would write them a check for the fees instead…lol).
So after all of that, 90 days and two felonies on my record. I got my voting rights back afterward, and life picked up where it left off. One kid is grown, the other will be a teenager next February, and the wife and I happily together after 23+ years now. Oh, and the informant got $1,000.00. Then sentenced to five years in prison for unrelated weapons violations a year later.
I will leave out the ATF & FBI coming into my house with the police, sheriff and state police when it was raided, looking for non-existent pipe bombs and a sawed off rifle that the informant told them I was going to use to kill someone. How that came to be is a story for another day… ;)
But it sure got the cops interested in taking me down in a hurry, I can tell you that. The reaction of law enforcement after the bust was pretty funny. The were clearly depressed that this was not the home run bust that would be remembered and talked about. With a total of 10 3/4 grams of dried plants and cheap stash, it wasn’t even a bunt.
I know that the sentence and no piss tests did not make the prosecutor happy, but the judge agreed with the counselor and felt it would be a waste of time and resources.
Actually, the whole bust was just that. Sorry so long, but if I told the whole story, you people would croak from the length. This is a very short edition of it.
scarshapedstar
9/11 changed everything and if you gotta throw the weak ones (the dopers who want their weed!) overboard to keep the Islamofascists from forcing everyone to follow Shar’ia or wear burkas or be dhimmis or watch Al-Jazeera… then so be it.
America Prevails.
Gus
DougJ did a great job of answering my (and empty’s) question. As always, follow the fucking money.
r€nato
while I am hardly averse to Bush-bashing, I’d like to point out that the War on
The 4th AmendmentDrugs has been a bi-partisan affair for the last 30-some years. Republicans exploit it because they know that one can never go wrong by promising the voters more draconian punishments for those selling and consuming illegal drugs; Democrats cravenly toe the War on Drugs line out of their abject fear of being called pussies and pro-drug-abuse by Goopers.r€nato
Well I’m not sure about Big Alcohol, but Big Tobacco is evil – just look at the decades spent advertising to kids, lying their asses off to the public about the dangers of smoking (I have a little book here chock full of 40s and 50s and 60s era tobacco ads, and they are really breath-taking [pun intended] in their disinformation), churning out fake science, etc.
As for marijuana, I am adamantly against its legalization, because then the business will be taken over by Big Tobacco with them then reaping the profits AND using Madison Avenue propaganda to sell it. I would rather that the profits stay with the small-time dealers, and have marijuana possession downgraded to the equivalent of a traffic ticket, with it made legal for those with medical necessity.
r€nato
on paper the Libertarians sound wonderful to me. Legalize drugs, smaller government, less taxes, fidelity to the Constitution, and aversion to meddling in the affairs of other nations.
Then you actually talk to / meet some of them. Ayn Rand fanboys, conspiracy nutters, free-market cultists, extreme NRA nutcases, gold standard fanatics, and other assorted varieties of loons.
Better third parties, please.
ConservativelyLiberal
Tobacco is easy to corner the market on, cultivating it is not easy. Anyone can grow pot, and that alone would make it impossible for the tobacco companies to control it.
If BIG tobacco is evil, so is BIG alcohol. Both use/used deceptive advertising. But really, is it them being evil or is it the idiots who fall for the advertising just being stupid.
That is why I want to see the banning of all drug, alcohol and tobacco advertising, limited only to adult-only media. At that point it is adults making the decisions, and if they are adults then they damn well better be able to make decisions for themselves. I am tired of other adults determining what I am to be limited to deciding for myself.
Fuck them. I am responsible for the decisions I make, and I don’t need a nanny state to pack me in styrofoam, assign me a lawyer at birth and keep all of the sharp objects out of the playpen of life.
And if BIG tobacco and BIG alcohol are evil, so are MacDonalds, Burger King, Wendys and every other place that invites kids (and their parents) to stuff their faces with artificially flavored, fat loaded sludge.
Face it, life is full of stuff that is not good for you. If you are an adult and choose to partake of these things, you will pay the price for it. But do not choose for me please.
Live your own life and stay out of mine.
bago
You know, at least they admitted they were insane.
kaptinemo
Those facing jury duty would be well advised to learn of their actual rights as opposed to those the judge says you have. Hint: they’re greater than the judge is willing to grant you. For example, in U.S vs. Moylan: “We recognize, as appellants urge, the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by the judge, and contrary to the evidence. This is a power that must exist as long as we adhere to the general verdict in criminal cases, for the courts cannot search the minds of the jurors to find the basis upon which they judge. If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused, is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic of passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision.” (US vs Moylan, 417 F 2d 1002, 1006 (1969)).
This is why the prosecutors and judges try to throw anyone with knowledge of their true rights under the Constitution off of jury duty during voir dire; might gum up their smooth running legal sodomizing machinery.
spoosmith
As someone who takes marijuana for pain due to MS, I’m glad I live in Canada. Just about everyone I know takes some of the stuff every once in a while, and I will tell anyone with pain (chronic or otherwise) to try this remedy. Migraines? Works for me – much better than having my husband watch over me to see if I’m going to have a heart attack when I take the pharmaceutical remedy for severe migraines.
Move to Canada – the government doesn’t care and we don’t have republicans.
dongenero
Great blog article John! Great comments thread too!
I followed a link here from cannabisnews.com
I’ll have to follow John Cole’s blog now that I’ve found it. Great commentary and nice to find so many sensible people gathering to read and comment.
Cheers John. Keep up the good work!
whig
Thank you John.
Robin was a very dear friend of mine, though I didn’t know it when she died, because she used a pseudonym to comment on a board that we’ve both been on for many years.
She was a wonderful person who only needed a certain plant to treat her pain adequately. James Joyner is totally wrong when he says that she had marijuana, so the government didn’t kill her. That is false, in my opinion.
The DEA seized her medicine and made it impossible for people to send her medicine. She could not rely on local sources because they were not good. She needed a certain strain of cannabis, not just any street shwag. Some kinds of cannabis are helpful and make it easier to function with certain kinds of pain, other kinds will not help that condition nearly as much if at all. You should understand that there are more things in cannabis than THC.
Furthermore, when I lived in a state where cannabis was prohibited, and was treating chronic pain, I nursed what I had as long as I could, far under what I needed to be adequate, but preferable to running out and having nothing at all.
Perhaps she just ran out.
whig
Cannabis isn’t illegal. Prohibition is. There is no constitutional authority for this.
Hope
Whig is right.
Some cannabis being in her home did not mean that she had the right cannabis.
What she had at that time may have been the wrong strain, poor quality, or just nothing more than some impotent ditchweed…or wild hemp, that someone had found and packaged. Or can you imagine… someone, up to no good, purposely left it to be found in her home? No…that’s impossible.
Ms. Prosser needed a certain strain that gave her the relief she needed, and if the cannabis found there had been the right potency and strain of cannabis, I have little doubt that she would have used it.
Tax Analyst
Not much to say except, “Great post, John”.
Hope
Yes, Mr. Cole, Thank you.
Well, said.
Normally, I have no use whatsoever for vulgarity, but in this case, you have managed to use it in a truly eloquent fashion that many of us can wholeheartedly agree with.
Very well said, indeed.
colleen
You write just fine behind a couple of drinks. Thank you so much.
Mary M
Another reason to vote Ron Paul! End the Drug War, end the Police State.
skippy
C’mon, folks…while you’re discussing entities who make money off the drug war, don’t forget:
Prison-industrial complex.
People make money off putting other people in prison. Marijuana is an easy bust, then off to prison they go. Taxpayers fund the state, the state pays the prisons, the prison profiteers (privatization is good, remember) head for their yachts, likely stocked with trophy wives or “pretty, pretty boys they call friends”, and good drugs, too.
It’s a great scam. All you have to do is make sure drugs remain criminalized, and all that requires is buying some politicians.
All so very simple.
dondi
Then VOTE dammit!!!
No more talk from liberals – VOTE!
chicago dyke
this post is one of many examples of why this blog, and so few other conservative blogs, is one of my browser’s “bookmarked .” i thank you for having this discussion, because it is proof that there is still hope for the republican party.
i have no real problem with actual, traditional conservative values. but the republican party today has no interest in any of those things. i’m so glad so many of you know it. thank you JC, for this brave and insightful post, as well as all the great comments you inspired in your readers.
Darkness
Heck yes to what you said. Words can be axes when wielded this sharply.
I’m the most law-abiding person I know (I even drive the speed limit, thinking it’s a good idea and wish everyone did) but when my dad was diagnosed with cancer and was already thin as a rail by the time it all got sorted out I thought, hell if I’m going to sit aside and not urge and/or secure some pot for him if he ends up on a full folfox regime. I can’t fathom anyone standing by because of “teh law” and letting a loved one suffer unnecessarily. If it helps, I frankly don’t see the difference between it and growing lemon verbena in the yard to make tea. If it doesn’t help, so be it, it’s not the government’s business either way, but I sure as hell plan on trying it if it comes to that.
Big pharma conspiracy . . . power hungry authoritarian crap . . . whatever the reason we have this stupid law against medical weed . . . it’s ridiculous and it certainly shouldn’t be American/Land of the Free.
po
“I don’t know yet who I am supporting in 2008 for President, but something needs to be done about the current state of affairs in this country.”
chris dodd stated last night at the democratic debate that he is for the decriminalization of marijuana. imagine that. not only does he think it should be decriminalized; he actually said it.
goatgirl
Don’t forget the testing industry. They like their cut of the money as well.
I have a friend who is now being railroaded by the “justice” system. He was found with less than 100 grams, and is being charged with distribution. They said if he didn’t plead guilty, they’d up it to federal charges. So he took the plea, and now surprise they’re reneging on their part of the deal. They’ve also moved up his sentencing date from 2 weeks from now, to tomorrow. He’s looking at at least 22 months, unless they decide to go ahead and charge him with 25 years like they first threatened to do. This man is house bound. The only place he goes is to the hospital, and only wants to be pain free and be a functional human being, unlike how he feels on pharmas.
This is really a sad commentary on the state of this nation.
lou
I guess she should have been addicted to OxyContin instead of smoking pot.
Unfortunately, unless your name is spelled R-U-S-H, the Justice Department is coming after you if you use too many painkillers. They’ve been prosecuting/persecuting doctors and patients. Yes, there are abuses (Rush, cough, cough) but from articles I’ve read, people in severe pain also are being railroaded by our friends at Justice.
Daggakop
Great post John,
In my country, South Africa, it is estimated that the total annual marijuana crop exceeds in value the annual output of Anglo-American (one of the major mining houses). In South Africa’s rural areas, especially the former Bantustans, marijuana is often the mainstay of the local economy. I have seen schools and clinics that have been built with income derived from communal marijuana crops. Marijuana, variously called dagga, zol, boom, rooibaard, ntsangu, madjat, puts food on the table, shoes on feet and children in school.
Marijuana is also a part of traditional African culture. The smoke of marijuana is sometimes referred to as ‘ubisi lwezinyanya’ or ‘the milk of the ancestors’. Smoking the weed is thought to be pleasing to the ancestors.
So, my American brothers, hit that bong and make the dead grateful.
(: Tom :)
Now old Harry hated weed because he was convinced that black musicians in New Orleans were using ‘muggels’ to seduce white women.
Which is particularly ironic since the first Prophet of Pot, Milton Mezzrow, was a white dude.
spoosmith Says:
Move to Canada – the government doesn’t care and we don’t have republicans.
But you have Putsch lite, er, I mean Stephen Harper. Didn’t you hear about the increased focus by the Conservative Party of Canada on MJ law enforcement? It was all my friends could talk about last time I went to Toronto. The people don’t care, but the politicians do (as long as there are votes to be had by supporting the status quo).
Also: bravo, John – for this and most of the stuff you’ve posted since you renounced the Dark Side.
Daggakop
Interestingly, most growers in southern Africa are not in favor of legalization. As a grower in the Lusikisiki area of the Transkei put it to me: “The police work hard to keep the value of my crops high.”
I would guess that in more developed countries, like the USA, the draconian war on drugs has also helped to escalate the price of marijuana. And with the increase in value comes the involvement of organized crime and a general increase in violence.