Drug Prohibition: Still Stupid

[Pertinacious Tom]

It looks like the thread on how Americans have been terribly and systematically misled by Duopoly drug warriors was a casualty of whatevertheheck happened to the forum recently.

Not to worry, prohibition is still stupid and counterproductive and I will continue to chronicle the many ways in which that is true.

Drug warriors say marijuana has no known medical uses, thus the Schedule 1 classification under our laws.

Two Reviews Find Substantial Evidence That Marijuana Relieves Pain, Nausea, and Spasticity

The current issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association includes two articles that review studies of marijuana's medical utility and come to similar conclusions about the applications that are best supported by the existing evidence: treatment of chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity. There is also substantial evidence that THC, marijuana's main active ingredient, is effective at relieving nausea and restoring appetite.

I don't need researchers to tell me that cannabis extract relieved my father's bone cancer pain. I saw it happen. I saw it work when powerful narcotics that were having terrible side effects did not.

I really don't need drug warriors using the force of law to tell me that it didn't happen. But they continue to do exactly that, and I mean both parties. Obama could have ended the Schedule 1 classification and the Republican Congress could have done it too. Or, they could have done it together.

But denying the medical facts results in more government power over individuals and that's something the Duopoly can always seem to agree on.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Just like some other DENIAL subjects. Looks like it's more than tobacco that uses the same technique. Looks like Corporations do whatever they want to make a buck, they say 'fuck you' to the sick people.

Corporations didn't make cannabis illegal. Politicians did.

It was a huge problem and they put a lot of thought into it.

Speaker Sam Rayburn called for the bill to be passed on "tellers". Does everyone know "tellers"? Did you know that for the vast bulk of legislation in this country, there is not a recorded vote. It is simply, more people walk past this point than walk past that point and it passes -- it's called "tellers".

They were getting ready to pass this thing on tellers without discussion and without a recorded vote when one of the few Republicans left in Congress, a guy from upstate New York, stood up and asked two questions, which constituted the entire debate on the national marijuana prohibition.

"Mr. Speaker, what is this bill about?"

To which Speaker Rayburn replied, "I don't know. It has something to do with a thing called marihuana. I think it's a narcotic of some kind."

Undaunted, the guy from Upstate New York asked a second question, which was as important to the Republicans as it was unimportant to the Democrats. "Mr. Speaker, does the American Medical Association support this bill?"

In one of the most remarkable things I have ever found in any research, a guy who was on the committee, and who later went on to become a Supreme Court Justice, stood up and -- do you remember? The AMA guy was named William C. Woodward -- a member of the committee who had supported the bill leaped to his feet and he said, "Their Doctor Wentworth came down here. They support this bill 100 percent." It wasn't true, but it was good enough for the Republicans. They sat down and the bill passed on tellers, without a recorded vote.

In the Senate there never was any debate or a recorded vote, and the bill went to President Roosevelt's desk and he signed it and we had the national marijuana prohibition.

Sorry, I meant to say it was an almost non-existent problem before the government got busy "solving" it, they put almost no thought into it, and they lied about what little evidence was considered.

 

[Monkey]

Just like some other DENIAL subjects. Looks like it's more than tobacco that uses the same technique. Looks like Corporations do whatever they want to make a buck, they say 'fuck you' to the sick people.

The big pharmaceutical companies cringe at the thought of the average joe being able to grow effective pain killers in their own backyard.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Just like some other DENIAL subjects. Looks like it's more than tobacco that uses the same technique. Looks like Corporations do whatever they want to make a buck, they say 'fuck you' to the sick people.

The big pharmaceutical companies cringe at the thought of the average joe being able to grow effective pain killers in their own backyard.

Yep, that's why they bought up that patent.

Umm... wait a minute. Once again it appears that government is the problem here, not any private company. With typical coherence, they bought a patent for medical use of something that their law declares medically useless.

 

[RedTuna]

Who cares if it has any medical value whatsoever? End the drug war and restore the Constitutional Republic.

Oh, wait. It's long gone. Never coming back.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

And who tells the government what to do ... Corporations.

And other people...

But in the end the voters do and even Bloomberg can't buy every outcome he wants.

We keep voting drug warriors into office at every level. Are corporations making us do it? Are union$?

In the end, we're doing it to ourselves and we can stop. No, RedTuna, we probably can't restore whatever Republic you envision, but we can stop at least some of the insanity.

No corporation can reschedule marijuana and no union can either. Obama could. Congress could. They would if we really wanted them to.

We want them to continue to deny that marijuana has any medical use.

So all I can do is hold up a mirror. I get the government Duopoly voters deserve.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Actblue, that's amazing.

They seem very intent on corrupting DemocRAT$, don't they? But that's really a topic for another thread.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Drug Warrior Lies to Congress

He tried to tell them that researchers can access marijuana as easily as they can Schedule 2 drugs.

Unfortunately for him, there was a researcher sitting right there who knew that he could get any Schedule 2 drug any time with no trouble but had a LOT of trouble getting hold of marijuana for research.

So he tried to distract and deflect, as big government fans do when caught lying.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Voters matter and sometimes all the money in the world can't buy them. You recently provided another example showing that to be true.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

And virtually none of it will be spent trying to get voters on the basis of ending prohibition. Because prohibition is still pretty popular with the Duopoly. People are noisy as hell about topics they care about.

Now it's time for this thread to drop like a stone again to illustrate my point.

 

[2slow]

Voters matter and sometimes all the money in the world can't buy them. You recently provided another example showing that to be true.

Not true Tom. Its just that there was/is big money lined up on both sides of the gun issue. Same as with net neutrality, money only loses to other money

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Voters matter and sometimes all the money in the world can't buy them. You recently provided another example showing that to be true.

Not true Tom. Its just that there was/is big money lined up on both sides of the gun issue. Same as with net neutrality, money only loses to other money

Only?

Then I must belatedly congratulate Governor Whitman on her victory. How is her service as Governor going and what ever happened to Moonbeam anyway?

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

And virtually none of it will be spent trying to get voters on the basis of ending prohibition. Because prohibition is still pretty popular with the Duopoly. People are noisy as hell about topics they care about.

Now it's time for this thread to drop like a stone again to illustrate my point.

As predicted.

Ex-Marine Faces Life for Growing Marijuana

Life? For less than an ounce?

That article is obviously very sympathetic to his case. This one tells a somewhat different story.

What struck me about that one was the remark from the Sheriff at the end. He apparently would not be troubled by the presence of whatever PTSD drugs were destroying this guy's liver around kids, but is very disturbed that he was growing a safer and effective medicine around his kids. Does he think they were giving him gumdrops or something?

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Spending money to court pro-legalization voters might be smart.

A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found 55 percent of likely California voters in favor of legalizing weed for recreational uses. Support for such an idea was barely perceptible decades ago.

But there is a lag between when weirdos start talking about an idea and when the public accepts it. There's another lag between when the public accepts a new idea and when our leaders followers adopt it in law.

That's why California is pursuing another ballot initiative about marijuana. Political leaders followers are not ready. The polling has to go a little higher before anyone but a weirdo libertarian will try to get those votes.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

News about everyone's favorite non-prohibited drug:

State stores with no competition provide better prices and selection than a competitive market would

So says the PA Governor anyway.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wolf and his fellow Democrats "warned that prices would rise as private businesses sought profit." In other words, private merchants will jack up prices because they want to make money—unlike the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), which seeks only to raise revenue. If you think those two motives sound pretty similar, you are smarter than Pennsylvania's governor, who fails to recognize that the relevant difference between these two models for distributing booze, when it comes to how high prices can be raised, is the presence or absence of competition.

This fails to recognize that businesses are fundamentally evil, as is profit, but politicians are fundamentally good, as is tax revenue.

 

[2slow]

Voters matter and sometimes all the money in the world can't buy them. You recently provided another example showing that to be true.

Not true Tom. Its just that there was/is big money lined up on both sides of the gun issue. Same as with net neutrality, money only loses to other money

Only?

Then I must belatedly congratulate Governor Whitman on her victory. How is her service as Governor going and what ever happened to Moonbeam anyway?

you are right, the candidate with the most money only wins 91% of the time. Our democracy is working just fine, no problems there....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/04/04/think-money-doesnt-matter-in-elections-this-chart-says-youre-wrong/

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Voters matter and sometimes all the money in the world can't buy them. You recently provided another example showing that to be true.

Not true Tom. Its just that there was/is big money lined up on both sides of the gun issue. Same as with net neutrality, money only loses to other money

Only?

Then I must belatedly congratulate Governor Whitman on her victory. How is her service as Governor going and what ever happened to Moonbeam anyway?

you are right, the candidate with the most money only wins 91% of the time. Our democracy is working just fine, no problems there....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/04/04/think-money-doesnt-matter-in-elections-this-chart-says-youre-wrong/

It's not hugely surprising that the candidates that are able to garner the most votes are generally also the ones able to get financial support.

You know, there is a thread that is more directly about $peech and you're kind of ruining my point about complete disinterest in the drug war by bumping this one. Have you got any thoughts on this topic? If not, hope to see you over there.

 

[2slow]

that is some funny shit coming from the guy who can figure out a way to make just about any thread about guns.

But, on topic. Yes drug prohibition is stupid and thankfully is at the beginning of the end it appears.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

that is some funny shit coming from the guy who can figure out a way to make just about any thread about guns.

But, on topic. Yes drug prohibition is stupid and thankfully is at the beginning of the end it appears.

I'd just like to point out that we went 23 posts before anyone mentioned guns.

And the "anyone" wasn't me.

Do you plan to vote for Duopoly candidates and their drug war in the coming election? I don't.

When no amount of money can buy them your vote because of this issue, they'll change positions.

Having been a drug war opponent for decades, I don't really see us at the "beginning" of the process. I see a slow process that is going on more slowly than my body is aging. I don't expect to live to see legalization, at least not at the federal level.