I spent the weekend working in the garden planting potatoes and listening to oldies rock n roll. Good therapy.

If you or anyone else sees any alternate stories besides the two you posted, I'd like to hear about them.

Bush administration cuts Faustian deal with Taliban
This piece originally appeared in the Tribune on May 30.
http://showmenews.com/2001/sep/20010922comm002.asp

I had the following link thrown at me on another site. If this article is valid, many here have been misled by some pretty good sources(L.A. Times, etc.)

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/01839506.htm

Please keep something in mind: the sociological term "deviance" in no way confers a value judgement; It is instead taken to mean the simple divergence from what is normally considered as a median. At one time in this country's history, slavery was the 'median' and Abolitionism of slavery a 'deviance'; get it?

A little nibble for your perusal:

An anti-marijuana movement? (A work in progess) http://www.cures-not-wars.org/antimj.html

"The anti-marijuana movement began in the mid-1970s, originally in the name of preventing drug abuse by children. Over time the logic of maintaining total prohibition of marijuana has evolved elaborate reasoning in order to prosecute adult cannabis users as well..."

"The organizing principle of these groups and the ones that have grown up in their wake is parental empowerment. In this mindset it is possible to see a reaction to the youth movements of the 1960s. The industrialized nations had just passed through a period in which the transformation of society by some sort of civil unrest had seemed likely.

The vehicle of this change was a "counterculture," the term for young people practicing lifestyle politics. A distinct practice common youth in the 1960s, in addition to political activism, sex, and rock n' roll, was drug use. By the 1970s, however, what had been a little spearhead of rebellion in the 1960s had split into a multiplicity of movements, all linked through their deviance from mainstream culture. The message was spreading through the media as deviance became fashionable..."

"The parents organizing to keep their kids drug-free saw their struggle as the fight to reclaim their children from a commercialized "drug culture." This was an assortment of "head shops" selling drug paraphernalia, magazines promoting drug use (of which High Times is the sole survivor), and "pro-drug" images in the media which glamorized drugs. Equally guilty in condemning their junior high schoolers to the hell of addiction were the health professionals who were tolerating marijuana and other drug use..."

"The first of these groups were the Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education and DeKalb Families in Action, both originating in the Atlanta area. "Parents, Peers, and Pot" was written by Dr. Marsha Keith Schuchard under the pseudonym "Marsha Manatt." Dr. Schuchard, a history professor at Emory University, had begun to organize neighborhood parentsafter she and her husband discovered that alcohol and marijuana use was rampant at the birthday they had happily planned for their thirteen-year old daughter. Schuchard and Dr. Thomas Gleaton of Georgia State University founded PRIDE in 1977. The parents association began to work with the principal of the Northside High School in Atlanta to reverse tolerant policy towards marijuana smoked on school grounds...

"The anti-marijuana movement grew at a phenomenal rate, fueled by fear and hatred for the "drug culture" which parents saw consciously marketing drug paraphernalia towards youth. In cooperation with the DEA, parent anti-drug activists began crafting drug paraphernalia control laws targeting establishments that carried merchandise used for the consumption of drugs or encouraging drug use. Marijuana was a prominent target for anti-drug activists, given its perceived role as the "gateway to addiction" (which remains its current assigned role). Marijuana was also said to be toxic in and of itself, according to studies published by Dr. Gabriel Nahas starting in the early 1970s."

There's so much more, and I advise everyone here to read this little gem to understand the anal mindsets we must compete with.

God knows, I've made some bloopers here, and The Regulars have gently corrected my oversights...as I hope they will continue to do so in the future.

Information - more correctly, it's selective redaction and distortion of it by the antis - is at the heart of the war. Thus far, the antis have controlled all outlets of mass communication through governmental coercion. All...but one. This one. And it is why they continue to try to throttle the 'Net into obedience.

A favorite sci-fi writer of mine, a Dr. Jerry Pournelle, had opined back in the 1970's that the Soviet Empire would fall in no small part to the development of the computer...and the then-nascent Internet. The amount of factual information available would prove an irressistable force, wearing down Soviet lies with verifiable truths. (A lesson the modern-day Chinese government knows all too well; having an unregistered modem may result in a death sentence for 'treason'.)

The antis know this, too...and are terrified that right this minute, someone, somewhere, suspicious of organizations like OurDrugFreeKids and Straight-clones, spouting governemnt propaganda like DARE, is looking for another viewpoint. and finds it. Here.

It was Ms. Schuchart(sp?) and her ilk which pressed then previously decrim-inclined pols to vote against further progress and derail much of the gains we had made in the 1970's.

With the assistance of the late-and-sorely-unlamented "Peggy Mann" she, along with other equally ignorant and histrionic do-gooders, bamboozled the pols with the same kind of factually incorrect BS as has been used for the last 22 years by the US Guvmint itself for the rationales for maintaining cannabis prohibition. By 1980, she and her kind can be said to be directly responsible for the eventual and increasingly severe penalties associated with cannabis use...and the rise in long-term 'marijuana' possession incarcerations for otherwise non-violent offenders.

She and her followers - such as Dear Joycie - can also be thanked for the skyrocketting homosexual prison rape, the concommittant widespread AIDS epidemic amongst inmates, and the general erosion of our civil liberties. Every family that had a non-violent cannabis offender who has died as a result of such treatment has people like Joycie to thank.

Some accomplishments, yes? All for the (white) children, of course; all for the children.

I don't recall what they were celebrating but, as I remember, she caught them smoking pot. She wasn't satisfied with confiscating their marijuana or ending the party or just forbidding it and chaperoning to make sure that they didn't smoke.

This was in the seventies and discussions in government leaned towards legalization of possession of up to one ounce.

She called everyone she knew and got them to call everyone they knew. They sent ounce bottles of parsley or something to every legislator to show them what a huge amount of pot one ounce is.

She threatened every politician with losing any election he or she was in if they continued to back legalization. Her zeal in creating phone banks, letter writing campaigns and financing advertising and getting news coverage caused this to happen. (Who was with the children?)The legislators who were thoughtful enough to stand up to her, she pounded into the ground. They lost, big time and it was attributed directly to her efforts.

Politicians have been deathly afraid of even mentioning marijuana ever since then because of her campaign and the results. She made it the "third rail" it is today.

I personally preferred, and prefer, raising my children myself, without using government coercion. To have thousands of people jailed and persecuted because I fear their habits will rub off on my or my neighbor's child is insane. A thing falls or stands on it's own. I can teach them to judge what is right or wrong, or best or not so good for them without having to use, "It's against the law" as my only grounds for teaching them to make choices.

If she can read the rebuttals and not comment in turn, that makes her EVIL as well stupid.

Cannabisnews is a wonderful site. I consider it home. I have learned more here than I ever imagined was possible.

Currently I've been trying to carry our message to other sites. Attempting to make people outside the movement think about how things are regressing here in the USA.

One thing that has bothered me, as I've read more about the movement, is it's fragmentation. There are literally dozens of organizations with similar goals who compete for the scarce funding available. Even Steve Kubby's organization has experienced a split. We should be UNITING. A consensus of basic goals and a plan to achieve them should be possible.

I'd like to understand why unification of our cause seems unlikely(to me). I truly don't understand it.

Wonder who her clients are? A lawyer from DC with thousands of Lobbiest. 500 Pharmaceuticals alone. Now Fort Knox as been pilferred as Enron did with its vertual reality assets. The Fascist banksters or korpses don't represent us. Lawyers seem to have immunity to sanity and lying. If its in the best interest of their clients. I doubt if J. Nalepka, Esq. has the integrity to admit who she's working for...But no one makes money in peace, only perpetuating this fraud WoD. She was the idiot waving her arms shouting Boycott Hemp when the Maryland governor backed the farmers rights to grow. With the same overzelous rhetoric about it being a plot to legalize heroin eventually. Yes thats it, I smoke pot to turn the world into a bunch of tree hugging commie junkie robots so I can take over the planet! Drat, Foiled again by a GOPer DEAth Monger Lawyer...
Peace, Love and Liberty
DdC

D.E.A.th Deceptions
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/DEAth.html
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/39/39670.gif

Enron Owns GOPers
http://www.EnronOwnsTheGOP.com
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/39/39716.gif

George W. in the Garden of Gethsemane by Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/2002_0129.html
Mike's New Book Stupid White Men
http://www.michaelmoore.com/images/Stupid_White_Cover_225.jpg

I honestly believe her posts are her only contact at Cnews.

I don't think she bothers to read the rebuttals.

A long time ago, I underwent instruction in unconventional - "guerilla" - warfare. My instructors emphasized, over and over again, that it is at once both the most devastating and personal form of warfare to exist. Primarly because it literally 'hits people where they live'. As one put it: "If it isn't presonal, it's pointless.

Joyce has been on the side that has chosen to go this particular route with her 'partisan' support of those forces seeking to destroy the last vestiges of freedom in this country with their 'Children's Crusade' of a DrugWar. She probably thought that she could keep it on a level which would allow her to genteely snipe from the ivory tower rather than 'fix bayonets' and 'mix it up' in the street. Looks like you drew some blood. I 'll bet she, in her ignorance of the 'Net, thought that she was safe from criticism. She's just received a dash of cold water down her back. Perhaps we should all follow suit? After all, that's precisely what she does to us; make comments and split.

Ms. Nalepka, Since you choose to post lies, I cannot remove your name from my list. I will continue to tell you that your diatribes have no basis in reality and deserve no serious consideration.

You have chosen to make your email address, your business address and phone and fax numbers available to the public. I see no reason not to avail myself of them as I see fit.

As long as you prefer to espouse rhhetoric that lost it's validity in the 1960's I will continue to point this fact out to you.

Your diatribes mislead children. Children are not stupid. When they find out you cannot be trusted, you make them vulnerable to lies by others. Educate yourself. Only then can you do service to your "cause".

Joyce Nalepka on February 15, 2002 at 13:58:52 PT: Terror and the War on Drugs

What a twisted web the legalizers weave.

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." Federal Bureau of Narcotics Chief Harry J. Anslinger, 1929 Founding statement of the war on cannabis.

The problem is, it seems they are only interested in protecting their use of drugs.

Who is really behind the Partnership For A Drug Free America?
http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/swallowtail/204/partner1.htm

The citizens of the US used to be fairly united in their protection of children from harm.

Assassins of Youth
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/36/36796.gif
The assassins of youth...DARE/PFDA
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=105.topic

Now, we are seeing more and more attention paid to weakening the infrastructure of both laws and family.

Prohibitionist Deceptions
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionprohibitionistwodjunkies.showMessage?topicID=43.topic

There have been more research projects funded from tax dollars trying to prove marijuana beneficial in some way than there have been news stories telling the truth.

Rayguns/BushMonkey Test
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=50.topic

Bush Quayle Lilly Pharmaceutical Sellout
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=23.topic

Marijuana is a very dangerous drug at any potency.

The USA Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy 1987
"Cannabis can be used on an episodic but continual basis without evidence of social or psychic dysfunction. In many users the term dependence with its obvious connotations, probably is mis-applied... The chief opposition to the drug rests on a moral and political, and not toxicologic, foundation".

Child Spies by Robert W. Lee
http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2000/05-22-2000/vo16no11_drugs.htm

Prescription for Addiction by Robert W. Lee
http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2001/02-12-2001/vo17no04_ritalin_print.htm

The Economist March 28th 1992:
"Medicines often produce side effects. Sometimes they are physically unpleasant. Cannabis too has discomforting side effects, but these are not physical they are political"

Professor Lester Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School, USA:
"Marijuana is one of the least toxic substances in the whole pharmacopoeia"

Most of the research done in the past was done on a very low potency grade of pot.

Cannabis Blocks Irreversible Brain Damage
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionffffhyperlinked.showMessage?topicID=3.topic

Cannabis Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=116.topic

Cannabis May Offer Protection Against Tumors
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionffffhyperlinked.showMessage?topicID=4.topic

Even in that research, we find brain, lung, reproductive damage.

Prenatal Marijuana Exposure and Neonatal Outcomes
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=197.topic

The Federal Government allows ONLY 8 PEOPLE to LEGALLY USE POT AS MEDICINE
http://www.ariannaonline.com/discus/messages/4/855.html?SaturdayJuly120000150pm

The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer
http://www.jackherer.com

LUNG CLEANER AND EXPECTORANT
Cannabis is the best natural expectorant to clear the human lungs of smog, dust and the phlegm associated with tobacco use. Marijuana smoke effectively dilates the airways of the lungs, the bronchi, opening them to allow more oxygen into the lungs. It is also the best natural dilator of the tiny airways of the lungs, the bronchial tubes - making cannabis the best overall bronchial dilator for 80% of the population (the remaining 20% sometimes show minor negative reactions). (See section on asthma - a disease that closes these passages in spasms - UCLA Tashkin studies, 1969-97; U.S. Costa Rican, 1980-82; Jamaican studies 1969-74, 76.) Statistical evidence - showing up consistently as anomalies in matched populations - indicates that people who smoke tobacco cigarettes are usually better off and will live longer if they smoke cannabis moderately, too. (Jamaicna, Costa Rican studies.) Millions of Americans have given up or avoided smoking tobacco products in favor of cannabis, which is not good news to the powerful tobacco lobby - Senator Jesse Helms and his cohorts. A turn-of-the-century grandfather clause in U.S. tobacco law allows 400 to 6,000 additional chemicals to be added. Additions since then to the average tobacco cigarette are unknown, and the public in the U.S. has no right to know what they are. Many joggers and marathon runners feel cannabis use cleans their lungs, allowing better endurance. The evidence indicates that cannabis use will probably increase these outlaw American marijuana-users' lives by about one to two years - yet they may lose their rights, property, children, state licenses, etc., just for using that safest of substances: cannabis.

Certainly, we have all seen young people in our communities who have deteriorated to nearly unrecognizable status.

Chemical Manipulation of Human Consciousness http://www.trufax.org/menu/chem.html

A-MOTIVATION Dr. Andrew Weil (Rubin & Comitas Ganja in Jamaica, 1975)
"a-motivation [is] a cause of heavy marijuana smoking rather than the reverse"

Another dummy...Carl Sagan: A Life in The Cosmos Smoking Pot
http://www.ariannaonline.com/discus/messages/4/445.html?TuesdayDecember2119990359pm

Dividing Communities and Splitting Up Families
"Help a friend, send him to jail," says a billboard in Ventura, California. This is an example of the "zero tolerance" campaign's inform-on-your-neighbor tactics being used to enforce the laws against the victimless crime of cannabis smoking.

Here's another example from TV: "If you have knowledge of a felony you can earn up to one thousand dollars. Your name will not be used and you will not be required to appear in court."* One man received a postcard in jail saying, "Our informant received $600 for turning you in. Crimestoppers."
*(Crimestoppers, Ventura, California, October, 1989.)

MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS OF SUPPRESSION
http://www.jackherer.com/book/ch14.html

Today's marijuana is much more potent and has the potential --even to a layperson -- of doing much greater harm.

More lies, the DEA used old evidence to compare todays potency with that of 20 or 30 years ago, using the old cannabis that always disapates potency over time. How many kids are raped in juvi prison on cannabis arrests?

The University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research reported "Marijuana-Related Emergency Department Visits Now as Common as for Heroin."

What else would they say? They get paid to find problems with cannabis. They are funded by the same Farben International Corporations. Your only harming kids caught in the middle and sick people trying to releave their symptoms and conditions. Prison profits topped $1 trillion, that is what your lies support! Monsanto poinsons and aborts babies on farm crops in competition with organic hemp. You promte this by your naive stance and lies. No one argues with tensile strength or protein or medicinal value since the mid 1800's. Prohibition is political and financial, not medical. You support spreading disease with shared needles, overdoses from street black market eliminated by letting doctors monitor and prescribe. You support drug warlords and terror groups as you do buying crude oil, again eliminated overnight by legalizing cannabis.

Why do you think they call it DOPE?
http://www.cannabis.com/ezine/just_say_know/2.shtm

Possibly the best education a parent can get about what happens to young people who use pot and other drugs is to read the "Comments" sections at the end of these articles.

Only for the truth. They still say more than you.

It is apparent damage exists.

In the lies you spit out I agree totally. Bring one victim in 10,000 years of use. Just one victim of any of the fibs you promote! Why do you hate America and its Freedom so much is the real question. Your ego trip is about over, your 15 minutes were laughed at when you tried connecting hemp to heroin when the governor came out in favor. My friends in Maryland are on your case and I can't wait to see you railroaded out for the lies you speak do harm kids. Shame on you liar!

Actually, recently, there was a very beneficial result from a comment. A young person had been ordered by his intake officer to research marijuana's harmful effects.

Yea right, like we don't know your trolls from legitimate users...Instead of taking young naive users who get burnt daily from prohibition and the black market. Or cop science with vested budget interest and corporate funding their egodare propaganda. Schwagg from the government or the streets is not cannabis. using these lies to compare is babykilling. Thats as plain as it gets. Now what do the doctors say?

A kid is convinced so 735,000 should be arrested for using it? How gestapo of you.

Safe Use of Cannabis" by Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D.
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitioncannabisfoodfuelfiberfarmaceuticals.showMessage?topicID=35.topic

Testimony of Lester Grinspoon MD
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/message.shtml?1x35862

A major problem is that the user cannot recognize the harm him/herself and parents and others tell us the changes are so insidious, it takes up to two years to recognize the damage done--and then it is frequently too late.

Your absolutely missinformed or have vested interest in lying. How do we possibly find the correct keys to type? How do we remember the dop of the puter? ¶8) If it was so noticible why do they need to steal your body fluids to test if you're using? You are simply working for the crude oil and alcohol corporations behind prohibition. You can't add medical symptoms to a racist fascist act?

PREJUDICE: MARIJUANA AND JIM CROW LAWS
http://www.jackherer.com/book/ch13.html

Judge Pamela Alexander at the DPF Conference, November 1996:
"I am here because I am the first judge in this country to say, in 1990, that the war on drugs was racist. It still is and that hasn't changed"

First Lady Laura Bush put it best in the January Reader's Digest when commenting on what makes America strong, she responded--"It's the children, stupid!"

Like the kid she killed while driving. W boasted in all 3 of his drunk driving arrests and cocaine possession and although he killed over 300 on death row hes proud to say not like Lauri while driving. Yes a fine example...a crackhead lush fascist and his killer spouse...

Fibre Plants-Hemp Childrens Encyclopedia 1909;pp.321-324
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=59.topic

THE BUSH-CHENEY DRUG EMPIRE
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=178.topic

M.A.M.A.
http://www.mamas.org
Cops Against The Drug War
http://drcnet.org/cops/

The Real Price of Prisons
http://www.motherjones.com/prisons

Dubya and Me: We've Got No Idea
http://www.motherjones.com/magazine/MJ01/dubya.html

Colorado followed in 1917. Its legislators cited excesses of Pancho Villa's rebel army, whose drug of choice was supposed to have been marijuana. Which, if true, means that marijuana helped to overthrow one of the most repressive and evil regimes Mexico ever suffered.

The Colorado Legislature felt the only way to prevent an actual racial blood bath and the overthrow of their (whites) ignorant and bigoted laws, attitudes, and institutions was to stop marijuana.

Mexicans under marijuana's influence were demanding humane treatment, looking at white women, and asking that their children be educated while the parents harvested sugar beets; and other insolent demands. With the excuse of marijuana (Killer Weed the whites could now use force and rationalize their violent acts of repression.

This reefer racism continues into the present day. In 1937, Harry Anslinger told Congress that there were between 50,000 to 100,000* total marijuana smokers then in the U.S. and most of them were Negroes and Mexicans, and entertainers, and their music, jazz and swing were an outgrowth of this marijuana use. Anslinger insisted this satanic music and the use of marijuana caused white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes!

* Anslinger would flip to know there are 26 million daily marijuana users in America now, and that rock & roll and jazz are enjoyed by tens of millions who have never smoked marijuana.

A $100,000 CHALLENGE TO THE WORLD TO PROVE US WRONG

IF all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction, were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect, and stop deforestation;

THEN there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper and textiles; meet all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time . . .

And that substance is - the same one that did it all before -Cannabis Hemp...Marijuana!

THE TOXIC ALTERNATIVE TO NATURAL FIBERS.
http://fornits.com/curiosity/hemp/fibre.htm

Welcome
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/index.html
Sacramental
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/Sacramental.html
Food
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/Food.html
Fuel
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/Fuel.html
Fiber
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/Fiber.html
FARMaceuticals
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/farmaceuticals.html
D.E.A.th Deceptions
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/DEAth.html
OPEC Fossil Fuels vs Homegrown Biomass
http://www.overthrowthegov.com/com/reply.asp?topic_id=308&forum_id=6
More Biomass
http://www.journeytoforever.org
OPEC Fossil Fiber vs Homegrown Hemp
http://www.overthrowthegov.com/com/reply.asp?topic_id=310&forum_id=6

"There is a point at which the law becomes immoral and unethical. That point is reached when it becomes a cloak for the cowardice that dares not stand up against blatant violations of justice. A state that supresses all freedom of speech, and which by imposing the most terrible punishments, treats each and every attempt at criticism, however morally justified, and every suggestion for improvement as plotting to high treason, is a state that breaks an unwritten law."
- Kurt Huber [The head of White Rose], killed by the Nazis in 1943.

Hypocrites!

GWBush Cocaine Cowboy 1 year gap in Bush's Guard
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessa ge?topicID=176.topic

Why Does George W. Bush Fly in Drug Smuggler Barry Seal's Airplane?
http://www.copvcia.com/W_plane.htm

George Bush: Crack Kingpin of the 1980s
http://www.ariannaonline.com/discus/messages/4/559.html?FridayFebruary420001100p m

I know that I can sometimes get complacent when commenting here, relaxed in the knowledge that just about everyone who posts here believes as I do on this particular topic. When a "grandpa," "grandma" or Joyce Nalepka posts here, I realize that our audience is larger than just those who post, and that encourages me to be that much more careful when expressing what I have to say.

So, I view these prohibitionist postings as a very good thing. They help us to be responsible. Moreover, they give us a chance to rally around our cause like nothing else, and that in turn reminds us that we are all part of something much larger than any individual.

In short, thanks Joyce Nalepka! Your post has made us stronger.

It's been noted here that she always says the same things, then scoots...obviously lacking the intestinal fortitude to engage in debate. Well, that's been the anti's modus operandi from the very beginning; when Barry was cornered in London (UK) some time back, he ran down an alley rather than facing his detractors and answer them. We've come to expect that; when Asa went to SanFran and was righteously barraged with verbal expressions of disbelief, he was probably thinking the same thing antis always seem to do: that there is no opposition to their DrugWar insanity, so they don't have to defend it.

The anti side is so intellectually lazy that they remind me of the Bishops who came to lean on Gallileo to stop talking about what he saw through his telescope. When he offered to let the Bishops look at the stars and planets (and thus disproving the entire Terrocentric view of the Universe the Church had adopted) they refused and gave him the medieval Italian version of "My mind is made up; don't confuse me with the facts."

Nope, what I am referring to is the way she addresses her comments. Just take a look:

"What a twisted web the legalizers weave. The problem is, it seems they are only interested in protecting their use of drugs.

Let's see: there are no allies of hers, here; to whom is she addressing her comments? It's almost as if she is standing right in front of us, inches from our noses, yet...she seems to be turning her head and addressing a fellow rabid anti.

Even in their attempts to berate us, they don't do us the courtesy of looking us in the literary eyes and speak to us...they speak around us as if we are not here. Interesting...

Why is it interesting? Because it points out something:

Cowardice. Plain old garden variety cowardice. The type utilized by those unsure of their positions enough to not defend them the proper way...with debate. Instead, with all the predictability of an atomic clock, they verbally "sh*t-and-git".

Well, Joycie Dear, despite your fondest wishes, we are still here. We are still carrying on with the work of restoring freedoms Leninist 'useful idiots' like yourselves have blindly worked in your faux-moral certitude to destroy. Trying to talk around us as you have in your post only convinces me the more that you are indeed aware of that 'elephant in the living room'...and it's getting bigger all the time. Your boy Asa has just made that inevitable with his inability to adequately defend his position in the face even the mildest of opposition.

But you are welcome to come back anytime, Joyce; I was afraid my 'turkey carving knife' would get rusty from disuse. I needed the workout...thank you very much!

You will most certainly be acquainted with pain and the relief that comes from drugs; although I suggest you NOT smoke after geting wisdom teeth pulled, maybe some tea or miso soup with cannabis steeped in it would help you avoid adding tars, resins, smoke and particulates to your recovery.

Ms. Nalepka suggested that we all try not using for 90 days... I personally have already tried this. I found myself spending too much money on beer or harder legal drugs, and my personality changed so much that my business partner and girlfriend at the time both asked me to go back to pot. Neither one smoked, and both had been on my case about weed until I quit.

But I might try it again, as I have a new product line of legal substances coming out; and I am sure to be harassed for these, so I'll be sober and ruthlessly promote legalization through civil disobedience. Mark my words, prohibitionists across the board will wish I had stayed stoned.

For instance, her only response to any of my questions was that she was only going to answer by pointing out a multiple homicide that just occurred in DC. Too bad she just refuses to look beyond her blinders to notice that without drug prohibition, drugs are cheap and fund the manufacturer and licensed dealer, not some thugs with guns.

Honestly, can any prohibitionist say anything that we havent heard and soundly defeated with logic and the truth? We need to stop wasting our time with the blind fanatics and start with those that are willing to listen, there are many of those out there. We will never be able to change her mind, she is so set in her ways that she cant see that it leads to the destruction of our country, our society, our planet, and possibly humanity itself.

Jose, I'm going to do some more work on those scripts this week. I'm getting my wisdon teeth pulled so i should have plenty of time to do it when i'm concious..I think i may have found the key, and it's all thanks to the debacle of the super bowl ads and the SF raids.

Joyce Nalepka just emailed me! Of course, she avoids all the questions we asked, and makes a lame (in my opinion) attempt to associate drugs with crime by conveniently ignoring the fact that without illegally enacted and immorally enforced drug laws, drug-related crime is really simply "crime"; and drug war could be prosecuted as treason...

In case people don’t realize it. The magi in the Bible are thought to be the Zerostrians, with their fire pits. They took the hash to the baby Jesus. The Zerostrians were the part of the history of astrology and the Magi. The Cronology of the stars at the time of Christ’s birth is astounding! The "Grand Cross" is an ancient astrological configuration which indicates extraordinary obstacles or hardships. This aspect is highly significant when the trials and tribulation of the biblical Jesus Christ are considered. For just one of these configurations to occur is staggering, but for all this to occur in sequence is beyond conception! http://www.aloha.net/~johnboy/star.htg/star.htm February 28 th 5 B.C. - Mystic Rectangle Astrological Configuration February 29 th 5 B.C. - Pi Symbol displayed in the "tropical" zodiac over Bethlehem, Jordan (symbol is hi-lighted in yellow) February 29 th 5 B.C. - A 5 pointed star emerges from the Mystic Rectangle March 1 st 5 B.C. - Appearance of the "Grand Cross" ancient astrological configuration March 1 st 5 B.C. - The first appearance of The Star of David March 1 st 5 B.C. - The appearance of the second five pointed star simultaneously with the Star of David March 1 st 5 B.C. - Two five pointed stars are displayed simultaneously March 1 st 5 B.C. - The astrological aspects (parallels) depict the solar version of the Kabbala - "Tree of Life" or "Paths to God" March 2 nd 5 B.C. - The Seal of Solomon emerges from the Mystic Rectangle as the Star of David is encircled by a Grand Sextile

http://www.aloha.net/~johnboy/magi.htg/magi.htm

Zeta Reticulum Constellation Viewed from the "outside" looking towards our solar system http://www.aloha.net/~johnboy/Reticulum.htg/Reticulum.htm

The Coercive Effect Of Social Conditioning "Most of human history (with the exception of some primitive societies) is characterised by the fact that a small minority has ruled over and exploited the majority of its fellows. In order to do so, the minority has usually used force; but force is not enough. In the long run, the majority has had to accept its own exploitation voluntarily-and this is only possible if its mind has been filled with all sorts of lies and fictions, justifying and explaining its acceptance of the minorities rule...the effect of society is not only to funnel fictions into our consciosness, but also to prevent the awareness of reality."...Eric Fromm

There Is No Bad Truth "This search for self is the search for truth. This is also a quest for equality and balance, for integration and appropriateness. There is no bad truth because truth is not selective, judgmental or moralizing. Truth just is. How we preceive and react to truth determines its goodness or badness. The pursuit of happiness is really the happiness of persuit-the elusive but constant quest for SELF. There is no truth without self. There is no self without truth."...Charles D. Leviton ED.D

"Truth is a point, the subtlest and finest, harder than adamant; never to be broken, worn away or blunted, its only bad quality is, that it is sure to hurt those who touch it; and likely to draw blood, perhaps the life blood of those who press earnestly upon it."... Walter Savage Landor

Always remember to: "Just Say Know To Bullshit"...S. A. Homes

And

Hey!!!! Joyce Nalepka: Why don't you jump up on Savoy Brown's "Hellbound Train" and ride on out of here... Sandino Alfonzo Homes

Here we have a person who the Lord has decided to take at this very instance, having those uncounted petitions hidden in her private desk, becoming exposed. I do not think our creator gets pleasure from seeing someone, cage someone for using cannabis. The Lord, perhaps even LESS gets pleasure from seeing someone, cage someone, for using cannabis for necessary health reasons. This is an example of our creator showing us, blatantly, that the truth will be exposed, always, as written in the Bible. We’re given the sign. Luke 12:2. John 8:32. But that is not the only sign God gives us.

Now for the rest of the story.

Once the truth became evident, the new Colorado Secretary of State automatically put the amendment on the next election ballot. It was on the old ballot as Amendment 19, when Buckley didn’t count it. Now, through the power of the Lords timing, it was automatically placed as the first proposition on the 2000 Ballot and now known as Amendment 20. It appears that through the Lords will it automatically went from Amendment 19 to 20, just like that. In the Colorado underground in quickly became known as VOTE 4:20! That is not just a coincidence that pro cannabis types can control, but a big kick by our Father in Heaven, showing a sign, we should all be able to get. Young people across the state, who do not trust the government and display deep contempt for government’s use of patent lies to perpetuate the war for profit, concerning the issue of cannabis, received the message from our creator, loud and clear. Does this help show our Lords interest on the issue?

However, with Joyce, I have no choice. I apologize for being so brutally frank.

Joyce, when you hide behind the children your IQ becomes lower than that of the children. It's a good thing the number of people like you are getting smaller. Please reply if you like, I won't take away your freedom to speak, but you would almost certainly take mine away -- in the name of the children. I won't waste anymore energy on you, enjoy your close minded life.

You can't see me so you can say I'm just someone posing on the Internet. But I wish you could come and see me in my home, see that I take care of others, I am a good productive organized person with a spiritual life and long term caring commitments to my family, not just to myself.

I have a value system, I value honesty and integrity and democracy and kindness and charity and mercy and all those good Christian virtues that you think marijuana use precludes.

The awful way you want me to be treated by the law -- I just plain do not deserve it.

If you werent so obviously a troll i'd probably get banned from this board with my response to you. Since I know you are a troll or just helplessly misguided, I'll refrain from saying what i really felt when i read your post #1.

Although i liked your ability to demonstrate anti behavior perfectly..when you cant actually prove your point with verifiable facts, just mention the children at the end. It not working anymore...even Time Magazine is saying legalize it. (pick up the lastest one, its the one with the breast cancer pic on the front, great article, even it most of it was posted here a few weeks ago, it's great to see it in print)

Your time is coming. The revolution is coming. Only our war wont be against a country, it will be against an idea. Sound familiar? Only when we fight our war, we wont have to kill people, we will just educate them. If you dont want to understand, thats fine, there are others who will. Soon, you will be the minority. But dont worry, we wont treat you as badly as you did us...we'll just pity you.

I'm sad to think that Laura Bush has fallen to such behavior. Another important reason I insisted that they avoid name calling is that name calling happens to be a direct disobedience to the teachings of the "head" of my personal choice of religion, Christianity.

Matthew 5:22(Jesus speaking) But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

That means don't call anyone a "fool", "stupid", "idiot" or anything else like that.

I'm stunned at how someone who proclaims to be a Christian could be so vulgar and disobedient to the words we believe the Lord, himself, spoke.

Let me make this clear though, when one righteously accuses another, for instance, calling a liar, a "liar", a thief, a "thief", a murderer, a "murderer", or a deceiver, a "deceiver", it, if true, falls into the same category as calling a man, a "man", a woman, a "woman", a child, a "child", a dog, a "dog", or a cat, a "cat".

I can't say for sure, although I have some ideas, about why Jesus took so seriously calling someone something like, "fool", but I know that he did and I trust that he had some reason for it, whether I grasp all the truth of it at the moment, or not. I'll understand someday.

All her links go nowhere. It does say something about her and the site.

By posting her comment today, I really believe she is angry because of the Truth.

Sometime Truth does really hurt.

Majority believe that anyone including Joyce can put rat poison in the mouth not because we do not care about Joyce or anyone, indeed, we would think if one should put that deadly chemical in their bodies, we would think they are stupid. It is because majority believes in individual freedom. In order to think we are free men and women, we also have to grant that very same right to others, as long they do not step on toes such as drunken driving. After all, majority does not want government in their houses because we do not recall inviting them over.

Truth is told, Joyce is like a boy who cried Wolf. We all know the story. How many more wolves can she cry before the majority finally ignore the cries when there were no wolves to be found.

It is time now to talk with your friends. Say, "Howdy, stranger, may I have a moment of your time?"

By Susan Gervasi, Journal Staff Writer Source: Prince George's Journal

Now, re-educate your brain so you are able to provide a convincing argument for....legalization of cannabis.

The argument you have against marijuana, cannabis, hemp, pot, ganja is weak.

Ignorance is bliss. Yours is of colossal proportions.

I will expect more of the same old same from you the next time you post.

Do us all a favor, and do an Arianna Huffington on us.

"The citizens of the US used to be fairly united in their protection of children from harm."

You are correct. The truth of the matter is: The truth is finally being realized.

Tobacco and alcohol kill, marijuana offers more than just hope for people. It gives them back their lives.

Ms. Nalepka almost single handedly stopped the legalization of marijuana during the seventies. She is one of the most powerful prohibitionists in this country. She has made politicians tremble.

It's astounding that she has set foot in our domain. I see her coming here, hopefully, as recognition, however condescendingly, that we are indeed, people and worthy of her notice. I welcome her, guardedly, and would like to hear where she is coming from and hope that she is bright enough, and I believe she is, to listen to where we are coming from and perhaps correct some grave misunderstandings.

If we can get beyond the anger here, and there is an awful lot of anger, on both sides, we might be able to negotiate some understanding here.

First, Ms. Nalepka, I'd like to say you are very mistaken if you believe the efforts to change drug policy are about "protecting their use of drugs." I, as one of the "legalizers" you speak so contemptuously of, am a mature woman who has raised four children to successful adulthood, by the Grace of God, and am now helping direct five grandchildren in the right direction. It is only incidental that I do not use the drugs that you hate so much, for I stand firmly with those who do. I do so not because I think it is a grand thing for them to do so, I do so because it is wrong to persecute them by law or any other method because they do so. The wrong of persecuting them is a much greater wrong than their choice to imbibe. To borrow on a quote from someone dear to me, "It's not what they ingest that makes them good or bad, it's what comes out of their souls, their hearts, their mouths, their very actions towards others that makes them good or bad."

Prohibition of drugs has caused much more real harm to society in general than if half the adults in this country were stoned to the bone every single day, year in and year out, for decades.

"It's the children, stupid!” yes, you are right that children will buy prohibited drugs that will fund the terrorists that will bring nuclear bombs in United States.

"It's the children, stupid!” yes, you are right that the Law have arrested 700,000 pot smokers and only two terrorists and we saw the World Trade Center crumbling down in dust where 6 thousand children became orphans.

A small hope of little light is blazing your mind. My dear, are you afraid of Truth and bewildering feeling of Freedom?

Yes, it is the children, prohibition and the terror. Joyce, you have harmed the children and us and we forgive you.

I fail to see the point of your posts in Cannabisnews.com...

Your posts fare poorly in comparison to the others there. They remind me of the mentally challenged child in a roomful of bright kids. Trying to get attention by acting out. You have yet to post anything resembling truth. You twist stories and statistics and come out looking like the village idiot. You refuse to enter a dialogue. The truth of the matter is that you have no evidence to back your statements up.

The "hit and run" tactics you use are cowardly and do your "cause" no service.

Someday you will look back and realize you have failed to make any difference. I doubt you have the ability to think for yourself, so this is inevitable.

Ebay has some community bulletin boards. One, The Soapbox receives over 100,000 "hits" a day. There are a few people who post there that would agree with you to some degree. I hope you post there. But beware. "Hit and Run" tactics are severely frowned upon. To have any effect, you would have to RESPOND to questions. And, be sure I and others are waiting to refute you in a far rougher forum than Cannabisnews.

An interesting fact. I've started several threads supporting Medical Marijuana in "The Soapbox". Not ONE person has stated that they are against it. Even those who accused me of a variety of moral and ethical shortcomings. Why don't you, in your arrogant way, bring them to the light?

http://www.ourdrugfreekids.com/main.htm

I NEVER thought that there were people like this. Blatently LIARS!!!!

I thought other Americans were just ignorant or duped by the Government, but these people are terrorists!!! They perpetuate nothing but lies, but do it with such a fervor and passion, that noone would ever think to question them.

Please check out that page if you haven't....this is getting scary.. I guess the ONLY thing keeping me going is that the rest of the World is coming to their senses, and that the TRUTH will set us free, but no wonder we aren't getting as much support.

Check this out... how come I didn't hear about this?

check this link: http://www.ourdrugfreekids.com/Teleconference_Feb28.htm

They are perpetuating lies... can we get someone there... Gary Johnson? Anyone? Dr. Russo?

Truth is truth and Truth shall be given to the children, for the sake of Christ God and the Holy Spirit of Truth.

I don’t think Re-legalization of cannabis activist condone kids smoking cannabis. That is not what I support. I do support the Christ Godly notion of ending the practice of caging humans for using cannabis. Caging a human for using cannabis is a sinning shame in the eyes of the Holy Spirit of Truth.

The prohibition of cannabis is against Christ God and The Holy Spirit of Truth. It may be the original living sin.

Joyce, I don’t want to scare you, but if your a Christian, it would be wise to speak with our father about these matters, before you go much further with this. Investigate kaneh bosm and the 5 miss translations (in Exodus 30:23; Song of Solomon 4:14; Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20; & Ezekiel 27:19. Investigate how the Bible is all about love and Truth, all Truth. Christ God never pretended to display hatred on the level of caging his brother for using a plant. You are evidently choosing mans policy to cage over God’s policy to accept, and may not be aware that you are denying our Father and replacing it with evil. The entire Scripture exposes those who would prohibit foods given by our Father, as evil. The Holy Spirit of Truth is your friend, and should be your goal. You do not have access to the Holy Spirit of Truth, by denying the word of God on the very 1st page of the Bible. That according to John 14-16; Timothy 4:1-5 (titled The Apostasy, in the NASB); Gen. 1:11-12 & 29-31 (the very 1st page); 2 Thessalonians 2, with too many more...

Christ God, gave us cannabis and put cannabinoid (THC) receptor sites in our brains since the beginning. Those who prohibit that connection, may well be the true terrorist...to Christ God...and the Holy Spirit of Truth.

The Truth according to Christ God comes 1st! The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that we accept it with Thanksgiving.

First, you care about the children of America. This is a very important issue that you speak of... no doubt. Your passion is obvious.

However, you have also shown arrogance and ignorance. To think that we do not care about children? How pompous and self-righteous is that thought? Really?

There are over 15 First World countries that have decriminalized cannabis, made it medically legal, or both. Are you saying these other countries do not care about their children? You obvously think that you are better than the rest of us. Sure you do. You're thinking it as you read. Trust me, ...GOD knows what you're thinking. With beliefs like yours, it is no wonder that the rest of the world thinks that Americans are the most ignorant and arrogant society in the World. In fact, from a sociologists point of view, it is given.

All of the reports that you have read, have been filtered and spoon fed to you from NIDA. I went to CESAR's webpage. It is at the bottom of every "fax". BTW, that crazy random piece of "fact" about "Marijuana-Related Emergency Department Visits Now as Common as for Heroin." is misstated and twisted for your purpose, which happens to be the exact habit that the Government has formed. Let me ACTUALLY quote what it says:

"In most CEWG cities emergency department marijuana mentions have increased dramatically, as have treatment admissions and arrests. In New York City,'cannabis arrests continue to mount, and may surpass cocaine and herion arrests by the end of 1998' pg.13."

here is the link: http://www.cesar.umd.edu/webroot/cesar/cesarfax/vol8/8-9.PDF

THAT is what was said. That ARRESTS may surpass heroin and cocaine. Not a surprise considering Guiliani's DEVIL worshipping.

There are MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY more problems related to Tobacco use and Alcohol abuse. Why are you not taking on those?? Everyone knows this. Even the New England Journal of Medicine AND the British Journal of Medicine. Look it up, won't you? (don't worry, I won't tell anyone how many times you've driven after drinking-or about those luncheons against drug abuse, while drinking alcohol and not even thinking twice-can you say "HYPOCRITE")

Is this all the actual research you have read? Or PAID ATTENTION TO? Again, I don't condone use of drugs by children, but your view on this issue is more damaging to children than cannabis use, because it is obvious that your "cause" is only feuled by FEAR and LIES. And with fear, ignorance and prejudice "walk hand in hand".

and BY GOLLY, most importantly, I want the children of America AND the World to FREE of ignorance and prejudice.

Joyce, you did not even address your subject in your factually deficient diatribe.

What a twisted web the legalizers weave. The problem is, it seems they are only interested in protecting their use of drugs.

As if there is something wrong with enlightened self interest.

The citizens of the US used to be fairly united in their protection of children from harm. Now, we are seeing more and more attention paid to weakening the infrastructure of both laws and family.

I haven't heard any arguments here for letting children have access to drugs, in fact, marijuana is easier for kids to get than beer, because it is regulated and legal. Not much in the way of a black market for booze, these days. Of course, I could add that the receptor sites that marijuana binds to are also the ones to which naturally occuring anandamides bind to, and one of the sources with the highest concentration of anandamides is mother's milk. Who would want babies that are hungry and have a sense of well being? Ah forget it...

There have been more research projects funded from tax dollars trying to prove marijuana beneficial in some way than there have been news stories telling the truth.

Source for that info? Surely you are aware that most of the Federal Tax dollars spent on marijuana research goes into proving it harmful, and they have yet to substantially prove anything. Even the reports that showcase marijuana's carcinogenic constituents in the smoke have yet to provide us with ONE patient, unlike tobacco. The study from Harvard about heart attacks was shown to be statistically insignificant.

Most of the research done in the past was done on a very low potency grade of pot.

Higher grades of pot only means that there is less material burned (or vaporized, or eaten) per effective dose.

The University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research reported "Marijuana-Related Emergency Department Visits Now as Common as for Heroin."

Even if I believed that, which I emphatically do not, (the old saw about statistics and liars), how many emergency room visits were there for skiing, snowboarding, driving, etc. Should we outlaw every risky activity? Life after all is ultimately fatal, and I, for one, do not just wish to sit home and wait to die.

This is boring.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Read it and weep, Joyce.

The Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding Commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon, March, 1972

http://www.drugtext.org/reports/nc/ncmenu.htm

Thirty years smoking, and still smarter than you!

I smoke today's pot. It is no stronger than the good stuff 20 years ago. :-)

I'm no hippy either; you could know me under my real name. you could be my neighbor, you could be my coworker, or sit beside me on the PTA.

This is from the SAMHSA website (fed) " In 1999, the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) recorded more than 220,000 admissions for primary marijuana abuse to publicly funded substance abuse treatment. These represented 14 percent of the 1.6 million admissions for alcohol or drug treatment in these facilities, an increase from 7 percent in 1993.

About one third of TEDS marijuana admissions from 1993 to 1999 were aged 12 to 17, and another one third were aged 18 to 25. The criminal justice system was a major factor in treatment entry—57 percent of admissions for treatment of marijuana abuse were the result of a judicial process in 1999 compared with 48 percent in 1993."

So.. the increase is %7 from 1993 data, and the increase because the justice system sent them there is %57.

Well.. sounds like there's more arrested kids than sick kids.

and if you don't believe me check: http://www.csdp.org/research/fdo99.pdf

"Federal Drug Offenders", trends. Acocording to this report ; of the 38,288 suspects referred to U.S attorneys during 1999 31% were involved in marijuana, and %7 opiates (heroin among them)

Now, given that the arrestees are at a 1/4 rate, having the same amount of emergencies for pot and heroin, certainly does not mean that they are equally harmful. there are 4 times more people who get caught with pot than heroin, yet the same amount go to treatment? and more than half of those pot users are sent there by the courts?

As for the young person who wrote that POT is not harmless. well if you were in prison and asked to say the Osama is king to get out early I'd bet you'd write it in glaring red colors all over the sky.

Most doctors would say that the number one health problem associated with MJ use is particle inhalation. This can cause harm to the lungs and heart. The brain damage I do not agree with and I have read accounts of pregnant women smoking that say it caused no harm. I will state that a big problem is that the federal government did do research on MJ in the 70's and when it did not get the results it wanted , it stopped research and Reagan destroyed what studies he could.

There is a site that the scientific community has constructed so that the new research can be gathered and presented to the world. It talks about there being three carcenagens in MJ including benzene. Dr. Russo put this site up first and it has appeared here many times: http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/home.htm

Please do this one thing. Forget the small stuff and look at the big picture. The thing the reform movement is saying is that the laws are many times worse than the substance. There are many situations where the substance is actually beneficial, but there are not many situations where the laws are beneficial. Think of that Joyce, because that is what we all are saying: the laws are worse than the substance many times over.

That think of the children stuff is a bunch of crap. How about the children removed to foster care because their parents had some pot. I read a posting at MJ.com about a boy that turned his parents in for growing pot and he said what a mistake. I turn my parents in and I get a foster home. Judge Gray in an interview stated the cost of a foster child care at $5000 a month and the numbers you read for incarceration run from $25,000 a year to $60,000 a year. Who knows what the real numbers are.

America has 700 prisoners for every 100,000 and the UK has 125 for every 100,000 and they are going to be letting out over 10,000 because they cannot afford to house them and blanket incarceration does not work.

Furthermore, where is the definitive research that indicates brain dysfunction as a result of cannabis use? Where are the definitive studies that link cannabis to long term reproductive damage? And by the way, isn't it your goal to ensure that cannabis smokers don't propagate anyway? Isn't the goal of Nalepka-style prohibition to wipe all users of non-government-sanctioned drugs from the face of the earth? So what's your problem?

And when you refer to a non-scientific essay written by a young person who was forced by his parole officer to do so, do you really think that essay's conclusions are valid in any significant way?

The argument for cannabis, by the way, is not that it is absolutely harmless (anything in excess can be harmful), but that it is less harmful than any other psychoactive substance, including Prozac, caffeine, alcohol and tobacco!

And nobody--nobody--in the drug policy reform movement is advocating selling drugs to children. In fact, all of us support age limits on sales of cannabis, just as there are age limits on sales of alcohol and tobacco.

"But children get alcohol and tobacco anyway," you say.

Yes, and children get cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and increasingly ecstacy and other illegal substances in spite of prohibition, too. The only difference is where the profits from those sales go.

Which brings me to my final question: Joyce Nalepka, do you support prohibition because you favor domestic organized crime or because you favor financing terrorists abroad?

The citizens of the US used to be fairly united in their protection of children from harm. Now, we are seeing more and more attention paid to weakening the infrastructure of both laws and family.

There have been more research projects funded from tax dollars trying to prove marijuana beneficial in some way than there have been news stories telling the truth. Marijuana is a very dangerous drug at any potency. Most of the research done in the past was done on a very low potency grade of pot. Even in that research, we find brain, lung, reproductive damage. Certainly, we have all seen young people in our communities who have deteriorated to nearly unrecognizable status. They dropped out of school, became alienated from their families, they live on the streets, in abandoned houses--not even a shadow of their former selves. Today's marijuana is much more potent and has the potential --even to a layperson -- of doing much greater harm. The University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research reported "Marijuana-Related Emergency Department Visits Now as Common as for Heroin." Possibly the best education a parent can get about what happens to young people who use pot and other drugs is to read the "Comments" sections at the end of these articles. It is apparent damage exists. Actually, recently, there was a very beneficial result from a comment. A young person had been ordered by his intake officer to research marijuana's harmful effects. His report was very thorough and he was quite convinced that "Pot is not--harmless." A major problem is that the user cannot recognize the harm him/herself and parents and others tell us the changes are so insidious, it takes up to two years to recognize the damage done--and then it is frequently too late. First Lady Laura Bush put it best in the January Reader's Digest when commenting on what makes America strong, she responded--"It's the children, stupid!"