cannabisnews.com: The Pot Wars Go On





The Pot Wars Go On
Posted by FoM on October 20, 2000 at 16:15:10 PT
By William Buckley
Source: Sacramento Bee
Tony Knowles is the young, dashing Democratic governor of Alaska, and he cannot like it to be treated as an old fogey, which is what is happening. One aggressor writes in the Anchorage Daily News on Monday asking the governor to grow up on the question of Proposition 5. If the proposition is carried, marijuana would be legal in Alaska, as it is in the Netherlands and (de facto) in France, and prospectively in Switzerland.
The writer titled his message to the governor, "Alaska adults can decide if pot is good for them." Now that formulation is unsafe. Alaska adults can't decide whether pot is good for them; they can decide whether to take pot, never mind whether it's good for them or isn't. The position of the Anchorage Daily News article is, quite simply, that if you want to smoke pot in Alaska, all you have to do is buy it on the black market, where it is readily available. The alternative, under Proposition 5, would be to buy it from licensed sellers, paying a royalty to the state exchequer, which would oversee questions of quality and, of course, distribution. Kids could always buy it even if it were proscribed, but then kids can do anything, including smoke tobacco, consume liquor and procreate.And now hear this: Proposition 5 goes further, creating a commission to examine reparations for people whose assets have been seized in the ongoing travesty on civil rights, which authorizes confiscation of property, and often encourages it by permitting such property to meander over into police treasuries.In Utah, there is a similar plebiscite before the voters, called Initiative B, the Utah Property Protection Act. There is high dudgeon in Utah protesting the long arm of George Soros, the billionaire who has made an alleviation of the drug-penalty laws a cause. His motives in doing so are, not persuasively, explained by an associate, Ethan Nadelmann, who heads up the Lindesmith Center, a drug-policy research institute in New York. It's as simple as this, says Nadelman: Soros' father was a Jewish lawyer in Naziland. He shielded his 14-year-old son by changing his name and having him pose as a godson of a government official. The boy had then to accompany his guardian, who went about confiscating the homes of Hungarian Jews sent to Auschwitz. This (we are told) permanently sensitized Soros to the dangers of statist usurpations.Many Utah lawmakers acknowledge the extremity of the state's law-enforcement establishment, but insist that moderated behavior should be an instrument of the legislature, not plebiscitary eruptions financed by a billionaire on the loose. Local supporters of Initiative B comment that human rights are not of mere parochial concern. They point out that the Mormon community in Utah felt no compunction about lobbying against gay marriages in Hawaii.What's inching along, with tortured slowness, is a reaction against the excesses of the marijuana laws. Critics of moderation correctly point out that there is a difference between a reform of the marijuana laws designed to permit patients to get relief from marijuana, and flat-out legalization. Dr. Herbert Kleber, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and medical director of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, makes the point that there is less reason to put medical marijuana on the ballot than the legalization of it. "They reallly are two totally different issues. One is in many ways a political issue, but the other is a scientific issue. Marijuana for medicinal purposes should not be decided by referendum. Would you have had a referendum on penicillin for pneumonia?"But that license, acknowledged and approved in California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Alaska, Maine and D.C., is being used to propel the more general sanctions, as under Proposition 5 in Alaska. California's Mendocino County, upholding the tradition that Californians will always -- somewhere, somehow -- identify themselves with extremes, has scheduled a county initiative that would permit anyone to grow marijuana anywhere in Mendocino. There is cultural attraction to the idea, in part because Mendocino is a fertile area for the best pot -- or so, I hasten to comment, I have heard.Although the subject comes up, it certainly will not appear on the agenda of either of the political parties. A politician running for national office might as well acclaim Arafat as sanction the legalization of pot. In little enclaves of intelligence and courage one spots the exceptions: Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico, and (former) Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore. But all that can be said with absolute confidence about them is that they will never run for national office. Even with George Soros behind them.Write to William Buckley at Universal Press Syndicate: 4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111.Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Author: William Buckley Published: October 18, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Sacramento Bee Contact: opinion sacbee.com Address: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852 Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.htmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:Free Hemp in Alaskahttp://www.freehempinak.orgHemp 2000http://www.hemp2000.org California Campaign For New Drug Policyhttp://www.drugreform.org/Vote No On The Hemp Initiativehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7387.shtmlAlaska Voters To Consider Hemp Legalization http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7369.shtmlA Guide To Drug-Related State Ballot Initiatives http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7354.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Proposition 36:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Proposition+36
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Comment #10 posted by arcturus on October 21, 2000 at 22:47:54 PT:
Live from Japan
This might be a good place to throw this in. The Chinese character, also used here in Japan, for medicine is a combination of two characters, the character for plant and the character for enjoy. Plant/Enjoy; Enjoy/Plant. Sound familiar?
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Comment #9 posted by nl5x on October 21, 2000 at 15:24:09 PT
jennifer
Jennifer, it (marijuana) is just as bad for you as cigarettes.jennifer,please do more research before you write your paper.The DEA's Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care." Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22], (1988, September 6), p. 57. http://csdp.org/Drug experts, particularly the members of the EKD, considered the question of decriminalization of consumption and dealing in small amounts of marihuana. The occasional consumption of marihuana, in the opinion of the experts, does not lead to the consumption of hard drugs. Nor is it so dangerous as the consumption of legal drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and certain medications. Nicotine, the most addictive drug of all, has transformed lung cancer from a medical curiosity to a common disease that now accounts for 3 million deaths a year worldwide, 60 million since the 1950s. Smoking will kill one in three smokers eventually. None of the illegal drugs is as lethal as tobacco or alcohol. If anyone has ever died as a direct result of marijuana, no one seems to be able to document it.Cigaretteshttp://thetruth.com/coverstories/current/flash/index.cfm
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 21, 2000 at 08:33:50 PT
A Diplomat
I like this sentence below. He sure is being a diplomat! That's the only way to be when it comes to saying who's got the best pot! LOL! At least that's what I think! There is cultural attraction to the idea, in part because Mendocino is a fertile area for the best pot -- or so, I hasten to comment, I have heard.
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Comment #7 posted by dddd on October 21, 2000 at 02:04:13 PT
Nicely Peculiar
 Yup...It's true,Bill Buckley has a strange,sardonic flavor.I kinda like his articles.....dddd
http://www.sacbee.com/voices/national/buckley/
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Comment #6 posted by hmmmmmmm on October 21, 2000 at 01:50:28 PT:
WTF?
eh?????
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Comment #5 posted by agreed on October 20, 2000 at 23:18:26 PT
agreed
agreed
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Comment #4 posted by confused on October 20, 2000 at 22:19:59 PT
Jennifer
What?
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Comment #3 posted by Jennifer on October 20, 2000 at 19:40:04 PT
Legalize it
My name is Jennifer I attend a colloge and decided to write a paper on legalizing Marijuana since it is such a contraversial topic. This is a paper for sociology and I think my teacher is a fan of this narcotic. I belive it should be legalized it is just as bad for you as ciggarettes so come on. Thanks for your time. Later Later Mastorbator !
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 20, 2000 at 18:47:27 PT:
Washington Journal 8AM ET October 21st
Hi Everyone, I've already posted the feature article from DrugSense for this week by Steve Kubby so I am putting the link to the news bulletin here plus a heads up that Harry Browne will be on The Washington Journal in the morning. Hope many catch it and are able to call in.Bill of Rights is the Cure for Government Disease http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7373.shtmlDrugSense Weekly October 20, 2000 #171http://drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n171.htmlSaturday's Program - Washington Journal 8AM ET October 21stHarry Browne, Libertarian Candidate for Presidenthttp://www.cspan.org/journal/Submit Question:http://www.c-span.org/community/submitwj.asp
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Comment #1 posted by observer on October 20, 2000 at 17:14:26 PT
Penicillin Prohibition?
... because Mendocino is a fertile area for the best pot -- or so, I hasten to comment, I have heard.Yes, of course. Is it not written, "Jo-jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass"? Interesting piece by Buckley. I appreciate his desire to speak out against the "drug war".see:THE WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST (William F. Buckley, Jr.)http://www.november.org/Buckley.html * * *Herr Kleber, government bureaucrat, snorts, "Marijuana for medicinal purposes should not be decided by referendum. Would you have had a referendum on penicillin for pneumonia?"Good question, slogan-boy. When was the last time people were not permitted to buy penicillin? How many government-led, power-grabbing witch-hunts have happened using "penicillin" as the bogeyman? Are people arrested for growing their own penicillin mold? Heard of anyone locked up for longer than murderers and rapists for growing penicillin? Selling penicillin? Posessing penicillin with "intent to distribute" (i.e. more than two or three doses of penicillin)? Does the state steal a mother's children, solely because she is alleged to have taken penicillin? Did we arrest 700,000 people last year for simply having a little penicillin? Are there millions in jail because of penicillin? Do we steal peoples' houses because they posses some penicillin? Do we have a government so corrupted by penicillin-profits, who has a vested interest in keeping penicillin illegal, that a referendum is the people's last resort to attempt to halt the government's penicillin prohibition?
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