cannabisnews.com: It's Time to Admit the Insanity of our Drug Laws It's Time to Admit the Insanity of our Drug Laws Posted by FoM on September 17, 2000 at 17:43:28 PT By Harry Valentine Source: Ottawa Citizen Dan Gardner's special report on how governments are losing the drug war, has been quite an eye opener. It seems where drug enforcement laws are minimal, drug-related crime is also minimal. Could this be why the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has called for the decriminalization of marijuana possession? It is obvious from Mr. Gardner's series that the more government tries to legislate against drugs, the higher the price of the illicit drug goes and the more potent the drug becomes. Example: some recent testing of hydroponic marijuana claimed that it had five times the potency of the marijuana the hippies smoked during the 1960s. It seems the illicit drug people have ingenious ways of dealing with government restrictions on their product. Their ingenuity could give rise to some scary scenarios. Genetic manipulation of rapeseed gave rise to canola, which has been further genetically manipulated by companies such as Monsanto. It's possible to see the gene that causes THC produced in marijuana being isolated and transplanted into another plant species. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana that causes the euphoria. How does a government enforce anti-marijuana drug laws when the THC gene has been incorporated into other plants, such as in sunflower leaves, pine needles, rhubarb leafs, carrot tops or household ferns? Will the police be sent out to weed or harvest gardens at private homes because THC could be produced in the leaves of DNA-modified cabbage plants or turnip tops? It is very unlikely that government officials will want to acknowledge the sheer insanity of some of their drug laws. More than likely we will see an increase in drug enforcement laws, more drug-related crimes and a wide variety of new drug- producing plants in the future. Harry Valentine, Cornwall Published: September 17, 2000Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)Copyright: 2000 The Ottawa CitizenContact: letters thecitizen.southam.ca Address: 1101 Baxter Rd.,Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M4Fax: 613-596-8522Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/You can read the entire series at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/drugs CannabisNews Articles In The Series:The Pros and Cons of Prohibition: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7066.shtmlYou Can't Keep a Banned Drug Down: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7051.shtmlEurope Leading The Way To Smarter Drug Laws: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7039.shtmlAsking Police To A War That Can't Be Won: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7030.shtmlIllegal Drugs, Indecent Profits: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7019.shtmlHow The Drug War is Eroding Our Civil Liberties: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7010.shtmlDo Our Drug Laws Harm Us More Than They Help?: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7003.shtmlWar on Drug Smuggling Destructive and Senseless: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6991.shtmlNixon Launched The 30 Years' War as Election Issue: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6985.shtmlWhy Borders Don't Stop Illegal Drugs: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6980.shtmlDrug Trade Rots Away Mexican Society: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6970.shtmlAs Long As There Is Demand, There Will Be Supply: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6958.shtmlWhy The War On Drugs Has Failed: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6938.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Lehder on September 18, 2000 at 06:47:08 PT universal daily testing http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000918/nj_barring.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on September 17, 2000 at 19:57:34 PT Memory Hole / Gene kaptin writes:They don't *know* that there was a time when people were free to ingest whatever they wanted without some nosy cop, bureaucrat or pol wagging their finger and clucking their tongues at them.Yes, very true! The prohibitionists carefully foster this ignorance. They want it to seem as if the drug laws (their prisons, theft and government-sanctioned rape and murder) are traditional and Godly. BTW, I'm reading a book now, Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers by Thomas Szasz. It was written in 1973 (updated preface) but reads like was written yesterday. Incredible insights and highly recommended.- - -It's possible to see the gene that causes THC produced in marijuana being isolated and transplanted into another plant species. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana that causes the euphoria.see:Genetically Manipulated Oranges``"It's quite simple, really," Nanofsky explains, "I wanted to combine Citrus sinesis with Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol." In layman's terms, the respected college professor proposed to grow oranges that would contain THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Fourteen years later, that project is complete...''http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n1049/a04.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on September 17, 2000 at 18:33:42 PT: Right on cue. As some of us have predicted, the public backlash is beginning.Ignorance has been one of the antis' biggest weapons; in the whole long history of the DrugWar, it has been ignorance of the public as to how these laws were crafted, and how they have mutated over the years into the mess we have today, that has enabled the antis to get away with what they have. The public has been so used to to this DrugWar that they have forgotten that there was ever a time when we *didn't have one*. They don't *know* that there was a time when people were free to ingest whatever they wanted without some nosy cop, bureaucrat or pol wagging their finger and clucking their tongues at them. A time when an addict was no threat to anyone but themselves. A time where the 'shame' of addiction was matter kept within a family, and between a doctor and patient. A time when no kids were shot in the back by cops eager to 'get a little action in'. Or hard-working immigrant fathers having forty-some rounds fired into them during a botched, wrong-house drug raid.So long as no attention was brought to the collective and colossal failure that the WoSD has been, the antis have been able to work with impunity. Gardner's articles have done what few have; shed some much needed light on something the antis have striven mightily to keep in the closet. Namely, he has pointed out, again and again, how *wasteful* the *results* of this War have been. Wasteful of lives, of careers, of money. The antis simply have nothing to show for their efforts but bloated, dangerous bureaucracies, stuffed prisons and dead bodies. And, as many of us here have mentioned, some of those bodies belong to kids; the very group the antis are so touchingly concerned about.Not exactly good PR, would you say?Up to now, most of the reading public have been apathetic; I believe that Gardner's articles will spark a renewal of the public's interest in this matter. Interest that will lead to questions.Questions the antis fear the prospect of being forced to answer. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: