Canadians are all potheads ... but they are still better than us

So posits prolific writer, ATP licensed pilot, photographer, and self-described recovering computer programmer-engineer Philip Greenspun in response to this gratuitously hyperbolic, fear-mongering Wall Street Journal article which absurdly attempts to imply that legalizing marijuana has somehow led directly and immediately to "the execution-style murders of six people" while dismissively glossing over the fact that the "greater Vancouver remains one of the safest metropolitan areas in North America" in the very same article.

Brilliant. I'm shocked that a publication as venerable as the WSJ would tolerate such irrational and irresponsible histrionics; not to mention the inexcusably sloppy lumping together of all illicit drug-related crime -- cocaine, crack, heroine -- as somehow typical of "those marijuana users." That's utterly absurd, Dougy, and you know better. Shame on you.

Just like at the end of alcohol prohibition, there are bound to be some pissed off thugs here and there when we take away their tax-free black market cash and put it to work in our American Economy, including a sizable boost to tax revenues. That is the best reason to LEGALIZE, rather than a reason to revoke Canada's progressive policy.

Gladwell on The (Entirely Arbitrary) War On Drugs

The story begins at gladwell.com: The War on Drugs, as follows:

From the January 14, 2008 Sports Illustrated:

Page 36: "Then, on a late touchdown run against Arkansas on Nov. 23 [LSU quarterback Matt Flynn] separated his throwing shoulder. Two painkilling injections allowed him to stay in the game."

WebMD: Cannibis Could Cure Cancer

This just in from digitalretina ...

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Medical News, Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Dec. 26, 2007 -- THC and another marijuana-derived compound slow the spread of cervical and lung cancers, test-tube studies suggest.

The new findings add to the fast-growing number of animal and cell-culture studies showing different anticancer effects for cannabinoids, chemical compounds derived from marijuana.

Cannabinoids, and sometimes marijuana itself, are currently used to lessen the nausea and pain experienced by many cancer patients. The new findings -- yet to be proven in human studies -- suggest that cannabinoids may have a direct anticancer effect.

"Cannabinoids' ... potential therapeutic benefit in the treatment of highly invasive cancers should be addressed in clinical trials," conclude Robert Ramer, PhD, and Burkhard Hinz, PhD, of the University of Rostock, Germany.

Might cannabinoids keep dangerous tumors from spreading throughout the body? Ramer and Hinz set up an experiment in which invasive cervical and lung cancer cells had make their way through a tissue-like gel. Even at very low concentrations, the marijuana compounds THC and methanandamide (MA) significantly slowed the invading cancer cells.

Doses of THC that reduce pain in cancer patients yield blood concentrations much higher than the concentrations needed to inhibit cancer invasion.

"Thus the effects of THC on cell invasion occurred at therapeutically relevant concentrations," Ramer and Hinz note.

The researchers are quick to point out that much more study is needed to find out whether these test-tube results apply to tumor growth in animals and in humans.

Ramer and Hinz report the findings in the Jan. 2, 2008 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Clinical Rationalizing Bullshit Syndrome

Hey, I know ... let's all KICK THE SHIT OUT OF PEOPLE when they're down, shall we? And always be sure to point at retards like you live in a cartoon world created by Trey and Matt.

Sure, some day we might notice that, "Ohhh ... that was a CARTOON about how cruel 'innocent children' can be and how hypocritical society can be, while we actually have to live in REALITY ..." but in the meantime, let's all be sure to just keep the DISCRIMINATION, STIGMATIZATION, and MARGINALIZATION running full steam ahead. Yeah, now *that's* enlightened common sense intellectual superiority!

(De-facto) Life Sentences: Collateral Sanctions Associated with Marijuana Offenses

A landmark report by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics.

In addition to the punishment imposed by the judge, a misdemeanor conviction for possession of marijuana can trigger automatic bars on educational aid, a bar on serving as a foster parent, denial of federal housing assistance, revocation or suspension of occupational licenses, and suspension of one's driver's license. A felony conviction (for example, growing a marijuana plant) can result in all of these sanctions, and more.

If marijuana offenses are considered less of an affront to civil society than violent crimes such as murder, rape, or kidnapping, or even less of an affront than other drug offenses, our study shows that this consideration is rarely found in any of the collateral sanctions. A person convicted of growing marijuana (a felony in most states) is often subjected to the same, and sometimes greater, collateral sanctions than a person convicted of murder, rape, or robbery.

This report examines these sanctions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and ranks the jurisdictions in order or severity.

On the one hand, this report is utterly infuriating to any thinking human with a functioning MORAL CONSCIENCE; on the other hand, it's also very good data as to why we must each MAKE A HUGE SACRIFICE FOR THE CAUSE by SAFEGUARDING OUR PRECARIOUS LIBERTY by following the current unjustifiably ignorant laws, thus avoiding these Immoral Totalitarian Consequence.

We must then follow through by making a conscious choice to simultaneously DEVOTE OUR SACRIFICED PERSONAL FREEDOM to CHANGING THIS IGNORANCE for the FUTURE FREEDOM OF ALL. This is the only path forward to victory, my brothers and sisters; FULLY LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS must actively protest, fund raise, write and file new legislation, and oppose all laws which are IMMORAL and UNETHICAL in their obscenely disproportionate treatment of non-violent offenders.

'Lost war' sabotaging American economy

MarketWatch:

Today America's 30-year "War on Drugs" is a miserable failure. But worse yet, it's now undermining our "War on Terror."

America has had a "War on Drugs" since the Nixon administration, based on prohibition and criminalizing drugs. That policy has drained hundreds of billions from our economy, driven drug traffic underground, and raised the price on a commodity that otherwise would cost pennies. Domestically and internationally our "War on Drugs" policies are not only a dismal failure, they produce the exact opposite result.

Worse yet, our failed drug policies are sabotaging our "War on Terror" in Afghanistan. As the Washington Post reported, "The drug war has become the Taliban's most effective recruiter in Afghanistan," reinvigorating Muslin extremists. Thanks to our obstinate adherence to failed drug policies plus minimal alternatives for Afghan farmers, we are playing into the Taliban's hand and they're "becoming richer and stronger by the day."

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Survive, Thrive, and Succeed in spite of Utter Ignorant CRAP

Psychotropic Drugs And The Nature Of Reality

21 Solutions to Save the World: Legalize It

Legalize It, By Christopher Hitchens

The largest single change for the better in U.S. foreign policy, and one that could be accomplished simply by an act of political will, would be the abandonment of the socalled War on Drugs. This last relic of the Nixon era has long been a laughingstock within the borders of the United States itself (where narcotics are freely available to anybody who wants them and where the only guarantee is that all the money goes straight into criminal hands). But the same diminishing returns are now having a deplorable effect on America’s international efforts.

Consider the case of Afghanistan. Thirty years ago, it was a vinegrowing country, renowned for its raisins. It is now so deforested that a farmer planting a vine would be an optimist, while a farmer growing poppies is assured of at least some income. We burn and destroy what is in effect the Afghans’ only crop, while suffering from a shortage of analgesics in the United States. The beneficiaries of this policy are the Taliban. Why not instead buy the Afghan crop, use it to manufacture painkillers, and burn or throw away the rest (if you insist) while simultaneously offering incentives and aid to vine growers? We already pay the Turks to grow medical opium; they don’t need the money. The revenue that now goes to drug lords and terrorists could be applied straight to Afghanistan’s reconstruction, while weakening those who benefit from an artificially created monopoly. This might be termed “winwin.” And this is to speak only of opiates. The usefulness of marijuana in combating glaucoma and in helping to ease the pain of chemotherapy is now well attested.

Decriminalization of drugs could also mean fewer lethal impurities (the result of gangsters “cutting” the stuff) and a decline in the glamour associated with prohibition.

Brain chemicals may aid treatment of Parkinson's

Brain chemicals may aid treatment of Parkinson's: "Marijuana-like chemicals in the brain may point to a treatment for the debilitating condition of Parkinson's disease. In a study published in the Feb. 8 issue of Nature, researchers from the School of Medicine report that endocannabinoids, naturally occurring chemicals found in the brain that are similar to the active compounds in marijuana and hashish, helped trigger a dramatic improvement in mice with a condition that mimics Parkinson's."

Nobel Prize genius was on LSD when he discovered the secret of life

Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago. Crick was a founder member of Soma, a legalize-Cannabis group. He even put his name to a famous letter to The Times in 1967 calling for a reform in the drugs laws.

FAQ about the Meaning of Life

FAQ about the Meaning of Life:

# If computing power doubles every two years, what happens when computers are doing the research?

# If I created a mind with no built-in desires, what would it do?

# How can I do something that will still matter in two hundred million years?

# What does this have to do with hemp?

# Who cares? Just read.

Contributions from The Edge

Any rational hemp activist must also be a World Hunger activist. To be otherwise, is utterly incongruent and cosmologically cataclysmic.

THE EDGE:: "A Dollar a Week Will End World Hunger

It's now a billion to a billion: Of the six billion human beings currently alive on this planet, one billion live with a daily agenda of malnutrition, hunger and polluted drinking water, while another one billion — including you and me — live lives where hunger is never really an issue.

The number of really rich and really poor people on the planet now match. That makes the following piece of arithmetics very simple indeed:

If all of us who are rich (in the sense that starvation is out of the question and has always been) want to provide the economic resources necessary to end hunger, how much should we pay? We assume that all existing government and NGO aid programs continue, but will be supplemented by a world-wide campaign for private donations to end hunger (feed your antipode).

The cost of providing one billion people with 250 kilograms of grain every year is approximately $40 billion dollars a year. That would seem to be a lot of money, but with one billion people to pay, it is no big deal: $40 a year! An even more moderate estimate is provided by the organization Netaid: Just $13 billion dollars a year and the basic health and food needs of the world's poorest people could be met."