SWulfe, Hangtime, mrfish..

[Curval]

Alot of talk here about why it is "illegal"..

Has anyone heard of the term "Hemp"?  Hemp was rope, made from the Cannabis Sativa plant.  Without it there would have been no Christopher Columbus, no New World, or any of the sailing ships that opened up the world to trade and transportation.  Essentailly there would have been no USA, as we know it, without hemp.  

When synthetic rope was first being manufactured by Dupont etc. these companies lobbied hard against MJ as a narcotic so that the production of hemp could be stopped.  It was a great way to get rid of the competition!

This is why it was initially made illegal...

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Curval:
Alot of talk here about why it is "illegal"..

Has anyone heard of the term "Hemp"?  Hemp was rope, made from the Cannabis Sativa plant.  Without it there would have been no Christopher Columbus, no New World, or any of the sailing ships that opened up the world to trade and transportation.  Essentailly there would have been no USA, as we know it, without hemp.  

When synthetic rope was first being manufactured by Dupont etc. these companies lobbied hard against MJ as a narcotic so that the production of hemp could be stopped.  It was a great way to get rid of the competition!

This is why it was initially made illegal...

lol
yeah but if they were token it instead of ropin it, there won't be an America either as they'd be lost at sea or discovered Aruba instead  
Do believe you can get hemp products now legally whereas the real deal is a tad bit more expensive & harder to come by. Don't know about dope in the 30's but the stuff now a days isn't the stuff that was around in the 70's. Somewhere along the way, the process was "perfected"...now you can get brain dead with less, cost more but requires less..
Talk about a useless thread, no way a "square" is going to convert a "cool dude". They just have to figure it out for themselves. Then again maybe they won't ...

[Am0n]

Hemp was also used in WWI and WWII for a lot of the military needs, ropes and belts and such. Its very cheap and also extremly durable.

[Gadfly]

I worked in an old (ex)Hemp rope making factory in New Orleans, right in the shadow of the Huey P. Long bridge.  There were still some "volunteers" growing on the grounds, but you couldn't smoke enough of it to get you high.

[Am0n]

Eagler

Seems like you have mixed up someone who smokes cannabis with ignorant, illiterate people. Which is not the case. Why must you stereo-type them? "cool dude", "party on".


Just a heads up for you.. When you grow cannabis the more "generations" behind the seed you germinate for your plants, the stronger the buds are. So if over time you re-plant the mothers offsprings and there off springs you keep making the cannabis more potent. 6th or 7th generation cannabis is very potent, but that would take about 3 years to obtain.

Now this applies only if there is not a male plant near when the female begins to produce seeds, if there is a male there are "newborns"..

[Udie]

Originally posted by Eagler:


lol
yeah but if they were token it instead of ropin it, there won't be an America either as they'd be lost at sea or discovered Aruba instead  
Do believe you can get hemp products now legally whereas the real deal is a tad bit more expensive & harder to come by. Don't know about dope in the 30's but the stuff now a days isn't the stuff that was around in the 70's. Somewhere along the way, the process was "perfected"...now you can get brain dead with less, cost more but requires less..
Talk about a useless thread, no way a "square" is going to convert a "cool dude". They just have to figure it out for themselves. Then again maybe they won't ...

 This post is full of ignorance man.  The stuff I was getting in the 80's was WAY better than the Mexican bunk I get now. More expensive back in the 80's too and harder to come by.  But you go to northern California and get some of that sticky Endica and then you'll be stupid off of 2 hits for about 4 hours. That stuff is really expensive.  Climate is going to effect quality or ammount of THC in the bud.  There's no secret lab out there making the stuff more strong.  A side note, the marijuana trade taught me supply and demand really works.  It's really cheap here in Tx because we're next to Mexico.  Same bag that cost $20 here is over a hundred in Alabama.  Less supply there than there is here, that controls price more than anything else well that and quality.

 Kind of hard to believe that people used to be able to buy heroine out of the Sears Robuck catalog huh? That stuff was legal for more than half of our nation's existance.   It came prepacked in a seringe ready to shoot.  Didn't you ever wonder what was in all those old "snake oils" they used to sell at the turn of the century? MORPHINE    Cocaine in coca cola bla bla bla.  There are good reasons for those 2 to be illegal, they are extremely addictive. Though, I was able to quit cocaine with no problem, I still smoke cigarettes.  

 The one thing you got right is that we'll probobly never convert any "squares" over.  Personaly I think they should make it fair and put a prohibition on alcohol again.  Then when the gangsters start back up and they have to legalize it again, maybe just maybe us hemp heads will be able to say "hey what about our hooch too?"  

[Tuomio]

How can you justify criminal punishment for USING some substance?
Theres no law, which makes usage of dangerous substances illegal.

If the current drug laws are based on "protection of the user", why isnt there simply a law, which prohobits everything harmful (to the invidual)? Especially in the "land of the free" there shouldnt be ANY laws for ANY action which applies only to the actor, harmful or not.

I can legally kill myself, but i cant legally inject heroin to my body. Why is that?

Now, do laws protect me, if i get 10 years mandatory minumum for smoking a joint?
Arent laws for protection of the invidual well-being?
Serious questions which are _always_ left unanswered by the anti-personalfreedom warriors (also known as "drug warriors").

Remember, im only talking about the criminal punishment of drug usage. I personally dont use illegal drugs unless i get it for free and in safe(recognizable) form. This has so far applied only for cannabis (and very rarely).

 

[milnko]

Seems fairly obvious to me that the people with the most vested interest in keeping "maryjane, cheeba, weed, vitamin T, grass, ganja, wildwood flower, bud, and doobie" illegal are the... suppliers.

After all they have the money to lobby Congress to keep it illegal.

If the US goverment legalized it tomorrow, how much income would these "druglords" stand to lose? If you were a supplier would you want it legalized?

As an after thought, only one other "agency" has an interest in keeping it illegal.

That would be Law Enforcment itself, i.e. the police.

Federal, State and local goverments have passed legislation that allows most police agencies to confiscate your vehicle, home, boat or plane, and in some cases even your bank accounts. (if it can be proven the money in those accounts are related in the distrubutin of illegal substances)

They then sell your property at auction, all of which said income then goes back into the "enforcment kitty" this in turn allows them to buy more equipment and hire more officers.

Hmm, does it really take a Rocket Scientist to figure out how much these two parties stand to lose by it's legalization?

[capt. apathy]

I can legally kill myself, but i cant legally inject heroin to my body. Why is that?

 

I don't know about Finland but in the u.s. you cant even legally kill yourself in most states. Here in Oregon you can, if you are dying from an incurable disease anyway but the federal gov't is trying to put a stop to that too.

As far as I know suicide is the only crime that they only punish you for failing to successfully commit

[Tuomio]

milnko: Illegal drug business is unique. Its based on the SELLERS markets, not the buyers,  as legitimate business do.

Thats what makes it so profitable, you have something people want and only you can give it to them, say the prize (just like M$ Windows).
Current drug dealing net (you know, the guys hanging on every street corner) can only survive because of the huge profits (->sellers markets->illegal markets)

Legitimate drug business would be regulated by laws, so if you could sell the drug cheaper than the guy next door, you could.
Now you cant. Try to start your own heroin factory on your house, if cops wont get you first, the drug lords will. They do not want you to kill their markets by destroying the strict area monopoly.
You know why the gang fights happen, somebody wants to grab the monopoly of some other area, controlled by another gang.

Im pretty sure, that with heroin being sold next to the milk bottles would generate less harm, that current total worldwide drug prohobition. After all heroin is very safe to the body (addiction is altough severe), if you keep the dosage under the over-dose limit (the stuff sold on the streets is NOT heroine).

   

edit: Capt. Apathy, could you explain how you will be punished when if you commit suicide? Even if you fail at that?
Assisted suicide is a whole different issue, since its actually a murder under the law. Its very difficult legal situation, but i think there absolutely should be a way to people get assisted suicide, if they cant commit by it themselfs.
If you assist on suicide, you get the punishment, not the one who wants to get himself harmed.

[ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: Tuomio ]

[capt. apathy]

it was meant to be a somewhat humorous look at the suicide law.  while you can be punished for atempting suicide, there is not a whole lot they can do to you if you actually suceed

[Eagler]

yes, legalize it all

huge white piles on every street corner complete straws, of course with Surgeon General warnings posted everywhere...

I'd say it take about two weeks to cleanse
the gene pool ....

heck, crime rate would drop too  

[capt. apathy]

the true solution seems simple to me.
fully legalize. the price would drop to probly less than 1/4 of the curent price. you could have a 100% tax (used to provide free rehab for any who decided they needed it) and it would still be less than half the curent price. even if the problem was unchanged the local junky would only have to steal half as many car stereos.
and on the hard drugs most true addicts will do as much as they can get, overdose and die. (coffins are cheaper than jail cells & no repeat offenders)
the only real problem is what are all those cops, lawyers, judges, court clerks, and prison guards gonna do for a living

[Tuomio]

Manufacturing of one heroin gram costs 1$. So it could be easily sold, with prescription ofcourse (for addicts), under 5$ per gram. This would be pure heroin, so HC addict would  use one gram for several days.
That would mean, no need to steal anymore.

I bet the crime rates would halve, but i guess that aint worth of it?
After all youre much more concerned of the "message sent to kids". Youre not concerned, that those kids could be robbed at the gunpoint by addict who needs lots of money for his daily doses.  

[Dune]

BTW, in Arizona, just having any type of mj paraphenalia is a class 6 felony