Grow baby Grow.

Very well said HRDawg

HrDawg does the name William R. Hurst ring a bell? Really do some research, then write something intelligent.

Hmm? Biffbiffington. I wonder if you've confused the name for William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate? Otherwise, "no", I've never heard of William R. Hurst.

William Randolph Hearst the newspaper magnate, however, was a major player in having pot criminalized. What is newspaper made of? Wood of course. William Randolph Hearst was heavily invested in the wood-pulp industry.

Meanwhile, there was a new booming industry, the hemp-pulp industry. Hemp pulp had so many more uses than wood-pulp, an exponentially better fiber. At one time, all the rope used by the U.S. Navy was made from hemp-pulp fiber, hence the term, "smoking rope". William Randolph Hearst recognized this threat, and using his newspaper to spread his poison, was a major player in criminalizing pot.

"Google" Henry Anslinger, and rebutt with something intelligent.

HRDawg
All Very good points that you have made, all are true! This is what has been happening in the USA all along! I will point out that the folks who are currently using medicinal marijuana without fear of federal prosecution had better enjoy it while they have it, as there is absolutely no chance that this administration is going to reschedule marijuana and as soon as this president is out of office in a little better than 2 years, then we will have a new sheriff so to speak along with a new AG and it is going to come down and come down hard!! Our politicians in Washington are too yellow to actually step up and support any such action, the DEA vehemently opposes any rescheduling as does the FDA, they claim that it has no medicinal value! What is interesting about this is that the FDA routinely throws up road blocks to keep any new studies from being done, and if it isn't an "FDA approved study" then any results that are shown to them are given zero consideration, as are any studies that are performed in another country, such as Canada! It is obvious that the drug companies and the federal agents who's jobs depend on pot's status remaining illegal to keep up their stock value and wages respectively! When the government is involved in ANYTHING, ANYTHING at all, they will run in circles and do the exact opposite of what common sense would tell you to do, as well as waste the most amount of time and money possible, while at the same time accomplish nothing! Christ, there are enough people living within 20 miles of me, for anyone to do a study of pots long term effect on the body after 40 years of chronic use, to last a lifetime!! Most of the folks that I know who are regular smokers of the green, are in better shape both mentally and physically, than most of the people who don't partake in the green, and one thing that is true beyond any doubt is that the green smokers are in 100 times better shape than the ones who drink alcohol daily!!! Stand a daily smoker of cannabis next to a daily drinker both who are the same age and the same occupation and look at the difference!!! The difference is amazing, and if you were to start a campaign on this alone, showing the effects of booze on a body versus smoking some pot, you would put a dent in alcohol sales and probably see a spike in rolling paper sales!! I would love to see it legalized for medicinal reasons in Ohio, I have open angle glaucoma from an injury to my eye some years ago!! My job drug tests randomly and even if you are not under the influence, if you smoked it 2 weeks ago, they still makes you go to treatment and if you fail a test again you are fired!!! I of course work for the State of Ohio, so they are really lacking on the understanding end of things if you know what I mean!! One day in a hundred years or so there will be a hearing about pot in Washington and then it will get sent to committee and then it will die before it ever gets heard, just like all the other times it has come up for a hearing!!!

The problem would then be that there would be less need for such a robust law enforcement department, and private industry prisons would not be filled to capacity; both scenarios leading to people losing jobs.

So you support ridiculous laws that imprison people for doing something that has been proven harmless to the user, has medicinal value and is cheap and easy to produce, for the sole fact of keeping people in jobs that would not be there but for the ridiculous law in the first place? Do you work for a government agency at the state or federal level? I have never heard anyone make a statement like this that didn't work for the government at one level or the other!! I work for the state of Ohio so I have experience in reading statements such as this on a regular basis!!

Recognize sarcasm much?

Travis K
You forget that you are talking about dealing with government agency's here!! You in your statements are making sense, that equates to free thinking and we all know that free thinking outside of the government is dangerous and that any idea spawned from said free thinking shall at all costs, never, ever, acted upon unless it is a situation where freedoms can be removed from the citizens and hoards of people can be charged with a crime, convicted and ultimatley sentenced to lengthy prison sentences!! As stated above by offwithishead; "The problem would then be that there would be less need for such a robust law enforcement department, and private industry prisons would not be filled to capacity; both scenarios leading to people losing jobs". You see we can't have that!!

The school is probably afraid that after the Obama Admin we may god forbid get the hypocritical republican administration that will prosecute to the death MJ smokers. Its funny these cons will talk all day about our freedoms being taken away but will steadily deny the freedom of choice to MJ smokers, a women right to chose, gay marriage, and all other religions that's not Christianity.

Rutgers is making a mistake but until laws are changed I can't blame them for acting scared.

But i cant resist.....Hey Rutgers! why don't u grow a pair..and after that grow some medicinal please.

Nice rant, espliff; however you dilute the argument to grow medicinal marijuana when your post is practically screaming your desire to get high. Once marijuana is legalized for medical purposes then you will demand it be legalized for everyone.

Now please do not get me wrong; I oppose all the other topics you mentioned in your posting except the right of one to choose their own religion. However, if marijuana was allowed to be grown strictly for personal consumption with no sales by the average Joe (not even to give it away) then I would support that. It would end the stuff coming over the border from the Mexican gangs and would reduce the gang crime in the U.S. as well. I think in order to keep crime down then those who would rather buy than grow would have to go to a licensed producer/distributor for their weed.

My only problem with people crying for medical marijuana is their insincerity in their arguments. You want to get high? Then just join NORML and announce your desire to decriminalize all marijuana in a way that it will minimize the crimes that come from "competitive marketing." Also recognize that it is as dangerous to drive high as it is to drive drunk and act accordingly.

Incidentally, I have a neuro-muscular disorder, which causes pain that would be better and more safely controlled with marijuana than with the addictive liver killing chemicals they are legally allowed to prescribe. I take natural herbs (not cannabis, legal herbs) instead of the other meds due to the lesser side effects, but they do not do the job that marijuana would do. I do therefore recognize the validity in medical marijuana but not everyone hollering to legalize medically is ill; some would probably steal it like they do Grandma's Oxycontin.

I have open angle glaucoma! The eyedrops that I use cost $150.00 a month, the bottle is the size of your thumbnail, no kidding, it has side effects galore, messes with your blood pressure, messes with your ability to maintain an erection and more so it only work for me at about an 80-85% effective rate, meaning that I am still loosing my eyesight, just at a slower rate! I had an eye injury years ago that caught up with me! I have to randomly piss in a cup to show that I am walking the fine line, others at work meanwhile are free to do what they do as long as they have a valid script, one woman has a script for morphine( she does need it, her back is messed up something bad) others are on oxy's and percocets, vicodin, xanax, valium, adderall you name it they are on it, and our policy on drug free work place is to PROMOTE SAFETY from unsafe intoxicated employees under the influence while at work!! I can't smoke something on the weekend or in the evening and be sober while at work because I test positive, but the others can pop pills all damn day at work and as long as the script is up to date they are untouchable on a failed piss test!! Shows just how fair the USA is these day's!!

That was my past screaming desires to get high. So every now and then i get a little nostalgic and rant off about this injustice. I stop smoking regularly many years ago. It has to be a special occasion like a close friends bachelors party or birthday for me to just blaze up. My concern for legalization is not to have a good time but to prevent young people and old from having an unneccessary criminal record. You realize that if a student gets caught with bag of weed this student will lose all of there federal funding and probably will be kicked out of school. It ties up our legal system, overcrowd jails, cost tax payers money, and creates a monopoly for the mafia and gun traffickers. Unless your pro mafia violence and pro illegal gun traffickers, Which you are not, I do not see why we keep MJ illegal. Classify and regulate the product like beer, wine, and liquor.

Fred- It would be great to allow everyone to grow and get it for free, but not everyone will not have the capacity to have there own grow station at there place of residence. And i doubt people will grow just to give it away. So sales will be absolutely necessary but lets just take it way from the mafia and give to private market.

espliff, that is why I said those who don't wish to grow their own of cannot grow their own should have to go to a licensed producer/distributor. If people are allowed to grow for themselves only then that would prevent a new level of competition among home growers.

I think to outlaw people to grow their own but allow the government to grow, sell and tax while then making more money on the DUI busts that would still occur from busting stoned drivers is as hypocritical as allowing the government to control, sell and tax alcohol.

I believe ultimately it is necessary for the government to step out of the subject and let the states decide their marijuana laws. If a county does not want to sell alcohol they have that right; if someone does not want to live in a "dry" county move somewhere else. The same could be done with marijuana, but no state should be forced to either grant the right or deny the right. Our Federal government has gotten way too big and too over-reaching.

On the other hand, do not leave the tent open once the camel's proverbial nose is in; in other words, there should never, ever, ever be legalization of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy or other drugs beyond the one that can be grown naturally, even organically and can be processed merely by dry-curing. Even tobacco cannot say that.

But alcohol is great right? C'mon man get real. It has more good behind it then bad. Make pills out of or butter, or cookies. You don't have to smoke it. Hemp is some of the strongest stuff around. It can make great clothes, rope, and other products. It should definately be legalized.

Seamus - I suggest that you read the literature on medical marijuana before making these types of statements. When the THC content is low - as is ideal for medical marijuana - the user's intellectual faculties are not impaired. Also, the incidence of lung cancer in medical marijuana users is negligible. Many of my patients use medical marijuana responsibly, greatly reducing suffering and enhancing quality of life.

There's always one, huh? Seamus - so you're saying Rutger's is setting an excellent example by denying the Governor's request to provide medication to ailing patients??? Man you are disturbed!!!

AH SO, so sorry but you are WRONG. There is NO evidence that smoking Marijuana causes lung cancer, in fact the opposite is true. I could put the links but I have found in the past that FACTS do not matter to people like you so do the research If you want the truth.

LEAP= Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, read, learn and join.

I agree w/ everything said except for college being an intellectual community...lol, really, thats wrong in so many ways.Anyone can get into the majority of colleges,in fact its easier to say who doesnt attend a university or institute but as far as the legalization of potent herbs.I would be fine w/ just the recreational growing,just let me grow it and smoke it at my taxed residence and treat it as a PI if done otherwise

I can. I was at a party last Saturday. There were three guys sitting on the sofa all of which had just finished passing their cure all drug between themselves. I asked one of them what time it was. He slowly raised his head up at me with his blood shot hound dog eyes and said; "huh, what you say dude (slurred speech) you talking to me?" And at that point all three of the guys started cracking up for a good 5 minutes for really no reason at all laughing their asses off over the simple question I had asked. =/
These guys were over 21 years old being giggling idiots.

Most of the time I've found that people high on marijuna become s-l-o-w. Their motor skills are retarded as with their processing of information from one person to the other. They can sit in one place for hours doing nothing. LOL I got in a car one time with a person that was high. He was driving. "Come on man speed it up people are passing your ass", I told him. He said,"It's not me them people are driving way to fast!"
He was barely driving 25 mph in a 45 mph zone. LOL

see we are all going to fast...sometimes you need to just slow down to enjoy life.

Ok well marijuana just like any other substance is not for everyone! Just like alcohol, your either gonna be stumbling around or trying to kick someone's ass! Id rather be on a coach doing no harm or causing any problems. And of course you should not be driving when you use marijuana!

you gotta look at the person or the group of people.. i wont say those are the only pot heads like that but look at their personality look at what their doing with their lifes.. ive seen someone burn it down and it pushed them to break their record time of a 5 mile run..ive seen stoners graduate top of the class ive seen stoners become millionaires and ive seen stoners operate complicated machinery..its what you let it do to your life

Sadly, I think your logic is emblematic of the reasons it hasn't been legalized yet. It would reduce profits for large and powerful pharmaceutical companies.

Excellent point. There is a oromucosal cannabinoid called Sativex that is widely use in the UK and Canada that has a 1:1 THC:CBD ratio - which makes it essentially devoid of side effects. This medication has revolutionized chronic pain care. While in Stage 3 trials in the US, Big Pharma is doing everything that it can to impede its New Drug Application with the FDA.

Duh it would put pharmaceutical companies outta business, that would be great! Than all those "Pharmaceutical " companies would be pot companies! Pills dont do anything but harm your body and they are addicting!! And now all these teens are addicted and over dosing on pills. Read your @!$%# man!

Sorry, but I saw a guy I used to work with in a meat plant cut his thumb off on a band saw when he was high. He would come into work bragging about his "wake and bake." He would come in from morning break reeking of weed. He would drive around and get high during lunch.

I once saw a guy at a construction site bust off a fire hydrant with a water truck right after smoking a joint. He had already ripped feed hoses off with the truck twice before, again after getting high.

I also knew a guy who did 13 years in prison after killing a little girl with his car when he was high on pot. I had a dear friend who died in a one car car accident. He was the driver and a dedicated pothead.

I also know people who could not keep jobs because of marijuana-based job performance (not because of failed drug tests) and were not even motivated to do anything but sit around and smoke weed all day. Now there may have been underlying factors involved, but the same can be said for alcoholism or any addiction.

All I am saying here is do not try to make pot look like a Hershey Bar. It has its dangers. It can indeed be addictive. It has to be treated with the same caution you would treat any substance or any activity. Even too many Hershey Bars can cause diabetes.

Fred I can apprecieate that, however, if we put the alcholic fatalities against those that you are refering to the Marijuana incidents will be so minute that it really won't matter.... The main point is all the other substances you can overdose on, Alcohol and hard drugs, even prescription drugs (all of which have ill side effects). There has not been one death due to an OD of marijuana in the history of the herb, with that said no other argument can hold water to that.

Granted there may never have ever been a marijuana overdose death proven or even occurred, but please do not say that the number of fatalities caused be marijuana use "is so minute that it really won't matter." The death of the little girl in my above post mattered to someone, as did my friend Jason's death to me. Marijuana is not the perfect substance, so all I am saying is don't try to make it sound like it is.

I would rather go back to smoking pot than cigarettes. I would rather go back to smoking pot than drinking alcohol. I would rather smoke pot than take the lethal chemicals that are legally prescribed. However, I also know pot CAN be addicting, I know pot should not be smoked before driving, operating machinery or in many cases if you are taking care of children. It does have its effects on people, otherwise they would not want to smoke it in the first place.

granted all those things happen to people who arent under any type of influence

Fred- Don't get me wrong any fatality is bad no matter what caused it. What Iment to say is if you compare the fatalities caused by either side... there will be far more deaths caused by liquor and synthetic drugs than marijuana.