Medical Mary Jane

STAMP POT – POT STAMP

l3wis September 27, 2012 4Comments

http://sodaknorml.org/2012stamp.htm

Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana?

l3wis September 15, 2012 5Comments

Guest post by Bob Newland

Since my blog, Decorum Forum gets a steady 79 hits a day, why, you ask would I want to pander to the audience of the likes of that which reads South DaCola?

First, because its moderator allows me to do so from time to time. Second, South DaCola recognizes the significance of a campaign of a series of short letters to the folks whom are shortly going to be adding to the panoply of rules, enforced by people with uniforms and guns, that govern every aspect of your being.

People who use cannabis are quite conscious of the “uniforms and guns” part of the deal. Since cannabis poses absolutely no threat to public safety, it must be the presence of the insane Prohibition on its existence within the borders of the USA (and a few other barbaric countries) that is the threat to public safety.

I was checking out current arguments for Prohibition the other day. I asked on Google: “why keep pot illegal?”

Its author proposes, among other equally coherent groupings of words:

Legalized gambling has not reduced illegal gambling in the United States; rather, it has increased it. This is particularly evident in sports gambling, most of which is illegal. Legal gambling is taxed and regulated and illegal gambling is not. Legal gambling sets the stage for illegal gambling just the way legal marijuana would set the stage for illegal marijuana trafficking.

The gambling precedent suggests strongly that illegal drug suppliers would thrive by selling more potent marijuana products outside of the legal channels that would be taxed and otherwise restricted. If marijuana were legalized, the only way to eliminate its illegal trade, which is modest in comparison to that of cocaine, would be to sell marijuana untaxed and unregulated to any willing buyer.

Let me get this straight. That is supposed to be an argument against legalization of cannabis?

Thinking that the preceding words might not clearly state the “mainstream” of arguments in favor of continuing to jail people for cannabis “offenses,” I browsed a few other Prohibitionist sites. I swear, the essay at is the best they have.

So, Why IS cannabis Prohibited?

That’s a question SoDakNORML is asking of current and aspirant South Dakota legislators in a weekly postal letter that asks for their positions on cannabis Prohibition and for their reasoning on the issue. The letters also each present one or two facts about the destruction caused by jailing people for trying to feel better by means of a vehicle not approved by The State.

If you’re interested in liberty and justice and stuff like that, take a look.

It’s also possible that Dakota War College will see this post and get heartburn. That’s the best reason to pander to the audience of South DaCola.

Legislative letter sent by SD NORML (Bob Newland)

l3wis September 7, 2012 2Comments

Best regards, Rep. Concise Thinker;

We believe you want what is best for the majority of South Dakotans. We do, too.

That said, we see no benefit in punishing people with criminal laws and prosecution for using cannabis (“marijuana” is the legal term, a slang term chosen from the vernacular for its sinister sound). Further, we see a great deal of harm being done –to the majority of South Dakotans as well as to those directly affected by arrest and prosecution– to no apparent purpose.

Current laws regarding cannabis achieve several effects, none of them beneficial.

1. The prices users pay for cannabis is inflated roughly 1700 per cent by the “risk” factor involved in producing, transporting and marketing the product. This benefits the most vicious people on Earth, while making the distribution of the product completely ungovernable.

2. Distribution of cannabis to minors is therefore inevitable. A legal market in cannabis among adults could allow regulations making it more difficult for children to obtain it. The current system guarantees the opposite.

3. The benefit of cannabis to a wide age of people with a wide range of adverse medical conditions is apparent. While cannabis is easily obtained by healthy, active people, it is much harder for a person in a wheelchair to make the contacts necessary to obtain what might be life-sustaining aid from cannabis. One intense irony of current policy is that it denies access to cannabis most efficiently to those whom are most in need of its benefits.

We believe, for these and other reasons, that it goes counter to any interpretation of sound public policy to maintain criminal punishments for anyone for ingestion of cannabis. We believe that adults have the inherent right to ingest cannabis (or anything else they want to ingest). We believe that those accused of possession of “marijuana” should have the right to present evidence of medical use in court and to have juries determine justice from the evidence. We believe that any steps in the direction of improving South Dakota law along these lines is a step in the right direction and we will vigorously support legislators who undertake those steps.

“We” are SoDakNORML, the South Dakota Affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. We are comprised of thousands of South Dakotans arrested, prosecuted, imprisoned, frightened, amused, angered, or marginalized as a result of cannabis Prohibition, a policy so absurd in its derivation and results that it defies characterization.

On behalf of any of the folks described above who want to endorse these sentiments, I am

Bob Newland
President, SoDakNORML

P.S. Please read the essay on the politics of cannabis at the following website:http://hemphasis.net/Politics/politics.htm (the capital P is important).

Co-signed by:
Jesse Grimm, combat veteran, Hot Springs