FOX News Says Marijuana Activists are "Internet Trolls"

Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 10:36pm

Recent months have brought an unprecedented level of positive mainstream discussion about reforming our marijuana laws. To those who've been working for decades to create a national dialogue surrounding marijuana policy, it's a sign of hope and progress. To the folks at FOX News, it's a f#$king internet prank:

President Obama's pledge to open the White House up to the public through online forums faces an irksome challenge: a plague of Internet "trolls" -- troublemakers who work to derail cyber-conversations through harassing and inflammatory posts.

The problem became immediately apparent last month when Obama held an online "town hall" forum on the economy and invited the public to post questions on the White House Web site.

Those questions, in turn, were voted on by users to determine which ones the president would answer.

Three and a half million people participated in the event, but the "trolls" had their way: Following a coordinated campaign by marijuana advocates to vote their topic to the top of the list, questions on the future of the U.S. dollar and the rising unemployment rate were superseded by questions about legalizing pot as an economic remedy.

Really, FOX News? You are so incapable of understanding our argument that you would dismiss us as saboteurs? If the mere mention of reforming marijuana laws is such a grand affront to civil discourse, let me introduce you to a few more "trolls" out there on the internet spreading crazy ideas about not arresting people for marijuana:

There's Joe Klein at Time, David Sirota at The Nation, Kathleen Parker at the Washington Post, Paul Jacob at TownHall.com, Hendrik Hertzberg at The New Yorker, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic, Glenn Greenwald at Salon, Debra Saunders at the San Francisco Chronicle, Leonard Pitts at Miami Herald, John Richardson at Esquire, Margery Eagan at Boston Herald and many more. If these names sound familiar to you, it's becaue they aren't trolls at all, rather they are respected journalists who are joining the national conversation about the harms of our vicious marijuana laws.

In one of Obama's recent online forums, I saw this question: "How many donuts can I fit on my dong?" That was a troll, and it got deleted. This is a movement, and it isn't going away. Our issue is bigger than the organizations backing it. It didn't win Obama's forum because marijuana reformers know something about online organizing that other interest groups don't. It won because it is this defining question that quickly separates petty hypocrites from bold leaders, that distinguishes self-evident truths from antiquated propaganda, and that pits common sense against the mindless drug war hysteria that maintains a frigid stranglehold on our political culture, rendering impotent the promise of change that inspired so many hopeful Americans to lay their hopes and dreams at the steps of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

It won because millions among us have been arrested and abused at the expense of our own precious tax dollars, with no credible explanation and no honorable conclusion on the horizon. And it won because President Obama himself once spoke of the "utter failure" of these laws, only to then embrace the endless drug war death march that destroys everything it was meant to preserve.

So no, FOX News, we are not "troublemakers" at all. We are here to solve a problem and anyone who thinks there are more important things to worry about would be well advised to stop making this take longer than it has to.

BREAKING NEWS: Sides will debate marijuana issue - CU's 420 Event

By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post

Organizers of the University of Colorado's 420 pot-smokers' holiday hope attendees don't just get high, but also get smart.

Student organizers have lined up local and national speakers from both sides of the issue, including liberals and conservatives, legalization advocates and law enforcement leaders for forums Saturday through Monday.

"There never has been an intellectual public discourse on marijuana" in the event's 16 years at CU, said Alex Douglas, a junior sociology major and director of the school's chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

"Putting both sides of the issue on the table, the forum offers the opportunity for students and the community to be engaged and educated in all aspects of the marijuana issue."

Besides Douglas, the lineup of speakers includes:

Steve Bloom, founding editor of High Times magazine.

Kevin Booth, producer and director of the documentary "American Drug War."

Jessica Peck Corry, a conservative pundit and executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative.

Retired Lafayette judge Lenny Frieling.

Food and Drug Administration official Devin Koontz.

Allen St. Pierre, national executive director of NORML.

Cmdr. Tom Sloan of the Boulder County Drug Task Force.

The forum culminates with hundreds of students and other pot users toking up at 4:20 p.m. on April 20 on CU's Norlin Quad in Boulder. A similar event will be held at the same time in Denver's Civic Center Park.

The national event is named after "420," the statute number in the California legal code that bans marijuana possession.

In past years CU has tried to thwart the event, writing tickets, taking photographs and posting them online, even turning on sprinklers. Denver police also have written citations, but mostly monitor the crowd for safety issues, police said last year.

For a schedule of speakers visit www.normlcu.com/.

Mexican Ambassador: US should take Marijuana Legalization seriously

David Edwards and Joe Byrne
Published: Sunday April 12, 2009

Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan joined CBS' Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation today to talk about the violence on Mexico's border resulting from the drug trade. Among other things, the senior diplomat told Schieffer that the U.S. should take the debate over marijuana legalization seriously.

"Those that suggest that some of these measures need to be looked at understand the dynamics of the drug trade; you have to bring demand down and one way to do it is to move in that direction [towards legalization]...There are many others who believe that doing this will just fan the flames," Sarukhan told Schieffer.

Some authorities close to the border violence are beginning to advocate for a legalization scenario. At the end of February, Terry Goddard, Arizona's Attorney General, said that while he's not in favor of legalizing marijuana, he thinks it should be debated as a way of curbing violence in the increasingly deadly clashes between Mexico's gangs. In addition, three former presidents of Latin America - Former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo - have all urged the United States and Latin American governments to move away from jailing drug users, to debate the legalization of marijuana, and to place more emphasis on the treatment of addicts.

"This is a debate that needs to be taken seriously, that we have to engage in on both sides of the border: both in producing, in trafficking, and in consumption countries," he said of the marijuana legalization debate.

Guns coming across the border into Mexico are also a matter of concern. The ambassador believes that "90% of the guns we are seizing in Mexico...are coming from the United States."

This video is from CBS' Face the Nation, broadcast Apr. 12, 2009.

Download video via RawReplay.com

LETTER TO WASHINGTON from Joe the Stoner

Dear Mr. President, Vice President and Congress:

This letter is addressed to ALL of YOU, whether you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, Communist, Fascist or whatever your ideology may be. Your "Party" doesn't make the slightest difference here.

Forgive me for being blunt, but do any of you have the courage to end America's dependence on ALL OIL, both foreign and domestic, and convert all our automobiles to run on hemp fuel?

Do any of you have the foresight to create millions of American jobs in the Hemp Industry, a clean, green and renewable source of energy?

Do any of you have the bravery to legalize something that has already been banned for way too long at the cost of millions of American lives in the ever-losing Drug War?

How much money is the government spending to fight marijuana and how many Americans will you jail for something that you cannot possibly ever control unless you legalize it?

Do you even realize that Cannabis IS the "Green Energy" of the FUTURE?

Did you know that this could be accomplished in less than a year!

Imagine, America could be FREE FROM FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCE IN LESS THAN A YEAR!

Did you even know that Cannabis Hemp amd Marijuana have so many other uses? Clothing, Plastics, Rope, Paper, Health benefits, in some people even CURES CANCER, it is a natural alternative medicine to so many damaging prescription drugs, etc..... and oh yeah, lets not forget that the marijuana plant's "bud" can get you high.

Millions of Americans smoke marijuana. You CANNOT and MORALLY SHOULD NOT jail such a huge portion of the population of our own country in such a foolish manner. It is a waste of valuable resources. These millions of Americans that we currently jail are taken away from being productive to society, their families and communities, all because they chose to get high, whether for recreational, medicinal or emotional purposes.

Please do not let history repeat itself. During the Great Depression, America went into an even deeper slump because of Prohibition. Prohibition in the early 20th Century nearly destroyed America. Do not let America's Prohibition of Marijuana destroy our nation.

It's a fact of life: America Smokes Pot and LOTS OF IT!!!

Keep an open mind and envision the inevitable fact that marijuana, cannabis, and hemp are what is destined to save humankind and our planet.

America needs to lead in developing this renewable energy source before we fall behind the rest of the world as slowly all nations will open their eyes to the things they can do with this miracle plant, cannabis.

The potential to once again become the "World's Leading Economy" is in your hands. America needs to push aside the old myths about marijuana that got a nation so paranoid about it, we outlawed hemp - We made it illegal and banned an industry that today has the potential to create millions of jobs, billions in exports, and trillions in taxes and related revenues.

Mr. President, Vice President and Congress - PLEASE SAVE AMERICA - PLEASE LEGALIZE AND LET THE STATES REGULATE CANNABIS, HEMP & MARIJUANA.

OPEN YOUR EYES AMERICA - DEMAND A CHANGE SO DRASTIC THAT IT COULD SAVE THE WORLD AND END DEPENDENCY ON OIL TODAY!

PLEASE, FOR THE SAKE OF OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE AND OUR NATION'S SURVIVAL......END PROHIBITION NOW.

Joe the Stoner

(NOTE: In the original letter, the word "balls" was replaced with courage, foresight and bravery - funny how a male appendage can be associated with words that describe our founding fathers - courage, foresight and bravery = balls)

Santana: Obama Should Legalize Pot

By AP / MARCELA ISAZA ~ (WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.)

President Barack Obama brushed off a question about legalizing marijuana in his online town hall last month, but guitar god Carlos Santana says he wishes he would seriously consider it.

"Legalize marijuana and take all that money and invest it in teachers and in education," Santana said in an interview this week. "You will see a transformation in America." (Read "Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense".)

During his online town hall on March 26, Obama fielded a question about whether legalization of the illicit drug would help pull the nation out of recession. Obama said he didn't think it was good economic policy, and also joked: "I don't know what this says about the online audience."

But Santana said making pot legal is "really way overdue, like the prohibition with the alcohol and stuff like that. "I really believe that as soon as we legalize and decriminalize marijuana we can actually afford a really good governor who won't keep taking money away from education and from teachers and send him back to Hollywood where he can do 'D' movies and we can get an 'A' governor," referring to former movie action hero and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (A Brief History of New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws.)

Santana made the comments as he was promoting his upcoming rock residency in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The show debuts May 27 and runs through 2010.

"It's a milestone for me because I always said I would never do certain things," Santana said, adding that the list included staying in one place for too long.

"Yet what is very different is this is the year I decided to do all the things that I said I would never do. It's a way of coming into a room that I thought was dark and I would be afraid and I actually bring my light to it."

Santana, whose hits vary from "Evil Ways" to "Maria Maria," said he is also working on two upcoming albums.

While the 61-year-old has previously talked about a possible retirement, he's decided to be more careful about predicting the future. "Every time I tell God my plans he cracks up, he starts laughing. So I just decided to be quiet for a while and not say that I am going to retire and go to Maui and become a minister," he said. "God was cracking up. He thought it was a good joke. So I said, 'OK.' Every time I want to make him laugh I tell him my plans. So we'll see."

Obama punts on marijuana policy

Thousands of Mexicans have been killed, and drug violence is spilling into the U.S., yet the president failed to address drug laws seriously during his recent town hall.

By Grant Smith, Los Angeles Times
April 7, 2009

I suppose President Obama deserves some credit for addressing national marijuana policy during his recent online town hall. But instead of seriously answering the thousands of questions submitted by Americans on overhauling our failed drug laws, he joked about the issue. In doing so, Obama passed on an unparalleled opportunity to offer food for thought on how the White House might be willing to rethink our disastrous marijuana policy. "I don't know what this says about the online audience," Obama joked. "This was a fairly popular question; we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is no, I don't think that's a good strategy to grow our economy."

Before the president's "Open for Questions" website closed, more than 2,100 marijuana policy questions had been submitted, according to The Times' March 27 article, "Obama connects from on high, online.” Obama's audience, it turned out, felt that taxing and regulating marijuana was a good way to improve the economy. And understandably, Obama's refusal to seriously discuss marijuana policy sparked plenty of resentment, as reported on The Times’ Top of the Ticket blog.

This was not the first time that Obama has heard from the public about marijuana. Throughout his campaign and transition to power, he had been pressed to endorse an overhaul of the war on drugs and federal marijuana policy. In fact, Obama's transition team held similar online forums in which marijuana policy was among the top issues in the questions submitted.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the popularity of the marijuana questions as a product of some kind of manipulation, claiming, "This is not the first time that an interest group gets on a website and votes many times for their question to be answered." But in this case, the interest group is the American people. After all, it is the American people who are locked away at a higher rate than any other people on Earth. More than one out of every 100 American adults are behind bars at any given moment, and the United States' incarceration rate is five times the world's.

America's appetite for incarcerating people for minor drug offenses has grossly overfed our bloated criminal justice system. An estimated 500,000 people are currently locked up in jails and prisons across the nation for drug offenses. Almost 48% of all drug arrests nationwide are for marijuana. In 2007 alone, more than 775,000 Americans entered the criminal justice system after an arrest for marijuana possession. It is in the American public's interest that Obama take advantage of growing recognition among policymakers that our marijuana laws threaten public safety and welfare and be an important part of this debate.

The timing could not be more opportune for Obama. The escalating battle between the Mexican government and drug cartels has killed more than 7,000 Mexicans and is spilling into the United States. Mexican drug cartels have been implicated in carrying out numerous kidnappings in Phoenix; the Obama administration estimates they have set up shop in at least 230 U.S. cities. The situation provoked Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard to call for "at least a rational discussion as to what our country can do to take the profit out of [marijuana]." Goddard testified to a Senate committee last month that marijuana trafficking fuels 65% to 70% of the drug violence in Mexico.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped out on a limb when she acknowledged last month that "our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade" and that the U.S.-led war on drugs "has not worked." Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) last month introduced bipartisan legislation that would create a commission to thoroughly examine the entire criminal justice system with a goal of understanding why we are "putting the wrong people in prison."

The debate is not confined within our borders. In February, a commission led by three former Latin American presidents acknowledged that open dialogue about alternatives to the war on drugs has "become taboo, which inhibits public debate." The commission urged policymakers to spark public debate on the decriminalization of marijuana and other measures.

Although marijuana is certainly not the most pressing issue for Obama, this is the right time for the president to engage lawmakers and the public on our destructive marijuana policy. A concerted effort by Obama to openly and honestly discuss alternatives to marijuana prohibition would undoubtedly pulverize the myth that Americans aren't ready for reform. Perhaps Obama could start the conversation by explaining why he supported decriminalizing marijuana in 2004, when he first ran for the U.S. Senate.

Grant Smith is a legislative associate at the Drug Policy Alliance.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-smith7-2009apr07,0,197938.story)

President Obama.... Can I ask you a question?

When President Obama signed the Executive Order lifting the ban on government funding of Stem Cell Research, he said the following:

"This Order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let’s be clear: promoting science isn’t just about providing resources – it is also about protecting free and open inquiry. It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda – and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology."

Well, in that case, Mr. President, then....

1) Why not advance the cause of Science in America with researching all the health benefits of Marijuana?

2) If promoting science is also about protecting free and open inquiry, why are we not funding research into the health benefits of Marijuana?

3) Why are scientists not allowed to do their job, free from manipulation or coercion and criminal prosecution when it comes to Marijuana?

4) If studies show that Marijuana can cure some forms of cancer and a multitude of other diseases and/or symptoms, then why is Marijuana so conveniently kept illegal, denying Americans the right to legitimate health care options?

5) Why do we keep laws that promote the distortion of the truth about Marijuana?

6) Why do we keep laws that are based on political ideology and not based on available scientific data when it comes to Marijuana?

President Obama: America voted for you and made you President of this great nation because we wanted "Change We Could Believe In". Please take this matter seriously. Please do not let America continue to be blinded by political ideologies and antiquated laws.

Please bring America into the 21st Century by exploring and promoting scientific studies into the benefits of Marijuana instead of focusing on the fact that it can get you high.

BREAKING NEWS: The TRUTH about cannabis hemp and marijuana REVEALED by Jack Herer

If all fossil fuel and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction, were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable, natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper, plastics and textiles; meet all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs; provide about 30% of the world's medicines, while reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil and cleaning the atmosphere, all at the same time…and that substance is the same one that has done it before, for the last five to 10 thousand years, until about 125 years ago…




CANNABIS HEMP!

Cannabis Hemp is the only known plant that can be grown from the Equator to the Arctic Circle, and to the Antarctic Circle; from the mountains to the valleys, from the oceans to the plains, including arid lands and everywhere in between. Cannabis Hemp is the healthiest plant for the ground out of the 300,000 known species, and the millions and millions of subspecies of plants on Earth, because it has a root system that grows 10 to 12 inches in 30 days compared to one inch for rye, barley grass, etc. The roots penetrate up to six to 10 feet deep, pulverizing the soil and making it arable. After harvest it leaves a root system that is mulched into the ground, revitalizing the land and making it live once again. It is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plant life.

All of my information about Cannabis Hemp has been taken from Federal and State Department of Agriculture reports, articles from Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, entries from encyclopedias and pharmacopoeias, and studies from all over the world during the last 200 years. This is all public information. The United States government is hiding the fact that 125 years ago, and even as far back as 4000 B.C., 60-80% of our economy was based on the use of Cannabis Hemp for paper, fiber and fuel. Ten to 30% of our drug economy was based on Cannabis Hemp medicines, 125 years ago.

Cannabis Hemp was part of our every day life. Virtually every farm and every plot of land in the cities and towns across the United States and the world, from 100-125 years ago and before, had a Cannabis Hemp patch growing. The U.S. government's cover-up of Cannabis Hemp outrages me and it should outrage you, too. I have been studying Cannabis Hemp for over 35 years, and I can't believe how the U.S. government, in 90 seconds in Congress, could outlaw "marijuana" in 1937, without the people realizing they were outlawing Cannabis Hemp, the most perfect plant for the planet! They even got other countries to outlaw it, too, after the Second World War and beyond.

From 1640 to 1940, 80% of all the world's Cannabis Hemp was grown (mostly by Cossacks, who were indentured servants), and then imported from Russia, Italy, etc.

I will again reiterate a few of the facts about Cannabis Hemp, which you may already know.

Cannabis Hemp was the number one annually renewable natural resource for 80% of all paper, fiber, textiles and fuel, from 6,000 years ago until about 125 years ago. Furthermore, it was used for 5 to 50% of the food, light, land and soil reclamation, and even 10 to 30% or more of all medicine. Everyone, from the educated to the uneducated, the farmer to the townsperson, the doctors and the scientists used Cannabis Hemp products and depended on them.

From at least 100 AD to 1883, 75 to 90% of all paper was made of Cannabis Hemp. Books (including Bibles), money and newspapers all over the world have been mainly printed on Cannabis Hemp for as long as these things have existed in human history.

Until 125 years ago, 70 to 90% of all rope, twine, cordage, ship sails, canvas, fiber, cloth, etc., was made out of Cannabis Hemp fiber! It was replaced by DuPont's newly discovered petrochemical fiber (Nylon) beginning in 1937. By comparison, Cannabis Hemp is four times softer than cotton, four times warmer, four times more water absorbent, has three times the strength of cotton, is many times more durable, is flame retardant, and doesn't use pesticides. Fifty percent of all pesticides are used on cotton, yet cotton uses only one percent of the farmland in the U.S.! Cannabis Hemp is the most health giving plant on Earth and it doesn't require pesticides or herbicides! It is the healthiest plant for human consumption, and for the Earth itself.

Until 125 years ago, 80% of our economy depended on Cannabis Hemp for paper, fiber, oil and fuel. At that time, it took 300 man-hours to harvest an acre of Cannabis Hemp, but with the invention of the brand new hemp decorticator in the 1930s, it only took 1-1/2 to two man-hours. This is equivalent to reducing the labor burden from $6,000 down to $40 or $50 per acre, in today's money. Keep in mind that the cotton gin, in 1793, reduced the man-hours from 300 hours down to two hours to harvest and clean an acre of cotton. Cannabis Hemp would have taken over the cotton market, as it is far superior to cotton, and pesticide free. The role of Cannabis Hemp should be determined by market supply and demand and not by undue influence of prohibition laws, federal subsidies and huge tariffs that keep the natural from replacing the synthetic. I repeat - Cannabis Hemp is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plants!

Of all the 300,000 species of plants on Earth, no other plant source can compare with the nutritional value of Cannabis Hemp seeds. It is the only plant on Earth that provides us with the number one source, and the perfect balance of essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, globulin edestin protein, and essential oils all combined in one plant, and in a form which is most naturally digestible to our bodies.

Prior to the 1800s, Cannabis Hempseed oil was the number one source for lighting oil throughout the world. Until 1937-38, even paints and varnishes were 80% Cannabis Hempseed oil. Cannabis Hemp is non-toxic and has been used to make high-grade diesel fuel, motor oil, aircraft and precision oil and even the number one vegetable oil. The U.S. Army/Navy standards purchasing specifications list hemp oil as the number one preferred lubricant for their machinery. Cannabis Hemp is the best sustainable source of plant pulp for biomass fuel to make charcoal, gas, methanol, gasoline and electricity in a natural way.

In 1850, 80% of all paper, fiber, fuel and oil was made out of Cannabis Hemp in America and the rest of the world. This was before the discovery of coal and petroleum for energy in the late 1850s…before the start of the worst permanent pollution ever experienced on Earth…fossil fuel pollution (coal and petroleum)!!

As a medicine, the worldwide use of Cannabis Hemp goes back at least 6,000 years. Remember, 10 to 30% of our medicines used to be Cannabis Hemp based medicines. It has been found to be healthy and effective in the treatment of chronic pain, cancer, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, sickle cell anemia, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS wasting and many other illnesses, including simple nausea, appetite stimulant, anxiety and muscle pains, etc.

On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man," and asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule it. The DEA refused, keeping it a Schedule I drug, which they say "has no known medical use"! In 2007, DEA Law Judge, Mary Ellen Bittner, ruled, "…it is in the public interest to allow marijuana cultivation for research purposes."

Thousands of studies have been done all over the world, documenting the medical use of Cannabis Hemp (England, Spain, Hungary, Holland, and the U.S., just to name a few. No one has ever died from Cannabis Hemp in over 6,000 years of recorded history…unless they were shot by a cop!

Cannabis Hemp was also used for land reclamation until 1915. Cannabis Hemp was planted or left to grow feral as ground cover and on riverbanks, and not intended for harvest. It is the number one plant in history used to prevent mudslides and loss of watershed, and river and soil erosion on Earth. It has been illegal to grow this number one plant in the United States since 1937.

What disgusts me the most is how the U.S. government, as well as the people, knew about Cannabis Hemp and praised its value and then look what happened! In literally 90 seconds, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 passed in Congress. By using the unknown name "marijuana" instead of the familiar name "Cannabis Hemp," Congress was able to accomplish this because no one knew what plant they were talking about. Cannabis Hemp became illegal and was replaced by petrochemical products, coal and natural gas. They made it such a banned and forbidden plant that the words, "Hemp" and "Cannabis Hemp" were not even taught in schools from the 1940s, '50s and thereafter.

The role of Cannabis Hemp was erased from America's history (as well as most of the rest of the world's) after 1945. To prove it, think…what did you learn about Cannabis Hemp in grade school? High school? College? From you parents and grandparents? Nothing! (Unless it was from the underground press within the last 15 to 30 years.) The continuing suppression of this information by the U.S. government places us all in mortal jeopardy. I believe that in order to save the planet, we must use non-fossil fuel energy. (Chuck, 34, says, "If what I learned in school about marijuana was true, I would look like Dolly Parton by now!!")

Cannabis Hemp, in conjunction with wind, solar, tidal and hydroelectric power, could save the planet by providing all of our energy, fuel, paper, fiber, and 10 to 30% of our medical needs, naturally. It would also reduce acid rain and chemical pollution, rebuild the soil, and reverse the Greenhouse Effect (no other plant can do this!). Cannabis Hemp was used to make over 25,000 products before it was outlawed in 1937.

Why does the U.S. government want to eradicate this seed, out of all the seeds on Earth? The want to kill the most perfect plant on the planet. We must stop this insanity and demand that the laws against Cannabis Hemp be 100% REPEALED!!

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Drug Enforcement Administration head, Karen Tandy, and White House Drug Czar, John Walters, have been given all of these proven facts and yet are still set against the legalization of Cannabis Hemp and recognition of Cannabis Hemp knowledge. For whatever personal reasons, they refuse to believe the facts and are willing to sacrifice the future of our planet and the health of our people by keeping it illegal.

The Cannabis Hemp ban is so extreme and its intention is to hide the truth. The truth is that out of the 300,000 species and the millions and millions of subspecies of plants on Earth, Cannabis Hemp is the number one plant for our survival and quality of life here on Earth. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government and Attorney Generals from John Ashcroft to Alberto Gonzales, as well as U.S. drug czar John Walters, have been calling Cannabis Hemp users "terrorists" and yet the government of the United States has been "terrorizing" Cannabis Hemp users for the last 70 years! There have been over 16 million arrests for Cannabis Hemp in the last 70 years in the U.S. alone! Fourteen million were within the last 33 years!

No one has taken the $100,000 challenge to prove me wrong. Why? Because I am right. The U.S. government has been lying to us since the early 1900s. Do economic interests and the police have more to say than the people about the future of our planet? How angry are you for being lied to by the U.S. government about Cannabis Hemp? Are you willing to make a stand right now?

No one can dispute this information and knowledge. You have to join me in this fight. Either you are on the U.S. government's side or you are on the Earth's side with me!

Jack Herer


(Source: A $100,000 Challenge!
~ http://www.jackherer.com
~ http://www.myspace.com/hempjack
~ http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=71554350&blogID=439191005

originally posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008)

President Obama: What Is So Funny About Taxing And Regulating Marijuana?

Speaking live this morning President Barack Obama pledged “to open up the White House to the American people.”

Well, to some of the American people that is.

As for those tens of millions of you who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol — and the tens of thousands of you who voted to make this subject the most popular question in today’s online Presidential Town Hall — well, your voice doesn’t really matter.

Asked this morning whether he “would … support the bill currently going through the California legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence,” the President responded with derision.

“There was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation, and I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” he laughed.

“The answer is no, I don’t think that [is] a good strategy.”

Obama’s cynical rebuff was short-sighted and disrespectful to a large percentage of his supporters. After all, was it not this very same “online audience” that donated heavily to

Obama’s Presidential campaign and ultimately carried him to the White House?

Second, as I’ve written previously (not Joe the Stoner, but the NORML organization) in The Hill and elsewhere, the overwhelming popularity of the marijuana law reform issue — as manifested in this and in similar forums — illustrates that there is a significant, vocal, and identifiable segment of our society that wants to see an end to America’s archaic and overly punitive marijuana laws.

The Obama administration should be embracing this constituency, not mocking it.

Third, will somebody please ask the President: “What is it that you think is so funny about the subject of marijuana law reform?”

Since 1965, police have arrested over 20 million Americans for violating marijuana laws, yet nearly 90 percent of teenagers say that pot is “very easy” or “fairly easy” to obtain. That’s funny?

According to this very administration, there is an unprecedented level of violence occurring at the Mexico/US border — much of which is allegedly caused by the trafficking of marijuana to the

United States by drug cartels. America’s stringent enforcement of pot prohibition, which artificially inflates black market pot prices and ensures that only criminal enterprises will be involved in the production and sale of this commodity, is helping to fuel this violence. Wow, funny stuff!

Finally, two recent polls indicate that a strong majority of regional voters support ending marijuana prohibition and treating the drug’s sale, use, and distribution like alcohol. A February 2009 Zogby telephone poll reported that nearly six out of ten of voters on the west coast think that cannabis should be “taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes.” A just-released California Field Poll reports similar results, finding that 58 percent of statewide votes believe that regulations for cannabis should be the same or less strict than those for alcohol.

Does the President really think that all of these voters are worthy of his ridicule?

Let the White House laugh for now, but the public knows that this issue is no laughing matter.

This week alone, legislators in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Hampshire voted to legalize the use of marijuana for authorized individuals. Politicians in three additional states heard testimony this week in favor of eliminating criminal penalties for all adults who possess and use cannabis. And lawmakers in Massachusetts and California are now debating legally regulating marijuana outright.

The American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults. And all over this nation, whether Capitol Hill wants to acknowledge it or not, they are engaging in this debate as we speak.

Sorry Obama, this time the joke’s on you.

(reposted from the NORML website post)

Barack Obama on Legalization of Marijuana (2004)

(click on the title or picture to open the video on youtube.com)