The media are circling like sharks over the marijuana issue. They know it is a hot topic and the people are ready for legalization. Be sure to tune in every day next week at 10pm to CNN so we can keep Anderson Cooper honest.
UPDATE 2: NORML Board Member and Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez just confirmed she will be interviewed by the AC 360 show this Sunday for broadcast during the weeklong special. Also, CNN may be sending a camera crew to our patient cardholder meeting being held tomorrow.
UPDATE: I just got this friendly email from a producer assisting in this special:
My name is ___ _____, and I work at Attention – which assists CNN. I saw you wrote about Anderson Cooper’s special next week – wanted to just give you more information in case you wanted to update your post or post again closer to the show.
Anderson Cooper 360 special America’s High: The Case For and Against Pot, will air throughout the week of June 15th on CNN.
As part of the series, Cooper will talk exclusively with rock star Melissa Etheridge, who, as a breast cancer survivor, advocates for medical use of marijuana. CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will examine the science of marijuana and THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol).
CNN correspondents Randi Kaye and Joe Johns will profile people who are for and against legalizing marijuana and will also offer a surprising look at pot openly grown here in the United States.
Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 10pm ET on CNN.
For and against pot? Is this that “fair and balanced” type of reporting that gives equal credence to truth and lies? ”Person A says the sky is blue, Person B says the sky is green, so as you can see, there is quite a bit of controversy about the sky.” I’ve got no issue with interviewing people who are for and against, so long as CNN points out the lies of the people who are against (gateway drug, pot 20x more potent, pot causes schizophrenia, etc.)
And who do we get examining the science of marijuana? Do we get Dr. Mitch Earleywine or Dr. Ethan Russo or Dr. Lester Grinspoon or Dr. Donald Tashkin or anybody who has spent years and published dozens of peer-reviewed studies on cannabinoids? No, we get Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who has already authored the following examinations of the science of marijuana in 2002 (check the link for the real facts):
- “…marijuana use earlier in life actually may lead to an increased — 30 percent increase — in schizophrenia later in life.”
- “…girls were more vulnerable to the symptoms of depression later on in life again if they were frequent or even daily marijuana users.”
- “There are some benefits to marijuana use. It can make cancer chemotherapy patients hungrier — also in HIV and AIDS patients… And marijuana can offer some of those things, especially when it comes to reducing nausea and vomiting, not advocating that necessarily myself. I think there are other ways to do that besides marijuana.”
And in 2006 penned an article for TIME entitled “Why I Would Vote No on Pot” (check the story link for my thorough debunking):
- “Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory.”
- “It can impair your cognitive ability (why do you think people call it dope?)”
- “[It can] lead to long-lasting depression or anxiety.”
- “…smoking anything, whether it’s tobacco or marijuana, can seriously damage your lung tissue.”
So the guy who’s already voting “no” on pot is going to examine the science of marijuana? The guy who thinks smoking marijuana makes you an anxious depressed forgetful schizophrenic? Hey, just “keeping them honest”, right, Anderson?
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I am sooooo disappointed at how you portrayed the THCF foundation which is by the way a NON PROFIT Organization, which you claimed made 3 million dollars a year. The patients would and do disagree completely. Misrepresentation at its best.. Also you called Mr Stanford A PUSHER !! the patients enter the building to attempt to get their medical marijuana cards on their own accord. You almost saw Anderson hesitate when reading his cue that called Mr Stanford a “pusher” as if he did not agree with what he was being forced to say!! I have seen, by being in the medical fields, the countless number of patients that this medicine helps on a daily basis. People who could not function, now hold full time jobs. People who could not eat, gaining weight to stay healthy. My dying grandmother with cancer can still crack a smile because of this medicine. This is a natural herb intended for wonderful things..Shame on you!!
I think you’re way off. First of all, when NORML was founded in 1970, a person in any of the fifty states caught in public with a joint would have a lifetime criminal record. Now, in thirteen states, that person only gets a ticket, a fine, and no criminal record.
When NORML was founded, police would haul away sick people if they caught them with a pot plant in the back yard. Now, in thirteen states, that person is free to grow his pot plant without harrassment.
Yes, we cannot have sex in the grocery store… but we can buy beer, wine, cigarettes, NSAIDs, and pseudoephedrine there, can’t we?
Your attitude (“It’ll never change and I never get busted, so why bother?”) is EXACTLY why cannabis is still illegal.
As for your Johnny Appleweed idea of planting seeds randomly throughout the community: what you’ll get are tiny marijuana seedlings that are ripped out of the ground as soon as they are recognized. Nebraska has ditches full of feral hemp left over from Hemp for Victory. CAMP spreads marijuana seeds all over the California forest every time their helicopter flies out with a load of eradicated marijuana. None of those seeds have led to marijuana being re-legalized.
Finally, “just keep it low” is exactly what most pot smokers do, and yet still, 872,721 get arrested each year and 40,000 are languishing in prison. Ever hear of an “anonymous tip”? No matter how “low” you keep it, you are just one snitch away from a jail cell. Sorry, Supercash, I am a free man and I will fight for my freedom.
look you guys we all want to be able to sit on our porch and enjoy our cannabis like anyone else that enjoys their beer or whatever after a hard days work….however you might as well keep your little hide away smoking spot comfortable,because thats where pot is going to stay. Instead of trying to fight the prohibition why doesn,t every smoker out there just plant 5 seeds randomley throughout your community and the whole place will suddenly be over grown with pot. now thats how you get results. the pot laws are going nowhere. face it people just stick to private use and shut the fuck up already with failed promises of the so called pot reform. i have been a pro hemp individual since i was 12… and nothing has been effective in marijuane reform.. but ive been lighting up for over 25 yrs.. and only been busted once. that was to take the wrap for a freind that was in too much trouble for another charge oh well that was a long time ago.. so instead of spending money on all this hoopla about legalizing pot just go buy some get high and go on with your norml lives …. hope you understand but facts are facts and reality is reality . you can’t have sex ion the grocery store,but you can in private … so treat your smoke the same way.. use your fuckin head man.. just keep it on the low and out of the streets …unless you want to go to jail of course.. sorry but legal pot is a hoop dream just like taxes aint goin nowhere either and don,t see anyone putting effort into that reform… just another realistically thinking smoker.. so keep on tokin but dont take it to the white house lawn thanks for your time
It’s just more of the same. Cooper is just another corporate shill. I don’t know when our news reporters became debate mediators but it’s very frustration to never have him slap down these obvious lies. The against says ‘there is no medicinal value’. That alone should be enough for Cooper to say “get out, you lied to me about being an expert, just get out.”
My god!!
So far, the first two episodes have been incredibly bias against cannabis.
Wow, not sure how Rob could stand being on there. I’d have been incredibly irritated, and would have over reacted. He got out a few good points though.
Just, wow.. Cooper is really fucking something..
I recently tried to post this comment on Anderson Cooper’s blog page. I’ve seen only the below on his site since my posting….
Sean June 16th, 2009 10:59 pm ET
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I am a little concerned about the moderation of the interview. I feel that there was some very overt steering of the argument along the lines of the pharmaceutical industries interest. This is in part an issue of the American medical system’s predisposition towards reducing medicinal benefits from freely available substances into pill form that is regulated, patented and strictly controlled, in my opinion, for the sole benefit of the pharmaceutical industries, sometimes to the detriment of the consumers of the medical system.
Afgan Kush Can Save the World!
Since the US invaded Afghanistan, there has been a 90% increase with heroin in all the streets of the developed countries (PBS FRONTLINE). Heroin, unlike pot, makes people so addicted, they will leave their family and sell their car, and foresake everything…
The solution:
1.) Legalize pot here, and get revenue taxing it like liquor did for the last Depression.
2.) Than, instead of continuing to use our tax money to produce more harmful heroin–via General Petraus bribing Afghani warlords to keep the peace–which definitely enriches the Taliban heroin trade (60% of Afghanistan GDP is from the opiated poppy trade) obviously let out by covert agents (not unlike the Vietnam War drug trade); and overlooked by Homeland Security; and distributed by the Mexican drug cartels; subsidize Afghan poppy farmers to grow Afghan Kush!!!
3.) Use our soldiers to get the Taliban off the Afghan farmer’s backs. Pot, realistically would be the only crop that would command comparable or superior demand. The cashflow would help save our economy and the Afghanistan economy, and keep the Taliban from getting rich enough with heroin blood money to buy nuclear warheads ($30 million each) from Pakistan’s corrupt military.
4.) This would be a win/win situation for all, except the Taliban if we use our soldiers to protect the farmers while they are there. the Taliban would like to get nuclear bombs to send us all back into the dark ages! This is their mission, and Afghan Kush can prevent it if we legalize pot. If the government isn’t into it, private businessmen would line up to invest because the demand, as demonstrated by dispensaries outnumbering Starbucks in San Francisco, will be there!
I would like to see a debate about the reality of the war on drugs. The discussion is not if Americans should be allowed to use marijuana, the discussion should be where will the money that is spent on marijuana go.
Many Americans will use cannabis regardless of its legality. We have to decide if the money will go to drug cartels, sponsor violence against our border patrol agents, and create a black market that absorbs tax payer dollars, or if the money should be used to build libraries, schools, and public parks.
Bruce your bluster is why I don’t feature your videos on my blog. You always go after NORML but you ignore the fact that NORML does support tax free cultivation. I dont personally like the legalization bill in my state of MA but it does allow one to grow their own, tax free.
The other thing I don’t get about your shtick is the lack of reality. The reality is the bill in MA for legalization has no co-sponsors, no chance of passing. Yet you act like we can just make it happen this year? As Russ just said, NORML does support growing with no taxation. Of course they do!
Betrayer of the American people? Those that can’t be honest I’d say. And that seems to be you at this point. Self serving with the facts, never admits that yes NORML does support the things you claim they do not?
Hijacked your Anderson 360 blog, Russ. -snicker-
Ballots, bills and the clever language in them are interesting things to contemplate, though. It is hard to resist.
It isn’t so much an issue of allowing or not allowing people to grow their own as much as it is an issue of government having too much control of the process.
If they have all the control they will dole it out only when they see fit. They could turn it into another tax stamp act where nobody gets anything. Or they could deem the plant bad, take it away, and start issuing pills only.
I’m not against all kinds of pills being made for all kinds of treatments. Just not at the expense of the plant being held hostage from the public.
Medical has to be treated like a holistic remedy. A recommendation should give you the right to buy seeds and grow your medicine with the option to get it from an alternative source.
Medical laws that don’t include a stepping stone in the direction of full legalization will haunt us. We’ll go from saying things like. “I think we’ll see legal weed in my lifetime” to “Holy crap how did we not see that coming? Now we’ll NEVER get it!”
It will be trading one prohibition for another, arguably, more powerful one.
No State controlled dispensaries allowed in these ballots and bills, please. If amended by prohibitionists to include this kind language, please complain loudly about it.
I don’t know which NORML you’re referring to, but every “tax & regulate” model I’ve personally supported supports the individual’s right to grow for personal use without taxation or licensing. (Well, except maybe the sales tax you’d pay when you buy your first seeds). I’ve always been for treating marijuana like beer and wine. Some people will home brew, but for most it’s a pain in the ass and they buy commercially.
That said, if there is an initiative that has a good chance of passage that eliminates most people being arrested for marijuana, we can’t help but support it, can we? What are we supposed to do, say, “Sorry, Richard, even though your initiative means commercial producers of marijuana won’t go to prison, retail purchasers won’t go to prison, and people in possession and using marijuana won’t go to prison, we can’t support it because people who want to grow at home for personal use might have to pay a tax and get a license?” With that kind of “give us the whole loaf or we want nothing” thinking, we wouldn’t have supported decriminalization or medical marijuana.
I completely agree that personal grows should have absolute freedom, but I’m not naive enough to think the hearts and minds of the majority of Americans are going to switch from “Pot 2.0, the deadly skunk that will kill your children!!!” to “Nice flower, let everyone grow it freely” in anything less than a generation or two. People will warily succumb to the economic and scientific realities of cannabis, but they’re not going to let us go whole hog immediately. Initially, home grows will be watched very closely, if not through taxation and licensing, then through canopy limits and an absolute restriction on sales.
We DO NOT want “Government Dispensaries” becoming our NEW Marijuana dealer. Got it?
=========================================
Why is it that neither Richard Lee, High Times, NORML, MPP or DPA will talk about the one real solution . . .
Allowing all adults to simply grow whatever they want without and taxation, regulation or other forms of government interference. The drug cartels would be out of business in a week; the sick would have access to cheap medicine (free to $30 an ounce) and about 27 Billion dollars would stay in the US each year.
That in essence is the MERP Model which is supported by Bruce W. Cain, John Sinclair and many others. Note that John Lennon, of the Beatles, came to John Sinclair’s aid in 1971 after he was put in jail for 10 years for 2 joints. For more:
goto newagecitizen.com
Then click on “MERP Headquarters”
Then read all the articles and watch all the videos concerning MERP. If you don’t have the time just read this one article for an overview:
How to Make Marijuana Free and Legal for For All Adults Within A Year:
Introduction to Your Involvement in the MERP Movement to Re-Legalize Marijuana Throughout the United States and the Planet
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama00.htm
Under MERP personal cultivation is treated like a sacred inalienable liberty. The government cannot tax, regulate or interfere with personal cultivation. MERP does not preclude the government from issuing commercial licenses or taxing commercial sales. But it can do nothing about personal cultivation which will insure modest prices which is what is required if we REALLY want to destroy the Mexican Drug Cartels and insure that medical patients — many who are unable to work and living in poverty — have free (Marijuana grown outdoors) or cheap access to their medicine (Marijuana grown indoors).
Some call MERP radical but it is really no more radical than the way we treat beer and wine: you can produce both at home without taxes, regulation or other forms of government interference.
Richard Lee’s upcoming initiative is more like the current hard liquor model: personal cultivation would still be treated as a serious crime — just as with the moonshine distillers in the southern states (e.g., Tennessee).
Under Richard Lee’s “hard liquor” model you will still be harassed and go to jail for merely cultivating you own Marijuana. Sorry Richy baby, but this is not acceptable.
Before launching your initiative you need to rewrite it to meet the criteria of the MERP Model. Otherwise I think it should be rejected.
As a “Ken Kesey Unitarian” (e.g., Read “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”) and unabashed “intellectual hippie” I see through your self serving agenda and I REALLY don’t like what I see. The hippies had it right when they attempted to break away from government “control” by establishing their communes and insisting on having full access to “Mother Nature’s” favorite plant.
You need to also consider that as the economy tanks Marijuana can also be grown for hemp flour, hemp oil: both of which are some of the most nutritious foods on the planet. People will need to grow hundreds of plants for this purpose. Under Richy’s plan this will never happen.
Richy. Wipe those “dollar signs” away from you eyes and rewrite you initiative to conform with the MERP Model. Otherwise you will be seen for what you are: a betrayer of the American People.
Yours in Peace and Freedom,
Bruce W. Cain
Note: always available for an interview
Contact me at: newagecitizenx@comcast.net
Good to know.
High East, well said. Also the same applies with legalization and decrim laws. In MA, yes we are happy to get decrim but the bill MPP wrote and passed was not perfect and we are now dealing with it in various cities and towns who are trying to raise the fine. They can raise the fine because of the wording of the initiative. Instead of focusing on medical/legalization local activists are now spending half their energy defending decrim in 300+ towns and cities.
I like what Eddy Lepp said at the MPP party. He was there, so that in itself shows his support of MPP but then he’s not afraid to tell the truth about them. Much respect for that.
I support MPP but I will never shut up when they do things that I find to be BS.
All of us are going to support no arrests for cannabis. But it becomes tougher when these other issues come up.
Legalization needs to include the option for the individual to grow their own. I think let the government tax all commercial grows, that are for sale, like alcohol and tobacco but no tax if you grow your own.
The legalization bill in MA, I don’t like the taxation/regulation scheme proposed but support it because it allows you to grow your own. That one provision for home grows for personal use keep both the black market and govt. in check….
http://www.mikecann.net/2009/06/video-marijuana-policy-project-benefit.html
For Eddy Lepp’s comment about the lack of support he’s been getting from MPP.
That’s quite on-topic, I think.
Hey Russ, I agree and certainly don’t want to come off as cold hearted towards medical or even down on Rob and MPP. I just have a enough imagination to consider the multitude of ways medical laws can and will come back to bite us all in the ass. These bills must be carefully scrutinized before we hop on them, no matter how pro pot we are.
It is easy to get excited about a marijuana bill passing but a bill like that will haunt the state. I promise you.
My bet’s obviously on the “he said / he said” type of reporting that puts John Walters’ blathering head on for eight minutes spouting demonstrable lies, then puts on Allen St. Pierre’s head telling verifiable truth for four minutes, calls it a balanced look at a controversial issue, and cuts to a pharmaceutical commercial.
I got a big ol’ Starfish bowl full of Oregon kind on it, Mike. We’ll connect at Freedom Rally.
Medical marijuana is a beautiful thing. If I believe everyone has the right to smoke, then I have to support sick people’s right to smoke, ipso facto.
But I too worry about a medicalization trap. Marijuana is a medicine, but it is also a social intoxicant. I celebrate both. I worry that the general public is finally accepting of the medical side and that may create backlash when we try to push the social side — “abusing a medication”, they may think, rather than “relaxing and socializing”.
Already in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, we’ve seen medical marijuana bills get worse, farther away from legalization, fewer accepted conditions, no right to grow at home, must purchase limited amounts at periodic intervals from state run non-profit monopolies, bah! These bills should be getting more not less, considering the track record after a dozen years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans in thirteen states are using, growing, and storing marijuana and the sky hasn’t fallen. Teen use of marijuana is down in the medical marijuana states. States are reaping money from it already, from sales taxes in dispensaries in California to registration card fees in Oregon and others.
Please, feel free to donate to MPP’s work in Arizona, I don’t mean to dissuade anybody. There are plenty of battles to fight in the drug war, and like I’ve said before, I think of our groups as different branches of the service. An Army guy might razz a Navy guy and vice versa, but both fight for the same cause and country. MPP does incredible work for our movement.
Just donate to NORML first
Not to go off topic, but CBS will also be doing a special on marijuana this Sunday morning on their early Sunday news. Tune in if you are up early.
NORML will have Madeline Martinez on next week at least.
Nice blog, Russ. We are holding and asking for better coverage. This is half baked and we haven’t even seen it yet. Perhaps they might actually get a clue and prove us wrong?
Posted this to my blog. Thanks for the info and holding them accountable with professionalism.
Hey Russ
A little off topic but the MPP issue is actually kind of important. I’ll continue to donate to NORML but I wont be giving any more money to MPP if they are going to fight against the causes and allow the opposition to write our bills. I’ve never been invited to the playboy mansion, either.
I do appreciate many of the things Rob has done in the past but he can’t allow himself to be swayed off the path. I’ve said it a hundred times before. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU FIGHT FOR! Medical laws could set us back another 200 years if not done properly.
Do we want marijuana controlled like Morphine? That doesn’t change anything in my world. I’d still be a criminal, living in the shadows, paying offensive prices for dirt.
Medical laws that don’t allow the citizen full control over how and where they obtain and ingest marijuana are bad laws. Personal growing, and use, is way too important to turn away from in these medical bills. Making sure law enforcement has no involvement, or say, in a citizens marijuana use is too important to give up.
Sorry to those who might be suffering from illness but if I can’t see myself benefiting from a bill then I wont support it. Rob should be reminded that these medical initiatives are riding on the coattails of the recreational vote and not on the backs of a handful of sick people.
Were making ground. Don’t let up now while the opposition makes last ditch grabs at our freedoms.
I just came across this…
http://www.livescience.com/health/090613-marijuana-dna-cancer.html
It’s hilarious in a “it can’t provide any definitive scientific evidence that cannabis is detrimental to one’s health” way.
It’s sad that many uneducated folk will consider it gospel.
Scary…truly, scary.
Indeed…Good letter! I’m really skeptical about having Gupta as their on board cannabis specialist when he’s not so. I guess he’s already on CNN’s payroll, so why not milk it. There are so many others who are more knowledgeable on this subject, but it just appears that AC is using the resources that come easily and already in his pocket. He probably feels more comfortable and more at an advantage this way, instead of going to other sources that may throw him for a loop. And he and Gupta definitely need to be thrown for a loop if they want to cover this objectively and truthfully. Otherwise, it will be the same outcome with cannabis not being seen as something useful but rather something abhorred. I really want to be hopeful with AC, but his lineup is cause for concern and skepticism.
Great letter!
Yes, the language from MPP I’ve seen for their next go-round in Arizona doesn’t allow home growing and sets up a state monopoly. That surprises the hell out of me, considering Rob Kampia considers himself to be a Libertarian.
But I guess MPP would just rather see another notch in the “medical marijuana state” column, no matter how much the bill has to be watered down to appease law enforcement. Call it “long term strategy”; if you can say “X medical marijuana states” where X grows election by election, it helps to soothe the conscience of the big money billionaire who may wonder what good his money is doing. He then keeps giving money to MPP so they can pay to have fundraisers at the Playboy Mansion, and eventually under this strategy enough states become “medical” that the feds just have to legalize it.
I’m not knocking the strategy, by the way. On the big picture level, it may be the right thing to do. I just don’t know how I could turn to an Arizona couple and ask them for a donation if I was allowing my bill to be watered down to the point where the wife couldn’t get medical marijuana for her migraines and the husband with cancer couldn’t grow his own and must purchase too little an amount of medicine from a state monopoly at street dealer prices.
Yup!
i sent my letter
Mr. Cooper,
I see that you are trying to address the marijuana issue in this country.
As a follower of this issue, I find I have Issues, with this up coming week long assignment of yours.
There are more celebs than just Melissa Etheridge who have and do use cannabis. Why not Montel ? There are so many ways that cannabis is medicine, just highlighting Melissa the cancer patient while helpful doesn’t cover the whole story. Cannabis is for way more than just nausea. I use for a spinal cord injury, it has reduced my need for pill form pain meds to nearly nothing from having to take morphine all the time. I no longer need muscle relaxers at all. Consuming cannabis orally or using a vaporizer even negates the smoking argument completely. Before my injuries I was a teacher and have plenty of education behind me and I see you possibly becoming too one sided if you only use Dr. Gupta as the medical expert. Not to take away from the good Dr. Gupta, it’s just that cannabis is not his specialty. You also need, a Dr. who has spent years and published dozens of peer-reviewed studies on cannabinoids as well. For instance Dr. Mitch Earleywine or Dr. Ethan Russo or Dr. Lester Grinspoon or even Dr. Donald Tashkin. Dr. Tashkin has been studying cannabis for 30 yrs or so and he was/is Govt. financed I believe. And finally after your weeks reports are done I look forward to how your competitor, FOX, will respond to your coverage. After all they are supposed to be fair and balanced…
Yes we need to set the truth straight with scientific evidence and studies with links on CNN, twitter, facebook. Next week is our time to shine and set the record straight about these prohibitionist’s lies. I wouldnt call it trolling, i would call it truthing.
I am really looking forward to seeing this week long show but I know there is going to be a lot of BS being spouted. I only hope that they are fair and balanced (which is rare on TV). Hopefully they have highly educated people who really know up to date cannabis reform like Russ does ! I second Russ for the show
Couldnt agree more Russ. I hope Norml agrees with your position ? We dont want govt having a monopoly on any consumer product, especially not a natual organic plant. Put age limits on it, tax it like any consumer product, regulate cannabis stores but who is the govt to tell me I cant plant a God given seed in the ground and bear the fruits of that plant !
I hear MPP wants something like what Anthony is talking about, Govt monopoly cannabis. Do you know if that is true ?
Govt having a monopoly on nature scares the hell out of me.
sssooo true!! T.V. should have relized that by now the american viewing population is educated enough to laugh at the crap we hear about pot on T.V. if Adnderson Cooper really wants to give a realistic view about marijuana then i’m all for it but i guess we will see.
i left anderson a nice comment on facebook about DARE and how its known to be a failure and the Tashkin lung cancer study. i noticed that theyre really into this twitter/facebook thing. we could really have an impact if we inconspicuously trolled it with some semi-pro-pot links to that nida study and similar ones. wats everyone think?
I’d love to be on CNN. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a pay-to-play aspect involved with being a talking head on these cable news shows, as in MPP pays big bucks to have their people’s names in CNN’s reporter’s Rolodex. We’ll appear on any show that asks us, but we can’t go dictate to AC360 that they must have us on.
I’m not in favor of a monopoly in any product. I think marijuana should be treated like beer – if you want to brew it at home and drink it, have at it. But if you want to brew it for the public and sell it, you have to check IDs and follow the same type of laws beer distributors and breweries do. The government still seems to make a lot of tax money on beer with this scenario.
It’s just a show to CNN, they are after ratings, not the truth. I’ll try to keep an open mind though. lol
Oh, did anyone see this yet? Nothing on the Norml web site but maybe I missed it.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/09/london-police-waterboarding-pot/
Not only would a marijuana monopoly through the government generate 20 billion dollars in tax revenue for the US federal government, It would cripple organized crime and greatly reduce the money needed to fight marijuana in the drug war and keep otherwise good law abiding citizens out of jail.
I say, for marijuana to work, just have fines for people who don’t get their stuff through the government, like for growing and stuff. There still has to be some sort of penalty for the monopoly to work, but if it keeps people out of jail then thats fine.
I myself am a business oriented conservative, and from my perspective the drug war and the persecution of criminals for this beneficial, harmless plant is plain ignorant and incredibly fiscally irresponsible. Not all of us conservatives are bible thumping, close minded sheep.
Who is Normal going to have on AC 360 next week. This is going to be really important. Normal needs to have Paul Armentano and Russ because they seem to follow cannabis more everyday, more informed and seem to know how to rebutle every point from the prohibitions. Im tired of Dr.Miron, LEAP, MPP just say the samething over and over and letting the lies go unanswered. You cant let them get away with all the lies show after show. Stronger pot, gateway theory, addiction, cancer, schizophrenia, legalization leads to more use, all have been scientifically debunked and need to be shown debunked on live TV, by recalling exact scientific studies, science journals and proof to debunk these prohibition agruements. Dont let the lies continue to go unanswered, dont let us down Norml !
I’m really waiting to see whether Anderson does a 360 or a 180. Indeed, CNN hasn’t been quite forthcoming on the “truths” about cannabis, especially when Gupta has a less than favorable opinion about its positive qualities.
However, CNN is still playing to the emotions of the audiences. When a news story pops up about something positive concerning cannabis, physiological and emotional arousal is virtually absent and the story isn’t read or the link not clicked. CNN probably has an army of analysts taking note of this. But, when a negative story rears its ugly head, people are more than likely to become aroused, leading to the story being read and the linked being clicked. It’s only news when it gets read. CNN is in that business.
On the plus side(possibly), Anderson is high profile and hopefully can tweek the audience to be more positive in their thought processes. But, we’ll see. Just my thoughts.
Agreed, as a respectable reporter, Anderson should have followed up that story with another one, “New Drug Czar Caught in a Lie”. But no. The only THC news we hear is propaganda. We didn’t hear when on April 1st, Spanish scientists announced THC was shrinking tumors and causing cancer cells to commit suicide, leaving healthy ones intact and causing no side effects to the humans. Now THAT’S news. (But not to CNN). Well, one can still hope…
Yeah. I’m going to DVR the show all next week. CNN definitely hasn’t been doing justice to the truth which was uncovered about the potency chart whatsoever. It’d be nice if they came out and apologized for the misinformation. People want weed legalized, even people who don’t smoke it anymore or who’ve never even tried the stuff. I polled about a hundred of my friends on facebook all around college age, about weather or not congress should legalize and regulate, and 72 of them said absolutely, 18 of them said why not, 7 said no, but when asked why they said no, 4 of them said they didn’t know, just because, and the other 3 said because it wouldn’t be used responsibly; and then the final 3 people didn’t care either way. But I asked them too if each of there votes was the final vote to decide to legalize it or not in which would change the coarse of man kind forever, they all said yes to legalization. So, it is only a matter of time before it is legalized and everybody knows it. I wish the government would stop playing their little drug war game, and just give the people what they want. Isn’t banning something the majority of people want and approve of a sign of tyrannical rule, also known as a dictatorship? America is suppose to be on the leading edge of democracy and freedom of choice, but it seems those days are gone.
I can’t wait…..must see TV
Exactly, what High East said. Don’t expect anything other than the same from CNN. I voted Mr. Rick Simpson of phoenixtears.ca for HERO of the Week. But they seem to be putting Rick aside for some other Hero. What is more heroic than saving peoples lives with cannabis oil? Yeah, I probably won’t watch.
We’ll see. I wouldn’t expect anything but the norm from CNN on this. Look for a week of allowing prohibitionists to lie on TV unchallenged. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t exactly that.
Don’t forget it was CNN who put the deadly potent pot chart up on their giant TV telling everyone how dangerous today’s super potent marijuana is. They never did run the follow up story when it was discovered that the information was false and grossly exaggerated.
Don’t expect CNN to show marijuana or it’s users in any kind of positive light.