Forums → WEPR → Illegilization of Cannabis Sativa : The True Story
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(All information in this post is not of my own compilation, it was taken from the facebook group Illegilization of Cannabis Sativa)
I would like to start a real debate here about...well...marijuana. Before you enter this debate over wether Marijuana should be legal or not, please read the following:
- The El Paso Ordinance of 1914 was the first law against Cannabis passed in the United States, itâs primarily purposed was to control the Mexican minority in the area. Similar laws were passed elsewhere to control the marijuana smoking African American minorities in the south.
- During the prohibition the Treasury Department of United States established the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) to fight the war on drugs and alcohol (Grass). Soon after in the 1930âs two major innovations in paper making was discovered coincidentally around the same time, the first was a newly developed machine that collected the fibers and pulps from hemp more efficiently when ever before. The second advance was DuPontâs patented sulfate/sulfite process for making paper from wood pulp.
- The newly developed paper making process using hemp was much more efficient and cheaper than making paper out of wood pulp; this posed an enormous threat to Du Pont and its financial backers. During this period of time Mellon Bank of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania owned by Andrew Mellon was Du Pontâs chief financial backer.
- âIn 1931, Mellon, in his role as Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury, appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to be head of the newly reorganized Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD), a post he held for the next 31 yearsâ(The Emperor Wears No Clothes Ch4).
- Determined to criminalize Cannabis, Anslinger directed the all of the focus of the FBNDD towards marijuana; he then used the same scare tactics that the Christians used in the Inquisition. Anslinger launched a nationwide media campaign against marijuana. This campaign included radiobroadcasts, television commercials and various other media outlets; the Federal Bureau of Narcotics claimed that marijuana caused murder, insanity and death (Grass). All of these claims were not back by any scientific research or evidence.
- The FBNDD also related marijuana with dangerous drugs such as heroine and opium, instilling even more fear of the plant on Americans.
-Although in the 1930âs only approximately sixty thousand Americans used marijuana, almost all other Americans knew of the marijuana due to Anslingerâs media campaign. Harry Anslingerâs propaganda succeed beyond his wildest dreams, Americans now fear the plant so much they demanded stricter laws against marijuana from the government.
-âWithout any public debate, scientific inquiry or political objection, the Marijuana Tax Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1937â (The History of Marijuana).
-The Marijuana Tax Act required anyone in possession of marijuana to have a tax stamp from the Treasury Department and none was ever produced successfully making Cannabis illegal.
- Countless countries around the global have started to decriminalize Cannabis, their economies are flourishing due to the production of hemp and its products, many of their citizens enjoy the medicinal benefits of this plant. The countries that have legalized Cannabis saw the old laws against the plant unjust and since its legalization these nations experiencing exceptional growth in all areas of society directly due to Cannabis (The Magic Weed).
-Even though America imports copious amounts of hemp annually, she produces none of it herself; this nation pays handsomely to import plant products that can easily be grown and made in the United States. It is the beginning of a new millennium and there has never been a better time to put the arbitrary prejudices and fears past us. Knowledge of the Cannabis and its benefits are now widespread thanks to technological advances such as the internet and the truth about the prohibition of Cannabis is now gaining light.
-If Americans fail to extinguish these fears and start using Cannabis to all of its advantages. Then America herself will be in danger of falling behind in the Cannabis revolution of the new millennia. Reply to Nam
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The truth is Cannabis has been used by every culture and civilization in the history of the world, because of it's many useful properties. It was not until the 20th century that such an unreasonable law was passed on false pretenses.
Your Thoughts?
- 23 Replies
It's good that you've presented a source here to encourage that people are well informed before voicing a debate. However, I'd have liked a couple of things:
1) The source of the information to be cited.
2) The information itself to be reformatted and summarised so that people are actually more compelled to read it, which is presumably the purpose of your thread!
Oh wait, you've referenced it already. I just didn't spot it because it wasn't italicised or url embedded...hmm...it's not easy to post working links to Facebook though, because you need a login.
Carry on then!
I belive that cannabis should be legalised in the UK im not sure about the circumstances in America so il stick 2 wot i know.
In the UK most people who smoke weed are teenagers. To get the drugs they normally have to meet up with the dealer on sum grimy estate and lots of people get mugged whilst doing so there is an element of danger in doing that. If it was legalised and there were places where people could go to get the drugs safely then i would have no problem with that.
Another thing. There have been no overdoses of mary jane in the UK ever. So it is not like it is an extremely dangerous drug. Legallising it would probably make people who would be stoners anyway becomes more aware of their limits so they would enjoy it without pulling a whitey.
A third advantage i can think of is this. The amount of time the police spend on cannabis related offences, most of which are minor, in the UK at least is huge. This time could be better spent on more serious crimes like the rise in violent crime sweeping the country. The legalisation of marijuana would give the police lots more time to spend on other more important tings.
Yes, as this is sort of third hand information. I couldn't find the original source, but I was able to point out where I got the information. I am actually working on finding te original source for most of the information now, and will post it if i do find it.
i dont feel like reading that whole thing, i think they shouldnt do that...
Well, weed like alchohal impairs your thinking, and creates a disability of judgement, and like smoking is harmful to your late life emotional outcomes. It's not narcotic but it's not safe.
Again recently an accident happened because a guy baked out of his mind was driving a forklift onto a moving truck.
It's not really all that safe. But it's not as bad as cocaine, the point of his campaign was more of where to draw the line of legalization.
I see what you're saying, but many more incidents occur to dirnking, and other drugs. There is alcohol poisoning, and how many bar fights and murders are caused by drinking? I'm pretty sure a person "baked out of there mind," would be very apprehensive about getting in a fight. I also see that his campaign is partially about where to draw the line of legalization, but it is mostly about this one substance.
I would reformat it at least, as Stropp suggests, but i don't believe armorgames forum has a post edit function, and it would be pointless to post it again as it wouldn't be the first post wich is sometimes all people read.
The funny thing is bar fights are occured by a few drunks legally together.
there aren't many legal pot bars, so there aren't as much fights known. True your calm but after a while its just a temporary high that slowly lowers your dope.. Cig's do it too, and they're just as un-healthy. the thing is, no matter what pot impairs. your friends don't tell you and the public doesn't speak loudly of it.
BUMPer cars....
I was hopin this topic might get a more heated debate.
C'mon people! Your opinion?
And about how cigarrettes are just as unhealthy. That is incorrect not only is pot medicinal for many problems, it does not cause many of the cancers cigarettes do. It has even been proven to lower risk of lung cancer. (cant cite exact place i found this, it was an article in the Canadian newspaper THE PROVINCE, a couple of weeks ago.)
I would say as an issue alcohol is probably more important. It kills more people than any other drug in the UK. There is a lack of knowledge about its danger because its leagal. It also can cause violence whereas weed makes people more chilled. So i think weed should be legalised.
It's interesting that our legal drugs like alcohol, and tobacco, seem to be more harmful then the illegal ones.
I have finally found what I beleieve to be the source of MOST of the information stated earlier.
It is the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," by Jack Herer.
If you want to know the sources of THIS book go to this URL//www.jackherer.com/chapters.html and scroll to the bottom of the page.
The reason that alcohol seems more dangerous is that it is more widely available and thus more widely used.
On the same note tobacco in itself isn't that bad but the chemicals that are put into modern cigarettes are.
While I do think that legalizing marijuana would be helpful because we're currently wasting so much of our police time pursuing crimes related to it that are very minor and destroying lives based on it laws that don't recognize the difference between it and harder drugs it's foolish to promote it as a wonder drug that does no harm. Smoking pot does do damage to your lungs (an entire joint is about as harmful as six cigarettes if I remember that health class correctly) and there are pot related deaths, not generally overdoses (that I know of) but DUII and the like that I'm aware of which would increase in number and frequency if we made it legal.
I would like to see a source(s) that compare and contrast marijuana to other drugs before people start claiming it is/isn't as dangerous as other things.
True, if it were legalized, that useage may increase, and thus harmful incidents involving it would increase, but if it were to be made legal, it wouldn't be a free for all. Like alcohol or tabaco, it would be regulated so that people don't hurt themselves or others.
It is just a matter of balancing the (possible) benefit of a lighter work loads for law officials (and any other benefits) and the dangers to the public. I am not sure what to say because I haven't done any sort of risk-reward analysis.
Hmmmmm...this is a very interesting topic. I would say that this is onyl true with the provided sources. Without those, this story would look like a complete fony.
Thread is locked!