Legalize pot to bail out the economy

[Working Poor]

It's interesting that Nixon declared war on drugs in June 1971, and two months later he totally eliminated what was left of the gold standard. I don't think that's a coincidence.

yea I have thought about that one too especially at the time it was happening....

No matter what I don't think industrial hemp out to be illegal. It is just insane to keep a crop like that from being produced.

 

[schwa]

Legalizing pot would hurt many Americans. I am all for decriminalization of marijuana, but if it was legalized, it would hurt many small home growers that make a second income growing weed on a small scale.

 

[Fight-n-Mad]

yea I have thought about that one too especially at the time it was happening....

No matter what I don't think industrial hemp out to be illegal. It is just insane to keep a crop like that from being produced.

My primary concern at the time was with who was going to change my dirty diapers.

But there's nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government the authority to tell us what we can or can't put into our own bodies. That's why alcohol prohibition required a Constitutional amendment.

 

[JosephTheLibertarian]

But that is the ideological stuff of heated debate in academic environments, held at leisure between studies.

AS PRACTICAL, REALITY-BASED MATTERS OF JUSTICE, PROSPERITY AND REASON...WITHOUT WHICH LIFE IS NOT MUCH WORTH LIVING...DE-CRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA AND HEMP, AND REAP THE REWARDS AS PRESENTLY DEFINED FOR OTHERS TO MAKE MONEY AND/OR SEEK RELIEF.

This is a no-brainer. Ever notice how when someone qualifies something with 'Only In America,' it's Trojan Horse stupid? Like sterilizing the needles used with lethal injections? Only in America, land of Some Interests Are More Special Than Others, would society contrive to outlaw the entire hemp industry in order to try, at taxpayer expense, to control substances. This is regularly discussed over drinks.

EVERYTHING turns on Prosperity and Justice, INCLUDING Liberty. We don't just ACCOMMODATE injustice, we legislate in favor of it. And we wonder why our economic house isn't in order.

Arguing for taxing marijuana? Why bother? It will just encourage people to buy 'off the table', so that the taxes can be avoided. I'd prefer this over the blanket ban, but I'd still fight those taxes tooth and nail.

 

[Bruno]

Legalizing pot would hurt many Americans. I am all for decriminalization of marijuana, but if it was legalized, it would hurt many small home growers that make a second income growing weed on a small scale.

not true. if they were able to grow it legally, they would just need to grow a little more as prices fall in order to make the same profit.

it all has to be grown somewhere.

 

[dannno]

Legalizing pot would hurt many Americans. I am all for decriminalization of marijuana, but if it was legalized, it would hurt many small home growers that make a second income growing weed on a small scale.

What about hemp?? It would help so many more people than it would hurt..


Plus, those small home growers grow something like this:

Whereas the commercial growers grow something like this:

I'll stick with my local community members growing the bomb dizzle for smokes and eat commercially grown hempseed.

 

[cheapseats]

Arguing for taxing marijuana? Why bother? It will just encourage people to buy 'off the table', so that the taxes can be avoided. I'd prefer this over the blanket ban, but I'd still fight those taxes tooth and nail.

Medical marijuana pharmacies in California charge state sales tax...when their inventories have not been seized by hooded gunmen who claim to represent the DEA.

 

[Working Poor]

I don't think there are that many small businesses growing pot.

But I think it would be funny to see a campaign: patriotic stoners bail out wall street.

 

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Medical marijuana pharmacies in California charge state sales tax...when their inventories have not been seized by hooded gunmen who claim to represent the DEA.

Are they private?

 

[cheapseats]

Are they private?

Private, upon license and a bunch of other hoop-jumping.

 

[dannno]

Are they private?

Some of them are non-profit, not sure if all of them are technically or not.


They are run by individuals, not the state.

 

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Private, upon license and a bunch of other hoop-jumping.

Of course. Stupid government.

 

[schwa]

not true. if they were able to grow it legally, they would just need to grow a little more as prices fall in order to make the same profit.

it all has to be grown somewhere.

With current street prices at $400 a ounce for good pot, you would have to grow a lot more to make the same profit after the falling prices and taxes. This would also result in a increase in cost to grow it. HPS/MH lights are not cheap to run. The demand would also go down because more people would grow themselves.

Legalizing hemp is a different argument, I am all for legalizing hemp.

 

[cheapseats]

Legalizing pot would hurt many Americans. I am all for decriminalization of marijuana, but if it was legalized, it would hurt many small home growers that make a second income growing weed on a small scale.

Many? Small home growers who made a second income growing weed hardly warrant protection vis a vis prohibition of an entire industry.

Criminalizing slavery hurt some Americans, too. The bottom line on this is justice, not money. A just society cannot condone and promote alcohol production and consumption while throwing marijuana growers and smokers into federal penitentiaries.

A certain economic boon, when the country is mired in an economic clusterfuck, is what finally gives prudes and other hardliners the excuse they need to be fair.

NORML should be banging their drum loudly.

And ALL farmers. The first ones in hemp, before the Big Boys get their shit together, will make big bucks.

 

[cheapseats]

Legalizing hemp is a different argument, I am all for legalizing hemp.

The REASON for the contrived illegality of hemp is the contrived illegality of marijuana. Hemp is industrial-grade marijuana, marijuana is designer hemp...take your pick.

 

[schwa]

The REASON for the contrived illegality of hemp is the contrived illegality of marijuana. Hemp is industrial-grade marijuana, marijuana is designer hemp...take your pick.

Industrial Hemp can be grown in some states, and it is a short matter of time before all states will be able to grow hemp.

 

[cheapseats]

Industrial Hemp can be grown in some states, and it is a short matter of time before all states will be able to grow hemp.

Define short.

When floods in the Midwest destroyed whatever percentage of this year's corn crop...driving food prices up even higher...those farmers could have planted hemp right then and there and yielded one full harvest by now, when it is too late to plant anything. But they wouldn't do that, because it would have made them criminals.

Besides, they were "covered" by insurance and/or bailed out by taxpayers.

 

[Bruno]

With current street prices at $400 a ounce for good pot, you would have to grow a lot more to make the same profit after the falling prices and taxes. This would also result in a increase in cost to grow it. HPS/MH lights are not cheap to run. The demand would also go down because more people would grow themselves.

Legalizing hemp is a different argument, I am all for legalizing hemp.

There are many independant growers in legal or quasi legal countries like Amsterdam that supply the market quite nicely and still turn a profit. And I'm all for the end user seeing a reduction in price. California market is the same way. Someone supplies all those cannabis shops with the prescription bud, and I'm sure they are still making a profit.

Industrial Hemp can be grown in some states, and it is a short matter of time before all states will be able to grow hemp.

What states? I am not aware that it is legal to grow anywhere in the U.S. I would also argue that there is no indication that the Federal Govt. will allow hemp cultivation in the U.S. anytime soon.

 

[schwa]

You can farm hemp in kentucky, Vermont, North Dakota, Montana and West Virginia.

 

[Fight-n-Mad]

What states? I am not aware that it is legal to grow anywhere in the U.S. I would also argue that there is no indication that the Federal Govt. will allow hemp cultivation in the U.S. anytime soon.

North Dakota is one, and I think there are a couple more. But two North Dakota farmers, who had state licenses to grow it, were told by the DEA that they could be arrested, have their farms confiscated, etc. They sued the DEA and lost. Cannabis flowers and leaves are illegal. It doesn't matter if those parts never leave the farm, and THC content is irrelevant.

http://votehemp.com/legal_cases_ND.html