Roll Another One

[Lightning Rod]

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Roll Another One
for release 09-23-05
Washington D.C.

This might seem like a callous question given the magnitude of the human suffering in the wake of hurricanes on the Gulf coast, but what effects will this disaster have on marijuana prices?

It already stings to stop at a gas pump, what's a visit to my dealer gonna cost me now?

I've smoked pot for what? forty years. In the 60's I sold pot for ten dollars an ounce and thought I was making out like a bandit. Now you can pay upwards of $400 an ounce for the gentle herb. A third of our nation's oil supplies come through the Gulf ports and probably a third of the pot as well. This is going to be a double whammy if you have to drive and you have to smoke.

This is my suggestion: that we we take the two billion dollars a year that we spend on the DEA and the several billion we spend on local drug enforcement and invest it in hurricane relief. The DEA is just a bunch of cowboy thugs anyway. Then we legalize marijuana and encourage the folks who are relocating from hurricane land to Kansas, to grow it. In a few years WE could be exporting pot to Mexico. This is not out of the question. The British sold opium to China fercrissakes.


Just think of it--refugees from New Orleans and Mississippi setting up their grow lights in Montana and Wyoming and Kansas. Soon the United States could be known for its exports of fine smoke just like France is known for its fine wines.

Some areas of the country are better suited for growing wonderful hemp for smoking. Humboldt County would be like the Champaign wine region. But hemp will grow nicely in all fifty states and industrial hemp is probably the most beneficial plant on earth in terms of productivity and potential uses. The potential for paper production alone would save thousands of acres of trees per year. According to the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, one acre of hemp can produce 4 times more paper than one acre of trees. Not only that, it requires no pesticides or fertilizers.

Over 30,000 products can be produced from the plant. Here are a few of them:


* animal bedding * dynamite * paneling
* auto/boat covers * erosion control * pants
* backpacks * fabrics * parachutes
* bags (paper and canvas) * fire hoses * particle board
* balms * fiberboard * pasta
* bandages * fishnets * pet foods
* baseball caps * flags * pharmaceuticals
* baskets * floor mats * pillows
* bed linens * flooring * plaster
* belts * flour * plywood
* bioplastics * fuels * polymers
* birdseed * furniture * protein
* books * futons * purses
* boots * gloves * quilts
* bread * glues * roofing materials
* butter * hammocks * rope
* candlewick * harnesses * sails
* candy * hats * salad oils
* canvas * ice cream * salves
* cardboard * inks * sandals
* carpeting * industrial coatings * scarves
* caulking * industrial oils * shampoos
* cellophane * insulation * shirts
* cement * jackets * shoes
* chairs * jeans * skirts
* cheese * linen * slippers
* cloth/paper napkins * livestock feed * soaps
* cloth/paper towels * lubricants * socks
* coffee filters * luggage * sofas
* compost * magazines * stationary
* cosmetics * medicines * tablecloths
* curtains * moisturizers * tables
* cushions * mulches * tea
* denim * natural pesticides * tents
* desks * nets * thread
* detergents * newsprint * tissue paper
* diapers * note pads * toilet paper
* dolls * oil-spill absorbants * twine
* draperies * packaging * varnishes
* duffel bags * paints * wallets
* wallpaper

This could be a bigger boon to our economy than, well....Bush's tax cuts. At least it would not just benefit the top ten percent but would be a real economic boost to, how shall I put it? the grass roots.

Oh yes, moving to a hemp economy would alleviate our economic and social catastrophes and even help solve our energy problems. No other plant on earth produces more biomass that can be used to produce fuel alcohol.

But truthfully, dear readers, for all the vast economic benefits that could be gained from legalizing hemp, the real reason for my concern is that I don't want to be paying $1000 dollars an ounce to insure that The Poet's Eye remains bloodshot.

<center>"Make the most of the hemp seed, sow it everywhere."
--George Washington
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"Think about a reefer five feet long
a little bit hot, but not too strong
you'll be high, but not for long
If you're a viper."
--Fats Waller</center>

[Doreen Peri]

You're kidding, right? I mean, I know you're not kidding about all the products which can be made with the plant and I agree with you that these products would be very good for the economy. But our website is not in the business of promoting the use of an illegal plant so I'm sure you were kidding when you said something about a trip to your local dealer. Hahahahahaha. What a joker you are, Lightning Rod!

[Dave The Dov]

It's not so much the legalitizes but the big bussinesses who more or less lay down the laws of economics. Their law is we were here first and nothing can be down to suddenly change everyone's minds about switching over to another source of energy. But then again if it does happen you know that it will be exploited by some big bussiness in the end.
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what is recession

[Lightning Rod]

here is some underpinning
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/pot/04968576.asp

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The $4 billion war on pot
Enforcing marijuana laws costs more and more every year. And for what?
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
Boston Phoenix

Crime in America has declined significantly in the last 15 years — that is to say, serious crime, "Part I Crime" in law-enforcement terms: rape, murder, robbery, automobile theft, and such. Arrests for those crimes are down 24 percent since 1990.

But arrests of those who use, carry, distribute, or transport marijuana have more than doubled, from 327,000 in 1990 to 697,000 in 2002. In fact, according to a report released in May by Washington, DC–based think tank The Sentencing Project, 82 percent of the increase in drug arrests during those years is attributable to marijuana arrests — 79 percent from marijuana possession arrests.

The US spends $4 billion each year on the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of marijuana-law offenders, according to The Sentencing Project report. That’s about six times the amount spent globally on AIDS-vaccine research and development. Massachusetts alone could save $120 million a year by legalizing the drug, according to a study by Jeffrey Miron, economics professor at Boston University. (And collect another $17 million by taxing it.)

It is unlikely that this is what constituents have had in mind as they’ve watched more and more of their tax dollars go toward drug control.

Much of this spending, particularly at the federal level, goes to busting marijuana-trafficking rings. Last November, for instance, two undercover agents from the Boston office of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Drug Smuggling Group drove a tractor-trailer filled with pot from a warehouse in Laredo, Texas, to the parking lot of the Tage Inn in Somerville. That operation led to 10 arrests, and the seizure of 1500 pounds of smuggled marijuana.

What that didn’t do, of course, is reduce the use of marijuana in Massachusetts, where pot smoking is higher than almost anywhere in the country — largely, surveys suggest, because Bay State residents view the drug as less harmful than do denizens of other states.

Nationally, interdiction has had little effect on use or availability. Federal authorities seized 1225 metric tons of the stuff in 2003, barely a dent in the estimated 12,000 to 25,000 tons used. The National Drug Intelligence Center’s (NDIC) 2005 National Drug Threat Assessment describes "steady supply of and demand for marijuana overall, and the strong, stable market for its distribution."

On the user side, several recent studies have documented the extent of this country’s efforts to imprison people for possession or low-level selling of pot. But perhaps the most persuasive is the US government’s 40-page attempt at a counter-argument, released last year, titled "Who’s Really in Prison for Marijuana?"

The report, by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, endeavors to "set the record straight" against "those who are willing to spread false information for the purpose of legalizing drug trafficking and use." But the document, which argues that the government is not targeting casual pot smokers, actually shows just how little ammunition the government has on this topic. It resorts to citing 10-year-old articles (including a 1994 Marjorie Eagan column in the Boston Herald) as the sources of the misinformation — and then admits that those critics indeed have their facts right.

As the report concedes, at last count roughly 32,400 people were in state prisons for marijuana offenses, a quarter of whom were there for possession only — including 3600 first-time offenders. Not a huge percentage of the prison population, but not an insignificant number of people living at the public’s expense either.

HIDDEN COSTS?

The government argues that legalization, decriminalization (in which possession would be allowed but trafficking would remain illegal), or relaxed enforcement of marijuana laws would increase usage, leading to increases in other costs, including health care, rehabilitation, crime, and lost productivity. "When you look at a cost-benefit analysis, you need to take those things into account," says Anthony Pettigrew, spokesperson for the New England office of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

But it’s uncertain whether usage would actually spike, says Miron. And if it does, it’s unclear what societal costs would result.

Pettigrew and others point to two recent trends that supposedly illustrate the harm of marijuana. The first, an increase in emergency-room patients citing marijuana use as the cause of their visit, is potentially troubling, although the reasons and costs are not yet clear. The second is an increase in the number of marijuana users — particularly younger ones — entering rehab. "There are more teenagers entering rehabilitation for marijuana than for alcohol or any other drug," Pettigrew says.

Miron maintains that such reports are misleading. "Marijuana-abuse treatment is kind of loony," he says. "There is a surge of people entering marijuana-abuse treatment, but they’re being forced into it. They are told, ‘you can get probation [instead of jail time], if you enter marijuana-abuse treatment.’ "

There is, of course, a third argument that Pettigrew and others make, one that is as old as the hills: that more pot use leads inevitably to use of harder drugs, like cocaine, heroin, and crystal methamphetamine.

That concern doesn’t seem to be on the minds of state and local law-enforcement agencies surveyed by the NDIC, however. "Few consider [marijuana] a significant threat to public health and safety," the study says. Although 95 percent of those agencies report that marijuana is easily available in their jurisdiction, only 12 percent call it their greatest drug threat, according to the NDIC assessment.

In fact, if harder drugs are the source of concern, the NDIC report reads like an argument for pot legalization. The stable and very profitable black market in marijuana provides "financial stability [for] drug traffickers, many of whom traffic marijuana to bankroll other criminal activity," the NDIC assessment says. Those other criminal activities include trafficking of harder drugs, guns, and illegal weapons. In other words, by sending pot profits to criminals, instead of legitimate businesses, criminalization effectively enables trafficking in far more dangerous ventures.

Issue Date: September 16 - 22, 2005
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[mtmynd]

I agree with this, elRod. Hemp would provide a much needed hit to our economy and mellow out the greed. It would also alleviate the dependence on stress-reducing drugs (bad for Phamaceutical, Inc.), reduce our dependence on foreign oil (bad for Oil, Inc.), save the trees (bad for Lumber, Inc), reduce our need for firearms (bad for Guns, Inc.)... hmmm... no wonder we're not advocating hemp... who would control the country, for gawdsake!? WE THE PEOPLE aren't qualified. Keep the people stupid to convince them that they're incapable of doing anything without Uncle Sam looking over their shoulders.

[K&D]

i think its ridiculous that now the DAE is putting more money into nabbing pot smokers then like hard drug dealers.

you know what else i think is pretty shitty....the fact that you can't find much info on the war on drugs in most magazines/news...hell i pretty much have to go to the fucking Rollingstone for indepth info on the war on drugs and the war on terror...a fucking music magazine. i quess there are others like the New Yorker, but often they assume we know certain information...i like the fucking long articles...but people pretty much ignore the war on drugs, and so much money goes into it, not to mention its a racist war...more latter. got to go help film.

[K&D]

my question is why...what is the motive of really pushing the drug war...esp the war on weed...i made that turn up, but there really seems to be an emphasis on weed these days. i mean i can see how they can justify like trying to get heroin trafficers and stuff, but so much money and jail space goes into weed offenders.

didn't you write something l-rod recently about why, that some how people make money off of putting people to jail...where is that posted?

[K&D]

plus, remeber why drug laws started, Cocain was outlawed because they had all this propaganda about black men going crazy

weed, similar thing because of the depression hispanics had come over and were taking work and it was said that it was to keep the degenerate race from getting to it...i don't think they claimed it made them go crazy, i just vaguelly remember the law coming about in part because of mexican immigration, and racism towards hispanics.