March 7, 2012

Exclusive: Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs

posted at 11:00 am by
Police association lobbyist John Lovell

John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police associations in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.

At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law.

Some of the groups who want to keep the drug illegal are police associations that want more members to pay more dues. One of the primary sources for cash for more policing activities are Federal grants for penalizing illegal drug use, which help pay for overtime, additional police officers, and equipment for the force. That’s what Lovell does, he gets those grants. He also fights against democratic mechanisms to legalize drugs.

In 2010, California considered Prop 19, a measure to legalize marijuana and tax it as alcohol. The proposition gained more votes than Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive and Republican gubernatorial nominee that year, but failed to pass. Opponents of the initiative ran ads, organized rallies, and spread conspiracy theories about billionaire George Soros to confuse voters.

Lovell managed the opposition campaign against Prop 19. He told Time Magazine that he was pushing against the initiative because, “the last thing we need is yet another mind-altering substance to be legalized.”

But Republic Report reviewed lobbying contracts during the Prop 19 fight, and found that Lovell’s firm was paid over $386,350 from a wide array of police associations, including the California Police Chiefs Association.

While Lovell may contend that he sincerely opposes the idea of marijuana legalization, he has constructed an entire business model predicated on pot prohibition.

Shortly after President Obama’s stimulus program passed, Lovell went to work channeling the taxpayer money for California into drug war programs. According to documents Republic Report obtained from the Police Chiefs Association, Lovell helped local departments apply for drug war money from the Federal government. Here’s a copy of one letter sent to a police department in Lassen County, California:

There is big money in marijuana prohibition. Lovell represented a police association in a bid to steer some $2.2 million dollars into a “Marijuana Suppression Program.” In 2009 and 2010, California police associations sought a $7,537,389 chunk of Federal money for police to conduct a “Campaign Against Marijuana Planting” program.

The anti-marijuana money went directly into the paychecks of many officers. For example, police departments in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties formed a “North California Eradication Team” to receive $550,000 in grants that helped pay for overtime, a new officer, and flight operations:

The total amount awarded was $550,000, to be split between Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties, which make up the Northern California Marijuana Eradication Team (NorCal-MET). Broken down in the agenda worksheet, the sheriff’s office is expecting to spend $20,000 on flight operations, $94,895 for the full-time deputy’s salary and benefits, $16,788 for the administration assistant salary and benefits and $29,983 to cover up to 666.29 hours of overtime.

The Federal anti-marijuana honeypot might have dried up if Prop 19 had passed. Legalizing marijuana would have generated billions in tax revenue for the state of California, while also reducing victimless crime prosecutions. But for lobbyists like Lovell, legalization was a direct assault on hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fees for helping to solicit taxpayer money for his clients.

Police associations also contributed about $100,500 to a campaign account used to coordinate opposition to Prop 19. Of the $386,350 in fees paid by police associations to Lovell through 2009 and 2010, status update reports reviewed by Republic Report reveal that Lovell worked on a number of issues, from advocacy against Prop 19 to channeling grants and monitoring legislation.

Of course, police associations aren’t the only interest group with a stake in maintaining broken drug laws. The beer industry, alcohol corporations, and prison guard interests also contributed money to help Lovell stop Prop 19. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now helps push for legalization as a citizen advocate, told Republic Report that drug company lobbyists also fight to keep marijuana illegal because they view pot as a low-cost form of competition.

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  • Eggmcsoviet

    look up “the flower” on youtube.

    • doubleu606

      don’t tell me what to do.

    • doubleu606

      don’t tell me what to do.

    • doubleu606

      don’t tell me what to do.

        • Bluebox Dogma

          Damn you! Thank you! Great video.

        • guest457

          howd you do that? haha that was cool. got me to watch it.

          • Dkjd

            haha you must be new to the internet

          • SDBSDIFBVU

            YOU’RE NOT FUCKING FUNNY, YOU ASSHOLE

        • GizaDog

          LOL!

        • DFGBUIUFDHGUI

          STOP USING LMGTFY, YOU FUCKING UNCOOL UNFUNNY UNNORMAL ASSWAD FUCK YOU I HOPE YOU DIE PAINFULLY nononononononnononon0nn0n0n0000n00000 DEATH IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU, I HOPE YOU LIVE FOR ENTERNITY IN A TORTUE MACHINE, LIVE THE REST OOF ENTERNITY IN AGONY YOU FUCK

          FUCK YOU

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  • Anon01

    Lee,

    Do you have any insight as to why the Obama Administration has reversed course re: medicinal marijuana?

  • Get money out of politics and quit selling out the citizens to the highest bidder!

    • that would change the world too much for the corrupt-ocicians…they crave their power and influence and anything that underminds that (removing money from politics) would rattle their cages…sit quietly and OBEY peon! Your voice means nothing to them!

    • Emma 1984

      i think it is impossible

      • Dan_USMC

        Emma, I understand your pessimism, but it can be done. Just not by the current politicians. No politician in his right mind is going to down vote their lobbyist’s abilities, especially when it affects their bottom line. It has to be done at the executive level or the judicial, this is how our forefathers protected us, they gave us these checks and balances

        • doryinaz

          or through solidarity at the polling places….ALL INCUMBENTS MUST GO…..this election….and the next election….until the people elected by WE THE PEOPLE…do the bidding of WE THE PEOPLE….it is US vs THEM…..they try to divide us with red herrings like sloshing out the “new” birth control hubbub….while they continue screwing us…..we need to unite against them….repeat after me…NO INCUMBENTS, NO INCUMBENTS, NO INCUMBENTS….

          • Concerned Citizen

            Elections are like a card trick I learned as a kid. You think you have the choices from the beginning where all along they pull the strings into getting you to pick who they want. They divide us with labels like democrat and republican and stack the choices in their own favor. Choice A or Choice B and all along you never got to pick who those choices are to begin with. Get rid of political parties and we can force the public to actually have to invest time and research candidates instead of pulling a lever for a D or R. Next get rid of primaries. Next get rid of electoral college. Next make it so you dont need millions of dollars to campaign. And most importantly put limits on how much money someone can spend to get elected. = Every voice in the country matters. How it’s supposed to be.

          • Over so many past years, the politicians have rigged our elections. First of all by re-districting, and then picking a candidate that supports the party-line and agenda. In many locations around the country, an individual wishing to register as a candidate must declare either D or R but may not be allowed to register as independent or non-affiliated. This practice limits the available candidates to ones of either party, but will the party chosen support any who choose to do so? Only the ones who have pledged to follow the party line. This limits our choices. In some places they allow “Write-in” voting for an individual you may want, but not all. I propose we keep the Primaries, just in case we were allowed to choose, or at some point we could. Were that it could be allowed that all could “Write-in” their choices. Rescind the “Electoral College” rule and strictly go by popular votes which reflects “The will of the People”, at least those who do vote. Also, stop the ID laws some states are passing or are trying to pass. This mostly affects the poor, seniors, and disabled. Next, remove the Supreme Court” decision that, “Citizens United” (Misnomer), allows corporations, banks, financial institutions, ALEC, and the very wealthy, making millions in contributions through second and third-party concerns, to so influence and control the election processes. Elections can be funded as in the past where the IRS accepted donations from individuals when paying or recieving refunds when filing their taxes. All funds recieved by the IRS for an election will doled out in equal amounts to any and all candidates for office, regardless of party affiliation, if any. Could this all make our country a real democracy?

          • Dana

            The parties might not have been a problem had everyone in each party been polled as to who we wanted for our candidates. But that’s not how it works. The party primaries (and therefore delegates) choose them. So we don’t even get a say in who’s on the ballot. And unfortunately, if we had someone from our state who we wanted to run for President, say for instance, that person would not necessarily be well-known in any other state, so even if they got a majority here they’d lose the election.

            So we need *something* different… but I’m not sure totally getting rid of parties is a good idea. Changing how parties operate might not be out of the question though.

          • This battle-cry has been around for a while, but it’s ultimately shallow and fruitless. Incumbency itself is NOT the problem. We could pass a law TODAY forbidding any and all current office-holders from ever holding that office, or any political office, ever again…but there’s a wee bit of a constitutional problem there. Nonetheless, were we to pass that law, what would change? Were we to simply vote out all incumbents, what would change? The names of those in office, that’s it. The process would remain the same.

            People get elected through basically the same methods: Money, Message, and Media. Money comes from donors and party support, and if your party decides to run someone else for your office, good luck coming close to re-election. Not clear on your message, or don’t do a good job selling it? Same issue. Can’t get enough media coverage? Same issue.

            The various forces, be they vague or specific, that put people in office today are still going to be there tomorrow. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” And once all of our formerly-non-incumbent challengers are in office, what do they become? Incumbents. And we’re back to square one.

      • Kevin Lauder

        It is possible. Publicly financed campaigns. Thanks to this, in Maine (called the Maine Clean Election Act http://www.maine.gov/ethics/mcea/ ), Diane Russel won a seat in the state house, and she was a cashier at a convenience store. Here is her blog at HuffPo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-russell/

  • Guest

    That picture up top is fucking ridiculous.

    How are you supposed to read when the text keeps bobbing up and down.

    • Chickpeas

      click on any link and then click “go back”.

    • Steelypip

      I used adblock to block the pic – it was the only way I could read the article. Someone really screwed up with that.

  • koopapoopa

    Once these Baby Boomers die off, they won’t be making BS work for themselves anymore.

    There are too many Boomer managers for a few workers. There are also too many officers for the soldiers that do the real work.

    • Sdfsdf

      Nice generalization, you motherfucking mean cunt-faced assfagget

      • koopapoopas

        Thanks. Someone has to stick it to those neocon hippies.

        • Well maybe that comment was supposed to be a ridicuous joke, but if not…..as Primus tried to explain, it’s not all baby boomers. Neocon types are the Young Republicans of my college years. Hippies are the other ones – the very people who brought you the idea that it was OK to smoke dope. Or as said in the musical Hair, be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t hurt anyone.

    • GJHisofjoi

      I can’t wait until 30 years, the young people would call you a faggot, in which you get a taste of your own medicine. Until then… FUCK YOU AND DIE, HOW DARE YOU WiSh DEATH ONTO YOUR OWN KIND

      NOBODY WANTS YOU, DIE BITCH

      • koopapoopas

        Death is a natural part of life. There are so many Boomers. Once the draft was over, they wanted constant war and cheap medical care, prescription pill benefits, and social security. They get bailouts so their retirement accounts can stay afloat. Of course they love their cheap lending. I mean they gave us swinging in the 70s and 80s greed.

        And for all that cushy good time, a destroyed economy, and a destroyed environment. They don’t care about cleaning up their own messes and just want to leave everything for their future generations to fix and pay off.

        • Colleen Williams

          That’s a bit much of a generalization. Thanks, but I had no say in what my moms and my pops were doing in the bedroom, I’m just the result, so please, keep the generalizations.
          Fact, had it been up to many of the Boomers, weed would have been legal in the 70’s. Carter was for it, and until Ronny Raygun got in office, we had a shot. The problem isn’t just age cohorts, I know LOTS of 90 year olds who think it’s stupid to have pot illegal.
          What it is is a political mindset, as well as that person’s own moral development. Where are they? Are they still at stage 3, where moral is decided by the family not by justice? Are they stage 4, where they are law and order no matter what?
          One cannot dismiss cognitive development.
          I have never been rich, and I sure as Hell am not now. As for that Social Security, I’ve been paying into that, so if you have a problem, don’t drink the Conservative Kook-Aid. Think for yourself. We are not the problem. The problem is a government that outsourced jobs. A government that put profits ahead of human life.
          No, don’t be blaming me. I go along with the voting, sure. But the vitriol? No. You are playing into their hands, totally. Ageism, racism, any ism is a damned good distraction, because by blaming ME, you have now turned away blame from the bastards who used Social Security as a slush fund.
          It was the Conservative agenda that did this. I’m 50 and in spite of many different societal influences that try to tell me that your age group is worthless, I don’t believe it, cause I know it’s bullshit. Any cookie cutter shit is just that. Shit.
          We are all getting screwed. Only a very tiny group, on the planet, is getting ahead. Try to look beyond the smoke and mirrors. Do look at the guy behind the curtain, and do pay attention to him.
          The enemy is not me. I fought against this stuff to see the youngers hand it all over with out a sound. All the things we fought for, birth control, the rights we used to have that have all been taken in the war on drugs. Yeah, don’t blame me. Who is in charge of the media? It sure as Hell isn’t any of the rest of us. It’s that itty bitty group that is playing your tendency to look for a scapegoat.

          • Thanks Colleen.

          • koopapoopas

            Thanks for setting me straight. Though I think you are too generous regarding spoiled Baby Boomers, I’ve been ageist. You are not a scumbag.

            Though I have to say you actually sound like an old Gen X’er, rather than a young Boomer.

            Your comment supports this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X#United_States

            You are the first generation to be worse off than your parents, and you are the most educated, and not very materialistic.

            Boomers on the other hand: Baby Boomers control over 80% of personal financial assets and more than 50% of discretionary spending power. They are responsible for more than half of all consumer spending, buy 77% of all prescription drugs, 61% of OTC medication and 80% of all leisure travel.[citation needed]
            [edit]

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Boomers

            OK. I know I look ageist again, so I’ll shut up and do something to make the world better.

          • countryrd

            The point is the authorities want us to react in a uncontrolled angry manner as that keeps us separated and weak as well as giving them justification for continued repressive action. Very nice and intelligent post Colleen.

            Thank you.

    • Primus

      Don’t slag us boomers, many of us are on board. It’s our parents’ generation, the one raised on Emily Murphy and The Black Candle, as well as Reefer Madness which is the problem. They are dying off and as they do, the polling numbers climb inexorably toward consensus on repeal.

  • guest457

    hey, just join the system. theres no possible way to beat it, so join it. get the money. get out. and die. thats life.

  • anonymous

    Thank you for the great work Lee!

  • My God, this needs to stop

  • Chickpeas

    So how do we fight back and make marijuana legal?

    • Vote for Ron Paul in Republican primaries or Gary Johnson in the general election.

      • eric

        ron paul? personal liberties must be prioritized, and I’d rather get an abortion than smoke my weed.

        • Jerry

          he leaves personal liberties such as abortion up to the states, not the federal level. Get your facts straight sir.

      • Grammarnazi

        How cute! Someone who thinks an individual seated as President can enforce his own agenda over the will of both houses, the lobbyists, and the popular vote. Even if all of that were possible (which it isn’t), the only result would be individual states having the right to choose whether or not weed was legal. If you think that would happen across the board… well, you’re about as foolish as I thought you were when I started typing my reply.

      • Grammarnazi

        How cute! Someone who thinks an individual seated as President can enforce his own agenda over the will of both houses, the lobbyists, and the popular vote. Even if all of that were possible (which it isn’t), the only result would be individual states having the right to choose whether or not weed was legal. If you think that would happen across the board… well, you’re about as foolish as I thought you were when I started typing my reply.

        • Daveholio

          “How cute! Someone who thinks an individual seated as President can enforce his own agenda over the will of both houses, the lobbyists, and the popular vote.”

          Isn’t this already happening with Medical Cannabis? I don’t see any of those groups publicly calling for this War of his on Medical Cannabis.

    • Elisse87

      Grow it like we do. Civil disobediance. I am about to go light one up now. Bye.
      p.s. call the IRS on lobbyists like lovell.

  • None

    Mr. Lovell clearly knows what is best for us, please just do whatever he says

  • Rod Koles

    This big man with red face is sure an evil thing

  • Luc

    How peoplse can be so stupid to allow free dopes???? When you see the terrible dameges any kind of dope can achieve. They smoke and we pay to cure them afterwards.

    • Don

      How stupid can you be to not form a rational sentence? I doubt you even have a job to pay for your own life, much less anyone else.

      • guest

        Looks like he can’t form a sentence or spell his own name for that matter. What the hell kind of name is Luc?

        • Simon

          Ask Picard.

      • Guest

        English isn’t everyone’s first language.

    • Gvondermue

      When you learn to spell properly then you can attempt to tell me how to run my life but my guess is that will never happen.

    • A marijuana user

      How can people be so stupid as to allow the legalization of marijuana? You can see the terrible damage that any type of drug use can achieve. Marijuana users smoke and we must pay to cure them afterwards.

  • Why do you think marijuana was made illegal in the first place? When Prohibition was repealed the feds charged with enforcing it didn’t want to lose their jobs so they whipped up a lot of phony hysteria about pot and got the Congress to outlaw it, against the vehement protests of doctors ( who had been using it literally for thousands of years..it goes back at least 3,000).

    If we made marijuana legal, like tobacco and alcohol and made cocaine and heroin available by prescription, then the police could have more time to spend on really dangerous drugs like meth, which causes permanent brain damage after one dose.

    We could clear half the population out of our prisons. We have 2 million people in prison, more than any other country on earth.

    • Guitohill

      Meth does not cause permanent brain damage after one use. If you dont KNOW for a fact what your talking about remain silent until you do.

      • If you don’t KNOW the correct usage of “your” vs. “you’re”, don’t expect anyone to take your point seriously.

        • Joenobody211

          you act like that makes his point invalid. grammar has nothing to do with the accuracy of his statement. Methamphetamine has been FDA approved in treating ADHD and exogenous obesity in both adults and children and is prescribed by doctors under the brand name Desoxyn. Methamphetamine is not directly neurotoxic.

          • negator

            Please look up the word “exogenous”, thanks.

          • Joenobody211

            There are two general classifications of obesity: exogenous and endogenous. Exogenous obesity is caused by excessive food intake.

          • 4:20

            At ritalindeath.com , so much is explained about the lies surrounding add. From my experience children diagnosed with add were actually just eating too much sugar; then were falsely labeled and detrimentaly drugged. Those kids were then ineligible to join the armed forces, if they didn’t first die of heart enlargement complications. pharmaceutical companies make up diseases so they can sell the experimental drugs that they have concocted. Medical marijuana can solve all our problems.

          • Christor33

            I could care less what that site has to say, as a 38 year old diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 4 I can tell you sugar has nothing to do with it. That’s what they thought back in the 70’s. My many doctors (over the years) tried everything from no sugar in my diet to vitamin supplements and finally Ritalin. I will not sit here and tell you I enjoyed being on it, however everyone to this day states it was the only thing that calmed me down and allowed me to focus on things such as schoolwork. I do believe that to many kids are on it today and it is overprescribed. And yes, Marijuana does help me now and probably would have done the same back then!

        • theOriginalPounderOfAss

          Grammar Nazis, out in Force.

          next in news tonight. Guitohill sentenced to 5 years hard labour for incorrect Grammar.
          Exclusive with Nicholas P “why 5 years is not enough for Guitohill”

          /sarc

          • Leachpunk

            I believe you meant “Guitohill could have been up for life,”

          • grammarnazi

            He also forgot a colon after “Nicholas P”. Revised sentencing starts off with 30 days incarceration in Guantanemo Bay where the convicted will spend 23.5 hours of each day with his face buried in Rush Limbaugh’s unwashed asshole. Upon completion, the previous sentence of death will be enforced… much to the relief of the convicted.

          • theOriginalPounderOfAss

            changed….SPELLING POLICE >=(

          • theOriginalPounderOfAss

            thanks, changed.

      • GeneralValky

        If you don’t have a personal experience don’t act like an expert…

      • I have seen people that did get permanent brain damage form one use of Meth.Where as I never saw any one get brain damage form marijuana.But his point was not to be about Meth when and brain damage.But when you seam to try to twist the point of this just like most closed mined people do when they see just one point that some one may are may not have mad a mistake on.Look at the bigger part of what he had to say.Open your mind people are die from cancer.It is a hard hell death that just may be stopped from the use of marijuana.May ask why would you care what a person is using is it going to kill you it they use it.It is killing them that they are not.Even it is a gate way drug to others how give a damn if a person that has no way to stay a live with out marijuana has a door open to using other drugs when they already have that door open to using the pain pill that have that drug in them. ONLY CLOSED MINED PEOPLE DON’T SEE THAT MARIJUANA IS THE BEST MED FOR MORE THEN ONE AILMENT.Now you can get mad cause me out do what you wish but fact is fact an you can not make it go away.

    • Leachpunk

      The war on marijuana started before the prohibition.

    • Colleen Williams

      Do be accurate; meth is not a good substance, but it doesn’t cause permanent damage after one usage. That is the very misinformation that caused my age group to roll our eyes and reach for the substances, because as kids tend to think, if the grownups lied about pot they must be lying about everything else.
      I raised four kids and I can tell you, never, EVER lie about this stuff. Be honest with them, no scare tactics. They will remember and you will not have any credibility.

      It is never ever acceptable to pass on bad data because of the societal consequences like the loss of credibility the authorities have experienced due to that bad data.

      • That is not bad data just because you have not seen it dose not mean that it dose not happen.I myself have seen it cause permanent damage.I ran with users to see what their world is like.I never used and never will use Meth.But i did see two die from just one shoot of it and three have brain damage from it. And yes I no longer run with Meth or drug users.An marijuana is safe and need badly.Not any ones authoritie I am just a person that is try to safe my sister life by getting her the hemp oil she needs.

        • armchairactivist

          “dose”, or “does”? “…. one shoot…”, or was it ” …one shot…’? Huh? Put Your sister in a safe, or save Her life? Save Your Sister’s life in a safe? GRAMMAR DOES MATTER, as well as proper spelling, too…. also, even.

    • Greenie

      I would truly like to live in a country described in our constitution even for just one day

  • anechoic

    fight back by performing acts of civil disobedience – learn to grow your own medicine!

  • Coralreefvet

    To be honest…many ¨farmers¨ want to see pot stay illegal. The stuff is easy to grow and very profitable. That profit would plummit if the stuff was legal.

    • tofraz

      Not really, if it were legal the demand for it would also grow alot.

      • Thinking_Clearly

        People that like to smoke pot already are. Unlikely it would go up by much for very long.

      • Thinking_Clearly

        People that like to smoke pot already are. Unlikely it would go up by much for very long.

      • Daveholio

        tofraz, Wrong! Can you cite a source for this? Nope, I didn’t think so. In fact, real-world examples demonstrate the opposite: loosening restrictions on cannabis (like decriminalization) cause demand and usage to go DOWN. Drug warriors like you will fight anything that causes demand to go down, because so many people are profiting off of the harms of prohibition. Any reduction in demand will likewise reduce the profits attributed to prohibition.

    • Guest

      The farmers are the ones that spend all day tending their plants and can grow the REALLY dank shit. casual grows can grow good stuff but nothing compared to those that tend their plants all day.

    • Anonymous

      Yeah you have no Idea what you’re talking about. Any commercial scale farming operation is not “easy”. To get quality is a science. People generally give up after a season or two and just buy it from the people who are willing to do the work.

      • No…it’s pretty easy. A 0.10-acre plot planted in so-so weed would generate more money a year, after production costs, than most Americans make in a year. The “science” is hammered out and readily available all over the internet, books, magazines, and the like.

        • Daveholio

          Even if these calculations of yours are accurate, they would be completely dependent on prohibition being maintained. Under a legal framework there’s no way this would be accurate.

    • Fellow American

      Any “Farmer” who wants it to stay illegal, is just as bad (or maybe, almost as bad) as the ignorant people and police that are arresting and jailing Cannabis users. If a Farmer got caught by police, well they’d certainly not want to go to jail or be fined. They’d suddenly be shouting, “Legalize it! I don’t want to get in trouble, now that I have been caught illegally growing!” So legalizing it IS the best solution. It will weed out (lol) bad quality product, it will weed out unreliable and disrespectful growers and suppliers, and it will ultimately bring some peace to this entire situation. (That’s what we all hope, anyway.) If you want to be a private grower, then do that, and maybe sell locally. If your product is great, then you will not lose business!! (Depending on how it is legalized, there may be fines/legal fees you have to pay to have a Cannabis business (this will help the economy!), but there will still be quite a large number of local growers selling to their communities without a tax. It’s kind of like having a garden, and selling a batch of tomatoes to your neighbor for 5 dollars. That guy down the street, though. He sells his product to a local dispensary; tax included.) If your business does plummet, then clearly someone else is making better quality product/has more affordable product. Those Farmers who will lose business after it is legalized will either have to start making a better product that their customers enjoy, or they will have to just get a job at another Farm. Or do something else entirely. (Maybe start growing Hemp and selling it to textile companies/factories.) If I were a Cannabis Farmer, legalization would not scare me or anger me, it would only allow me to freely open my doors to the public, or simply allow me to grow my own cannabis in the privacy of my own home where I have complete control over how it was grown, what was used to grow it, etc. And at the end of the day, legalization of Cannabis would allow its’ users to sleep soundly at night knowing what they are doing is in fact legal and rightfully so. These are just my thoughts, though. Discuss away!

  • WHYcantWEsmokeYET?

    Fuck This

  • ArmedLiberalInMO

    There’s another group that is being overlooked: Cotton Growers action committees. http://preview.tinyurl.com/8a2y2ed

  • CAPSoff

    I’m surprised that this scheme has been exposed for so long, and yet nothing has changed. We try to use the exact same system that created this entire mess to begin with to fix the very problem that it created. I say we need an entire new way to run things. . .

    • Revilo317

      New world order 😉

    • Daveholio

      Yup, we sure do! Vote for Ron Paul!

  • Gmasters5

    Don’t forget the Private Prison Corporations which receive about $40,000/year for each prisoner. And, since Pot smokers are usually non violent offenders, there is a better profit margin in them. It costs more to imprison Violent “criminals”.

    • Yep. Follow the money, always follow the money.

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  • Mthrsdva

    well – it seems to me that it is the feds who are choosing to ‘invest’ our money in the drug war – law enforcement needs resources and they have lobbyists to help them get it – the demon is not underfunded law enforcement, or the lobbyists, it is the feds (congress?) choosing to award grants for activities the general population does not agree with.

    The general population is far more concerned about jobs (repeal cannabis prohibition and we will have hundreds of thousands of manufacturing and food processing jobs, not to mention farmers working), healthcare (cannabis is good medicine and could save us money on health care) a home to live in ( we can build homes out of hemp products and then seal the wood with hemp products ( search for Hempshield), education and an ecosystem which will support the coming generations – most of us do not give a hoot about cannabis as far as crime concerns go – so why are the feds funding it, to the exclusion of issues more important to folks living and voting in the US?

    Gotta wonder who is setting the priorities for spending our money –

  • As

    Just kill this mother fucker, end of story.

    • dvdoff

      What, like someone else wouldn’t spring up to take his place…?

      • Bt

        If you do it enough times, no.

        • Mrcouchmen

          Give the job a 100% death rate and I doubt anyone would want it.

          • Thinking_Clearly

            I don’t know who you are, but the war on drugs exists because of people like you. Either you are a troll lobbyist or a fool.

          • Leachpunk

            No.. the war on drugs exists because we exist. We’re greedy fucking animals and we want everything. It exists because someone saw profit in it, it has nothing to do with a single person. If everyone quit smoking marijuana tomorrow, the lobbyists would find something else to churn up as being evil and keep us from it.

          • 4:20 legalize pot

            Leachpunk is exactly right. If tomorrow we all quit smoking Lovell would find something else to make money off suppressing. He gets rich sending innocent people to jail. It would be nice if someone hacked into the accounts and all the money he got for the police unions was funneled towards n o r m l. It would also be nice for marijuana users if lovell got caught banging a prostitute and was sent to jail.

          • 3furtados

            I bet he could afford a really good lawyer though.

    • Come on Bro

      And comments like this are exactly why pro-legalization people aren’t taken seriously.

      I am 100% for the right to smoke marijuana legally, but comments like this are hurting the cause far more than it’s helping, by painting pro-legalization people as bloodthirsty morons who can’t be bothered to engage in constructive dialogue.

      • Tardyjay

        And you think that our banter, *ahem* excuse me, I meant constructive dialogue, means a damn thing in the end? We are on the internet. Nobody gives a damn about the internet. People say stupid shit all of the time. If you want to make some real change and be taken seriously then organize legal protests. Go visit your representatives and senators. Put pressure on your local police forces and political parties. Show any politician that sure, they might be able to get what they want now but if the people don’t like it they are done. Eventually politicians would get the picture. Knowing you will not be elected if you do not do what the people want would keep you on the right path. Unfortunately for us there are too many sheep out there that have no idea what is going on. They don’t care who is in charge. They have no clue what these people really do. They vote because they are told to. Spread the truth. Educate people. Constantly ask questions to everyone. Especially your politicians. Be relentless and never give in. I just wish that more people would actually care about what is happening but as long as they have their false sense of security and the Gov’t tells them it’s okay, the people are going to blindly suffer with nobody to stop it.

        • Leordin2736

          Just because you off the internet, doedn’t mean you can justify on being a fuckwad. This is a learning process for both sides: We should not care about what some lv 90 internet user, and you lv 90 internet user should learn to control theirselves

          • Leachpunk

            This makes zero sense.

          • D_eiserman

            What the hell are you talking about..

          • Huh?

          • smackme420

            Sorry! I didn’t mean to hit the “like” button as I have NO clue what this person is saying. I think he/she is trying to say, this whole pot issue is a learning process for everyone on all sides. What I want to say to this person is, we have tried already everything we can possibly do to win our freedom. This has been going on way too long. It’s time to get tough just like they do with us. And if it comes down to total war, SO BE IT!

          • Christor33

            We haven’t tried everything. Every politician in the house and senate need to go. The problem is, when it is time to vote them out most people can’t be bothered to see that thier politicians are just as bad as the others.. so they get re-elected. Drop a bomb on the house and senate polititcians when it’s time to vote and vote them all out and start anew! The president really has no say in what bills make it to his desk!

          • The stoners will wake up when their chemist shops close down. And will go AAaaauuuwwwwwwwNnnoooooooooooooooooooo. So I’m for voting!

          • ha i take it your pro pot

          • Isn’t every intelligent person?

          • 3furtados

            Sometimes I wonder

        • Dawn2dusk

          its a little more difficult to openly protest a cause that can cost you your job and is not generally socially acceptable. its tricky, but I believe smoking and gay marriage will be legalized…eventually

          • Namaimo

            Being retired is the greatest freedom I have ever known. I wish it on all and everyone of you. Fight for it with all you’ve got.

          • Mynzi

            Yes, this is a “war” and, in war, there ain’t no rules … as evidenced by these “pigs” unconstitutional actions !! Like “civil rights”, it IS inevitable that it’ll be legalized it’s just how many more (30,000 innocent women & children in Mexico) people will be massacred till it is … it’s almost like Syria down there and, because for 30 years it’s only gotten worse, eventually, it’ll be here … mark my words !!!!

          • Maggie

            It isn’t looking too good for those of us who have not yet retired. Our 401Ks are bust and Social Security ain’t looking too good. Well drop you a line from the homeless camp for the elderly and let you know how it is going.

          • Bri

            Independent wealth = retirement. Thus clear thinking ahead.

          • Dana

            Or your kids. I heard about a case recently where a couple smoked after their daughter was in bed, somehow this was discovered, and the state took her away. I couldn’t tell you how many parents have a beer or a glass of wine after the kids are in bed and THAT is perfectly OK… nope… it was pot… case closed.

            They were going to get her back, too. They were on track to get all their parenting classes done and whatever, and then the little girl’s foster “mother” beat her so bad she died.

            If I ever showed up at a legalization rally it’d be in a Guy Fawkes mask–unless my city has made it illegal to protest in face cover, in which case I won’t be showing up.

        • Tartodonna

          It can be done. It happened in California in 1974 when California decriminalized 1 oz or less of weed. Because every young adult probably in the state (or at least I know So. Calif) contacted their representatives and demanded they support the bill. And I watched it happen. Enough people just do not care now. If they really did, they would do something about it.

        • I think the time is now. And the rejoinder putting As in his place was great (I think he left the last part of his name out – sHole). I digress. Putting pressure out there on the Reps, Sheriffs, Mayors, in fact all elected officials works. It’s the Human contact thing. Hell it’s how we used to conduct matters around the village square once upon a time. Out in the open. Where being economical with the truth got you into serious trouble. Then the situation got skewed the greater the cost of selling the Presidancy became. Only vested interests have an interest in this and the money to influence, the good word for bribe, elected officials. Elections aught to be free and fair, and the first one to hurrumph that, well you probably think the old nudge nudge wink wink days of doing things arn’t going to change. You’re wrong. The government works for its people. Not the other way around.

      • HateFactory

        Ok, seriously? Comments like the on you responded to? No. A single line, knee jerk reaction is not enough to characterize a group as, “bloodthirsty morons who can’t be bothered to engage in constructive dialogue”. Go away with your hyperbole.

        • Nonya

          I get what you mean. It’s like that one Dr. Oz show where he was discussing legalizing marijuana, and the pro jerkoffs in the audience were hooting and hollering like a bunch of uncivilized idiots, and it’s people like that who give the rest of us a bad name.

          • DUH!

            ever stop to think maybe those people making those comments are paid by the lobbyists to make those sort of comments? oh ya!

          • Duhsucksfuckingdick

            Proof, retard, do you speak it?

          • GrammarNazi

            Proper English: Do you speak it?

          • look it up fool. you can’t show up to a message board and start asking for proof. if you hear something you no understandy, start with the big words, sound em out, grab a dictionary, and then go try and track it down…. or just embrace being an be an asshat, enjoy your fries and bud-light, and try to stay away from people. or, i know, go on you tube.

          • Colleen Williams

            That was common practice amongst the FBI and local law enforcement agencies in the 60’s. They infiltrated these groups and committed acts of violence because sadly, Americans are all about safety.
            We have to look at history; there is quite the precedent for government infiltration as well as entrapment. That is why the Feds tried to get change of venue for the Portland Christmas Tree plot. The one where the kid had no money or any way to be anything but a whiny kid until the Feds turned it into a plot.
            That was because we Portlandians did NOT buy into the crap. When the evidence started coming out, it started to seriously look like a nice blast from the past, the same old shit they did during the Vietnam era.

            The Feds have been trying to get Portland to sign onto a very unConstitutional pact, and we have refused. Funny, after we refuse along comes this plot…
            Hmn….

      • OaklandBikeMedic

        Right, we should be bringing cops like John Lovell to light as the bloodthirsty morons who can’t be bothered to engage in constructive dialogue.

      • bah

      • When I read that comment I assumed it to be obvious hyperbole, not intended for the general public.

      • Sinistry74

        I don’t exactly agree with violence as a means to an end, but I disagree with your response of this kind of comment painting us as bloodthirsty morons who can’t be bothered to engage in constructive conversation. We’ve been trying for decades to get that debate but the president laughs at us and so goes the nation. One can’t really blame the oppressed for wanting to lash out.

        • Mynzi

          These tyrants are like raging drunks … you can’t reason with them !!!! And, like drunks, their actions make them into blithering idiots, not to mention TRAITORS (check it out) !!!!

          • 3furtados

            Too angry

        • 3furtados

          Riots are the words of the unheard.

        • C

          money buys power. power herds people. not much more of that to explain why us cannabis people are stuck with morons at the wheel with irrational reasons that lead to retarded control resulting in less freedoms for the masses while making the 1% jerks richer. viscous circle that leads to revolutions. watch out 1%! you need to scream FEMA camps louder because that bullshit ain’t flying any more. those camps will fit the 1% nicely.

      • Pot smokers are peaceful non-violent activists. Leave the violence for the boozers. Pot equals peace. Alcohol equals violence.

        • 3furtados

          You sound like a hippie

        • C

          no, he sounds like a voice of reason. hippies had lots of that back in the day.

      • Barney Rubble

        you wouldn’t take the chance to go back in time and brutally murder Harry Anslinger whilst he was still in the Treasury department then? They’d blame Capone, or one of the other gangsters, prohibition of alcohol would have ended and there would have been no rabid maniac waiting in the wings to steal freedom

    • Sasdafd

      HOW DARE YOU ASK FOR DEATH ONTO YOUR OWN KIND, YOU SICK FUCKWAD

      • Sdfsdfsdf

        ON THE INTERNET!

        ON THE MOTHER FUCKING I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T! YOU ASSHOLE

        • V00j0

          Internet does not mean anonymous.

    • Trolololol

      Agree. Look at what the Mexican drug cartels are doing to that country! They have total control.

    • Primus

      Unfortunately that won’t work, because they are just like the cartels in Mexico. Shoot one, another pops up to take his place. Has prohibition taught you nothing?

    • sinesta

      A simple question begs itself, did anyone call this number and ask for follow up dialogue as a “citizen”? We are capable of detaining someone until the enforcement officers arrive. Is this a silly question? Knowing the particulars of most laws that involve everyday household substances should be concerned.

      What if a wild pocket of people benefited from sniffing glue three days out of a year?
      Would we have this situation? No, the benefits of medical MJ are hard to deny even to the states where legality has not arrived for her patients. I would define compassion differently than picking on a bewildered task force.
      Of course there was a reaction to legalization among people trained literally with their lives at stake for these old codes. Wouldn’t they Die Hard?

      Just call the number, he’s probably a nicer guy than you think. I don’t see anyone else exposing their personal telephone etc. I would love to see the litany of drug cartel start being rewarded for turning themselves in for things like tax evasion or unsafe work environments. Can someone get a grant together for that?

    • Bishopron

      Hear is a great example of a drug infested mind!!!

      • SunGodStereo

        Substance “D” ?

      • Bishopron

        Here is a great example of an drug infested mind. Will say just about any thing.

      • Bishopron…when you make ignorant pronouncements like that, you do live up to the name “Bishop”. Remember Bishops? And Ministers, and Rabbis and Imams? All of them are religious leaders that need to use fear to keep the people in lione. But, guess what? The people are waking up and rejecting your tired bullshit and foul threats and we will rise up and flatten you, and your kind.

    • Mont7ma5

      its going to end up like that because a lot of people are getting very upset over being played with. no one has the right to tell someone else how to live. who should be punished for the entire problem because nature has a way of causing accidents. If someone deserves an ass kicking sooner or later they will get one. NOEL 5

  • No, you can’t smoke pot because you would become addicted, OD, and die.

    • Chiron

      While I do not myself smoke marijuana, you would need an outrageous amount in order to OD, in excess of several pounds. Alcohol is significantly more likely to cause you to OD than marijuana. Marijuana is also significantly less addictive (it carries no physical dependence, but can be psychologically addictive in frequent users) than tobacco products, which are legal. More here:

      http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/mj_overdose.htm

      I am not saying that it is GOOD for you, but it would be pretty hard to OD on it. Smoke from marijuana is more likely to be lethal, as it is far more damaging to your lungs (and you’ve seen what repeated use of tobacco does to you, no doubt). Marijuana can also have lasting effects on brain cells, causing them not to function properly and even die. Repeated exposure is quite bad for you, though it can be used in medicine short term (at low dosage) without too much harm.

      • No one

        You obviously have no idea what you are talking about sir there are literally hundreds of long term studies that show absolutely no damage from smoking marijuana. There is one that lists several test subjects smoking in excess of several hundred thousand joints in something like ten years. Know your facts before you state bs sir.

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  • Everyone here smokes weed……….
    Don’t you guys have anything better to spend money on?

  • Anon01

    I smoke pot all the time

  • Kevin

    But if they legalize it, what about all the criminals who would be let out of our prison system?

    Can you imagine the influx of mellow, laid back people on our streets? We’d never set finished saying “Hi” to everyone!

    • osn2124

      No one would get out. Doesn’t work like that. They would serve out the remainder of their sentence while everyone outside would be smoking it up

      • Mondragon

        Not true, there would legally have to be a complete amnesty, immediately emptying prisons, and putting the screws, narcs and a lot of feds out of work. This will be known as the dreamtime.

  • Yo

    just legalize pot and shut this guy up

  • This guy is the epitome of ‘buzz kill’.

  • Terribletim

    Old news. Dumb voters who get the government they deserve.

  • Trentonjordan

    Why can’t WHO smoke pot? I can assure you of this…this article was not talking to me!

  • Cwanda

    Why not an initiative like the one for ending the death penalty in CA, focusing on licensing sale and use of MJ and using x% of the revenue (up to say $180 million/yr.) for police investigations, the rest for education?

    The initiative to end the DP has focused on cost savings and has around 800k signatures, enough to get it on the ballot. It is structured to have cost savings, but to plow those savings (about $180 million/yr) back into police investigations.

    • William B Batts

      Changing the world one internet comment at a time.

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  • Mike

    I just smoked a joint so he fails at his job.

    • Abc

      Nice to see someone taking action at the grass roots level!

  • Teejones1766

    One word: PIG.

  • ducky

    We have pretty much the same proposal coming up in Colorado in November. Wish us luck!

  • go to the chewstroke homepage to see who else profits from this….

  • JustSayin’

    the cops are the ones who belong in jail…not the stoners.

  • Vovoline

    Everyone knows about “reefer madness”, how rubbish and packed with lies Prohibition is, you dont have to keep on repeating it, what we need is some lobbying of our own, and a smear campaign against anti pot proponents. Get clever, you know, discredit these People.
    The trick is to use their own tactics against them because they work.
    Contact the IRS and place them under suspicion, while they are being audited, their accounts are frozen at a critical time and no Politician will touch them with a ten foot pole.
    The plan is to make a conspiracy theory up out of thin air,and make it go viral somehow, Reddit would be a good starting point.
    They use their Bulldust to corrupt our wishes, do it right back. Wag the Dog, use treachery and go much, much lower and you will win.
    If we keep being nice Guys and playing fair, we will never realize our dream of legal Pot.
    I suggest an operation, we will name it “Operation Bad Doggy”, utilize everyone with interests in the goal succeeding to lend a hand to achieve the common objective.
    If they can sell the Public Sheep on WMD’s in Iraq and start a war, imagine how simple destroying a handful of old fossils reputations can be when we put our collective mind to work.
    Initiate “Operation Bad Doggy” all hands on deck, take them down.
    Remember, if one guy starts something he is a bad guy, if everyone does it together, its a revolution.

  • Cutting the 2.2 million dollars in funding to the California anti-drug war would help save… 2.2 million dollars and then instead of drug dealers would have pharmacists who are selling a taxable product. Not only that but not as much tax payers money would go to maintaining prisoners with pot offenses. It seems to me but cutting this anti-drug war program, we would help get this country out of debt. Correct me if I’m wrong.

  • Hey I can win the drug war if you all follow my and join my event http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/legalizealldrugsplants/events/ and pleace join my group http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/legalizealldrugsplants/ Your Leader..

  • Go

    fuck you

    • DFUBHFDIGHUI

      NO, FUCK YOU, YOU NERD FAGGOT. WHEN WILL YOU GET OUT AND START TALKING TO PEOPLE WITH YOUR FUCKING FACE, INSTEAD OF A FUCKING CIOMPUTER SCREEN??? YOU FMOTEHRFUCKING PIECOEF OF SHIT COWARD GO DIE DIDEIDIEIDIEDIDEIEIDIEIDIEIDDEEIDIEIIIDEDIEIIDEIDEIDIDEIDEIDEIIDEIDEIDIEDIEIDEDIEIIDEIDEIIDEDIEDIEIIDEIDEIDEIDIDIDEIDEIDEIIDEIDEIDEIDEDIIDIDEIDEIIDEIDEIDIE

      • NerdyDigger

        lol chill out man

      • Daveholio

        Wow, you seem to be in dire need of some good cannabis!

  • Thinking_Clearly

    Add to that list Robert L. DuPont the purveyer of drug testing, substance abuse behavioral modification therapists, and drug testing companies.

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  • Thinking_Clearly

    “the Fourth Amendment precludes the suspicionless search, no matter how conveniently arranged.” Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  • Thinking_Clearly

    I am for the removal of prohibition against marijuana, but I humbly request a moderator weed out some of these obnoxious remarks being made by commentor’s who neither care about this conversation or anyone else in it.

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  • Old Meller

    Wow. I always thought cannabis mellowed you out. It always made me feel calm, giggly and at ease. So why all the “F%CK YOUS” and “DIE DIE DIE” and general aggressiveness ? What kind of weed are you sociopaths smoking…Psycho Bud ?

  • gubatron

    And probably drug cartels are the most interested in keeping it illegal, and they do have loads of money to back opposition.

  • Chachi

    wheres a hitman when you need one

  • Potwave
  • Tampabaynorml

    It is unfathomable that if someone supports “Marijuana Suppresion” efforts, they get ALL the media time and attention they want..But Speak of the “Will Of The People”?, abd you are relegated tom love in ridicule, like Ron Paul. A sane man-who they all look at as if he had 3 heads. And we all know why.
    OUR GOVERNMENT are the terrorists.
    Of that, there is NO question.
    Our society, unless WE take it back-will go sliding, full speed into the abyss.

    SuperPacs, Blind Trusts, and CORRUPTION AT EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT.
    WHY ISN’T THE ACLU TAKING THE FEDERAL GOVERNEMNT TO COURT TO INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS OF “GENOCIDE-THROUGH MASS INCARCERATION?”
    THAT is the real issue

  • Me2

    makes me sick fucking fascists corrupted motherfuckerswe should empale all these fuckers, let us smoke for fuck sake

  • fernturn001

    marijuana, unlike the drug war, is not addictive.

    the union lobbyists are bit players at best. what’s really behind our inability to deal with drugs as a social/public health issue as adults is the fact that we (american body politic) see the world through the eyes of a dim child watching a chuck norris movie.

    My only reccommendation is to mention as often as possible and give as much money as you can to LEAP (law enforcement against prohibition) so they can get a K-street guy to serve this Lovell dude good and proper.

    The drug war has always been a gravy train for the cops and the feds. Of course they’ll lobby for grants and shit. But in our non-democratic system of economic darwinism you have to fight fire with fire, money with money.

    Usually the team that wins the title spent the most on players.

  • Dan_USMC

    So people are making money off the pro-pot industry, stands to reason, money will be made off the other side as well. The only thing Prohibition proved is we didn’t have the resources to fight it back then. Hell, even our resources are not adequate now… But… people were right back then to point out that it will negatively affect our society. Families are broken up, violence is propagated, kids die in every type of accident imaginable, kids drop out of school at a record level here in the states with a large portion of the contributed to not just partying, but alcohol and drugs at those parties, etc (The list is too great). But the fact of the matter is, we have always viewed prohibition as a stupid attempt to reign in a victimless crime, not a noble attempt by people to better their society. We enact personal liberty violations all the time that are aimed at protecting ones self against them-self, but while the younger generation thinks nothing of this… deny them a 20 minute high, they go nuts
    There are many studies that do and do not show pot as a gateway drug. But, ask yourself this. Of all the people you know who started off on beer, did none of them go to hard alcohol later on? Of all the people you know who smoke pot, do none of them try anything harder? There is always a certain majority percentage that will always look for the next best thing… it’s sort of an American tradition. So, what’s it to me? I want you to contribute to our society or get out. If I could say that you are non-productive and I am not going to support you with my tax dollars, I would. Since I don’t have that option, you can go be non-productive somewhere else. And that job you maintain? Whether it be stocking product at walmart or flying that airplane, you cannot truthfully tell me you couldn’t do a better job at it or do something better if you weren’t smoking pot.

    • Daveholio

      Dan, you seem to have been successfully duped into believing that the Drug War actually works. Do you really believe that it has reduced availability or usage of proscribed drugs? Also, your closing statement “And that job you maintain? Whether it be stocking product at walmart or flying that airplane, you cannot truthfully tell me you couldn’t do a better job at it or do something better if you weren’t smoking pot.” is full of holes. Obviously people should not engage in dangerous activities like piloting planes while intoxicated (even thought the facts indicate that it would probably be preferable for them to be stoned rather than drunk). For example, if that Wal-Mart employee you mention were hampered by chronic back pain, consider the possibility that she might do a better job stocking if she were medicated. You also seem to discount the fact that the vast majority of people don’t show up for work under the influence of drugs, and instead choose to use them (particularly recreational use) during their off hours.

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  • Joe Ratliff

    Besides police enforcement, alcohol beverage producers and other stateside groups, I would bet my bottom dollar that the Mexican drug cartels are pumping plenty of Pesos into our crooked Congress in order to protect their billion dollar marijuana market in the U.S.. Also, a direct result of pot fields being destroyed in California is higher prices for both Mexican and domestic weed.

    Please, also ask why the Attorney Generals office is going after the California and Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries? This is in direct contradiction of Obama saying his administration would not pursue a policy of cracking down on these state legal operations.

    • Daveholio

      Yes, it is a direct contradiction. Perhaps you haven’t heard, but Obama has done a complete 180 since then and is now actively coordinating and encouraging the assault on our Medical Cannabis rights.

    • Daveholio

      Yes, it is a direct contradiction. Perhaps you haven’t heard, but Obama has done a complete 180 since then and is now actively coordinating and encouraging the assault on our Medical Cannabis rights.

  • Joe

    Have a few more comments. If pot was totally legalized nation-wide, the Mexican and domestic pot growers and distributors would lose billions of dollars since currnt weed laws drive the prices up to ridiculous levels. Hell, I am a retired senior on a fixed income and I can’t afford to smoke it. Legalization would drive prices substantially down since there would be major competition between the growers, distributors and sellers. Furthermore, states and the federal government could tax sales and make billions of dollars
    in needed revenues which would help reduce deficits.

    • Colleen Williams

      let me tell you what’s happened here in Oregon. We have the pot store, that sells(in Oregon, it’s a reimbursement of costs that are legally allowed) the weed only to cardholders, in a safe environment. No smoking of it there, but one can get it and since the pot stores have opened up, pot prices have dropped dramatically. No more the days of $50 for 3.5 grams. Nope. At the pot store, the prices are super cheap. One can choose between strains and there are edibles as well as premade butter for the home baker.
      I know of two weed slingers who’ve had to go get work because it is no longer profitable to sell. An ounce can and does, in some places, go as cheaply as $125.

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  • Boobear2727

    SHOCKING!!!!

  • prescrip

    The War on Drugs has been contributing to the corruption of our legal/judicial system and our society for decades. We have paid its costs and endured as victims hoping for the day of its demise. Only a concentrated assault with informed action and sound alternatives can counter the vast pernicious effects of this “war.”

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  • Asatru

    I guess the cops don’t serve us they serve themselves at our expense.

  • Patricia Allen

    Excellent point and article. Another reason I believe Prop 19 didn’t pass is the monopoly on medical use. And I am a legal MMJ user. What I am witnessing is a reluctance to vote for legalization for fear that caregivers (who are the greediest in my medical community) do not want to be undercut in their pricing, which has gone sky high (excuse pun). I wound up resorting to a legitimate dispensary which is regulated for organic quality and provides properly cured Cannabis and glycerin-based tinctures. Many people are not aware that alcohol-based tinctures are illegal for sale here in Maine. My former caregivers were becoming greedier and greedier, while the quality of their Cannabis fell to an insulting level for a seasoned MMJ user as I am. When I asked for cloudy trichomes and properly cured Cannabis, their prices went above street prices in Boston (where it is still illegal)! My dispensary is an excellent example of how a proper medical Cannabis facility should be run, and their prices are far less, while the quality is the best I’ve seen in years. I might add that both of the larger caregiver associations here in Maine are suing each other. I deem them care-less-takers. I am for legalization for preventative use. For instance, if you had or have a family member with Alzheimer’s, wouldn’t it make sense of take a preventative approach by using Cannabis? But no doctor able to “recommend” or “certify” it for medical can give someone a preventative “pass.” This is my argument for legalization. And yes, I agree that lobbyists are equally responsible for the problems regarding legalization, and on a global level, too.

    • Daveholio

      I disagree. Most likely Prop 19 failed due to a combination of fear and ignorance concerning cannabis that is prevalent among the general public. The opponents successfully drove up hysteria just before the vote with talk like “what about stoned airline pilots and school bus drivers”? Nevermind the reality that they are already using it (because prohibition just plain doesn’t work), or that decriminalization measures will likely decrease use instead of increasing it. The public readily buys into the fallacy that prohibition is working, and eliminating it will cause the sky to fall – because it SOUNDS logical.

  • Linzed26

    End this prohibition NOW! There should be no more delay. It is embarrassing to criminalize a herb that has been used since, forever; or at least until the 30’s when it was criminalized along with alcohol. It doesn’t make sense. In addition, to prevent people with medical conditions like M.S., chronic pain, PTSD, etc.from using marijuana is outrageous. But, it’s alright to use a drug that is made in a “pharmaceutical” laboratroy? That’s insanity. It is a proven FACT that selective serrotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)- Prozac, Zoloft, etc., destroy neuronal synaptic cleffs (the parts of the neuron that recycle serrotonin. Now, yes- it is probably not too harmful to use these drugs briefly, i.e., when a person is suicidal or in exteme emotional distress. But, the drug works briefly because after a month, the drug needs to be increased because of tolerance, etc. Why? Because serrotonin is not being recycled… The POTUS can implement an Executive Order this afternoon to the FDA and reschedule Marijuana out of Schedule I narcotics “today.” Marijuana is not equivalent to Chrystal Meth! Alcohol Kills! Tobacco Kills! Marijuana CALMS and gives immediate relief… Thanks for bringing attention to this Dylan.

  • 1dbeall

    People go off all weird when the citizens call for the death of the Drug- War-Lords. like this John Lovell Anti-American Terrorist,, but the “John Lovell Drug- War-Lords Anti-American Terrorists are KILLING PEOPLE.. ”

    what part don’t you get???

    It’s called self defense from the John Lovell Drug- War-Lord Anti-American Terrorists –or- the WAR MONGERS

    Kill them makes perfect sense to me. Talk is cheap, bullets are cheaper. Just look at the US Governments World Control Policies.

    • Daveholio

      Political change is better achieved through non-violent means, my friend – even though it may be slower that way. Prohibition is completely dependent on ignorance, myths and misinformation. As the public becomes more and more educated, Prohibition will become harder and harder to maintain until it ultimately falls.

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  • ron miller

    its kinda like when politicians say they dont think government has the right to make a law that forces you to buy health insurence, but they have a law forces you to buy car insurence, or wear a seat belt,they know whats best for you, unions are bad, working for less pay is good, working 12 hours a day for the pay you used to get for 8 is good,4 hours a day is a good life, and if your a good littel mindless robot maybee you can retire at age 65 or 70 , chances are the food you eat, booze, or bad water or precrition medicen will do you in before then, so i guess the basic rule of thumb is anything thats good for you they say is bad, and anything thats dad for you they say is good…dont question it just go out thier and be a good littel money making machine for them, after all they know whats best for you.

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  • NutmegJunkie

    We are now at the point where drug war profiteers and the architects of drug prohibition must be held accountable.

    All prohibitionists who escapee punishment at the end of the drug war must be doggedly persued. Especially the scoundrels like John Lovell who have been the recipients of largesse — jobs and government money to name a couple of things.

    Those who have endured the cruelty of their policies (mostly poor black bastards and third-world-looking folks) must demand justice.

    Let us not forget that for every high-ranking sadistic drug prohibitionist, there were thousands more who assisted them directly (through action) or indirectly (through silence) that need to be called to account.

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  • Colleen Williams

    First, boycotts of Anheiser-Busch, as well as any Frito Lay products. Then it’s time to harness the power of the internet to elect new candidates, ones that get the lesson from the wholesale election of new candidates from neither party. The big problem is to break the hold of the two big parties.
    They do a Helluva lot of squashing of the little guy. So have the sense to not fall for negative ads. Have the sense to shut off the damned TV if one cannot separate the lies in all of these ads. Turn it off!!

    Don’t let these negative ads work anymore. We need to deny them votes. If we vote the bastards out, then the next ones might get the idea. If not, we get rid of them, too.

    • Daveholio

      I don’t know about you but I’m still boycotting Kellogg’s over their handling of the Michael Phelps incident. I’m still waiting for an apology from them. It’s a big loss to them as I regularly eat large quantities of cereal (and used to eat large quantities of Pop Tarts). I have no problem giving all of my business to their competitors. We CAN take action with our wallets and let corporations know that we don’t support their advocacy of our Government’s Unconstituional Drug War and CSA!

  • OH

    Lord Jesus, we humbly pray in Your Name, please send John Lovell the police union lobbyist to Hell and burn him alive for eternity, not out of hatred, Amen.

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  • Fvollmer71

    If you want to fix the countys debt, get jobs going. legalize. weed. as a recoving alcholic, booze almost killed me twice. you can”t overdose on it. people never get hurt on it.

  • Tim

    Well, that is the short list of lobbyist. Six of the top ten banks have paid fines recently for laundering drug cartel money and those are just the cases that they caught since the federal government went back to work in 2009.

    Then we have the Gun Makers, NRA, and other capital investment groups. Health care industry and let us not forget the private prison industry. Did I leave anyone out?

  • Remember, there’s money to be made by keeping the prisons full.

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  • MelissaReisinger7

    There is one item in this article that I feel needs clarification. When it talks about the $550,000 grant that went to Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties. Those areas are National Forests. Mexican Drug Cartels are known to use illegal pesticides like DDT that have been banned in our country and have a devastating, negative effect on the environment poisoning water resources and wildlife. They also create a very dangerous situation for any hunters who may mistakingly come across the marijuana grows because the growers typically carry machine guns. Fish and Game has plenty of pictures to show the devastation as they typically spend thousands of dollars to clean up the mess.

    • Daveholio

      Yup. The solution to get rid of these illegal Cartel grows is to legalize it. Only a small fraction of these grows are actually removed. Continuing to throw money at these futile eradication efforts won’t accomplish a darn thing other than wasting public funds that could instead be put to good use.

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  • Guest

    Is it still wrong to call cops pigs?

  • Leekoepfli

    Yet in the money handling industry of Wall St. There is the cry for less regulation for keeping the ‘mafia’ from pilfering your hard earned money while they gamble with it.
    Organised crime is alive and well as a way of living for so many legal but corrupt businesses

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  • alan8

    So they keep persecuting marijuana users not because of any REAL reason: THESE BASTARDS DO IT FOR THE MONEY!

    Just like the wars: People are dying and our Treasury is drained SO THE RICH BASTARDS THAT OWN THE “DEFENSE” INDUSTRIES CAN MAKE MORE MONEY!

    “Corruption” is too light a term for this travesty! It continues because of pig politicians that vote for it.

    You can often identify a pig politician solely by their irrational hostility to marijuana. Even if they change their vote to reflect the current polls in favor of marijuana legalization, if they voted against marijuana ANYTIME in the past, they’re likely PIGS that will be working against you once in office!

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  • As public servants (ha ha) the police should be barred from funding lobbyists to oppose citizen legislation as there is a direct conflict of interest in instances of this sort. Police unions should be abolished as should all public service unions be it Federal, State or county. There is no accountability to the public when a union can strike for benefits that the funding agency cannot afford. It is
    just another form of extortion. Union’s in the private sector are reasonable because they must compete against non union competitors who operate as a deterent against unreasonable demands by unions, but there is no similar competition against a public service union and they are out of hand, recieving far more then the taxpaying private sector workers .

  • Yep… The science behind the official position is BS too. Redoing the research repeatedly (17 times) before one gets the desired results it not science, it’s marketing. The the final study references were done by a “think tank” in DC. Makes one wonder what kind of pharmaceutical drugs those in the think tank were on while they were “thinking”? Tell me who is High here?

  • Cletus

    I was on the phone with a rep from OtterBox last night.

    At the end of the conversation she asked “Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”.

    I responded “Yes. You’re in Colorado, right?”.

    To which, she replied “Yes, sir, I am.”.

    “Well then, you can vote ‘Yes’ on Legalize2012 for me” I told her…

  • If marijuanna gave it’s user the uncontrollable urge to go and buy big ticket item’s on credit, it would have been legal decades ago. It doesn’t. It makes it’s user want to sit on the sofa or in a park and be content with all things. The only commercial need it creates is for snack chips & fast food.

    Legalize it already, the war on drugs has been a massive failure.

    http://therantboard.com

  • It’s amazing, this simple gentle weed has become a lightning rod for hate, vitriol, corruption, and destruction. One in seven inmates is incarcerated for pot, even though it is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and may be one of the most effective medicines on the planet. It’s simply amazing, and speaks to the mental illness of our species.

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  • Duane Grindstaff

    Don’t forget the legalized theft of property & money they call, “drug forfeiture”. If they were really concerned about drug crimes, asset forfeiture laws would apply equally to the most dangerous drug crime of Drunk Driving, and they’d get these guys off the road by seizing their cars. Trouble is, drunk drivers often have money, or would be able to publicize how their property had been seized without so much as a charge, and the citizenry would rise up against forfeiture laws, which are OK, as long as it happens to “somebody else”.

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  • justaflathead

    Think of the money being made off putting people behind bars for growing a couple plants for their own use… send them to college instead.

  • Lil Sonny Girl

    One of the reasons these greedy corporations and money-driven lobbyist keep winning is that when people read some of the write-before-you-think comments here, it helps support the argument that people who smoke pot are all ignorant. I know for a fact there are many, many intelligent people who smoke pot – and they try to disassociate themselves from the ignorant ones (like the ones who post some of the stupid stuff below), which makes us all look like we’re brain dead. Please people, can we keep it focused and constructive and stop making the argument FOR our enemies? We have a real battle to win and all that dumb behavior just makes it harder than it has to be.

  • Bishopron

    Bishop Ron Allen, and International Faith Based Coalition supports the efforts of any and all who are willing to stand up and help keep our youth, young adults and communities safe and off drugs. To think for one seconds that our great officers and lobbyists are in this fight to make money lets me know that the effects of marijuana is still dangerous. ” the inmates are truly running the asylum”

    IFBC agrees with, and supports John Lovell’s statement, “the last thing we need is yet another mind-altering substance to be legalized.” especially in the under serve communities. The IFBC vows to continue to fight for our children to have a safe and
    drug free world to live in. Those of you who are addicted to Marijuana, oh well, you need rehab and maybe,just maybe your minds will be cleared enough to see how really crazy your thoughts are!

    • Belada01

      You sir are so unbelievably ignorant.

    • Wow, are you stupid or what?

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  • McQ

    He’s making money out of all the people who are killed in the war on drugs. Look at the slaughter in Mexico.

  • Conservative estimates note that over 100,000 people die every year (EVERY YEAR) from properly taken and prescribed precription medications. This does not begin to include the statistical data pertaining to abuse of the same.

    Number of documented deaths attributed to marijuana overdose EVER: zero, zip, nada.

    Marijuana has natural attributes that effectively treat a variety of diseases, without negative side effects, but provides insufficient opportunity for pharmaceutical corporations to profit at the level they are currently enjoying. One could make the observation their intention may not be to heal but rather to slowly exacerbate an illness to maximize profit. It’s a good business model for shareholders.

    We repeatedly release from prison violent sex offenders and make room for non violent drug offenders.

    The numbers above don’t require a rocket scientist for interpretation.

    Finally…how has it become acceptable in this country that we have legitimized the exorbitant pay for lobbyists, when their job is by function and definition to manipulate and bribe our lawmakers?! How is it even LEGAL for our alleged civil servants to participate as a lobbyist upon leaving office or to to business with the same?!

    It’s always about money and power, and the related corruption to obtain more of both. It sure as heck isn’t about anything remotely related to common sense or health.

    How sad it is that this become our “normal”.

  • keeganjette

    common enemy between everybody?

  • Raelian_angelo

    Redirect drug war monies to positive health and safety issues… or better yet, redirect the money, effort, and time into recreation programs. Society needs greater and more diverse recreation opportunity. Make the world a better place.

  • javier torres

    O.K. Let’s look at this thing with a little truth and intelligence. The American taxpayer IS the employer of Public Servants, not the other way around. THEY work for US! So, why are they afforded security staff, fancy, expensive, GAS-GUZZLING cars, un-deserved titles like “Secretary of…”, and live like Kings and Queens? Even those at the bottom of this “power chain” like dog-catchers and meter-readers think they are special simply because they wear a uniform. We have tried voting. We have tried protesting. We AMERICAN’S have tried and tried to reason with our own government and they only act like savages. For smoking a PLANT – whatever reason medical or recreational, we get arrested, beaten, set-up, locked up, and will never escape the prison of being a “convict”. They KNOW Cannabis IS medicine. They know it’s healing properties and Marijuana is a natural, God Given blessing to Humanity and the Govt. insist they know better than God Almighty and act as such. So! What are we gonna do? We have tried everything imaginable, trying to reason with un-reasonable, egomaniacle monsters. Some of us will spend the rest of our lives in prison over a plant. Some of us will never find a REAL job due to a “criminal” record. Some of us will just go through hell because we choose to enjoy a smoke as opposed to a few Martinis. We have tried EVERYTHING to reason with our EMPLOYEES and have been shunned. There is only ONE thing left. I will leave it to your imagination what that one thing is.

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  • ralphwylie

    I am (was) a legal medicinal Cannabis user and I am still sought and persecuted for it here in San Diego. The law enforcement contingent has chosen to harass and close down store front medicinal Cannabis operations due to the, “It’s against Federal law” excuse. This just driven the whole operation into “Delivery Service Only” and back underground when patients are exposed to all the dangers of the criminal drug world. i.e. cartels and the meth and heroin heads. The truth is that is Cannabis were treated the same as say, alcohol the cops wouldn’t have the necessary criminals and money to stock their court and prison system machine. They would actually have to go after real criminals that aren’t as hard to find as us sick, crippled people that (used to ) frequent storefront shops. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel at a donut (cop) shop for LE.
    I couldn’t leave without saying thanks for all this to Barack Hussein Obama, Eric (Fast & Furious) Holder, and all the Law Enforcement that perpetuates this tyranny, you lying pieces of shit. May you all someday need medicine, (any medicine) and not be able to get it. My bet is that the law would change faster than you can say “Solyndra” if they did.

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  • another stoner@tumblr.com

    Theres more cash to be made if its legal! I’m gonna let you government tards that are probably reading this in on a little secret….. Ready………… You need to keep it a secret………….YOU CAN TAX IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus the government are retards.

    • But taxing it only benefits the government and, in theory, the people. Keeping it illegal benefits the few. Also you don’t know how much tax would be generated, since it’s so easy to grow.

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  • A Free Society

    Get politics out of money and let the people live freely.

  • This man needs to be put in jail himself.Due to his crap people can not have cancer treatment that works to stop cancer.To me that is murder. Police union lobbyist John Lovell I hope you rote in hell for not letting my dad and sisters not have the curer for cancer.You know full will Hemp Oil is the curer cancer and the marijuana is not a gate way drug.Pain bills have that drug in them that marijuana is to be the gate way to so even if you was telling the truth How Gives a Rats Ass.John Lovell I hope like hell you get cancer the worst kind of it and die the nasty death of it.

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  • To bad, its so true.

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  • Educatedgraduated&broke

    I discovered marijuana about a year ago, until then I was a lot like this man. I hated potheads and even people who were pro-legalization. Why? I was ignorant, misinformed, and lied to. For most of my life I was told by(not by my parents mind you) schools and police officers. I never had suspected it was a conspiracy. I bought into it just like everyone else. I was blinded by propaganda and yellow journalism. Fortunately I woke up one day and wanted to know for myself why it was so bad to these people. I found out, through my experience, that they have no fucking idea what this stuff does to people. They say it makes problems worse, it doesn’t. They say it causes cancer, where’s the proof? They told me it kills people, where are the bodies? This substance was developed in nature for a reason, to produce oxygen. We as humans just figured out you can smoke it. Funny thing is, marijuana accounts for no deaths while tobacco accounts for deaths than rape, murder, genocide, disease, car accidents, and food poisoning COMBINED. I am a long-haired hippy

    • That and pretty much everything else they told you were lies too. Hope you are starting to realize that now.

  • Belkjon

    Prison guard unions gave money to Lovell? That strikes me as kind of fishy. Imo that seems like a conflict of interest. Job security perhaps? Keeping privatized, for profit prisons stocked full? Even though it isn’t illegal, that just doesn’t sit well with me.

  • Longing for Justice

    Many have been baffled by the fact that, although marijuana is demonstrably less harmful than alcohol, it’s prohibition has outlasted the alcohol prohibition by six decades. It seems unbelievable until you realize that hemp was the real target of the 1937 marijuana ban and one of the reasons it continues to be prohibited in spite of it’s great popularity and harmlessness. And, over the decades, huge self-perpetuating bureaucracies have formed to keep people in prison and continue the senseless war on drugs. Here’s a bit of history:

    http://hemp-ethanol.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

    Please sign this petition:

    http://www.change.org/petitions/the-u-s-house-of-representatives-the-u-s-senate-and-president-obama-legalizede-criminalize-industrial-hemp-nationwide?share_id=dAFzRQhTcc& 

    and ask your friends to sign.

    Many people don’t realize that the reason for the 1937 pot prohibition is not pot but hemp which competes with petroleum, nylon, wood pulp, cotton etc. Hemp was the real threat to big business and pot provided an excuse and battle cry which was picked up by generations of feeble-minded, jingoistic blow-hards. 4 generations of a grossly unfair law originally pushed by Shell, Mobil and Dupont. Everyone please readTHe Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herrer.

  • David Graves

    John Lovell, you worthless cowardly traitor PIG !!!! It’s PIGs like your sort that make me REGRET going to Vietnam for MY country … the enemy was here at home in the form of traitors like yourself !!!! Today, I STILL have cancer I got from your Dow Chemical’s Agent Orange in Nam and to this day I STILL have my RIGHTS denied (it’s unconstitutional, that’s why they had to have an amendment to criminalize booze) to the one herb that relieves the pain of the cancer drugs !! You’re “traitors” because you are giving “aid and comfort” to our enemy drug cartels by eliminating their ONLY competition here and, it has been a “war” declared by Nixon (another pig like yourself) and, like treason during “war time”, it’s capital offense and, although I’m against capital punishment, I’d love to be your executioner … eat worms you piece of worthless garbage !! It’s useless organisms like you that start wars in Iraq for your cowardly GREED … you’d better pray that you get your punishment here on earth because, I hate to think what God will do to you AFTER you die !!!!

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  • There is going to be another Revolution. History ALWAYS repeats it’s self. There is way to much corruption in this country. Our Politician are bought & paid for. This Government only works for people like this dick… John Lovell.

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  • Redboneben

    It has long been obvious that the attitude toward the enforcement of laws particularly those regarding pot are politically movitated. We live in a drug (legal and illegal) oriented society, that condones the use of chemical substances to constantly feel “good”. It is human nature that we are cyclic beings that must have negative sign wave fluctuations in our mood. We have educated our citizens that there is something available to ameliorate these normal emotions. Living in the greedy society we do there are unscrupulous money grabbers out there such as the mass media, Wall Street, politicians, manufactureers of alcohol, tobacco, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, police lobby, and most all consumable items fight to get in line for the all mighty dollar. I certainly do not condone the use of illegal drugs. What would help is a change in socialital attitude and expectation, but ALAS that will in all probability never occur.

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  • The government will not legalize pot because there is too much money in it. To many people have their hand in the “pot” to change the status quot. Vote out all incumbents and see what happens!

  • Sushi24girl

    Our God is the almighty dollar.

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  • CIA C’S U

    death to the new world pig empire

  • mick

    google Gary Webb ,read his stories ,read about the blowback he suffered.

    • DiablosBlanco

      Poor fucker should not be forgotten– he got his ass kicked for trying to tell the truth.

  • gordon_wagner

    The big deal about legal dope is that you can make oil, plastic, paint, textiles et cetera out of it — and dope seeds have all the amino acids humans need. It’s a remarkable plant. The intoxicating flowers are just a sideshow compared to the commercial and industrial value.

    • anona

      The medicinal value is as remarkable as the industrial value. Hint: smoking is the least effective way of attaining benefits outside getting high — which is still safer than getting drunk.

  • anona

    That figures. The power-mad, mean-as-a-rabid-dog cops who make a living from the people whom they are busting (busting their heads too) for petty offenses (sometimes non-offenses) are lobbying to keep a beneficial herb/plant illegal for their own gain.

    Come-on! they can’t keep waging a war on you if anything is legalized– you who dare call this land of the free home of the brave!?!

    Plus, how do they plant pot on someone to make a bust if it’s no longer a schedule 1 drug (same as heroin –laughable if it weren’t so tragic).

  • bajajoes

    Here is a preview of the future: Cannabis will be in a small cannister like asthmatic inhalers, then when needed you just take X-number of hits to get the desired effects. Drug Mfgr’s are you reading this? It’s already in the works all thats needed is FEDERAL OK!

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  • S_Baldrick

    When will these model-T fossil humans die and let som new ideas take over?

  • This sort of thing is inevitable when the state grows beyond its bounds and begins to limit personal freedoms. There are rents to be made for those involved, so it is virtually impossible for the disinterested majority to stop it.

    • TehGBear

      That is exactly what they want us to think. There are a lot of us that beg to differ, and history agrees. The key word there that adds a note of veracity to your statement; ‘disinterested’ ~~ however this community is very engaged in the process of ending prohibition. It is important to note that the practice of governing people with full respect for their rights actually works. Humans as a species simply do not thrive under oppression. As individuals and as a society, mutual respect and compassion are essential. People like John Lovell have disregarded this fact as they attempt to practice wholesale oppression.

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  • johnathan aluitious hempseed

    The raised bill 5389 an act to permit the palative use of marijuana just passed the Connecticut General Assembly Judiciary Commitee.

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  • Skip Roache

    US government; the best government money can buy…..

  • countryrd

    Thank you Mr. Lee Fang, we have to shine a light on this moldy dank corruption if it is ever going to be cleaned. People like John Lovell make fortunes off of the misery of millions and the only solution is exposure. Karma is real and it can be a bitch.

  • Robertlball44

    My name is Robert ball, I am 68 years old and have been smoking pot for 45 years, obviously b4 it was medically legal in CA . The dirty bastards in Sac and Wash. have no right to tell us what we can put into our bodies, what we may take out, nor who we may share them with and I am sick unto death of these useless bastards having to nerve to try. If those damn neo-con reps want to shrink the size if gubbiment let start by taking their noses out of our asses. They can have my bong when they pry my cold,dead fingers from around it

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  • This guy has nothing but cops as clients. Please call and email to tell him what a sellout he is.

    http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Lobbying/Firms/Detail.aspx?id=1147451&session=2009

  • wild will

    yes the drug companies better be shaken in there bootys, when its fully legalized…no need for many of there sideaffect ridden products…and our beloved law enforcement agencys once again working againest us. how rotten this american culture can be at times. people sitting in jail,broken familys just so lovell gets his retirement…hell rot in bad karma….

  • As the saying goes :

    You can fool some of the people all the time and and all the people some of the time .

    The truth comes out eventually .

  • lets keep ignoring prescription drugs and keep wasting money on harmless marijuana

  • Rick Evers

    Somebudy hit the nail on the head, kill one ya gota kill them all. Enough said on that matter. The other thing is Lovell better wake up and get a life, because it will come back at him and bite him in the ass enough said on that!! Rick Elvers

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  • Prohibition certainly didn’t work, and had to be repealed to make people safe from homemade stuff. Pot prohibition is equally stupid, but until I read this article I didn’t know it was so tied to the profits of the police and drug companies. What needs to be prohibited is tobacco, which does a great deal more harm and kills far more people than the equivalent amount of marijuana.

  • Healingheart

    I was raised by an alcoholic and let met tell you that I wish he has smoked weed instead. Maybe he wouldn’t have been such a vicious dick as a parent. I wish PTSD from him did not require THC to keep the nightmares away

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  • SamWax

    Police unions should be abolished. People who use weapons in their line of work should not be allowed to unionize. It’s just that simple…. Sorry.

    • Blake

      why?

      • a bit revolutionary/ahead of his time, i suppose, and also a bit un-american, by which i mean, UNFORTUNATELY, guns are here to stay, for at least the foreseeable forever, but i agree, in principle.

        i also agree, in principle, that we should have flying cars, or at least jet-packs by now.

        basically, what america needs is a time out. america needs to go sit in the corner and not come back until it’s gotten it’s game together, in principle.

        since these things will never happen because of all the dinosaurs we’ve allowed to wedge themselves behind the wheel, whats the alternative? i’m of the opinion that this thing is crumbling all around us, and the above identified dinosaurs have no idea how to stop it, much less can we expect them to do some quick thinking and patch it up before it’s too late. there’s no technological advance on the horizon that’ll save us, and if you think JC is gonna straighten us out, i sure hope you’re not in charge of anything important.

        i’m saying we should embrace the collapse. it’ll be a fun time, as long as nobody gets out of hand…which, of course will happen, by then we’ll probably have a new opinion of the NDAA once the collapse get’s real deep.

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  • Cely

    Just want to point out that Prop. 19 did not pass due to lack of votes. While the bill gained overwhelming support in polls, it seems that 40% of California registered voters decided to simply stay at home on election day. Also, polling results may not take whether a person is registered to vote or not into account. So, until the people get out and vote and give clear depictions of what the majority of people living in the country (not just the people that currently vote) want. It’s absurd that this failed to pass simply because people that supported it didn’t vote at all.

    • Cely

      *****So, until the people get out and vote and give clear depictions of what the majority of people living in the country (not just the people that currently vote) want, this country’s policies are going to be unsatisfying for a lot of citizens.

  • armchairactivist

    So, its all about money, eh? Well, if that were truly the case, marijuana would have been legal long ago, but in reality, it is more about just money. DAMN the alcoholic representatives, and congresspeople that are too damned blinded by the alcohol, drug, prison, and police agencies and companies, and their silly Unions that line the pockets of these so-called politicians to keep Marijuana Illegal… I don’t think it took this long to end alcohol prohibition, so why can’t these dumb-assed politicians show that they aren’t influenced by these lobbyists, and do the right thing, by making the right decision for America, AND it’s Citizens, in their personal “pursuit of HAPPINESS?!?!”

  • robhood

    The real reason you can’t smoke pot is because it is part of the hemp family. If pot is legalized, hemp is legalized, and most of America’s industries can’t compete with hemp products! We’re talking industries from chemical companies like Dow, Monsanto, Bayer, etc. to the forest industry to pharmaceutical companies to clothing to energy etc. They all have billions invested in equipment and factories that a legalized hemp industry would bankrupt!

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  • story of our lives! if its not drugs they’re going to find ways to get rich of us some other way….

  • I used to work in the prison system in Connecticut. Far too many good men were stuck away for pot. We had a cancer patient! He needed to be home with his family and getting adequate medical care. And pot too. It can help. There were so many families who had been impacted; dad takes the rap for mom, or grandma. Dad goes away and the family looses the house. It is heartbreaking.
    Police may need unions to be safe and take care of their needs as enforcers of laws and protectors. As PUBLIC SERVANTS. Maybe its time to fine tune the union-thing. Get back to taking care of people.

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  • If you profit off the War on Drugs which is based on a lie that marijuana has no medical value then you are a WAR CRIMINAL. You are not a righteous person who knows better than the dumb pot smokers. You are the harm to the society. You take tax payers and place them in prison. You prevent citizens from recieving life saving medicine. You break up families and steal future tax dollars from society.

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  • Jonchurchville

    Why don’t we just replace the non-violent offenders with the corrupt officials, and the bribers; it would probably be an even exchange.

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  • SonnyK

    The War On Drugs has always been about money and it will continue to be as long as all the sheeple blindly buy into the “Reefer Madness” propoganda. Sheeple need to wake up and wake up SOON!

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  • Lastrealindian

    I am a heavy equipment operator, and, I went through a four year apprenticeship to become a “Journeyman Operator”, familiar with and able to
    To do this, I joined the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local #627a in Oklahoma City. All the operators, iron workers, laborers, finishers, carpenters and all other various union members of all the “Contruction, Building and Trades” were “trained” “PROFESSIONALS” which “I” worked with and alongside. I’ve worked non-union before joining the union and “I” damn sure know who the professionals really are.
    In the 1980’s I got pissed at my local because they were “demanding” EVERY Operator, and their families, to march in the “Sal Lewinski”? “March”… in some country overseas protests, and I refused to be associated with Communists. Not a single one of my business agents would talk to me for a long damn time. I’ve been on the pro and con side of the union politics, and I disagree with having “ANY” connection with ANY of these leftie/progressive/COMMUNIST radicals!
    In my own opinion, I absolutely disagree with giving the POWER of unionizing any local, state, or, federal unions. Hell, that would be like the entire United States Military unionizing!
    THINK ABOUT THAT!!!

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  • David Haugland

    This is another example of the real terrorism taking place in our country! Pure greed and corruption! The American people are continually being victimized by smokescreen after smokescreen of greedy self serving agendas that mock our rights and freedoms and do nothing but line the pockets of liars and thieves! We have been told the real terrorists are from the Middle East when all along they have been right here fleecing us of our money, jobs, property, rights, and freedoms.

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  • Hollieann

    John Lovell,

         I find it hard to believe that you sleep well at night. The fact that you are capitalizing on human suffering is despicable. Real people are trying to live free and utilize a great natural resource from the earth. If you think it’s your right to impose your beliefs on everyone else, you are mistaken.
    Many people would try and say they hate you for the lobbing you do, I don’t hate you, I feel sorry for you. I think you are wrong and I know you are wrong. You need to let the people decide what is good for them; and what is good for them is not to be in prison for a plant that has many uses. What is good for the people is not one person’s self interest. You don’t like marijuana, fine. Then don’t use it.
    I ask you as a fellow human being to reconsider your place in the world. If you are a god fearing man, consider that god made the earth for everyone not for you to spin and oppress. Consider that others are suffering and that what you do makes them criminals for using a god given gift to ease their suffering.

    – A concerned citizen for future generations.

  • Rick Elvers

    The morons we have in place in congress are collage idiots. a lot of them don’t read the english language or even understand it. Vote them out of office.!! republican’s alike, if you don’t like it or the men your party has nominated to run,don’t be idiots, don’t vote for them

  • what sick individuals to make others suffer….

  • anyone have the goods on lobbyists in VA?

  • does anyone know of a lobbying campaign that’s been abandoned, i mean, a law was changed in spite of lobbyist opposition?
    what’d be the best place to figure something like that out? possible here http://rootstrikers.org/ but that’s where you should all be joined up now. anyway, any ideas?

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  • Laxmaxdude1

    As a lobbyist I feel the need to point out that it’s not us getting rich off of this, it is those that we lobby on behalf of. And no, I don’t lobby on this issue.

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  • Simon

    I’ve just read through this and a very similar article on this same site, and these arguments are a very clear ad hominem fallacy and many of the people that make them have their own biases regarding the matter. Don’t get me wrong, these lobbyists are scum; manipulating laws for personal gain is reprehensible. My point is that their flagrant self interest does not mean that cannabis should be legalised. I’m an occasional user myself because, guilty, I fucking like it. I used to smoke 24/7 though, and it fucked my life up no end, because like so many others I was an irresponsible kid with no self control or sense of personal accountability. The dangerous thing about weed is that it makes you feel so bearably comfortable in whatever shitty little rut you’ve gotten yourself into that it can completely rob you of your desire to actually make your life better – not always, some people don’t get so heavily into it that they can’t function in the real world and some go off around the world doing all kinds of cool shit whilst still getting baked all the time, and that works for them so more power to them. A whole lot though (of my old crowd, anyway) just stay at home getting high and killing time; I know these people well and they’re fucking miserable, but they’d never admit that it’s all their own doing and all they’ve got to do is maybe not toke up in the morning and actually go out and fucking make the things that they want happen instead of bitching that they don’t just magically come to pass. And when you’re a kid, like we all were when we started, you can’t see what the big deal is; you’ve just got to carry on doing shit and get high as well, right? Well see how much of the motivation you’ve got to do that shit after 5-10 years of just being stoned all day every day. Because why the fuck would anyone want to have to deal with the real world when you can just hide in your warm fuzzy weed blanket, if that was an option?
    Then you’ve got mental illness. I don’t care whatever bullshit studies High Times can drag up, it fucking happens, a lot, and reliable clinical trials will prove this. I shouldn’t even have to argue this point, it’s fact.
    And that’s why I oppose legalisation of cannabis. I agree that since almost everyone (in my school literally every single person in my year group by the time I left) has tried it and it is totally victimless there’s nothing morally wrong with smoking it and it doesn’t make you a “criminal”, but without prohibition laws there is no way of reducing the supply. In the UK it takes some serious doing to get in any trouble for possession anyway, I’ve been busted a shitload of times and it’s generally just naughty-boys-hand-it-over-slap-on-the-wrist, and I don’t see any problem with that.
    ^^^^^^That up there though isn’t the war on drugs. That’s just what happens if your government doesn’t protect you from private interests. The war on drugs is a whole different kettle of fish that I would not defend for a heartbeat – but then I wouldn’t defend the way your country enforces drug laws anyway. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need drug laws.
    WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN??!!!1??!ONE!??!

    • In many surveys, kids say it’s easier to get pot than alcohol. So legalizing pot could result in less kids smoking pot. I’ve never smoked pot but I do drink alcohol occasionally. I have some friends who clearly have issues with alcohol. Should we outlaw alcohol because some people can’t handle it? That worked so well during Prohibition!

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  • Simon

    The comments on this article are a cesspool of flame.
    Thank god there’s such tireless moderators painstakingly ignoring all that shit and censoring any well structured arguments that disagree with the article; I almost formed my own opinion for a moment there.
    How’s the weather up there on the moral high ground?

  • Simon

    PS I’ll say it again;
    Ad hominem fallacy.

  • Simon

    People like you are why western governments feel justified in dismissing anything that liberal protest groups say, any why voters condone that sort of behaviour to the extent of actually becoming incensed with the “liberal media” and dismiss you as corrupt liars – you’re no better than fox news, reporting only one side of a story using the sole means of attacking your opponents on a personal level and completely blacking out any opposing views. I wonder how many anti censorship articles there are on this site, as well.
    God damned dishonest hypocritical scumbags. If you’re so sure you’re right then make a balanced argument in favour of it, instead of undermining your own opinions. But you don’t care about that, do you, you’d rather just tell a bunch of braying morons what they want to hear so they shout even louder, and the powers that be just get themselves some better earplugs and use your readers as a case in point that anyone who opposes them is fucking retarded.
    PS just read your “about” section. Lol.
    (to anyone who reads this in the ten minute window before it gets deleted, I’m referring to my previous comments that were all censored due to containing conflicting views about the issue and pointing out the clearly fallacious reasoning in this and another very similar article)

  • Simon

    I hope you feel really good about yourself.

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  • Esegrapp7

    la prohibicion de marihuana coincide con la ingenuidad de cada persona, yo puedo tomar cocaina , marihuana, lcd, o lo que quiera, y siempre tengo el control de mi mismo.

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    http:///www.calculateforfee.com

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  • 3furtados

    I have an easy practical solution, so bear with. Suppose people understood that hemp and marijuana could be used for almost everything but that requiring a metal. Most people here know about Santos and his GMO fertilizer dependent crops that hybridize other legit non-GMO crops rendering the next generation of seed sterile and or illegal. Then these crops are subsidized when it seems to be the number one ingredient in all edible items available to US consumers. I wonder how long till the next dust bowl? Oh, the least healthy foods are the most subsidized. The destruction of the Mississippi Delta, yea that was cool. The cost of the DEA, unnecessary police, plundering under the name of the law and for profit prisons. Illegal drug trade even messes with other economies receiving the profit. Because, Joe gets his business out done by money laundering operations that don’t need to take out loans to get started. The oil companies surly don’t wan’t to loose their subsidies. Anti-inflammatory drugs try an all natural and delicious alternative that can be taken in almost any dose. Could you imagine people without inflammation. They might actually be happy. Fact of matter, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Money holders, who are mostly men use this for instinctual desires and secondarily for the sake of their own subconscious meanderings. That’s bad. If we can gain a public consensus that pot can fix sociopolitical gridlock we couldn’t have candidates of office that oppose legalization. Focus people on the one thing that fixes everything. Sorry, for I am not educated and this is a terrible rant. Though I believe maybe I am right. I was hoping somebody who is smarter than I might take my rant and turn it into undeniable logic for the masses. Keep it concise and spread it far and wide as possible.

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  • Kenny

    I believe if it were put to a vote; say during a national election; all 50 states would elect to legalize marijuana.

  • Esegrapp7

    well, its seems very difficult here in uruguay , to buy a real good pot, we have to improve ourselves having some plants, but in winter it comes the dry times again, and we have no place to find this. the marihuana that sell here is very bad. the bastards mix the female and the male plant, they (lo prensan) and is a really shit, of thaste and the effect that every pot smoker wanna have.
    have a good day.

  • Tnellbog

    creep..get a real job.. work your ass off and break your back. You may feel differently! Jerk!

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  • lora

    Calling all local doctors and priests, especially the youth pastors: PLEASE JOIN THE QUEST for truth in health and religion and legalize it.

  • bennyboy

    END CORPOATE PERSONHOOD. until that happens, NOTHING HAPPENS. Not in regards to Cannabis, energy, pollution, global warming etc. UNTIL THAT IS DONE

  • lora

    This will go down in history as pure corruption. Survival of the rich white conservatives and their soul mates made easy by one law against a PLANT! How IGNORANT and our children will figure it out sooner or later.

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  • Barbara Ruiz

    I know it’s an impossible idea but why not stop electing people who are rich and come from congress. This year I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say all the candidates are undesirable and no one fits the bill. It’s not just the notion that everybody cannot be pleased it simply seems like far too many people are displeased. Are we simply picking the smartest idiot? Elections are nothing but a popularity contest, the more money you have the more likely you’ll win because you can “advertise” and all that. Besides all that, I like what you’re saying, it’s well backed up and easily convincing but what are your sources? You are a source but you had to do some digging from somewhere yourself. This is part of a much larger problem, we don’t look into the information we receive and take it as absolute truth, simply because we know we’re not qualified and someone else certainly sounds qualified. I’m looking at these election commercials and and honestly disgusted, they’re contradicting and they twist words. It’s glamored playground bickering to me. I could go on an on but my thoughts are all out of order, I really wanted to use this for a paper but a bibliography for this will be difficult. I tried checking out you’re info page, not any more helpful but hey good luck on the upcoming book release

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  • sackup

    except you can smoke pot…just do it. boo hoo we can’t smoke weed outside of Starbucks or in front of a cop, doesn’t mean you can’t blaze til your hearts contempt. golly gee corporations and the government handle everything so well let’s let them control our weed too.
    they’re doing whatever THEY want so just do whatever YOU want

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  • nedmorlef

    cops would lose the majority of their “probable cause” if ,they couldn’t ride around and sniff for weed.

  • Mr. Red

    So I’ve been poking around the money trail of our government and while some smaller unions and lobbiests contribute to the power of those at the top. The real power plays are coming from the energy companies. Big oil is keeping us all down and have been at the expense of the planet for rough fly 100 years. There is a device I would like you to educate yourself on its call a “GRAVITATOR”. Its earliest appearance in use full science wasn’t until the 1950’s when the true potential was seen. However the first discovery was made in 1912. Several metal plates and an electrical charge similar to one of those weird glass globes where the electricity will shoot toward your palm when u touch it, and bingo near endless propultion energy. Put it on a generater and it will crank out power until the bearing give out. No fuel no pollution! I suspect posting this around the web will get me in some trouble but I’m done sitting on the knowledge that true world freedom from needing these government and big business idiots is so close, but kept out of reach by secret government agencies. Everyone I know who has made one of these devices has either been threatened or “dissapeared”. If this is the last you here of this tech, assume the same has happened to me. Tomorrow I start construction on my own. And I will not be silenced! If you can, fight for this in the future. It won’t. E easy to wrestle power away from these people and you are kidding yourself if you think they won’t kill to keep this a secret. But driving these people from their seats of power is the only way thing will ever change. They have all the money, and the game is rigged! Learn for you self ” GRAVITATOR”

  • Pretty sickening this whole thing if you ask me. Cannabis is a gift. It’s fuel, food, clothing, housing, ten times stronger than steel. We aren’t using it, and it’s demonized FOR A REASON. Honestly. What other plant, can get you HIGH AS A KITE, be used to make you a “leather” jacket that’s stronger than leather, be used to make a house, be used to make A CAR, (first car, model T look it up), and then be used to fuel that car, and you can fucking eat it and it’s soooooo healthy for you, AND IT STOPS CANCER I MEAN COME ON PEOPLE? This shit sounds like some plant from a movie like Avatar or something. And we’re just acting like it either doesn’t exist or that it’s evil. Our society is terminally ill. And we’re shunning the cure.

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  • The Marajuana fight is not over whether it should be legal, but who gets the money for it. In the mean time, the sheep..uh..er.. people will believe anything they read or here that comes from the press who simply want to drag it out because its good for the news industry. Also, Who gets to monopolize the market first, makes the most money.

  • truetomyself

    This is just one of many reasons why nobody trusts the police.

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  • King donko

    Cops can spend more time in the bad ghettos cracking down on crack and H!!!!! they can still get their grants. dios mio man

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  • Never see this done as the law makers are corrupt.

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  • medcannabis1

    This is the true crime… nothing more than criminal enterprise under the guise of public policy. Shame upon all of us….. for not demanding an end to this needless persecution of the sick and dying .
    We are not criminals.. we are your bothers and sisters , your fellow church members , and we do not deserve to be jailed for using this healing plant.

    Listen to the words of the dying pleading for safe access to medical cannabis and then ask this lobbyist and the prohibitionist’s WHY DO YOU CAUSE SO MUCH SUFFERING? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4el6EGqcUw

  • Alex

    Another scumbag feeding the greed machine, no surprise there, and of course cops are right at the center of it as always, no matter how bad crime gets it seems that cops are always just a bit more corrupt then anyone else.

  • David Weaver

    Help get marijuana legal in Indiana. http://inorml.com

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  • AW856

    Several of your links don’t work. How can I verify your statistics?

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  • sean

    Just wait until they let a rapist out of jail to make room for a pothead, and he attacks someone you love. I would wager that you might care then haters. How many die or have their lives destroyed each year by alcohol and scrips??? Until we have small business owners, moms and dads, artists, scientists and other people that actually contribute to society making the decisions for this country, we are destined to consume each other.

  • Richard Elvers

    why in the hell don’t they listen to Dr. Gupta I have a seizure problem and the pills the Dr.s give me backed up my kidney no more pills I smoke marijuana for seizure control. so you people out there get real”. last one was 1983

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  • Manohar Singh Aakeli’B’

    you can come back and play here at some point. I’m sure it would be a well attended show

    Lehenga sarees

  • David Asher

    This will never end until we put them in the jails they built for us.

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  • Sean Reynolds

    So effectively US police have become like the Janissary Guard of Lebanon, or the German brownshirts after WWI – guys just looking for a job who’ll rough anyone up who gets in the way of their sinecure…

    • Sonny Kalabum

      Pretty much the same. History teaches the greedy how to improve on a profitable concept but sadly, the victims in History never learn. They keep getting taken time and time again. And those who do see what’s really going on (us) get reduced to town crier. What’s that old saying about those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat history?

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