It is far more likely that Mr. Hoffman died of an accidental overdose than suicide. If it was suicide then the drugs are a moot point, there are many ways to commit suicide without drugs. But assuming it was an accidental overdose, then our society and the Drug Enforcement Agency are far more to blame for blocking Hoffman and countless others from getting the safe legal drug treatment they need. Most overdose deaths are simply a matter of the user mistaking the purity and strength of the drug they are taking. This could be easily avoided if Doctors were able to prescribe pharmaceutically pure versions of the drugs used in a controlled manner.
The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) must allow the AMA
(American Medical Association) to be in charge of the 'drug issue' by
giving doctors access to these drugs for treatment purposes.
If
the FDA reschedules coca, poppy and pot and derivatives, so that
doctors have access to these drugs for treatment to addicts, then we
will save many innocent lives and be able to make quick progress towards deflating the South
American and Afghanistan drug empires.
Also, with the present prohibition we are
dooming our civilization by empowering Drug Lords like Arab Kings. The
Drug War funnels money to the underworld and is the
funding mechanism for major terrorism and rogue government leaders.
Our confused policies have been a cancer on all of the Americas
for decades. We must change, Philip Seymour Hoffman could be alive today.
http://DrugLawZ.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Obama nudges the ball forward on marijuana
WASHINGTON POST-George Zornick
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/01/20/obama-nudges-the-ball-forward-on-marijuana/
In an interview with the New Yorker released on Sunday, President Obama made perhaps the strongest endorsement by any sitting president on relaxed marijuana laws. Pushed by interviewer David Remnick, Obama acknowledged that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol in its effect on consumers. He also noted the obvious racial and economic disparities in enforcement of marijuana laws. “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he said. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.”
In fact, the president backhandedly came close to endorsing outright
legalization of the drug for recreational purposes, by offering a
modified endorsement of new laws in Colorado and Washington that do
exactly that:
But the moment was still significant in several ways. In context of the United States’ long-running and highly problematic war on drugs, it is quite notable to have a president come out and say that marijuana isn’t nearly as harmful as it is often made out to be and to back serious changes in the legal regime governing the drug.
Obama is correct about the racial disparities at work here: The American Civil Liberties Union issued a report last year finding that African Americans are four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana, despite similar rates of use.
The White House’s record is somewhat checkered on this issue. On the one hand, early in Obama’s time in office, his administration stepped up federal crackdowns on marijuana producers sanctioned by state law, a move that was highly criticized by reformers. However, Attorney General Eric Holder recently took steps to relax federal prosecution of marijuana offenses and said the Justice Department won’t challenge new state laws on marijuana. Obama’s comments may reflect a real evolution in his approach to drug policy, and one that may have long-lasting effects.
But there is, of course, also a political angle here. Whether he meant to or not, Obama was positioning himself and his party on the correct side of an issue that many Democrats feel could reap serious political rewards in the coming months and years.
For example, in Florida, strategists on both sides of the gubernatorial race there believe a statewide referendum to legalize some marijuana use could tilt the contest to Democrats. Republicans have filed a legal challenge to keep it off the ballot, because they openly admit it may bring young people and minorities — traditional Democratic voters — to the polls in unusually high numbers. “It’s an issue that the Democrats can use to pump up the youth vote,” Alex Patton, a Republican political consultant told Bloomberg Businessweek. “The politics of it are dangerous for the GOP.”
And Florida isn’t the only place marijuana will be on the ballot this year. At least four other states will put the issue before voters, and people outside those areas are no doubt following the evolving debate closely.
Polls have shown recent spikes in support for legalized marijuana. Gallup found 58 percent of Americans favor legalization, and other surveys show majorities also share Obama’s view that the drug is not physically or mentally harmful. I have no idea if Obama’s remarks were a calculated move, but his party’s prospects this fall seem likely to improve as a result.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/01/20/obama-nudges-the-ball-forward-on-marijuana/
In an interview with the New Yorker released on Sunday, President Obama made perhaps the strongest endorsement by any sitting president on relaxed marijuana laws. Pushed by interviewer David Remnick, Obama acknowledged that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol in its effect on consumers. He also noted the obvious racial and economic disparities in enforcement of marijuana laws. “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he said. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.”
A fully budded marijuana plant. (Reuters)
Accordingly, he said of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington that “it’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.”Obama circled back around and noted the new laws in both states could be “a challenge” because of the potential for legalization of other, harder types of drugs. He also noted he has advised his daughters not to smoke marijuana. So it wasn’t an outright endorsement.
But the moment was still significant in several ways. In context of the United States’ long-running and highly problematic war on drugs, it is quite notable to have a president come out and say that marijuana isn’t nearly as harmful as it is often made out to be and to back serious changes in the legal regime governing the drug.
Obama is correct about the racial disparities at work here: The American Civil Liberties Union issued a report last year finding that African Americans are four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana, despite similar rates of use.
The White House’s record is somewhat checkered on this issue. On the one hand, early in Obama’s time in office, his administration stepped up federal crackdowns on marijuana producers sanctioned by state law, a move that was highly criticized by reformers. However, Attorney General Eric Holder recently took steps to relax federal prosecution of marijuana offenses and said the Justice Department won’t challenge new state laws on marijuana. Obama’s comments may reflect a real evolution in his approach to drug policy, and one that may have long-lasting effects.
But there is, of course, also a political angle here. Whether he meant to or not, Obama was positioning himself and his party on the correct side of an issue that many Democrats feel could reap serious political rewards in the coming months and years.
For example, in Florida, strategists on both sides of the gubernatorial race there believe a statewide referendum to legalize some marijuana use could tilt the contest to Democrats. Republicans have filed a legal challenge to keep it off the ballot, because they openly admit it may bring young people and minorities — traditional Democratic voters — to the polls in unusually high numbers. “It’s an issue that the Democrats can use to pump up the youth vote,” Alex Patton, a Republican political consultant told Bloomberg Businessweek. “The politics of it are dangerous for the GOP.”
And Florida isn’t the only place marijuana will be on the ballot this year. At least four other states will put the issue before voters, and people outside those areas are no doubt following the evolving debate closely.
Polls have shown recent spikes in support for legalized marijuana. Gallup found 58 percent of Americans favor legalization, and other surveys show majorities also share Obama’s view that the drug is not physically or mentally harmful. I have no idea if Obama’s remarks were a calculated move, but his party’s prospects this fall seem likely to improve as a result.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Colorado Rocky Mountain High
In a recent NYT* column David Brooks tries to pour bong-water all over the happy people in Colorado and nationwide who are celebrating the melting of the Drug War iceberg that has, not just kept people away from the fun of marijuana use, but has in fact decimated lives and corrupted and practically bankrupted our criminal justice system for almost fifty years!
Brooks really phoned this one in. Legalization is not 'encouragement' Mr. Brooks. Society is not encouraging people to smoke cigarettes are we? Of course not. We keep them legal to avoid a criminal underground from prospering and we use tax revenue to promote 'not smoking cigarettes' and help pay for the sickness caused by their use.
The entire war on drugs and especially marijuana represent the most tragic self-inflicted wound in American history. It has torn the fabric of US society (and all of the Americas for that fact) more than did the 13 years of prohibition and even more than the Civil War, since it has gone on for decades longer (and unlike that cause, the 'bad guys' here were our own government, not to mention that it has re-ignited racial tensions that had begun to be smoothed out.
Worst of all, Brooks doesn't even attempt to justify his pot use as a young adult accompanied by his never fighting to at least stop imprisonment for something he looks back on having done as merely childish. Brooks is one spoiled white writer!
http://ChipShirley.Com/
*http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/opinion/brooks-weed-been-there-done-that.html?_r=0
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Pot is Legal in Alaska...
...for personal use.
Marijuana is and has been for decades LEGAL in Alaska, yes, the state that elected Palin Governor legalizes Pot. You can even grow it for personal consumption! Read it!
http://norml.org/laws/item/alaska-penalties
Marijuana is and has been for decades LEGAL in Alaska, yes, the state that elected Palin Governor legalizes Pot. You can even grow it for personal consumption! Read it!
http://norml.org/laws/item/alaska-penalties
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
How to stop violence and to stop people from wanting to be violent.
That is the question.
There is a motive behind every crime, even suicide, or homicidal suicide and too there is a solution to even the most complex security dilemma,
We can do infinitely more to help people who are so depressed that they want to die and they want the whole world to die. Money can do a lot of good things, but we need more of it.
It is also the case that every tragedy has a price-tag solution on its head. There are doable security measures that would have stopped every one of these mass killings, including 9-11.
The fact is We Can Do it, but Will We?
There is a motive behind every crime, even suicide, or homicidal suicide and too there is a solution to even the most complex security dilemma,
We can do infinitely more to help people who are so depressed that they want to die and they want the whole world to die. Money can do a lot of good things, but we need more of it.
It is also the case that every tragedy has a price-tag solution on its head. There are doable security measures that would have stopped every one of these mass killings, including 9-11.
The fact is We Can Do it, but Will We?
Legalize Pot Stop the Killing
It's
not that the Navy Yard Shooter would not have committed this terrible
crime if he were smoking pot (although that is HIGHLY likely) but he
would have lived in a far more peaceful non-violent society which would
have comforted him in his personal agony.
http://DrugLawZ.blogspot.com/
http://DrugLawZ.blogspot.com/
Monday, September 16, 2013
A Bazooka and an Ounce of Weed
GIVE GUN LOBBYISTS WHAT THEY WANT AND TAKE WEED OUT OF THE PICTURE AND YOU SOLVE CRIME IN THE USA.
GUN OWNERS MAY OWN A BAZOOKA (BUT NOT CARRY) AND POT USERS CAN HAVE AN OUNCE OF WEED (BUT NOT CARRY).
PROBLEM SOLVED. AMERICA (THE CONTINENT) GETS BACK TO NORMAL.
THE GUNS ARE AVAILABLE, THE POT IS AVAILABLE. LET'S PUT THE GUN LAWS ON POT.
A BAZOOKA AND AN OUNCE OF WEED. THAT'S THE LAW IN ALASKA NOW! CHECK IT OUT! http://norml.org/laws/item/alaska-penalties
http://DrugLawZ.blogspot.com/
GUN OWNERS MAY OWN A BAZOOKA (BUT NOT CARRY) AND POT USERS CAN HAVE AN OUNCE OF WEED (BUT NOT CARRY).
PROBLEM SOLVED. AMERICA (THE CONTINENT) GETS BACK TO NORMAL.
THE GUNS ARE AVAILABLE, THE POT IS AVAILABLE. LET'S PUT THE GUN LAWS ON POT.
A BAZOOKA AND AN OUNCE OF WEED. THAT'S THE LAW IN ALASKA NOW! CHECK IT OUT! http://norml.org/laws/item/alaska-penalties
http://DrugLawZ.blogspot.com/
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