Convince me kerry is an improvement re: the drugs war.

[sweetheart]

It appears that he is a criminalization hardass based on what i've grok'ed of his past. So, if he takes the primary, he wants me, a regular cannabis smoker to vote *FOR* him, when he spends my taxes to try to take away my civil liberties and put me in prison.

Am i missing something here? Please tell me i am. This is not to bash kerry, just to give him a bowshot of what he's gonna face if he really intends to unite the party. If he won't vote for me, why should i vote for him? Are you saying prison will be better under him than under *? Wow, thats comforting... not.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. dude I smoke as much as anyone

Believe me, Kerry is not going to be busting cancer survivors and AIDS patients for growing weed.

And with the upcoming budget problems, it wouldn't shock me if the money for the war on drugs is a lot smaller in the future.

[sweetheart]

9. Thanks man

I was getting a real bad chill... i've been a terrorist enemy of the state evil cannabis drugs fuckup for too many decades now, and i'm really tired of being paranoid of my own frikking government.

If you trust him, then i trust you, its cool.

I realize its hard to message to some potential voters this kinda thing while not saying anything publicially... so invisible trust is reeally a difficult platform to vote on.

peace,
-s

[Virgil]

21. The Schedule One Lie

Well, first cannabis should be legal. If they were serious about reducing the harms of substance abuse, cannabis would be legal. The first prohibition required a Constitutional Amendment, but now they just ignore that detail. It failed and they passed another amendment ending it. Cannabis Prohibition failed and they keep going on. Just a small detail.

Free Cannabis would help with the alcohol problem that warranted the Constitutional Amendment in the first place. There you take a big problem and make it less. You also break contact with the black market representative that has a financial interested in getting you hooked on something that is addictive and more profitable. I could speak of Holland, but it bores me. It would end people taking harsher recreational experiences because cannabis is the ideal substance for getting caught with a drug test. It would also end the onerous laws and the black market experience/prices that are the worst part of being a cannabist. It would end second class citizenship for a victimless act and restore dignity to people that harm no one. It would usher in better delivery devices and vaporizers would spread to help with the 442,000 people that tobacco themselves to death in the US every year.

I am willing to stand by this statement. The most immediate act to reduce the harms of substance abuse and present policy is too legalize cannabis. Think on that.

So that is why all the raids and all the research being blocked on cannabis is all the worse. It should be legal. I am the person that coined the term Schedule One Lie. I could explain it but Dr. Russo will be explaining the "Myth of Schedule 1" in Vancouver on Sunday.

I am going to say that the Schedule 1 classification of cannabis is not a misclassification. It is a vicious and malicious lie in order to preserve a total prohibition of anything cannabis. Cannabis Prohibition is absurd. Just look at banning hemp. In Washington and Jefferson grew it and now they would seize their plantations. If you do not see it as absurd, it does not bother me that you do not agree. It is your problem. But in the Schedule One Lie we see how vicious the USG can be to preserve total prohibition. A Schedule 2 classification would have allowed for research that could have alleviated much pain and believe this or not, prevented cancer.

They would rather halt science and commit mass murder by a sin of omission than give up total prohibition. The thing is it is crumbling as no one that knows better buys the lie. I know the rheotoric. I am also the one that says the Schedule One Lie is defended by a stonewall. It has no reason. It just has chanters that say "Marijuana has no medical value."

Just because you do not know it is a lie that is protected by a huge disinformational campaign that started when the leading expert witness testified that he smoked cannabis and turned into a bat in order to get the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. It would take 42 years to be declared unconstitutional and that meant that it was unconstitutional from its inception. We have Timothy Leary to thank for that.

I wrote Edwards because he is my Senator and told him I would not be voting for him because if he did not have sense enough to decide something as simple as removing cannabis- and not just cannabis but every single cannabinoid and any substance that binds with a CB1 or CB2 receptor is a Schedule 1 narcotic which is absolutely insanity to infinity because I could eat it like popcorn and only get nutrition- that his judgement was not worth having to decide anything.

Now remember, I know it is a lie. Just because you don't, doesn't mean it is not. I could go on, but here is something I want you to read I wrote today.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18267.shtml#36

Now at the bottom of that it will take you to where they are making drug warrior cards as a take off of the cards they distributed in Iraq. The idea for the cards by the way was my idea. There will be drug warrior cards coming. There is a fight for freedom on. There is a fight to end the corruption of the drug wars going on. I with that you would understand that and join in the cause of freedom.

Now I am going to say that Kerry is a drug warrior because there is a drug war going on and he has been voted for policy that has continued it his whole tenure in the Senate. The cause of harm reduction treats substance abuse as a health issue and not as a criminal justice problem that requires militarization. You may have doubt that Kerry is a drug warrior, but I do not. And so is Lieberman and so is Edwards.

Please go and read my link. We have been lied to our whole lives and on Sunday the USG will spend taxpayer money to demonize the solution to the drunks that will fund CBS for the Superbowl. As I often say, it is all upside down. Read that link really. The issue is bigger than Kerry or Edwards.

[girl gone mad]

2. when the popular opinion pendulum on marijuana use..

finally swings to decriminalization, you can bet Kerry will be your man!

[Virgil]

24. Legalization and regulation are demanded

Reform efforts will only get louder across the world to turn to a harm reduction strategy. With cannabis that means legalization. Legalization is the only best solution. There is an issue of freedom involved here if you can get that billion dollars over the last 5 years out of your head.

[fabius]

3. Al Giordano supports Kerry

of http:\\www.bigleftoutside.com

so he can't be all bad on drug issues. Al of Narco News. Also the "toke" motions at the campaign party.

Don't know much about actual positions. Everybody including Kucinich runs scared of "drug war" issues.

[eridani]

22. Crap--Kucinich is four-square AGAINST the drug war

and is ths only candidate to use the term 'prison-industrial complex' on his website.

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/marijuana_decrim.php

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/drugwar.php

[Virgil]

23. Where is that recommendation

There is a lot of stuff up there. Where exactly is the recommendation?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. Maybe you are thinking of someone else.

What does this mean: "It appears that he is a criminalization hardass based on what i've grok'ed of his past. " ?


Really, what are you talking about?

[sweetheart]

8. i just read a website

with links to other websites off of GD somewhere i can't relocate.

It said that kerry's drugs war advisor was the guy who created teh drugs-terrorism linkage in columbia and that kerry stood for hard core criminalization... here... i found it again. http://mysite.verizon.net/aahpat/kerr.htm

I realize that misinformation is normal, which is why i'm asking people who might actually support the man.

I trust y'all more than i do any websites.

I realize he can't publically say anything, and perhaps looking like a hardass is better for winning, i can respect that... but it gives me the willies. geesh.

peace,
-s

[Feanorcurufinwe]

11. Well that is nothing but misinformation, indeed.

Take the phony guilt-by-association charge -- what is Kerry charged with here? Listening to terrorism advice from someone whose views have been characterized a certain way by the writer of the article? It's meaningless. Judge Kerry by his words and actions, not by some innuendo written by someone who is hostile to him for who knows what motive.

I can tell you that Kerry has been a very strong and consistent opponent of mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Here you can find the report on Kerry by Granite Staters for Medical Marijuna: http://www.granitestaters.com/guide/kerry.html

you can compare to other candidates at that site as well.

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. oh...one of Kerry's favorite bands

Is the Grateful Dead.

If that means anything.

[Old and In the Way]

17. really?

Goddam, another reason to elect him the next President of the United States.

The man has great musical tastes to boot!

:-)

[corporatewhore]

6. you should check out NORMLs pres cannidate report carrd

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5895 he scores better dean

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. judging by that Kerry supports Medical marijuana use

And I think if he had a Dem congress he's probably push for decriminalization. But at least he's not opposed to it.

[tinanator]

30. Its not up to the Dems or Kerry

Its up to the NUMBER ONE LOBBY in WDC. And the pharmaceuticals are NEVER gonna let that shit fly.

[nightperson]

10. NORML gives Kerry a better rating than Dean!

Awesome! Take that to your next Phish show! Yet another illusion crumbles! Dean is harsh on the kind! Smoke the Vote! :hippie: :bounce: :smoke: :hippie: :bounce: :smoke:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. Cool, thanks for the link, I didn't know about that. n/t

[girl gone mad]

16. They gave him..

a neutral on decriminalization based on statements he made to Rolling Stone magazine. They should know better than that.

He'll be another Clinton, IMO. In other words, he'll do nothing about the issue for 4 or 8 years and then complain when he gets out of office that he should have done something.

[sandnsea]

13. Why would you think that?

I honestly think in alot of ways he's more libertarian, some shit just isn't worth the time people waste thinking about it. Get on to the stuff that HAS to be fixed and get there in a hurry.

Now drug smuggling that funds terrorism, that's a different story. He knows how bad that is, even if some people around here don't. But you and your pot, he could care less.

But he does have to get elected.

[sweetheart]

14. i read some misinformation

in a link posted further up this thread.

Drugs criminalization funds terrorism. THe drugs war is a subsidy to organized crime. If Mr. Kerry wants to take down the bad guy, its on capital hill, nowhere else.

Please don't misinterpret my bitching. Obviously i'm timidly looking at potentially having to vote for Mr. Kerry, as Dennis Kucinich is polling slightly less than Kerry and may lose to him. Given that, i've been prompted by forces unseen to dip my toe in the pool and scream "its cold"" oooh.. noooo!!! :)

Say nice things to me. It'll work better.

[sandnsea]

15. I'm trying!!!

I'm asking you to separate here from there. This country is never going to agree to just make all drugs legal. That isn't reality and you have to start there.

So you have to try to move towards changing the drug laws so that they're fair and to move towards treatment instead of prison. He has said he'll do that. He's voted against mandatory sentencing in order to allow judges to keep their options open and not fill up prisons.

But we have to keep working on there. We can't just ignore drugs and gun smuggling that funds terrorism while we're trying to fix drug addiction here.

That's the reality we're in, I don't see how we can pick a candidate based on anything but the reality we find ourselves in. I sincerely believe he's the best on drug policy of any of the candidates. It's just a sense I've gotten when I've seen him talking with people about it.

[bread_and_roses]

31. Never?

Never is a long time. I am quite sure there were people who thought women would "never" get the vote, etc.

We have to keep up this fight. It nothing but a tool for oppression and has nothing to do with the welfare of people anywhere.

That said, I cannot make it a make or break issue on elections, since none of them have the courage to tell the whole truth. DK comes closest; Kerry seems no worse than average.

[Old and In the Way]

18. I forget where, but I read that he considered potsmokers are pretty low

priority when he was a DA. I have no doubt that Kerry will not be carrying on this ridiculous "war on drugs". I suspect that the fiscal mess that Bush and CO have created will require a whole new honest dialog about cost/benefits of furthering a war on harmless pot smokers.

[MajorFlaw]

19. The war on drugs

Simple economics: make something legal and you create a market; make something illegal and you create a *big* market. The war on drugs has only driven up the price and caused crimes committed by addicts to fund their habit. Oh, and did I mention our own organized crime. Make everything legal and they're out of business.
Kerry admitted smoking dope in Vietnam, and he didn't apologize for it. What more do you want.

[sweetheart]

25. We missed you... and Welcome to DU.

on the legallize marijuana thread in general discussion....

Welcome to DU, MajorFlaw. Its a pleasure to hear
your voice.

:)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. Hey, check this out from the Rolling Stone interview

You have talked in the past of smoking pot when you returned from Vietnam. What do you think of the way the pot laws are prosecuted today?

We have never had a legitimate War on Drugs in the United States, ever, and we won't until we have treatment on demand for addiction and until you have full drug education in our schools. The mandatory-minimum-sentencing structure of our country is funneling people into jail who have no business being there.

And every year, the number of people arrested for marijuana offenses goes up.

I've met plenty of people in my lifetime who've used marijuana and who I would not qualify as serious addicts -- who use about the same amount as some people drink beer or wine or have a cocktail. I don't get too excited by any of that.

Would you favor decriminalization?

No, not quite. What we did in the prosecutor's office was have a sort of unspoken approach to marijuana that was almost effectively decriminalization. We just didn't bother with small-time use. It doesn't rise to the level of nuisance, even. And what we were after was people dealing with heroin and destroying lives, and people who were killing people. That's where you need to focus.

http://www.rollingstone.com/features/nationalaffairs/featuregen.asp?pid=2454

[sweetheart]

26. cool.

Ok, my toe is in the pool.

Mr. Kerry impresses me with his talk on special interests controlling the hill. I don't know his fiscal thinking, but i presume he knows how to balance his bloody chequebook.

Sounds like he's an all around decent guy, and a hero to boot.

I'd like to hear his open invitation speech (or perhaps read it on his website) that speach that invites the supporters of other candidates to his party, and welcomes them.

Like in 2000, the danger of the splintering left is alive and well, geesh, its a global danger from france to germany to britain where the left is several parties... and here, keeping the whole bundle together with chewing gum and bailing wire.

They say that the most successful churches assign old-timers to "welcome" each new visiter at least twice to the church, and that this radically changes the likelyhood of a later visit and staying around. Now that Sentor Kerry is frontrunner, this exercise of getting the new layers of the snowball to stick to the inner core is critical.

Of course they know this.... i am gonna go around and dig for that "welcome newcomers" on kerrys campaign website right now.

[IndianaGreen]

27. Kerry supports Plan Colombia

The Left has had heartburn with Bill Clinton and his Plan Colombia since its inception.

Kerry supports Plan Colombia, a program which is really a counter-insurgency program under the guise of drug interdiction.

Kerry supports Plan Colombia, a program which has used a new version of Agent Orange on crops and livestock in Colombia resulting in increased birth defects miscarriages among humans and animals.

Kerry supports Plan Colombia, which nothing but another racist colonial war against the indigenous people of the region.

Kerry supports Plan Colombia, which supports the European blooded Colombian elites against the legitimate struggle for liberation of the peasants and workers of Colombia, who are also people of color.

POISON, PARTNERSHIPS AND OIL

Currently there are 3.6 million addicts in the US who do not have access to drug treatment; yet the percentage of the anti-drug budget that is used for treatment has fallen from 60% during the Nixon era to 18% today. A widely-cited study by the RAND corporation has found that treatment is 23 times more effective than eradication and 11 times more effective than interdiction in reducing drug use. So why are we spending over a billion dollars to fight a losing battle in Colombia rather than on making real progress with treatment at home?

Probably because in politics the drive for power and profits tend to override common sense, and because the US involvement in Colombia isn't really about drugs at all. After all, the corporations producing chemical and genetically-modified biological herbicides (as discussed in part one of this special update) aren't the only ones who have lobbied in favor of increased funding for (and are profiting from) US involvement in Colombia. Starting in 1996, a group of corporations formed the US-Colombia Business Partnership in order to promote their financial interests in Colombia. The partnership --made up of several multi-national corporations, including BP Amoco, Colgate-Palmolive, the Occidental Petroleum Corporation, the Enron Corporation, and others-- has been lobbying Congress and pushing Clinton's $1.3 billion aid package since its inception.

So while Occidental's Vice President for Public Affairs is complaining that the drug trade in Colombia is "certainly disruptive of any normal business relationship", Occidental is just one of several oil companies that has been employing drug-funded paramilitary groups to forcibly remove Colombia's indigenous populations from potentially oil-rich lands. The paramilitaries have also been relied upon to combat guerrilla forces who --in an ongoing effort to expel foreign investors from Colombia and to re-nationalize Colombia's natural resources-- have been bombing oil pipelines.

http://www.stopplancolombia.nl/economische%20belangen/econbelangen_5.html

[sweetheart]

28. That columbia agent orange thingie

The war on the people of columbia is exactly the kinda crap that pisses me off about the drugs war... and i am sick to death, that taxes i've paid have been used in a criminal war against poor people.

Were that same money used (combined with an end to the war) towards building infrastructure and goodwill, i would be wholly more impressed with men who claim to be worthy of government.

That said, in looking at Mr. Kerry myself, i'm now on to lesser evils, and not looking directly at the pure light of Mr. Kucinich's wise policies. And that said, WE MUST WIN in 2004, and ABB.

If Kerry can do the job, and if he keeps the momentum, then we'll have a chance to end plan columbia by de-funding it once he's in office.

[IndianaGreen]

29. The point is that we will have to have mass demonstrations against Kerry

when he is in the White House as we did against Bush. Kerry is keeping PATRIOT, and he may well keep the "first amendment zones." From the point of view of a demonstrator, there wouldn't be any difference between Bush and Kerry insofar the Bill of Rights is concerned.

Replacing Ashcroft with Mother Teresa would only be a change in personnel if the same repressive post-9/11 laws are allowed to remain on the books.