Anyone See The Irony Here?
You’ve probably read the story about an estimated 10,000 people gathered on the University of Colorado’s Norlin Quadrangle Sunday, puffing joints till the air turned blue. University police stood by to maintain order, but no one was busted for smoking pot.
In the meantime, the DEA is staunchly defending its policy against American farmers legally growing industrial hemp, citing the law that says all hemp is marijuana.
How’s your war on drugs coming along, anyway, DEA? The sun is shining, and if you’d pull your heads out, you’d see it. Pot is here, lots of it available, if this number of people can show up and get loaded on just one day in one city and no one is arrested.
Where did these pot-heads get their stuff, it surely didn’t come out of a couple of bags, and there was apparently enough to go around to get some 10,000 heads high. How many more smoke-outs were held on April 20th, the annual, internationally recognized celebration of marijuana? How many tons of pot went puff?
Now I’m not in favor of marijuana, primarily because of its affect on the lungs. Pot heads will tell you there’s no danger, but the cigarette companies told us that decades ago, and a lot of us are dying of COPD everyday.
My point here is that while these young people are getting loaded on an illegal drug in public as cops stand by, two farmers in North Dakota are trying desperately to legally grow industrial hemp. Their fight is now in Federal Appeals Court, hoping to overturn a lower court’s decision upholding the DEA’s position.
You can read more about the campaign to legalize industrial hemp cultivation in the U.S. at Vote Hemp.
Farmers in Vermont are ramping up their efforts to the the government to allow farmers there to grow hemp, and other states have passed, or are considering legislation to change the law.
Currently before congress is H.R. 1009, (PDF) the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007″
Why have legal hemp? It’s one of the most useful plants on earth. It’s been cultivated for thousands of years and used for everything from food and medicine to clothing and automobile parts. It’s grown legally in many countries, except in the US, so to take advantage of the many products made from hemp, we must import them.
So what can we do to get the government to change it’s position on hemp? Do you think it will ever change?
Source: Daily Camera
Breathe Mother Nature, Breathe
UPDATE: We’re so pleased that so many of you are chiming in on this topic, and have created a discussion forum for this topic. Come by, and continue to chime in…
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Max Lindberg
My home state is Illinois, and my hometown a little railroad/farming community named Galesburg.We lived on a small farm during my high school years and I became very aware of nature and it's wonders. I loved the out of doors, working with animals, plowing fields and harvesting crops. Those were very good years.After a stint in the Army during the Korean war my broadcasting career took off at the local radio station, a 250 watt "teapot" as it was called in those days. My first job was as an engineer, then the ham came out and I became an announcer/newsman, graduating after several years to a larger market and a stint as a TV journalist/photographer. Cold, wet weather led me to the southwest where I've lived for most of the last 40 years, with a couple of years out to have fun working as a private investigator in San Francisco, and a few years working in Las Vegas hotels and casinos. In all, its been a real ride.After retiring a few years back I became fascinated with the efforts being made to find alternative energy sources. I've watched our environment deteriorate during my lifetime, and now it's my chance to join the chorus of intelligent and caring individuals making a difference one day at a time.
122 Responses to 10,000 Pot Smokers Have Marijuana Smoke-Out While DEA Says No To Industrial Hemp
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marijuana should be legalized, if you think about it more than 500 people get busted and arrested for selling and or smoking it. if you think about it it was legalized there would be less crimes then there is now, the only thing wrong with it, is the fact there are people are still sitting in jail or prison for that but that’s the only thing that would be wrong with legalizing it, honestly would you rather have a drunk ggo home and beat the hell out of his wife or girlfriend or have a stoner go home lay down and eat and fall asleep? over half of the wrecks that go on is because people getting drunk and not realizing what’s going on. here’s an example- after somebody leaves the bar and goes home their most likely not paying attention and are going to hit a car, but if a stoner gets behind the wheel the only reason they wouldn’t get home is because of getting stopped for going to slow, yes there has been people fall asleep behind the wheel and crashed but that rarely happens. so think about why they legalized alcohol, and why they haven’t legalized marijuana
I love how many people mention God. You country was not founded on Christian belief I suggest you read the diaries of your founding fathers and their thoughts on that matter! Pot makes you dumb is something I read all the time on the internet but the sad reality is that THC rewires your brain to actually make you better at things like problem solving not to mention how creative it makes you. FACT. If people bothered to do an ounce (no pun intended) of research on the subject they are so against they would understand in books I might add, but they don’t they read the endless webpages filled with other people opinions and call it fact, or they watch Reefer Madness and think its an accurate representation of what pot smokers do. Its kinda sad just to see how many people with no understanding or have never experienced it for themselves judge it. Yeah, all us stoners sit on our ass and do nothing… not. Thats totally from watching too much TV Cheech and Chong or Idle hands etc etc. Just because you were left out from it when you were at school doesn’t mean you can hold a prejudice against us now. One thing I know for sure is that pot will always be around and will always be smoked and if that annoys you then good at least it leaves more for me. So go out, learn the FACTS before you start shooting your mouth off. I know there will be countless people who read this and think I am all wrong to you I say.. are you a dope smoker and are you in MENSA if your answer is no to any of those questions then your opinion is a useful as my cats on this matter.
exactly, if they really thought about it most singers and actors smoke, hell and most the people that smoke pot are the smartest people on earth, last year at school i went to school sober for a little bit and i was failing but then i got sick for about a month, but yet after i was, i went to school stoned and we had a test and it was over something i wasn’t there for and i aced it just because i was stoned, i passed because of being stoned, when i wasn’t i got an f on almost all my papers
I just got done using a hemp prophylactic.
its fun
yeh man ,
me travel alot and smoke alot of pot ….
i mean it is so funny that people still bothers to talk about this kind of shit , you smoke good for you you dont good for you too … i mean just find your plesures in your time here in this planet … we have only one life … so peace and love no more fighting
yes man
ziller
Hey yeah btw weed doesn’t hurt your lungs, it is true what the companies say but it makes you WAY MORE SENSITIVE to the smoke of cigarettes. Marijuana has never caused a death ON RECORD, IT IS A FACT. NO ONE DIES FROM MARIJUANA WHO DOES NOT SMOKE CIGARETTES. EVER. LOOK IT UP. However, someone who smokes marijuana is more liable to die of certain lung related diseases. Also, marijuana can give you short and long-term bronchitis if used very irresponsibly, but this cannot be lethal and is more like a constant sore throat. But I’m down with your hemp thing.
PEACE
It is true that inhaling SMOKE from anything burning is harmful to the airways. It causes tiny leasions and does cause damage that leads to many diseases. However, Marijauna is not smoked as often on a daily basis. For example, Even if you smoke Pot every day, Multiple times a day- It still does not equate the number of ciggarettes the average smoker consumes each day. You smoke Pot until you achieve your goal- Which is getting high. Ciggarettes are more frequently smoked throughout the day. Also, there are 11 known Chemical additives that are individually known to cause cancer. So on top of inhaling smoke which causes microscopic tears on your airways, your also inhaling multiple deadly cancer causing chemicals at the same time. But isn’t it funny how Ciggarettes are the only product available for public consumption that is NOT REQUIRED to provide an ingredients lable? Now WHY would you think that is???
WOULD LOVE TO DO THIS IN WASHINGTON DC! Like we use to do all the time in the 70′s and 80′s! maybe they will get the point. Could possibly accommadate a million plus people. and suggest April 20 to do it!
…a new study declared that Pot doesn’t cause lung cancer at all…if fact, they theorize that THC somehow PROTECTS You from the disease.
this article has made me feel so positive knowing that this was capable of being done in such an orderly manner. what a great step for the future.
Forget about the morons who want to kill americans, but who also supply high quality weed.
The best thing that could ever happen is to buy a bag of weed with a label stating “MADE in the USA”!!!!!
All we need to start with is the seeds. I think we’re set.
So all you folks with the DEA (I know you’re just doing your job) try to concentrate on the Meth and Cocaine and drugs that ARE a public threat!!!!
Leave WEED and WEED USERS and growers alone “PLEASE”!!!!
I believe that the reason farmers are having such difficulty legalizing hemp is because the pharmaceutical industry has a powerful lobby in Washington DC. They do not want the public to find an easy to grow, legal, potent pain killer. Although hemp used for materials isn’t very potent, it could be deliberately bred to become so. That makes even hemp a threat to a multi billion dollar industry that influences numerous Congressional Representatives. Big business owns our government. Common sense doesn’t matter.
What’s great about this event is that they reached a critical mass where they simply couldn’t be punished. Whatever you think about marijuana, you have to admire people organizing themselves into such a powerful group force that they essentially achieved immunity for a day.
The lesson here is that for any context & for any issue, if people organize themselves effectively, you can reach a critical mass that may enable you to take on problems that seem unchallengeable. Imagine if half the nation stopped paying the portion of their taxes that go to the Iraq & Afghanistan wars? Probably there are a lot of people who would like to see that happen but are scared to act alone. So the question is….how are we going to coordinate ourselves people?
sry, jst to clear sumtin up:
“Pot heads will tell you there’s no danger, but the cigarette companies told us that decades ago, and a lot of us are dying of COPD everyday.”
yes there is obviously lung damage taking place because of the ‘smoke’, but cigarette smoke is MUCH worse than marijuana smoke. marijuana is a plant. cigarettes have tobacco (yes, also a plant) but they’re also filled with hundreds of different chemicals, not to mention nicotine (to inflict addiction, (its impossible to get addicted to weed)) and TAR!!! and a lot of other harmful substances.
but i personally believe sumtin should be called a “crime” only if it inflicts pain onto OTHERS, not urself. who cares what u wanna do to urself, but you? it’s my body, i wanna do wat i want with it.
@Shaze: Very nicely put.
I, am an original Reefer Raider. We started the first California Marijuhana Initiative in Van Nuy’s, Ca. at Heads & Highs Shoppe.
Ed Adair, Capt’n Ed, and about seven of us began to solicit signatures for getting it on the ballot.
We succeeded. It was made legal, by popular vote but,the government decided that we, the people, do not have the ability to say what we want to use.
Funny, huh? A government that is supposed to be by, for, and of, the people does not care what we want or think. Do it anyway! Plant it! Smoke it! Eat it! Use it for anything you want, and tell the government to shove it. Demand the use of hemp in as many products as can be instead of oil,trees, man-made substances and much more.
It’s basically legal in California. There are pot stores all over LA. It’s called medical marijuana. Mostly comes from Humboldt. That doesn’t mean it’s cheap, tho.
Interesting to note that the disaster at Chernobyl was mitigated by growing Hemp on the affected land. The Hanford disaster in the US is still leaking radiactive waste into the Columbia river. It is truly time to end the hubris and make a positive change.
Perhaps if the government spent less time going after those who use hemp for economic purposes and more time going after those who commit atrocious war crimes for economic purposes, we’d have a safer world.
Hemp or marijuana will never be legalized because it is a threat to the oil companies. The seeds contain a high quality combustable oil. No other reason.
There’s something wonderful and human in SO MANY people coming together in an annual act of peaceable, generous anarchy. It happens, and it’s over. There’s no problem here.
Here are a few photo pages:
http://www.ThirdTablet.com/2008/CU-420/