The War On Common Sense: Cannabis in America

"D.A.R.E. to stay off drugs!"
"Drug use is life abuse!"
"Mary Jane ruins the brain!"
"Just say no!"

We've all heard the slogans, seen the reasons, and witnessed the propaganda against drug use.  Generally speaking, the reasons are valid.  After all, drugs like methadone, cocaine, and black-tar heroin have been irrefutably proven to be extremely addictive and horrendously damaging.  But have you ever wondered why marijuana seems to be the poster child for most anti-drug ads?  It gets lumped in with black-tar heroin and all the other hard drugs so people can easily dismiss it as "bad," but have you looked into the facts behind cannabis?  What you find there might interest you.

Industrial hemp cannot get you high and has vastly untapped uses: Food, fuel, clothes, paper, building materials...Because almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum can also be made from hemp, there are more than 25,000 known uses for this plant.  One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or 2 acres of cotton.  It could essentially solve our food, energy, deforestation, and trade deficit problems, grows easily, and is much less damaging to the environment than industrial cotton.  In spite of all this, hemp was made illegal along with cannabis.

In 2002, the US Government Accountability Office was forced to admit cannabis use successfully treats AIDS, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, anorexia, cachexia, cancer, Crohn's disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, migraines, multiple sclerosis, nausea, pain, spasticity, and wasting syndrome.  There is strong anecdotal evidence that suggests marijuana can successfully treat far more diseases, but adequate research has not yet been done.  It could replace every expensive pill from Advil to Vicodin and beyond.  Despite these findings, cannabis remains classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic by the DEA, which means it has "no currently accepted medical use in the United States."  Much like hemp, it grows easily with negligent (if not positive) impacts on the environment.

There have been several studies conducted on the addictiveness of cannabis when compared to other commonly used substances.  In order from most to least addictive, the results were: Heroin, cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and marijuana.  A primary indicator of whether or not a substance is addictive is the withdrawal symptoms suffered after quitting.  While it is not common, alcohol withdrawal has been known to cause death.  The most difficult withdrawal symptom of quitting cannabis is a moderate to severe mental desire to get high.  Interestingly enough, every year in America:

• 443,000 people die as a direct result of smoking cigarettes
• 98,000 people die as a direct result of preventable medical errors
• 75,000 people die as a direct result of drinking alcohol
• 38,000 people die as a direct result of prescription drug overdose
• 0 people die as a direct result of using cannabis: Historically, there has not been a single recorded death that was directly attributed to marijuana

Any time you think of the pitfalls of smoking marijuana, one "fact" inevitably comes to mind: Smoking marijuana kills brain cells and makes you dumb.  What you may not know is there was only ever one study done that "proved" this to be the case.  In this study, they placed a sealed gas mask on monkeys, then filled the mask with nothing but marijuana smoke.  As a result, the monkeys started to suffocate.  As you might imagine, one of the first side effects of a lack of oxygen to the brain is cell death.  Subsequent studies have shown marijuana to stimulate brain cell growth and activity, but these studies are not given the light of media attention.

Despite the mountains of factual evidence demonstrating the benefits and disproving the dangers of cannabis, it remains illegal in America.

Did you know that in America, the prison industry is largely privatized?

Let that sink in for a minute.

This means there are wealthy business owners all across America that stand to make money from your incarceration.  In fact, the average yearly revenue for the industry is $1.7 billion.  This helps to explain why America, which accounts for only 5% of the world population, has 25% of the world's prisoners.  Of these prisoners, about half are in prison on non-violent drug charges.

Here's the icing on the cake: There have recently been cases of police mistakenly invading the wrong home for drugs.  In one case, a 61-year old man in Tennessee attempted to defend himself and his wife against an apparent home invasion and was shot to death by police.  The officers involved have been declared "not at fault" by their supervisors and were placed on paid administrative leave.

As asinine as all this seems, there is an easy explanation: Billionaires want to remain billionaires.  If hemp is allowed to compete in the industry or cannabis is decriminalized, some very rich corporations stand to lose a lot of money.  The top 5 interest groups lobbying to keep hemp and cannabis illegal are as follows: Police unions, private prisons, alcohol and beer companies, pharmaceutical corporations, and prison guard unions.  And of course, dealers don't want cannabis legalized either for the same reasons: Money and power.

Don't get me wrong: Marijuana can absolutely be abused.  But so can cigarettes, alcohol, exercising, pornography, and cheeseburgers.  It's time we started blaming the abuser, not the herb.

The War on Drugs has been waged in the name of profit with unspeakable collateral damage to individual Liberty.  It is insane, it is expensive, and it should be brought to an immediate end.

Want to learn more?  The best documentary I have found on the matter is called The Union: The Business Behind Getting High, and can be viewed in its entirety on Netflix or Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT-UIe7l3-Q

The Rising Police State

There is a growing beast in our midst.  It is biding its time until circumstances are right to overtake the people of this country.  This beast reared its ugly head in the city of Watertown shortly after the 2013 Boston Marathon.  It has made quick and quiet appearances in major cities all across the country to perform exercises as if rehearsing for some future event.  It harbors an ever-growing insanity that is so far-fetched, most people are not able to comprehend what it could mean for them.  This monster is the growing police state in America.  And it's coming to a city near you.

Are you ready to see police with military-grade tactics and equipment on the streets of your hometown?  Will it make you feel safe to see an "officer" aiming his fully-automatic assault weapon at you from the top of his APC, as in the above photo?  During the lockdown of Watertown, police in military-grade gear went door to door, openly violating residents' 4th Amendment Rights in their search for the alleged Boston Bomber.  Currently, it is "legal" for police to search your home without a warrant if it is in the interest of "public safety."   It has become the norm in American society to completely push the Constitution aside any time circumstances call for it.  This selective disregard is eroding the validity of the law.  It is unacceptable, and should not be allowed to continue.  Watertown is just one example of the militarization and growing police state in the United States:

• Ongoing: DHS purchasing billions of rounds of ammunition (could currently put 5 rounds into every American), thousands of assault weapons and armored vehicles for use domestically.  Most of the ammunition purchased is hollow point, which is not only more expensive than full metal jacket rounds, but also illegal in the theater of war due to the damage it causes.  Weapons and vehicles are being distributed to police departments across the country.
• 4/5/13: Americans who refuse to submit to unconstitutional police activity labeled as "Soverign citizens;" police train to "handle" these citizens as domestic terrorists
• 4/29/13: Police conduct unannounced "shooter drill" at Oregon school; teachers and students only learn this is a drill after shooters open fire with blanks
• 5/14/13: Pentagon grants authority to U.S. military to police American cities without requiring prior local consent or Presidential directive
• 5/14/13: Police with no warrant break into home of couple who did not want or need them there.  They were both tazed into submission, all due to a report of a "domestic disturbance"
• 6/5/14: New York bill in the works to make it a felony, punishable by 4 years in prison, to "annoy" a cop
• 6/7/13: LAPD counter-terrorism unit conducts live drill on closed off city streets
• 6/12/13: IRS agents now training with AR-15 rifles
• 6/13/13: Secret Service invades home of Obama critic, apparently because he had large Twitter following and had made anti-Obama tweets
• 7/1/13: College minor arrested for buying bottled water after six plain-clothed officers storm her car, thinking she had bought alcohol.  In her panic to escape the apparent attack, her vehicle grazed an officer; she was charged with assault and evading police
• 7/1/13: Ohio police set up fake checkpoint; drivers who turn around before check are pulled over using the fact they turned around as probable cause
• 7/1/13: Hawthorne, CA police arrest man for filming him (a legal activity), then shoot his dog for trying to protect its owner.  Pay attention to this one: The officer lunges at the dog 3 times to get it to lunge back, then kills it
• 7/3/13: DHS conducts "terrorism drill" in major transportation hubs across the country; random bag searches are conducted
• 7/3/13: Henderson, NV police accused of violating Third Amendment for arresting homeowner who would not allow them to occupy his home to gain "strategic advantage" over neighbor
• 7/11/13: UK man dies after being tased by police
• 8/2/13: Police storm an animal shelter and kill a previously injured baby deer who was set to be released back into the wild the next day
• 8/5/13: Police in riot gear storm a retirement home and kill a 95-year old World War II veteran in a walker with tasers and bean bag rounds because he refused to undergo life-threatening surgery

These examples go on and on, and will continue to do so.  Meanwhile, as untold funds are spent on the insane goal of militarizing an ever-increasing state of police tyranny, a woman in Oregon calls 911 during a home invasion attempt.  She is told by the dispatcher that "because of budget cuts," there is not an officer available to assist.  The woman's home is subsequently invaded, and she is raped.

At this rate, it will soon be completely against the law to stand on your God-given, Constitutionally-enforced rights.  The phrase "Might Makes Right" comes to mind when looking at the trends.  It's time to wake up and smell the tyranny while it is still within our power to put a stop to it.

So what can you do?  More than ever, now is the time to reach out to your local law enforcement officers and anybody you know in the military.  Ask the hard questions: "What would you do if an order came down from Washington to confiscate all firearms and any stocked up food, water, and medical supplies?  Do you understand what the reasons behind such an order would be?  How would disarming law-abiding citizens make them any safer?"  We must wake up the members of the enforcement arm of the government and instill in them the necessary will to look their Commanding Officer in the eye and say "No" to an unjust order.  Once again, it's up to us.