Saturday September 8, 2007, 4:27 pm
Would legalization help our overcrowded prisons?

Saturday September 8, 2007, 8:17 pm
Hear hear!

Saturday September 8, 2007, 8:35 pm
legalzation would help the overcrowded prison problem, but it shuld be decriminalized not legal or illegal. The government should not be able to take away god given plants and herbs from the people and force them to use man's products that kill.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 8:58 pm
A message from Mary Hockett:

"I was given marijuanna when I was taking treatment for cancer in Bethesda in the early '70's (I was in the Navy at the time). I was in a trail with many others being observed with everything documented. The pot worked! I have since observed it has helped AIDS, MS, Parkinsons & many other debilatating diseases. Needless to say -- I am a very strong advocate in legalizing medical marijuana. It saddens me to think pharmaceutical companies & the government have made such an easy, inexpensive relief of pain & nausea to be unavailable for those who have little money and for those who are unable for whatever reason to take prescription drugs...
Oh well, I will keep trying -- writing my elected officials & lobbying. I know many disagree but as one who had been given relief, it is a crime to make it illegal for others who are in need."

I agree and she speaks the truth.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:20 pm
I knew a radiation therapist that would pull patients aside and whisper in their ear that marijuana would help them with the side effects of chemo and radiation. She also knew doctors who said they would secretly 'prescribe' or recommend marijuana to anorexic patients in an effort to encourage them to eat. There are serious benefits to marijuana, especially with critically ill patients. I only wish my grandmother could have had some to ease her painful battle with ovarian cancer...

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:23 pm
noted ty mary for forwarding :)

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:26 pm
You are so right Danielle. Thank you for sharing.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:32 pm
Dennis Kucinich on Marijuana Decriminalization: "The rationale for continuing this draconian policy of marijuana prohibition is unclear..."

By the People,
Because the media has their own agenda,
Dennis Kucinich for President.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:34 pm
I believe marijuana should me legalized for medical and recreational use also. It is unconstitutional to arrest a person just for possessing and using something in private

Saturday September 8, 2007, 9:39 pm
You're right Fran. What we do in our own homes is no one's business.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:31 pm
Hey...where's Tim Redfern? Why isn't Pot legal? Because there's no "MONEY" in it for "THEM" so they restrict it. They could care less if it "HELPS" anyone, because their "GREEDY" and only care about the "MONEY". They get plenty of the stuff from confiscating it from innocent people, so why should they care? The general public thinks its "BAD" because they have made it out to be "BAD" from their propaganda, when actually its one of the "BEST" plants on earth and been used for thousands and thousands of years for medicine and countless other things like rope. It should have never been criminalize in the first place and a 75 plus year cover-up ensued to make the public believe its "BAD". The longest lie ever told!!

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:36 pm
Have you not heard that we do not even have the right to do things in our home anymore without the gor=vernment sticking its nose into it. I believe that marijuana should at least be legal for nediciinal uses and have to agree with Kisha, that natural is better than the medicines that we are being poisoned with daily. There is too much government interference in personal our personal lives and not enough in matters of the many "police actions" we are involved throughout the world.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:38 pm
Two very dear friends died of cancer in the past couple of years. Both were prescribed Marinol and both were advised by their Oncologist to use the real thing if they could get it, as it, "works differently and so much better".

Additionally, my mother had M.S., She had a form called "galloping" as it progressed so fast, that initially, they thought it might be ALS. She did not live long.

To their memories I say, let the truth about marijuana be known and let it be made legal and available to all who could benefit from it. Shame on our government and the ignorant populace that refuses to allow this!

To my friend Mary, thank you for your testimony and efforts to legalize this.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:44 pm
Theres still people in prison for havimg one joint on them But they let the child molesters and rapist back out on the streets makes you sick. They need to legalize it and let all the ones who are in prison for one joint out. Love and Hugs Linda J and God Bless Our Troops

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:52 pm
Again, a medicine that works for people in pain and living with disease. I believe the reason it is not available for ones who need it is because the g0verment can not make a buck out of it..It seems to me that it is not about helping others, its about greed, the almighty buck!! I say if you want to smoke in the privacy of your own home. DO IT!!. When I was going through cancer with my Mom, I made sure she had everything and anything that could help her. I'm unsure if the agencys made it legal, would the price skyrocket? Would they tamper and twist it to make money? Isnt that what they do...Make it legal, make it affordable and make it accessible for anyone who is sick.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:52 pm
History
"Marijuana has been cultivated for thousands of years. Cannabis was first described for its therapeutic use in the first known Chinese pharmacopoeia, the Pen Ts'ao. (A pharmacopoeia is a book containing a list of medicinal drugs, and their descriptions of preparation and use.) Cannabis was called a "superior" herb by the Emperor Shen-Nung (2737–2697 B.C.), who is believed to have authored the work. Cannabis was recommended as a treatment for numerous common ailments. Around that same period in Egypt, cannabis was used as a treatment for sore eyes. The herb was used in India in cultural and religious ceremonies, and recorded in Sanskrit scriptural texts around 1,400 B.C. Cannabis was considered a holy herb and was characterized as the "soother of grief," "the sky flyer," and "the poor man's heaven." Centuries later, around 700 B.C., the Assyrian people used the herb they called Qunnabu, for incense. The ancient Greeks used cannabis as a remedy to treat inflammation, earache, and edema (swelling of a body part due to collection of fluids). Shortly after 500 B.C. the historian and geographer Herodotus recorded that the peoples known as Scythians used cannabis to produce fine linens. They called the herb kannabis and inhaled the "intoxicating vapor" that resulted when it was burned. By the year 100 B.C. the Chinese were using cannabis to make paper.

Cannabis use and cultivation migrated with the movement of various traders and travelers, and knowledge of the herb's value spread throughout the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Around 100, Dioscorides, a surgeon in the Roman Legions under the Emperor Nero, named the herb Cannabis sativa and recorded numerous medicinal uses. In the second century, the Chinese physician Hoa-Tho used cannabis in surgical procedures, relying on its analgesic properties. In ancient India, around 600, Sanskrit writers recorded a recipe for "pills of gaiety," a combination of hemp and sugar. By 1150, Moslems were using cannabis fiber in Europe's first paper production. This use of cannabis as a durable and renewable source of paper fiber continued for the next 750 years.

By the 1300s, government and religious authorities, concerned about the psychoactive effects on citizens consuming the herb, were placing harsh restrictions on its use. The Emir Soudon Sheikhouni of Joneima outlawed cannabis use among the poor. He destroyed the crops and ordered that offenders' teeth be pulled out. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII outlawed the use of hashish, a concentrated form of cannabis. Cannabis cultivation continued, however, because of its economic value. A little more than a century later, the English Queen Elizabeth I issued a decree commanding that landowners holding 60 acres or more must grow hemp or pay a fine. Commerce in hemp, which was primarily valued for the strength and versatility of its fibers, was profitable and thriving. Hemp ropes and sails were crossing the sea to North America with the explorers. By 1621, the British were growing cannabis in Virginia where cultivation of hemp was mandatory. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper. Both President George Washington and President Thomas Jefferson were advocates of hemp as a valuable cash crop. Jefferson urged farmers to grow the crop in lieu of tobacco. By the 1850s, hemp had become the third largest agricultural crop grown in North America. The U. S. Census of that year recorded 8,327 hemp plantations, each with 2,000 or more acres in cultivation. But the invention of the cotton gin was already bringing many changes, and cotton was becoming a prime and profitable textile fiber. More change came with the introduction of the sulfite and chlorine processes used to turn trees into paper. Restrictions on the personal use of cannabis as a mood-altering, psychoactive herb, were soon to come.

Controversy

The 1856 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica,in its lengthy entry on hemp, noted that the herb "produces inebriation and delirium of decidedly hilarious character, inducing violent laughter, jumping and dancing." This inebriating effect of marijuana use has fueled the controversy and led to restrictions that have surrounded marijuana use throughout history in many cultures and regions of the world. Cannabis use has been criminalized in some parts of the United States since 1915. Utah was the first state to criminalize it, then California and Texas. By 1923, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington had legal restrictions on the herb. New York prohibited cannabis use in 1927. Despite the restrictions, cannabis use was woven into the cultural and social fabric in some communities, and widespread use persisted, particularly among the Mexican, Asian, and African American populations.

In 1937, the federal government passed the Marihuana Tax Act, prohibiting the cultivation and farming of marijuana. This bill was introduced to Congress by then Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who was also a banker for the DuPont Corporation. That same year, the DuPont Chemical Company filed a patent for nylon, plastics, and a new bleaching process for paper. The 1937 Marijuana Transfer Tax Bill prohibited industrial and medical use of marijuana and classified the flowering tops as narcotic, and restrictions on the cultivation and use of cannabis continued. Marijuana was categorized as an illegal narcotic, in the company of heroin, cocaine, and morphine. Illegal use continued. The FBI publication, Uniform Crime Reports for The United States, 1966 reported that 641,642 Americans were arrested for marijuana offenses that year, with as many as 85% of these arrests for simple possession, rather than cultivation or commerce.

In a reversal of the state-by-state progression of criminalizing marijuana that led to the 1937 Marijuana Transfer Tax Bill, there is a movement underway, state by state, to endorse the legalized use of medical marijuana. By 1992, 35 states in the United States had endorsed referenda for medical marijuana. A growing body of scientific research and many thousands of years of folk use support the importance of medical marijuana in treatment of a variety of illnesses, and the economic value of hemp in the textile, paper, and cordage industries has a long history.

The controversy and misinformation persists around this relatively safe and non-toxic herb. The World Health Organization, in a 1998 study, stated that the risks from cannabis use were unlikely to seriously compare to the public health risks of the legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco. And despite thousands of years of human consumption, not one death has been directly attributed to cannabis use. According to Lester Grinspoon, MD, and James B. Bakalar, JD, in a 1995 Journal of the American Medical Association article, "Marihuana is also far less addictive and far less subject to abuse than many drugs now used as muscle relaxants, hypnotics, and analgesics. The chief legitimate concern is the effect of smoking on the lungs. Cannabis smoke carries even more tars and other particulate matter than tobacco smoke. But the amount smoked is much less, especially in medical use, and once marihuana is an openly recognized medicine, solutions may be found."
Make it legal!

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:53 pm
Kisha made a good point, man made medical drugs, and recreational drugs-drinks KILL.
God has given us herbs and plants for medicine, paper, fuel, fiber and more, and the government tells you it is bad?
It is their greed and lack of truth that is bad, it allows big companies to keep promoting drugs that kill and arrests those who want to heal whether physically or spiritualy

Saturday September 8, 2007, 10:57 pm
I lost my wife of 14 years and perfect soulmate to pharmaceutical cirrhosis two years past.

Our government warns us of "drug pushers" but the true "drug pushers" are the big pharmaceutical corporations with their legions of sales ferrets barraging our doctors with "samples" of their poisons each and every day to unknowingly destroy the health of their patients all for their greed.

Take Action:
http://www.uspirg.org/action/health-care/big-pharma?id4=ES

Saturday September 8, 2007, 11:14 pm
Mary, thank you so much for this. It is ridiculous that so much money is expended on legalized, over-priced drugs (MUCH more harmful) and yet, so much attention, money and manpower is still being spent ruining lives and controlling a substance far less dangerous than alcohol and nicotine! Any time you see something that doesn't make sense, it is because IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 11:16 pm
It should be legalized for medical reasons. I could give you a hundred top reasons, but, do you think the government will legalize it, I think not. They would loose billions of dollars. Think about it!! This is a nature plant from the earth. It was put here on earth for a reason...as with any wild plant that has medicinal purposes.

Saturday September 8, 2007, 11:52 pm
I helped someone I love with it. They would not eat, and it was very sad. It worked and the person ate and gained back the 20 lbs., they had lost due to the illness. So, I have seen first hand too, it does work. It should be made available for everyone. really it is better then alcohol.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 12:05 am
Catman i signed the petition. I also offer my heartfelt sympathy to you on the loss of your beloved wife , your soul mate. You are right, the true drug pushers are the pharmaceutical corporations. My doctor gave me samples of Nexium to take without realizing that i have a hole in my heart and this medication can cause heart attacks and or stroke! but those sales 'ferrets" continue to drop off their load of samples ! IT IS ALWAYS CONSUMER BE AWARE!!!!! IN THIS CASE PATIENT. and finally, equally as important, i hope that marijuana is legalized for the benefit of those who need it. Blessings and thank you Mary.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 1:06 am
Catman, you have my deepest condolences on the passing of your wife.
Ron, thank you for forwarding this to me. I might not have seen it has it not been for you.
Just about everyone who's posted here knows me, but even if you don't, just look at my avatar and you know where I stand on this.
The opinions posted here are unanimously in favor, and that gladdens my heart. There isn't much I can add~~~it would be preaching to the choir. So for anyone who is interested in Medical Marijuana, I'd like to point you to the best website in the world for the topic.
www.rxmarijuana.com
This site was co-founded and is co-hosted by Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Professor Emeritus if Psychiatry at Harvard. Dr.Grinspoon is the world's number one authourity on Medical Marijuana, and has been a researcher for 40 years. This website has an amazing list of diseases, disorders, conditions and syndromes...physical, mental and emotional...that Marijuana is KNOWN to greatly relieve, and in some cases, totally cure. Though I've said it before, I'll say it again: Marijuana is to humanity the gift of a loving God, Who wants to see His children healthy and happy.
Thank you for this post, Mary.
noted.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 1:12 am
I wish it had been legal when my brother was dying of lung cancer, he just wasted away because he couldn't eat from the chemo! I still wish it was legal, if we didn't have "Big Brother" we could still have the privacy of our homes! It's not legal because the goverment can't figure out how to tax it, since it can be grown at home! It is !00% better than alcohol!

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:07 am
It should have been legal years ago. It is GOD given, I NEVER heard of anyone going crazy, raping, wrecking, or killing someone because they were high on POT. This may have happened while they had a buzz on something else in conjunction with pot, but NEVER ON POT by its self! The ONLY real dangers I have seen are the munchies and people getting relaxed and being VERY PEACE FULL and sometimes going into a nice sleep. If my children have to have a "vise", I would rather it be POT, not alcohol, crack, crank and all that other home made "stuff".

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:51 am
The government should go after the meth and crack users. Weed helps the sick and is one of the least real problem drugs out there. There is such a war on it. I've never understood it.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 6:22 am
Catman, I am so sorry for your loss. I'm getting angrier with Big Pharma all the time. THEY are the drug pushers, no doubt! Marijuana is a blessing put here on earth for us to use to alleviate pain and suffering. I have seen the benefits first-hand. The fact that it is NOT legal is the crime. PS.....if I'm not mistaken,isn't a very common over the counter pain reliever responsible for liver failure, and has been known for this for years?

Sunday September 9, 2007, 7:21 am
Thanks for the history lesson, but seems a bit 'smoothed over'. The whole business behind the illegilization of cannibis is so crooked and backwards. What we use for medical marajuana is a different strain of cannibis than the 'hemp' they'd use for industrial purposes. Unlike Marjuana, hemp doesn't get you high nor relieves pain, yet that was the reason behind why it was illegalized. Candy's post barely mentions anything about how the cotton, lumber, plastics (I'm sure there' s more) industries saw hemp as a threat because of it's many, many uses and got government and media behind them to push propaganda making up all sorts of 'myths' about it's effects. It makes me sick to think of the forests we could have saved and the enviromental damage done to make plastics and wars fought for the oil to make them; we're up to our necks in it now! Corporate greed has been the downfall of America and of the human race, and is destroying the the earth.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 8:38 am
Sammantha: Tylenol and it's generics are VERY hard on the liver, and it's only an anti-inflammatory anyway, not real good for pain relief.
Each year in the U.S., an average of 1,500 people die of aspirin overdose or poisoning.
As Ron said, pot does not induce a person to commit violent and/or criminal acts: Smoke a joint, eat a twinkie, take a nap...that's usually how it goes! And NO ONE has ever died of a marijuana overdose. It has been estimated that a person would need to smoke FIVE POUNDS of pot in 15 minutes to fatally overdose, and that would be humanly impossible.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 10:30 am
What an awesome response! Thank you all!
I am so sorry for your loss Catman -- so many deaths from taking what should have been life-saving drugs. Signed the petition.
Thank you, Tim, for the web site.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 10:32 am
If there is a natural product that can effectively kill pain, it will be stupid to spend $0.5 billion and 18 yrs. of R&D to develop a new drug that may not work as well, and eventually need to be pulled off the shelf. Pharmas has been struggling to prevent the legalization of these natural products due to conflict of interest. Government has also been lack of interest of these inexpensive drugs since they don't help much with the national tax revenue.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 11:07 am
An easily grown and inexpensive plant with the potential to alleviate pain and suffering. It is time for the govt. to put the needs of it's citizens first and foremost.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 11:24 am
I only take NATURAL PRODUCTS NOW! EXCEPT 1, i AM QUITING SLOWLY. Not easy but I am doing okay with Soft Medecines. I wish you the same.
Hippie Marie

Sunday September 9, 2007, 12:36 pm
Marijuana is good & healthy for most people, and, it is a great sustainable resource. I have witnessed the plethora of ways it can be helpful & good!! However, the "Big Boys" (govt & corps) DO help fund drug smuggling (under the guize of a "drug War"), SO... if it is legalized THEY won't make as much money from it!!!
Peace~

Sunday September 9, 2007, 12:45 pm
Catman, I am so sorry about your wife. I have systemic lupus and also chronic lympocetic leukenia. I just beat breast cancer. I would most definetely support the legalizing of marijuana. I know it would help me tremendously cope with the pain of the lupus. The drug companies block this because it eats into their profits. For lupus you need an anti inflammatory and because I have had ulcers, I cannot take them. I have never taken drugs but if they would legalize marijuana where I wouldn't be thrown in jail, I would be the first one in line.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 12:59 pm
The land of freedom: grow a plant, go to jail. After all, in a free society, the government should tell you what you are allowed to put into your own body while you are in your own home. They don't want us to smoke pot, they want us all on prozac so we won't ask any questions and will obey their commands blindly. Thought, is what they are most afraid of. It doesn't take much to figure out that the people who control this country want neither democracy nor freedom. The want to make us unwitting slaves. Smoking pot is a symbolic way of saying "we don't believe your bullshit" and that is the worst of infractions.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 1:02 pm
Elli good for you !!! Catman so sorry about your wife I will be praying for her. They won't legalize it because they call it a drug, which it is not, it has medically helped me. Drinking sure wouldn't do that for me and so many peoples lifes have been screwed up for a dozen of reasons by alcohol, my oldest daughter was hit by a drunk driver in 1994 left her with Brain damage lost the use of her left (dominat) hand. No one can argue a good cause for alcohol being legal, it is deadly
Marguerite

Sunday September 9, 2007, 1:47 pm
Right Erika, I never understood and will never too.
thanx
Hippie Marie

Sunday September 9, 2007, 2:12 pm
I totally agree Gail!

Sunday September 9, 2007, 2:22 pm
If we can have codeine & steroids medically available, why not marijuana? It's less dangerous & not addcitive, like the before-mentioned drugs!

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:14 pm
I am no smoker, but Really...someone gets caught with a little marijuana, boom, jail time, and the governent keeps looking for people with marijuana instead of looking for murderers and rapists.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:18 pm
Medical Marijuana
The American Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-cannabis organization, contends that cannabis is an ideal therapeutic drug for cancer and AIDS patients, who often suffer from clinical depression, and from nausea and resulting weight loss due to chemotherapy and other aggressive treatments. A recent study by scientists in Italy has also shown that cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical found in marijuana, inhibits growth of cancer cells in animals.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and comparable public authorities in western Europe, including the Netherlands, have not approved smoked marijuana for any condition or disease.
A synthetic extract of cannabis has been shown to relieve symptoms of anorexia in elderly Alzheimer's patients.
Glaucoma, a condition of increased pressure within the eyeball causing gradual loss of sight, can be treated with medical marijuana to decrease this intraocular pressure. There has been debate for 25 years on the subject. Some data exist, showing a reduction of IOP in glaucoma patients who smoke marijuana, but the effects are short-lived, and the frequency of doses needed to sustain a decreased IOP can cause systemic toxicity. There is also some concern over its use since it can also decrease blood flow to the optic nerve. Marijuana lowers IOP by acting on a cannabinoid receptor on the ciliary body called the CB receptor. Although marijuana is not a good therapeutic choice for glaucoma patients, it may lead researchers to more effective, safer treatments. A promising study shows that agents targeted to ocular CB can reduce IOP in glaucoma patients who have failed other therapies.
Medical marijuana is used for analgesia, or pain relief. “Marijuana is used for analgesia only in the context of a handful of illnesses (e.g., headache, dysentery, menstrual cramps, and depression) that are often cited by marijuana advocates as medical reasons to justify the drug being available as a prescription medication.” It is also reported to be beneficial for treating certain neurological illnesses such as epilepsy, and bipolar disorder. Studies have found that cannabis can relieve tics in patients suffering from OCD and/or Tourette syndrome. Patients treated with marijuana reported a significant decrease in both motor and vocal tics, some of 50% or more. Some decrease in obsessive-compulsive behavior was also found. A recent study has also concluded that cannabinoids found in cannabis might have the ability to prevent Alzheimer's disease. THC has been shown to reduce arterial blockages.
Another use for medical marijuana is movement disorders. Marijuana is frequently reported to reduce the muscle spasticity associated with Multiple Sclerosis, this has been acknowledged by the Institute Of Medicine, but it noted that these abundant anecdotal reports are not well-supported by clinical data. Evidence from animal studies suggests that there is a possible role for cannabinoids in the treatment of certain types of epileptic seizures. The marijuana will numb the nervous system slightly so the body won’t go into shock. A synthetic version of the major active compound in cannabis, THC, is available in capsule form as the prescription drug dronabinol (Marinol) in many countries. The prescription drug Sativex, an extract of cannabis administered as a sublingual spray, has been approved in Canada for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Dr. William Notcutt states that the use of MS as the disease to study “had everything to do with politics”.
US debate
There are many claims regarding the use of cannabis in a medical context, both pro and con. On April 20, 2006, the U.S. FDA issued an intra-agency advisory warning against medical cannabis, restating the Drug Enforcement Administration's position that cannabis has a very high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. The FDA also asserted that “there is currently sound evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful”.
The official position of several medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Cancer Society is that they do not support smoking the herbal form of marijuana for medical use. On June 6, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision, which supported the Federal Government's position against "medical marijuana". Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, and Clarence Thomas filed dissenting opinions.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, who was fighting thyroid cancer, disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows federal prosecutions of ill medical marijuana users. Rehnquist, 80, joined a dissent written by Justice O'Connor that said the states should be allowed to set their own policies for cannabis use. O'Connor, who has had breast cancer, said that states should decide on their own "the difficult and sensitive question of whether cannabis should be available to relieve severe pain and suffering". Thomas filed a separate dissent, arguing that local cultivation and consumption could in no way assimilated to commerce.
Currently the citizens of 12 states in the U.S. (upwards of 60 million people) have the right to legal cannabis for medical use for treating certain illnesses. Additionally, six further U.S. states have enacted decriminalization policies toward the drug. Because the federal government does not acknowledge any legitimate medical uses for cannabis, federal enforcement of prohibition continues in these states.
U.S. federal law currently registers cannabis as a Schedule I drug (along with heroin and LSD), and Marinol as a Schedule III drug, despite the fact that they have the same active ingredient. The medical use of cannabis is politically controversial, but physicians sometimes recommend it informally despite the risk of federal prosecution in the U.S.
Read more here.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:19 pm
The campaign against marijuana - DuPont and William Randolph Hearst
During the 1920s, an emerging movement of legislators, yellow journalists, and concerned citizens started pressing Washington for federal legislation against marijuana. A publication in the Montana Standard, on January 27, 1929, records progress on a bill in that state to amend the general narcotic law:
    "There was fun in the House Health Committee during the week when the marijuana bill came up for consideration. Marijuana is Mexican opium, a plant used by Mexicans and cultivated for sale by Indians. 'When some beet field peon takes a few rares of this stuff,' explained Dr. Fred Fulsher of Mineral County, 'he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico so he starts to execute all his political enemies...' Everybody laughed and the bill was recommended for passage."
Southern states were also pressing for a federal law against marijuana to persecute Mexicans that saturated the workforce with cheap labor during The Depression. Harry J. Anslinger eventually responded to the demands of this growing viewpoint. Although it would appear that Anslinger was a conservative who truly believed marijuana to be a threat to the future of American civilization, his biographer maintained that he was an astute government bureaucrat who viewed the marijuana issue as a means for elevating himself to national prominence.
Secretary Mellon, Anslinger's appointer and boss for two years, was a prime backer (through his Mellon Financial Corporation) of the DuPont petrochemical company, to which the "New Billion-Dollar Crop" of hemp (Popular Mechanics, publication date: February, 1938) presented a serious competitive threat. There is some belief that Anslinger, DuPont petrochemical interests and William Randolph Hearst together created the highly sensational anti-marijuana campaign to eliminate hemp as an industrial competitor. Indeed, Anslinger did not himself consider marijuana a serious threat to American society until in the fourth year of his tenure (1934), at which point an anti-marijuana campaign aimed at alarming the public abruptly became his primary focus.
By using the mass media as his forum (receiving much support from William Randolph Hearst), Anslinger propelled the anti-marijuana sentiment from the state level to a national movement. Writing for American Magazine, the best examples were contained in his "Gore File", a collection of police-blotter-type narratives of heinous cases, most with flimsy substantiation, linking graphically depicted offenses with the drug:
    "An entire family was murdered by a youthful addict in Florida. When officers arrived at the home, they found the youth staggering about in a human slaughterhouse. With an axe he had killed his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister. He seemed to be in a daze… He had no recollection of having committed the multiple crime. The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane, rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed. They sought the reason. The boy said that he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called “muggles,” a childish name for marijuana."
Most commonly this campaign also focused intensely on popular racist themes of the time:
    "Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with female students (white), smoking [marijuana] and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result pregnancy"
    "Two Negros took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days under the influence of marijuana. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis."
These stories contribute to the idea that Anslinger was a racist, which seems likely considering the times and the results of his actions.
Read more here.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:23 pm
History of Cannabis

Evidence of the inhalation of cannabis smoke can be found as far back as the Neolithic age, as indicated by charred cannabis seeds found in a ritual brazier at an ancient burial site in present day Romania. The most famous users of cannabis were the ancient Hindus of India and Nepal, and the Hashshashins (hashish eaters) of present day Syria. The herb was called ganjika in Sanskrit (ganja in modern Indian and Nepali languages). The ancient drug soma, mentioned in the Vedas as a sacred intoxicating hallucinogen, was sometimes associated with cannabis.

Cannabis was also known to the Assyrians, who discovered its psychoactive properties through the Aryans. Using it in some religious ceremonies, they called it qunubu (meaning "way to produce smoke"), a probable origin ofthe modern word. Cannabis was also introduced by the Aryans to the Scythians and Thracians/Dacians, whose shamans (the kapnobatai—“those who walk on smoke/clouds”) burned cannabis flowers to induce a state of trance. Members of the cult of Dionysus, believed to have originated in Thrace, are also thought to have inhaled cannabis smoke. In 2003, a leather basket filled with cannabis leaf fragments and seeds was found next to a 2,500- to 2,800-year-old mummified shaman in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.

Cannabis has an ancient history of ritual use and is found in pharmacological cults around the world. Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices like eating by the Scythians occurred during the 5th to 2nd century BCE, confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus. Some historians and etymologists have claimed that cannabis was used as a religious sacrament by ancient Jews and early Christians. It was also used by Muslims in various Sufi orders as early as the Mamluk period, for example by the Qalandars. In India and Nepal, it has been used by some of the wandering spiritual sadhus for centuries, and in modern times the Rastafari movement has embraced it as a sacrament. Elders of the modern religious movement known as the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church consider cannabis to be the Eucharist, claiming it as an oral tradition from Ethiopia dating back to the time of Christ, even though the movement was founded in the United States in 1975 and has no ties to either Ethiopia or the Coptic Church. Like the Rastafari, some modern Gnostic Christian sects have asserted that cannabis is the Tree of Life. Other organized religions founded in the past century that treat cannabis as a sacrament are the THC Ministry, the Way of Infinite Harmony, Cantheism, the Cannabis Assembly and the Church of Cognizance.

Cannabis was introduced to the Americas in the mid-nineteenth century by Indian laborers under the Indian indenture system implemented by the British Empire after the end of African slavery in the British West Indies. In the Caribbean, cannabis is still known as ganja (the Sanskrit word for marijuana), Indian or Coolie weed. The plant eventually spread into Mexico, USA, Canada and the rest of the Americas.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:35 pm
The bottom line:
1) Medical Marijuana is more effective and has less side effects than many prescription drugs, especially for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, cancer, Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders.
2) It's mainly illegal because the Illuminati can't control it and it competes with their drug and alcohol business.
3) The War on Drugs is very profitable for the Illuminati using tax payer money.
4) The War on Drugs allows the Illuminati to eliminate minority (democrat and independent voters by putting the m in prison.
5) The law enforcement, prosecution and running of prisons is very profitable for the Illuminati and is funded with tax payer money with all the profits going to large corporations.
6) The Federal Government has no right to tell us what we can do in our own homes, with our own bodies.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:54 pm
This is much needed reform... It would cut down on the cost of unfairly sentencing people, for smoking a age old, recreation, & medically used Plant.

I know these helps people with tremors, as I've witnesses how bad a person's tremors became after being arrested and put on probation, for positioning 2 joints. It costs over $1,000.00 in court fines and he now has to pay to do drops every 2weeks.

He was on his way to ann arbor MI., a college town that has a city ordinance that a certain amount ( more than he was carrying is a $5.00 fine. All the same state, just different senctencing guide lines.

That's why I'm working so hard and advocating for guide line reform and humane conditions in our Prisons.

Everyone says I'll never be in the system It will never happen to my child.

I'm sure the Hilton's thought that Pairs would never be sent to Jail or charged with the things she is charge with and on Probation for.

BUT A HUGE difference, when this happens to you or your child, will you have the money that she spent on her lawyers to reduce the charges ? Normal people spend time in prison, real prison not Hollywood prison.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 4:56 pm
One Love uses cannabis regularly as part of spiritual rituals. It is One's right. It is One's choice.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 5:51 pm
Where is the petition.

Sunday September 9, 2007, 8:36 pm
my son was on high doses of chemo & one of the things that helped him was marijuana...he told his oncologist that he was using it and he gave him the go ahead unofficially of course...he couldn't put it on the record...it should be legalized so more people could be helped by it...I have severe Fibromyalgia & essential tremors ...I don't smoke but maybe I should start instead of having all of the side effects from these darn drugs that I have to take...some of which don't even work...get it legalized...

Monday September 10, 2007, 1:45 am
I have a dear friend who also has Fibromyalgia. She smokes pot daily and it truly helps her. If she didn't smoke it, she'd be on disability. Instead, she works and cares for her handicapped child. Without marijuana, her child would need another caregiver and so would she.

I say go for it, Joyce!! This whole illegal bit with pot is just ridiculous. As stated repeatedly above, it is all about the money. Screw 'em, do what's best for you....just don't get caught!!

Monday September 10, 2007, 2:25 am
It used to be that one first heard about a prescription drug when your doctor prescribed it for a condition that he or she diagnosed. Now every commercial break seems to have at least one commercial about a drug, urging one to ask your doctor to prescribe it for you! As required, the commercial quickly runs through the many possible side effects, most of which are much more serious than what you would be "curing" with the drug, all the while the actor is smiling and dancing about! Good Grief!
Pharmaceutical companies have the politicians in their pockets just like big oil and gas companies!

Monday September 10, 2007, 5:40 am
As a citizen of the netherlands, you won't find me arguing. The hipocrisy of the western world regarding marijuana is comical. Especially considering alcohol is legal. It's a case of old habits die hard, nothing more.

Monday September 10, 2007, 8:22 am
Here in NC the problem is that you can't get it through an RX but to find the kind is real hard for most. Right now I have not had the herbs for 5 days and I have been a real bitch otherwise. I love herb and it is the healing of the nations as those who benefit from it are not just those who smoke it but those around those that love it. Seaja

Monday September 10, 2007, 8:40 am
It is ones right and ones choice, a natural choice. With minimal side effects, in comparison to perscription medications. I place it in the category of coffee or tea. Fascinating how drugs that promote conscious expansion,and free thought, are outlawed in most "developed "countries. Also fascinating is the addictive qualities associated with many legal drugs, including alcohol.
Alcohol, confuses, numbs and depresses, often resulting in dis-ease, death and destruction. Great for social complacency, and apathy. Many users and abusers of alcohol, describe violent assault as having "lost it". I once was a victim of such circumstances and can truly say, yes, the person "lost it".
In NZ, we have an active and colourful sub-culture of cannabis consumers. It really is quietly acceptable, except by government and purists. I have yet to hear of death directly related to cannabis use.
Yes our jails here are grossly overcrowded. Yes, over half NZ convictions are Cannabis related sentences.
Families are seperated from otherwise decent contributing, members of society. Has anyone noticed, cannabis consumers, are also generally humanitarian, open minded, and progressive thinkers., Now that's a crime!
Sentencing is confusing. A murderer convicted of killing young children gets 8yrs. A Cannabis grower gets 20yrs min. In NZ, property can be siezed (land etc.) to balance the cost to the justice system.
To me, it is a herb, a part of all that is, it has its place as WE choose.i will not feel ashamed or discriminated against for using a medicine of our Earth, and the Creator. Illegalise Alcohol instead. ..Peace!

Monday September 10, 2007, 8:59 am
It's unlegal dont use it one cig. margwana equal five normal cigatet.. It;s stop the pain for a while but not all the time it's not treatment.. It'd lead to use it and cant stop it..

Monday September 10, 2007, 9:36 am
noted!! I too have lost loved ones that could have used marijuana. I think things need to change, if they won't legalize it, couldn't they at least decriminalize it?? It may not be the best solution but I think it would help a lot of people.

Monday September 10, 2007, 11:40 am
I think it should be legal. The drug companies will NEVER let it be, though. They are making a killing on prescription drugs, and they couldn't make any $$$ on pot. So many of the "legal" drugs are scarier than pot ever could be!

Monday September 10, 2007, 11:58 am
If it is part of One's Religion, the Federal Government cannot arrest you as that is a violation of your 1st Amendment Rights...

Monday September 10, 2007, 12:03 pm
And compared to the "rituals" of the Secret Societies like Bush's Skull and Bones and the OWLS, One doesn't think they have any ground to condemn us...

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:25 pm
I only smoked pot 2x in college....I gave it another try the 2nd time as my friend told me I only didn't like the 1st time b/c it was "bad weed". He said, "this one is sh-t." Well, I didn't like it either. Marijuana makes me paranoid and extremely hungry. I can deal with the "munchies" but maybe I'm too much of a control freak to appreciate this drug. lol

Given that, I still think marijuana should be legalized. My brother has multiple sclerosis and it helps calm his nerves...and helps his appetite as well. It's a shame that we can't even pass medical marijuana here.

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:27 pm
For the same reason laetrile (apricot pits, used to cure cancer) are banned and labeled as "poison" in the US; The Pharms don't want the competition.

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:28 pm
Good (and very fair) response, Nadia.

Being a young adult in the 60's, sharing a joint was the same as offering a glass of wine.

Frankly, I think too much is made of so little.

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:32 pm
Billary. Thanks for sharing. One noticed you don't have an icon image. You are welcome to use this one.

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:33 pm
My Mother-in-Laws eye doctor (unofficially) told her to smoke pot for her glaucoma.

Monday September 10, 2007, 7:35 pm
Study after study has shown that the active ingredient in marijuana helps sufferers with chronic pain and those undergoing chemo. It NEEDS to be legal for medical reasons.

And the Federal Government needs to stop prosecuting the growers and distributors of marijuana in the states where marijuana has been leagalized for medical use. Laura's husband issued an Executive Order siccing the DEA on them several years ago.

Monday September 10, 2007, 8:25 pm
Thank you One Love and Candy for the history and medical facts. What a shame that they [our stupid government] allow tens of thousands to suffer needlessly when there is FREE help for them, to say even more about the tens of thousands of innocent Americans in prisons and the needless devastation of their families who have no choice to go on Welfare to exist. Its a shame and a deliberate and heinous act on the part of our government. They are tearing apart millions of families and loved ones and are doing it "ON PURPOSE" to create a military state of oppression, remove our freedoms and liberties, and keep us as their little slave market.

Monday September 10, 2007, 8:37 pm
Ha Ha Ha....great Icon image One. Thanks for this post Mary. Noted...of course.

Monday September 10, 2007, 11:51 pm
One, thanks for the laugh. The Image suits Billary well!...
Thanks all for the info...peace!

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 4:17 pm
Marihuana has been used for medicinal purpose - that right there is reason enough to legalize it!!

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 4:26 pm
Thank you "One Love" for sharing all of your information here. :-)

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 6:48 pm
Noted!
Free choice! Free speech!

:)

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 9:21 pm
the less of all evils. Ratings by Dr. Jack Henningfield, NIDA:

Substance Withdrawal Reinforcement Tolerance Dependence Intoxication
Nicotine 3 4 2 1 5
Heroin 2 2 1 2 2
Cocaine 4 1 4 3 3
Alcohol 1 3 3 4 1
Caffeine 5 6 5 5 6
Marijuana 6 5 6 6 4

1 = Most serious, least serious = 6

According to these ratings, marijuana is about as addictive a drug as coffee while alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and heroin are more risky, some considerably so. Alcohol is rated the most dangerous on withdrawal, as sudden abstinence can have life-threatening effects for an alcoholic. Alcohol is rated the most intoxicating of all the drugs listed while nicotine dependence is rated even ahead of heroin. if it helps give it. npt everyone abuse what is going to help them.

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 9:35 pm
.
Overdose deaths
Another consideration is the acute risk to life and health from use of the drug, especially if it is used in a higher than normal dose. Even a non-addictive drug can be harmful if it is relatively poisonous. A measure for the risk of a dangerous level of intoxication is LD50. That's the amount of the drug that administered to animals or humans would kill half the subjects. The greater the ratio between the "normal" dosis and LD50 the lower the risk of a fatal overdose. Here are these ratios for some recreational and medicinal drugs:


Substance safety margin
Alcohol 1:4 - 1:10
Aspirin 1:50
Caffeine 1:100
Marijuana 1:400-1:1800

The nicotine contained in a single cigarette when eaten can kill a baby. The nicotine contained in 3-5 cigarettes can kill even a healthy adult. A large bottle of whisky in one night can kill an adult. Swallowing about fifty aspirin tablets will lead to unstoppable stomach bleeding that can be fatal. A tube of sleeping pills and you lose your liver... or your life! The caffeine in about 100 cups of coffee, taken in pill form, is lethal. All these substances are legal.
By comparison, according to tests on rats and monkeys,[2] an adult would have to eat between 1 and 2 kg of marijuana, enough for rolling several thousand joints, all in a single day to run a risk of a fatal overdose. It is simply impossible to kill oneself by smoking or eating too much marijuana.

In 5.000 years of recorded marijuana history not a single person is known to ever have died from a marijuana overdose. After hearing extensive evidence Judge Young of the US Drug Enforcement Agency concluded in 1988 in his ruling on the legal status of marijuana as a medicine: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 9:45 pm
Dear Princess Y:

Thanks for this enlightening information:

"In 5.000 years of recorded marijuana history not a single person is known to ever have died from a marijuana overdose. After hearing extensive evidence Judge Young of the US Drug Enforcement Agency concluded in 1988 in his ruling on the legal status of marijuana as a medicine: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man"

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 9:51 pm
Hats off to O bama, Obama to End Federal Medical Marijuana Raids; Democratic Candidates Now Unanimous


MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE — In his first public statement on the subject, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged to end medical marijuana raids in the 12 states that have medical marijuana laws Tuesday at a campaign event during a Nashua Pride minor league baseball game.

The Illinois senator's statement means all eight Democratic candidates have now voiced support for the 12 states with medical marijuana laws. Republican candidates Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson have all vowed to end medical marijuana raids as well.

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 10:58 pm
Thanks Princess. Amen & Halleluiah!

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 11:53 pm
I AGREE CATMAN! "In 5.000 years of recorded marijuana history not a single person is known to ever have died from a marijuana overdose. After hearing extensive evidence Judge Young of the US Drug Enforcement Agency concluded in 1988 in his ruling on the legal status of marijuana as a medicine: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man"

Tuesday September 11, 2007, 11:54 pm
Princess, thank you for the scientific facts! i saw a documentary, back in the early '80s, which explained how babies born to heroin mothers had withdrawls for a week or two & then were fine. HOWEVER, babies born to alcohol mothers went through withdrawls, but then... something could go wrong at any time in their life!! A mother had an amniocentesis done because the father was her 3rd cousin & both parents had had a drug history, well the specialist decided to do it ONLY due the alcohol history -- of the father!!! Pregnant ladies: Please, NOT ONE DROP of alcohol!!!

Wednesday September 12, 2007, 2:18 pm
After hearing extensive evidence Francis L. Young, Administrative Law Judge of the US drug police DEA ruled on September 6, 1988:

"The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."
"The administrative law judge recommends that the Administrator conclude that the marijuana plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, that there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision and that it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Administrator transfer marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II."


See Carl. E. Olsen's Marijuana Archive
for complete text of Judge Young's ruling

if it helps the sick,then give it. we are always going to have the bad who abuse , no matter what, why make the good suffer because of them.

Wednesday September 12, 2007, 2:52 pm
This is what Montel Williams has to say about marijuane,

PR.com: Now let's talk about medical marijuana.

Montel Williams: Sure.

PR.com: What led you to discover that marijuana was the only thing that could properly manage your pain? What medications were prescribed to you first that didn't do the job?

Montel Williams: I've had Percocets, Vicodin, OxyContin…

PR.com: All legal drugs…

Montel Williams: All legal and prescribed to me. Here's something that a lot of people don't get, medicinal marijuana is legal too.

PR.com: Oh, it is?

Montel Williams: Now I'm gonna shock you. For the last twenty five years in this country the federal government has been, on every seventeenth of the month, been distributing canisters of medicinal marijuana to patients across the country. They started off with 21 [patients] and now it's down to seven, because they're the only people that have remained alive. Every single month on the 17th, what day is it today?

PR.com: The 17th!

Montel Williams: Today seven cans of marijuana will be sent out from the University of Mississippi to seven patients across the country with an FDA stamp on it.

PR.com: And you have to get a prescription from your physician?

Montel Williams: No. This is a program that was started by the federal government about twenty-five years ago when they realized that marijuana was a viable medicinal agent. The federal government started providing it to certain patients across the country because there was a lawsuit. But then when everybody started to realize that it worked, the program was closed to just those people who get it. So what I say to you when you say, "the other drugs, like OxyContin and those things are legal," well for seven people in America, Marijuana is legal. Why does the federal government have the right to determine whether or not my pain is less than or greater then one of these seven people?

PR.com: The reason I made that comment, saying all of those pills are legal, is because I wanted to make a point to say that, because I know individuals who have become physically addicted to those pills, who had used them for recreational purposes. So, why are cigarettes legal? Why is alcohol legal? Why is Marijuana not legal? Why is the federal government afraid of Marijuana?

Montel Williams: It's a dog chasing its own tail. It's happened in our government over and over again. When lies are told they have to be perpetuated. And they have to be perpetuated at the most extreme level they can be. If you really dig into why marijuana is illegal in this country, it wasn't made illegal because people feared it as a [harmful] drug. We knew that financially, you can't make money off of it. If you follow the bouncing ball, which is the money trail to marijuana, you will start to understand why it's been illegal for the last seventy years in this country. Right now, there's been so much research going on, we have thirteen states in America right now, who started and initiated medicinal marijuana policies to distribute and get medicinal marijuana to their constituents. It's really just a matter now of pure and simple ignorance.

PR.com: Now when you say medicinal marijuana, you're referring to the fact that it's given to you for medicinal purposes, but you're using it the same way that somebody would use it recreationally, meaning that you're smoking it…

Montel Williams: That's also what is so crazy, and a fallacy. Most people think about people sitting around in a group passing a joint…

PR.com: Like at a party…


Montel Williams

Montel Williams: But marijuana can be eaten, it can be liquefied, it can be freeze dried, it can be turned into other substances. Right now in California you can purchase marijuana in an oil that you can put under your tongue. That's the same effect as if you would smoke it. In some cases the edible version of it is for me, and for other people I know who use it medicinally, works better then actually smoking it. Smoking allows for immediate cessation of your pain because it goes right up to your brain and into your nasal passages so you get relief quicker, but the relief lasts longer if it's ingested. We have all of these fake and false ideas of what marijuana is.

PR.com: And right now you eat it as opposed to smoke it?

Montel Williams: For immediate cessation I smoke it. Most of the time I eat it at night because I suffer from extreme tremors in the evening and I also suffer from extreme neuralgic pain in my feet. If I eat it in the evening it takes [the pain] from a six to about a three. When I pop out of bed I'm normally at my best, so that's when I work out and I try to get as much work done early in the day. As I get later on in the day, my feet start to go on fire. When they start to hit the fire mark I'm easing my pain, it's just that simple. I've been speaking to politicians all around the country and all around the world on this issue and you'd be surprised; more people understand and back it and believe in it then would step up right now today and vote for it.

PR.com: What would you say to people who say, "What's next? Then they may legalize cocaine or heroin…"

Montel Williams: Cocaine is legalized right now for a doctor to prescribe.

PR.com: In the form of what?

Montel Williams: Cocaine! A doctor can prescribe for me, right this second, cocaine in a powder form that I can ingest in my mouth. It's a schedule two drug. Marijuana is a schedule one drug. It is considered one of the worst drugs ever introduced to mankind. It's in the same category with PCP and Heroin. Below that, schedule two. All the federal government would have to do is change the schedule from schedule one to schedule two, which then makes it a prescribable drug by a doctor. Then marijuana is in the same category as…are you ready for this? Cocaine, morphine, barbiturates and amphetamines. All the other drugs! So just put marijuana on the same schedule and all the answers are solved.

PR.com: You know what people are afraid of because you have four children and you certainly wouldn't want them using drugs recreationally. In many people's minds, drug use is drug use, and that's the end of the story.

Montel Williams: If you take a look at the state of California, since the legislation was passed and they started providing marijuana on a medicinal level, do you know marijuana use among teenagers is down? Since marijuana was made legal for medicinal purposes in the state of California, the usage among teenagers has constantly gone down.

PR.com: Let's go back to some personal stuff from several years ago, because I think it can be helpful to other people. Back around 1999 and 2000 there were times that you were suicidal, shortly after being diagnosed with MS…

Montel Williams: Yeah, I discuss it in my book (Climbing Higher, 2004) at length. A lot of people who have this illness suffer from depression.

PR.com: Is that part of the illness?

Montel Williams: Yeah, well chemically, depression is a part of the illness. That's one of the symptoms that we have, and the medications that we take also can cause extreme mood swings, depression and other psychotic behavior. So we take medications and we are already pre-disposed to a chemical form of depression. So I was going through an extreme depression before I even realized and had a doctor who told me that you could have depression (associated with MS)

Thursday September 13, 2007, 6:49 pm
Well, Billary must have smoke pot to be so adamantly against the legalization of Marijuana. "He who protesith......."

Friday September 14, 2007, 11:01 pm
Legalize it and forget it. The country has more pressing issues, like growing food and finding fresh water in the face of climate change. Let people have their natural pain relief, and stress relief from the insane world we all are living in. It's all about the money, just like everything else. I bet people in high places(pun intended) don't have a problem with THEIR pot supply. Pot is it's own economy, from the poorest person to the big players(government), and they don't want to give up their cut. If it's legal and taxed fairly and distributed to programs that help people instead of hidden monies being secretly diverted for wars, etc., that's a lot of cash coming up from under the table. Legalize it so a person can grow their own, now that's an Organic idea, who knows what's on some of the stuff out there? 20+million pot smokers in the US, that's a lot of voting power if we stand up for our rights! Freedom, isn't that what this country is about? Where is it? It starts with each person taking a stand for our Rights! Politicians, you are working for us, it's time to get rid of these archaic laws, start growing hemp today to save our planet, and legalize pot for medicinal and recreation use by adults.

Saturday September 15, 2007, 2:09 am
Allow me to add my voice to those who want to see legalization! The amount of tax $$ which would be raised from sale of pot is astronomical. Furthermore, the medical use would be a welcomed alternative to synthesised drugs which, as noted in other posts, are expensive and can damage the body.
By legalizing we could empty our jails and prisons of those who are serving time for supplying and possession, allowing space for those who are the REAL danger to society; a few in the current administration come to mind...
But I digress, legalizing this natural drug, as documented here, would help many Americans and others around the world who need it.

Saturday September 15, 2007, 7:41 am
The government has been trying to rid the country of pot for years and I say it's the people who need to take back control. I think everyone should spread their seeds everywhere they go and make sure they vote.

Saturday September 15, 2007, 8:25 am
"""One Love One Love...
Long Live...
All Stars For You...
Love&Peace

Wednesday September 19, 2007, 1:36 pm
I lost my mother to cancer and I know that pot was the only thing that helped her through kemo. It should be legal. It is not nearly as dangerous as alcohol. The more alcohol you drink the more reckless you get. If you smoke a lot of pot you just want to eat and and take a nap.

Sunday December 2, 2007, 6:20 pm

To End the War on Drugs is to make it legal & take the income away!! This would make crime go down, our taxes go down so what is the problem? Sorry I am finding this Article at such a late date. We have a Government who are Control Freaks now, most of us would not tolerate this in our own homes let alone an entire country. People are going to do drugs legal or not and as long as they are NOT legal WE are going to pay for their sins. It's coming out of our pocket books not theirs as they are locked in jail! This is an excellent idea for our ecolomy & just in time too as George W Bush has DRAINED all our money into HIS blood War!

End The War on Drugs!!! Take the employment away from the bad guys!! You will stop crime, stop shootings, stop gang banger dealers. The time is now!!! As long as this stays legal they are making the MILLIONS.