Obama's drug czar declares marijuana has no medical value

[ItsGrowTime]

I appreciate the link Itsgrowtime. Nader & Paul only got about $40MM together while the donkey and elephant got over a BILLION $$. How can the "good"guys compete? My only criticism of the so called "good" guys is that they are not hungry enuff for the white house to double deal some of these big donors.

You're welcome for the link. Once you see the financials involved, things start to make a lot of sense. But I did have to disagree with your statement above. The "good guys" are not willing to compromise their principles and act as puppets for the banks and corporations in order to receive the big donors money. It's a catch-22. If they take the money then they are no longer the "good guys" because they are bought and paid for. Receiving donations from giant corporations that fund national election campaigns and governing in the interest of the people are mutually exclusive. A candidate simply can't do both these days. Government and business have gotten so intertwined (technically its fascism) that the People are left out and looked at only as a means to fund the government through taxes. This is why there won't be any change regarding cannabis. The corporations that own our government don't want it legalized, therefore it will not be legalized. .....or at least until those corporations have figured out how to completely control the cannabis market. That would be nearly impossible since it's so easy to grow. They want the control. If they can't have it then it will be illegal. Simple as that.

 

[Spawn]

I saw this coming from the beginning. No one wanted to listen of course -- in my circle Obama was the future, the way out of the dark. And I said "not so", I saw right through the empty promises. And now I'm being validated and let me tell you --- it's not a good feeling. I would have given a lot to have been proved wrong.

 

[masterKahn]

Same shit different guy, The drug czar was quoted as saying "legalisation is not in mine or president Obama's vocabulary."

There won't be any universal health care either people, just more debt then ever before and nothing to show for it but a few thousand dead soldiers and some repaved roads, if you get even that.

 

[eglider]

Am I one of the few that grasp the obvious? No suprise at all to me on Obama policy. Get the votes then screw the dopes. Never been to Chicago? Dont read history?
13 Billion in taxes being ignored ? Laughable compared to the money and power that illegal drugs provide the Govt. Massive smokescreen Agencies to launder money through huge "black-op budgets" to do any off-book funding. We can Congress-proof anything. They just get in the way of policy. Need some cash to destabilize a country? No problem. We got it. Need some carrot instead of stick? Go to the dope ATM.
We need a war on drugs. How else are we going to fund the unfundable. Too many careers and jobs and high placed livlihoods are at stake for relieveing Cancer patients pain and others who use pot for lesser problems.

Want Dope? Keep up the hope....but dont hold your breath. The Feds want to tax it.
Get ready for the new trend . Taxing CO2. Yup, you breathe, you pay.

 

[growMEDS]

I love it when officials from my own government make public statements that I know from years of personal experience to be pure and complete bullshit. It makes me so mad I almost want to cry.

My life post-pharma with cannabis as my main medicine has been richer, fuller, more enjoyable, and overall much more worth living. In other words, I don't want to die anymore. I like being alive.

When I was treating my bipolar disorder with the dozens of offerings from Lilly, Pfizer, et al, I was fucking MISERABLE. The medications in most cases exacerbated my symptoms and brought with them new ones. Lamictal rash, anyone? How about a little tardive dyskenesia (i.e. whole-body twitching that sometimes is permanent) from atypical antipsychotics? Let's not talk about the month of my life I lost to an Effexor mania. And that shit is really expensive. $400 a month sometimes, even with insurance. I had to work a job I loathed just to keep insurance so I could keep taking medication that made me miserable. I absolutely hated being alive.

7 years ago Dr. Tod Mikuriya gave me the best medical advice I've ever received from a doctor regarding my bipolar disorder. He listened to my story, took off his glasses, looked me in the eye and said in the most doctorly way possible - "get off the pharmaceuticals completely, change your diet, exercise every day, get a new job if you have to, and use cannabis constantly, especially before exercise".

It took me several years to build up the courage to actually put that advice into practice, the misery we know being better than the misery we don't know and all. I was truly scared to get off the pharms. But his prescription is the only one that has EVER brought me true relief. PERIOD.

Not only that, but the cultivation of my own herb keeps me on a strict daily schedule that people with bipolar disorder desperately need. Even when I feel like complete garbage, I still work in my garden. Sometimes it's the only thing I can manage to do with my day. I can't hold down a regular job for shit, but my garden is a thing of beauty and a verdant picture of health, and a constant inspiration and joy to me.

I've been close to ending my own life on more than one occasion because of the symptoms and aftermath of my bipolar disorder. I'm just now beginning to realize that maybe I'm not so sick after all - perhaps in a system where people like me are denied a medication that can truly help them and are only offered alternatives that make them feel even worse, the system is sick, not me. I thank God every single day, every time I use my precious herb, that I live in a state that allows me to take care of my own medical needs without fear of prison. I wish everyone, everywhere had the same opportunity.

I use the flowers from a harmless, natural herb to stay alive. Fuck you, Kerlikowske. You're a liar.

Seriously great story bro!

 

[saint]

He may be 'doing his job', but that doesn't make him any less of a fucking liar. He said that shit with his own two man lips, nobody put a tape recorder in his mouth.
.

That's precisely what was meant by saying it's his job. His job is to lie. Figured it spoke for itself.

 

[PondeLftHndSide]

That's precisely what was meant by saying it's his job. His job is to lie. Figured it spoke for itself.

Good point. Very good point. He's performing masterfully, then. He'll get that gold watch, yet.

 

[HydroManiac]

Obama is just another dirtbag, lowlife, oxygen thief politician and I personally hope mj is never made legal it would mess everything up we don't need corporations taking over the business. California is out of control anybody can get a medical card there rather they need it or not dr's out there don't even have to work anymore just see several patients a day and collect money from them for cards. Another thing that is happening in California is I have seen cars parked near a clinic only to have a person with a card buy mj then go out to that parked car waiting for him and sell the weed to somebody who doesn't have a card this kind of crap needs to stop

 

[PondeLftHndSide]

I truly believe everyone, everywhere, should have unrestricted access to cannabis. It's a harmless and benign substance and has been used by man for many purposes since time immemorial. The only way it 'hurts' people is by putting them behind bars, out of jobs, estranging them from their families and communities, and turning them into criminals - and that only within the last 70 or so years.

I used to have a period edition of the 1930 US Pharmacopeia. Cannabis is in there, Sativa and Indica, in several places, in several preparations, for several purposes. No dire warnings against death or addiction - it does cite the possibility for abuse, but also acknowledges that there seem to be no lasting ill effects from abuse. They had some gnarly red oil back then, I'd abuse the shit out of that, let me tell you! Cannabis was available over the counter in several preparations. No record of it causing any problems for anyone. Until someone figured out hemp could replace many lucrative and valuable commodities and potentially threaten the livelihood of some very rich people. So they demonized it with a bullshit fear campaign, and it worked. And they threw the baby out with the bathwater and took it away from doctors, too. The AMA of the day didn't like that one bit, and said so eloquently, and they were basically told to shut the fuck up.

I agree, abusers of the medical laws create problems for those who abide by the law. But those laws are inherently unjust to begin with. These are flaming hoops of bullshit we have to jump through to get our medicine, no matter how "easy". Personally, I applaud the doctors who are willing to put their license on the line to write notes. The law in California is pretty clear about "any illness for which cannabis provides relief", and in the immortal and true words of Bob Marley - "Herb so good for ev'ryting".

 

[CaptainTrips]

Obama is just another dirtbag, lowlife, oxygen thief politician and I personally hope mj is never made legal it would mess everything up we don't need corporations taking over the business. California is out of control anybody can get a medical card there rather they need it or not dr's out there don't even have to work anymore just see several patients a day and collect money from them for cards. Another thing that is happening in California is I have seen cars parked near a clinic only to have a person with a card buy mj then go out to that parked car waiting for him and sell the weed to somebody who doesn't have a card this kind of crap needs to stop

I have seen it said that prop 215 was a "golden ticket" (lol) of sorts. IE legalization. It is so liberal that basically anyone that wants a recomendation, can get one... Im sure lots of even "legit" medical users sell off their excess crops to friends and whatnot between crops. Why the hell wouldn't you, its free cash. Maybe it shouldnt be done so openly, but its going to be done regarldless and I see no problem with it...

 

[PondeLftHndSide]

Some of us give our excess away. A whole lot of us.

 

[CaptainTrips]

A would bet its still a minority. (a small one)

 

[pedrodepaco]

same old shit pot growers have nice shit to sell when they get busted the government allready gets there cut why would they leagalize it.

 

[T.Baggins]

I dont know if most of you read the story about what lead to the statement, so here you go(below)...
looks like you really need to be looking at the type of people you are getting your medicine from... are you actually funding these murdering terrorist criminal enterprises by accepting to pay upwards of 20 dollars a gram... they dont give a fuk about you or your health, guarantee most of that medicine you re smoking is covered in pesticides..when you point a finger their are four pointing right back at you!
GROW YOUR OWN!!! this story is a black eye for the community!


The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno.

The nation's drug czar, who viewed a foothill marijuana farm on U.S. Forest Service land with state and local officials earlier Wednesday, said the federal government will not support legalizing marijuana.

"Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine," he said.

Kerlikowske said he can understand why legislators are talking about taxing marijuana cultivation to help cash-strapped government agencies in California. But the federal government views marijuana as a harmful and addictive drug, he said.

"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS -- Save Our Sierra -- a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County.


CRAIG KOHLRUSS / THE FRESNO BEE
A Fresno County Sheriff's department investigator stands with his AR-15 in front of an illegal marijuana garden found by officers on Monday, July 20, 2009. Officers moving in to shut down such gardens never know what they will be walking in on. Sometimes the suspects are armed and waiting. Other times, the sites are vacated upon arrival.

CRAIG KOHLRUSS / THE FRESNO BEE
A Fresno County Sheriff's Department investigator walks through a forest of marijuana plants growing on public lands west of Shaver Lake on Monday. About 10,000 plants, each with a potential street value of $4,000, were found at the illegal pot garden.

CRAIG KOHLRUSS / THE FRESNO BEE
An investigator guides a Fresno County Sheriff's Office helicopter working to eradicate illegal marijuana gardens on public lands.

CRAIG KOHLRUSS / THE FRESNO BEE
A state Department of Justice investigator sorts through a mountain of illegal marijuana plants chopped out of a garden growing Monday on public lands west of Shaver Lake. The pot was cut down before being destroyed.


Marijuana plants valued at more than $1.26 billion have been confiscated and 82 people arrested over the past 10 days in Fresno County. The operation started last week and is continuing.

By comparison, Tulare County's leading commodity -- milk -- was valued at about $1.8 billion in 2008.

Officials say the marijuana-eradication operation will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the exact amount won't be known until agencies can add up staffing, vehicle and other costs.

In Operation SOS, more than 314,000 plants were uprooted in 70 gardens -- numbers expected to rise as the enforcement action continues. Agents also seized $41,000 in cash, 26 firearms and three vehicles.

Planning for the operation began in February and focused on marijuana crops being backed by Mexican drug cartels, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said.

Mims said many cartels are involved, but she would not name any because the investigation is still under way. All but one person arrested was from Mexico, officials said.

One hundred growers may still be on the loose, said Fresno County sheriff's Lt. Rick Ko. Many may have gotten rides out of the area, but some could still be in the Sierra, Ko said.

Last year, Fresno County deputies seized 188,000 marijuana plants.

In just one week, nearly twice as many plants were seized, Mims said, "so you can imagine how many we were missing."

Statewide, more than 5.3 million plants were seized in 2008, or two of every three confiscated in the United States, said Bill Ruzzamenti, director of the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

"The amount of drugs out there scares most of us," he said.

Volunteers are going into the gardens to clean up trash, dead animals and pesticides to return the land as close to its original condition as possible. But it could take years for the land to recover, because little can be done once fertilizers and pesticides seep into the ground or stream beds.

"For every acre of marijuana grown, 10 acres are damaged," said George Anderson with the California Department of Justice.

 

[Blue Dot]

^ But that's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Duh, there are always going to be bad apples in anything, that doesn't mean the feds should abandon the idea of legalization just because the cartels have figured out a way to manipulate the system.

the cartels will ALWAYS figure out a way to manipulate the system.

if you watch the movie TRAFFIC it will tell you why

"because the cartels have more resources (money) then the feds."

 

[T.Baggins]

we need to start throwing out the bad apples... not just accepting them....

 

[Blue Dot]

we need to start throwing out the bad apples... not just accepting them....

Then maybe Gil should have said "I'm here to clean up the cartels".

Afterall he IS the drug czar but cleaning up the cartels sounds like too hard of a job for him so he'd much rather pick off the low hanging fruit and make HIS job a LOT easier by just saying he (the feds) are not gonna support legalization.

Way to be a tough LEO Gil, by being afraid of the cartels and instead flexing on weak apathetic stoners.

The whole thing makes me sick.

(You really should watch Traffic if you haven't already. I live in San Diego and this movie was based around San Diego and IMO it's the most accurate depiction of the narco-trafficing. You guys up Norte are just now experiencing what I've seen for the last 35 years down here.)

 

[PondeLftHndSide]

T.Baggins - There are also many, many extremely conscientious and dedicated small-scale producers of artisan-grade medicinal cannabis, who take great care and effort, at their own personal risk, to make sure that patients get the highest quality medicine possible at a fair price for both parties. Who make an honest living for a hard day's work within the (bullshit) laws we have in place. And who take their responsibility as providers of medicine very seriously.

Not everyone can grow enough medicine to cover their needs, and many don't need enough to justify learning how to be an indoor farmer. It didn't take me long to learn how to grow a little grass - it took me years of trial and error to master the art of growing, processing and curing truly fine cannabis. And for some patients, myself included, "a little grass" isn't enough - they need the best quality medication they can get. Thus, there is a need for dedicated producers of medical cannabis.

Lumping these people in with thugs and Mexican drug cartels is just plain wrong.

 

[T.Baggins]

I'm well aware of the struggles of the medical community... iv been dealing with it for years... iv adopted two patients my self.... and its clearly absurd to say it has no medical value ....but, their definitely going to legalize cannabis if they think its just going to be a cash cow for drug cartels..... and the recreational uses dont seem to give a rats ass it their pot was smuggled up here in someones ass, as long as they get their high.... i just hope we aren't to the point where were defending these slime balls coming up here fuking up the forest and endangering our family's so they make a buck off us to buy some more guns or whatever they do with the money, because we think the ends justify the means...
your bright enuff to see my point...
we should not be tolerant of this kind of thing.. it has to start sum were!
how about here and now?

 

[FreedomFGHTR]

Thats why there is a nice lil form called 1099MISC,.. Sadly paying that bribe is what makes the difference between being ok with the government and not cool with them. But it was interesting to note that they were doing this on FEDERAL land. Yeah places where states rights issues are irrelavent.