What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

U.S. Gov't Will Legalize Marijuana on August 1

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
“Officers of the Federal Government have set a high priority on fuller understanding of the marihuana issue and appropriate governmental action. President Nixon has frequently expressed his personal and official commitment to providing a rational and equitable public response to the use and misuse of drugs. Similarly, Congress has shown its concern in passing the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. In appointing this Commission, both the President and Congress have recognized the need for an independent, nonpartisan appraisal of the nature of marihuana and the consequences of its use, for a similar appraisal of the abuse of all drugs, and for appropriate recommendations for public policy as a result of both studies.”

“A Final Comment
In this Chapter, we have carefully considered the spectrum of social and legal policy alternatives. On the basis of our findings, discussed in previous Chapters, we have concluded that society should seek to discourage use, while concentrating its attention on the prevention and treatment of heavy and very heavy use. The Commission feels that the criminalization of possession of marihuana for personal is socially self-defeating as a means of achieving this objective. We have attempted to balance individual freedom on one hand and the obligation of the state to consider the wider social good on the other. We believe our recommended scheme will permit society to exercise its control and influence in ways most useful and efficient, meanwhile reserving to the individual American his sense of privacy, his sense of individuality, and, within the context of ail interacting and interdependent society, his options to select his own life style, values, goals and opportunities.”

The Commission sincerely hopes that the tone of cautious restraint sounded in this Report will be perpetuated in the debate which will follow it. For those who feel we have not proceeded far enough, we are reminded of Thomas Jefferson's advice to George Washington that "Delay is preferable to error." For those who argue we have gone too far, we note Roscoe Pound's statement, "The law must be stable, but it must not stand still."

We have carefully analyzed the interrelationship between marihuana the drug, marihuana use as a behavior, and marihuana as a social problem. Recognizing the extensive degree of misinformation about marihuana as a drug, we have tried to demythologize it. Viewing the use of marihuana in its wider social context, we have tried to desymbolize it.


Considering the range of social concerns in contemporary America, marihuana does not, in our considered judgment, rank very high. We would deemphasize marihuana as a problem.

The existing social and legal policy is out of proportion to the individual and social harm engendered by the use of the drug. To replace it, we have attempted to design a suitable social policy, which we believe is fair, cautious and attuned to the social realities of our time."


From the intro and final chapter of the "Shafer Commission" report commissioned by President Nixon. Nixon ignored the findings.

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/nc/ncmenu.htm
 

TheMan13

Well-known member
Veteran
Nearly 5 decades of marijuana prohibition has fundamentally changed and corrupted our justice system for generations now. That will be the truly tough conversation once integrity is finally returned to the rule of law (CSA), if ever. Hundreds of thousands of judges, prosecutors, police officers and prison guards jobs literally depend upon this criminalization scheme and will necessarily be pink slipped upon it's end. That group of individuals have accumulated political influence, even before the powerful public sector labor unions they have established, like no democracy has ever seen nor imagined.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hundreds of thousands of judges, prosecutors, police officers and prison guards jobs literally depend upon this criminalization scheme and will necessarily be pink slipped upon it's end.
There's enough work for them to do, reshuffling them to other tasks. It's not like they turn off the light and lock the door....other crimes will occupy them.
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
Hundreds of thousands of judges, prosecutors, police officers and prison guards jobs literally depend upon this criminalization scheme and will necessarily be pink slipped upon it's end.
There's enough work for them to do, reshuffling them to other tasks. It's not like they turn off the light and lock the door....other crimes will occupy them.

naw, everything else going fine over here, man
no other crimes to report

but if some guy is growin pot for him and his ol' lady, gear up boys!
gotta keep the streets safe now, you know
 

Gry

Well-known member
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Once integrity is finally returned to the rule of law
[/FONT].... would that be resurrection or revolution ?
 

TheMan13

Well-known member
Veteran
Is there another felony in this country that simply the claim of scent justifies probable cause under our "rule of law"? In 2010 52% of all drug arrests were for marijuana. That accounts for a marijuana arrest every 37 seconds in this country. Even with all the medicinal marijuana laws put on the state books across the country since 1996 this multi billion dollar taxpayer funded industry has prospered in spite.

markgraph1.jpg
 
Last edited:

TheMan13

Well-known member
Veteran
Hundreds of thousands of judges, prosecutors, police officers and prison guards jobs literally depend upon this criminalization scheme and will necessarily be pink slipped upon it's end.
There's enough work for them to do, reshuffling them to other tasks. It's not like they turn off the light and lock the door....other crimes will occupy them.

Actually "crime rates" would necessarily free fall nationwide at historic levels, in turn leaving our current breadth of courtroom dockets and prisons empty. You simply could not justify the expenditures these people have conned us into as a necessity for our safety (public interest) any longer.

There is no labor reshuffle option I can even imagine for hundreds of thousands lawyers and cops in my worse nightmares. Look into the publicly traded prison industry stocks/companies corporate guidance statements. It would be a crime for them to lie about the impact of marijuana legalization upon their business model, so they're pretty clear about the game ending ...

When corporations purchase government control (capital cronyism), it's called regulatory capture. I'm not sure there is even a term yet for what our justice system has achieved over this past half century ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
The State medical marijuana laws really pissed the authorities off even though most of those laws were voted on/approved by a majority of the people.

Imagine what went through the minds of those authorities the day after recreational passed in Colorado. Then Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and DC. And isn't California poised to vote in recreational this fall.

With MJ being illegal my whole life I never thought I'd see the day when I could walk into a store and buy it. I did just that in CO in January of 2014. I didn't even care if it was schwag or brick it was just the point, especially having the feeling while walking out that according to State law I was OK.

The Federal government needs to get its act together or its constituents may by courting a minority if they continue with their prohibitionist stance. Not all people are going to like or consume MJ, there are people that don't like or consume alcohol. But alcohol consumption will always exceed marijuana by an extreme margin and alcohol is a much greater health and societal risk.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
There is no labor reshuffle option I can even imagine for hundreds of thousands lawyers and cops in my worse nightmares. Look into the publicly traded prison industry stocks/companies corporate guidance statements. It would be a crime for them to lie about the impact of marijuana legalization upon their business model

Nah, the opioid crisis, car jacking's and other crimes will keep court dockets busy. Something else will keep the privately owned prisons at work. It might be a good thing for attorney's having to scramble for legitimate cases. The police force will have no impact....they still have hands full with domestic violence, warrants, etc.
 

TheMan13

Well-known member
Veteran
There is no labor reshuffle option I can even imagine for hundreds of thousands lawyers and cops in my worse nightmares. Look into the publicly traded prison industry stocks/companies corporate guidance statements. It would be a crime for them to lie about the impact of marijuana legalization upon their business model

Nah, the opioid crisis, car jacking's and other crimes will keep court dockets busy. Something else will keep the privately owned prisons at work. It might be a good thing for attorney's having to scramble for legitimate cases. The police force will have no impact....they still have hands full with domestic violence, warrants, etc.

I believe you are underestimating the impact of simply claiming the scent of marijuana as justifying felony probable cause (search, seizure and use of force) on our justice system alone, no less the Drug War in general. Marijuana is often not even present as arrests for other unrelated crimes are made off of the PC. Hell would decades of the Cops TV show even be possible without it ;-)~

Numbers don't lie brother and these are historically epic ...

U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
Numbers don't lie brother and these are historically epic ...

View Image
Hmmm, let's see now...that's only about a 400% increase since 1970. Wow.

I wonder how many of those incarcerated were drug related, specifically marijuana (although I have an idea). The previous chart you posted was basically showing arrests, not necessarily incarceration.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hmmm, let's see now...that's only about a 400% increase since 1970. Wow.

I wonder how many of those incarcerated were drug related, specifically marijuana (although I have an idea). The previous chart you posted was basically showing arrests, not necessarily incarceration.

Graphs and polls are made to skew whatever information one wishes to convey. Note: 1970 US President: Nixon.


http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war
In June 1971, President Nixon declared a “war on drugs.” He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies, and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Nixon temporarily placed marijuana in Schedule One, the most restrictive category of drugs, pending review by a commission he appointed led by Republican Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer.
In 1972, the commission unanimously recommended decriminalizing the possession and distribution of marijuana for personal use. Nixon ignored the report and rejected its recommendations......


George W. Bush arrived in the White House as the drug war was running out of steam – yet he allocated more money than ever to it. His drug czar, John Walters, zealously focused on marijuana and launched a major campaign to promote student drug testing. While rates of illicit drug use remained constant, overdose fatalities rose rapidly.
The era of George W. Bush also witnessed the rapid escalation of the militarization of domestic drug law enforcement. By the end of Bush's term, there were about 40,000 paramilitary-style SWAT raids on Americans every year – mostly for nonviolent drug law offenses, often misdemeanors. While federal reform mostly stalled under Bush, state-level reforms finally began to slow the growth of the drug war......


Progress is inevitably slow but there is unprecedented momentum behind drug policy reform right now. We look forward to a future where drug policies are shaped by science and compassion rather than political hysteria."




Although cannabis offenses are part of the upward trend....other drugs and crimes being committed with those drugs is where the graph ascends. They lump all illicit drugs together, marijuana being one of several. You see it or can visualize it from previous paragraphs....Nixon, Bush, their cabinet selections....

From the Aug. 27, 2015 Public Safety Performance Project
Federal Drug Sentencing Laws Bring High Cost, Low Return
Penalty increases enacted in 1980s and 1990s have not reduced drug use or recidivism

"There are currently 94,678 people who are in federal prison with a drug violation considered to be the most serious offense they committed which lead to their incarceration. Of this group, 12.4 percent are in federal prison because they violated marijuana laws. This is a total of 11,533 people incarcerated as a result of their involvement with cannabis products. The majority of the people who are imprisoned for cannabis in federal prison were convicted of drug trafficking offenses. "

TWELVE.FOUR %.

Maybe one day those who are elected to oversee statutes, bring about change will see that incarcerating those non-violent offenses. Too many hands in the pie to even consider deregulation. Money, yes, you are right....money is being made via many facets.
 
Last edited:

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers

According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana. Nationwide, the arrest data revealed one consistent trend: significant racial bias. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.

So, you see....depending on resource, study, statistics.....graphs can be made for any cause.

Bottom line....vote IN or Vote OUT representatives that have our best interests at hand.
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
I understand manipulation with numbers, graphs, and charts, been dealing with them for years.

I would bet more are incarcerated in State and Local systems. My main point (as was TheMan13's I believe) was the skyrocketing in lockups.
 

corky1968

Active member
Veteran
This is all a lie to get the Sheeple to look the other way.

Am I to believe that I'll be able to walk off the street, walk into a store,
buy an ounce of buds like I can with beer and liquor no questions asked?

It won't happen.
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
Am I to believe that I'll be able to walk off the street, walk into a store,
buy an ounce of buds like I can with beer and liquor no questions asked?
You can in Colorado, 1/4 for non-resident. Washington too. Haven't tried in Oregon or Alaska.

I prefer my own though but you can't bring it with you ;-)
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I would bet more are incarcerated in State and Local systems. My main point (as was TheMan13's I believe) was the skyrocketing in lockups.

Yep, due to politics and $$.
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top