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From Raw Story. Let me get this straight: Softening/Decriminalization pot laws could not only generate multiple types of revenue to local, state, and federal coffers, but not having to enforce these laws would save every municipality/town/city tons of money, too?
The fucked up stance would be to do nothing, so let's do that.
Is America that freaked out that potheads might actually save the day?
Federal agency recognizes pot for medical use It seems as if the government just lost its biggest legal tool in persecuting prosecuting Marijuana dispensaries in states where Medical Marijuana is legal.
Nice excerpts here:
Medical marijuana dispensaries currently under fire from the IRS may have been handed a critical new weapon in their fight to stay open. The National Cancer Institute, one of the many federal agencies who make up the National Institute of Health, has ruled that marijuana does in fact have medical benefits, making it the first federal agency to do so.
The NCI has issued a statement that in clinical trials, cancer patients successfully treated nausea and vomiting, sleeplessness, pain, and loss of appetite using marijuana. It stated that cannabis was being investigated as having not only a palliative effect on symptoms, but also a possible "direct antitumor effect".
From the Washington Independent:
The new NCI assessment could have an impact on the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the harshest possible drug classification, which has resulted in a prison population in which 1 in 8 prisoners in the U.S. is locked up for a marijuana-related offense. One of the principal criteria for a Schedule I determination is that there be “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” The U.S. Justice Department may have a hard time maintaining that claim if challenged, considering a federal agency now recognizes marijuana’s medical use in cancer treatment.
So, the effect of this ruling will be immediate? Now that a government agency has assigned medicinal value to marijuana, does that nullify any more prosecutions, or is there some form of appeal AG Holder will use to continue busting pot shops despite this ruling? If this development stands, this ruling will be remembered as a turning point in the phony War on Drugs, when rational opinions about Marijuana began to prevail, and the tide visibly began to turn..
Pat Robertson Wants the Devil's Weed Decriminalized. (From Gawker) What's next? Cloverfield monsters running for Office? I thought that would be as likely as last week's announcement. Excerpts:
Whatever happened to the culture warriors? Everyone is either a gay soldier or a black president nowadays. Or perhaps even a pot decriminalizing televangelist? This is old Pat Robertson, now. Pat Robertson is sick of the War on Marijuana.
"We're locking up people that have taken a couple puffs of marijuana and next thing you know they've got 10 years with mandatory sentences," Robertson continued. "These judges just say, they throw up their hands and say nothing we can do with these mandatory sentences. We've got to take a look at what we're considering crimes and that's one of 'em.
"I'm ... I'm not exactly for the use of drugs, don't get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it's just, it's costing us a fortune and it's ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That's not a good thing."
I don't fucking know who this guy is. I don't want to complain or jinx this development in any way, but seriously: Who is this?
This turn of events begs more than one question.. How long has Pat Robertson felt this way? Why has he chosen December, 2010 (as opposed to, say, October or November, 2010) to publicly voice his support on restructuring marijuana laws? Will his religious contemporaries agree and follow, or disagree, and totally disavow him?
For most of society, this is a curiosity, a cool turn of events, an "are you fucking kidding me?" event.. But for Social Conservatives and Evangelicals, this is HUGE. I'm sure the denouncements are already beginning, but so are the beginnings of Religious Right Wing (as a voting bloc) support for the ultimate legalization of Marijuana. Robertson's stance will be hotly debated, within many religious and political circles for years to come. This is big.
As despicable the man is, Pat Robertson might ultimately be the man who defeated the War on Marijuana.
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