OUT FROM WITHING - THOUGHTS

MY THOUGHTS ON MARIJUANA, HEMP,
AND THE SO CALLED "WAR ON DRUGS".
For those of you who do not know, I smoke pot. I am not ashamed of that and I do not feel that I should have to hide this fact. I am open about it with my friends, family members, etc. If people do not like it then that is their problem to deal with, not mine. I do not think that it is anyone's place to say that I should not do something that makes me feel good when it hurts no one but myself.
I am aware of the health risks involved with smoking marijuana, I am not an idiot. I do not smoke in excess and I do not let the drug take over my life. Smoking pot has not turned me into a wild hooligun that roams the streets at night looking to get into trouble. It has not made me lose my job, lose my friends, lose my self controll, lose my car, caused me to become a low life, or any of the other myths that are usually associated with the smoking of marijuana.
If anything smoking pot has opened my eyes to a lot of new stuff that I would not have thought of before. It is a well known fact that the use of drugs will help to open new areas in your brain that you would not normally use. This has helped me to become more creative in many ways and has also allowed for me to be able to do more critical thinking, which has proven to help me in many situations in my life.
Despite the fact that many people casually use marijuana for recreational use only, such as myself, there still seems to be a need for the so called War On Drugs.
This is a war that has been raging for years but has produced no results what so ever. Since this is considered a war, it should be viewed in the same manner, which I think you can see the same pattern in this war as displayed in traditional wars.
As with traditional wars, the war is being fought over issues that are not really even related to the people that are affected by the war. People that are victims of this war, much like victims of traditional war, suffer unjust treatment due to the greed and pig headedness of the people in power who dictate what people should and should not be punished for. Some estimated $7 billion is being spent each year by the US government to hunt down, arrest, and lock away marijuana consumers. It seems a tad bit odd to me that, with all this money being spent and all these drug prevention programs being introduced to get kids off drugs, that there is still such a problem with drug abuse.
The main issue involved in the war on drugs is money. Marijuana and hemp were outlawed at the time of prohabition because the government was scared of it's use, mainly because they did not think that they could controll the industry well enough and that they would not get their deserved cut of the industry. Alchohol and tobacco were both outlawed at this time as well and eventually because very well developed industries that the government seems to have no problem with. (unless of course you count the dim witted attempts to get children to stay away from cigarettes by running idiotic comercials with stupid little jingles of I would rather..., but I hardly see this as any type of real persuation, alternative, or actual attempt to get people to stay away from or stop smoking).
Marijuana and hemp propose a problem because they are very easy to make and are very cheap to produce. Hemp is one of the strongest materials on Earth and could be used for many purposes and replace many products that often break over time. But, this would mean that people would not only not have to buy new products as much, but would not have to pay as much to get the hemp product in the first place, and we wouldn't want that to happen now would we? Without the need to purchase new shitty, non lasting producs every few months, many markets would fail and we would start to see a system based more on quality and product as opposed to quantity and numbers of products moved. Unfortunately, this is not what the people in power think is good and so many people must either pay high prices to recieve hemp products from specialty shops or risk making it themselves and getting busted for it.
Casual use of marijuana proposes no risk to anyone other than the people partaking in the drugs themselves. Yes, I do think that anyone who is going to smoke pot should be responsable. Do not drive while you're stoned and don't let yourself become so enthrawled by the drug that it takes over your very existence. I think this is pretty basic commmon logic, but many people think that the second you pick up a joint that all the brain cells fall out of your head.
The numbers relating to arrests made for marijuana consumption are frightening to say the least. It is estimated that every 49 seconds or so another person is arrested for marijuana posession. Last year alone there were 642,000 people arrested for posession of marijuana for casual use (this does not mean dealers, it means people like me and you who get caught with a joint on them or a bag in their pocket). Since 1965 there have been over 9 million arrests for the posession of marijuana, over 80% of these have been for (you guessed it) personal consumption. Many people seem to think that things are getting better and that because we're under liberal ruling right now that our situations are better and there is more understanding. Perhaps you should tell that to the 2.1 million Americans that have been arrested under the Clinton administration's oh so liberal time to shine.
I don't want to sit here and throw a bunch of facts and figures around, I think it is more than obvious that the situations we're up against are huge and that there is a lot of ground that still needs to be won to get the rights that we deserve. I think it is very important that more people that do smoke pot come forward and stop being so in the closet about their marijuana use. This may seem like a very dumb idea, because this type of action could have many negative affects in individual situations (such as for jobs) but the overall impact that this would have could be great. If more people would come forward and admit openly that they smoke pot it would help to put the act into a new light and make it less of a back alley type of act that only crazies and criminals take part in. People need to be made aware that the act of smoking pot is not something that only bad people do and that, just because you smoke pot, doesn't mean that you should be shunned away by businesses, friends, co workers, bosses, teachers, etc. The concept is simple, it is your body, you should be able to do what you wish with it as long as it is not hindering someone else's life in the process. Marijuana consumption, when done responsably, is something that is of a personal nature and should not affect anyone other than the person consuming it themselves.
I do not fully support the idea of introducing marijuana into an industry, because I feel that if that happened that it would turn into the exact same situations as we already have with alcohol and tobacco industries. Huge corporations that will stop at nothing to keep people docile and under controll, especially people in low income/ghetto areas where there is a need to be agitated and fight back.
During the riots that took place in CA. over th Rodney King verdict, many people took part in political and revolutionary rioting and burned a number of liquor stores to the ground in the ghetto areas. There were many other damages committed by other people, not all of which were for political purposes. The city's main concern was not restoring the stores that had been damaged, or the people's houses that were damaged, or anything else that would seem logical to be first on the list. It was the liquor stores that were most important. Within hours of liquor stores being burned down new ones would be built in an attempt to keep these people hooked, to make them think that they need this type of life. I do not want to see the same type of thing happen with marijuana.
I would be very upset to see stores having price wars over who can sell the cheapest pot or any of the other typical corporation tricks that are so commonly used in industries like that of alcohol and tobacco. There needs to be a happy medium of sorts that allows for people to posses pot, to smoke pot, to grow pot, etc, but does not allow for government controlled agencies to cash in and use big business methods of brainwashing that they so commonly use with other drugs (alcohol & tobacco).
This may seem like a far fetched idea but I honestly think it is the only reality that will create a true sense of independance that is needed for marijuana reform. There are a lot of groups that are working for conclusions like this, such as Cures Not Wars, and NORML. I highly suggest that you check into these organizations.
Another thing that I wanted to say is that you should really make youself aware of your rights as a pot smoker. It is all to common that people get busted and sent to jail for possesion of marijuana only because they don't know their rights and they don't excercise them to their full capacity. GET TO KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!!!I can't stress that enough.
Here are a few links to very usefull places on the web that are pot oriented and that have a lot of usefull information that you should make yourself aware of.

Hempnation.com This is a very good place to stop by to make youself aware of a lot of issues surrounding hemp and marijuana. There are a lot of articles and information here that is quite usefull.
Cures Not Wars This is one hell of a good place to check into for ideas and information on ways of making real solutions to the real drug problem, as opposed to using brut force bullshit action like we currently do
James' Grow At Home Marijuana Journal This was one of the first pages on the web to be open about growing pot at home. If you need tips on how to grow and anything relating to that you should go here. It is very helpfull.
Citizen's Guide to Drug Laws This is something that all of us need to make ourselves more familiar with and start using to our advantage. A guide to drug laws and the rights we have (which are usually violated) and how we can excercise them correctly.

All of the above listed pages have lots of great links to other pages with even more information. Rather than taking the time to sit here and copy all the links out I suggest you just follow the above links and then take a look at their link sections and go from there.