Pot Politics, Marijuana Myths, and Cannabis Culture

The simple fact of the matter is, most people are ignorant of the facts behind Marijuana prohibition. Unlike alcohol's one hundred thousand or big tobacco's more than four hundred thousand killed a year, Cannabis Sativa Indica Ruderalis also known as Hemp or Marijuana, has killed no one.

Apart from the fact that more people go to jail for marijuana than for violent crime, you'd think that the government was on to something. You'd think that, because more than five hundred thousand people a year die from using marijuana, the government would have to do something about it. You'd probably think that going to prison for five years or more as a minimum would be great for the drug pushers dealing in such a dangerous drug, and you'd be right.

As least as far as MADD, SADD, DADD, and tobacco activists might be concerned. But the fact of the matter is, marijuana is more beneficial than crude oil, provides more protein than soy beans, and has more versatility than both combined. Acre for acre, it provides more paper of a higher quality than any tree using a far less toxic process.

Its plentiful-and renewable-seed provides more than enough natural, non-toxic oil to eliminate the need for any other energy source for all of mankind's foreseeable future. It is the solution to all of humanity's problems. It is the single greatest hope for the starving of mankind. It can be made into home building materials and turned into fabrics that produce clothes that are almost indestructible.

It can take our society-the societies of every country- to the next plateau of industrial and technological advancement without causing any environmental pollution, attrition, or erosion, and do so while restoring the habitats of wildlife. It is the most valuable resource unknown to man, and there is a reason for that. Politics. Your government is lying to you. The most troubling thing about that is our government is lying to itself in the process.

Some politicians don't know the first thing about marijuana other than what they have read and been told, which is a sad and sorry state for one in a leadership position to be in, when one is in charge of the safety and care of those under one's authority. Let me restate: When a country such as ours is declared a bastion of human safety, prosperity, and welfare, why do we let ourselves be deceived into believing a lie, when the truth is much more promising?

The truth is marijuana is not harmful, that it is beneficial both medicinally and nutritionally, and it is a renewable resource that can provide energy, food, clothing, and shelter. So why isn't it legal for sale, research, or industrial uses, when it used to be? May as well ask why are cigarettes are still being sold or why alcohol is still legal even though it spawns broken homes, poverty, and crime.

Go ahead, ask. Ask any politician. Ask your congressman or senator why alcohol and tobacco are still legal when they are known to be killers and a danger to society. Ask your president if he would allow a bill that stipulates the prohibited consumption of cigarettes and alcohol by soldiers, government workers, and lawmen in order to get his war funding?

That simple act would save lives, reduce disease, and the need for elevated levels of medical care, and be worth multiple billions-possibly hundreds of billions-in reduced government, state, and local costs. Would he veto the bill if that stipulation were extended to the public at large?

We the people are comfortable with our legal poisons of choice, but we are cowardly about our illicit 'drug' of choice: marijuana. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions hide behind closed doors to enjoy their smoke, unknown. Some going through elaborate routines to keep their secret hidden. Many more than are now recorded as being 'admitted users'. Why hide? You have always had the power to change it.

Another curious mystery- why refer to a plant as drug? Well, for one it allows the state to 'regulate' it, as was the case with our government with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. The supreme court overturned it as unconstitutional some thirty years later, but the damage was done.

Apparently, our own government did not know that hemp and marijuana were the same thing. Considering the fact that they were in the process of completing an invention to revolutionize the hemp industry, prompting Popular Mechanics to write an article titled 'Billion Dollar Crop'. Ignorance that otherwise allowed congress to be talked into prohibiting what would be, less than ten years later, so crucial to their ability to compete in WWII. An unforseen consequence, but undoubtable evidence of Cannabis' useful versatility. The US Army had to pay farmers to grow it, promoting their assistance as a service to their country in a specially produced movie called 'Hemp for Victory'.

Now we are at war again. War on Terror. War on Drugs. Cold Wars and Wars of Conditions. Conditions that would elicit a response to the late great terror Sadam invading Kuwait, but not to the conditions he was hanged for: the bombing of his own people with chemical weapons.

Nor did the Rwandan genocide. Nor for the Darfur, Sudan, and Chad conditions. But only for certain political conditions. Transient conditions. Personal opinions, vendettas, and moral conditions. Only for those conditions those currently in power happen to be concerned with. But when the things that are a concern of the American people keep getting pushed around, ignored, or shelved, when is it a good time to push back? For instance, it has been far too long the case that lobbyists can directly buy the votes of politicians. This is public knowledge. How is this serving the interests of the American people as a whole when such dealings are usually organized by those with very selfish capitalistic concerns?

Five hundred thousand American die every year from legal alcohol and tobacco use, almost as much as all the people arrested for Marijuana every year, which as has killed no one. Billions of dollars are spent everyday to house, feed, and cloth otherwise nonviolent 'offenders' who's only crime is simple possession. As many billions as could be spent instead on housing the homeless and feeding the hungry. Or money that could be spent on providing medical services to the poor and uninsured. Or money that could be spent on single parent families to provide them with a stipend to use as they see fit; like to pay rent or buy their food, or pay for their necessary but overly expensive gas.

The woes of Americans in this day and age can be traced back to the concern of one individual with crude oil and coal. Non-renewable 'resources' that would long ago have been replaced by the most natural and renewable resource available to man. One that is endlessly sustainable and perpetually maintainable. But because it is illegal, such advancement is not possible. The government made it illegal based on ignorant lies and half-truths. They can also reverse it.

Prior to its prohibition, Cannabis was being prescribed by doctors the world over, and many recent studies have been done proving its medicinal benefit while others recommend its decriminalization. Why ignore something so obviously beneficial to the human race? What possible reason could our government continue to have? Well in truth, there is a reason-and only one reason-why the government (or rather those who control the government) would continue to decry it as dangerous and deny its public use: Its seed. Think about it America, it is a natural plant that grows from seed, and you can't control the seed of a plant unless you control the plant. No one can grow a plant exclusively for profit, monopolize it, or patent it without keeping it out of the competition's hand. This means you.

Think about it. How much does it cost to mine coal or drill for oil? How much does an acre of land cost? These things are costs prohibitive to most consumers. That is why we are being charged three dollars for a gallon of gas. We can't buy the pumps, pay for the refinement, ship it where it needs to go, and turn a profit without investing billions of dollars. We individuals can't compete on a corporate level or access the kind of resources they have.

This is how it is done in a capitalistic marketplace; you sink or you swim. He who has the greatest market share, has the greatest profits, and Cannabis has a built in profit limitation. Legalize it and almost every house in America would be growing it on acreage or in the yard. They would begin to make their own cloths. They would begin to refine their own gasoline. They would begin to learn how to separate themselves from the confines of a corporate structure that has access to the highest levels of government.

That is the problem in a nutshell. The industry that would be created by beregulating marijuana can't exclusively control the seed in order to profit from the sale of the plant and its parts. So instead of returning it to the public domain, turning it back into a common herb and household plant, they deny its use completely, under penalty of law. That is the nature of capitalists and of the pharmaceutical companies who push their latest drug to doctors so they can sell them to you. Not because they care that you are sick and need treatment. Not because they have a cure to offer you. But because they profit off of you, and the more you come back, the more they profit.

There is also something else. Something even more sinister than you might be willing to believe. Marijuana is a cure all. It can be use for whatever ails the human body, without side effect or threat to health like every synthetic drug on the market today. After all the years of being conditioned to listen to your government, of being told that your government cares about you, that the government has your best interest at heart, you never thought to question them.

But we know that lies are part and parcel of politics, so why did we ever trust them? For our safety and security. Few people want to rock any boat if means they might end up falling out of it. Few ever really want to take responsibility for their convictions. However, the government has no such limitations. As private individuals making up a public entity, it is in their best interest to keep us occupied as Americans and our attention diverted elsewhere.

Five hundred thousand statistics died last year, and five hundred thousand more will died this year. Under government oversight. There will be no arrests made or warrants issued. There will be no recourse for the shattered families because there simply is no guilty party to speak of. And right now today, you can go and buy enough alcohol to kill your entire family. Better yet, families are continually being destroyed by alcohol and tobacco even as you read this.

The truly innocent rot in jail for simple possession of a plant, while those responsible for five hundred thousand deaths a year go unpunished. Mothers, Students, Dads, Rockers, and Stars are all against drunk driving and have organized. But often too late. Usually it is after their sons or daughters or friends have died before they thinkt to do anything about the killer.

But red wine in moderate amounts is good for the human body, so they say. But by the same token, consuming copious amounts of water in a small amount of time will kill a human body. Does that mean that the government should regulate and forbid the consumption of water? It has killed more people than marijuana, and is arguably a better choice as a schedule one 'drug'. The fact of the matter is, you have been lied to, and the simple reason was to keep you ignorant of the capabilities of this amazing plant, in order to save the wealth and status of a few industrial men who would have been wiped out by the Cannabis seed.

There you have it folks, and if you don't believe me, you have the vast resources of the internet at your disposal. Google it for yourselves. Start with Jack Herer's 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes', the US Department of Agriculture's 'Hemp for Victory', and Popular Mechanic's 'Billion Dollar Crop'. From there you will only find more evidence of the government's ignorance or its crime.

Knowledge is power. Many are the reasons why.