Richard Nixon Odered Cannabis' Permanent Schedule I Status.

[Le Taz Hot]

I'm not sure most people know this but in the early 1970's a presidential commission was formed (hand-picked by Richard Nixon and loaded with drug warriors) to review the research and offer up recommendations to the President. They did so and came to a different conclusion than Nixon wanted and in usual Nixon fashion, ordered the conclusions buried and the drug remained a Schedule I (where it had been placed temporarily until the studies were done).

Here are excerpts from a great Alternet article on the subject:

After reviewing all the evidence, these drug warriors were forced to come to a different conclusion than they had at first expected. Rather than harshly condemning marijuana, they started talking about legalization. When Nixon heard such talk, he quickly denounced the Commission -- months before it issued its report.

As a result of Nixon's public rebuke, Shafer met with the President. The Commission was upset, and the purpose of the meeting was to reassure them. But Nixon didn't budge. Instead, he warned Shafer to get control of his commission and avoid looking like a "bunch of do-gooders" who are "soft on marijuana." He warned Shafer that the Commission would "look bad as hell" if it came out with recommendations different from the direction of Congress and the President.

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Nixon reacted strongly to the report. In a recorded conversation on March 21, the day before the Commission released its report, Nixon said, "We need, and I use the word 'all out war,' on all fronts ... we have to attack on all fronts." Nixon and his advisors went on to plan a speech about why he opposed marijuana legalization, and proposed that he do "a drug thing every week" during the 1972 presidential election year. Nixon wanted a "Goddamn strong statement about marijuana ... that just tears the ass out of them."

http://www.alternet.org/story/12666/once-secret_%22nixon_tapes%22_show_why_the_u.s._outlawed_pot

[msongs]

1. too bad tricky dick didnt smoke...he might have mellowed out and kept his job lol nt

[silvershadow]

2. He was awfully paranoid...Maybe he did smoke. lol nt

[Kolesar]

5. Milhouse gulped down dilantin by the handful

There was a period in his presidency when he was seriously stoned every day.

[NYC Liberal]

7. Yes and Al Haig even sent out a memo saying any military orders from Nixon

were to be ignored unless he had approved them.

[Kolesar]

10. Nixon was an alcoholic and he used Dilantin without a prescription for several years.

Ahh, you made me look!
Long-term use of Dilantin can cause rapid rhythmic repetitious involuntary eye movements, ataxia, slurred speech, decreased coordination, mental confusion and an overgrowth of the gums. So bad was the problem, that at the height of the Vietnam War the then Secretary of Defense, James Schlesinger, ordered military commanders not to react to orders from the White House unless they were cleared with him or the Secretary of State.
...
Hunter S. Thompson described him as a man who could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He said, "He was a giant in his way."

http://www.tallslimerect.com/presidents/37.html

[Angry Dragon]

3. I guess facts have not mattered to republicans for 40+ years

Long live the lies

[Le Taz Hot]

4. Nor Democrats

in that Obama has shut down more MM dispensaries than George W. Bush ever did. Blame goes to BOTH sides.

[sofa king]

15. That's not fair at all.

The fact that there even are medical marijuana dispensaries is a credit to one side of the aisle alone--ours.

The law enforcement issue of preventing those dispensaries from distributing marijuana nationwide is still a DOJ responsibility, and it's not fair to criticize this President for upholding the law when the election-thieving war-starting nincompoop didn't.

If you'd like a better example, try Ronald Reagan, who clamped down on marijuana growers just as Ollie North's crack was hitting the streets, the better to fund their covert war in Central America at the cost of thousands of American lives.

There is a reason Republicans want to keep marijuana illegal. Making it legal threatens their line of profit.

[Le Taz Hot]

16. Actually, it is.

The overwhelming facts point to the complete lack of scientific justification for Cannabis to be a Schedule I drug. The Obama administration has not only made NO move to remove it as a Schedule I drug, it has been responsible for a dramatic increase in MM dispensary busts. I understand why he feels it's the politically expedient thing to do (though I'm convinced he's wrong about that) what I don't understand is the increased dispensary busts other than it was low-hanging fruit and more attempts to appease the right.

This is NOT a partisan issue -- it's about keeping something illegal that has absolutely no business being illegal in the first place. Made illegal by, SURPRISE! big-moneyed special interests who had competing interests in logging and other industries. The method by which they made it illegal used racist terminology (it's why we use the term "marijuana" instead of cannabis), scare tactics, and yellow journalism.

It continues to be illegal because. SURPRISE! big-moneyed special interests who have competing interests AND cottage industry spin-offs such as law enforcement and the prison industry have every interest in ensuring it stays a Schedule I.

Putting people in prison for a relatively benign plant is not good for the country, it's good for certain very large industries. And We the People of this country need to start standing up for things that are blatantly wrong, regardless of politics, or we truly are lost as a nation.

[B Calm]

6. I served with David Eisenhower

aboard the USS Albany CG10. David was married to Richard Nixon's daughter Julie. Back in Feb 1973 we arrived in Mayport, Fla after a long six month North Atlantic and Med cruise. The ship was loaded down with hashish from our stop in Holland and the president of the United States was on the pier with his wife and daughter. If he only knew what we were hiding, eh. . .

[Kolesar]

11. My roommate deployed on the Albany in 1979

We were midshipmen. The Albany lost propulsion and drifted in the Mediterranean for several hours one day. Eventually, she steamed back to the US to be "made into razor blades".

Hashish was sold in the ports of Spain. The BTs and MMs huddled by the ventilators and passed the pipe around.

[B Calm]

13. Barcelona was my favorite port

of call. I have some unbelievable stories from Barcelona.

We use to huddle around in the Dry Cleaner's shop and pass the pipe. The Dry Cleaning shop had great ventilation to dispel the dry cleaning fumes and it worked great with the hashish smoke too. We would get stoned and then get the munchies. That's when we would raid the officer mess hall. It was great being in ship service!

[Kolesar]

14. A Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit told what an amazing city of art and culture it was

Barcelona grew quickly with the textile industry. Dali and Picasso were prominent. Gaudi designed that amazing basilica.

The museum exhibit also showed how the fascists portrayed the art as debauchery and fashioned a message to divide the public. The Church was an enabler, of course.

The moment was captured in Picasso's Guernica, of course. I had no idea how significant the city was when I just went into port for some beers.

[FraDon]

8. Oh, the irony …

I worked on the McGovern campaign in 1972, when Nixon ordered "Operation Intercept" to stand down, and the Mexican border opened wide – flooding the campuses with cheap and plentiful pot. As I traveled the country visiting dozens of colleges in key states (to try to fire-up get-out-the-vote efforts) the story was the same: regular dems boycotting their own candidate, and students too stoned to even wonder why the pot was so cheap and plentiful. He and his thugs were such amoral Machiavellian crooks.

[B Calm]

9. Four finger bag, a full ounce $15.00

Those were the days my friend!

Columbian Gold was better at $20.00 an ounce.

[Kolesar]

12. My activist buddy, born in 1948, related the same story

He was quite inspired by RFK and described how the pot was made available by the establishment. He related that story to me a decade ago. I'm fuzzy on the details.