Why Can't You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs

[cleanhippie]

John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.

At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law.

Some of the groups who want to keep the drug illegal are police unions that want more members to pay more dues. One of the primary sources for cash for more policing activities are Federal grants for penalizing illegal drug use, which help pay for overtime, additional police officers, and equipment for the force. That’s what Lovell does, he gets those grants. He also fights against democratic mechanisms to legalize drugs.

In 2010, California considered Prop 19, a measure to legalize marijuana and tax it as alcohol. The proposition gained more votes than Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive and Republican gubernatorial nominee that year, but failed to pass. Opponents of the initiative ran ads, organized rallies, and spread conspiracy theories about billionaire George Soros to confuse voters.
Lovell managed the opposition campaign against Prop 19. He told Time Magazine that he was pushing against the initiative because, “the last thing we need is yet another mind-altering substance to be legalized.”

http://www.truth-out.org/why-cant-you-smoke-pot-because-lobbyists-are-getting-rich-war-drugs/1331480883

[Dawson Leery]

1. One of the reasons I am adamantly anti-police union

is they are in the business of doing anything to get more work for their members.
Arresting people for smoking pot and other petty offenses is quite offensive.
Any organization that advocates ruining peoples live for such petty offenses needs to cease in their existence.

[MindMover]

4. and lizard people are running the world...cmon, police do there jobs and last time I looked....

stupid laws still had marijuana as a schedule 1 drug.....absolutely incredulous....

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6827299316/" title="freezedirtbag2 by pbmus, on Flickr"><img src="" width="350" height="280" alt="freezedirtbag2"></a>

[MindMover]

2. ............

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6971558501/" title="medmj_500 by pbmus, on Flickr"><img src="" width="500" height="359" alt="medmj_500"></a>

[cleanhippie]

3. [phone]

[Uncle Joe]

5. Money is the gateway drug to all manner of evil.

Some people can use money responsibly but others become addicted to it and are consumed by greed, they become willing to sell out anyone for more currency.

They will wage wars, imprison their fellow citizens, lie, cheat, steal, kill and work to basically rape the Bill of Rights to feed their unquenchable habit.

Rabid greed for money usually progresses to wanton lust for power as a means to obtain more money and to protect their already vast accumulated sums of lucre.

Thanks for the thread, cleanhippie.

[gateley]

6. Why can't you (FILL IN THE BLANK) -- the answer is ALWAYS money. Always. nt

[zbdent]

7. and the tobacco industry doesn't want to lose its profits

to a much better product ... (and less addicting)

[HopeHoops]

8. Curiously, it was the cotton industry that lobbied to get pot banned.

Hemp has always been a superior fiber and they knew it. Hemp was used for all of the sails and ropes for all of the ships that won our freedom, the War of 1812, The Civil War (both sides), and up through WW-I (for those that had them). The movie "Reefer Madness" was a propaganda piece paid for by the cotton industry to villainize pot. It's a really funny (and stupid) movie, especially good for watching while you're shitfaced. One hit on a joint and a guy believes he killed his girlfriend. Um, right. Industrial hemp is what we used to call "gym sock weed". At best it will give you a headache. If you want REAL pot, try some of this:

[Jello Biafra]

10. And the Rockefeller's were behind that too......

[HopeHoops]

11. I didn't know that, but it's no shock.

[nolabels]

13. That does look like one of my old gym socks

After being in tangle with a large field of fox tail grass.

[madokie]

14. Is that not beautiful

Man o man its been a while, like years, but I remember when I used to grow my own and that was what I was looking for.

[HopeHoops]

15. Yeah, but it never turns out that way. Mine was pretty good, but didn't bud like that.

They have some really cute little white flowers. I quit the stuff about 22 years ago, long enough to clean out before conceiving our first child (who is coming up on 21). For the record, getting wasted on good bud eight miles deep in a national forest, at night, is a pretty unsettling experience.

[Initech]

9. More for them less for us - the system works.

[LynneSin]

12. Also because Big Pharma doesn't make any money off of it

just saying!

[HopeHoops]

16. You're correct. It grows anywhere. That bud was from Alaska.

Pot is the largest cash crop in many states, including New Hampshire.