Some Random Venting

OK so I just have a few things that I want to get off my chest. There are so many things that I just really do not understand. I am an extremely open minded person and maybe that is my problem. I do not understand close minded people. Especially those who claim to be open minded, but shut down on an idea before I have finished my sentence.

The first thing I am going to start with is the issue of Cannabis. I do not understand the laws surrounding this plant. For thousands of years this plant was used for medicine and recreation. Not to mention Hemp which is extremely useful for rope, clothing, bio-fuels, paper. The constitution and the Bill of Rights was written on hemp paper. The first cannabis law that we had in this country made growing Hemp mandatory for all farmers. You could be punished if you did not grow Hemp. And now thanks to Richard Nixon's War on Pot we have wasted billions of tax payer dollars to eradicate this plant. Hemp is an extremely hardy plant which will grow just about anywhere. Hemp is also only related to Indica and Sativa which are psychoactive. Hemp has very minimal concentrations of THC which makes it useless for recreational or medicinal purposes. This is the "ditch weed" that most of the DEA's efforts were put to use eradicating. Why someone would report ditch weed to law enforcement is beyond me. The only reason I can see someone actually uprooting a Hemp plant would be to try to make rope out of. If some stupid kid tried to dry it out and smoke it they would end up with one hell of a headache. They would not get "stoned".

In the late 1960s, the Nixon Administration created the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, also known as the Schafer Commission. This commission was instructed to study the United States drug policy and make recommendations to the Nixon Administration. Here is what the commission found.
"The criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only 'with the greatest reluctance".
When Alcohol was Prohibited by law, it required the constitution to be amended. Naturally you can assume that the constitution would need to be amended to prohibit other drugs, however it was not amended. This simple fact makes these drug laws UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!! Not to mention the fact that ever since these laws were put into place our liberties have been stepped all over. This is what the commission said on this subject.
"While the judiciary is the governmental institution most directly concerned with the protection of individual liberties, all policy-makers have a responsibility to consider our constitutional heritage when framing public policy. Regardless of whether or not the courts would overturn a prohibition of possession of marijuana for personal use in the home, we are necessarily influenced by the high place traditionally occupied by the value of privacy in our constitutional scheme".
I will let this go with one final thought, However there is much more to say on this topic. I went to the Beach with my dad when I was about 14. We were walking down the strip listening to the different bands that were playing. There was a car pulled over and 2 men were sitting on the curb and a police officer was searching their car. My dad stopped me and we stood and watched what was going on. My dad went out of his way to make it extremely obvious that he was watching the cop as he was searching the guy's car. I asked him later why he did this and his response shocked me. Apparently some police officers, some not all, will plant drugs on people to make an arrest. How can this be, I remember thinking. At 14 you still believe that police officers are meant to protect you, why would they falsely accuse you of possessing drugs and then plant them. One day I will have to thank him for opening my eyes to the criminal element in Law Enforcement.