New Times are Coming

“Nevadans to Vote on Legalized Recreational Use of Marijuana
State with Legalized Gambling, Prostitution Will Consider Pro-Pot Proposition
By James L. Lambert
August 16, 2002

(AgapePress) - The New York Times reports that on the ballot this fall in the State of Nevada is a first-of-its-kind proposition to legalize recreational use of marijuana. The measure, if successfully initiated, will allow adults to carry and use up to three ounces of marijuana without fear of criminal prosecution.

Within the last three months, the Marijuana Policy Project -- a Washington, D.C.-based PAC -- helped secure 109,000 Nevada voters that effectively got the initiative on the state's November ballot. The initiative, if passed, would still make access to the drug illegal to minors and would forbid use of the drug in public places. If the initiative passes and marijuana is legalized for recreational use, it remains to be seen how local police would enforce these technicalities.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last month that Bill Rogers, director of state policies for the Marijuana Project Policy, would not say why his organization selected Nevada as the first state to launch its effort. But the report did note that Nevada was also first among states to legalize gambling and remains the only state with legal prostitution, albeit only in rural counties.

The initiative also seeks to add the marijuana provision to the Nevada State Constitution. To do this, the pro-marijuana proponents seek passage of the statewide initiative on the fall ballot twice -- in 2002 and again in 2004. Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has said, "Over one-third of adults have tried the drug, including former presidents and Supreme Court justices. It is time to admit it is part of the culture."

Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, counter's Armentano's statement by saying, "While marijuana is part of the drug culture, it certainly does not mean it should be legalized. Further, I wouldn't use former President Clinton as a poster child for role models and ethical standards in order to justify legalizing recreational use of marijuana," Wildmon says.

Many reformed users of this drug view marijuana as "the gateway drug" to a full host of other types of harder narcotics. Today's pot is much more potent than earlier types of marijuana available in the 1960s and 1970s.

Opponents of the measure say Nevada voters need to realize that acceptance of the measure is another effort to ultimately legalize all drugs -- and they are alarmed that many in the media do not give them equal time given to groups like NORML and other pro-marijuana PACs. They are equally concerned that the public will not be adequately informed of the overall bad effects the drug can have on Nevadans and the culture at large.

Many rehabilitated prior users of marijuana testify that pot use makes a person lethargic, unproductive, and unable to make quick decisions. They believe if recreational pot were legalized in Nevada, it would be difficult to enforce common sense regulations against employees that need to be alert and "straight" during times of work.”

“Atleast some americans get to actually vote on this subject!!!”

“Okay here's what I think.

I hope they legalize pot. Let's face it, everyone who wants to get stoned can get stoned. Not that many more people who aren't getting stoned because it's illegal are actually gonna decided to go ahead and get stoned just because they can.

The "gateway drug" argument is bull#&%!$. Marijuana is freely available in the U.S. People who are going to use hard drugs aren't going to not use hard drugs just because marijuana is legal.

I have gotten stoned many times before. The last time was when I was 22 (12 years ago) I stopped because I didn't want to anymore. If were legal, I might toke up every once in a while, but no more than that.

People, use some damn common sense. It's no worse than alcohol.”

“Oops. My finger slipped and 17 became 12.

It's been 17 years since I got stoned.

However, it's only been, uh, well, 0 years since I got drunk, lol......”

“i like honest opinions!”

“difficult to enforce common sense regulations against employees: come on now, if you're stoned people will know, and someone always wants your job, you'll go down if you come to your job stoned, just like if you came in drunk. i mean, you can buy a fifth to pour in your coffee on your way to work. same thing really. it's not like something like that will go unnoticed in the workplace.
honestly, if someone's coming into work stoned, they have bigger problems that would have been recognized hopefully before they were hired, but if not soon after.”

“And then Carlin said....
"nobody ever got stoned and beat up their wife... They may have meant to but...."



I just cant see wasteing taxpayer dollars on enforcement when the goverment could be collect tax money from the sale.....Not only pot but several other "victimless crimes"”

“i don't do "hard drugs" and have never really tried anything except acid. but it goes along with the same thing: if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it. i doubt many people are gonna pick up a crack habit because a crack habit's now legal, and for no other reason. it would require a different kind of education than what is currently being put in the schools. kids should be taught the reality of drugs, not just don't do it cause it's bad and will make you stupid. show em what a crackhead's life is like. no one wants to live that life.”

“i used to smoke a lot of...errr are we gonna order a pizza?”

“Ya!! Make it leagal, tax the sh#T out of it, and bail out the Forest Service and National Parks!!
IMHO”

“The reason for marijuana being criminalized in 1937 was to prevent people in the hemp industry from becoming wealthy. Quite obviously, people representing forestry, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries feared the enormous competition from the infant hemp industry. So they conspired to kill it by taxing marijuana. Later, marijuana was criminalized through various drug laws and conventions around the world.

One man who first spread myths about marijuana is Harry J. Anslinger, who was appointed director of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (predecessor of the Drug Enforcement Agency -DEA- of today). He was a man who hated jazz music and tried to get jazz musicians herded
up into prison for smoking the sacred herb. The time dilation effect of THC probably helped introduce extra beats into jazz music. But Anslinger didn't like jazz and he hated marijuana even more. At first, Anslinger declared marijuana caused users to go crazy and commit violent acts. As a result of his testimony, persons who used pot could use the insanity defense to get a less charge to murder. Later on, after doctors testified at a second hearing regarding marijuana, Anslinger recanted his earlier testimony, conceding the sacred herb probably didn't cause insanity or violent behavior, but added that it could lead to opium use. This is how the gateway myth originated.

In 1931, Anslinger got his job at the Bureau of Narcotics at the recommendation of a man named Mellon, who happened to be his wife's uncle. Mellon, also director of the Mellon Bank, was U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He associated with other wealthy men such as William R. Hearst, Sr. and the DuPont brothers. Hearst owned a chain of newspapers across the U.S. as well as a large lumber company. The DuPont family had just patented a paper making process using wood pulp some years earlier. As well, they had a new invention, a kind of synthetic cotton called nylon.”

“Unfortunately, the infant hemp industry seemed to threaten these rich men's monopoly in the pulp and paper industry. In fact, in 1937, Popular Science predicted that hemp would become a billion dollar industry. With the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act, the industry was suppressed, only to surface during World War II when America's main supply of manila hemp was cut off after Japan occupied the Philippines.

Since then, marijuana has endured a smear campaign originally instigated by Hearst's newspapers and imitated by other newspaper chains around the world. After hemp was banned in 1938, DuPont came out with nylon. It licensed out the paper making process to Hearst so that wood-pulp could be easily made into cheap paper. Meanwhile, the anti-pot propaganda demonized marijuana whilst the alcohol and tobacco companies enjoyed wide advertising in the newspapers and on TV,
especially in the post-war boom that followed the war.

While propaganda was calling cannabis the great corrupter of youth, alcohol consumption was leading to emotional and physical abuse in the home as well as death. Alcoholism became the number two cause of death, after lung cancer, which research eventually showed tobacco
consumption as the main culprit. So much for those advertisements in the magazines, newspapers and on TV.”

“little bird's a 2 day troll. i thought she'd only last 1”

“Where's the cat?”

“in the bag!”

“I often get resistance from those with small minds. Someone whose opinion differs from theirs is seen as a "troll". Whatever.”

“i just don't like when people cut and paste and act like it's their own stuff. i also tend to take people more seriously on a backpacking site when they've at least said one thing about backpacking.”

“i just read the one about idaho not existing, that's good stuff. i always knew that state was a hoax. and i thought the people tied in the press room at the meat factory was out there.”

“Everyone knows that marijuana leads to hard drugs, everyone that is on crack started with marijuana......


....wait a minute, everyone I know that uses marijuana started drinking milk first!!!!

OK, we gotta ban milk.....

Every backpacker I know started out drinking milk, soooooooooo
milk leads to backpacking....

Ok, I'm feeling much better now....”

“way to go”

“Every criminal is the result of sex. Let's ban SEX! er... on second thought . . .”

“#1: It seems to me that teenagers in my area have an easier time getting pot than getting alcohol. The laws don't work.

#2: IMHO: Marijuana is a bit of a gateway drug. In my experience there the two main reasons for this are related to the fact that it is illegal.

a) Getting pot introduces people to the world of illegal drug dealing.

b) Once people get stoned and realize that the anti-pot information campaigns are full of lies, they don't believe any of the warnings about drugs.

#3) As much as I enjoy alcohol, and as much as I enjoyed pot many years ago (and might enjoy it again if it was legal), I would be happy to see both pot and alcohol disappear from the face of the earth. On the whole, I think the world would be a better place without either. But, laws won't make either of them go away.

#4) Doctors could have much more open and honest discussions about the health implications of pot, and its interactions with medications, if it was legal.”

“Little Bird should apologize to Josh and Father Goose and others. We all know this is a lonely singles/frustrated marrieds site posing as a backpacking site. How dare Little Bird post interesting/controversial thoughts! Please ignore this "troll" and resume your efforts to hooking up with Newgirl.”

“Thank you, frimfram. Finally a voice of reason.”

“little bird's thoughts were definitely interesting, as far as controversial, i think she can do betteer.
she actually didn't make the one on this thread up.(i don't think) well, she probably didn't make the one up about finding the immigrants in the press room and the dogs eating her partner but she miraculously escaped. then there's idaho, or the lack of...”

“My organization is here to help.


Please email me if you have questions:

Sparky@engineer.com”

“what she posted is cut/paste. it came from a site roseymonster (i think) offered a link to when the british legalization thread was here last month.”

“So is anybody still keeping track? Exactly how many "TrailTalk weddings"? There's hope yet! Keep posting!”

“Number of American deaths per year that result directly or primarily from the following selected causes nationwide, according to World Almanacs, Life Insurance Actuarial (death) Rates, and the last 20 years of U.S. Surgeon Generals' reports.


TOBACCO 340,000 to 450,000
ALCOHOL (Not including 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders) 150,000+
ASPIRIN (Including deliberate overdose) 180 to 1,000+
CAFFEINE (From stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.) 1,000 to 10,000
"LEGAL" DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol - e.g. Valium/alcohol 14,000 to 27,000
ILLICIT DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs. 3,800 to 5,200
MARIJUANA 0

And the cansequences of environmental pollution are not yet even SEEN in these statistics.


By the way, some of what I post here IS cut and paste. SO?”

“Yeah so what if it is cut and paste? I don't see much original thought above the waist line from some of you other "singles". Leave Bird alone!”

“frimfram, I'm kind of new here. Is this for singles? I thought it was for backpacking, which led me to believe that the audience here would be kind of - you know - educated and independent...”

“have you gotten newgirls phone number yet?



marijuana; never heard of it...”

“My experience has been Yes and no Bird. Usually the people who post something interesting are labelled "trolls". There are definitely small clique groups who are looking to hook up. I'm being a little facetious of course. Don't be scared off by the little minds.”

“Thanks very much! I won't!”

“i'll take that as a no, lmao”

“Little Bird needs to take his lithium. He is having coversations with his alter ego frimfram in a public forum, fer chrissakes. Somebody quick, get the butterfly net, LOL.”

“where did this whole singles thing come from?”

“I'm always reading in the local paper of folks being charged with a "small amount of marijuana" among the other citations of theft, forgery, robbery and other crimes against others. Seems like, other than having and smoking the pot, those caught with it are law-abiding citizens.

What they don't tell you is that those folks also loose their driving privileges for 6 months.

It just doesn't seem fair!”

“i don't really care personally. but in my opinion alcohol is the one that is truly phys-addictive and causes true-crime.

i don't drink anymore”

“What they don't tell you is that those folks also loose their driving privileges for 6 months.

Buddur
07:54:44 PM
08/18/02


...while those committing true crimes are still allowed behind the wheel!!!”

“there's still too many fuddy duddies in congress. i dont see it happening for quite some time.”

“we gotta get rid of dem fools first too. wasn't it them who repealed medical marijuana in california?”

“Little Bird = frimfram?”

“Better hold off your relocation plans until after the election and see how the proposition fares at the ballot box.

Reno and Las Vegas are college towns with a lot of students but they are predominately out of state students that don't vote in Nevada. The rest of the electorate is rural and conservative.”

“heard that, gordon”

“Since even our "esteemed" President is a reformed cocaine head, I think it's about time we grew up and realized that drugs are a symptom, not a cause.

I read a few years back that a study estimated that somewhere between 70 - 80 % of the current adult population of the United States has tried marijuana some time in their lives. That means that ~ three-fourths of the US population is now made up of FELONS.

In a democracy, the laws are supposed to reflect the mores of majority of the population (as well as protect the rights of all). Hell, even so-called "landslide" elections never get three-fourths of ALL adults voting for one thing! It's time to change the laws. We're sending too many tax-paying "law-abiding" people to prison, where their lives are ruined and they learn to be criminals out of necessity.

In case you're wondering, I "toked" in college, but don't any more. I wouldn't now even if it were legal, strictly for personal reasons.”

“all we got waz a fine and a moving vilolation.


probably best ya quit.

(26 March 2000, South Carolina) A North Carolina woman learned a hard lesson about drugs when she decided to sleep on the roof. Police reports say that Patricia and her boyfriend had been drinking and smoking marijuana, when they decided to enjoy the fresh air on the roof of the King Charles Inn. They climbed over a guard rail with pillows and blankets, and fell asleep under the stars. Sound asleep, apparently. Patricia slid off the roof and fell to her death on Hasell Street shortly before dawn on Sunday. When police arrived at the scene, the boyfriend was found still sleeping on the roof, curled up in a blanket and pillow. The death has been ruled accidental, but we feel that the blame belongs to the stoned woman who chose to snooze on the roof.”

“Wait a cotton pickin err..hemp pickin minute here folks!!

Hey, Little Bird, I seem to recall seeing that email addess you posted listed under bacpac's name a while back. So, does that mean you are really bacpac or are you just out to frame him?

What a hysterical thought!!

Tex”

“has the pizza gotten here yet?..i'm so freaking hungry

yo..cartoons!!!!!!!”

“assuming the state allows possesion in small amounts for recreational use, wouldn't it still be a federal violation?”