TexasGal

I've heard this said many times, but I don't understand how the government wouldn't be able to tax it. They don't seem to have a problem taxing tobacco or alcohol.

As for legalizing the stuff: just like alcohol, I have no problem with it as long as those who are using it stay the h*** off the road.

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YNKYH8R

Because a majority of the tobacco or alcohol is made by companies, who get taxed. Weed is generally imported from other countries or grown privately. If it was made legally the government couldn't collect tax from those who sold it from their homes. Kind of like if you grow tomatos at your house and sell them to your neightbor for a couple of bucks. If weed was legal I'd grow my own instead of buying it from a store to pay tax on it.
This is a general (over all) accepted idea as to why it's illegal. Otherwise it's not different than smoking tobacco or drinking.

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Jolie Rouge

Mexico's Fox to OK drug decriminalization law
By Noel Randewich

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president will approve a law that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs to concentrate on fighting violent drug gangs, the government said on Tuesday.

President Vicente Fox will not oppose the bill, passed by senators last week, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters, despite likely tensions with the United States.

"The president is going to sign that law. There would be no objection," he said. "It appears to be a good law and an advance in combating narcotics trafficking."

Public Security Minister Eduardo Medina-Mora said Mexico's legal changes are in line with other countries and warned drug users they should not expect lenient treatment from the police if they are caught.

The approval of the legislation, passed earlier by the lower house of Congress, surprised Washington, which counts on Mexico's support in its war against gangs that move massive quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines through Mexico to U.S. consumers.

Under the federal law, police will not criminally prosecute people or hand out jail terms for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, or 25 milligrams of heroin. Nor does the law penalize possession of 500 milligrams of cocaine -- enough for a few lines.

The legal changes will also decriminalize the possession of limited quantities of LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines, ecstasy and peyote -- a psychotropic cactus found in Mexico's northern deserts.

STILL ILLEGAL

But city and state governments may pass their own misdemeanor laws against drug possession, levying fines, forcing law-breakers to spend up to 48 hours in police station holding cells or even making them accept medical treatment for substance addiction, Medina-Mora told reporters.

"International practice, including in the United States, in many cases dictates that possession of small amounts of drugs does not require a penal sanction," he said.

Hundreds of people, including many police officers, have been killed in Mexico in the past year as drug cartels battle for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

The violence has raged mostly in northern Mexico but in recent months has spread south to cities such as vacation resort Acapulco.

Medina-Mora warned that vacationing college students and other foreigners caught with even with small amounts of drugs could be breaking municipal or state misdemeanor laws and could easily be shown to the airport or the border.

Vacation cities including Cancun, Acapulco, Tijuana and Mazatlan already have their own laws against drug possession, he said.

The legislation is expected to make the rules clearer for local judges and police, who currently decide on a case-by-case basis whether people should be criminally prosecuted for possessing small quantities of drugs, often leading to corruption.

While likely to complicate relations with the U.S. government, the legislation has drawn relatively little attention from the media in Mexico, where drug use is less common than in the United States.

Medina-Mora said Fox has until September to sign the bill, but neither he nor Aguilar could say more specifically when it might be signed.

(Additional reporting by Monica Medel)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060503/...ltBHNlYwM3MTY-

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Jolie Rouge

Mexico troops find hybrid marijuana plant
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 20, 5:35 AM ET

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico - Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with pesticides.

Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia.

"These plants have been genetically improved," he told a handful of journalists allowed to accompany soldiers on a daylong raid of some 70 marijuana fields. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."

The new plants, known as "Colombians," mature in about two months and can be planted at any time of year, meaning authorities will no longer be able to time raids to coincide with twice-yearly harvests.

The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.

Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing.

"For each 100 (marijuana plots) that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.

The raids were part of President Felipe Calderon's new offensive to restore order in his home state of Michoacan and fight drug violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.

In Michoacan, officials say the Valencia and Gulf cartels have been battling over lucrative marijuana plantations and smuggling routes for cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States. In one incident, gunmen stormed into a bar and dumped five human heads on the dance floor.

The president, who took office Dec. 1, sent 7,000 soldiers and federal officers to Michoacan last week.

Officials have arrested 45 people, including several suspected leaders of the feuding cartels. They also seized three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos. More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and numerous foreign and national boats.

"We are determined to shut down delinquency and stop crime in Mexico because it is endangering the lives of all Mexicans, of our families," Calderon said, calling the operation a "success" so far.

In the past week, soldiers and federal police have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres in Michoacan, security officials said.

Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels up to $626 million, counting the value of plants that have been destroyed and drugs that could have been produced with seized opium poppies and marijuana seeds.

On Sunday, federal authorities announced the capture of suspected drug lord Elias Valencia, the most significant arrest since the operation began.

Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, started out with enthusiastic U.S. applause for his own fight against drug trafficking. U.S. officials called the arrest of drug bosses early in his six-year term unprecedented, while Fox boasted that his administration had destroyed 43,900 acres of marijuana and poppy plantations in its first six months and more than tripled drug seizures.

Yet drug violence has spiked across the country in recent years, with gangs fighting over control of routes following the arrest of drug lords, authorities say.

Mexico has also continued to struggle with corruption among its law enforcement ranks. Garcia said authorities did not tell soldiers where they were being sent on raids and banned the use of cell phones and radios.

Mexico troops find hybrid marijuana plant - Yahoo! News

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Law requires N.M. to grow its own pot
By DEBORAH BAKER, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 30, 7:52 AM ET

SANTA FE, N.M. - New Mexico has a new medical marijuana law with a twist: It requires the state to grow its own. The law, effective Sunday, not only protects medical marijuana users from prosecution — as 11 other states do — but requires New Mexico to oversee a production and distribution system for the drug. "The long-term goal is that the patients will have a safe, secure supply that doesn't mean drug dealers, that doesn't mean growing their own," said Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico.

The state Department of Health must issue rules by Oct. 1 for the licensing of marijuana producers and in-state, secured facilities, and for developing a distribution system. The law was passed in March and signed by Gov. Bill Richardson, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Other states with medical marijuana laws are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Maryland's law doesn't protect patients from arrest, but it keeps defendants out of jail if they can convince judges they needed marijuana for medical reasons.

Connecticut's governor vetoed a medical marijuana bill recently.

The distribution and use of marijuana are illegal under federal law, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in a California case that medical marijuana users can be prosecuted.

Faced with that dilemma, the health department has asked state Attorney General Gary King whether its employees could be federally prosecuted for running the medical marijuana registry and identification card program, and whether the agency can license marijuana producers and facilities. "The production part is unprecedented. ... No other state law does that," said Dr. Steve Jenison, who is running the program for the health department. "So we're trying to be very thoughtful in how we proceed."

In the meantime, however, patients must obtain their own supplies.

The state will immediately begin taking applications from patients whose doctors certify they are eligible for the program.

Within weeks, approved patients — or their approved primary caregivers — would receive temporary certificates allowing them to possess up to six ounces of marijuana, four mature plants and three immature seedlings. That's enough for three months, the department says.

The law allows the use of marijuana for specified conditions including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and HIV-AIDS, as well as by some patients in hospice care.

An eight-member advisory board of doctors could recommend that other conditions be added to the list.

Martin Walker was diagnosed four years ago as HIV positive and uses marijuana to combat nausea and depression. He said he looks forward to being able to obtain the drug legally. "If there's a system in place that's going to allow me to do this treatment without having to break the law ... I'll just be able to sleep better at night," said Walker, who runs HIV prevention and other outdoor-based adult health programs for the Santa Fe Mountain Center.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070630/...owym4No4ys0NUE

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Mellowing Out on Marijuana
By RITA HEALY/DENVER
Sun Nov 11, 10:25 AM ET

Those Rocky Mountains are getting higher.

Two municipalities - Denver, Colorado, and the small town of Hailey, Idaho - passed pro-marijuana measures on election day this week, joining a growing number of liberal localities that are reducing or removing penalities on using pot. It's part of a slowly evolving populist rehabilitation of the drug. San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Monica in California, along with Missoula, Montana, and Seattle, Washington, have previously passed laws that give the lowest priority to enforcing existing marijuana laws.

Federal regulations, which supercede local ordinances, continue to prescribe heavy penalties - even in some cases death - for major dealers of illegal drugs, including marijuana. The federal penalty for possession of even a miniscule amount is a misdemeanor punishable by one year in prison and $1,000. Penalties are higher with cultivation, sale and crossing state lines. However, magistrates generally use state and local laws as sentencing guidelines - unless there is federal intervention, which doesn't occur in every drug case because they would increase court time and costs.

Not every attempt at liberalizing the laws has been successful. Last year, the pro-marijuana lobby tried to pass legalization laws in Nevada and Colorado; both failed. But this week's results in Denver heartened pro-pot activists: 57% of voters in the city approved "lowest law enforcement priority." Coming after a 2005 vote removing all penalties for possessing small amounts, Denver joins Alaska to become only the second place in the U.S. offering a free ride to users caught with less than an ounce. Denver's local and political culture has been amenable to such legal re-orientations. Last summer, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and four of the 13-member city council told a local newspaper they had smoked pot in the past, while another six councilmen refused to answer and only three said no.

The Denver measure was pushed by a single activist: Mason Tvert, who organized SAFER, Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, on the University of Colorado and Colorado State University campuses, and now runs it from his Denver home. He was funded in part by the Marijuana Policy Project, which received $3 million this year from Peter Lewis, the heir of the Progressive Insurance Companies, who helps fellow billionaire George Soros support liberal causes.

More remarkable is Tvert's counterpart in Idaho, Ryan Davidson of Boise. Davidson operated without any MPP money after failing to get measures on the ballot in 2004 in a number of Idaho cities. This past year, he got it on Hailey's ballot after winning a ruling in federal district court that overturned Hailey's law preventing nonresidents from circulating petitions. "This was the least funded campaign in history," he says. "I spent maybe 20 bucks. I got the signatures on the petitions on my own dime. I spread the word through e-mail and phone calls and posting on blogs, I printed some fliers off my computer, photocopied them at Kinko's and put them under car windshield wipers on Monday."

Jim Spinelli, executive director of Hailey's Chamber of Commerce, insists there is no grassroots pro-pot movement and expressed surprise that three of four pro-pot measures passed: legalizing medical marijuana and decriminalizing both marijuana itself and industrial hemp. (The only measure that failed asked for a straight-out legalization of marijuana.) A town of 8,500, Hailey is 12 miles from the Sun Valley ski area. When Spinelli worked Tuesday's election, he says he saw a lot of older affluent voters and young people from the service sector. In Idaho, being under the influence of pot in public draws a six-month sentence and $1,000 fine. At least in Hailey, if the local police - as opposed to the state police - handle an arrest, local ordinance will be applied.

In 38 states, incarceration still awaits even first-time offenders possessing small amounts of marijuana. In Connecticut, possessing a "useable amount" is punishable by a year in jail and $1,000 fine. Nevada sends its pot users - possessing any amount - into rehab or treatment and imposes a $600 fee. Federal law calls for a year in jail and $1,000 for anyone caught with any amount. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) says there are 65,000-85,000 people incarcerated in this country for cannabis-related reasons.

But NORML spokesman Allen St. Pierre points out that the law is growing increasingly lenient in many other places. In Alaska, there's no jail or fine for holders of an ounce or less in their homes. In Nebraska, possession of less than an ounce is simply a civil citation. In Ohio, no criminal record is kept of a minor misdemeanor, that is, possession of less than 100 grams. Since the 1970s, the home-rule cities of Ann Arbor and Madison - who are allowed by their states to let city regulations supersede state laws for the most part - have simply imposed $25 fines for possession. St. Pierre says NORML and related organizations expect 2008 to be "much busier" for pro-pot activism and referendums. And even though federal law is the final word, St. Pierre says that when campuses, municipalities, counties and states vote, politicians listen. "It speaks to the mores and values of those administering justice. As Tip O'Neill said, 'All politics are local.'"


http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2007111...Z8Hl7QyHis0NUE

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ilovecats

Why not?They tax ciggys.I think the government can pretty much do whatever they want.

gmyers

I've heard that people start with mairjuana and then move on to stronger drugs. If they legalize marijuana I believe we're going to see a big increase in crime and other drug abuse too. I also believe its going to lead to family problems too because people will spend money they should support their families with on marijuana. I know drug users do that now but I believe it will get a lot worse if they legalize it. I don't want to be around people that want to do is drugs all the time. You never know what they will do when they're high.

Mom2Shaun

I know the theory that marijuana leads to harder drugs is out there, and lots of people believe it. But it doesn't really make sense, logically. I'm willing to bet that every single one of serious drug users started out on milk. Can you say that leads to hard drug use?

I know about marijuana use, as it is one of the main reasons I divorced my first husband. He was seriously addicted; had to have it first thing in the AM, sometimes smoked it during lunchtime at work, and spent the evening zoned out on it. (He was just no fun at all!) Thank God we didn't have kids! But it didn't lead to harder drugs, he didn't waste money we needed (although I'm sure some people do), and he certainly wasn't about to become a violent criminal. He was too "mellow and laid back" to do that! And, BTW, he was an account executive at a very big telephone company; he was able to function well during the day.

It did hurt our marriage, but I have to say it wasn't as bad as what I've seen in marriages that have alcoholism as an issue. (I don't know of anyone getting violent on "pot" and I'm sure it happens very rarely, if at all.) I'm the eldest of 8 kids, and 4 of them are/were alcoholics. (One actually died from "over-dosing" on alcohol.) Alcohol is so much worse than marijuana, but we've already tried Prohibition and it didn't work. I think we're doing the same thing with marijuana; creating an underground criminal supply system, and paying far too much in every way to punish people who indulge. I say it should be the same as alcohol; if you get caught smoking and driving, you go to jail. But to waste our resources on enforcing this law and imprisoning people is ridiculous.

Jolie Rouge

Most start on tobacco and alcohol then move on to pot. Some then progress to other drugs, some don't. Tobacco and alcohol are highly addictive yet both are legal. Both cost billions of dollars in health care and disability claims.


No, the reasoning is that we stop trying to imprison people for minor amounts, that leaves the system better able to go for the major players ( who will not like the goverment taxing their crop. That is how they nailed Capone - tax evasion. Stop worring about the minnows and go for the big fish.


[quote]I also believe its going to lead to family problems too because people will spend money they should support their families with on marijuana. I know drug users do that now but I believe it will get a lot worse if they legalize it. [quote]

I know plenty of people that can't "afford to take care of their kids but always seem to have $$ for beer and cigerettes.

I honestly would rather deal with someone on pot ( they tend to be rather mellow ) then someone who is drunk. We won't even deal with the issue of DWI's.

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

ilovecats

Once again,I agree!!!