I don’t pretend to understand all the “legal” issues involved with the “agreements” between the U.S. and the South American countries where drug production is a major industry. Still, after reading a recent story reporting that our self-righteous, right-wing, pin-head of a President is “moving to suspend longtime U.S. trade benefits for Bolivia…,” I can’t help but say “Way to go, Bolivia!”

What I infered from the article is that the U.S. pressures, to the point of coercion, most South American counties to extend its “War on Drugs” within their borders. What the article doesn’t mention is how much it actually costs these countries to live up to this “agreement.”

The article does state that Bolivia has a whopping $362.6 million in duty free exports to the U.S. ($66 million of that is oil which should be duty free anyway.) My god, if Bolivia spends less than that living up to its agreement to “cooperate in drug-fighting efforts” I would be surprised.

So kudos to Bolivia for telling the U.S. – "Spending more money, fighting a hopeless war, than we save in export taxes to your pompous country just isn’t worth it."

Seriously, it's time the U.S. mind its own business. The only way to stop the flow of drugs into this country is to stop the demand, not the supply. As long as there is demand, [someone] will be there to supply that demand – A very simple concept the DEA and our federal government can't seem to grasp. So we [U.S.] will continue this war on drugs to keep all these DEA people employed rather than reassign them to programs with goals that might actually be attainable.

No, you’re not hearing things; that is the sound of a toilet flushing…

Oh, I ganja!

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Syria and relayed a message from Israel that shocked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with its level of arrogance coupled with complete error, the rest of the world had to be asking, “What the hell was that bitch smoking?” Well, thanks to dedicated Syrian photo journalists, we have the answer. Turns out that Afgani Kush is rivaled only by the Syrian variety, of which Ms. Pelosi was reported to have sampled during her tour of the Syrian capital.

Oh, I Ganja commends the Speaker for her open indulgence and intrepid diplomatic strategies, but seriously Madam Speaker, lay off the weed during working hours wo-man!

yep, I Ganja!

Too long has our Federal Government held its position that Marijuana has no medical benefit, when there exists literally tons of evidence to the contrary. To continue to perpetuate out-and-out lies to the public which it serves and rapes for tax dollars used to pay for scientific studies to find the fucking truth is criminal. And now the ASA has decided enough is enough. It is in fact a violation of the law for our government to distribute untruths and misinformation when the evidence shows otherwise. How many more people must suffer or die while the feds fight this un-winnable war on drugs? The amount of money our country spends on this war in a single year is just plain unconscionable! See, Paying for the war on drugs...

oh, i ganja!

One of the leading opponents, Dr. Donald Tashkin from UCLA, and life long studier of marijuana, has concluded that smoking the stuff, even in large quantities similar to a pack a day cigarette smoker, has no cancer causing effect; none, what-so-ever in fact. What really burns this guy up inside, I’m sure, is that there was evidence that smoking marijuana may actually provide, get this, “some protective effect”. Oh my! Whatever will this guy do now that his life has been devoted to showing marijuana to be dangerous, and finding that it may very well have medicinal qualities? I wonder; will Dr. Tashkin now go on a (tax-payer funded of course) crusade to uncover other possible benefits of this unjustifiably condemned plant.

What if someone doesn’t smoke it at all, eliminating the tar and other documented cancer causing agents found in cigarette smoke? What if we actually study the healing properties of THC itself? What if marijuana smoke does in fact contribute to the progression of cancer, but is counteracted upon by the THC? Imagine what might be the findings if we take away the smoke, and now all we have is the good stuff!

I got a fever!
And the only prescription, is more cow bell!

oh, I ganja!

It is also probable that we will spend even more than all of this combined in subsidies to nations where these drugs are coming from, most notably Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and Afghanistan (yep, we give Afghanistan millions if not billions of dollars to combat the cultivation of opium poppies) and we can only guess where all this money actually goes. Curious the production of opium from Afghanistan has increased nearly ten fold since we ousted the Taliban (who were surprisingly effective at curtailing the opium industry when they were in power.) Perhaps our government will finally realize that the very freedoms we enjoy and fight for are the catalysts that enable the proliferation of drugs through the exercising of those freedoms.

The fact, which is so unbelievably easy to see, is the war on drugs is un-winnable. I would even argue that the more money we throw at this war, the more ineffective we will ultimately be at fighting it. We live in a society of freedom, capitalism and gluttony; three of the worst enemies to good judgment, equity and temperance, yet we as a society continually fool ourselves into thinking that can somehow control the masses by throwing unfathomable amounts of money toward a war we cannot hope to win.

Opponents to true freedom of choice would have you believe that the only outcome would be anarchy, but I would argue that the problems facing our nation stem from the government’s propensity to limit our freedom when they see fit to save us from ourselves. With ultimate freedom comes ultimate accountability and responsibility. Imagine if we spent that $50 billion on education. Effectively producing more intelligent, accountable and productive future members of our society, who, if they chose, would do drugs, or not, but either way would do so responsibly, and without impeding on anyone else’s right to do the same.

oh, I ganja

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