Posted on 07/25/2004 1:12:55 AM PDT by MadIvan
New super-strength marijuana readily available on US streets is prompting the White House to change direction in its war against drugs.
Research from the government-sponsored Marijuana Potency Project claims today's cannabis is more than twice as strong as in the mid-Eighties, leading to greater health risks for those smoking it at increasingly younger ages.
Now President George Bush, who had already promised a more aggressive campaign against substance abuse, has ordered that resources be allocated to fighting so-called 'soft' drugs instead of concentrating on harder forms, such as heroin and cocaine.
'We are working hard on education, but unfortunately a lot of today's parents are under the impression marijuana is harmless and that their kids trying it is some kind of rite of passage,' said Jennifer de Vallance, of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
'They might have had experience in their own teenage years with no problems, but this is not the same marijuana as in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Today's forms are much stronger and potentially more harmful, especially to young people whose brains are not fully developed and are therefore more susceptible to adverse reactions.'
The Marijuana Potency Project, at the University of Mississippi, analysed more than 30,000 samples seized over the past 18 years by the authorities. It found that the average level of the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), jumped from 3.5 per cent in 1985 to more than 7 per cent in 2003.
Of more concern to the analysts is that the upward trend appears to be continuing. The average potency of 20 marijuana samples seized and tested so far this year exceeds 9 per cent, with a peak of 27 per cent in one batch from a state in the North West.
'Today's marijuana is a much more serious problem than the vast majority of Americans understands,' said John Walters, the government's director of drug control policy who has promised a clampdown on producers.
Those who support the legalisation of cannabis are not convinced. 'Whenever government officials speak about drugs issues, a more detailed examination of the facts is a good idea,' said David Borden, executive director of the Washington-based Drug Reform Coordination Network.
'These projects are always government-funded and, without criticising the researchers, officials take what they want from it and send out their press releases. There has always been a wide range of potencies. It doesn't mean people are getting more intoxicated, because the higher the potency, the less they smoke.'
Figures suggest overall drug use in America's high schools has fallen by 11 per cent in two years but the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports the number of children and teenagers receiving treatment for marijuana abuse jumped 142 per cent over the last decade, and that emergency hospital admissions of 12 to 17-year-olds in which marijuana was implicated rose 48 per cent in four years.
Borden acknowledges children must be steered away from drugs, but says: 'Their anti-drugs efforts have had a paradoxical effect in promoting the underground cultivation of marijuana. The number of users makes it an appealing target and there is no limit to the number of arrests that can be made, and the government uses those numbers to scare the public into thinking there is some big problem.
'All the government has been able to do is encourage people to experiment with stronger drugs than they would have before.'
"Genesis 1:29
And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food."
So... Every herb that yields seed and every fruit that yields seed God created for us for food.
You'd best read your posts before posting them. The scripture above will get you killed. It says that we can eat everything. That isn't true.
I don't suppose that God was mistaken?
"My wife is a high school teacher and she complains about drugged-up kids all the time and there is a cost to our society of kids missing their teen years stoned."
And that cost to our society is...? What, exactly?
And why should the liberal catch-all of "our society" matter anyways? Who defines "our?" Who defines "society"?
And why, oh why, should I care about the opinion of a high school teacher?
"I'd be willing to bet that the majority of those kids are doped up on government-approved drugs such as ritalin."
HA! Make that AHA! A buddy of mine is divorced, and couldn't figure out why his kid had gotten so combative lately. He had to fight to get his ex-wife to get his kid off of that crap!
The kid is back to normal now. Thankfully.
As much as I love GWB, he should just leave the jihad against Marijuana to the states and local police.
Somehow it is unseemly for the President of the Free World to be spazzing out over marijuana, which despite its bad points, was used by millions of Americans (Brits and others) in their youth to little ill effect.
If anything, he should probably go on a Jihad against alcohol or prescription drugs, although that would not be politically correct and would "hit home" to too many voters.
"Now Tommy, take your Ritalin... the DARE officer will be here soon to lecture us on the evils of mari - TOMMY! TAKE YOUR RITALIN! You won't be able to listen to - TOMMY!!! SIT DOWN AND TAKE THIS PILL!"
Nah, it could never happen.
An 'herb' is a plant valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities. The only reason any poisonous plant was being discussed was becuase you mentioned it in comparison to an herb. I simply put some perspective on it. Besides, one is permitted to grow and possess countless dangerously poisonous plants. But, the herb in question is illegal, in fact, because it is an herb.
The Strong number for the biblical word is 6212 "herb":
`eseb (eh'seb); herb, herbage, grass, green plants
It says what it says. One must seek to understand.
We are inspired by a faith which goes back through all the years to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis: "God created man in His own image."
We on our side are striving to be true to that divine heritage. We are fighting as our fathers have fought, to uphold the doctrine that all men are equal in the sight of God. Those on the other side are striving to destroy this deep belief and to create a world in their own image-a world of tyranny and cruelty and serfdom.
That is the conflict that day and night now pervades our lives. No compromise can end that conflict. There never has been-there never can be-successful compromise between good and evil. Only total victory can reward the champions of tolerance and decency and freedom and faith.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 1942
Genesis 1:29
And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?" --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.
Excellent site. Thanks!
Hey Duhbya, what about CONTROLLING THE BORDERS and preventing the weed from coming into the country into the first place if you're so worried about it?
Oh wait, if you try to control the border then maybe you might acidently stop some illegal aliens and then people would call you names and say you're anti-Mexican. And you would just wither under that assault, wouldn't you?
Well, in Government Land, it makes perfect sense that if something is not working, then the thing to do is to do it harder and more often. I'm sure Bush's plan to getting rid or pot smokers once and for all will work flawlessly as all government programs do.
"And why, oh why, should I care about the opinion of a high school teacher?"
You probably shouldn't care unless you interact with people in society. The little monsters that my wife is trying to socialize/teach now will wind up meeting you at a business or public place in a few years. So they will treat you like scum and ramble on and use 4-letter words and generally disrespect you. The parents don't care and at one time our schools could at least give kids a remedial course in manners/behavior.
Sounds like you don't care about how people treat you but many of us do and when kids are spending important growing years smoking pot they tend to not give a care for anyone.
There are just too many kids today doing things they shouldn't.
When I was in high school, most of my teachers smoked pot. There were 3 teachers in the entire school worthy of respect. The rest were either hippies, communists, or both. I know a few high school teachers now. Most of them can't spell, and are essentially marxists. I don't have much use for high school teachers. Most of them are part of the problem.
This can't be true. This was one of the "myths" discounted in that unbiased Soros-sponsored book, "Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts".
Well, I guess we can rip out Chapter 19 ("There is no reason to believe that today's marijuana is stronger or more dangerous than the marijuana smoked during the 1960s and 1970s." )
One down, 19 to go. And 19 will go.
FALSE.
He was discussing the legalization of medical marijuana. Despite that statement, Governor Bush signed into law a bill that prevents local communities in Texas from enacting their own medical marijuana policies.
Your question was evidently way too painful to acknowledge.
Here's the passage in question, from a 1975 interview in Reason Magazine:
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. ....... The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. ........ I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path."
- Ronald Reagan
"Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy."
That's twice, jmc813. You're reminding me of MrLeRoy, and that's not a compliment.
there goes the 18-38 year old votes...
Of course Reagan wasn't a libertarian (and neither am I), but that's not the point. The point is that he didn't think that all libertarians should be lumped together -- that there are/were many shades of grey within their ranks. And that the ones that aren't anarchists are traveling "the same path" as conservatives.
Hmmmm. I went to your link and, despite page after page after page of propaganda, they don't refute the fact that marijuana has gotten stronger.
Did I miss something?
Another excellent post.
Our rights are from God, not from the State.
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