Free Republic

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage. He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

Far from protecting us and our children, the war on drugs is making the world a much more dangerous place. SO FAR this year, about 4000 people have died in Mexico's drugs war - a horrifying toll. If only a good fairy could wave a magic wand and make all illegal drugs disappear, the world would be a better place. Dream on. Recreational drug use is as old as humanity, and has not been stopped by the most draconian laws. Given that drugs are here to stay, how do we limit the harm they do? The evidence suggests most of...

What's wrong with California? Heck, What's right? Submitted for your consideration and comments. (cough) Tom Ammiano, newly elected homosexual state assemblyman in California, an former SF City/County Supervisor continuing in the finest traditions of the decadent liberal enclave known as 'Baghdad by the Bay' to many, has introduced legislation to reap the tax benefits of cultivation of pot in the Goldarn State. I thought the 4-year college ranking might add a little flavor to the arguments for and against the first article's proposed legislation.

Leave it to a loony Assemblyman from San Fransisco to suggest legalizing marijuana and taxing the sale of it as a way to improve the states budget. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano claims this would raise $1 billion dollars per year with a tax of $50 for every ounce. I wonder how he came up with that number? Perhaps, Assemblyman Ammiano has been doing a little personal research

he cause of criminal violence is not drugs or alcohol but rather criminals. To believe otherwise is to expect every drug dealer in America to give up and apply for a job at McDonald’s or WalMart the day legalization occurs. Every society contains a sizable element whose members refuse to make an honest living under any circumstances. The legalization of drugs will not change this large-scale reality of human behavior. For now, many societal malefactors have the option of selling or trafficking drugs. But their real trade is to profit from the unwillingness of others to take the risks involved...

We gave up on the Swiss back in May when they decided that their Constitution gives plants the right not to be arbitrarily killed. Now we have more lunacy from the same bunch of fruitcakes. More . . .

Voters yesterday overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100. The change in the law means someone found carrying dozens of joints will no longer be reported to the state's criminal history board. With about 90 percent of the state's precincts reporting last night, voters favored the Question 2 proposition 65 percent to 35 percent. ...

It used to be that marijuana came to the Bay Area from the legendary back country of Humboldt County or the desert fields beyond Tijuana. Now the fields are in the Bay Area, and everywhere else in the state. Marijuana is one of the top cash crops in California, NBC Bay Area's Mike Luery reported. Many of the fields are located next to popular trails and in the middle of state parks. A fierce battle is being waged in our own back yard to remove the pot groves. They are hidden in brush so thick that specially trained officers must...

The largest single change for the better in U.S. foreign policy, and one that could be accomplished simply by an act of political will, would be the abandonment of the so called War on Drugs. This last relic of the Nixon era has long been a laughingstock within the borders of the United States itself (where narcotics are freely available to anybody who wants them and where the only guarantee is that all the money goes straight into criminal hands). But the same diminishing returns are now having a deplorable effect on America’s international efforts. Consider the case of Afghanistan....

"Transplant tourism" on rise due to donor shortages By Laura MacInnis GENEVA - "Transplant tourism" is on the rise because organ donations are not keeping up with growing demand, especially for kidneys, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. The United Nations agency said it was concerned about a rise in cases where people in countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and the Philippines were persuaded to sell their body parts to outsiders, mostly through a broker. The practice has increased over the past decade, said Luc Noel of the WHO's health technology and pharmaceuticals unit. "We believe 5 to...

62% of nearly 3,000 votes are saying yes.

Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the complicated Senate plan to legalize the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country "100 percent calculated to fail" and proposed Monday a simpler system based on a bar-coded orange card for anyone illegally in the country before January. "If we don't get this right, we're going to end up repeating the mistakes of the past," Feinstein said of the proposed immigration overhaul. Feinstein said the Senate's plan to split immigrants into three groups -- and treat each group differently -- is unworkable and predicted it would create a bureaucratic nightmare and would...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Congress approved a bill Friday that would legalize drug possession for personal use — decriminalizing the carrying of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin. The only step remaining is the signature of the president, whose office indicates he will sign the measure, despite the implications for the war on drugs. The bill, approved by the Senate on a 53-26 vote with one abstention, had been approved earlier by the lower house of Congress. U.S. officials had no immediate reaction on what this means for the fight against drug trafficking, or the vast numbers of...

WAR ON DRUGS A JOKE TO EX-COP In Norm Stamper's world, the "drug store" is a place that is much different from what generally comes to mind. The 28-year police veteran of the San Diego police department and former Seattle police chief wants to see all street drugs legalized, firmly regulated and sold just like we sell alcohol today. And his "shopping list" includes marijuana, cocaine, heroin, even crystal methamphetamine. "The more dangerous the drug, the more addictive and the greater the potential for health risks, the greater the justification for regulation," he said last week in a phone interview...

Marijuana Compound Spurs Brain Cell Growth In rat study, synthetic cannabinoid also boosted rodents' mood THURSDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to the controversy surrounding medical marijuana, an international team of researchers is busy stirring the pot by releasing findings that suggest the drug helps promote brain cell growth while treating mood disorders. According to the study in rats, a super-potent synthetic version of the cannabinoid compound found in marijuana can reduce depression and anxiety when taken over an extended period of time. This mood boost seems to be the result of the drug's ability to promote...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A judge rejected a U.S. request that a Canadian marijuana activist be held without bail on Tuesday in a case that is likely to ignite debate over the countries' diverging drug policies. U.S. officials say Marc Emery illegally sold millions of dollars worth of marijuana seeds, but Emery's supporters say his business activities were well known for years and tolerated by groups that included Canada's federal health ministry. Emery is a founder of the pro-legalization B.C. Marijuana Party and his arrest comes as the Canadian government is pushing a measure to decriminalize possession of small...

It is this reporter's opinion that each generation in turn takes a new look at the marijuana question. Now it's this generation's turn. In a 6-to-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-marijuana statutes overrule the laws in ten states that allow the use of marijuana plants to ease pain or nausea. Fifty years ago, as a much younger television reporter, I did a series of interviews with Dr. Hardin B. Jones, Professor of Medical Physics and Physiology at the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Jones, in his thorough study, raised disturbing questions about marijuana's effects on the...

It is this reporter's opinion that each generation in turn takes a new look at the marijuana question. Now it's this generation's turn. In a 6-to-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-marijuana statutes overrule the laws in ten states that allow the use of marijuana plants to ease pain or nausea. Fifty years ago, as a much younger television reporter, I did a series of interviews with Dr. Hardin B. Jones, Professor of Medical Physics and Physiology at the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Jones, in his thorough study, raised disturbing questions about marijuana's effects on the...

APR 26--When 14-year-old Irma Perez of Belmont, California, took a single ecstasy pill one evening last April, she had no idea she would become one of the 26,000 people who die every year from drugs.1 Irma took ecstasy with two of her 14-year-old friends in her home. Soon after taking the tiny blue pill, Irma complained of feeling awful and said she felt like she was "going to die." Instead of seeking medical care, her friends called the 17-year-old dealer who supplied the pills and asked for advice. The friends tried to get Irma to smoke marijuana, but when she...

Maybe it's just the contact high speaking, but there's little doubt in my mind that if marijuana were seriously and institutionally studied, Thomas Lawrence would have won a Nobel Prize by now. As we're sitting around his dining room table, in an unassuming house tucked away in a middle-class Denver neighborhood, Thomas hits me with the least surprising confession I've ever heard: "Listen, Dave, I'm high right now." Cats and dogs mill about in stupors, as Thomas then tries to explain cloning techniques, chemical compounds and ways to develop new, more effective, strands of cannabis. I eye a timeworn bong...