digitaljournal.com

On the one hand, United States federal government officials have consistently denied that marijuana has any medical benefits. On the other, the government actually holds patents for the medical use of the plant.

Just check out US Patent 6630507 titled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” which is assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services.

digg it | shout it

In a recent blog post on the website TownHall.com 20/20 anchor John Stossel has officially advocated the legalization of all hard drugs. “Of course medical marijuana should be legal,” he says, “For adults, everything should be legal.”

He goes on: “After years of reporting on the drug war, I’m convinced that this “war” does more harm than any drug.

I find it hard to disagree with that statement when considering the countless number of no knock raids that end up at the wrong house or the fact that violent crimes occur around drugs because they are illegal.

Here is a fact that everyone should consider: You have been lied to about the harms of most drugs.

Here is some food for thought from the article:

Myth No. 1: Heroin and cocaine have a permanent effect.

Truth: There is no evidence of that.

In the 1980s, the press reported that “crack babies” were “permanently damaged.” Rolling Stone, citing one study of just 23 babies, claimed that crack babies “were oblivious to affection, automatons.”

It simply wasn’t true. There is no proof that crack babies do worse than anyone else in later life.

Myth No. 2: If you do crack once, you are hooked.

Truth: Look at the numbers — 15 percent of young adults have tried crack, but only 2 percent used it in the last month. If crack is so addictive, why do most people who’ve tried it no longer use it?

People once said heroin was nearly impossible to quit, but during the Vietnam War, thousands of soldiers became addicted, and when they returned home, 85 percent quit within one year.

People have free will. Most who use drugs eventually wise up and stop.

And most people who use drugs habitually live perfectly responsible lives, as Jacob Sullum pointed out in “Saying Yes”.

Myth No. 3: Drugs cause crime.

Truth: The drug war causes the crime.

Few drug users hurt or rob people because they are high. Most of the crime occurs because the drugs are illegal and available only through a black market. Drug sellers arm themselves and form gangs because they cannot ask the police to protect their persons and property.

In turn, some buyers steal to pay the high black-market prices. The government says heroin, cocaine and nicotine are similarly addictive, and about half the people who both smoke cigarettes and use cocaine say smoking is at least as strong an urge. But no one robs convenience stores for Marlboros.

Alcohol prohibition created Al Capone and the Mafia. Drug prohibition is worse. It’s corrupting whole countries and financing terrorism.

Read the full article here. 

Seriously.  You just can’t make this stuff up.

According to Fox 4 out of Dallas:

The secret pot farm was practically right under their noses. In fact, if you could walk in a straight line from the riverbank through the marshy underbrush and tangled wilderness, you’d walk just 200 yards before you hit the DEA’s office building.

These guys can’t even keep their own backyards clean!

Keeping up a marijuana field containing more than 300 plants is no small task and would require a lot of maintenance yet the DEA officials have no idea who was taking care of the plants.

So why is this in the news already? It seems like it would have been smarter to keep the plants under surveillance in order to figure who was maintaining them.

While I am absolutely not advocating the war on drugs — in fact, I would rather see the DEA agents sitting around doing nothing — you would think that this would be a good opportunity for a decent sized drug bust. But then again, I always knew these guys were fairly incompetent. Keep up the good work fellas!!!