Well, these are interesting. Why do I get the impression that the problem is that we can all grow a plant in our homes and have access to a medicine to treat and relieve the symptoms of hundreds of illnesses instead of having to fork over a bunch of our hard earned money for hundreds of overpriced pharmaceuticals just to treat one symptom? Not to mention, the effects of these "legal" drugs - why is it that no one has a problem with the addiction rates and deaths attributed to overdoses of things like Oxycontin, vicadin, alcohol, ASPIRIN for crying out loud. How many overdoses have resulted from marijuana use? I checked, it appears to be NONE.

And #5 is an excellent question. Why on earth is Hemp illegal?! This is a resource that we cannot use in the US because of antiquated restrictions which make hemp absolutely impossible to grow, it has to be imported. You can't even get high off it, you could smoke an entire acre and nothing, so what gives? The problems that would be solved... less trees being harvested, it's a pesticide free crop, it needs very little land to grow, it's uses are a hundred fold, including as a fuel source! So I'd love to hear someone give a good reason for #5, why is hemp illegal?

Do you suppose part of what keeps this debate from reaching what should be the obvious resolution is the efforts of big pharma, timber, and chemical industries? I wonder...

Truthfinder: Are you for or against minors use of MJ? Not sure I understand your item #4.?

chase2you... yes I am against minors using mj recreationally. but that has to do with biology rather than morals, young peoples bodies are not fully developed and any substance ie... alcohol , drugs , tobacco, shouldnt be introduced. However the drug laws we have in effect today obviously dont keep them out of childrens hands,It's easier for a minor to get any number of illegal drugs that it is for them to get alcohol. because alcohol is actually regulated.dealers dont ask for id

truthfinder, so if someone gets caught selling drugs to minors you want them "lambasted"? Do you know that means verbally assaulted? You want us to speak harshly to people selling drugs to kids? Somehow I don't think that's going to be much of a deterrent. Maybe if we called them names too!

ok realist... lets try this again........please discuss the issue at hand instead of critiqueing the delivery of it. if all you have to bring is grammarical errors then you are showing very weak debating skills. so lets start with #1 if there is no medicinal value of marijuana, what is US Patent 6630507 - Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants; issued October 7, 2003. (actually there are ~30 patents pertaining to this owned by the US government)

I think it is fair to discuss grammatical errors as it makes what you wrote very difficult to understand. You do what to be understood, right? What is "lambasting" mean? They get a good yelling at? Then you say 25 years for a first offense? What is your point?

what I wrote is easily understood. I can use smaller words if you need me to. all you do by trying to derail the discussion with your critique of my grammer instead of discussing the issue is to make yourself look terribly uninformed on the issue. you bring my education into question, while I have no problem ( either do many others ) at understanding what I wrote. GAILBEGIN DO YOU THINK OUR CURRENT DRUG LAWS ARE WORKING? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SAYING MARIJUANA HAS NO MEDICINAL VALUE YET AT THE SAME TIME HOLDING THE ONLY US PATENTS TO ITS MEDICINAL EFFECT? WILL YOU DISCUSS THE INFORMATION OR CONTINUE TO ATTACK THE MESSENGER?

TRUTHFINDER, I am not the only one who doesn't understand #4. Chase2you asked as well.

You now need to shift gears and realize that I, nor is anyone else attacking you. You are starting to sound paranoid.

So my question based on the topic: How many more people are going to be put into our prisons for selling marijuana to minors if their first offense gets them 25 years? Or do they just get a lambasting?

First to answer your question...the 25 year sentance is just one thought on how to keep people from selling or giving to minors, Its not perfect but if you have a better idea I would love to hear it. I'm not paranoid it just irks me when people go to a post and do not discuss the content of the post. If you did not understand as chase2you didnt then you should have simply read my explaination to him. now if you will answer my questions....DO YOU THINK OUR CURRENT DRUG LAWS ARE WORKING? ....HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SAYING MARIJUANA HAS NO MEDICINAL VALUE YET AT THE SAME TIME HOLDING THE ONLY US PATENTS TO ITS MEDICINAL EFFECT?

so... how about someone take a crack at #5 Why is hemp illegal?

GB: paranoid..good one.

truthfinder: Why is it illegal to grow opium poppies? How about psycilocybin?

#4. It's simply pathetic when drugs such as tobacco (450,000 deaths a year in the US) and alcohol (90,000 deaths a year in the US) are legal but Cannabis (0 deaths in recorded human history) is not only illegal but in the same class as heroin. Yes, legalize it for adult use and apply the same restrictions as alcohol. If kids are going to smoke it there isn't much you can do to stop them and putting an adult in prison for 25 years because of a bad choice isn't right either. I would rather my kids tried smoking some pot rather than popping perscription drugs (35,000 deaths a year in the US) or attempting to sniff paint or gasoline.

#5. Hemp was made illegal at the same time Cannabis was made illegal due to it being in direct competition with other materials such as cotton and paper. It wasn't made illegal for any other reason than monetary gain to people who were in a direction position to make money off hemp being illegal. USA is still the only industrialised country that industrial hemp is illegal in. Except during WWII where slogans such as "Hemp for victory" came about and hemp was once again good for a brief period of time due to the USA no longer trading with Japan for hemp to create supplies for the military. After WWII ended Hemp was once again made illegal.

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Ouroboros: Excellent! there is actually a video that the government produced and now claims doesnt exsits, called "hemp for victory" you can find it on youtube! and marijuana is a schedule 1 drug heroin is classified as a schedule 2 drug , the government says that marijuana is worse than heroin!

Yosimite _sam: are you serious? do you believe marijuana is as bad as herion( made from opium poppies) Do you believe our current drug laws are working?

truthdistorter, you grammar is a very fair question. So is your poor spelling. It indicates a lack of education or ability to reason. You don't want to face the question because you know the answer is. Put out the bong and go back to High School.

UNREALIST: if you cant even Discuss 1 thing about the CONTENT of the post you are showing some of the extent of your ignorance. I HAVE DISTORTED NOTHING, you however have done nothing but try to deflect, and derail the truth! do you have anything besides opinion and emotion? if you want to see an inability to reason you have to just read the comments that you posted and thier total lack of FACTS, Do you have ANY facts to back up ANYTHING you have said about cannabis?

I make it a point not to argue with the deranged.

UNREALIST the only reason you wont argue your side is that YOU HAVE NOTHING BUT OPINION , NO FACTS to back up what you say. I on the other hand have study after study that is reviewed by the scientific community. Face it you have no idea what you are talking about!