MARIJUANA - THE OTHER N-WORD - PART ONE

Many years ago I stood in front of a judge in New York - the charge? Possession of marijuana.

Guilty or not guilty? I was asked.

Tough question, under the circumstances.Yet you might ask, why a tough question?

The answer, "not guilty".

So why then, did I plead guilty? The answer: I didn't have a choice.

The story: It was in 1985, and I took a weeks vacation to go back to my hometown for my sister's wedding. One of my hobbies was in the use of a metal detector, searching for buried treasure. Our country begins in the 1700's, even earlier in some respects. My hobby includes that history, and finding relics from the past. But during this weekend vacation I found a brass pipe. A pipe used to smoke cannabis - marijuana to some. I cleaned it up and it was passed around with cannabis after my sister was married.

When I drove the 12 hour drive back to Boston afterwards, that pipe was special to me. I put it on the passenger seat of my car under some stuff. In the middle of nowhere on a rural highway I sat at a traffic light waiting in a drizzling rain for a car coming in my direction to pass. As I made my left hand turn after the car passed up a hill, the light began to change to red. I made my turn while it was yellow. By coincidence a New York state trooper was just coming over the rise of the hill I turned onto, and to him it appeared I went through a red light. He pulled me over. I was about 5 hours from being back in Boston. Being back to where I called home.

He asked me to step out of my car. I had been smoking a cigarette and I kind of waved it in the air in front of me as the red lights of the cruiser flashed. I was tired. I wanted to be back home. I put out the cigarette in the ashtray, and the officer apparently was suspicious. He asked if he could search my car. I said yes. He found the pipe.

Until last year I didn't realize that the law in NY regarding cannabis was regulated towards cannabis that was in clear view. What i mean is, the law in NY State at the time as now is it is only a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana if the marijuana is in the open. If it is not in the open it is a simple fine, like a traffic violation. It doesn't matter if an officer in NY asks to search a person, the cannabis has to be in view prior to the search if under a certain amount. And what I had was a pipe, no cannabis.

I had coins - old coins and relics in my car that I'd found metal detecting that I'd shown my family and friends. I had tools in the trunk of my Saab 99, then 15 years old or so used to repair it if necessary. More state troopers showed up. My car was thoroughly searched... no marijuana, just a pipe, coins, mechanical tools and dirty laundry. They accused me of being a thief - having burglar tools and stolen coins. They suspected I was intoxicated. I explained the descriptions on all the coins in paper holders were in my handwriting, the tools to fix my car.

I was taken to State police headquarters... the officer who had pulled me over wanted the captain to give me a breathalyser. I was in hand-cuffs. The captain sat and talked to me, asked a few questions, and when the officer came back in eager to test me as I agreed to, the captain laughed, and told the officer I wasn't drunk, but if he wanted to calibrate their equipment, go for it.

I was let go. I paid a ticket for the red light through the mail. But the charge for possession of marijuana required me to drive 5 hours back to the area to appear in court, with the chance of a $1000 fine and a year in jail. My father set me up with a city district attorney who provided legal advice.  He was able to postpone the first court appearance. And again, not only did I only have a pipe found, but it wasn't in clear view and so what I didn't know then was it wasn't a a crime in the way it was being pursued.

I finally went to court, two months later. The judge was a guy 10 years or so older than me but all business - very intimidating. He made clear I could be sentenced to a year in jail if I pleaded guilty to possession. So did the attorney my dad provided for me. The key to the case according to the attorney was - had the pipe been used to smoke marijuana in the past 3 days prior to the police finding it? Answer, yes. So the question wasn't whether I was guilty, it was whether I was guilty of possession of marijuana, or was I guilty of possession of drug paraphernalia? Oddly, the penalty for the latter was more severe then simple possession. I noted the "arresting" officer, in quotes as i wasn't formally arrested or read my rights wasn't even present in the courtroom. I guess that's a myth, that they have to be present. Afraid of pissing off the judge I pleaded guilty hoping to avoid jail-time, which I did. He charged me a fine of $50 times 2 - for the appearance the attorney had postponed, meaning I paid $100. No jail time.

What I didn't know then was that I'd actually pleaded guilty to a felony conviction, as once the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 happened, background checks became very common place when applying for a job, especially at a public place like a school, hospital, government office.

At the time of the terrorist attack I was actually working at a school... a job I wouldn't be able to have today. See, marijuana in the n-word when it comes to background checks. In the real world it is common for men to have histories of violence, domestic abuse, even being a registered sex offender. But that's men for you, ha ha... they're noted for their testosterone... and violent behavior. They're often given a chance, whereas marijuana is associated with "drug use", and rarely are drug users given a chance. Since Sept. 11, 2001 most employers ask you to include any criminal violations whether misdemeanor or felonies on the application. If one lies and they find out later you lied on your application you lose the job.

It's been 28 years since I was found in possession of that pipe, and I still live with that life sentence. I'm the nigger in the room. I'm a druggie. I may have a BA degree, a medical degree, experience as a fine, upstanding employee in many schools behind me, but today, I'm the nigger in the room. A white guy nigger. Because of a marijuana pipe.

But the times, they are a'changing... in 2012 marijuana, which I prefer not to call it as it's historically been used as a derogatory euphemism targeted towards Mexican people and Blacks, Jazz musicians and druggies, so I choose to call it by it's proper name, cannabis, is now legal for recreational use in CO and WA, in addition to some 18 states where medical use is legal.

Considering I'm treated on par with a murderer in many states how does this change my situation? Well, that depends on who you're talking to. It's fairly obvious the War on drugs as put forth starting with President Nixon, and highlighted by President Reagan is at an end.

The problem is that the war on drugs has made victims of millions of Americans, and until the federal government acts to reverse the discrimination it's produced, many of us will die criminals.

In my next post, to be published very soon, you will see where so called studies on cannabis unfairly target it as more dangerous than legal fare, simply because we're talking the difference between calories and the devil. There are politicians who could care less about righting a wrong - that rather than consider their constuency, the people that elected them, they make and maintain laws based on personal preference. You will see where health concerns for cannabis when equally set next to common foods produce unequal results, based solely on cannabis being the elephant in the room, or as I'm perceived, the nigger in the room.

NH may soon be the 3rd State to legalize cannabis, HB 492 will decide that. But if some politicians in this state have their way, that'll never happen. Why? I propsoe to show that it's their personal opinion and it has nothing to do with those who voted them into office. I propose to show that studies of cannabis in comparison with common foods is skewed by prejudicial opinion.

Cannabis has been legal now in CO and WA for recreational use since at least the beginning of the year, and despite fears of zombies and vampires, nothing has happened. The world didn't end. Reefer madness is and always has been a myth... a myth that ended my life.

Stop the Hurt! It's time we got real.

DARK KNIGHT RISING - The FUTILITY OF GUN CONTROL - The FUTILITY OF PROHIBITON

The Aurora Colorado shooter, James Holmes never watched the movie The DARK KNIGHT RISING... if he had... he wouldn't have murdered so many people in a pseudo-Joker, pseudo Batman inspired melee.

President Obama has signed into law 18 decrees designed to limit the rights of American citizens and gun ownership. We are to commend him in light of the massacre at an elementary school in Sandy hook CT.  He is pressing Congress for additional gun control legislation as is Senator Dianne Feinstein. 

People want to protect our children... and frankly, I can't blame them. My mission is to "Stop the Hurt"... however further gun control won't accomplish that end. Unless of course the White House plans on an all out war confiscating all firearms owned by American Citizens. Short of that, there is no way, as Vice President Biden admitted, to prevent future mass shootings based solely on new federal gun regulations.

What do James Holmes, Jared Loughner and other mass killers have in common?

If James Holmes had watched the Dark Knight Rising... I doubt very much he would have massacred dozens of people in a movie theater. I recently watched the movie and it's message is anything but a massacre. And these Mass Killers seem oblivious to the reality behind a movie, especially movies they don't even watch, or books they don't read. What they have in common is a separation from humanity. They live in a world of their own design. There's a lot of that around; Neo-Nazis and their zen for hatred of non Aryan people; The Assad government in Syria and the murders of countless thousands they call terrorists, when we call them rebels; Antisemitism or denial of the Holocaust; Churches who condone or look the other way when it's members or leaders violate children - as if the destruction of a child's childhood is something God would approve of or tolerate.

If there is a case for innocent by plea of insanity, James Holmes is it. Nothing about what he did would have been done by a sane person. The same with Jared Loughtner and the shooting of AZ Senator Gabby Giffords, and others, and Adam Lanza and the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school. These people are not playing with a full deck of cards. There's a difference between plotting to kill someone based on jealousy, or robbing a bank for money... these are human-like deviance. You get drunk, get into a car and drive, have an accident and kill someone - that is stupidity and shows a profound lack of judgement or self-control. These people do commit crimes and should be locked up in prisons. To commit mass murder based on a fictional idealism, like the Assad government in Syria; or indirectly a country contributes to mass murders in Mexico, for example, because the US Gov't maintains a strict and intrusive prohibition of certain plants that Americans want, and rather than resolve the issue through science and common-sense, they indirectly promote the growth of murderous gangs; this is insanity...

After Sandy Hook, millions of America citizens demanded a solution. And they should!

President Obama elected VP Joe Biden to find that solution. The solution he arrived at is gun control. A very broad subject that reaches deep into America's society. It fondles and gropes the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution.   An American citizens right to bear arms... upheld recently by the US Supreme Court.

What we don't need is wallpaper and window dressings... the President intends to ban what are called "military assault weapons"... a misnomer as no one in America without going through extreme regulatory action gets to own a military assault weapon.  They are automatic weapons, with precision far exceeding any American owned facsimile. There are many people just hanging on in America, out of work with children going to bed hungry. However since Sandy Hook and other high profile shootings, the country is buying guns and ammunition in record numbers. How are people affording these purchases? Credit cards? But the facts behind this surge in buying guns is a threat to our 2nd Amendment rights. Why? Because our government has shown it likes enacting prohibitions and Zero tolerance regulations. It get's into being a government, like government is an entity onto itself. Within days after the Sandy Hook massacre the federal government was grappling for a solution, but rather than use science and common-sense to find a solution it quickly decides guns are the problem, just as it did after the 9/11 terrorist's attacks when it decided a Patriot Act was necessary - and expanded intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans was warranted. Soon we will have military and police drones flying overhead to watch our every move, and drones the size of dragon-flies hovering outside or inside our windows. George Orwell was correct - though off by a few decades.

New regulations would make it illegal to give your gun to a family member or friend without a universal background check. Prior to that happening requires federal registration of all currently owned guns. An FID must be required to identify all gun owners and their weapons. Further, anyone diagnosed with a mental health issue, or anyone who uses cannabis even when legal under state law cannot own a firearm. Enforcement of this prohibition would mean that 70% or more of Americans would be stripped of their right to own a firearm. It would put the 20% black-market criminal element in charge of the streets, against the 10% who are authorized to protect us. 

Many are striving to burn a paper dragon... and a lot of smoke and mirrors is what they'll get in return.

Guns can kill, and everyday someone dies from gun violence. Everyday thousands die from use of tobacco or in motor vehicle accidents. The most common way to die is to trip, fall and break your neck. It is to be a victim of depression and to kill yourself, or to let yourself die, often through alcoholism.

James Holmes never saw "The Dark Knight Rising", if he had he'd know that the movie was about hope, saving people and heroes... not villains.

The federal government wastes it's time and resources battling wars against which it has no business doing so, and often very little public support.  Hundreds of thousands of sworn law enforcement officers routinely hunt down drug users, poker players and prostitutes. They put spies in our schools called "narcs' and johns on the streets to capture deviant people. They encourage commercials that make the person playing a computer game or online poker a dangerous deviant... a loner. Paper dragons.

Since the early 1980's there has been an push to "Just Say No". For Zero Tolerance policies. Extreme control like it's some sort of made for TV reality show. School children are arrested for paper guns, and one child's interest in bombs is rewarded while another goes to prison. Has anyone considered the possibility that our society is extremely regulated and much is prohibited? Since the tragic events of 9/11 the FAA feels it has the right to conduct intrusive body searches, and schools have a right to detain and search students, and those with misdemeanor convictions need not apply for a job. In Gotham City that means you work for the mob.

Not without reservations, given the opinion of a fellow blogger, but I do believe for now anyways, the place for law enforcement is at our public schools... on a street corner. The guy making the bomb? Let's find out if they are simply a future Einstein or a danger to society? It's time to stop Zero Tolerance and bigotry and try being human.

The answer isn't a new prohibition, like gun control, or increased public scrutiny and drones outside our windows; alienating those with mental health issues - as the most dangerous freaks know how to escape detection. The solution is letting go... becoming neighborly, getting involved, sitting on your front porch again... coming out of the closet... gays, pot users, and poker players. It's about seeking treatment if you are suffering from an addiction, or you like children for sex, or you feel the urge to kill. It's opening up resources for people who need them and letting the rest of us do the best we can with what we have.

Time to end Puritanical America and live in a Free America. It's time America live based on science and knowledge, common-sense and our Constitution.

Gun control will not stop the next Sandy Hook massacre... A Free America will.

PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE - STOPPING THE HURT

This is an unplanned post. But recently I received an e-mail from VP Biden beginning to outline the White House Plan to reduce gun violence, shooting tragedies such as those at Sandy Hook CT, or Aurora CO., as well as other schools, malls and public places.

This is a snippet of the letter I received from the VP:

"We're going to give law enforcement more tools and resources to prevent and prosecute gun crimes, and we're going to end the freeze on gun violence research that prevents the Center from Disease Control from looking at the causes of gun violence." The rest can be found here:

WHITE HOUSE POLICY ON GUNS

I don't usually write about guns or the 2nd Amendment. And sorry this post is so long - but it is. I know how to use a gun, and respect them for the tool they are. To me, a gun is a gun no matter what it looks like, or how many bullets are loaded. Being that the theme of my blog is to stop the hurt, like many other Americans I question what happened at the Sandy Hook Elementary school with 20 children slaughtered as well as 6 adults by one 20 years old person. We ask ourselves, what motivates a person to do such a thing?

The mass murderer is dead, as is common in mass killings he took his own life. But enough is known about the killer to suggest he was reacting to what he perceived to be a threat to his own freedom, that being there is talk that he suffered from a form of autism and his mother was attempting to get a court order to procure involuntary treatment, in a hospital, for his behavior issues. How much he knew about this alleged plan by his mother isn't known. Apparently enough, as his actions to shoot her multiple times while she slept, and to go Sandy Hook Elementary school where he knew his mother contributed after stealing several of her weapons makes it fairly clear he was angry. He took his anger to an extreme. Denotes to me a lack of communication between himself and his mother, a lack of alternative actions, and an image of a person backed into his own self-imaged nightmare style corner.

So why didn't he seek mental health intervention if things were so bad? I did at age twenty, though I wasn't a violent type - I didn't think thoughts of shooting people and children at a school. I wanted freedom to live my life and my mother was doing everything possible to invoke changes to how i actually did that. Plus, by then I worked at a college and therapy was free, a benefit of the job. I continued in therapy for the next 25 years, while my mother never sought therapy but rather, continued her quest to reset me on the one road that she believed was life, by using shame and guilt strategies to sway me and intervene as if I was in some sort of cult.

Troubling, to say the least. My opinion, it was not I who should have sought out therapy, but her. However that's a mute point, and it's good and smart on my part that I did not feel adverse to getting therapy. As I said, violent behavior on my part was never an issue - for me it was to free myself from my mother's tactic to force shame and guilt on me because I liked women, liked sex, and I worked as a custodian at the city college, which was in her words a disgrace to the family. My mother was fixated with the idea that her son cleaned toilets. That her son had a very good job, received good benefits and good pay never occurred to her.

Lest I stray from my goal here, it's not about me, but rather, a solution in general to the apparent surge in mass killings. Did I know about guns? Of course I did - my father owned guns, and took me shooting around age 10. I used to go hunting with my friends for ducks. I can recall having shot around 3 ducks and watching as my grandmother labored plucking their feathers so we could eat them. To me it looked like way too much work. Eventually I gave up hunting as I really felt no desire to kill wildlife when I could simply go to a grocery store for meat. That and the fact that when I first got stoned on pot I remember feelings of being peaceful took over, as in Peace and Love.

So I read with sadness that one of President Obama's solutions to random mass murders was to require a mental health provider to notify law enforcement if a client speaks of anger or suggested violence towards others. The source no doubt, is the Aurora Colorado shooter James Holmes, and his reported confessions while in therapy.

James Holmes survived, yet nothing significant has yet to come out about his motives or ways in which his violence could have been prevented. Instead, a future James Holmes need not seek therapy, as the therapist will now be required by law to report him to authorities. In this one singular example that may seem like a good thing. However in general, many people experience feelings of anger and hostility towards others - most often never resulting in a mass killing. Or even a single death. Most notable is in cases where there are deaths due to these hostile feelings, the perp rarely sought therapy in the first place. Like my mother, they weren't the one's with the problem, the victims were.

Under President Obama's new initiative to prevent future Sandy Hooks, or Aurora cinema mass killings is the requirement of a therapist to notify law enforcement of expressed anger and for the then notified authorities to seize any guns the client may own, and their family might own.

Ludicrous as most of the time the person plotting violence will not seek out therapy as that denotes accepting there may be something wrong with them-self. What the new strategies to curb gun violence do is to further alienate a troubled person from seeking mental health treatment. As my mother said often - only sick people seek help. Or their victims since the troubled person was convinced it was not themselves with the issues, but rather the victims.

Other measures the President plans to enact to stem mass killings:

A renewed ban on assault rifles and high capacity clips. When the last one expired in 2004 I think it was, there was no surge in overall gun violence, especially associated with civilian assault style weapons or high capacity clips. Overall gun violence went down according to FBI statistics. Granted, the high profile cases aforementioned do involve these devices, but they are essentially anomalies, not very common. What both restrictions accomplish in effect ie to target and regulate the liberties of  law abiding citizens who own such devices. It will do nothing to stem the random, heinous acts of mass murder we've recently become to be aware of.

Recent statistics I read supporting gun control were that there are deaths due to firearms at the rate of 32 people per day. Statistics are interesting, like the fact several thousand die every day from tobacco use,  or falling down stairs. Suicide, wow, more deaths by suicide have occurred of late due to taking of one's own life in the military than actual battlefield causalities. Sobering statistics. So what's being done to correct or alleviate this issue? The military has enacted new drug and alcohol tests. That's about it. Like my mother, the military leaders and the structure of the military has nothing to do with soldiers taking their own life. It must be drugs. The victim is at fault!

I found the following video to be of interest. There are questions as to what makes a civilian weapon into an assault weapon? There are kits one can purchase to modernize a standard rifle, like the Ruger 10-22. Such a rifle is a very common and reliable gun that shoots 22 caliper bullets most commonly at squirrels. A 22 caliper bullet is not a great defensive tool against a predator. It is the kind of bullet that is very small and one would have to be very lucky to stop a home invasion with such a weapon, let alone use it in a mass killing spree. The following video puts into perspective the inane new regulations the WH plans to implement to curb mass violence with guns:

WHAT MAKES A GUN AN ASSAULT WEAPON?

I own a Ruger 10-22, and ironically I converted it to the Nomad Style. I like building things. The gun was a gift. Does it shoot any differently than it did before I made the conversion? No. It's still a squirrel gun. According to the video, adding one "military style" modification to a gun is making it a military weapon. With logic like that I plan on adding an armor plate to my car and a tank turret on top as a sun-roof. That creates a military style tank. If drunk drivers that kill people did the same we might get a ban on military style assault cars. The problem is driving under the influence, not the car. Duh!

In particular, again I must emphasize that any stigma to mental health resources is a very serious problem and yet, VP Biden states in the quote above that the CDC has been restricted and not able to conduct research into acts of violence involving guns. Who's brainchild of an idea was that? A "freeze" on research into gun violence and why? Were they too busy trying to locate someone who died of cannabis use? Or, maybe the NRA convinced someone in Washington to enact the freeze or an anti-gun group wanted the inevitable violence to occur so they could then rally support for anti-gun laws? ... but again why? Why a freeze, like a freeze into medical uses of cannabis?

Stupidity and special interests. There is no question that progress and a new world order that involves personal liberty and freedom is being stifled. Rational regulations are not a part of the public safety initiatives being invoked by our state and federal law-makers. Smoke and mirrors is. For example, I put colonial style shutters on my windows at home to repel home invasion attacks, rifle slots in my wall to shoot the invaders, and night-vision video cameras outside my home to see any intruders. Makes my home a military style fort. That along with my "military style" Ruger 10-22 makes this a fortress. Not. Who could be so stupid as to believe that? And yet, this is the strategy the federal government is taking to stem mass shootings.

The NRA had it right when it proposed armed guards at all public schools. Airports have armed guards, and extensive screening processes, court houses have the same. Politicians are provided armed security. Why not public schools? And why put a burden on mental heath assistance? So you hate your husband or wife? They bully you - and all you can think is your only way out is to kill them? Does this mean you're actually going to do it? You could seek out the help of a psychologist... or at least, in the past you could have. Now that therapist is required by law to be a mole.

There is violence in America, but we're not alone. We're simply different. And of course we're different. We always have been. This country was founded by Christian Puritans and Pagans. Very near to where I live is the site of the Maypole of Merrymount. They were people escaping Puritan England for a place where they could freely pursue their religious beliefs. Much persecution followed... many people were killed to bring this nation to where we are today. I'm told not one Quaker survives today - they were hunted to extinction. Quakers were a prominent religious group present in Colonial America.

Violence in America... of course there's violence! We are not civilized - we don't yet know what being civilized entails. Does it mean no guns. Does it mean no one breaking societal laws? Does it mean we should all become vegetarians? Or does it imply rationality - as when we hear the word wolf, we don't jump up with our shotguns to kill it to extinction, or we don't slaughter elephants, rhinos's and sharks to extinction because of their horns or fins?

But to suppress research of any kind, as the CDC was told to freeze all research into causes of gun violence...  when it comes to protecting the public well-being, that's plain wrong.Perhaps whoever ordered that freeze should be in front of a judge right now, facing accessory to murder charges?

It is unfortunate, unlikely that we could have prevented the past tragedies with gun violence had new regulations been in place.  What could have prevented some of the tragedy would have been common-sense safeguards. Classroom that actually locked-down. Security resources at the schools like police officers. Administrators and teachers able to protect themselves and others with their own firearm. Advanced security systems. And yes, advanced mental health reforms.

While we've been pursuing,  the pot-head, well we've completely abandoned  common-sense, have not learned from the past, and are now enacting useless regulations that only benefit the ignorant and promote a comfy feeling that "something is being done". If someone wants to conduct mass murder, or even a single murder, the regulations now being introduced will have little effect.

The problem is with society, and I don't mean that by saying we are now an immoral society. It has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with our family structure,gay couples wishing to marry and raise a child. But rather, it has everything to do with being a society that lives rationally and realistically.

Quite frankly - what President Obama and VP Biden have decided is an embarrassment and like fighting HIV with a toothbrush. Pure stupidity and shows a lack of understanding or even caring. It is smoke and mirrors... mirrors and smoke...

It's no different than book-banning... Henry Miller and the Tropic of Cancer;  Norman Mailer; Anais Nin; Jack Kerouac; George Orwell; John Fowles; Hemingway; etc...

BANNED BOOKS

One doesn't prevent the Charlie Manson murders; The In Cold Blood murders; the Aurora CO killings or the Green River killings by enactment of such laws and regulations currently being offered up by our President. Offering an immediate response to the Sandy Hook murders such as what the WH is doing is a sham. It's an embarrassing example of a lack of leadership and logic. A reaction to drum up sympathetic support. It accomplishes nothing.

At least they're not going after my favorite computer games like Half-Life; Max Payne; Battle-Field 1942; Bethesda's Morrowind; Oblivian; etc including movies and TV. 

The reality is... we need to make mental health therapy as popular as video games. And the President did just the opposite!

Stop the Hurt!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 - SO THE WORLD DIDN'T END?

Yeah, okay.. another fizzled plan.

So, yeah, here unexpectedly... given I thought it was The END:

Happy New Year from BobKat!

I just woke up... actually.

So gone is 2012. President Obama got his 2nd term, wow. So did we, hmmm? Well, given the alternative, ex-governor of Massachusetts, where I lived for 6 years in and around Boston, Mitt Romney, to me it was a slam-dunk; wouldn't you agree:>? Well, so maybe not... but for me I could not figure out what skills or benefits he might reap on us pheasant Americans. He passed a Health Care Law, yeah, and turned around and put down his own law!? Disowned it essentially.  So what's up with that?

Well it's history, and speaking of history, 2012 brought about a rather surprising and encouraging new set of laws. No, prostitution isn't legal in New York, a nod to Elliot Spitzer. But cannabis is legal in Washington State and Colorado. Recreational Cannabis!!!

Ahem; by recreational I don't mean to imply Reefer Madness has set in and those states lost all control over governance or sanity. Before I continue with a post I consider to be light hearted,  considering past violent acts that have shaken the nation, and the fact that a little fun right now might actually be good medicine, I should take a moment to put myself in the shoes of many people who have never tried cannabis, or know it's street-name is marijuana. Educators have been telling the public for years, since 1982, to "Just Say NO!" A highly ingenious phrase first coined by then, First Lady, Nancy Reagan.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA LINK

Facts First: Abusing "DRUGS" can be very bad for your health and well-being! But the"Just Say No" approach was honestly pointed and directed at the wrong drug. The believe was, and is still believed by many that marijuana, a Mexican term for cannabis, is the stepping stone to hard drugs like heroin and crack cocaine. There is absolutely no evidence for this claim.

Granted the laws in many states and the federal government place access to any of these substances all together... as they're all illegal. One buys them, whether as an adult or a kid, from similar sources, all black-market. If tobacco were illegal that's where people would be buying it, and as it is seriously addictive, to which I can attest, it is legal and taxed.

Cannabis is nowhere near as addictive as tobacco, and hardly as dangerous, in practical terms as most other "drugs". It does have disadvantages for some people, like a potential link to schizophrenia in some individuals and some people just seem to want to smoke a lot of it, but the thing is, unlike alcohol, one doesn't keep getting higher and higher. They just want to smoke a lot. The tars in cannabis are not the tars found in tobacco. No comparisons can be drawn. It's been said one "joint" (cannabis cigarette) is equal to 20 tobacco cigarettes; this is the kind of scientific information that discredits true scientific people. They are two totally different plants. Carbon monoxide is present in both, if smoked, as is any substance that's burned. Cannabis can be consumed where tobacco cannot - as the latter is actually toxic.

And there's actually a counter component in cannabis to those suffering schizophrenia; it is (WIKIPEDIA LINK): cannabidiol. The higher the ratio of it to THC the less the user will likely incur problems and they may actually benefit. The science and medical profession are still at odds on this, and I'm no expert. That's just what I've learned in the past 40 years of research into cannabis, there is a balance a user would like to achieve. With alcohol that is difficult, with tobacco impossible, in most cases.

Cannabis is as unique as having a beer, only safer. You might read a recent book by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, Mason Tvert, entitled: "Marijuana is Safer, So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?" It really is insane, in my opinion, the misinformation and propaganda surrounding cannabis use. The most preposterous is there is zero medical value, and is so addictive as to warrant it classification as a Federal Schedule One drug. The worst of the worst. And yet way to many people know that's not true, yet the official stance is that it is. Stubborn. Yet two states have said enough and over 15 have said there's enough medical evidence ascribed to cannabis that it's legal as a medicine.

For those of you shaking your heads and thinking it's the beginning of the end, consider that no one has ever died as a result of cannabis use, and most violent crimes are comitted by drunks and straight people.

Cannabis users simply enjoy unwinding at the end of the day with a small amount of weed (cannabis). Recreation to them is more likely eating junk food

and watching TV, or having a serious, philosophical discussion about Mars.They're not plotting the destruction of the world, or other terrible things.

Maybe fried eggs: 

Hello 2013... 

If you want to have some fun, learn more, peruse some cannabis stories, enjoy the following link:

 HAIL MARY-JANE.com

Happy New Year to YOU!

Meow...