As Prop 19 went down in flames it was a sobering moment for many of us in the legalization community. There seemed to be so much momentum and the polls were in our favor. But then when push came to shove it was the Democrats who failed to endorse Prop 19 which pushed largely moderate white suburban Democrats to vote against legalizing it. It wasn’t some disciples of Dick Cheney who swooped into California, the Head of the Anti-Legalization campaign was none other than Diane Feinstein. One of the most powerful Democrats in all of California. Despite being endorsed by the NAACP which stated that “legalizing marijuana is a civil rights issue”, and despite being endorsed by largest workers Unions in California. The democrats still couldn’t grow a backbone and just make some real change. Instead it was the leading democrats who stood up for conservative outdated values. It scared them; meanwhile the Republicans are stealing this issue away from what should be the Democrat base.

Ron Paul is one obvious threat. He supports the legalization of all drugs, but he is also pro-life, and votes against virtually any social program. Some of you might be saying “Great!”, but the thing is that he simply isn’t electable at a Presidential level. I’d love to see him get into the debates, but he’s too smart and too consistent in his Libertarian beliefs that there’s no chance of him becoming President. He doesn’t only support legalizing marijuana, he’s also for legalizing all drugs. An easy sell for most of you reading this blog, but not quite as popular on a national level. So who do the Republicans have the Democrats don’t?

Gary Johnson. Gary Johnson is the former Republican governor of New Mexico who is also known for being an atheist, against the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and he admitted to using marijuana for medicinal purposes long before there was even any medical marijuana laws. In an interview with NORML, Johnson stated “I climbed Everest. I run triathlons. I fell fifty feet while paragliding and lived. Why would my pot use concern you?”. Now Gary Johnson is definitely planning a 2012 presidential run, and his presence will be interesting but he also doesn’t have the Cult of Personality as someone like Palin, or Huckabee. So Democrats you don’t have to be scared yet. But there’s a few factors which you are forgetting.

First off there’s the problem of a legitimate third party candidate in 2012. Someone like Gary Johnson could run as a Libertarian (he’s previously ran as a Libertarian in the past, and obviously the Libertarian party would love to have him). Still don’t think it’s a problem for Democrats since most of the people who vote for Libertarians are to the right? Think again. There’s a wild card in the mix. And that’s that Prop 19 is back in California. That’s right. Although Prop 19 failed the first time around this time it’s back, and now it’s an presidential election year. This ensures a higher turn out which is always good for those who support legalization. But now let’s get back to Gary Johnson (or our equivalent third party candidate) Do you really think that those who come out to vote for legalization are also going to be voting for the Democrats, or Obama? No chance.

Obama said that he “wouldn’t use the Justice Department” to raid marijuana clinics in states which had legalized marijuana. The raids still continue.

Obama said that he favored the Decriminalization of marijuana. Then he did just the opposite.

The top submitted question to Obama’s own Change.Org website is consistently dominated by questions regarding marijuana legalization. But when asked about these questions Obama quickly dismissed them. Even poking fun at the fact that the question most people wanted answered on his own website involved legalization.

Forget the fact that Obama previously stated that he himself was a marijuana user and the he “inhaled frequently, that was the point”. A remark which was intended to poke fun at Bill Clinton’s famous “I smoked but never inhaled”.

And concerning Medical Marijuana Obama was also in favor of it, saying that doctors should be allowed to prescribe proper medicine for their patients. But this was as short lived as his promise not to use the Justice Department to raid medical dispensaries. By using his power to raid medical dispensaries you can bet he’s getting in the way of his previous promise to allow doctors to provide marijuana as a medicine.

But all of these campaign “promises” turned out to be false. Now there are certainly more pressing problems facing the nation besides marijuana law reform. But on these points Obama is already losing a lot of ground with the liberal base. Guantanamo Bay remains open, Obama pushed for an increase of both funding and troop levels in Afghanistan, The US troops are leaving Iraq while over 100,000 private mercernaries move in (imagine if Haliburton basically took over Iraq under Bush what the response would’ve been). Obama extended warrantless wiretaps, is pushing for an Internet Kill Switch, and hasn’t supported the people protesting all throughout the Midwest. It is clear that Obama has abandoned his base, but, I believe the tipping point won’t come with not getting Health Care reform, or Guantanamo; The tipping point is going to be marijuana legalization. As millions of young people vote in California (a state Obama will definitely need in 2012) they will not only be voting on legalization, but also for president. Will Obama, and Diane Feinstein continue to advocate on behalf of prohibition? I’m guessing yes, for whatever reason Democrats have failed to capitalize on the large surge in the Legalization movement. And believe me, someone is going to capitalize on that demographic, and it’s going to be a Republican. If a third party candidate comes in, someone like a Ron Paul, or a Gary Johnson you are going to see a lot of young people who would otherwise vote for democrats switch to the Libertarian candidate. This may only be ten percent, but if you can swing the vote away from Obama, in California, which holds a lot of electoral influence, then marijuana very likely could be the factor which causes Obama to fail throughout the country. And once again, it will all because the Democrats were too spineless to stand up for what they believed in.
Sadly the best we ever hear from the current Democrat leadership is when they misspeak.

A swat team storms a drug dealers home. In full paramilitary regalia the anti-drug unit busted in through the front door with guns drawn. Luckily the home owner wasn’t home, but it was what the swat team did next which stunned the home owner. You see he had set up a video surveillance system of his entire home. As the other cops began rummaging through his belongings, a few others decided to turn on the flat screen, fire up the wii, and start bowling! The crazy thing is that this wasn’t just a few moments that these cops stuck around (imagine how they left the fridge and the chips supply!) They stayed there for 9 long hours! A wii bowling tournament developed and the soon 13 officers and 3 sargeants could all be seeen playing the game throughout the duration of the “raid”. In all seriousness, this is somewhat funny to see that cops are goofballs, but on the other hand. This raid alone most likely cost tens of thousands of dollars. Not to mention all the logistical support that led up to this moment. We must remember that these individuals are also being paid by the tax payer, and they are receiving billions of dollars a year fighting a “war” that the American people don’t support, and believe is unwinnable.

Top 5 Psychedelic Videos to Watch Stoned
Did you know that the term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή (psyche, “soul”) and δηλοῦν (deloun, “to manifest”), translating to “soul-manifesting”. A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one’s mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters. Psychedelic states are an array of experiences elicited by various techniques, including sensory stimulation, sensory deprivation as well as by psychedelic substances. Such experiences include hallucinations, changes of perception, synesthesia, altered states of awareness, mystical states, and occasionally states resembling psychosis. Enjoy!

5. Love and Theft

Mandelbrot Fractal Set Trip To e214 HD from teamfresh on Vimeo.

4. Think or Thwim

3. Deepest Mandlebrot Zoom

2. Psychedelic Bicentennial Video

1. Natural Hallucinogen

Pregnancy and Marijuana

First things first. Anyone dispensing any sort of advice concerning medicine must have a disclaimer. This is one of the reasons why every single article you ever read about online starts out with “make sure to consult your doctor first”.  So. Yeah. Make sure to consult your doctor about any questions you have.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way. Let’s get into the issue at hand.

Many times the question will arise whether or not it is a good idea to smoke marijuana during pregnancy. This is obviously a huge question that involves a host a factors. If you stumbled upon this page you’re obviously looking for answers. But to be fair, there really isn’t any besides anecdotal evidence.  The first thing to consider is that one must be very careful with the information that is given out to women during pregnancy. Pregnant women are already in a highly emotional state and can be easily frightened by propaganda. Unfortunately many of those against marijuana are willing to put out disinformation concerning the scientific evidence as to whether marijuana is truly harmful to a fetus during pregnancy for their own business interests. There simply isn’t enough evidence to make a claim that marijuana in any way does any harm. According to DrugPolicy.Org’s own website they state that

Studies of newborns, infants, and children show no consistent physical, developmental, or cognitive deficits related to prenatal marijuana exposure. Marijuana had no reliable impact on birth size, length of gestation, neurological development, or the occurrence of physical abnormalities. The administration of hundreds of tests to older children has revealed only minor differences between offspring of marijuana users and nonusers, and some are positive rather than negative. Two unconfirmed case-control studies identified prenatal marijuana exposure as one of many factors statistically associated with childhood cancer. Given other available evidence, it is highly unlikely that marijuana causes cancer in children.

But this is possibly only one side to the story. So let’s be fair. The first thing a woman must understand is that prescription drugs (given to pregnant women by their doctors) have accounted for a thousand times more birth defects than anything ever directly tied to marijuana. The prescription drug market is extremely powerful and because of the many symptoms that women face during pregnancy the pharmaceutical companies see a way to make a profit by alleviating these symptoms. The drugs that are put on the market do undergo some testing (many times on animals, not humans) but there are still literally hundreds of thousands of cases of prescription drugs which have been directly connected to birth defects.  Thalidomide being the most extreme example where hundreds of thousands of women were given the drug which was directly tied to their babies being born with no arms and legs. I won’t post any pictures here, but a quick google search will show what the result of this drug were.  However there are more common substances which can also have devastating effects on a developing fetus.

Alcohol, Caffeine, and Tobacco have all been extensively studied and all of these are currently not recommended for repeated consumption during pregnancy.  Unlike the studies concerning marijuana there is hard evidence that all three of these legal substances can adversely effect a woman’s child during pregnancy.  However, this is where we get an important lesson about how “Science” works concerning these types of studies.  All three of these substances (alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco) also had industry run tests which studied their effects on pregnancy. While now it is considered to be fact that it is a bad idea to use these substances during pregnancy; it was only 20 years ago that all three were fighting to try and prove the opposite. “Science” unfortunately many times takes a back seat as corporate interests ensure that the money keeps flowing. Of course the opposite is also true and keeping marijuana “unsafe” during pregnancy also makes many pharmaceutical companies a lot of money because pregnant women will use their products instead of marijuana for pain relief, morning sickness, inducing hunger etc.  This means that it is in the best interest of many companies to ensure that marijuana remains “unsafe” during pregnancy.

BUT! The one thing that should be considered is that most anything a woman ingests can also have an effect on a developing fetus. This includes, but isn’t limited to Prescription Drugs, Air Quality (distance to power plants), drinking water, eating genetically modified foods, and of course using legal substances such as Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine. It should also be noted that many doctors still routinely prescribe Oxycontin, and Hydrocodone during pregnancies and these are Schedule one Narcotics! The amount of data connecting withdrawl symptoms to Hydrocodone, Vicodin, and Oxycotin are numerous, however to my knowledge there still isn’t any hard evidence linking these substances to any detrimental effects. This leads us to another important factor considering the use of substances during pregnancy. There isn’t a lot of studies done on pregnant women because the results have the potential of being so terrible that no drug company in their right mind would ever carry them out. A pharmaceutical company that makes billions of dollars off of a drug isn’t going to risk potentially impacting their bottom line (which is to make money, not to help people) by doing such tests on pregnant women.

Now that we’ve covered some of the potential scientific proven effects on what marijuana and pregnancy have let’s take a look at the worst effect that marijuana can have on a pregnancy. These don’t have anything to do with children being hyperactive (a common myth perpetuated by marijuana prohibitionists) and everything to do with the fact that marijuana is illegal. While it is currently legal to take Hydrocodone and Vicodin during pregnancy (both schedule 1 narcotics similar to Heroin) there can be dire circumstances for a mother that uses marijuana to treat morning sickness or increase appetite. These have everything to do with the fact that marijuana has been villified for the past hundred years in the United States.  In many states a babies first drug test will come when it is literally hours old. It doesn’t take long for the government to start prying into the lives of newborns, however it is probably for the best because it should be considered a form of child abuse to use substances such as Alcohol, and Cocaine during pregnancy. The amount of data tying the use to these two substances to birth defects is insurmountable and if a child is going through withdraw symptoms then the health care providers do have an obligation to take the necessary steps to ensure the child receives proper care.  However, even though there are no conclusive tests which show that marijuana has any detrimental effects on a child, it should be noted that Child Protective Services have removed children from their parents simply because they used marijuana. This is a practice completely unique to the United States and doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. The moral of this story is that the biggest side effect of smoking marijuana during pregnancy doesn’t have anything to do with testable, replicable, results, and everything to do with the insanity of its prohibition.  The most detrimental effect your child could suffer would come at the hands of the state who could do untold psychological damage by removing an infant and placing it into foster care. Because of this if you are in a conservative state I would be very careful about any marijuana use during pregnancy. They can literally take your baby away from you and place it into the foster care system just because you tested positive for marijuana. This RARELY happens but I’m trying to put out the most honest information that I can, and in doing so I must acknowledge this fact. Sadly, marijuana probably won’t effect a fetus or newborn in any way, but the Government enforcing their prohibition can have obvious detrimental effects. Be careful.

If you are looking for further material concerning giving your child the best chance I would suggest looking into various pregnancy diets available online, as well as abstaining from as many toxins as possible. If you are a constant smoker who is stoned all the time this may greatly change the effects that a child has as it is may be substance that the baby becomes accustomed to. If you are smoking occasionally to treat morning sickness, or increase hunger then I would say the potential side effects of drinking a cup of coffee are probably much worse than smoking a joint. But in no way would I (nor could I Imagine the medical community) ever suggest that smoking all the time will be “good” for the child.  Any substance that is taken on a habitual basis can effect a child. However the effects of marijuana and pregnancy are often grossly exaggerated.

If you are pregnant it is very important that you give that kid the best chance it has while it is developing.  This means eating a healthy diet, avoiding stress,  getting enough rest, and avoiding any type of toxins. While the studies don’t necessarily prove that marijuana has some sort of overwhelming detrimental effect on a developing fetus it must also be remembered that because marijuana is illegal this has also prevented a lot of testing on the drug as a medicine.  So, having results being “inconclusive” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely safe.  Those of us in the Marijuana Legalization community have an obligation to try and put out the most accurate information available, and we can’t just act like eveything is fine and dandy until science says otherwise.  I believe in Science, and I believe that as marijuana becomes legal we will know a lot more about any side effects that may occur in instances such as these.  It’s fine to put whatever you want into your body, but pregnant women do have an obligation to protect that child until it is born.  I know it’s unfair, and it sucks, but the best thing would probably to make sure that you are taking care of yourself in the best way possible. If you have terrible morning sickness, and aren’t eating then perhaps smoking some weed, relaxing, and eating a ton of food may actually be more beneficial than anything. The thing is, I can’t say this as fact because the studies simply aren’t there.

I found this completely hilarious and an obvious sign how mainstream the cultivation and use of marijuana has become. In Borders books we see the “gardening” section is made up of completely about marijuana! Not that growing tomatoes isn’t fun, but this just goes to show how above ground much of the industry has become. There’s absolutely no way this would have happened even ten years ago. I don’t want to act as if a display in a bookstore is some sort of milestone that needed to be met, I’m merely saying that times are changing. The amount of money is increasing in the fight against marijuana, and guess what, the number of users is also going up. We’re winning.

The Union The Business Behind Getting High is one of the best documentaries every produced about the subject of marijuana legalization. The documentary follows the path of how marijuana became illegal, and also examines the rapid growth of the sales and traficking of marijuana in Canada. Adam Scorgie is the man we see on camera, but he wasn’t the director of the film. That was Brett Harvey. Throughout the film we see Adam as he covers the underground market. He interviews growers (who are not surprisingly against legalization), police officers, economists, doctors, politicians, and celebreties. The alarming thing about the film was to the extent that the underground movement had organized and exists as a completely untaxed shadow economy in almost every country on the planet. “The Union” refers to a name which is commonly used amongst growers and others involved in the illegal cultivation of marijuana. These include doctors, real estate agents, lawyers, border patrol officers, housewives (for border runs), car dealerships…the list goes on and on. As is outlined in the film, marijuana prohibition can be directly related to the rise in crime, and gang activity which spiked during alcohol prohibition. One thing I wish the documentary examined further would be how much state funding that local police districts also receive because of prohibition. This seems to be the last straw concerning whether or not marijuana will become legal. Currently the war on drugs in America is dependent upon the prohibition of cannabis. With 62% of all funding going towards enforcing marijuana laws (this doesn’t account for the millions in keeping users in jail). But perhaps “The Union” didn’t go too far into these topics because it was created in Canada where laws concerning cannabis aren’t as strict as in the US. Marc Emery is featured in the film, and of course, as we all know he is currently a prisoner of conscious in the US. Hopefully Canada doesn’t follow in America’s footsteps.

The Cops in this video were caught on tape discussing how much property they could take from a house due to little bit of marijuana found in the trash can. The story begins with an anonymous tip that the police received and progressed after police claimed to have found a marijuana stem after looking through the victims garbage. When the police executed the warrant the victims band was practicing. What the cops didn’t anticipate was that the band wasn’t just practicing, they were also recording. And the mic was turned on, capturing everything the police were saying during the raid. Thank you to the Institute for Justice for highlighting what appears to be a clear abuse of police power and forfeiture laws. Forfeiture laws were designed to take away luxury items from major kingpins. Say, for instance, that some coke baron had a yacht, three mansions, and a private jet. When the forfeiture laws were written up they were created for the fact that the police could reposses any items which were somehow involved in the drug trade. This means that the yachts, and mansions could have been used as money laundering, hence if a coke supplier was convicted all of his property would belong to the state, and then auctioned off. In recent years forfeiture laws have been used increasingly against small time offenders. Even a roach in an ashtray can be grounds for unscrupulous cops to try and take your vehicle in some states. If you feel you have been the victim of police abusing forfeiture laws please contact the institute for justice. They are basically the ACLU of forfeiture laws, as their website states “IJ Litigates nationwide on behalf of individuals whose rights are being violated by government.”