Protest in favor of discriminalization of marihuana.
Infowars.com
The United Nations has declared Colorado and Washington in violation of international treaties following ballot initiatives that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.
The President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Raymond Yans, has voiced “grave concern about the outcome of recent referenda in the United States of America that would allow the non-medical use of cannabis by adults in the states of Colorado and Washington, and in some cities in the states of Michigan and Vermont,” according to an INCB press release. The INCB is a quasi-judicial “control organ” for the implementation of the United Nations drug conventions.
Mr. Yans said the referenda in Colorado and Washington state “are in violation of the international drug control treaties, and pose a great threat to public health and the well-being of society far beyond those states.” Yans cited the standard nanny-state reasons for dictating what consenting adult Americans put in their bodies, including mental disorders, and cited the welfare of children as a primary concern of the internationalist organization.
“Legalization of cannabis within these states would send wrong and confusing signals to youth and society in general, giving the false impression that drug abuse might be considered normal and even, most disturbingly, safe. Such a development could result in the expansion of drug abuse, especially among young people, and we must remember that all young people have a right to be protected from drug abuse and drug dependency,” the globalist bureaucrat said.
Yans called for the U.S. federal government to “resolve the contradiction between the federal and state levels in the implementation of that country’s obligations under the drug control conventions” and demanded it “take the necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the international drug control treaties within the entire territory of the United States, in order to protect the health and well-being of its citizens.”
In other words, the United Nations insists the federal government perpetuate the destructive and expensive War on Drugs that has fostered a massive prison-industrial complex and ruined countless lives over the last few decades.
As a consequence of the War on Drugs, the prison population in the United States has quadrupled since 1980, primarily as a direct result of mandatory sentencing for drug crimes. Around half of all inmates in federal prisons are there for drug offenses and more than 45 percent of all drug possession arrests in the U.S. last year were for marijuana, according to the FBI’s annual crime report. The United Nations supports this insanity with its call for the United States to obey international drug treaties.
Marijuana legalization is a classic states’ rights and federalist issue. “States should be allowed to make a lot of these decisions,” Rand Paul said earlier this week when asked about marijuana legalization. “I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different.”
“I think, for example, we should tell young people, ‘I’m not in favor of you smoking pot, but if you get caught smoking pot, I don’t want to put you in jail for 20 years,’” Paul said.
Fortunately, the tide is slowly turning and many states are finally realizing the War on Drugs is not only grossly unfair, but an immense waste of law enforcement resources and tax payer money.
The United Nations is attempting to insert itself in decisions made by the states and by doing so is acting to perpetuate the War on Drugs. Americans should not only ignore the United Nations and the INCB Secretariat, but the federal government as well when it comes to decisions made by citizens on the local level.
Can legalizing marijuana save California, our Republic?
by Eric Blair
Activist Post
First posted Sept. 1, 2010
America, and especially California, are in dire economic straits. Their day of fiscal reckoning is coming and it’s not going to be pretty. Consequently, it is has been suggested that something dramatic will have to happen for Congress to pass any form of relief because the American public was bitterly against the TARP and the Stimulus bill. I’m not advocating another massive bailout for the states, but it seems that if something meaningful is not done soon to restore economic viability to the United States, it will shatter into a million pieces.
Perhaps a shattering of current systems is what is needed to rebuild local economies with truly free markets.
We certainly can’t count on the anti-capitalism mega-monopolies, who have merged with Federal and state governments, to fix this mess and provide for our local well-being. The economy must grow one town, one city, and one state at a time in a free and organic way. Incidentally, our Republic was designed to allow this local freedom to govern and grow the economy as they see fit.
California has already proven that well-regulated medical marijuana markets can work. It has created jobs, business opportunities, and has helped thousands of ailing citizens who wish to have a healthier alternative to pharmaceuticals.
But many pot smokers, dealers, and growers are still considered to be criminals. Russ Belville of NORML described the current situation as follows: Most marijuana smokers, believe it or not, are healthy and aren’t comfortable spending money for a doctor to give them permission to use cannabis. Currently we face a ticket, fine, and misdemeanor drug conviction record for possession an ounce or less of cannabis. That record prevents us from getting student aid and can cost us our jobs, child custody, and housing, or if we’re on probation, our freedom. (Even if California succeeds at downgrading possession to an infraction from a misdemeanor, a $100 ticket is a lot of money to some people!) We face a felony charge if we grow even one plant at home.
Despite the Federal government’s call to halt DEA raids of medical marijuana under Barry “Bong Hit” Obama, they’ve continued to sporadically raid legal medical marijuana grow-ops and dispensaries. Prop 19 was a major battle for states’ rights as well as for individual liberty. Decriminalization of weed would be a huge blow to the Federal government — unless of course they finally realize marijuana’s time has come. It will be very interesting to see how the Feds will manage such a defeat in terms of controlling the flow of legal marijuana out of the state, and their overall approach to enforcing marijuana policy nationwide.
It seems clear that legalizing marijuana will help California’s decimated economy by creating much needed tax revenues, easing the pressure on the expensive law enforcement system, as well as likely creating a massive tourism industry. It has also been argued by the former Governor of Arizona, Gary Johnson, that legalization of marijuana will also work to reduce the violent drug wars along the Mexican border that spills deeper into the United States everyday.
