How Weed Won the West (and Can Save the World...)

[SacredCow]

While California is going bankrupt, one business is booming. "How Weed Won the West" is the story of the growing medical cannabis / marijuana industry in the greater Los Angeles area, with over 700 dispensaries doling out the buds. As a treatment for conditions ranging from cancer and AIDS, to anxiety, ADHD, and insomnia, cannabis is quickly proving itself as a healthier natural alternative to many prescription drugs.

Following the story of Organica, a collective that was raided by the DEA in August of '09, the film shows that although some things have changed with Obama in office, the War on Drugs is nowhere near over. From Kevin Booth, the producer/director of Showtime's "American Drug War", "How Weed Won the West" puts California forward as an example to the rest of the country by documenting how legalizing marijuana can help save the economy.

Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzT1a1NKoKM

Featuring:
Ethan Nadelmann (Drug Policy Alliance / DPA)
Don Duncan (Americans for Safe Access / ASA)
Kyle Kazan (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition / LEAP)
Jon Perri (Students for Sensible Drug Policy / SSDP)
Alex Jones (radio host and filmmaker)
Bill Kroger (LA Marijuana Attorney)
Jeff Joseph (owner of Organica Collective)
Craig X Rubin (Beverly Hills Green Cross, Temple 420)
Doug Stanhope (comedian)
and more!

http://www.SacredCow.com

Related: Study shows marijuana increases brain cell growth

[Alpha]

Welcome to IW SacredCow!!

Great first post!!

You may also be interested in some other threads we have here:

HEMP - The Pot Conspiracy

Run From the Cure - Hemp Oil **MUST SEE** What Big Pharma doesn't want you to know! and more...

[RomanKorvinus]

It's won more than just the west, remember Kentucky Thunderfuck.A redhair and Skunk mix!

Just the other day they found a patch of over 150,000 plants in TN. They were lifting them out with a helocopter.

The war of drugs is a joke, I think they need to do the same to perscription drugs as they did to cigarettes. Outlaw their commercials from TV. More people have had medical complications from perscription drugs as of late then any cigarette out there.

[VOguy]

The war of drugs is a joke, I think they need to do the same to perscription drugs as they did to cigarettes. Outlaw their commercials from TV. More people have had medical complications from perscription drugs as of late then any cigarette out there.

If they could figure out a way to keep people from growing at home, and tax what is available commercially, it would be legalized.

[Alpha]

If they could figure out a way to keep people from growing at home, and tax what is available commercially, it would be legalized.

Just throwing it out there....where does the government have any business in regulating what Mother Earth and Nature has provided?...and why do we go along with allowing them to do so?

You are probably right though VO...they want a way to make $$$ from what nature has provided and attach a "tithe" to it....just like they did with prohibition....fermentation ...another natural process.

The one thing someone did right, way back when, was not to allow any natural substance to be patented....that is likely the largest issue of them all!!!!

Damn them all....

[VOguy]

Just throwing it out there....where does the government have any business in regulating what Mother Earth and Nature has provided?...and why do we go along with allowing them to do so?

Answers: They don't, but they can. Because we believe we will have a better life if they take care of us, and the only way they can do that is by taxing us.

[Alpha]

Answers: They don't, but they can. Because we believe we will have a better life if they take care of us, and the only way they can do that is by taxing us.

....not anyone here of course ...the believing part that is....the taxing part, well yeah, we all know about that don't we...

How did we allow them for the "can" part ubiquitously?...perhaps that is one way do challenge and make a change...remember income tax was a temporary measure....among a plethora of things....

Last I remember, it should be about "WE the people"...not about "them"!!!!

[VOguy]

Alpha, I suspect that you and I are close to the same age, so our lives have seen roughly the same advances and public services. The only difference is the way our respective countries conduct their tax "requests".

I did some math figuring in costs of living and anything on the gain and loss side. Then the ratio as it would apply to the 60s vs now.

The fact is, I pay 14% more now than I did having the same ratio of income to expenses in 1968. Further, if you work out the math it seems that the rate climbs in 3-4 year increments. So you'll gain about 1.7% over four years, then rules change and you loose about .3%, then it goes up again. It's like holding a saw with the teeth up at a diagonal. There is an increase, a small loss, and an increase.

The interesting part about this is, not many people realize it, which is what they want. A wise parasite knows how to take from its host without killing it. I don't think people really care.

Two things will wake you up. Pull your tax returns for the last two decades (if you keep them) and do the math. Don't forget to factor the wage as it applies in 60s and 2009 dollars. Then check the history books and see what the taxes were like around December 16, 1773. Imagine. Starting a war over paying how much? And we pay what now?!!!

[Alpha]

Alpha, I suspect that you and I are close to the same age, so our lives have seen roughly the same advances and public services. The only difference is the way our respective countries conduct their tax "requests".

I did some math figuring in costs of living and anything on the gain and loss side. Then the ratio as it would apply to the 60s vs now.

The fact is, I pay 14% more now than I did having the same ratio of income to expenses in 1968. Further, if you work out the math it seems that the rate climbs in 3-4 year increments. So you'll gain about 1.7% over four years, then rules change and you loose about .3%, then it goes up again. It's like holding a saw with the teeth up at a diagonal. There is an increase, a small loss, and an increase.

The interesting part about this is, not many people realize it, which is what they want. A wise parasite knows how to take from its host without killing it. I don't think people really care.

Two things will wake you up. Pull your tax returns for the last two decades (if you keep them) and do the math. Don't forget to factor the wage as it applies in 60s and 2009 dollars. Then check the history books and see what the taxes were like around December 16, 1773. Imagine. Starting a war over paying how much? And we pay what now?!!!

All excellent points VO and I agree...and yes, I suspect we're in the same ballpark, age wise

My larger point was merely that we have allowed them to tax and control what "Mother Earth" has given us..

Plants and their properties are natures gift....as is energy...sunshine, fossil fuel, air.....yet they have just about appropriated or tried to appropriate and regulated it ALL......just think about the proposed "Carbon Tax".

Why are we allowing them to continually tax us....on what premise??? Why do we even care about the algorithms and what was then and this is now...it..."Income Tax" was supposed to be a temporary "war measures" act.

Yet we kept on paying...never questioning...I don't think the math matters much now.

[Divinorumus]

Feds to issue new medical marijuana policy
WASHINGTON -- Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.
...continued

It's a start, step one, towards legalization. I suspect some kind of legalization will happen as the economy continues to collapse and the numbers of unemployed people increases. Legalization could put a lot of people to work, generate some tax revenue, and make a lot of people happy during these upcoming unhappy times ahead. In California now, anyone can get a prescription of medicinal marijuana, for even something as simple as having difficulty sleeping.

[Judee]

Well, score one for Obama. Medical marijuana has been proven to have numerous positive life-altering uses, and it's positively criminal that certain interests have been withholding it from those who are suffering.

[Divinorumus]

I still can't figure out why it is illegal. Being illegal hasn't affected its popularity and use. Heck, it's easier to get an ounce of nug than it is to get a bottle of booze. Seriously! There isn't a drop of alcohol in the place here, and it's 11PM and I don't even know where I could get a bottle, but I have almost an ounce of nug that's to die for, and I could get more in 30 minutes with a quick phone call, ha, but no booze). Legalization would create so many new legitimate jobs. And, maybe people would make the switch from booze to weed as their lubricant and ... ... hey, that's probably the reason why it is illegal, because of the booze makers. I'm sure alcohol sales would drop considerably if marijuana were legalized. But think about it, how legalization would change things so much, and for the better, particularly people attitudes. People stoned on weed are funny, but a group of drunks is just damn disgusting, ha. People have been known to say some pretty smart profound things on weed, but stupid shit comes out of a drunks mouth. Weed makes people NOT want to barf, whereas alcohol makes you want to barf, ha. LEGALIZE IT OBAMA!

[Divinorumus]

See, job creation:

Paper seeks marijuana reviewer
Thursday, October 22, 2009

For some it will sound like a job too good to be true - a newspaper in Colorado is seeking to hire a journalist to be a reviewer for the state's marijuana outlets.

The move follows an explosion in the number of so-called pot shops after states such as Colorado and California legalised the drug for medicinal purposes.

And the alternative Denver newspaper, Westwood, has already seen a deluge in the number of applicants clamoring to take on the role of reviewing dope dispensaries and their products for medical users of the drug.

The job is the brainchild of Joel Warner - who has covered Colorado's medical marijuana industry for several years – after noting a wide disparity in the places selling pot.

He said: "Some looked like your college drug dealer's dorm room. You know, Bob Marley posters on the wall and big marijuana leaf posters.

"But then some were so fancy, like dentists' offices. They had bubbling aquariums in the lobby and were so clean. I thought somebody needs to review these."

The applicant that lands the role will test various strains of marijuana from "White Widow" to "Afghan Gold Seal" which is cheap but as one critic warns "delivers a very heavy stone with the same degree of munchies to go along with it".

Joe Tone, web editor at Westword, said: "More and more people are having the opportunity to use marijuana for whatever illness they have. So we want to be a place they can come to find out which place is the best, the cleanest, the closest, that kind of stuff."

When the newspaper settles on a permanent critic for its new "Mile Highs and Lows" column, industry watchers say, it will be the first professional newspaper critic of medical marijuana in the United States.

But there is one condition – the reviewer has to have a medical ailment that allows them to legally enter a dispensary, and buy and use marijuana.

The drug is illegal under US federal law but has been made legalised in some states for medical use as a prescription drug.

However, the growth of the medical dope business has created clashes with local, state and federal authorities, prompting the US Attorney General to issue guidelines this week.

Under the these, federal prosecutors are informed that targeting those who use or provide the drug for medical reasons in strict compliance with state laws was not a good use of their time.