The stupidity of the average person is astounding...

[Bush loves Jiang]

Witness the number of people who believe the latest anti-marijuana propaganda.

Some of its so pathetic that it makes the illogical homophobia of the extreme right look sane.

[jsw_81]

1. I tend to agree

I don't speak for the Kerry campaign, so just ignore the banner at the bottom of the post.

I agree that the anti-marijuana stuff is beyond insane; there was a story in the paper the other day about a guy who got 11 years in prison for drug possession. Meanwhile, another guy got 6 years for shooting someone in the face and killing him.

How many people die from pot each year? Zero.

How many die from smoking legal cigarettes? 500,000+

[Bush loves Jiang]

2. 1 person recently died from marijuana overdose in the UK...

But the amount he smoked was so astounding that you could probably (literally) eat that much broccoli or spinach and die from it...lol

[MMT]

7. I thought the diagnosis was in serious doubt?

Wasn't the claim made only by an anti-pot zealot? Or was I reading about something else?

[Jackpine Radical]

27. He died of unknown causes

with a lot of THC in his system. It's a gross stretch of an assumption to therefore conclude that the pot killed him.

[bleedingheart]

4. And the guy in germany got a little over eight for eating someone

now isn't that something to think about???

[Intelsucks]

3. Link please? What is the latest info?

:shrug:

[Bush loves Jiang]

5. I'm referring to all those commercials...

Guy smokes pot, cheats on his girlfriend, ad blames marijuana.

Guy smokes pot, finds loaded gun in dad's study, accidentally shoots best friend, ad blames marijuana.

Guy smokes pot while babysitting baby brother, baby brother drowns, ad blames marijuana.

And these ads are supported by people who claim to be for "personal responsibility".

[EstimatedProphet]

8. No, they're from Partnership for a Drug-Free America

It's a "partnership" (read front) for the DEA. The DEA is making a killing off keeping marijuana illegal through property seizure under the RICO Act. All the Federal gaencies that do law enforcement use RICO for that. It makes sense for them to keep the public scared that drugs will ruin their lives, so that they will never consider decriminalization.

[truthspeaker]

31. plus DEA agents smoke for free

Join the DEA, you'll never have to pay for weed again!

[einniv]

11. Would be interested in them

providing an actual news story where those things happened.
Well, ok so the cheating on the girlfriend thing might be easy to find (I'm sure someone would be willing to blame it on pot ... to get out of it lol). But the other 2 they just made up.

PS: By the way, if anyone knows where to get pot that does the reverse. That is so good it makes women cheat on their boyfriends please contact me.... I have this neighbor and...

[EstimatedProphet]

16. LOL!

The best laugh I've had today! Good one!

[SheilaT]

20. My sixteen year old

thinks those ads are hilarious. He claims not to have smoked any (and since he has no interest in smoking tobacco I hope he's being truthful) but knows people who have, and he's not at all convinced those ads are accurate.

Plus, of course, the legal drug alcohol is responsible for vastly more accidental shootings, drownings, vehicular deaths, and so on than weed ever hoped to kill.

[Redneck Socialist]

30. Doubt it.

At his age I was just getting ramped up as a marijuana enthusiast. Never smoked cigarettes.

[Bridget Burke]

21. Don't judge people by commercials

Judge them by their response to them.

The people who "support" those commercials are the ones who pay for them. Most of us were brought up on TV & learned that commercial time was our chance to go to the kitchen--or the can. & that was before the invention of the remote!

Probably, more people than you suspect think the commercials are stupid. Just as most commercials are stupid.

[Kat45]

26. That third commercial is a ripoff from "Dragnet"!

I still remember laughing at the episode: a young couple was smoking pot, perhaps with friends (I forget). The woman put her baby in the tub but then forgot about her because she was so stoned. The baby drowned. Jack Webb blamed marijuana.

[Wonco_the_Sane]

6. You know...

mathematically speaking, 50% of people are below average. Just saying.

:)

[einniv]

9. George Carlin:

Think about how stupid the average person is and realize that half of 'em are dumber than that!


Hey George I resemble that remark.

[mulethree]

23. even the best universities

paraphrasing, don't remember who, maybe it was Carlin as well

Even the best universities only graduate half their students in the top 50% of their class.

[9215]

10. Kulturcampf

This also, serves to label the Progressive movement as "Left/hippie/drug culture" in bed with terrorism. Bushboy really, really, really wants to get his constituency to view the Left in the US as aligned with terrorism.
And he is being somewhat successful.

But when we look at Timothy McVeigh whose attack on the Fed Bldg. in Oklahoma was the biggest hit in the US before 9/11 it is hard to make him fit into the mold. McVeigh had a copy of the Turner Diaries in his trunk. The Neo-Nazi link to Islamic terrorists is long and intimate and, IMO, these seeming diametrically opposed terrorist groups are part of a larger supra-network of power mongers that use terror to further their political agenda.

[Cat Atomic]

12. I don't think the average person is stupid.

Alot of people are just apathetic, for a variety of reasons. Their apathy makes them very vulnerable to propaganda.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I have mixed feelings on marijuana

(My brother is a recovering drug addict, so that will always color my thoughts on drugs.)

However, I am more than ready for the USA to get back to growing industrial hemp!

HEMP FACTS
1) Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.

2) Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic. The federal government subsidized hemp during the Second World War and US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp as part of that program.

3) Hemp Seed is far more nutritious than even soybean, contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein (but is more digestible by humans), is high in B-vitamins, and is 35% dietary fiber. Hemp seed is not psychoactive and cannot be used as a drug. See TestPledge.com

4) The bark of the hemp stalk contains bast fibers which are among the Earth's longest natural soft fibers and are also rich in cellulose; the cellulose and hemi-cellulose in its inner woody core are called hurds. Hemp stalk is not psychoactive. Hemp fiber is longer, stronger, more absorbent and more insulative than cotton fiber.

5) According to the Department of Energy, hemp as a biomass fuel producer requires the least specialized growing and processing procedures of all hemp products. The hydrocarbons in hemp can be processed into a wide range of biomass energy sources, from fuel pellets to liquid fuels and gas. Development of biofuels could significantly reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and nuclear power.

6) Hemp grows well without herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides. Almost half of the agricultural chemicals used on US crops are applied to cotton.

7) Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis, and can be used for every quality of paper. Hemp paper manufacturing can reduce wastewater contamination. Hemp's low lignin content reduces the need for acids used in pulping, and it's creamy color lends itself to environmentally friendly bleaching instead of harsh chlorine compounds. Less bleaching results in less dioxin and fewer chemical byproducts.

8) Hemp fiber paper resists decomposition, and does not yellow with age when an acid-free process is used. Hemp paper more than 1,500 years old has been found. It can also be recycled more times.

9) Hemp fiberboard produced by Washington State University was found to be twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard.

10) Eco-friendly hemp can replace most toxic petrochemical products. Research is being done to use hemp in manufacturing biodegradable plastic products: plant-based cellophane, recycled plastic mixed with hemp for injection-molded products, and resins made from the oil, to name just a very few examples.

http://www.thehia.org/hempfacts.htm

[Beaker]

19. go smoke a bong with Woody, hemp-head...

I agree with you- Hemp is an incredibly important crop, and it's a shame that it's been associated with the drug war...

but in fact, the ban/war on pot is much much more about the many uses of hemp, than it ever was about the use of marijuana as a drug.

[mulethree]

22. paper

#7 hemp makes great paper very easily and more efficiently than forests

In fact it makes acceptable paper with no chemicals or bleaching. Pure mechanical processing and still using much less energy than processing a tree into pulp.

Have heard it was the newspaper companies who had it outlawed. Something about their ownership of huge tracts of forest for making newsprint.

#9 I wonder about, I suspect a university-made wood fiberboard could easily be made twice as strong as commercial fiberboard that's based on bang-for-the-buck. Quality vs economy.

[baldguy]

14. No one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the average person

Corporate America is proof of that.

[loudnclear]

15. How else can you explain Bush as President?

If we don't raise our literacy rates we get more of the same. As other countries immitate and envy our "culture" the rest of the world is dumbed down. America is responsible for the dumming down of the entire world.

[Seldona]

17. I believe we will see an end to it soon

And the sad thing is is that it will come down to money, pure na simple.

Either way it will be a good thing to end this Nixon era war on drugs.

[drdigi420]

18. Several industries depend on marijuana remaining illegal

#1 - pharmaceutical companies

Companies like Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac (controversial antidepressant) and Marinol (synthetic form of THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana) are scared to death that people might someday be allowed to grow their own medicine. Marijuana can treat nausea for cancer and HIV patients, glaucoma, asthma, pain, irritable bowl syndrome, stress, and more. It is also the safest therapeutic substance known to man.

#2 - petro-chemical and oil companies

Oil made from hemp can be used to make plastic, paint, stains, and more. Hemp Methanol can run every diesel engine in the world. Halliburton, Chevron, Exxon, and BP don't want you to know that.

#3 - prison industrial complex

The drug war provides most of the inmates in today's overcrowded prisons.

#4 - police unions

The drug war not only provides an excuse to fatten up police budgets, it provides revenue through asset forfeiture that police forces aren't willing to give up.

#5 - SWAT gear manufacturers/distributors

Raking in tons of money equipping police forces to perform military style raids on people providing a product to willing customers.

There are more industries that benefit from the current outrageous drug policy: alcohol companies, OTC drug makers, etc.

This is the number one civil rights problem facing us today. The 'war on terrorism' is just another version of the 'war on drugs'. Perpetual war feeds the banks accounts of greedy corporations, especially ones connected to the Bush family.

The 2 most abused and most deadly (in terms of numbers killed) drugs are legal: alcohol and nicotine.

The war on drugs is worse than a failure, it is an expensive assault on the very principals of this country and our Constitution.

End it and we can end the perpetual civil war that has been going on since Nixon began it to get back at anti-war 'hippies'.

[mike1963]

25. You could also mention the hundreds of thousands of people whose

livlihood depends on the "war"...from the DEA down to "special narcotic squads" in local cop shops. What motivation do any of them really have to "win"? That would just put them out of business.

[loudsue]

24. Great thread! and...Thanks Drdigi

for the breakdown! Very informative.

:kick:

[Jackpine Radical]

28. How do we know

that anybody actually believes the propaganda?

[Carl Spackler]

29. Fortunately all my kids are

above average!

[Moderator]

32. Locking

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=937547

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