Comments

1
I think we need to wait for the Greatest Generation to die off before we can get some progress on this. I have no statistics to back this up, but I would guess most babyboomers and everyone who has come after have tried pot at least once and realized it's not the great evil its purported to be.
2
at least give me an Elliot Ness character out of all this crapola.
3
Why are the anti-capitalist DEA hating our American Middle Class values of entrepreneurship and investment in local production over imported goods so very very much?

Do they hate capitalism THAT MUCH?

Do they hate jobs created in America THAT MUCH?

CUT OUR TAXES! Stop wasting money on MJ enforcement and set free the Invisible Hand of capitalism!

(roflmao)
4
I'm glad my boss brought popcorn in this morning.
5
My impression after visiting Amsterdam was that the legal pot there is not any better than the stuff is almost always in the PNW. Oh, and it's the same price too. Someone out there knows what they're doing when they grow this stuff.
6
1@ Your great-grandparents or grandparents must be so proud of you, let me take that back you probably never met them.

I do find it more telling of other intentions that they're choosing to make this a Mexican issue, when most of the consumers are caucasian americans.
7
The chart accompanying that article is particularly telling. Millions of plants eradicated at incredible cost. No mention of what effect it all that work has had.
8
@1,

Most baby boomers? Do you have any statistics to back that up? The lovey dovey, experimental hippies were far outnumbered by the squares back in the day.
9
I feel sorry for anyone buying & smoking outdoor mexi-weed. California can grow just about any & everything, but a greenhouse is how you get the chronic. Leave the outdoor crops for industrial hemp.

@6 My great-grandparents used terms like "Jap", "Spic", "Nigger" & "Kraut". I probably wouldn't get along too well with them. Hopefully, they'd be proud of the progress being made in society, and not trying to roll everything back to the tiny, repressive world in which they grew up.
10
man, who pissed in Dan's bong this morning?
11

Having examined the stats in your prior pot post, I am suspecting that rather than usage become more prevalent, it's being consumed in larger amounts by hardcore pot users who need bigger and bigger fixes to get going each day, especially as they get old.
12
@8, did I not say I have no statistics to back that up? I don't. I didn't claim to. It's just a hunch.

@6, I'm not rejoicing in the Greatest Generation dying off, I'm simply stating that this particular issue will probably be less of an issue when they have passed on.
13
@12, most members of the "Greatest Generation" are long retired and are either dead or sitting in nursing homes. The baby boomers currently occupy the power structure in this country. If they really wanted meaningful marijuana legislation it would have happened long ago. News flash, most baby boomers are hypocrites and full of shit.
14
Ok, @13, I see your point, but aren't the people in power afraid to antagonize old people, who make up a very dependable (and therefore powerful) voting block?
15
moral strictures only work 1 direction: towards greater control and punishment.

remember, a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT banned alcohol.
16
It would be a bummer to be out hiking in the woods and stumble into one of these operations. The guards might run from the cops, not as confident the would from a civilian who gets too close to their weed.

The answer to this problem is so obvious that is seems ridiculous that it hasn't been done already, until you consider all the job security and power that marijuana enforcement has vested in the status quo.
17
@16 "It would be a bummer to be out hiking in the woods and stumble into one of these operations."

They aren't exactly found on the nature trail.
18
@6

Yeah, seriously. Everything is a Mexican issue these days. You'd think from reading the news that Mexicans were all in on a conspiracy to degrade our society and destroy our economy, instead of poor people from a dysfunctional country trying to feed their families.
19
I live not so far from Fresno, near the foothills below where these hidden farms are located.

Just this morning I was reading a passage in "Assembling California", a book on the geology of California by John McPhee.

In it, he relates the story of how cops had the habit of dressing like geologists out for some field studies when they were in fact looking for the grow operations.

This resulted in the murder of at least one true geologist, so a geologist explains he started making the habit of going into every bar he could find within 10 mile so so of where he plans to study. After that, he found that the people he would stumble upon would be expecting him and not be startled or worried.

The book was published in 1993.
20
@14, Personally, I really don't think elderly people give that much of a shit about marijuana legalization in the first place. It's that most boomers are not the free-wheelin' free-thinkin' hippies that they are popularly perceived to be (for whatever reason) and would rather not rock the boat or piss off law enforcement and other related institutions. Again, if there was truly a generational mandate for reform, it would be happening already.
21
I'm scared. Are the 10-foot-tall blue Mexicans with AK-47's going to have airplanes? Can they see with their eyes closed, do they breathe underwater? I propose we pour as much of our tax money into the research of this new "Super Criminal."

Gives me shudders to think about what they COULD DO NEXT.
22
Meanwhile the score remains:

Rove/Cheney/Libby 2500 dead
al-Qaeda 4500 dead

funding from Saudi Arabia still at 95 percent for al-Qaeda, of course
23
Our corporatocracy does not want legalization of marijuana. That would lead to legalization of industrial hemp - which would compete with the oil industry, and the lumber/paper industry. They are the ones behind making the herb illegal in the first place - and they did so by making it seem that only evil black jazz players smoked the stuff - who would then rape your white daughters while they were high.
24
I know for a fact that at least one of these SFCHs would be happy to legalize pot
25
@24 Out that motherfucker.
26
You only be disappointed asking people for things they don't have to give. Objectivity for instance, out of a journalist.
27
If there are as many Mexicans in this country as everybody claims there are then why can't I get a decent taco at 3 a.m.?
28
I believe their intent in the article was to focus on the people behind the illegal activities and tell part of their story. Manuel Valdes focuses most of his efforts on minorities and the stories behind the voiceless of Puget Sound.

I agree with all the points mentioned here: the war on pot is rediculous bla bla bla. But I don't believe their intention with this article was to provide a fair and balanced debate on legalization.
29
Your emphasis on the length of the article is misleading. 38 paragraphs, yes... 38 TINY fucking paragraphs.

Don't fight bullshit with bullshit.
30
Your form of "journalism" is worthless to this cause. Your own bias and unchecked anger tarnish the name of those standing in your court.

If your goal is to take a stand against the degrading quality of mainstream media, it's not working. If your goal is to be a true and progressive advocate of legalization, whose benefits are both numerous and noble, you again fail... miserably.

On the other hand, if you just want to spray your sticky rage-spooge all over everyone, here's to you. Tip of the hat, we'll take a puff for you.

Your brand of shit smells no different than any other. Oh, but at least your packaging has a warning label on it, right? Doesn't matter. Shit with a warning label is still shit.

Look in the mirror, Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack.

Note: that's 6 FUCKING paragraphs, including this one.

31
@30
Dan blogs. Caldwell and Valdes report, they write the news which is supposed to be fair and balanced. Theoretically then a good article, especially a longer one (your average news article does not go on for 38 paragraphs, true, tiny paragraphs, but still totaling up to an above average word count) on the drug war would also include something on how unnecessary it is. Caldwell and Valdes are guilty of hackery.

Also, that moniker you've given yourself, 'armchairdontcare', is that a commentary on Dan Savage and the others here? If your commenting on Dan Savage, I think you would be hard pressed to show that he is an armchair activist. I certainly hope you are out in the woods hunting down the pot-growers yourself, and slapping the joints from out between every college student's lips.

Please wait...

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