A wonderful short video about the many uses of Hemp. It’s one of those videos that makes you wonder how anyone could be blind enough to believe prohibition is really about “safety” rather than insuring profits of would-be competitors of cannabis products.
Dear Readers,
My immediate goal for this website was to create a repository of information and articles aiding the marijuana legalization fight. As of the writing of this post, over 41,000 unique individuals have visited this site since March ‘09 and, needless to say, I hope to keep this momentum going.
One suggestion I have heard from readers on numerous occasions was the request for some sort of forum to help grow a community of fact-minded individuals to chat, discuss, share articles, opinions, information, etc. The consensus is that if I do start a forum, I should consider using a product like vBulletin and vBSEO to really help bring more traffic to the website and offer a quality community experience.
The problem is that vBulletin* costs $180 for a license, and vBSEO comes in at $149 for a license. Slightly better news is that used-licenses can be purchased for around $200 for both vBulletin and vBSEO if you look in the right place. While I have been able to keep this site running out of pocket thus far, I just do not have the personal budget to afford the costs of the license (even at the discounted used rate).
While I may not be able to afford it myself, I believe if there are enough of you out there willing to pitch in (or “chipin” in this case), we can pool together the needed funds to purchase at minimum the forum license, and hopefully enough for the vBSEO license as well. A good, trusted friend of mine has volunteered to handle the fund and has set up a ChipIn.com account that should make it a bit easier to orgnize everything.
You may be wondering, “What’s in it for me?” And that is a very fair question.
Other than the benefit of helping ShowMetheFacts.org reach a larger audience, I will offer “VIP Memberships” (a fancy title letting others know you helped pay for the forum + access to additional forums) to anyone who donates $10 or more. If you have any other suggestions of things I can offer, let me know.
Thanks so much for all of your support and please share this with any of your friends who may want to support SMtF.
Sincerely,
Eric
*For those of you wondering why I do not use another forum, or a free forum, I have used many various forum scripts over the years and while each one has its own benefit, I have only been comfortable with vBulletin and find myself having better results when using it.
Hey guys, not much of a news post due to how late it is, but I just got word that you can officially pre-order “The Union” as of now on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Union-Business-Behind-Getting-High/dp/B0025XUTKQ
I’ll make a proper update in the morning =)
By popular demand (i.e. by request of a lovely young lady, @ericaschenker), here is my Pro/Con of the legalization of Marijuana for #marimonday:
Pros:
Cons:
Recently, I was made aware of a crowdsourcing attempt for a policy statement by Adriel Hampton, a hopeful congressional candidate in Northern California, regarding the Drug War. While I have never written anything for any one political individual, the prospect of writing something that could so directly affect our flawed laws was quite appealing.
The following is my submission for Mr. Hampton’s policy statement about the Drug War (specifically marijuana). While I am aware that most policy statements adhere strictly to descriptions of policy, I feel that marijuana is a very dense issue with a very intricate history. A history that must be taken into account if we are going to make an educated decision about an important issue.
You can vote on my submission here (it is titled “Legalization of Cannabis for the Good of our Citizens”) and read it below.
If you enjoy it, feel free to let @adrielhampton know on twitter.
Two days ago I glimpsed past a mention of another Stephen Baldwin debate. At first I thought for sure this wasn’t a new article, since who in their right mind would put Baldwin in any position of authority after his failed attempts at logic while debating Ron Paul back in March, or being embarassed on Larry King Live while attempting to convince Montel Williams that marijuana should remain illegal. Sadly, my hopeful assumptions were made in vain as this was indeed a new peek inside the twisted, desperate world of fallacious prohibitionist syllogisms.
The format this time was a guest column pro/con opinion piece run by CBS News.com. On the pro-side, we have the friendly, familiar face of Ethan Nadelmann, founder and director of the Drug Policy Alliance. Nadelmann does a wonderful job at providing a serious response to a serious issue facing our country (if not the world). He provides a clear, concise viewpoint which is complimented by various references to current events and statistics.
On the con-side, we have a co-written piece by Stephen Baldwin and Kevin McCullough; I can only assume that the task of putting 500 or so different words side by side was a bit overwhelming for any single prohibitionist? For those of you not familiar, Stephen Baldwin is an actor who became a born-again Christian after his cleaning woman prophesized that Stephen and his wife would have their own ministry in the future. He has since “turned his life around” and one of his major targets is marijuana (perhaps no one told him that marijuana is not a sin?).
Stephen’s partner, Kevin, is quite the colorful, loving character as well. You may be familiar with some of his articles, including, Why Liberals Still Think Like the KKK, Obama as Hitler, Why Liberals Despise American Patriots, and–my personal favorite–Obama: America’s first Gay President?. Yes, this is who Stephen chooses to associate himself with because, as we all know, the answer to “WWJD” is, “Hang out with people who know how to write passionate hate-pieces.”
I will be responding to Stephen and Kevin’s article on a point-for-point basis, per my usual style. I want you to pay attention, however, to the overall condescending, patronizing tone used throughout the article. This is a common technique by prohibitionists as it helps create a more friendly and open “voice” for the reader, which helps to make an emotional connection in hopes of gaining support for beliefs which can not stand on their own merits. In other words, when faced with debating about a topic of which the individual in question has no education or authority, some choose to compensate with charm and quips.
Per usual, I had my Twitterfall page open and scrolling as I worked. This time, however, I came across a twitter post that lead me to a debate with Jim Alger (@JimAlger) and a few guest-host voices that I could not readily identify (other than knowing one was named “Mike”).
It was hard to engage fully in the debate due to the quality of the audio (often fading in and out) and the unwillingness of participants to let each other talk (I often found myself having to talk over others, which I do not enjoy).
In the end, before I could refute the various fallacies perpetuated by “Mike” (including the scientifically debunked myth that marijuana causes lung cancer), I was hung up on. I figured I had just been disconnected, so I called back and was informed by the screener that it was intentional due to the “segment being over”. It is a shame that they didn’t feel it prudent to allow me to have any sort of “last comment”, but I suppose this only reflects the casual nature of the show.
Below is my open letter to Mr. Alger:
Mr. Alger,
I enjoyed briefly being able to speak on your show, however, I feel that I, as well as your audience, were not given the respect that this topic deserves. I’m not sure who “Mike” was, as I missed the introductions to your show, however, he is pretty much the epitome of what is wrong with the United States’ policies regarding marijuana.
Studies–released by groups far more versed in this subject than Mike–have concluded that the various fear-mongering myths about marijuana (be it cancer, brain damage, etc.) have shown no correlation, yet alone causation, with marijuana use whatsoever. So to have him sit there and deny their legitimacy while offering nothing more than his personal beliefs regarding the subject is childish at best and malicious at worst.
Are there potential horrible side effects to marijuana? Of course, there is always potential for everything. That fact is, though, that no legitimate study has ever shown the existence of such risks. Of the ones that find something, it is usually a weak correlation that has much to do with the method of the test, rather than the subjects of the test.
If there is science to back up Mike’s claims, I ask him to show it to me. What other substance can you think about that is so hard to find a definitive study to back up a claim of harm? Even water has been proven to be deadly if it lacks sufficient amounts of electrolytes and consumed in large amounts.
We should stop penalizing marijuana based purely on the speculative, irrational fears of people like Mike who are so obsessed with finding fault with things that when they don’t, they latch on to whatever myth promotes their “gut feeling” regardless of its merit.
Marijuana is a safe substance. If you do not agree with this, show me your facts. Otherwise, please stop helping to perpetuate the current demonization of a plant that can literally improve every facet of our lives (be it through clean energy, medicine, or safe recreation) if only it was given the chance.
Sincerely,
Eric
ShowMetheFacts.org
The goal of this website is to create a useful tool that can be applied to relevant, current events. All information is great information, but applicable information is powerful information. In this case, a reader, @MaryJCannabian, found the transcription to the video for me so I could show her the facts. Well, @MaryJCannabian, I would love nothing more than to de-filter this segment for you and my other readers.
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On May 6th, 2009, Anderson Cooper did a segment regarding marijuana legalization on his show, AC 360. In the segment, he did a short “debate” between Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, and John Walters, former Drug Czar for President George W. Bush.
As you will see in the video clip (which I hope stays up), the information war starts before the debate even begins with a curious statement made by John Coleman, director of the pro-prohibition group Drug Watch International. In response to the question of whether or not marijuana has gotten stronger in comparison to decades ago, Coleman claims:
No question about it. I mean, it’s the difference between having maybe a 4 ounce glass of beer versus an 8 ounce glass of Jack Daniels.
He completed his sentence with a bit of a chuckle, but to be honest, the only thing I find funny is the idea that he somehow became the director of an international non-profit organization while lacking the ability to do simple conversions in math.
The purpose of his claim is to illustrate just how much more potent “today’s marijuana” is when compared to marijuana from, say, the 1960’s. To do so, he needed to use something that is more tangible to viewers (such as comparing it to one of America’s most popular drugs, alcohol). The problem is, however, that the comparison is completely misleading when you look at the numbers.
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