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Ear to the Ground

George Soros Makes the Case for Legal Weed

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Posted on Oct 26, 2010
Flickr / GUS314159 (CC-BY-ND)

The billionaire investor/activist has written a well-reasoned essay in the Wall Street Journal arguing for an end to marijuana prohibition. The L.A. Times reports that in California, Soros is backing the cause with more than words.

California’s Prop 19, as Soros explains, “would legalize the recreational use and small-scale cultivation of marijuana.” The billionaire is reportedly helping to fund the initiative, as is the guy from the Men’s Wearhouse commercials.

At least one law enforcement official, Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, says he’ll ignore the proposition if it passes. Baca, who told reporters he has “hell no” never smoked marijuana, just wants to live in a world where teenagers and glaucoma patients don’t blow smoke in his face: “If you want to do a joint in your house, do it. Leave the rest of us alone.”  —PZS

George Soros in the Wall Street Journal:

Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good. The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.

Law enforcement agencies today spend many billions of taxpayer dollars annually trying to enforce this unenforceable prohibition. The roughly 750,000 arrests they make each year for possession of small amounts of marijuana represent more than 40% of all drug arrests.

Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually. It also would reduce the crime, violence and corruption associated with drug markets, and the violations of civil liberties and human rights that occur when large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens are subject to arrest. Police could focus on serious crime instead.

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By REDHORSE, October 29, 2010 at 2:50 pm Link to this comment

Thanks for the link FAT FRED.

    Discussion of sane Drug Law (least we forget-marijuana is not a narcotic) is twisted by professional propagandists the same way topics of social concern are seized and exploited for political power in the guise of “political correctness”. Open dialogue is the last thing allowed.

      It’s interesting that financial reality is the driving force behind the California initiative. Of course, our Federal friends, with no doubt pressure from Big Pharma, and the fact “weed” arrest can/is used to destroy the political life of a citizen at will, keep on spinnin’ the same bull.( FF—I no longer have any idea what or why President O does anything.)

      We’re all holdin’ our breath (no pun intended) over this election. The Rethug candidate for Governor in my State wants to destroy the Medical Marijuana Program here. The marijuana debacle is so dark age airball, if it weren’t for the ongoing destruction of American lives it’d be funny.

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Fat Freddy's avatar

By Fat Freddy, October 29, 2010 at 6:49 am Link to this comment

rollzone

Why not eliminate all Schedule I and II classifications, even heroin? Actually, if you ask any heroin addict what they would rather have, heroin or oxy-Contin, they will choose oxy.


REDHORSE

Obama promised to end the DEA raids on medical marijuana clinics. Did he?

http://reason.com/blog/2010/07/22/who-is-to-blame-for-the-dea

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By rollzone, October 26, 2010 at 7:49 pm Link to this comment

hello. to roll a mind twisty, Soros owes Oboymamma
for getting drilling rigs to their new finds in
Brazil. it is important to subvert the burgeoning
expansion of biofuel technology in the region, before
oil becomes extinct. this is political payback. by
aligning his onerous name with pro-legalization, this
warps undecided stoners about their possibilities for
passage, and encourages them to stay home and smoke
instead of vote, so it will fail. if stoners are
scared away from the voting booth, it will not pass.
it is idealistic to pretend nobody is influenced by
wealth, and votes can not be bought; and everyone is
going out to vote this one only to benefit society
and themselves. when a huge public nemesis suddenly
appears on stage to promote a last minute agenda, the
ulterior motives send up red flags- even paranoia. it
is a simple mind twisting exercise, in spite of his
truthful message- the messenger carries more negative
clout than the positive message. is he trying to
rally Demoncrats? then it must be a bad thing. he is
doing this for legalization to fail. if it becomes a
strictly Demoncrat platform, the Republicants will
strike it down. all the money these clowns waste on
elections should be put into industry. hopefully he
wants to invest in the legal cannabis industry, only
because he wrongly believes cannabis will destroy us.
we all know it will be legal in our lifetime, why not
do it now? vote yes on prop 19, no matter whom says
what anymore. we all know the truth. change the
wrongful classification of cannabis from a class 1
narcotic. it is not in the same class as heroin.

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By REDHORSE, October 26, 2010 at 6:22 pm Link to this comment

So, some rich guys made up some bat shit crazy drug laws that created a trillion dollar for profit prison/industrial commercial enterprise that destroyed millions of lives and allowed an open assault on the Bill of Rights and “search and seizure” laws.

  The marijuana laws were a convenient vehicle to attack and destroy the “left” in the 60’s. Destruction of a new consciousness calling for alternative energy, environmental concern, human rights, social safety net implementation, liberal thought and education, spiritual/moral values vs. materialistic narrow minded bigotry and more was the motivation. Posters decry the Russian Gulag Stalin enforced but remain willingly blind to the wholesale destruction of American families and lives by dope lawyers, police departments looking for Federal money and the far right politicians who provided it.

  The financially bloated prison/industrial complex (an offshoot of the MIC) gutted educational budgets and uplifting social support programs in the name of stopping those terrible terrible “hippies”. Prison guards comprise the most powerful political voice in California. The truth is, organized criminal elements (marijuans being a small part of their enterprise), law enforcement, corporate controlled finance and Baboonus Washingtonus are joined at the hip. The $$$$$$ is huge—it screams—and the MSM is only too glad to look the other way and paint progressives as potential “terrorists”.

  All the “Right” has left is nutcase religious fanantics, manufactured corporate political marionettes, shock troop special forces police who use “marijuana” as an excuse to put their foot in your door and a propagandist MSM that promotes anxious hysteria nad distraction.

  They’re over!!

  Are you suprised a California cop would declare his intention to “ignore” sane drug law. Sure, fighting real criminals is dangerous work. And, you never kmow where a real investigation might lead.

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rico, suave's avatar

By rico, suave, October 26, 2010 at 5:19 pm Link to this comment

Oh come on truthdig. We’re one week away from the election and this is the crap you post.

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