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 Carlito
Enthusiast
Registered: 03/05/05
Posts: 3,968
Loc: Everywhere
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 Lighting up hurts, endangers many
#6343959 - 12/07/06 09:55 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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http://badgerherald.com/oped/2006/12/07/lighting_up_hurts_e.php
Lighting up hurts, endangers many
Many have used the excuse that drug use is a “victimless crime” as their rationale for lighting up a joint now and then. The argument is based on the premise that drug use does not hurt anyone else. After all, people should be able to decide what goes into their own bodies, right?
On the surface, perhaps this seems like a fair statement. Well then, America, it’s time to open your eyes and become a true “global citizen” for a moment and think about the effects of this so-called victimless crime from someone else’s perspective.
Take Mexico, for example. The drug trade controls Mexico, its government and its police forces. Corruption, unlawful killings of civilians by security forces, and even kidnapping by police and other drug-related groups run rampant in Mexico according to the U.S. State Department. Drug lords pay off Mexican officials in a corrupt scheme that allows for the creation of a pro-narcotics oligarchy that dominates the country through an illegitimate and illicit trade. The government turns a blind eye to the drug cartels operating in Mexico because key officials are paid off.
Drugs equal power in Mexico and it has rendered the common man of Mexico helpless. No honest middle-class Mexican has a chance of prosperity in Mexico. Legitimate business cannot prosper when illegitimate and illicit business holds a dominating monopoly over the economy.
With 40 percent of Mexico’s population living in poverty, it is obvious that most of the nation’s wealth is being controlled by the drug lords and corrupt members of the government. As long as the government remains corrupt, all of these people in poverty stand no chance.
Logically, a large population of disgruntled illegal immigrants looking for opportunity inevitably makes its way toward the U.S. border to flee the raw deal they are getting from their own government. The sad thing is that it is the United States — and its addiction to the drugs supplied by these Mexican cartels — that is fueling the entrenchment and solidifying the power of this Mexican drug lord government.
In a nutshell, drug use in the United States is victimizing the common man in Mexico and is largely responsible for supporting the pro-drug government that exploits its own people. This exploitation leads to illegal immigration, which causes countless problems in the United States.
Furthermore, this drug culture that has been created by the United States in Mexico has made the country one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. In fact, on Nov. 22, Robert Marcos Garcia, the editor of a local newspaper in Veracruz, was killed. Garcia was the seventh journalist killed in Mexico this year, making Mexico the second most deadly country in the world for journalists, trailing only Iraq. One thing that all of these slain journalists held in common was that their work exposed some of the rampant corruption within the government and its connection to the drug lords.
The border town of Nuevo Laredo also illustrates the side effects of America’s addiction to drugs. This town, located on the U.S.-Mexican border, was the site of 10 percent of the 2,000 drug-related murders that occurred last year. Kidnappings and killings have become so commonplace that local newspapers have stopped reporting drug killings out of fear and pressure from the government and drug dealers. One police chief was killed last year and a second quit out of fear for his own safety. Three hundred police jobs cannot be filled — even with the promise of $600 per month — due to the fear of trying to stand up to the drug cartels.
And why must the residents of this town have to live in fear every day? Because their neighbor to the north needs its drug shipments, and Nuevo Laredo is one of the major shipping crossroads from Mexico to the United States.
So next time someone lights up, please remind him that not only is he hurting himself, but he is hurting members of the U.S. military, journalists, immigration officials and CIA operatives who are trying to combat the drug trade on our borders and in the media. Remind them about the Mexican families that live in fear for their safety every day in Nuevo Laredo and the 40 percent of the Mexican population that lives in poverty because of their corrupt government. Also, remind them that it is because of their selfish desire to get high that the honest, hardworking people of Mexico are unable to make a decent living in an honest line of work and are thus provoked to immigrate to the United States illegally in search of opportunity. Think about the victims of this supposedly “victimless crime” next time you get the urge to get high.
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Double Tub Pictorial
My Tea Recipe
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 Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 16,804
Loc: Caribbean
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Carlito]
#6343974 - 12/07/06 10:03 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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The only reason any of the negatives listed occur is because the plant is illegal. Were it legal, the problems would go away. 
So, the next time someone lights up, think to yourself, the government is hurting all of us.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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mushboy
mush-o-holic
 
Registered: 04/24/05
Posts: 398
Loc: mushland
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Seuss]
#6343986 - 12/07/06 10:10 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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dont forget, ...open your eyes and become a true “global citizen”
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musender13
Stranger
Registered: 06/05/06
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: mushboy]
#6344125 - 12/07/06 11:05 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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This is an extremley closed minded article. I think both smokers and non-smokers realize that marijuana doesn't always come from the most kosher of places. The reason this is true is because it is illegal. If it were legal, there wouldnt be this problem.... so maybe instead of blaming smokers...blame law makers!
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SapphireCat
Seeker
Registered: 11/29/05
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Loc: Ireland
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Seuss]
#6344150 - 12/07/06 11:13 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said:
The only reason any of the negatives listed occur is because the plant is illegal. Were it legal, the problems would go away.
So, the next time someone lights up, think to yourself, the government is hurting all of us.
heh, exact same thought came to me when reading it. The article just gives even more of a reason to legalise weed
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Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on Simplicity ~Plato
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Schwip
Never sleeps.
Registered: 06/27/05
Posts: 3,934
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Carlito]
#6344219 - 12/07/06 11:33 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Or grow your own.
There, now its victim less.
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" If the sky were to suddenly open up there would be no law. There would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories... the choices you've made, and the people you've touched. If this world were to end there would only be you and him and no-one else. "
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"MAN! You know there aint no such thing as left over crack!"
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cookeman
Live and letlive
Registered: 10/26/05
Posts: 931
Last seen: 1 month, 14 days
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Schwip]
#6344493 - 12/07/06 12:49 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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^ exactly. How the hell am I hurting mexicans by smoking my private stash and eating the shrooms I grew? Or anything I grow for that matter. Also, legalizing weed would make that entire article obsolete. I hope that guy would agree that if that's his only quam with drug use then growing your own for yourself and possibly some friends not for profit is perfectly fine and really doesn't hurt anyone.
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“Let’s put it this way – to lump psychedelic mushrooms into the same group as methamphetamine is like lumping the Bible into the same group as Mein Kampf.
I mean shit; they’re both books, right?”
Joe Rogan
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Sheepish
All Hail the NewFlesh
Registered: 04/02/02
Posts: 9,871
Loc: Middle Earth
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 Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: cookeman]
#6344742 - 12/07/06 02:19 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Heh, that fear based drivel isn't going to work. Prohibition are the reasons for the drug cartels and all the associated violence that goes with it. But I guess the author didn't stop to think about that huh...?
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~ Skeletons need love too ~
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Drewwyann
Picker-Upper ofthe Pieces
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 3,405
Loc: Atlantis
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Sheepish]
#6344805 - 12/07/06 02:38 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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im pretty confident on the eastern coast there wouldnt be very much marijuana circulation comming in from mexico. And yes, grow your own. Not only is it free, but you get a shitload.
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 daytripper05
Psychonaut
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 3,919
Loc: In my garden
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Drewwyann]
#6344837 - 12/07/06 02:51 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Fucking morons. The article reveals the solution so clearly. Make it legal just like alcohol and cigarettes.
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KidAircrash
Stranger
Registered: 11/06/06
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: daytripper05]
#6344994 - 12/07/06 03:57 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Just say "no" to mexican brickweed! and follow it up by smacking your friend while proclaiming that you only smoke "Dat Good Shit"
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teryaki
Stranger
Registered: 11/20/06
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Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Carlito]
#6345020 - 12/07/06 04:15 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Carlito said:
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2006/12/07/lighting_up_hurts_e.php
Lighting up hurts, endangers many
Furthermore, this drug culture that has been created by the United States in Mexico has made the country one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. In fact, on Nov. 22, Robert Marcos Garcia, the editor of a local newspaper in Veracruz, was killed. Garcia was the seventh journalist killed in Mexico this year, making Mexico the second most deadly country in the world for journalists, trailing only Iraq.
yeah and i hope ur the next muther fucking journalist to get shot u dumbass muther fucker
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Koala Koolio
TTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGG
Registered: 01/07/04
Posts: 7,734
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: teryaki]
#6345079 - 12/07/06 04:40 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah. How about I make water illegal. Do I get to bitch about it when you start buying water from the water mafia? Or, would it be more likely for the complaints to be directed towards the fascists enacting the rules in the first place? Common sense?
No? We can use a real life comparison. If the author of this lovely piece of work drives a gas powered car, they can go fuck themselves right up their tightly clenched ass.
The answer? Keep the importation of weed illegal. Legalize the growing of marijuana. Let's see how the market does.
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You're not like the others. You like the same things I do. Wax paper, boiled football leather... dog breath. We're not hitch-hiking anymore, we're riding!
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CUBErt
Connoisseur ofHallucination
Registered: 08/24/05
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Loc: Southern CA
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Koala Koolio]
#6345094 - 12/07/06 04:43 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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"Fear isnt working! Lets try guilt..."
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-CUBErt
 
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jeverden
Mushroom Hunter
Registered: 05/10/06
Posts: 1,111
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: CUBErt]
#6345281 - 12/07/06 05:52 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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If we used the same track of thought the autor who wrote this did, then oil should be illegal, because some of the sales support violence! How narrow minded some people are.
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All of my posts are purely fictional and for hypothetical purposes.
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goodolgoogy
Bemushroomed
Registered: 11/06/06
Posts: 169
Loc: bay area
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: jeverden]
#6345942 - 12/07/06 08:46 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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I don't know about you guys, but all the pot around here comes from the club... nobody's dying for my ganja.
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RogerRabbit said:
Don't assault your mycelium with peroxide. That's like throwing acid in your girlfriends face just to see if it sizzles.
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tihkalpihkal
captain insano
Registered: 12/06/06
Posts: 161
Loc: The basement of the alamo
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: goodolgoogy]
#6346074 - 12/07/06 09:32 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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umm why are the news articles here so anti drug? Is this foxnews or something....i mean i understand knowing what the enemy knows and building from it but more post should be about things that are happening right in the pro(drug) choice movement. or maybe its just me and I see things differently.
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Was the lockness monster in fact Jack the Ripper?
Edited by tihkalpihkal (12/07/06 09:43 PM)
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CUBErt
Connoisseur ofHallucination
Registered: 08/24/05
Posts: 1,067
Loc: Southern CA
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: tihkalpihkal]
#6346090 - 12/07/06 09:36 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
tihkalpihkal said:
umm why are the news articles here so anti drug? Is this foxnews or something....i mean i understand knowing what the enemy knows and building from it but more post should be about things that are happening right in the pro(drug) choice movement. or maybe its just me and I see things differntlt.
I wasn't aware there was a whole lot of "positive" drug news
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-CUBErt
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 10,432
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: Carlito]
#6346173 - 12/07/06 10:09 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Here's an e-mail I sent to our aspiring drug-warrior/journalist:
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Hello Joe,
I read your article on the BadgerHerald website entitled "Lighting up hurts, endangers many". I would like to say bravo. You probably do not realize it but your piece is a very good persuasive on why marijuana should be legalized. By keeping this plant illegal it forces otherwise law-abiding citizens to interact with a dangerous black market to satisfy their choice to use it responsibly. The very laws that violate our basic human rights create the cartels and crime rings that bring violence, corruption, and intimidation into American cities and homes.
I know the intent of your article was to argue in favor of keeping our civil liberties locked up in the name of protecting us from ourselves. But, just as our failed War on Drugs does, it has many unintended consequences. I imagine your article will open a few eyes as to the asinine nature of the laws that serve to protect us from ourselves and promote the "general welfare".
So, Joe Trovato, I thank you. I disagree with your position and petty attempt to guilt trip citizens into opposing peaceful cannabis users, but I thank you. I thank you for showing just another ugly consequence the world suffers at the hands of our failing drug policies. I can only hope that one day, when you possibly become a writer for some large newspaper, that your opinions have changed. And not just because some reader e-mailed you and said you should. But because hopefully a few years down the line you will open your eyes to the needless division, death, and destruction that these laws you blindly stand behind create. I can only hope.
Thank you for your time.
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 10,432
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Re: Lighting up hurts, endangers many [Re: tihkalpihkal]
#6346177 - 12/07/06 10:11 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
tihkalpihkal said:
umm why are the news articles here so anti drug? Is this foxnews or something....i mean i understand knowing what the enemy knows and building from it but more post should be about things that are happening right in the pro(drug) choice movement. or maybe its just me and I see things differently.
If you don't like the articles that are posted here then spend your own precious time and find some positive articles on drugs. When you find a good one don't hesitate to share it with the rest of us. We're not all Negative Nancys here on the lookout for doom-and-gloom drug articles. But in the world we live in we don't have much to work with in the line of "positive drug stories".
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