take things from work

click on the image above for yet another audio rant from me, this one offering inspiration and comfort in the current economic crapola we're all forced to try and get through, by any means we can... and be sure to visit exileguy dot net

don't tread on me

a bit of a rant from exileguy, don't forget to wash your drawers and change your socks...

Marijuana Legalization in California

By Jeffrey A. Miron

In November 2010, California voters will consider a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in the state. The proposed law includes restrictions on sale and use, such as a minimum purchase age of 21, but the bill gives marijuana roughly the same legal status as alcohol. Early polls suggest the measure will pass, although full-scale debate has not yet occurred.

Marijuana legalization is a far bigger step than decriminalization or medicalization, which have already occurred in California and other states. Decriminalization legalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, but it does not eliminate the underground market or permit easy taxation. Medicalization is closer to legalization, but it still leaves producers and consumers in a legal gray area and collects less revenue than legalization.

Should California, or the country, legalize marijuana? Yes, for a multitude of reasons.

Legalization will move the marijuana industry above ground, just as the repeal of alcohol prohibition restored the legal alcohol industry. A small component of the marijuana market might remain illicit—moonshine marijuana rather than moonshine whiskey—but if regulation and taxation are moderate, most producers and consumers will choose the legal sector, as they did with alcohol.

Legalization would therefore eliminate most of the violence and corruption that currently characterize marijuana markets. These occur because, in underground markets, participants cannot resolve disputes via non-violent mechanisms such as lawsuits, advertising, lobbying, or campaign contributions. Instead, producers and consumers in these markets use violence to resolve disputes with each other and bribery or violence to resolve disputes with law enforcement. These features of “vice” markets disappear when vice is legal, as abundant experience with alcohol, prostitution, and gambling all demonstrate.

Legalization would result in numerous other benefits. Medical marijuana patients would no longer suffer legal limbo or social stigma from using marijuana to treat nausea from chemotherapy, glaucoma, or other conditions. Infringements on civil liberties and racial profiling would decline, since victimless crimes are a key cause of such police behavior. Quality control would improve because sellers could advertise and establish reputations for a consistent product, allowing consumers to choose low or high-potency marijuana.

Legalization would also generate budgetary savings for state and federal governments, both by eliminating expenditures on enforcement and by allowing taxation of legalized sales. I recently estimated that the net impact would be a deficit reduction of about $20 billion per year, summed over all levels of government.

The one impact of legalization that might be undesirable is an increase in marijuana use, but the magnitude of this increase is likely to be modest. The repeal of alcohol prohibition in the U.S. produced about a 20 percent increase in use, while Portugal’s 2001 de facto legalization of marijuana did not cause any measurable increase; indeed, use was lower afterward. Across countries, use rates for marijuana show little connection to the strictness of the prohibition regime. The Netherlands has virtual legalization, for example, yet use rates do not greatly differ from those in the United States.

An increase in marijuana use, moreover, is not necessarily bad. If the ballot initiative passes, people who would like to use marijuana but abstain due to prohibition would be able to consume responsibly; legalization would allow them to enjoy marijuana without fear of arrest or incarceration and without concern over quality. Some new users might generate adverse consequences for themselves or others, such as driving under the influence, but most irresponsible users are disregarding the law and consuming already.

Legalization will not, of course, eliminate all negatives of marijuana use. But just as the harms of alcohol prohibition were worse than the harms of alcohol itself, the adverse effects of marijuana prohibition are worse than the unwanted consequences of marijuana use. Legalization is therefore the better policy.

The ideal way to legalize marijuana is for the federal government to end its ban, while allowing each state to regulate and tax marijuana as it sees fit. This would circumvent the complicated constitutional issues that will arise if the California initiative passes, as federal law would still prohibit marijuana.

But California’s initiative is nevertheless a valuable step, since the federal government is not yet ready to legalize. The California bill brings attention to the issue and, if adopted, will encourage other states and the federal government to follow suit.

The U.S. experiment with marijuana prohibition is just as misguided as was its earlier experiment with alcohol prohibition. We learned our lesson once; it is time to learn it again.

more designs from exile

hiya,
here's a bunch more bumpersticker desgins to be had from the radio free exile super swag emporium, so check 'em out, click on the images for ordering info, and thanks to everyone who has been buying my stuff, and thanks to all of you who will get something in the future, and for those of you who think my stuff sucks, well, you know what I think, so what the fuck, oh well...

new chat room for radio free exile

This new chat room appears on the sidebar of this blog, at radio free exile televised, and at exileguy dot net chat room. And other places as I find them. Feel free to jump in and join the chat. Stop in and say hi.

exileguy dot net

alaska left behind

enslaving america

Texas cops mistake

Texas cops mistake actual weed for marijuana, spend hours doing yard work

By Stephen C. Webster

Like the old song goes, one of these things is not like the other...

However, remind a police officer in Corpus Christi, Texas of those famed Cookie Monster lyrics and they're likely to give you an annoyed look. That's because a recently discovered cache of plants, initially pegged by officials speaking to local news as "one of the largest marijuana plant seizures in the police department's history," turned out to be a relatively common prairie flower of little significance. Texas officers ultimately spent hours laboring to remove up to 400 plants from a city park, discovering only after a battery of tests that they had been sweating over mere Horse Mint, a member of the mint family -- effectively turning their ambitious drug bust into mere yard work.

The plants, which bear very few aesthetic similarities to cannabis, were reported by an unnamed youth who came across them while riding a bike in the park around 8 p.m. on Thursday. Upon visual inspection, police apparently agreed that the inoffensive plants had to go.

Ultimately, officers were reduced to conducting chemical tests to learn their "weed" was really just that: an actual weed. "That shows exactly the caliber of police work that is done in Corpus christi, Tx," commenter Derick Sillers opined in a local NBC affiliate's comments section. "The residents of corpus and nueces county should seriously be concerned with how their tax dollars are spent," he continued. "[This] is the same police department that serves, protects and investigates you.... does it really take that long to find out you don't have marijuana." "Officers did not explain how their big 'drug haul' will be disposed of, now that they’ve spent untold hours and plenty of taxpayer money clearing weeds of the the city park," writer Steve Elliott summarized for News Junkie Post. The tale is, at very least, a compelling argument for accurate, non-fear-based drug education in public schools, which advocacy groups say is sorely lacking.

new podcast - 'nemesis'

Hello Everyone,
This episode of the radio free exile podcast is called 'nemesis' Another great service offered by exileguy and radio free exile, you really need to take advantage of this one. Also available on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiECXC-2kU


Here's the URL to tune in to the show:
http://radiofreeexile.podomatic.com/



featuring music & spoken word, in order of appearance, from:



High - "Stop Da War"

Dan Bern - "In God's Time"

Duke McVinnie - "Meek"

Pat Condell - "Is Satan a Catholic?"

Lachi - "We Can Fly"

Erika Luckett - "You Are the Melody"




Don't forget to check out radio free exile televised

Something in your Face.

http://www.livestream.com/radiofreeexile

Now you can see what you've been hearing.



Also announcing a new website from exileguy - http://www.exileguy.net




For unique & cool gifts and things from exile, check out the Radio Free Exile Super Swag Emporium, - http://www.zazzle.com/exileguy



Everyone is invited to submit to Radio Free Exile. I'm always on the lookout for interesting and cutting edge Indie Music, Spoken Word, and Commentary. What have you got to lose?



To submit your material for consideration, go to:

https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=fskCM6gQzqdvYFD2PWa4SkGM

and use the widget there to upload your mp3 files directly to me.

the dance of my people

All of Us Use Drugs

But Only Some of Us Go to Jail

Despite a $40 billion a year "war on drugs," our country is swimming in them. They aren't going anywhere.
By Tony Newman

Despite a $40 billion a year "war on drugs" that is premised on the goal of creating a "drug-free society," our country is swimming in drugs.

Most people start using drugs before they even leave the house in the morning. Yes, that first cup of coffee is what many of us need to start the day. The next drug that millions of Americans use, sometimes up to 20 times a day, is our nicotine! And then, after a long day of work, many of us head to a local bar or to our refrigerator and pour ourselves a cocktail, ice cold beer or a nice glass of wine.

And I'm just getting started. There are over 100 million Americans who have used marijuana. Thirty years after Nancy Reagan told us to "Just Say No," half of high-school seniors will try marijuana and 75% will try alcohol before they graduate. And what about the college students who use Ritalin to help them focus and put in long hours at the library? And how about all of the superstar athletes who use performance enhancing substances? What about all of the men (and women) who are deeply grateful forthe "little blue pill"? And how about the businessmen who stay up until three in the morning with the help of a "little bump"?

Drugs are so popular because people use them for both pleasure and for pain. Drugs can be fun. How many of us enjoy having some drinks and going out dancing? How many of us enjoy a little smoke after a nice dinner with friends? Many people bond with others or find inspiration alone while under the influence of drugs. On the flip side, many people self-medicate to try to ease the pain in their lives. How many have us have had too much to drink to drown our sorrows over a breakup or some other painful event? How many of us smoke cigarettes or take prescription drugs to deal with anxiety or stress? Throughout recorded history, people have inevitably altered their consciousness to fall asleep, wake up, deal with stress, and for creative and spiritual purposes.

While it is clear that drug use doesn't discriminate and the majority of us are using one drug or another, the reality is that the war on drug users does discriminate. More than 1.8 million people are arrested every year on nonviolent drug charges. In New York City, "moderate" Mayor Bloomberg's police arrested close to 50,000 people for marijuana possession in 2009 - and 87% of those arrested were black and Latino, despite similar rates of marijuana use as whites. The reason for the discrepancy is that the NYPD stops and frisks blacks and Latinos - but not white people. Last week the New York Times ran a front page story that showed blacks and Latinos were nine times more likely to be frisked than whites.

The racist enforcement of drug laws is not limited to just New York or just marijuana. Thanks to the mass incarceration of people for nonviolent drug law violations, the U.S. is the world's leading jailer. The U.S. has 5% of the world's population but has 25% of the world's prison population. Nationally, blacks are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated on drug charges as whites, despite similar rates of drug use.

Why are some drugs legal and other drugs illegal today? It's not based on any scientific assessment of the relative risks of these drugs - but it has everything to do with who is associated with these drugs. The first anti-opium laws in the 1870s were directed at East Asian immigrants. The first anti-cocaine laws, in the South in the early 1900s, were directed at black men. The first anti-marijuana laws, in the Midwest and the Southwest in the early 1900s, were directed at Mexican migrants and Mexican Americans.

Too often, the stereotypical "drug user" is someone we see panhandling on the street or the image of a young person of color. The reality is that most Americans use some drugs and most families include someone who is dealing with addiction to a legal or illegal drug. By declaring a "war on drugs" we have declared a war on ourselves, our families, and our communities.

We have to learn how to live with drugs, because they aren't going anywhere. Drugs have been around for thousands of years and will be here for thousands more. We need to educate people about the possible harms of drug use, offer compassion and treatment to people who have problems, and leave in peace the people who are not causing harm. And we need to take action against the incarceration of so many of our brothers and sisters who are suffering behind bars because of the substance that they choose to use.

War on THC comparable to war on apples

Prohibition of any kind doesn’t work, and that is because prohibition is a regulation of morality. It isn’t finding justice, saving money or even keeping people from hurting themselves. Prohibition is the censorship of morality and any government body cannot be successful in that pursuit. The Temperance Movement was a religious movement to drive out the evils of America. At the time that evil was alcohol — people weren’t just opposed to alcohol but also to apples — which were almost exclusively grown to make alcohol. People started taking axes to apple trees all over the country and a campaign was waged against the “devil’s fruit.” Luckily the war against apples was never taken as far as the war against marijuana. I am going to cover the reasons given why marijuana is illegal.

Marijuana is bad for your health, that’s why it is illegal.

Dr. Leslie Iversen has published a new book titled The Science of Marijuana. Dr. Iversen, from Oxford University’s department of pharmacology, said in his book, “Cannabis is a safer drug than aspirin and can be used long term without serious side effects.”
In his book he said he found that many of the “myths” that surround marijuana use — such as links to mental illness or infertility and extreme addictiveness — are not scientifically supported. In fact, Iversen found cannabis was far less toxic than other drugs like heroin, tobacco, cocaine and even alcohol. Iversen writes, “By any standard, THC must be considered a very safe drug both acutely and on long-term exposure.”

He also found that “stoned” drivers posed less of a danger than drunk ones. Iversen said the side effects of cannabis are as follows, “cannabis does not cause structural damage to the brains of animals as some reports had claimed, nor is there evidence of long-term damage to the human brain or other, than slight residual impairments in cognitive function after drug use is stopped.” He also said the notion that long-term cannabis use is harmful should finally be put to rest.

He said that a lot of the negative effects that come from marijuana are a result of smoking the drug. Cannabis itself does not appear to cause cancer and poses almost no threat of mortality. Even compared with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory compounds, otherwise known as aspirin — which reportedly kills upwards of 16,000 people annually according to the American Journal of Gastroenterology — marijuana kills zero annually — according to the Department of Justice.

Iversen is a member of the prestigious Royal Society, or the UK’s national academy of science, and his book is more than certainly going to force the British government to reconsider the legal classification of cannabis.

Marijuana is an evil that must be vanquished at any price.

Most people don’t know how much that fight really costs America. The 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report stated that 44 percent of all funding for the war on drugs is devoted to possession of marijuana and 6 percent is devoted to cannabis cultivation and sale. The total cost of the war on drugs for 2008 was $13.7 billion, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The current request for funding the war on drugs for this fiscal year has increased by 3.4 percent, or $459 million. So about half of all funding for the war on drugs, or about $6.85 billion, increases every year and is devoted to stopping marijuana possession, cultivation and sale.

In contrast the Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman has led a group of 500 economists from Cornell, Stanford, and Yale in a combined effort of calculation. They have estimated that legalization of marijuana would generate about $6.2 billion a year in revenue even in the current economic recession.

Marijuana legalization is only favored by drugged-out hippies and nonfunctioning members of society.

Support of legalization of marijuana is no longer favored by a small minority. A new Gallup poll shows that approval of the legalization of marijuana is at an all-time high, with 44 percent of America in favor of legalization. In the last 10 years, approval has steadily climbed by more than 13 points. The poll also detailed that people who would self-describe themselves as liberal favored legalization by 78 percent.
The government has made marijuana illegal for a reason; it was a thought out and well-researched decision.

This may not be as true as once, thought. Richard Nixon started the war on drugs. He commissioned a report on the dangers of cannabis to give scientific data in support of making marijuana illegal. This report was called the “The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse.” The commission, which was published March 22, 1972, concluded, “Neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety.” The commission’s official recommendation was that the possession of marijuana for personal use should no longer be considered an offense and that distribution in small amounts should no longer be considered illegal. Even though Nixon had commissioned the report, the president and Congress completely ignored the report.

Later, voice recordings came out of Nixon talking with former Gov. Raymond Shafer of Pennsylvania, who chaired the 1972 marijuana study. The recordings indicate that the president tried to “convince” the governor to reject the commission’s findings, saying, “You’re enough of a pro to know that for you to come out with something that would run counter to what Congress feels … and what we’re planning to do would make your commission just look bad as hell.” Nixon in other conversations had linked cannabis to the downfall of society.

The total cost of cannabis, staying classified as illegal, is increasing annually. So why have we decided to spend so much time and money on a plant? The more you start to research the prohibition of pot the less things make sense, that is, until you look at other things that have faced prohibition in America. Alcohol was drunk in the form of hard apple cider in early colonial times because the fermentation made it safer to drink than potentially dangerous well water. Cider was consumed not just in the afternoon but also with breakfast. In early America, there wasn’t much that was more American than a pint of hard cider. But through the process of prohibition of alcohol we see why marijuana is illegal. Because someone decided it should be, and a few politicians have made careers of attacking this “threat.” Like Nixon and those after him, when evidence surfaced that cannabis use has no real negative effects they spent money to fight it. We are now using an extensive amount of our tax dollars on a war to fight a new “devil’s fruit,” in a war that doesn’t make much more sense than one against apples.

Oregon may vote on legalizing marijuana

PORTLAND, Oregon – Oregon folks are second in line to look at legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and a group is gathering signatures so it gets on the November ballot. California was the first to consider recreational use of marijuana. There are enough signatures presently for a vote in the next election this fall. What the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act says specifically is it would

“legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana.”

The Act maintains that those who grow and those who sell marijuana would have to have a state license to do so and only sell the drug in cannabis-only stores. California led the way to passage of medical marijuana laws, with Oregon following suit in 1998. Presently there are 24,000 people who use medical marijuana. The Oregonian has had a number of articles on marijuana bars where people gather to purchase and use pot. Presently an individual can only legally secure cannabis with a medical condition considered debilitating by a doctor. Organizers will start collecting signatures Saturday.

Kyndall Mason with the DemocracyResources.com organization said in a statement given to the press yesterday, “Oregon has a long history of laws that conflict with federal law, that includes the Death with Dignity Act,” Mason said. “The feds have (recently) given states more autonomy, specifically regarding medical marijuana laws,” she said.

At a time the Obama administration has tread lightly on the Federal Government’s interaction with the states on the matter of marijuana, a number of other states are reported to be interested, in addition to Oregon. These include Washington State, Michigan, Montana and Maine.

Do people think Oregon will pass the measure to legalize marijuana. Mason thinks it will and concludes: “As the years have gone by, a lot of people are kind of fed up with the drug war.”

exileguy dot net

Well, hi kids, it's been a while since I've taken a bit of a break from the daily obsessive posting and uploading and all of the assorted and related things that come with being a two dimensional cartoon character whose always adding content to the www, but now I've returned with some rest, a little energy, and a new web site, which I'm reasonably proud of, and I'd like you to take a look at it of course, I mean, what's the point if nobody sees it, so take a look at the video and be sure to follow the link below...

exileguy dot net