Drugs, Guns & Uncovering the Truth
A few weeks ago two Ozark County residents were sentenced in federal court on marijuana charges and possession of firearms. They had already been sentenced at a state level and have been serving probation, fines and drug court for a year. The federal government decided to take an interest in this case and the couple ended up facing federal charges. Now one will be in home arrest and probation and the other will be serving 18 months in prison. There was no violent crime committed; the guns found in the home were hunting rifles and two handguns for home protection. Neither individual was a felon so how did this end up in federal court? Under federal law it is illegal for an unlawful user or addict to be in possession of a firearm. Do they have to prove that you are an addict or unlawful user, not necessarily. Under federal law, certain people are prohibited from having guns or ammunition. That list includes people with felony convictions, people who are addicted to or abuse illegal drugs, illegal aliens, and people who have an order of protection from a court against them. Also, there has to be a federal nexus. If the party is found in possession of a firearm and that firearm was manufactured in another state it eventually had to be brought across the state line into Missouri. There are no firearms manufactured in Missouri, so everybody in Missouri caught with a gun, there's automatic federal jurisdiction, because that firearm at some point had to cross the state line in interstate commerce.
What does interstate commerce have to do with any of this you might ask? It has a lot. Even if you are not for the legal use of marijuana you should be interested in the laws surrounding the War on Drugs because it has a lot to do with your rights to bear arms and federal jurisdiction. In cases regarding medical marijuana users the question had been asked: does the federal government have the authority to prosecute people possessing marijuana under Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce?
In the case of Gonzales v. Raich Justice Thomas's opening paragraph really captures the absurdity of the commerce clause: "Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything--and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers."
In the case of the Ozark County couple this was one of those victimless crimes. Victimless crimes are very hard to prove. Proof is lowered to a level that all one has to do is possess a gun, drug or money alleged to be used in illegal transactions. This opens the door for thousands of people to be imprisoned with little or no evidence.
We did not have an illegal drug in the United States until 1914.
In 1914 a survey determined that 1.3% of the population was addicted to heroin.
The anti drug act was passed in 1914 making opiates illegal and then cocaine, marijuana and so on.
In 1970 another survey was taken and showed 1.3% of the population was addicted to drugs…so began the war on drugs.
Since the war on drugs began trillions of dollars have been spent in prosecuting and every year we spend 69 million dollars on the war on drugs, which very little of that money is spent on drug education.
There have been 35 million arrests to date for non-violent drug offences (10% of the population).
2.2 million people are in prison and the mass majority of those prisoners are incarcerated for drug offences.
Still today…surveys show that 1.3% of the population is addicted to drugs.
Nothing has changed in 100 years.
According to statistics the #1 addictive drug is nicotine, the 2nd worst drug is alcohol yet these are not illegal drugs. I would have to say that alcohol alone is one of the main contributors to violent crimes in this country. I always hear that marijuana is the stepping-stone to harder drug use. If I had to choose a drug that was a stepping-stone to harder drug use it would have to be alcohol. There are 540,000 deaths a year resulting from nicotine and alcohol addiction and only 121,000 deaths a year from illegal drugs such as heroin, meth and cocaine use.
Other legal addicting drugs are sugar, caffeine and yes television.
Today according to officials such as John Edwards the worst and most dangerous drug is marijuana. Dangerous to whom? Cannabis has been used for thousands of years yet there have been no recorded deaths, side effects or harmful effects that has been evidenced to this day.
It’s all about money.
Recommended reading: Alfred McCoy “The Politics of Heroin” The CIA’s role in the drug policy and the United State’s application in destroying other countries.
The U.S. would use a country to make drugs to sell in the United States and take the profits to buy arms to fight secret wars. But that’s another can of worms.
The conviction of non-violent drug offences is big money. Big money for the prison industry.
Prisons are the fastest growing industry in the United States quadrupling in a 20-year period and some have even become privatized… Prison for Profit. The privatized prisons now hire lobbyist to lobby congress for tougher penalties for drug users and longer sentences.
The average cost to a taxpayer is 26,000 per prisoner per year.
The upcoming 2008 elections should have the drug and gun policies as one of there top formats for those who are running … this would be a chance to see what these politicians are truly made of.
The legalization of drugs: The addiction rate for drugs has not changed in 100 years.
Since the war on drugs there has been no reduction in drug use or addiction and there would be no drug increase if they were legalized as I have shown in the previous statistics. By legalizing drugs the numbers may actually start to decrease. As long as something is illegal there is a market value instantly put on that item which can be as high as over 1000% mark up. If an item is legal the market value decreases if not eliminated over night. No drive by shootings over drug sales, no robberies to buy drugs and so on just like when alcohol prohibition was abolished. When alcohol was illegal gangsters had a market, there was increased violence. When alcohol became legal the mob members trafficking alcohol were out of business overnight.
The war on plants: In this country we have made the possession and use of some plants illegal and the list is growing every day including control over your vitamin use and where you are even allowed or not allowed to have a garden. I’m not kidding!
But let’s stay focused on Cannabis/ Hemp
Cannabis was legal in the United States up until the 1930’s. What happened in the 30’s?
Up until the 30’s hemp was used for fuel, oils, textiles, food and medicinal purposes.
50% of medicines were based on hemp up until the 1930’s. The leaves from this plant are one of the best antibiotics on the planet. Linens were originally made from hemp. When the pilgrims first came over to the Americas the sails on the ships were made of hemp along with their ropes and clothes. Sailors would carry 4-5 hundred pounds of hemp seed on their ships just in case they ever got stranded they would have a resource they could plant and use. So what happened in the 30’s? In 1934 the federal government passed the National Firearms Act. Then three years later they passed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and then the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. The Commerce Clause of the Constitution was stretched to pass both of these unconstitutional laws.
William Randolph Hearst
He was a large property owner that had a lot of forest he wanted to turn into paper and other products. Hearst had a battle with Poncho Villa. Poncho Villa had actually taken some of the land from Hearst during this time, which angered Hearst. Also in 1936 there was a new invention, which was being introduced. It was the decorticator, which allowed the hemp to be stripped and processed without excessive manual labor. The announcement of this new machine introduced it as the new billion-dollar crop. The term billion dollars was rarely heard of at that time. A few greedy men knew this would destroy their hopes for making money. Hearst had to get hemp production stopped but knew he could not present the name hemp to congress because everyone at the time new that hemp was such a wonderful crop so he came up with an interesting Spanish word derived from a song called ‘la cucaracha’. At the end of this song it refers to smoking marijuana. Knowing that the public at that time would look down on a Mexican name (the race card being played), Hearst took the name marijuana to congress and stated we had to do away with this evil plant that made people crazy. Before the people new what had happened and realized that he was referring to hemp it was to late. Hemp became illegal. After this Hearst went into the paper industry and Dupont introduced a new product - nylon and other companies started developing more unnatural products in the place of hemp. It was all about money. The war on drugs is not a war against drugs it is a war against people.
The United States Government considers cannabis/hemp the most dangerous drug but it’s ok when they have a need for it. During WWII rope supplies were cut off to the U.S. by China, which still made their rope with hemp. The U.S. needed to get the farmers to start producing hemp again even after being told what an evil plant it was. In 1942 the Department of Agriculture made a film called “ Hemp for Victory “ describing all the wonderful aspects and products that could be made from the plant. When the war was over there was no more urgent need, cannabis remained illegal and the film is forever buried in the library of congress.
Again it’s all about money and control. Pharmaceutical companies, tobacco industry and alcohol industry fund the partnership of Drug Free America. These are also ties with petroleum control and use. Even the prescribed medications people use today are petroleum-based products. It would be safe to say that most prescription drugs that are used today are not only highly addictive but are more dangerous to your health than some illegal drugs. If we used hemp today, as fuel there would be no need to fight over oil control such has been done in Somalia & Iraq. We just wouldn’t need it.
Our planet is full of toxic fuels, fabrics and chemicals. The car you drive emits toxic fumes; the clothes you wear are full of pesticides and toxic fabrics. The foods we eat are poison filled with pesticides, synthetic and genetically modified elements and even radiated. The homes we live in are full of toxic chemicals that are used to treat wood, plaster boards and even the carpet is treated with harmful chemicals. The paint on your walls and on the paintings that hang on our walls is painted with toxic chemicals. Until the 1930’s all paints were made of hemp oil.
Dr. Roberta Hamilton a UCLA Researcher and Biochemist in one of her studies determined that hemp seed was one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. Hemp seed has 8 amino acids and 3 essential fatty acids. Hemp seed can clean the arteries and reduce chances of heart attack and lowers cholesterol levels. Hemp seed is legal in the United States as bird food. Jack Herer once stated that if you piled up all the birdseed in layers the birds would dig out the hemp seed first. The birds know. It can also be turned into a cream and when applied to the skin forms with the collagen in the skin to get rid of wrinkles. It replenishes the immune system. The German’s use to plant hemp around their crops to keep bugs out because the hemp plant needs no pesticides to grow, it produces it’s own. The roots from the hemp plant replenish the soil and the leaf from the plant puts nitrogen back into the soil. It can be used for pain control, depression, sleeping disorders, eating disorders, Cancer treatment, AIDs treatment, it lubricates the brain and can reduce brain damage in head trauma patients, it is used for glaucoma, as an analgesic, epilepsy, migraines, can relieve tics in patients with OCD or Tourette syndrome, in recent studies it is suggested that the use of cannabis could prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, a spray derived from the extract can help treat multiple sclerosis, its found to reduce arterial blockages, it can be used to make clothes, cars, houses, fuel and it is a earth friendly fuel and hemp is biodegradable. This is exactly what this planet needs right now with increasing air pollution, water contamination, food contamination and what a difference it would make in the economy of the Midwest alone if production was allowed. We are allowed to import these products from other countries but we can’t grow it here because it’s against the drug policy. It’s time for the policy to change. Thousands go to prison every year for using this plant. And these people are criminals? The only criminals I see here are big corporations, greedy people, bad lawmakers, the media for not reporting the truth, and those who seek to retain control over the American people. The American people have been brainwashed into believing something that just isn’t true. Makes you stop and think what else you’ve been lied to about. We all have a mind. It’s time we start using it and start educating ourselves and moving forward to a brighter future for our children and ourselves. It’s time for a change!
Dani
I would like to thank RadiOrbit in Columbia, MO., (LEAP) Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, She Who Remembers and many others for the statistics and facts presented in this letter.
What does interstate commerce have to do with any of this you might ask? It has a lot. Even if you are not for the legal use of marijuana you should be interested in the laws surrounding the War on Drugs because it has a lot to do with your rights to bear arms and federal jurisdiction. In cases regarding medical marijuana users the question had been asked: does the federal government have the authority to prosecute people possessing marijuana under Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce?
In the case of Gonzales v. Raich Justice Thomas's opening paragraph really captures the absurdity of the commerce clause: "Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything--and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers."
In the case of the Ozark County couple this was one of those victimless crimes. Victimless crimes are very hard to prove. Proof is lowered to a level that all one has to do is possess a gun, drug or money alleged to be used in illegal transactions. This opens the door for thousands of people to be imprisoned with little or no evidence.
We did not have an illegal drug in the United States until 1914.
In 1914 a survey determined that 1.3% of the population was addicted to heroin.
The anti drug act was passed in 1914 making opiates illegal and then cocaine, marijuana and so on.
In 1970 another survey was taken and showed 1.3% of the population was addicted to drugs…so began the war on drugs.
Since the war on drugs began trillions of dollars have been spent in prosecuting and every year we spend 69 million dollars on the war on drugs, which very little of that money is spent on drug education.
There have been 35 million arrests to date for non-violent drug offences (10% of the population).
2.2 million people are in prison and the mass majority of those prisoners are incarcerated for drug offences.
Still today…surveys show that 1.3% of the population is addicted to drugs.
Nothing has changed in 100 years.
According to statistics the #1 addictive drug is nicotine, the 2nd worst drug is alcohol yet these are not illegal drugs. I would have to say that alcohol alone is one of the main contributors to violent crimes in this country. I always hear that marijuana is the stepping-stone to harder drug use. If I had to choose a drug that was a stepping-stone to harder drug use it would have to be alcohol. There are 540,000 deaths a year resulting from nicotine and alcohol addiction and only 121,000 deaths a year from illegal drugs such as heroin, meth and cocaine use.
Other legal addicting drugs are sugar, caffeine and yes television.
Today according to officials such as John Edwards the worst and most dangerous drug is marijuana. Dangerous to whom? Cannabis has been used for thousands of years yet there have been no recorded deaths, side effects or harmful effects that has been evidenced to this day.
It’s all about money.
Recommended reading: Alfred McCoy “The Politics of Heroin” The CIA’s role in the drug policy and the United State’s application in destroying other countries.
The U.S. would use a country to make drugs to sell in the United States and take the profits to buy arms to fight secret wars. But that’s another can of worms.
The conviction of non-violent drug offences is big money. Big money for the prison industry.
Prisons are the fastest growing industry in the United States quadrupling in a 20-year period and some have even become privatized… Prison for Profit. The privatized prisons now hire lobbyist to lobby congress for tougher penalties for drug users and longer sentences.
The average cost to a taxpayer is 26,000 per prisoner per year.
The upcoming 2008 elections should have the drug and gun policies as one of there top formats for those who are running … this would be a chance to see what these politicians are truly made of.
The legalization of drugs: The addiction rate for drugs has not changed in 100 years.
Since the war on drugs there has been no reduction in drug use or addiction and there would be no drug increase if they were legalized as I have shown in the previous statistics. By legalizing drugs the numbers may actually start to decrease. As long as something is illegal there is a market value instantly put on that item which can be as high as over 1000% mark up. If an item is legal the market value decreases if not eliminated over night. No drive by shootings over drug sales, no robberies to buy drugs and so on just like when alcohol prohibition was abolished. When alcohol was illegal gangsters had a market, there was increased violence. When alcohol became legal the mob members trafficking alcohol were out of business overnight.
The war on plants: In this country we have made the possession and use of some plants illegal and the list is growing every day including control over your vitamin use and where you are even allowed or not allowed to have a garden. I’m not kidding!
But let’s stay focused on Cannabis/ Hemp
Cannabis was legal in the United States up until the 1930’s. What happened in the 30’s?
Up until the 30’s hemp was used for fuel, oils, textiles, food and medicinal purposes.
50% of medicines were based on hemp up until the 1930’s. The leaves from this plant are one of the best antibiotics on the planet. Linens were originally made from hemp. When the pilgrims first came over to the Americas the sails on the ships were made of hemp along with their ropes and clothes. Sailors would carry 4-5 hundred pounds of hemp seed on their ships just in case they ever got stranded they would have a resource they could plant and use. So what happened in the 30’s? In 1934 the federal government passed the National Firearms Act. Then three years later they passed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and then the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. The Commerce Clause of the Constitution was stretched to pass both of these unconstitutional laws.
William Randolph Hearst
He was a large property owner that had a lot of forest he wanted to turn into paper and other products. Hearst had a battle with Poncho Villa. Poncho Villa had actually taken some of the land from Hearst during this time, which angered Hearst. Also in 1936 there was a new invention, which was being introduced. It was the decorticator, which allowed the hemp to be stripped and processed without excessive manual labor. The announcement of this new machine introduced it as the new billion-dollar crop. The term billion dollars was rarely heard of at that time. A few greedy men knew this would destroy their hopes for making money. Hearst had to get hemp production stopped but knew he could not present the name hemp to congress because everyone at the time new that hemp was such a wonderful crop so he came up with an interesting Spanish word derived from a song called ‘la cucaracha’. At the end of this song it refers to smoking marijuana. Knowing that the public at that time would look down on a Mexican name (the race card being played), Hearst took the name marijuana to congress and stated we had to do away with this evil plant that made people crazy. Before the people new what had happened and realized that he was referring to hemp it was to late. Hemp became illegal. After this Hearst went into the paper industry and Dupont introduced a new product - nylon and other companies started developing more unnatural products in the place of hemp. It was all about money. The war on drugs is not a war against drugs it is a war against people.
The United States Government considers cannabis/hemp the most dangerous drug but it’s ok when they have a need for it. During WWII rope supplies were cut off to the U.S. by China, which still made their rope with hemp. The U.S. needed to get the farmers to start producing hemp again even after being told what an evil plant it was. In 1942 the Department of Agriculture made a film called “ Hemp for Victory “ describing all the wonderful aspects and products that could be made from the plant. When the war was over there was no more urgent need, cannabis remained illegal and the film is forever buried in the library of congress.
Again it’s all about money and control. Pharmaceutical companies, tobacco industry and alcohol industry fund the partnership of Drug Free America. These are also ties with petroleum control and use. Even the prescribed medications people use today are petroleum-based products. It would be safe to say that most prescription drugs that are used today are not only highly addictive but are more dangerous to your health than some illegal drugs. If we used hemp today, as fuel there would be no need to fight over oil control such has been done in Somalia & Iraq. We just wouldn’t need it.
Our planet is full of toxic fuels, fabrics and chemicals. The car you drive emits toxic fumes; the clothes you wear are full of pesticides and toxic fabrics. The foods we eat are poison filled with pesticides, synthetic and genetically modified elements and even radiated. The homes we live in are full of toxic chemicals that are used to treat wood, plaster boards and even the carpet is treated with harmful chemicals. The paint on your walls and on the paintings that hang on our walls is painted with toxic chemicals. Until the 1930’s all paints were made of hemp oil.
Dr. Roberta Hamilton a UCLA Researcher and Biochemist in one of her studies determined that hemp seed was one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. Hemp seed has 8 amino acids and 3 essential fatty acids. Hemp seed can clean the arteries and reduce chances of heart attack and lowers cholesterol levels. Hemp seed is legal in the United States as bird food. Jack Herer once stated that if you piled up all the birdseed in layers the birds would dig out the hemp seed first. The birds know. It can also be turned into a cream and when applied to the skin forms with the collagen in the skin to get rid of wrinkles. It replenishes the immune system. The German’s use to plant hemp around their crops to keep bugs out because the hemp plant needs no pesticides to grow, it produces it’s own. The roots from the hemp plant replenish the soil and the leaf from the plant puts nitrogen back into the soil. It can be used for pain control, depression, sleeping disorders, eating disorders, Cancer treatment, AIDs treatment, it lubricates the brain and can reduce brain damage in head trauma patients, it is used for glaucoma, as an analgesic, epilepsy, migraines, can relieve tics in patients with OCD or Tourette syndrome, in recent studies it is suggested that the use of cannabis could prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, a spray derived from the extract can help treat multiple sclerosis, its found to reduce arterial blockages, it can be used to make clothes, cars, houses, fuel and it is a earth friendly fuel and hemp is biodegradable. This is exactly what this planet needs right now with increasing air pollution, water contamination, food contamination and what a difference it would make in the economy of the Midwest alone if production was allowed. We are allowed to import these products from other countries but we can’t grow it here because it’s against the drug policy. It’s time for the policy to change. Thousands go to prison every year for using this plant. And these people are criminals? The only criminals I see here are big corporations, greedy people, bad lawmakers, the media for not reporting the truth, and those who seek to retain control over the American people. The American people have been brainwashed into believing something that just isn’t true. Makes you stop and think what else you’ve been lied to about. We all have a mind. It’s time we start using it and start educating ourselves and moving forward to a brighter future for our children and ourselves. It’s time for a change!
Dani
I would like to thank RadiOrbit in Columbia, MO., (LEAP) Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, She Who Remembers and many others for the statistics and facts presented in this letter.
posted by Dani @ 7:36 PM
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