[steppenwolf]

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1887.html


The United States has a new form of slavery. SWAT teams are conducting military "cleansings" of poor, minority and marijuana-growing neighbourhoods under the guise of drug raids that particularly target women, black people and members of the cannabis culture. Prisons are being privatized and converted into sweat-shops where, for example, pot puffers might find themselves in an ironic hell on earth… a dark cave were they are forced to answer unending calls for a travel agency, for the rest of their lives. The entire operation is being coordinated by multinational corporate interests that reach deep into the heart and pockets of the White House.

War against pot-people

They weren't growing pot. They didn't have pot in their possession. Not a single one of them even had a bong. But when they refused to let the DEA install cop cameras in their grow store, Southern Lights and Hydroponics, the Tucker family became targets in the US war on drugs, as did many other residents of Norcross, Georgia. The DEA watched the store's customers and sent SWAT teams to terrorize them and clean out their grow operations. Some of those customers traded bogus testimony against the shop's owners for shorter sentences. The Tuckers – Gary, his wife Joanne, and his brother Steve – each received 10 year prison sentences when they reached court in 1994.

The Norcross, Georgia sting was part of a larger DEA plot called "Operation Green Merchant" (OGM), which began as early as 1987, with roots in the heart of the Reagan drug war… a war that still continues today. The operation's goal: to eradicate indoor marijuana grow-ops all across the United States through the surveillance and targeting of hydroponics stores. Literally hundre

[Stoner]

I wonder if a web site with the name 'cannabis culture' might be just a slight bit biased?

Who ever does their site appears to be under the influence:
http://cannabisculture.com/
I've never seen a web page look that bad in Firefox before.

[Gibble]

What version of FF do you have? It looks fine in 2.0.0.8.

[Stoner]

2.0.0.8
Javascript turned off and adblock + working
Also flashblock.

[Gibble]

that could have something to do with it...

[WarC]

Hard to run java applets if its turned off, Stoner!

...I'm surprised I know that still, considering how much of the Devil's Grass I've smoked!

[stella45]

some interesting points made in that article steppenwolf.
i particularly like this (not)>

"There is a major attempt to pin drug problems on the black man instead of the major players," Kemanthi asserted. "Class and ethnic position determines the punishment for crimes. If courts see black, they think criminal." Without forgetting for an instant the historical influences of racism and sexism on American society, Kemanthi sees class as a common determining factor in drug-war oppression.

"Capitalism and profit does not discriminate based on color," Kemanthi asserted. "Private prison contractors receive $145,000 for every inmate incarcerated, in one-time profit, to build the cell, etc. The prison industrial complex is an extension of the drug war, super-profits for the rich."

The lower classes, says Kemanthi, are worth more to private corporations when they are in prison than when they are free."


the law was originally due to racism against the black and mexican population in the south west, and in utah,the first state to legislate against cannabis, due to religious intolerance of any use of euphoriants by the mormons.
sadly it seems there is far more money to be made from prohibition than would be raised is they repealed the laws and taxed it.
i wonder what percentage of a population you can imprison before it starts to impact on the available workforce.you can bet your life the private prison builders are lobbying for more "crackdowns".

[Stoner]

Originally Posted by WarC

Hard to run java applets if its turned off, Stoner!

........................

Not hard at all.............impossible


Think I'll remain safe and treat that site as a malicious one .........

[WarC]

Making the argument for legalization a racial one cheapens it, IMO...

...Although... there is an undeniable trend, IMO, that this society does see marijuana use as too hazardous to put on the level of alcohol partly because it is often associated with "brown people" and hip-hop or drug culture.

Which of course is a result of its criminality in the first place!

Legalize it and it ceases to be a "gateway drug" overnight.

Similarly, ban alcohol sales and force it under ground - as happened during Prohibition - and alcohol becomes the "gateway drug" overnight.

It's about the avenue of distrobution people! Making it illegal doesn't stop it - the demand is too high! - It just forces it into the black market! It's a self-sustaining circle of ignorance that leads to what? Our penal system absolutely racked with prisoners serving drug sentences.

And here again, racially we will see - That "brown people" get the heavier fines, the heavier prison sentences, the harsher penalties altogether...