want to see Bass trying to get out of an argument that he cant win?

Really? The democrats control the white house, and the congress, so... You keep making the silliest, most idiotic statements. What a fool you are.

It would.

If anything should be illegal it's alcohol. I've never even heard about someone too stoned that crashed a car, or beat up their wife.

MJ is impossible to overdose on. And the medicinal benefits are bountiful (pain, nausea, anti-anxiety, glaucoma, palsy... to name a few).

Besides the medical and recreational use, hemp has a multitude of uses as well (fuel, textiles, rope, etc...)

And... If it was legal, they would tax the hell out of it. It would help pickup the economy that the idiot you voted for both times ruined.

I'm not aware of any deaths from anti-nausea medications though I suppose it may have happened.

I think the drug companies themselves have to perform the tests, or sponsor clinical trials.

I'm not big on conspiracy theories concerning the FDA though no doubt they "looked the other way" much more during the previous administration than they would dare under Obama's watch. My father had to deal with the FDA for many years as a Vice-President at Bristol-Meyers. He used to tell us all kinds of stories about the stuff they would do.

I was speaking abou the FDA as a whole. It seems drugs approved 5-10 years ago now have swarms of ambulance chasers plastering 10 second commercials urging people to file claims again these drug companies. We all know the heart of the problem is the FDA taking these clinical trails at face value. They rush to get things approved, no matter who gets killed along the way.

Jim Rojas

e:

Perhaps you should watch a few episodes of COPS sometime

That is fantasy

What is fantasy is thinking that busting grow houses, and meth labs will actually solve anything. As soon as you close one down, another 1 or 2 take its place.

If you tax it, you allow law enforcement to put their resources towards actually protecting us from ourselves... :)

Jim Rojas

That may well be, Jim, but I've personally benefited from clinical trials. Two of the three chemotherapy combinations I've taken since my surgery have slowed (though not stopped) the tumors and significantly prolonged my life. I was involved in the newest trial -- DNA based "fine tuning" of the chemo prescription -- last year. Unfortunately for me, it didn't stop the disease.

One major problem for pharmaceutical manufacturers is that clinical trials, as well as lab development and animal testing, takes years and costs over $100M to bring a single product to market. Part of the reason the expense is so great is that FDA regulations are very stringent. Manufacturers may well be tempted to cheat. AFAIK (this is not a subject I'm up on so I may be wrong), the FDA itself doesn't do actual testing. I think its all done by the manufacturers who then submit results for approval. The FDA does require continuous streams of reports as testing goes on, especially once human subjects are involved though.

That's true, though there's a huge difference between meth and MJ. I'd legalize MJ completely and do something similar to what the UK does with addictive drugs -- allow doctors to prescribe for certified addicts and sell it through pharmacies. That would allow government to gain taxes, eliminate the largest source of money for organized crome and bankrupt Al Queda. All things considered, not a bad deal.

The SEC must also follow the same pattern of checking. All is well until the shit hits the fan.

Smoke it up Robert. Hemp might make the chemo after affects alot easier to deal with. $600 in medz will buy a 12 months supply of weed.

Jim Rojas

Could be.

$600 worth would last a lot more than a year for me.

Not if you puff, puff, pass... :)

Jim Rojas

Ambulance chasers are some of my best clients. :-) RW

One thing I should mention is that if you're going to be posting material verbatim sourced from other sites, you should first of all seek permission to do so (from the "site owners") and then cite the source(s). Otherwise you leave yourself open to a complaint for copyright infringement. I don't think that "fair use" would apply to your obviously commercial site. If you're going to use "Wiki", perhaps a simple link to the page would be better.

Otherwise, I applaud your efforts, Tom, and wish you every success with your new endeavour.

No problem. Send me some banners if you have them. I can put on the rotation list.

Jim Rojas

Links have been added...send some banners...

Don't forget the current crop of idiots who are doing nothing to help. (that wasn't a partisan jibe - I don't like any of 'em since I can't see a dimes worth of difference between the two main parties - I'm more of a federalist than anything else)

The legalization of marijuana would be a boon. Lots of farmland suffers from inadequate water - hemp requires less irrigation and farmers can sell their crops to different industries - the stalks can be used for paper in a process that is cheaper and cleaner than traditional wood pulp production. They an also be used as a high cellulose cattle fodder.

It is one of the best fallow year crops that there is.

Seeds can be used for food with their high protein content and high levels of essential fats. Extract the oil for fuel and you still have a high protein seed cake that can be used as a base food.

It is also the most benign intoxicant. It has less negative effect on judgment (I still would rather folks don't drive on it - doing 30mph in a 55mph one can be aggravating to others) it is not possible to die from overdose, it doesn't elevate aggression and, while a case can be made hat it is addictive, it is only mildly so with withdrawal consisting of headache and fitful sleep for a night or two. In fact, there is only one intoxicant where withdrawal routinely endangers the addicts' lives and requires close medical supervision to prevent death - alcohol.

As Graham said, if we use a tax structure akin to alcohol or tobacco it would generate a huge windfall - that along with a minimum age of use. I would prefer 25 given the possible link to amotivational syndrome - a condition that is arguably due to heavy use and, other than lung cancer, the only negative associated with marijuana use and then, typically, only with heavy use.