Guess Who's Opposing Legal Marijuana?

[MikeK]

Big Alcohol Backs ‘No on Prop. 19' Campaign

Posted: 16 Sep 2010 09:01 AM PDT

California campaign finance reports disclose that The California Beer & Beverage Distributors Association is one of the primary financial backers of Public Safety First, sponsors of the ‘No on Prop. 19' campaign.

Booze Lobby Funding the No on 19 Campaign
via The East Bay Express

The California Beer & Beverage Distributors disclosed it donated $10,000 to defeat Prop 19 — which would regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol. The alcohol lobbyist’s funds will help spread the lie that employers must tolerate stoned employees, and the talking point that ‘California doesn’t need another legal, mind-altering substance.’ Alcohol causes an estimated $38 billion in costs in California each year from emergency room visits, arrests, etc, according to the Marin Institute. There are roughly 3,500 deaths annually from alcohol-related illness and more than 109,000 alcohol-related injuries in California. Conversely, pot caused 181 emergency room visits in 2008, according to a study by the non-partisan RAND Corporation, despite being used by more than four million Californians monthly.

Read the full story here: http://blog.norml.org/2010/09/16/big-alcohol-backs-no-on-prop-19-campaign/

 

[Tank]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMM_T_PJ0Rs]YouTube - The Flower[/ame]

 

[Avatar4321]

You know, we have so many problems and people are obsessed with marijuana.

Do you honestly think it's going to matter if marijuana is legal if we can't afford food?

 

[Care4all]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

 

[Gunny]

Big Alcohol Backs ‘No on Prop. 19' Campaign

Posted: 16 Sep 2010 09:01 AM PDT

California campaign finance reports disclose that The California Beer & Beverage Distributors Association is one of the primary financial backers of Public Safety First, sponsors of the ‘No on Prop. 19' campaign.

Booze Lobby Funding the No on 19 Campaign
via The East Bay Express

The California Beer & Beverage Distributors disclosed it donated $10,000 to defeat Prop 19 — which would regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol. The alcohol lobbyist’s funds will help spread the lie that employers must tolerate stoned employees, and the talking point that ‘California doesn’t need another legal, mind-altering substance.’ Alcohol causes an estimated $38 billion in costs in California each year from emergency room visits, arrests, etc, according to the Marin Institute. There are roughly 3,500 deaths annually from alcohol-related illness and more than 109,000 alcohol-related injuries in California. Conversely, pot caused 181 emergency room visits in 2008, according to a study by the non-partisan RAND Corporation, despite being used by more than four million Californians monthly.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition spokesperson and retired Orange County, CA. judge James Gray said the booze lobby’s decision was probably financial. The move echoes the tobacco and alcohol industry’s help creating leading drug war group Partnership For a Drug-Free America.

“It was a really wise thing to do from a merchandising standpoint to reaffirm the distinction between a legal and an illegal drug,” he said. “They are protecting their own economic self interest.”

The alcohol lobby’s $10,000 donation to the ‘No on Prop. 19' campaign is one of the largest monetary donations received by Public Safety First, third only to the $30,000 donated by the California Police Chief’s Association and the $20,500 donated by the California Narcotics Officers Association. (Want to ask PSF campaign manager Tim Rosales why an organization called Public Safety First accepts funding from the pushers of a product that is responsible for immeasurable public safety costs? You can do so by going here.) Last month, the East Bay Express reported total financial contributions to the Prop. 19 campaign were well ahead of those reported for Public Safety First, which at that time had only raised $61,000, with just one citizen donor.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that the The California Beer & Beverage Distributors have targeted their alcohol profits to oppose drug law reform in the Golden State. In 2008, the booze lobby donated a much larger amount — $100,000 in fact — to defeat Prop. 5, The Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, which among other things would have reduced criminal marijuana possession penalties from a misdemeanor to a non-criminal infraction. (The measure failed 40 percent to 60 percent.) Could it be that the alcohol lobby is fearful of the day when they will have to legally compete with a natural product that is remarkably safe, non-toxic, and won’t leave you with a hangover? Do we even have to ask?

I’ll give the final word to DrugWarRant blogger extraordinaire Pete Guither who says it best, “If you’re opposed to Prop 19, you’re on the side of the narcs, the cartels, the sheriffs, and the booze industry.”
--------------------------------------------------

Now isn't that a pisser? The industry that markets the drug that kills thousands of Americans every year, makes tens of thousands more sick and is responsible for most violent conduct is lobbying to keep pot illegal. I wonder why.

But there's no reason to wonder why America's narcs, the scumbags of law enforcement, want to keep it illegal. Because if it is legalized most of them will be back on routine patrol and some of them will be on the unemployment line or back driving a truck or reading utility meters -- if they're lucky.

The drug warriors have been quiet about the Proposition 19 issue for too long. They've been laying low. I haven't heard from Califano, Bennett, McCaffery or any of the other whores of the booze, pharmaceutical, narc and prison industries but this looks like the first shot in what I believe will be a barrage of Reefer Madness nonsense consisting of some tiny, insignificant truths, some artful exaggerations and a lot of creative bullshit which the average low IQ voter is typically receptive to.

Hopefully the informed people of California who have seen fit to pressure their representatives into putting Prop. 19 on the ballot will keep up the pressure and get it passed.

Try reading this board's copyright policy. Fix this shit or I will.

 

[Lumpy 1]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

Nothings going to heal California economic problems as long as legislators are suckholing the Unions, over regulating and taxing businesses and driving them out of the state.

I also think legalizing pot sets a poor example for our children... and so does being a drunk for that matter..

 

[hjmick]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

No bet.

What I find somewhat amazing is the fact that people didn't know this already. I doesn't take a genius to realize that the two biggest peddlers of artificial good feelings, alcohol and psych meds, don't like competition in a market they control exclusively.

 

[Luissa]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

It could save Washington State economic problems too.

 

[MikeK]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

You would win that bet.

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

No doubt about that. But I'm not very optimistic. The opposition has begun its campaign and I heard today that they're looking for support from Obama and I believe they will get it. He voiced opposition to legalization in his first town hall speech, in spite of the fact that the two-faced bastard was implicitly pro marijuana during the campaign.

But, we'll see.

 

[MikeK]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

Nothings going to heal California economic problems as long as legislators are suckholing the Unions, over regulating and taxing businesses and driving them out of the state.

I also think legalizing pot sets a poor example for our children... and so does being a drunk for that matter..

Legalizing pot not only does not set a poor example for children, as evidenced by The Netherlands example in which decriminalization in 1976 has resulted in a reduction in use by minors, it makes marijuana more difficult for minors to obtain, as per the example of alcohol and tobacco.

 

[MikeK]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

It could save Washington State economic problems too.

If California can get Proposition 19 passed I am certain that most if not all of the states will follow in time.

It is estimated that around 40 million Americans use marijuana on a fairly regular basis, meaning about one ounce a month. While I haven't bought any marijuana since 1980 I understand that the current per ounce price ranges from $200 to $500, depending on quality. That's quite a bit of money to be piped to criminal syndicates.

If marijuana were legal the price could be significantly reduced, the quality and purity increased, and a substantial tax attached. Imagine the revenue available from approximately 40 million ounces of marijuana sold per month in the U.S., each producing a tax of $25 to $50.

It could resolve the Deficit while still giving the individual states a healthy piece of the action.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Big Alcohol Backs ‘No on Prop. 19' Campaign

Posted: 16 Sep 2010 09:01 AM PDT

California campaign finance reports disclose that The California Beer & Beverage Distributors Association is one of the primary financial backers of Public Safety First, sponsors of the ‘No on Prop. 19' campaign.

Booze Lobby Funding the No on 19 Campaign
via The East Bay Express

The California Beer & Beverage Distributors disclosed it donated $10,000 to defeat Prop 19 — which would regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol. The alcohol lobbyist’s funds will help spread the lie that employers must tolerate stoned employees, and the talking point that ‘California doesn’t need another legal, mind-altering substance.’ Alcohol causes an estimated $38 billion in costs in California each year from emergency room visits, arrests, etc, according to the Marin Institute. There are roughly 3,500 deaths annually from alcohol-related illness and more than 109,000 alcohol-related injuries in California. Conversely, pot caused 181 emergency room visits in 2008, according to a study by the non-partisan RAND Corporation, despite being used by more than four million Californians monthly.

Read the full story here: Big Alcohol Backs ‘No on Prop. 19′ Campaign | NORML Blog, Marijuana Law Reform

Amazing......the folks, who's product has given us drunken bar-fighters, have an issue with a product that produces the opposite-effect.

It's gotta be the old-guard hierarchy (within the alcohol-industry) that sees the conflict.

Gimme a party where there's beer & Pot, rather than one with alcohol (ONLY), any day!!

 

[Mr. Shaman]

You know, we have so many problems and people are obsessed with marijuana.

Do you honestly think it's going to matter if marijuana is legal if we can't afford food?

You actually believe legal-Pot is going to interfere with food-distribution?????



When Pot goes legal, nationwide (...'cause there's NO WAY it'll stop, after California), it'd be best to modify your investment-portfolio!!!

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Just think of all the money we could raise in revenue if we legalized break ins and robbery? Just tax it, require a license. I mean MILLIONS of robberies and home break ins occur every year, we will never eradicate it. Think of the revenue we could get by simply ignoring morals and legalizing it.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

Nothings going to heal California economic problems as long as legislators are suckholing the Unions, over regulating and taxing businesses and driving them out of the state.

I also think legalizing pot sets a poor example for our children...

I'd say a more-appropriate example, for children, would be the downside of LYING....

 

[Lumpy 1]

I bet ya PHARMA is against it as well....?

marijuana legalization could heal California's economic problems, not hurt it?

Nothings going to heal California economic problems as long as legislators are suckholing the Unions, over regulating and taxing businesses and driving them out of the state.

I also think legalizing pot sets a poor example for our children...

I'd say a more-appropriate example, for children, would be the downside of LYING....

So what are you saying here..

My children .. I'm high on pot (whatever, some percentage of your life) because it's better to life your life in an unnatural state, so I recommend it to you and the best part is, I don't have to feel guilty about it because the government says it's okay... ..

I'm no angel, I went through that phase, I could see occasional use, if fact, I kinda miss it at times, at the beach, fishing on a lake, listening to music, other times but unless it's kind of a special occasion, it's just another bad habit and a poor example of a lifestyle in my opinion..

 

[johnrocks]

No surprise there, I'm sure the drug dealers, drug cartels and others who make money and get power off the War on Drugs opposes this passing too.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Time to bring back hemp. Food, clothing, paper and fuel

 

[Charles_Main]

Just think of all the money we could raise in revenue if we legalized break ins and robbery? Just tax it, require a license. I mean MILLIONS of robberies and home break ins occur every year, we will never eradicate it. Think of the revenue we could get by simply ignoring morals and legalizing it.

This is the best you got? Comparing and Herb to Break ins and Robbery?

lol