Dear Larry, Sorry for taking your professor position for a minute. :-) You always seem to be coming up with encyclopedia facts, just thought you might like to know a little more about hemp. And, my son moved out this morning, so maybe I am too serious.

Hi Larry, Only it is a very serious subject as hundreds of thousands of people are in jail and billions of tax dollars are wasted for marijuana when it is not anywhere as bad as cigarettes or alcohol. Marijuana had been studied for 435 years when I started my research on it in 1964 and there has been a lot more research done on it since. NO research has proven it should be illegal! I have NEVER found ONE anti-marijuana study proving it should be illegal which has been conducted under strict scientific requirements for a valid study which has then has been replicated by another facility. The facts are that in cultures which have smoked marijuana for generation after generation with NO ill effects! In a study conducted in Jamaica, they only difference between those who smoked marijuana and those who did not smoke it was those who smoked it had been arrested LESS often AND had BETTER night vision than those who did not smoke it. Marijuana has been used to effectively treat MANY different medical problems and were it not for the Anti-marijuana IDIOTS much more research would have been done on it which I am sure would have found ever more positive uses for it. The facts are the AMA was AGAINST it being made illegal in the first place! In an average year 900 people die from aspirin while ZERO people die from marijuana! So we have a crop which could be used for all kinds of good things. Marijuana could be used to treat various medical problems. And those who care to use marijuana for recreational uses have as much RIGHT to do so as does ANYONE who drinks alcohol or smokes cigarettes does. (So if YOU smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol do not be a hypocrite and say marijuana should be illegal.) Hundreds of thousands of people in jail, people die & lives are ruined, all FOR NO LOGICAL OR RATIONAL REASONS! The FACTS are Marijuana was made illegal by a conspiracy of a high ranking government bureaucrat (Anslinger - may not be spelled correctly) who was going to lose his power and some big business interests (Mellon Bank, DuPont Chemical and Hearst newspapers) who would lose money were marijuana not made illegal. And it took perjured testimony to congress to get it done as they were told the AMA supported it being made illegal when they were actually against it! Being my informed, blunt, truthful and very un-diplomatic little self, I will state: Anyone who says marijuana should remain illegal are either ignorant of SUFFICIENT FACTS OR they are just TOO damn STUPID to be able to comprehend the facts. So those of you who want to learn the TRUTH about POT, check this out as a starting place: http://www.illuminati-news.com/marijuana-conspiracy.htm

Neil, I won't argue the bulk of your post because I'm insufficiently qualified to do so. I do, however, have to take exception to your statement that not one person has died from marijuana. Unless you are deliberately excluding those who die in automobile and other accidents because someone was operating heavy machinery (including automobiles) while impaired. I would venture a guess that more will die when some of the homes and businesses around here collapse because the majority of the workforce who are building them are impaired more often than they are not. By the way, you need to count the guys who die from falling off of construction jobs because of it. Before you bring it up, I'm not saying that alcohol isn't just as bad. Nor am I arguing one way or the other about illegality continuing or not continuing. However, just because it may not be clinically harmful or poisonous doesn't mean people don't die from it. Cheri PS, Larry, sorry for being serious in your forum.

Hi Neil, I choose not to drug my body (anymore)so I have no reason for wanting marijuana "leagle" but would like the tax benefits. Can you imagine the money the government could rake in with a sales tax on marijuana??!! And Teriffs for importing? We could almost do away with Income taxes! Why do you think Geo was so well liked around town?

Cheri, You are right, you have NO CLUE what you are talking about! I have been studying marijuana for OVER 40 years. I researched it for at least a year & a half before I ever tried it. Since I did not know how to properly inhale, it took me several times (3 to 5) before it ever had any effect on me. (So Clinton was not lying about that either.) And I have continued to read about, study it and it's effects ever since. People who smoke and/or eat a sufficient amount of it for it to affect them have 3 results. 1. A small percent become paranoid. They should NOT ingest it. 2. It makes another small percent very steeply. They should not use it unless they want to go to sleep. 3. MOST people get an INCREASE in their enjoyment of food, music, dancing, sex, lights, and other enjoyable things. (It really makes NO difference if they actually do or not as they perceive they do.) Yes, their reaction times slow down and they should not do things which require quick reaction times. That said, I would MUCH RATHER be in an airplane with a pilot who is high on marijuana than a pilot who has a really bad hangover. As far as some house or building coming down due to someone being stoned when they built it is one of the biggest total BS stories around. I DARE YOU TO PROVIDE ANY PROOF OF THAT EVER HAPPENING! I wonder if you understand what the term "DIRECT RESULT" means. If someone gets drunk, drives a car, gets in an accident and dies, it is NOT a "direct result" of drinking alcohol! IT IS a direct result of them driving when they should not have been. On the other hand, if a person gets a quart of vodka, drinks the whole thing and dies from alcohol poisoning, THAT is a DIRECT RESULT of dying from alcohol! IF a person driving a car gets distracted lighting a cigarette and has an accident which kills someone, is the cigarette the cause of the death? NO, it is not! IF a person driving a car gets distracted talking on a cell phone and has an accident is the cell phone the cause of the accident? NO, it is not! OR, in the above instances, is it the inattention of the driver which caused the accident? In ALL the cases, it WAS the DRIVERS INATTENTION which caused the accident! An accident caused by someone high on marijuana is NOT the fault of the marijuana, it is the fault of the driver not paying sufficient attention to their driving. It is NOT, in any way, a "DIRECT RESULT" of ingesting marijuana. An AVERAGE of 900 people A YEAR DIE as a DIRECT RESULT of taking ASPIRIN! They do not die because they take an aspirin and then falls down the stairs or whatever. Nope, it WAS the Aspirin which killed them. My mother died as a DIRECT RESULT of her smoking cigarettes! NO ONE, IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, HAS EVER DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF INGESTING MARIJUANA!!!! PERIOD! END OF STORY! And that is NOT some mere uninformed "opinion" IT IS A FACT!