Received your invitation to the war
I sent it back so please don't send no more


Michael Craig-Martin, Common History, 1999

* Legalize it, control it and tax the living hell out of it. excerpt:

"Larry Campbell has seen the effects of Canada's marijuana prohibition laws first-hand, as an RCMP drug officer for eight years and as chief coroner of B.C. before his election as mayor of Vancouver in 2002.

"He figures the drug should be legalized, controlled -- and taxed like tobacco.

"'There is no question that there is violence tied to the grow-ops. There is violence involved in the criminal gangs that run them,' Campbell says.

"'The time is here that we should simply take this out of the criminal element and regulate it. The idea that marijuana is virtually any of the things that the drug warriors in the United States say is ludicrous.

"'They're much like the Conservative government -- they don't believe in scientific fact.

"'The fact of the matter is that if we regulated it, we would probably find ourselves in much the same way as we are with tobacco right now.

"But Campbell is against simply decriminalizing the drug.

"'I don't support that because it sends out a real mixed message. It says to those that use it, 'This is not a problem, but we're not going to make it legal.'

"'And it says to the drug gangs, 'Congratulations, you just moved up to a new notch here. Nothing's going to happen to your customers, so you can grow it and sell it as much as you want.'

"'It's just a simpler form of prohibition.

"'I don't think that Little Johnny should have a record [for marijuana use] and I don't think he should be barred from going anywhere [because of a criminal record].

"'Just take a look at Prohibition in the United States with alcohol. It's as simple as that.

"'I would be hard-pressed to find any people that I know who haven't smoked marijuana and I can tell you that I don't have any of them to my knowledge who are addicted to any other drugs or marijuana.'

"Campbell says one thing has convinced opponents marijuana should be illegal: ideology.

"'It's all ideology -- if they're wrong on this, then what else are they wrong on? They won't even allow hemp. That's how stupid these people are -- and they are stupid. I describe [White House drug czar John] Walters as a moron, and he is truly a moron.'"
...
"Campbell says 'there's no question' Canada's marijuana laws are dictated by the U.S. war on drugs.

"'We dance entirely to their tune. We're afraid of what will happen if we ever legalize marijuana.'"

* RIP Normal Mailer: Why we shoud weep for him.

* Vintage alcohol ads featuring movie stars.

* "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." --Robert Frost