I believe the debate about legalization of marijuana will pivot around whether we have the right to celebrate life with intoxicants and I use the term loosely as marijuana has a very low toxicity when compared to alcohol or tobacco. The most compelling arguments against legalization are that we do not have the right to use intoxicants that are not accepted by the majority or authorized by a doctor. It’s as if there were some huge moral difference between using alcohol and marijuana. Some say that using marijuana makes people do stupid things, but doesn’t alcohol do the same thing to a larger degree? How many of you have heard someone say hold my beer and watch this, or seen or heard about people drinking and driving? How about people who drink and become mean or violent? From my experience, I would say that alcohol leads to far more violent and risky behavior than marijuana. I read a comment following a pro marijuana article and the reader said that if tobacco were not already legal, it would be impossible to get it legalized and I believe the same could said for alcohol. A large number of people believe that everything that is bad for us or perceived to be bad should be banned by legislation, that government is here to solve all the ills of society and to protect us from ourselves. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the objection is for moral grounds or just because they believe it is bad for our health or that we may endanger others. In fact a woman who is very dear to me recently told me that products like 5-Hour Energy should be banned because she had heard in the news about some young person whose death was linked to the product. Cities are passing legislation limiting our choices about where we can smoke, even forbidding smoking tobacco on personal property owned by the smoker. Other cities have passed laws against lemonade stands, home gardens, raw milk and laws limiting the size of sugary drinks we may buy. It is disturbing to me just how much support this type of legislation gets. I believe that the people who support this type of legislation do so believing they are helping us. The problem is that prohibition of marijuana causes more harm to society and the individual than the drug does just like the prohibition of alcohol did. Are we so bad at making personal choices that even as adults society must take those choices from us? Isn’t our freedom more important than that?

I do like the idea of our government giving us factual information to help us make better choices and I believe education is key to reducing many of the problems in society like, drug addiction, poverty and even health problems like diabetes and obesity. But I do not like the idea of a few elected officials making those decisions for me. If we are not allowed to make decisions about our own health and safety we are not free at all.

Throughout history people have used intoxicants to celebrate life and as long as we do so in a responsible manner, as adults, we should have that right. Consider the first recorded miracle by Jesus (JOHN 2:1-10) where he turned water into wine at a wedding celebration. Even that would likely be illegal today. Could a person make 120 to 180 gallons of wine today without a license and not get cross with the government. It would likely depend on where you live and who knew about it. The worst thing about the federal marijuana ban is they leave us no place to go. It is illegal everywhere. Even people in states who have legalized marijuana for medical purposes face opposition from the federal government. As long as we support that kind of interference in our lives it will continue. Inaction on our part is seen as approval. If we want to be free to make those decisions for ourselves we must speak out, and if our elected officials do not heed our desires then we must try to replace them with representatives who will. America is our home too and our freedom is just as important as anyone elses. Lets make 2013 the year for change. Call or write to your Congressmen, Senators and President, and tell them to restore our freedom and end the war against marijuana.

http://house.gov/

http://www.senate.gov/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Randy Johnson

itsmycountrytoo.org

I just watched a video at infowars.com about President Obama authorizing the Justice Department to confiscate firearms from anyone caught abusing drugs or alcohol. http://www.infowars.com/new-attack-on-2nd-amendment-obama-says-substance-abusers-cannot-own-firearms/ In effect you might lose your right to bear arms and have all your firearms confiscated for a public intoxication charge. The thing about confiscated property is that it is difficult to prove your property innocent which is required to get it returned to you and you do not have to be found guilty of any crime to have your property confiscated. Property does not have the presumption of innocence that we as citizens are supposed to have as a constitutional right along with the right to bear arms. Actually it has been illegal for anyone who uses any illicit drug or has an alcohol addiction to own firearms or ammunition since the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act which made several amendments to the Gun Control Act of 1968. Marijuana users and people with any drinking problem became felon criminals at that time if they owned a firearm. The police so far have mostly used this law against anyone caught in possession of a firearm while being arrested for possession or sale of illegal drugs or DUI arrests. Now it seems if you are arrested they will ask if you own any firearms or they may already know and confiscate all of your firearms and ammunition and impose more charges against you for possessing illegal firearms.

People who choose to use marijuana have been persecuted and prosecuted for little if any reason for a very long time starting in 1937 at the federal level with a campaign against marijuana based on lies and scare tactics to protect Randolph Hurst and the Dupont company from competition. That continued until 1972 when Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs with marijuana as “public enemy number one”. That war has been waged without any violent protests from marijuana users to this day that I am aware of and yet in 1986, 14 years after our government declared war on us they decided since they were at war with us they should make it illegal for us to own firearms or ammunition. Still no violent protests about our rights being taken away without trial or representation, and now they want to escalate this war against a peaceful portion of society by taking our firearms from our homes so we will be defenseless. Soon we will no longer be able to hide our marijuana use due to the increased surveillance becoming available to local police. Police will soon have the use of high-resolution spy drones, a laser powered molecular scanner that can tell if you use or posses any illegal drugs or alcohol from a distance of 50 meters and will be able to scan large numbers of people simultaneously and pinpoint people in possession of firearms. They will also have the ability to read all your texts and email and track your location for months or even years without making you aware. We will in essence have nowhere to hide and no-knock warrants are becoming much too common.

If you think it can’t get any worse the Department of Homeland Security which seems to control all of the Justice Department is in the process of purchasing enough ammunition to fight a large drawn out war. I fear this election may signal an end of freedom as we know it. President Obama said in his first presidential campaign that he wanted a Federal Police Force as large and well equipped as our military. It may already be in place if he can use our national guard to disarm us as they did the citizens of New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

We don’t have a very good choice for president in my opinion. While I liked some of the ideas that Ron Paul presented, trying to play fair with the Republicans seems to have taken him out of the race. Mitt Romney is really the only candidate that presents any serious competition to Obama at this time and his policies are a lot like Obama’s policies in many ways. Both are very anti-drug including marijuana. While Mitt Romney has stated that he will fight the legalization of marijuana tooth and nail, President Obama has a more subversive approach. It seems he will tell you one thing and then do the opposite, like when he said he wouldn’t use the Justice Department to circumvent state medical marijuana laws while he actually increased the interdiction of medical marijuana. He has also said that the war on drugs is a failure yet marijuana arrests are at an all time high under his regime. Mitt Romney is more in favor of gun ownership that President Obama. Both candidates are in favor of government-run health care, Romney just wants to change it to suit himself. Both candidates favor more government control and regulation of our personal lives, just in different ways.Their foreign policies are also similar in their hawkish attitude toward promoting democracy. I just wish they were more in favor of personal freedom.

I have been impressed with Gary Johnson the Libertarian candidate but he has a very slim chance of winning. He is in favor of gun ownership as a basic right. Johnson supports the legalization of marijuana and the restoration of the Constitution as our guide to self-government. Johnson also supports a non-intervention foreign policy platform and fiscal responsibility from our government. Many have said that a vote for an independent will only secure a victory for Obama by taking votes away from the only serious contender. Vote for the lesser of two evils they say. Well I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. Both Democrats and Republicans have been marching us down the road to a bigger more intrusive government and our rights are being whittled away faster than I ever imagined possible. Together they have driven our country to the brink of financial ruin and show no sign of changing course. They have a strangle hold on our government and have made independent candidates virtually unelectable with campaign laws stacked against competition, yet our only real hope for change that brings us back to the principles established by our Declaration of Independence and Constitution is to seek leaders who share those values and will fight to preserve our freedom. The most sacred trust we have in our elected officials is that they protect our freedom. Freedom I might add that was paid for with the blood of our fellow Americans. I believe Gary Johnson is such a man.

http://www.barackobama.com/

http://www.mittromney.com/

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/

Whatever your political beliefs are, I implore you to register and vote. It is not the majority of the people who win elections but the majority of those who vote and way too many Americans do not vote, or they vote without knowing what the candidates stand for. To ensure a free America for our children and their children we must take control of our nation back from the Republicans and the Democrats. A candidate who owes allegiance to a political party or the lobbyist that fund their campaigns may not have your best interest at heart.

Please call or write to your Congressmen, Senators and the President and tell them you want an end to the war on marijuana and our freedom restored. If we don’t take a stand for our freedom we will continue to lose it.

Randy Johnson

itsmycountrytoo.org

According to an article in The Daily Beast by Martin A Lee, marijuana fights cancer and helps manage side effects. Cristina Sanchez at Complutense University in Madrid was studying cell metabolism and had been screening brain cancer cells because they grow faster than normal cells when she noticed that the cancer cells that were exposed to THC (tetrahydrocanabinol) the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana the cancer cells died. In 1998 she reported her findings in Q Sensei Scholar a European biochemistry journal that THC “induces apoptosis in C6 glioma cells” an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Subsequent peer-reviewed studies in several counties have shown that THC and other cannabinoids are effective not only in treating cancer treatment symptoms such as nausea, pain, loss of appetite and fatigue, they also have a direct antitumoral effect. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aLRKiCeoXoRQ
A team of Spanish scientists led by Manuel Guzman conducted the first clinical trial assessing the antitumoral action of THC on human beings. Nine patients who had failed to respond to traditional treatment were administered pure THC via catheter directly into the glioblastoma tumors. The THC significantly reduced cell proliferation in all cases. http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v95/n2/abs/6603236a.html
Also a study by Harvard University scientists reported that THC slows tumor growth in common lung cancer and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread. It is also noted that the THC targets only the tumor cells and leaves healthy cells unharmed. Conventional chemotherapy drugs are indiscriminately toxic to all cells good and bad. https://webmail.iac.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=xXJCNmUHZEOunAel7Z7wwa4Xo95oX88IHxulyb1Ju4OgmVcMxaSKBx-ixJjswmu1pYyaPUF5hkU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.nature.com%2fbjc%2fjournal%2fv95%2fn2%2fabs%2f6603236a.html
Mounting evidence reported in Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry shows that cannabinoids represent a new class of anti-cancer drugs that retard cancer growth, inhibit angiogenesis (the formation of blood vessels that feed a tumor) and the metastatic spreading of cancer cells. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/11/18/fda-revokes-breast-cancer-drug.html
https://webmail.iac.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=xXJCNmUHZEOunAel7Z7wwa4Xo95oX88IHxulyb1Ju4OgmVcMxaSKBx-ixJjswmu1pYyaPUF5hkU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.thedailybeast.com%2fcheats%2f2011%2f11%2f18%2ffda-revokes-breast-cancer-drug.html
Dr Sean McAllister a scientist at the Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco backed by grants for cancer treatment research by the National Institute of Health and licensed by the DEA has determined that CBD a non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, and tumor growth. It seems to work by turning off expression of the ID-1 gene. The ID-1 gene is important in embryonic development after which it shuts off. In breast cancer and dozens of other cancers this ID-1 gene expression is turned on again. Dr McAllister postulates that CBD by its ability to silence ID-1 expression, could be a breakthrough anti-cancer medication. His research has also shown that CBD acts synergistically with various anti-cancer pharmaceuticals by enhancing their impact while reducing the toxic dosage necessary for maximum effect. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18025276
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/22/in-marijuana-legalization-hard-truths-for-all-sides-of-the-debate.html
https://webmail.iac.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=xXJCNmUHZEOunAel7Z7wwa4Xo95oX88IHxulyb1Ju4OgmVcMxaSKBx-ixJjswmu1pYyaPUF5hkU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.thedailybeast.com%2farticles%2f2012%2f07%2f22%2fin-marijuana-legalization-hard-truths-for-all-sides-of-the-debate.html
Investigators at St George’s University in London observed similar findings with THC which magnified traditional antileukemia therapies in preclinical studies. THC and CBD both induce apoptosis in leukemia cell lines.
At the annual summer conference of the International Cannabinoid Research Society held in Freiburg, Germany, 300 scientists from around the world met and discussed their latest findings showing the curative properties of THC and other cannabinoids in treating cancers and other degenerating diseases. Italian investigators described CBD as “the most efficacious inducer of apoptosis” in prostate cancer. British researchers at Lancaster University claimed similar results with colon cancer.

Growing and hard to ignore evidence shows that marijuana has a place in modern medicine and our governments steadfast refusal to accept any evidence indicating palliative or curative effects from the use of marijuana is akin to an ostrich sticking its head in the sand.
I urge you to call or write to your Congressmen and Senators and the President of these United States and tell them to either support medical marijuana research or just get the hell out of the way. To deny the sick and dying those things that make life a little easier and ease their suffering is nothing short of barbaric.

Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

Common Sense For Drug Policy has a large selection of pro-marijuana print ads ready for publishing. These ads cover a broad spectrum of arguments and evidence supporting the legalization effort. If any of you would like to see one of these adds in your local paper I’m sure you could pay them to run it even though they are public service ads.They can be found at. http://www.csdp.org/publicservice/

MPP.org has several radio ads available as public service broadcasts. Gary Johnson the former Governor of New Mexico and The Libertarian candidate for President speaks about medical marijuana. Judge Jim Gray of the California Supreme Court speaks about  how marijuana prohibition does harm to society and individuals. Montel Williams, Angel Raich and Tom Robbins give testimony about medical marijuana. There are a few  other commercials, one about a quiz show, another about government research showing that marijuana does not cause cancer and a woman explaining how she would rather the profits from her marijuana use go to our government instead of organized crime to fund schools and roads. Also featured are a myriad of videos and a television commercial titled (It Shouldn’t be a Crime)  as part of California’s Voter Education Project.  http://www.mpp.org/media/radio-public-service-announcements.html

Norml.org and MPP.org have their own Youtube channel and Norml.org has audio podcasts available for your mobile devices. While I am sure I have just scratched the surface, of information and ads ready for broadcast or publishing, it is a place to start. I have a few ideas about commercials to put into video format but I am not there yet. These are ready to air products that we could put in front of our opposition now.

As I have discussed before I believe public opinion will play a large part in any consideration of the legalization of marijuana at the Federal level. The easiest and most effective way to accomplish that is through advertising, whether it is word of mouth, publications, people distributing flyers, or commercial advertising using television, internet and radio. Common Sense for Drug Policy and The Marijuana Policy Project run these ads as public service ads (not paid) and I would like to see them run more often and in more locations and seen by more people. The only way to accomplish that is to pay people to run the ads. I am not sure of the rules concerning paid advertisements from non-profit organizations trying to influence legislation, but some of the ads I have seen would be a great way to reach people who would not otherwise look at anything pro-marijuana. Most people don’t change the channel just because they hate the commercials so it would be a way to address people who have no interest in our movement and possibly change some minds. And as I mentioned before, advertising is expensive, but if we really want change, we are going to have to pry our wallets open and pay to have our voice heard. Please give generously and often to get these advertisements in front of the people who are opposed to marijuana or call your local newspaper and have them run it. Public opinion matters. The little bit of advertising I have done has already met resistance, with people refusing to run the ads, and I expect more resistance in the future. There are many who would silence our voice if they can and some even have federal funding, such as DrugFreeAmerica.org. So when you call or write your Congressmen and Senators and President, you might ask that they quit funding advertisements in opposition to freedom and stick to honest education about all drugs including alcohol and legalize marijuana.

Randy Johnson

itsmycountrytoo.org

Marijuana really is safer than alcohol or tobacco in almost all categories. In fact in my opinion marijuana is the safest recreational drug available anywhere. While I do not consider marijuana to be benign, I do believe it is safe to use casually. As with any drug, marijuana should be used in moderation and with caution. Driving or operating machinery should be avoided until a person knows how they are going to react under the influence of marijuana. I would not recommend smoking anything to anyone with respiratory problems although some studys claim marijuana may be beneficial for asthma. I would not recommend marijuana to anyone with psychological problems either.
Just because a substance alters our consciousness is not enough reason to say it is bad or harmful. And just because people use mind altering substances is not in itself irresponsible behavior.
People have been using alcohol for thousands of years, medicinally and for recreation as well, and yet it is tolerated by society to a large degree. While some people abuse alcohol and some are even driven to violence under its use, we as a society have chosen to live with those problems to retain the right to celebrate life with alcohol. It is the catalyst for social interaction for many, just a way to relax after a hard day for many more, it is used for celebration and to drown sorrow. For some it is also a sacrament. Whatever reason we choose to use alcohol, if it is used in moderation and responsibly, it is usually not a problem for the user or society. The same is true for marijuana. People use marijuana as a social catalyst, to relax and to celebrate and for the most part it causes no problems for the user or society.
The high feeling people get with alcohol and marijuana are very similar in that they often feel similar. But the medical or health effects are very different. Alcohol has a diminishing effect on our reaction and coordination, that is why people who overindulged often stumble and fall or slur their speech. When we drink alcohol our bodies process it in our livers where alcohol is metabolized into acetaldehyde which is carcinogenic and toxic. Our livers then convert acetaldehyde into acetate which is harmless at the rate of about 1 drink per hour. If we drink to fast or too much the liver gets behind and acetalehyde builds up in our system and causes damage. Alcohol is also a central nervous system depressant and can shut down the areas of the brian responsible for consciousness and breathing, making passing out and asphyxiation possible. This also makes it possible to overdose and die from excessive consumption. While this is uncommon even among binge drinkers, it does happen. The amount of alcohol needed for a lethal dose could easily be held in one hand. Marijuana on the other hand is not a central nervous system depressant and has no known lethal dose. It might make you pass out if used in excess but you would likely awaken latter feeling fine. Marijuana does not seem to be toxic to humans and the danger of COPD and Cancer have been largely discounted by Dr. Donald Tashkin in a 30 year study of marijuana and tobacco use on pulmonary function at the University of California. A study which indicates marijuana may even have some curative effect on certain types of cancer and tumors. In the same study tobacco was found to increase the chances of cancer and COPD. Marijuana does effect motor skills like alcohol but to a much smaller degree. Marijuana also leaves its user with an acute awareness of this diminished motor control and most marijuana users compensate for this by being more careful and slowing down. While I would not recommend driving under the influence of either drug, people who use alcohol tend to think they can drive just as well and tend to drive faster when under the influence, while people who drive under the influence of marijuana are aware of diminished ability and tend to slow down and be more cautious.
From DRUGWARFACTS.org I found this information
Marijuana – Driving – 4-28-12
(marijuana – driving) “There is considerable evidence from laboratory studies that cannabis (marijuana) impairs reaction time, attention, tracking, hand-eye coordination, and concentration, although not all of these impairments were equally detected by all studies (Couper & Logan, 2004a; Heishman, Stitzer, & Yingling, 1989; Gieringer, 1988; Moskowitz, 1985). In reviewing the literature on marijuana, Smiley (1998) concluded that marijuana impairs performance in divided attention tasks (i.e., a poorer performance on subsidiary tasks). Jones et al. (2003) adds that Smiley’s finding is relevant to the multitasking essence of driving, in particular by making marijuana impaired drivers perhaps less able to handle unexpected events. Interestingly, there is also evidence showing that, unlike alcohol, marijuana enhances rather than mitigates the individual’s perception of impairment (Lamers & Ramaekers, 1999; Robbe & O’Hanlon, 1993; Perez-Reyes, Hicks, Bumberry, Jeffcoat, & Cook, 1988). Robbe and O’Hanlon (1993) reported that in laboratory conditions, drivers under the influence of marijuana were aware of their impairment, which led them to decrease speed, avoid passing other vehicles, and reduce other risk-taking behaviors. Such was not the case with alcohol; for the authors reported that alcohol-impaired drivers were generally not aware of impairment, and therefore did not adjust their driving accordingly.”

Source:
Lacey, John H.; Kelley-Baker, Tara; Furr-Holden, Debra; Voas, Robert B.; Romano, Eduardo; Ramirez, Anthony; Brainard, Katharine; Moore, Christine; Torres, Pedro; and Berning, Amy , “2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers,” Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (Calverton, MD: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, December 2009), p. 9.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/Traffic%20Injury%20Control/Articles/Assoc…

(1999 – causes of death – marijuana safety) “Indeed, epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality.”

Source:
Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A Benson, Jr., “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base,” Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), p. 109.
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309071550&page=109

(1998 – causes of death – marijuana safety)
“3. The most obvious concern when dealing with drug safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug cause death?

“4. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.

“5. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death.

“6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.

“7. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana’s LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death.

“8. At present it is estimated that marijuana’s LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.

“9. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.”

Source:
US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, “In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition” (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 56-57.
http://druglibrary.net/olsen/MEDICAL/YOUNG/young4.html

I really do not want to leave readers with the idea that I believe using marijuana is harmless. Marijuana like any drug should be used in moderation and within age appropriate guidelines. Control the drug, don’t let it control you. When used to the point where it diminishes social interaction or in any way keeps you from meeting your obligations to yourself or others, I would call abuse, and marijuana like any drug can be abused. The key to legalizing marijuana, is accepting the responsibility.

Please call or write to your Congressmen, Senators and President and ask them to end the war against marijuana.
Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

The question that troubles me the most about the whole prohibition of marijuana thing is this, what is so terrible about using marijuana that society wants to ruin our lives? I’ve thought long and hard on this issue and I still come up empty-handed. Most of the people who use marijuana are just everyday people. We shop together, we eat together in restaurants, our kids go to school with your kids and some of us attend church. In fact it is very likely that someone you love may use marijuana. We see each other at games and movies and nobody seems to notice. Our lives are intertwined and the same things that are important in your lives are the same things that are important in ours. In essence we are just like the rest of society, struggling to pay our bills, trying to keep up with our children and handle the problems in our lives the best we can. The difference is we choose marijuana over alcohol. Is that really enough of a reason to cause us harm?
Please call your Congressmen, Senators and President and ask them to stop the war against marijuana.
Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

I’m not trying to escape life or tune out. Marijuana is like a spice for life to me, like salt on beef or sugar in tea. I don’t smoke to become intoxicated, just to get that special feeling and enjoy my day. Not that the day would not be enjoyed anyway, I just like that feeling. I like the taste and the smell, and I like that it doesn’t make me feel bad the next day like alcohol. I also like that it doesn’t affect my reasoning like alcohol. I don’t believe it makes me stupid, although I do stupid things from time to time. The feeling associated with being high on marijuana is very much like the feeling of being high on alcohol. But that is where the similarities end. While I may be a little less coordinated when high, it would be impossible to smoke enough marijuana to prevent me from walking or performing other simple tasks, as long as I remained awake. Marijuana leaves you with a sense of diminished ability which you compensate for by being more careful or working harder. Marijuana is a very distracting drug and I believe that is why it makes us seem forgetful. All the different strains of marijuana produce a slightly different high. Some strains produce more of a body high and some more of a head high, some strains make you sleepy and some invigorate and some incapacitate. I enjoy doing routine tasks when I’m high such as cleaning the garage or working in the yard, camping, fishing, cooking, etc… I have heard several women tell me it makes housecleaning more enjoyable. I have read many reports about the health effects marijuana has on us and several studies have shown that marijuana use does not seem to increase mortality. I understand that is not definitive proof that marijuana is harmless and I am willing to accept that my health may be harmed by future or past use of marijuana. I don’t feel a need for marijuana in my life, I just like it.
My wife and I raised two children who are now honest hardworking men that are self-sufficient; they treat their wives well and are an asset to society. They respect the government, the rule of law and the rights of others. They are generous and helpful to others in need and kind in spirit. They also have accepted Jesus as their personal savior. I couldn’t be more proud of my children and I give all the credit to them. My wife and I tried to instill a strong moral compass in our children by being a good example, but they decided who and what they wanted to be.
I kept my marijuana use a secret from them when they were young because I didn’t want that to be part of their decision on who they wanted to be, but my discontent with America’s drug policies have always been the same. I don’t believe we deserve to have the power of the Federal Government used to try to ruin our lives. Please don’t hate me because I get high. I’m just trying to get through life just like you.
And from all of us that are closet pot smokers. We’re the people you see at soccer games and football games, the same people you see in the restaurants or at the beach, we go to movies and concerts, we fly kites and play with Frisbees. We like bowling and sports and enjoy other activities. Our children go to school with your children and some of us even go to church with you. Please stop the war against people who choose to use marijuana. We are not your enemies, we’re your neighbors, and with 20 million or so of us, it’s very likely that someone you love uses marijuana. Please call or write to your Congressmen, Senators and President and ask them to stop the war on marijuana.
Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

It seems as though corruption and lawlessness are epidemic. One cannot read or watch news on any given day without being confronted with the latest scandal from our governing officials or some supposedly innocent victim of violence either by the hand of our police or some crazed madman. Is it a lack of laws governing such errant behavior or do we as a society just choose not to obey the laws we have. An article at Reason.com titled (America, The Law-crazed) by John Stossel, claims our prison population has tripled in the last few decades and that America has one of the highest per capita prison populations of any country in the world. Even regimes that Americans associate with being repressive have a lower per capita incarceration rate than America. For example China locks up 121 out of every 100,000 people and Russia 511 out of 100,000 people, while here in America that number is 730 people out of every 100,000 people.
Also in the Reason.com article, according to the Congressional Research Service we have in excess of 160,000 pages of federal laws and are unable to count the laws currently on the federal books with hundreds of pages added weekly and countless more laws at the state and city levels. Any time a sensational crime is in the news our elected officials jump on it in an attempt to capitalize on the publicity and to appear active in fighting crime by demanding harsher penalties and mandatory minimum sentencing and even creating new laws where the existing laws seemed inadequate for the severity of the crime. We have gotten to the point where anyone could be charged with a crime at any given time. We are all criminals at one time or another whether it is from breaking a leash law or rolling through a stop sign. Yet I still believe most of us have respect for the law and wish to be good citizens and honestly care about truth and justice. But how can a nation that claims to be free continue to lock up such a large portion of its people.
In a fair and just society laws are designed to give guidance and set boundaries for people who have no respect for the rights of others or compassion for their fellow-man and to keep us from endangering or harming others. In essence laws should preserve the rights of the weak and poor from being violated by the rich and powerful. When people fail to consider the rights of others, society must act, not only to protect our rights as individuals, but also the order of society. We just can’t tolerate that the strongest person or the person with the most wealth or power should always get their way. Fairness and justice would be lost in such a society where the elite and powerful rule and laws are written to quell dissent and repress freedom or just to give the elite an advantage over the rest of us or when laws are written to control a certain group of people. Unless the law applies to everyone equally, justice is lost.
Early marijuana laws were passed by states to control a certain group of people. It started in the southern states where the Mexican population was migrating north looking for work and brought marijuana with them. As usual in any society, the new people are not readily accepted, sometimes because their customs seem strange to the native population or because they are of a different race. William Randolph Hurst promoted this racial propaganda campaign against marijuana and Mexicans extensively in his vast network of newspapers, not only using sensationalist stories about the horrors of marijuana to promote his racial hatred of the Mexicans, but also to sell more papers and protect his timber/paper empire from competition with hemp. In 1937 the Dupont Company patented a process to make plastics from oil and gas and a new sulfite/sulfate process for making paper from wood pulp. Also Dupont held a new patent for nylon which could be used as a substitute for cellulose fiber in the making of explosives. Hemp and hempseed oil were set to be major competitors to those processes. In fact Popular Mechanics ran an article in February of 1938 claiming hemp to be the new billion dollar crop but the article was written in the spring of 1937 before marijuana was officially banned by the Marijuana Tax Act. Harry J. Anslinger was instrumental in promoting early federal legislation against marijuana often addressing Congress with sensationalist horror stories from Hursts’ newspapers about crimes committed under the influence of marijuana. The misinformation and racial prejudice that William Randolph Hurst and Harry J. Anslinger promoted to further their agenda endure today in many of the same ways. People of color are still arrested and convicted at a much larger proportion than white people in the war against marijuana while people with money are more likely to be released or receive lighter punishments. Since 1960s and on to today young people have embraced marijuana use and have been met with the same kinds of sensational and often untrue allegations of the dangers of marijuana to justify and continue the war against marijuana. In opposition to current evidence on marijuana use, the Reefer Madness school of thought promoted by Hurst and Anslinger is still prevalent among a large portion of society.
A large percentage of our prison populations are there due to the war against marijuana. Even our President who claimed to be a frequent user of marijuana in his youth, at a 2004 appearance at Northwestern University stated “I think the war on drugs has been a failure, and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws”. In 2008 Obama told the Medford Tribune in Oregon “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws on this issue.” “I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that’s entirely appropriate.” It seems Obama’s previous words were just hollow rhetoric as in 2010 more than 850,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana with 88% being for possession alone. Roughly twice as many people are arrested for marijuana today than in the early 80’s although marijuana use is about the same and medical marijuana distributers are frequent targets of raids and property confiscation. I see no change in Federal policy concerning marijuana or medical marijuana. Regardless of empty rhetoric and broken promises, the war against Americans who use marijuana continues and our prison population keeps growing. Even though President Obama acknowledged that legalization is an entirely legitimate topic for debate, our government refuses to acknowledge current scientific evidence about the legitimacy of medical marijuana or evidence showing that marijuana is safer than alcohol when used recreationally. I just wonder who is pulling the strings in this puppet show.
Call or write your Congressmen and Senators and President Obama and tell them to stop this assault on our freedom. The corruption and lawlessness needs to stop at the top first.
Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org

When we discuss the legalization or even rescheduling of marijuana most people would consider that the only people who would benefit from it would be the marijuana users. However as I read news from many sources I find stories unrelated to the use of marijuana where our government at the national and local level has been increasingly passing laws and ordinances dictating our consumption of other things from cigarettes and alcohol to food items and portion size. I just read at MSN Healthy Living that Mayor Bloomberg is at it again, trying to lock up baby formula to promote breast-feeding. The question we need to ask as a society is “How much control do we want our government to have over us or do we want to control our government”.
Most would say some balance would be best and I agree. We need to, as a society, try to promote a healthy lifestyle because that is best for all of society, not just us as individuals. Laws against underage drinking and smoking are good for society and help to ensure that people reach the age of consent before choosing to consume things that may have serious effects on their health. Honest education about the effects unhealthy habits have on our health would likely reduce a lot of unhealthy habits and lifestyles in adults. But we also need to protect individual choice as that is the essence of our freedom. Our right to choose how we live our lives and what risks are acceptable to us as individuals should not be the decision of a politician or bureaucrat.
Many of the things we aspire to do put us at risk of damage to ourselves from injury or illness, such as riding bicycles or rock climbing or eating fast food or even just too much food. We all take risks every day and the decisions we make when we meet those risks define who we are. That is the essence of our freedom, to decide for ourselves what are acceptable risks for us as individuals. Should we cede those decisions to our government or retain that liberty. My thoughts are that if we allow the war against people who use marijuana and those who provide marijuana for the sick and dying to continue, we have given the government a green light to tell us what can or cannot consume.
As a society we must live with the consequences of our laws good and bad. The downside to prohibition is higher crime rates and diminished respect for the law and a reduction in freedom for all. While prohibition may reduce marijuana use to some degree, it does not eliminate it. Laws governing behavior that people believe are unjust will always be ignored. All that is accomplished is that the behavior is pushed out of sight giving the illusion of compliance. But we must address this as a society and suffer the consequences together good and bad. My vote will be on the side of freedom.
Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

I recently read a book titled “Marijuana is Safer So Why Are We Driving Ourselves To Drink” that compared marijuana use to the use of alcohol and tobacco. The book presents compelling evidence from multiple sources showing that marijuana is far safer than either of the legal recreational drugs currently sold in America.
For example The World Health Organization (WHO) in the mid-1990s commissioned a group of scientists to compare the health effects and societal consequences of cannabis use with that of other drugs including alcohol, nicotine and opiates. The researchers concluded: “Overall, most of these risks (associated with marijuana) are small to moderate in size. In aggregate they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco….. On existing patterns of use, cannabis poses a much less serious public health problem than is currently posed by alcohol and tobacco in Western societies” The WHO ultimately removed these findings in the 1997 final report, “Cannabis: A Health Perspective and Research Agenda” after allegedly receiving pressure from the United Sates which argued that such conclusions would undermine its criminal prohibition of marijuana.
A French study at the state medical research institute INSERM published a similar review in 1998. The researchers divided legal and illegal drugs into three categories from those that posed the most danger to society to the drugs with the least impact on society. Alcohol, heroin and cocaine were listed in the most dangerous category and tobacco and hallucinogens were categorized as having a moderate risk to society. Investigators determined that cannabis posed the least risk to public health among all the drugs studied.
A 1989 research advisory panel for the state of California reviewed the health effects of marijuana and alcohol. They concluded “An objective consideration of marijuana shows that it is responsible for less damage to the individual or society than alcohol and cigarettes”. The state’s attorney general refused to publicly release the report.
A 2002 special Canadian senate committee completed an exhaustive review of marijuana and health, finding that “scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue”. The senators concluded their report by asking that cannabis be legalized for consumers age 16 and older. This was ignored by the majority of Parliament.
IN 2007, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare hired a team of scientists to assess the impact of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on public health. “Alcohol harm was responsible for 3.2% of the total burden of disease and injury in Australia,” they concluded “Of the 14 risk factors examined, alcohol was responsible for the greatest amount of burden in males under the age of 45” By comparison, cannabis use was responsible for zero deaths and only 0.2% of the estimated burden of disease and injury in Australia.
The same year a team of experts conducted a similar review for the British medical journal Lancet. They also concluded that alcohol posed a far greater health and safety risk than cannabis.
In 2008 a team of researchers for the British think tank the Beckley Foundation published a report assessing marijuana’s risk to health. They concluded “The public health impact of contemporary patterns of cannabis use are modest by comparison with those of other illicit drugs (such as the opioids) or with alcohol. In the former the case reflects the absence of fatal overdose risk from cannabis. In the latter case, it reflects the much lower risks of death from cannabis than alcohol-impaired driving, fewer adverse effects on health, lower rates of regular use to intoxication for cannabis than alcohol, and the lower rate of persistence of cannabis use into older adulthood”
An interesting note on this book is the forward that was written by Norm Stamper who was previously the Chief of police for the city of Seattle. “He had the habit of asking police officers from around the country two questions. First:” When’s the last time you had a fight with someone under the influence of marijuana? ( And by this I mean marijuana only , not pot plus a six-pack or a fifth of tequila. My colleagues pause; they reflect. Their eyes widen as they realize in their five or fifteen or thirty years on the job they have never had to fight a marijuana user. I then ask, “When’s the last time you had to fight a drunk?” They look at their watches. It’s telling that the booze question is answered in terms of hours, not days or weeks.”
The book is a good read and offers far more information and sources that can be provided in this short article. It was written by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano and Mason Tvert. It is also telling that with the vast amount of information available claiming that marijuana is safer, not only for the individual user but also for society, than alcohol or tobacco our government steadfastly refuses to consider the evidence. Who are they protecting? Big Business? It’s certainly not the users of marijuana.
Call or write your Congressmen, Senators and President and ask them to legalize marijuana and remove this burden from our lives. We are not the enemy, We are Americans.

Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org

The continued war against medical marijuana defies logic on so many levels it is very hard to understand why the United States Government has taken its position on this issue. In July 0f 2011 the DEA ruled again that marijuana had no known medical use yet past investigations and mountains of evidence refute these claims.

In 1972 NORML petitioned the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to have marijuana rescheduled from a Schedule 1 drug. After 16 years of stonewalling by The United States Government a hearing was finally scheduled in September 1988. DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young after hearing extensive testimony from patients and doctors on the medical benefits of marijuana proclaimed “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many of the foods we commonly consume. For example eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.” It was determined that marijuana was effective in controlling nausea associated with chemotherapy and also pain and spasms associated with Multiple Sclerosis. She recommended that marijuana be rescheduled to a Schedule 2 drug and that still has not happened. (Marijuana Rescheduling Petition Docket No. 86-22)

When the Controlled Substances Act became law in 1970 part of the law authorized a special federal commission to complete a comprehensive study into all aspects of marijuana use to confirm that marijuana should remain a schedule 1 drug. After 2 years of study it was claimed to be the most comprehensive study of marijuana ever done in the United States. On March 22 1972 Richard Nixon was presented the report from the study entitled “Marijuana; A Signal of Misunderstanding”. The study refuted the claims by politicians and law enforcement of the negative effects and crime associated with marijuana. It claimed in plain language that marijuana use was not associated with violent behavior and even went on to say that it tends to pacify its users. The report stated that there is little evidence of any physiological or psychological damage to individuals from casual use and emphasized the fact that the overwhelming majority of marijuana users do not progress to other drugs. It also recommended that marijuana be rescheduled and that private possession and use should not be criminalized. It even called for Congress to remove all criminal penalties for possession, use, and sale of the drug. These recommendations were ignored by Richard Nixon and Congress who over the next few months declared war on drugs and labeled marijuana “Public Enemy Number One”.

Justic Gustin Reichbach of the New York state Supreme Court who just died July 14th, had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and he claimed marijuana gave him relief from nausea associated with chemotherapy in a moving op-ed piece in the New York Times this last May. “Because criminalizing an effective medical technique affects the fair administration of justice, I feel obliged to speak out as both a judge and a cancer patient suffering with a fatal disease. I implore the governor and the Legislature of New York, always considered a leader among states, to join the forward and humane thinking of 16 other states and pass the medical marijuana bill this year. Medical science has not yet found a cure, but it is barbaric to deny us access to one substance that has proved to ameliorate our suffering.”

Dr. Donald Tashkin has done an extensive 30 year study of marijuana on pulmonary function at the University of California and reviewed several other similar studies and come to the conclusion that using marijuana does not increase the occurrence of COPD nor does it increase the risks of head, neck or lung cancer even in heavy use. Video testimony by Dr. Tashkin can be seen at http://mmar.ca/multimedia.html. Dr. Tashkin has also stated that he favors the legalization of marijuana. The DEA is still quoting Dr Tashkin’s original hypothesis about marijuana use from about 20 years ago when he stated that marijuana has many of the same carcinogens as tobacco and believed marijuana may cause cancer. Dr Tashkin no longer believes that is true. In fact marijuana has been shown to have a mild cancer fighting effect.

According to reuters.com an Israeli company named Tikun Olam has developed a strain of marijuana called Avidekel with very low THC content but high in CBD (Cannabidiol) that has anti-inflammatory benefits without the psychoactive effects. Ruth Galily who works for the company and has been studying CBD for more than 12 years said CBD has impressive anti-inflammatory properties and can be used for treating diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Colitis, liver inflammation, heart disease and diabetes and has no side effects. Marijuana is used in Israel to treat Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Crohn’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Time Healthland http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/14/10-reasons-to-revisit-marijuana-policy-now/#americans-increasingly-favor-reform recent studies conclude marijuana is effective in treating opioid resistant pain associated with cancer, the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder. Another study concluded CBD another component of marijuana can treat schizophrenia as effective as prescription drugs without the side effects. Also THC and CBD have shown cancer fighting abilities against lung cancer.In the same article studies have found no link to crime associated with medical-marijuana dispensaries and real marijuana is probably far safer than the synthetic cannabinoids sold such as K2 or Spice.

A study title Ganja in Jamaica- A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use by Vera Rubin and Lambros Comitas and sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse found no relation of marijuana use to crime except marijuana arrest, no impairment of motor skills, smokers and nonsmokers had identical work records and a battery of psychological test found no impairment of sensory and perceptual-motor performance, tests of concept formation, abstracting ability and cognitive style and tests of memory. Also the study found that the use of hard drugs is unknown among working class Jamaicans. These studies were confirmed by the 1980 Cannabis in Costa Rica- A study in Chronic Marijuana Use which found no discernible damage to the native population’s chronic marijuana users.

The American Medical Association House of Delegates as of October 16th 2011 is calling for the rescheduling of marijuana to allow for research into medical benefits of marijuana. Melvin Sterling, MD a California Medical Association delegate stated “Schedule 1 is very appropriate for heroin and other noxious substances that have no place in medicine, but cannabinoids are useful drugs. There is compelling research that cannabinoids are helpful in treating the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and in persistent nausea associated with chemotherapy and they may have other uses yet undiscovered. Why are they undiscovered? Because it’s a schedule 1 drug.” The AMA House of Delegates stopped short of endorsing state-based medical marijuana programs and the legalization of marijuana or admitting marijuana meets standards for prescription drugs.

Amednews.com ran an article by Alicia Gallegos June 16 2012 about a handful of governors petitioning the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to have marijuana reclassified. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire and Rhodde Island Governor Lincoln Chefee had signed the petition as of Dec 2011. Colorado Governor John Hinkenlooper’s administration has made a similar request. According to Gregoire, poll after poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans now see medical marijuana as legitimate with an ever-growing number of doctors telling thousands of patients that they might find relief in the use of marijuana. http://www.amaassn.org/amednews/2012/01/16/gvsc0116.htm#top

According to The Sacramento Bee, over a dozen years, California’s historic experiment in medical marijuana research brought new science to the debate on marijuana’s place in medicine. State-funded studies costing $8.7 million found that marijuana may offer broad benefits for pain from nerve damage from injuries, HIV strokes and other conditions. Between 2002 and 2012, 7 completed trials, 5 published and 2 pending show that marijuana does have therapeutic value. According to Dr. Igor Grant a neuropsychiatrist who served as director of the Center for Medical Cannabis Research “ Every one of the studies showed a benefit, The convergence of evidence makes me convinced there is a medical benefit here, and there may be a niche for cannabis.” Grant said the listing of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin and LSD is completely at odds with existing science.

In an article at newsfeed.time.com : According to a U.N. report on global drug use, cannabis was the world’s most widely produced, trafficked, and consumed drug in the world in 2010. Marijuana boasts somewhere between 119 million and 224 million users in the adult population of the world (18 or older). And there are no signs to indicate the popularity of marijuana will fall anytime soon. Cannabis is consumed in some fashion in all countries, the report says, and it is grown in most. Though the use of the drug is stabilizing in North America, and Oceania, smoking pot is on the rise in West and Central Africa, Southern Africa, South Asia and Central Asia. In 2010, marijuana use was most prevalent in Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. and Canada came in second, followed by Spain, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Nigeria, Zambia, and Madagascar were tied for fourth place.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/29/marijuana-now-the-most-popular-drug-in-the-world/#ixzz217BPdvD4
With marijuana now being the worlds’ most popular recreational drug and evidence shows that it is far safer than the other most popular recreational drugs, tobacco and alcohol. Why does our government insist on refusing to allow 16 states to continue the medical marijuana experiment without the harassment of otherwise law-abiding citizens? These states voted in their right to access medical marijuana by due process and yet the Federal Government refuses to honor the will of the American people. There is really no good reason to keep marijuana illegal for recreational purposes let alone forbidding the sick and dying the one thing that brings them relief. To forbid the sick and dying the things that bring them relief is nothing short of barbaric.

Just because marijuana is illegal for recreational reasons has not stopped or even diminished its use any appreciable amount. Many people enjoy using marijuana and historical evidence has failed to show that marijuana has caused appreciable damage to its users or society as a whole. While this may still be debatable about marijuana and I believe it is high time we had that debate, the evidence against alcohol and tobacco are no longer in question. Why not give people a safer alternative to the worst recreational drugs on the planet, alcohol and tobacco when considered by the number of people killed by these drugs every year and the damage to society from the violent crime associated with alcohol, and let people choose for themselves the safest recreational drug on the planet that is now the most popular drug in the world.

Beginning this article I mentioned that it is hard to understand our government’s reasons for its stance against marijuana use. It can’t be that they are worried about our health, because it is not nearly as harmful as tobacco or alcohol when considered by the number of fatalities associated with each drug every year. And with millions of people currently using marijuana and scarce evidence of any damage to society, who and what are they protecting us from? Juvenile use would be easier to control if the people selling marijuana were required to check IDs to make sure customers were of appropriate age.
The only thing that makes any sense to me is that marijuana as a plant cannot be patented and that the government may be protecting the Pharmaceutical Industry, the Alcohol Industry and the Tobacco Industry from competition with marijuana. These are industrial giants with enormous influence on our elected officials who are supposed to be charged with protecting our freedom. My question is, Have We Been Sold Out? Call or write your Congressmen, Senators and President and ask them.

Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

I have been scanning the news and stumbled on a few articles that startled me. First was a story at infowars.com about milk raids in California. Armed raids led by L A County Health Department on raw milk distribution centers and health officials in Los Angeles and San Diego have been trying to coerce the milk distributors into releasing names, addresses and phone numbers of their clients so that they could go to people’s houses and demand the raw milk for confiscation.
Next was a story at Reason.com where The Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina on behalf of Steve Cooksey. His offense was promoting an anti-diabetes diet that consists of foods consumed by ancient humans in the Paleolithic era. This diet consists of meats, fruits and vegetables and excludes grains, seed oils and sugars. Even though Steve is just a blogger writing about something he believes is correct, not paid for his dietary advice, and no evidence to contradict his claims have been established, North Carolina wants to forbid his free speech because he is not a Licensed Dietician. It appears North Carolina not only is opposed to free speech but of our right to choose our own diet.
Also I’m sure you have all heard in the news about New York City and Cambridge trying to ban sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces with several other communities looking to follow suit. While I do appreciate research and advice about diet and exercise and want to live a healthy lifestyle those decisions about my own health and safety should be mine as a free person not the decision of some bureaucrat or politician.
There are communities in this country where smoking is prohibited even on your own property such as Calabasas, CA and possession of alcohol is treated the same as possession of illegal drugs in some places in Alaska. My point in all this is that if we do not secure the right to make decisions about our own health and safety our freedom is doomed. I’m not trying to scare people but before long nothing in our lives will be beyond the prying eyes of our government. A new laser powered molecular scanner set to be used at airports has the ability to determine if a person is armed and what they have been consuming from a distance of 50 meters and be able to scan large numbers of people very quickly. With the government reading our texts and email and using spy drones on us we have no place to hide. Soon this technology will be available not only to The Department of Homeland Security but local police as well. Nothing in our lives will be a secret and The Department of Homeland Security is in the process of purchasing 450 million rounds of .40 caliber hollow point ammunition.
What kind of war is our government preparing for? Could it be the adoption of the U N treaty banning civilian gun ownership and the confiscation of our firearms? Or do they just want to protect us from bad diet and vices such as smoking? All this makes the prohibition of marijuana seem trivial. We need to act now to secure our rights to consume what we want and make our own decisions about our health and safety. The time to speak up and demand our rights is getting shorter and the need to vote out the set of political leaders we have never more important. We need people in office that believe in freedom and the sovereignty of our nation. Vote for Joe the plumber or anyone but the politicians we now have. I fear if we do not the freedom we now have will be short-lived. It’s time to nip it in the bud.

Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org

Tracy from Twin Falls, Idaho called and asked what he could do to help and this is a copy of the letter I sent him as I believe it applies to all who want to get involved.

Thanks for your interest in the legalization of marijuana. There are several things that you as an individual can do. Most important is to write to your Congressman, Senator and President and tell them that you believe it is time for the Federal Government to get out of the business of trying to ruin the lives of Americans for something morally indifferent than drinking alcohol, and don’t neglect to vote. I know NORML.org and MPP.org have a place on their web sites where you can get the names and addresses of your representatives by typing in your zip code. ACLU.org posts the voting records and a biography of your representatives by zip code. Become active and vocal about your support for marijuana legalization by talking to your friends and anyone else who will listen. There are many good pro marijuana organizations that fight for legalization of marijuana in different ways. A little time on the computer would likely help you find an organization that fits your goals and beliefs. All of these organizations rely on donations to pay their bills and need any money that you could donate. You might even want to start some kind of fund raiser such as a bake sale. Don’t do anything illegal as your arrest and incarceration would not help you or our cause. The main thing is to educate ourselves so that we can present our cause in a rational manner that will influence those who haven’t made up their mind about marijuana and possibly change the minds of those who are against it.
Live Free My Friends
Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org

T J from Corpus Christi, TX,
I have been thinking a lot about what you wrote concerning using Gods Word to justify sin and you are right. I do not want to lead anyone to believe that God approves of marijuana use. The only recreational drug I have found reference to in scripture is alcohol and the Bible clearly states that drunkenness is a sin. But T J we must use scripture to justify our actions if we truly believe in God or we are not following God’s will. I do not know what God thinks of marijuana and scripture is silent on this issue. I do know however that God loves the truth and that is clearly stated over and over in scripture.
I am not advocating that anyone use any drug including marijuana. I just want to get our government out of the business of trying to ruin people’s lives because of it. If marijuana is so bad that it must be banned from all aspects of society then why does our government use lies and misinformation to keep public opinion against marijuana and sustain this unjust war? I am doing this, not out of a love for marijuana, but a love for the truth and people close to me that I believe are unjustly punished by the War on Drugs.
As for personal use of marijuana I would suggest prayer, fear and careful consideration because nothing could be worse than to fall into the hands of an angry God.
Thanks a lot T J
God Bless You
Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org

Comment on Celebrations and Scripture by Tj from corpus Christi tx
‎Friday, ‎July ‎06, ‎2012, ‏‎11:52:38 PM | Tj from corpus Christi tx
Your right and your wrong and I think you are wrong to use the bible to convince people that sin is ok let me ask you this is it ok for some one to smoke crack, sale dope, use heroine or any other kind of drug for that matter as long as they do it conservitilty?if you said yes to this then you agree that it’s ok for people to Rape, steal, kill and do what they please and use that same excuse that it’s ok because I only raped,killed,or only stole from one person wrong is wrong no matter how you look at it and that why god not man created laws for people like you and your way of thinking and to answer your question yes we’re free to do as we’re told and yes we’re free people the choice is yours and so are the consequences on the other hand I agree that as long as what you do doesn’t affect any one around you or impair your way of thinking then go for it that’s your choice as a free man and gods gift to you to decide what’s right and what’s wrong and make the right decision I just want to warn you watch what you say because the power of the tongue is strong and you can get many people to believe that god said for them to go smoke weed and be happy choose your words more carefully and try not to use god to get what you want unless it’s everlasting life because the same words that come out your mouth can be the same words That condem you, you asked for a reply so here it is and if your serious about how you feel you’ll post it and just so you know my name is Theodore Coleman I go by tj on the streets I’m from north side corpus Christi tx I’m no preacher and far from a saint but I’m also not scared to share how I feel on my beliefs about god can you do the same ill be looking forward to your reply thank you and god bless

Richard Milhous Nixon (AKA) Tricky Dicky served as The 37th President of The United States of America. He is most famous for the Watergate Scandal where members of his administration conducted clandestine and often illegal activities such as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his aides also ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the FBI, CIA, and the IRS. It was a time when the Vietnam War was very unpopular and protests against the war were prominently displayed in the news.

While in office the Controlled Substances Act became law and part of the law authorized a special federal commission to complete a comprehensive study into all aspects of marijuana use to confirm that marijuana should remain a schedule 1 drug. After 2 years of study it was claimed to be the most comprehensive study of marijuana ever done in the United States. On March 22 1972 Richard Nixon was presented the report from the study entitled “Marijuana; A Signal of Misunderstanding”. The study refuted the claims by politicians and law enforcement of the negative effects and crime associated with marijuana. It claimed in plain language that marijuana use was not associated with violent behavior and even went on to say that it tends to pacify its users. The report stated that there is little evidence of any physiological or psychological damage to the individual from casual use and recommended that marijuana be rescheduled and that private possession and use should not be criminalized. It even called for Congress to remove all criminal penalties for possession, use, and sale of the drug. These recommendations were ignored by Richard Nixon and Congress who over the next few months declared war on drugs and labeled marijuana “Public Enemy Number One”. The problem with declaring war on a drug is that the drug doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter to the drug what happens to it because it is not alive. The war is not being fought against marijuana; it is being waged against the people who use it with bitterness and vengeance. Marijuana users are some of the most hated people in this country and I can only wonder why society wants to ruin our lives through denied employment, fines, incarceration, seizures of our property and a myriad of other offences against us and our families. If there is something so horrible and offensive about marijuana use that it can never be accepted in society, not even in private, what is it?
End the war against the people who use marijuana now. It is unjust and a travesty for all those caught up in the conflict. We are not the enemies of this country. We are Americans

Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org

I once heard someone say “May you live in interesting times” is an old Chinese curse.
The times we live in are anything but boring. In America most of us travel with cell phones many of which are mini computers in their own right. Communication with one another is as easy as typing with your thumbs. We can navigate in strange places using our phones and have a wealth of information at our fingertips and even watch movies that we have recorded at home or downloaded from the internet. The possibilities seem unlimited yet have we really considered the cost of this technology. Not only has our access to technology grown but so has that of our government. We live in an age where access to our personal lives has never been so vulnerable to invasion. Our cell phone calls and e-mail are readily available to eavesdropping by local police and Federal investigators for almost any reason at all.
An online article at MSNBC.msn.com by Bob Sullivan on 7/6/12 describes an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union into local police using cell phone locations to track subjects. Generally subpoenas were all that was required for the police to get that information and it can be used to track our movements for months past. The 1986 Electronics Communication Privacy Act sets guidelines for police that any information stored externally for more than 6 months is open for review such as G-Mail and any other cloud server email. Although the government is silent on these issues and ignoring Freedom of Information requests about what its intentions are, they are not denying any of this either. While all this is going on the U.S government is jumping headlong into this technological windfall with its massive new “Utah Data Center” which Wired Magazine claimed is capable of monitoring every email and text message sent around the world. Not only does the government want access to the most private parts of our lives, “the relationships we have with one another” but they want to watch us as well. They are setting the stage to have surveillance drones such as the Global Hawk and the Predator Drones flying our skies in the near future. Flying Magazine revealed new FAA regulations are in the works to allow unmanned aircraft over the United States and testing software designed to keep them out of conflict with general aviation.
With our lives so much in the looking-glass I believe it is time for us to set some boundaries on how and when such information can be used against us. We now live in an age where our lives are an open book, no knock warrants are common and our President declared in his election campaign that he wanted a Federal police force as big and powerful as our military. I believe freedom as we know it is in peril. If we don’t set boundaries on this surveillance and describe in detail what our freedoms are, we are in danger of losing them. Many of the freedoms we believe we have are not defined in the Constitution of the United States. The Declaration of Independence declares some of these as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While we still have these rights to some degree our government is eroding these freedoms all the time with laws telling us what kind of appliances we can buy, what type of toilet or light bulb we have to install and what size soft drink we can purchase. Now we are even required to purchase health insurance even if we feel we don’t want it or need it. There seems to be no end to how much control the government wants over our lives. I believe if we do not secure the right to make decisions about our own personal health and safety our freedom is lost. Already our government wants a say in the medical decisions we make for ourselves, our children and family and have stepped in when they disagreed. How long will it be after they win the war against marijuana when alcohol and tobacco become their targets and who is next, the obese? Maybe Orsom Wells was not that far off. Interesting times indeed.

Randy Johnson
Itsmycountrytoo.org