Image by killabodhi via Flickr
by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 4, 2018
An interview with one of the best in the business, Bonnie Faulkner (Guns and Butter).
Image by Federacion de Asociaciones Cannabicas (FAC) via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
January 24, 2018
In a blatant example of “do as I say, not as I do,” the US government is profiting handsomely by accepting marijuana cash in the payment of taxes while imposing huge penalties on banks for accepting it as deposits. Onerous reporting requirements are driving small local banks to sell out to Wall Street. Congress needs to harmonize federal with state law.
Image by Federacion de Asociaciones Cannabicas (FAC) via Flickr
by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page, April 3, 2017
April 5, 2017
I’ve always been intrigued by the major questions not asked by reporters at press conferences, not asked by legislators at public hearings or even the questions citizens at town meetings don’t ask public officials. It’s not that they do not know about or could not easily become informed enough about a given issue and ask substantive questions. It’s just that so many taboos are packed into these questioners’ ideological mindset, career goals or concern with what other people over them might think. Maybe it is a culturally-rooted fear of challenging entrenched power brokers.
Image by Federacion de Asociaciones Cannabicas (FAC) via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
July 7, 2016
California’s “Adult Use of Marijuana Act” (AUMA) is a voter initiative characterized as legalizing marijuana use. But critics warn that it will actually make access more difficult and expensive, squeeze home growers and small farmers out of the market, heighten criminal sanctions for violations, and open the door to patented, genetically modified (GMO) versions that must be purchased year after year.
Image by Newtown grafitti via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
June 23, 2016
The war on cannabis that began in the 1930s seems to be coming to an end. Research shows that this natural plant, rather than posing a deadly danger to health, has a wide range of therapeutic benefits. But skeptics question the sudden push for legalization, which is largely funded by wealthy investors linked to Big Ag and Big Pharma.
by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Oct. 19, 2011
Image by Gregory Jordan via Flickr
Congressman Ron Paul introduced H.R. 1831, the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011” on May 11th of this year. It is a simple bill at just two pages in length, and it would legalize the growing of industrial hemp in the United States.
Currently farmers can grow industrial hemp only if they have received a permit from the DEA – a prospect that the agency has made all but impossible for decades. Otherwise, it is illegal to grow.
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/
How did hemp go from being a popular industrial material to a banned substance in 1937? Author Joe Bageant describes how the non-psychoactive plant was once used in everything from paper to automobiles, until a targeted PR campaign forever tied hemp’s image to it’s cousin, marijuana.
Joe Bageant is a renowned commentator on the politics of class in the US. His previous novel, Deer Hunting with Jesus, has been been turned into a play and an upcoming tv series. His regular online columns have made him a cult hero among political progressives and gonzo-journalism junkies. Bageant’s latest book Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir is a coming-of-age story set in post-World War II America in the small white tribes of West Virginia, where a massive social and economic shift from agrarian to urbanization has meant the heavy loss of meaningful work and community. Representing the ‘hillbilly’ class as a minority, Bageant laments ‘the piece of the rainbow pie’ promised to the working class of his forefathers, which never materialized. He praises the ‘white trash’ trucker heroes, who stood up to the corporate oppressors by unionizing, helping to form a middle class, and finally affording an education for their children.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Image via Wikipedia
by Rand Clifford
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
August 15, 2010
“…the continuous consolidation of money and power into higher, tighter and righter hands.”
That was GHW Bush’s answer to reporter Sarah McClendon’s question in 1992 regarding what Iran-Contra was all about. He also told her that, “If the American people really knew what we had done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched.”
Bill Moyers Journal
October 30, 2009
James K. Galbraith
Economic recovery in review. The Dow’s up, but why are Main Street Americans still reeling from last year’s economic collapse? With Americans still facing rising unemployment, foreclosures, and declining property values, renowned economist James K. Galbraith on whether we’ve averted another crisis and how to get help for the middle class.
Miguel Tinker Salas: Collapse of traditional economy created the space for the cartels to grow.
Replaced the 1st video Nov. 30, 2009
melioped
April 15, 2009
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Legalizing Pot
April 16, 2009 CNN
Vodpod videos no longer available.
see
A criminally stupid war on drugs in the US By Clive Crook (updated: added video and poll)
April 14, 2009
Here are 2 polls you can participate in. Vote directly in the poll box below then go to the link to vote in CNN’s poll. ~ DS
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CNN
Do you think the United States should legalize drugs?
No way
Yes, all drugs
Only marijuana
http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/13/vote-should-drugs-be-legal-in-the-us/
results 4.14.09 2:00 PM CDT:
No way 7% 110 Yes, all drugs 49% 753 Only marijuana 43% 660 Total Votes: 1523 This is not a scientific poll
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see
A criminally stupid war on drugs in the US By Clive Crook (updated: added video and poll)
Update: April 14, 2009 added video and poll
By Clive Crook
ICH
April 12, 2009 “Financial Times”
How much misery can a policy cause before it is acknowledged as a failure and reversed? The US “war on drugs” suggests there is no upper limit. The country’s implacable blend of prohibition and punitive criminal justice is wrong-headed in every way: immoral in principle, since it prosecutes victimless crimes, and in practice a disaster of remarkable proportions. Yet for a US politician to suggest wholesale reform of this brainless regime is still seen as an act of reckless self-harm.
Even a casual observer can see that much of the damage done in the US by illegal drugs is a result of the fact that they are illegal, not the fact that they are drugs. Vastly more lives are blighted by the brutality of prohibition, and by the enormous criminal networks it has created, than by the substances themselves. This is true of cocaine and heroin as well as of soft drugs such as marijuana. But the assault on consumption of marijuana sets the standard for the policy’s stupidity.
[…]
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LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS!
video no longer available
April 13, 2009 CNN
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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Update
Note: replaced video Sept. 17, 2011
95% Of CNN Viewers Want Marijuana Legalized!
ChronicSmokers420 on May 21, 2009
***
CNN
Do you think the United States should legalize drugs?
No way
Yes, all drugs
Only marijuana
http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/13/vote-should-drugs-be-legal-in-the-us/
results 4.14.09 2:00 PM CDT:
No way 7% 110 Yes, all drugs 49% 753 Only marijuana 43% 660 Total Votes: 1523 This is not a scientific poll
see
Update: added a link to a story; see below
March 29, 2009 CNN
Vodpod videos no longer available.
***
Update
Would Marijuana Light Up the Economy?
By Mark Follman
Mother Jones
Fri March 27, 2009 1:22 PM PST
Guest blogger Mark Follman writes frequently about current affairs and culture at markfollman.com.
The debate about whether to legalize marijuana in the United States has never been a mainstream one. So it’s been fascinating to watch how much attention the concept has gotten lately, however viable it may or may not be.
Preoccupation with the violent drug war is one factor; marijuana is the largest source of revenue for the Mexican cartels’ multibillion dollar business north of the border. Commodify the major cash crop through legalization, the idea goes, and its cost will plummet, putting a serious dent in the bad guys’ bank accounts.
[…]
see
Red State Update: Legalize Drugs, Save Mexico
Jackie and Dunlap’s solution to the Mexican drug wars. Well, Dunlap’s, at least.
Let Your Jackie Flag Fly
Join The RSU Community @
http://www.redstateupdate.com
Vodpod videos no longer available.
see
Ron Paul: It’s Time To End Prohibition Of Marijuana!
America’s Dehumanizing Prisons by Sherwood Ross
Barack Obama drops ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric for needle exchanges
