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This is fucked up if true.

Antibodies from women with a rare condition known as immune infertility are used in the creation of GMO food
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may282011/gmo-not-food-cs.php

    I thought you were kidding, so I did the search. The third answer was Welcome to Oregon: Land of Domestic Abuse Endorsement - Salem-News.Com

    I knew there was something I didn't like there, and it wasn't just that they wouldn't let me put gas in my own car. :)

52% support legalization

No they don't. If 52% of Americans supported legalization, then it would be legal, because Americans have democracy. kevinNCSU already explained this twice. Christ, you're as stupid as wealthychef.

52% support legalization. A poll that was taken in 2009, not 2005 as your link shows.

But since the patent on MDMA has expired, and it needs only to be used a limited number of times instead of on an ongoing basis, it is not going to profitable for any pharmaceutical company.

So the group trying to get MDMA through the 10 year, $10 million, program of clinical trials is a non-profit group which promotes better access to psychedelic drugs for therapeutic purposes.

Marijuana has also been shown to be more successful in treating PTSD than many standard pharmaceuticals.

It would be interesting indeed if militaries around the world started giving their vets MDMA and marijuana once they have returned home from battle.

No. The one and only argument is (or ought to be), that the people don't want pot-growing to be illegal. This is not, however, the case.

Even if we buy that argument (which I don't: constitutional issues trump majority rule in the US), you still lose your argument:
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may062009/mj_zogby_5-6-09.php
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/34651/most_americans_support_legalizing_marijuana

90% of engineering is trial and error.

90% of PC repair is trial and error.

Don't go bringing that mentality into other engineering fields. You don't do bridge building by trial and error.

Like hell we don't!

So what's the difference between the crowd making a mistale and the police making a mistake?

DNA Testing Clears Virginia Man Of 1984 Rape
Chicago man sues Chicago, police over wrongful conviction
Milwaukee DA Drops Charge In 1995 Murder Case
Tests prove innocence of 23-year prisoner in Texas
New arson analysis may free convicted murderer
Texas Enacts 'Innocence Committee' Over Excessive Wrongful Convictions

Here are a few:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may062009/mj_zogby_5-6-09.php

And here's an older poll showing the support for medical marijuana:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/410/gallup.shtml

Interestingly, support seems to be trending up for legalization in general.

It keeps an awful lot of cops in business.

It also keeps prices high for traffickers and sellers.

Neither of those parties want to see it legalized. Only the users with no sales interests do.

While the part about organized crime is true there are law enforcement officers who want to legalize marijuana:

• Arizona's Attorney General Talks Marijuana Legalization"
• "Marijuana Legalization: Retired Seattle Police Chief Says Obama Should Listen to Voters"
• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Falcon

Here's one: law enforcement officers want as many things as possible to be illegal, to protect their job security, so they lobby hard.

Actually that's not a rational reason, there are many law enforcement officers who want to legalize marijuana, such as:

• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
• "Arizona's Attorney General Talks Marijuana Legalization".
• "Marijuana Legalization: Retired Seattle Police Chief Says Obama Should Listen to Voters"
• "Law enforcement group urges legalized drugs to aid economy"

And that's only a few exmples.

Falcon

$70 Billion a Year for Drug Laws While Predators Remain Free

$70 Billion a Year for Drug Laws While Predators Remain Free
Erin Hildebrandt Salem-News.com

"Outdated drug laws intended to lock non-violent offenders in jail results in more leeway and fewer arrests for violent criminals and predators.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Imagine a town, somewhere in the United States. At the local police station, Officer Joe is pouring himself a cup of coffee at the start of his shift, when a call comes in. A citizen thinks she smells marijuana coming from her neighbors house.

Joe proceeds to respond to the call, driving the 30 or so odd miles to the house. Just then, another call comes in. An armed man has taken 27 children hostage at the local elementary school now 25 miles away from Joes location.

In this extreme example, there can be no doubt that Joe should abandon his investigation of the marijuana smell and proceed immediately to the school. No officer in his right mind would consider putting childrens lives at risk, in order to pursue the smell of cannabis, would he?

But on a larger scale, when we fund drug enforcement to the tune of 70 billion dollars every year, we are effectively putting lives at risk by not funding other important police work.

Officers are only charged with enforcing the laws that we the people, through our legislators enact, and according to the priorities these legislators reflect through their funding of all of the various departments of law enforcement. We must demand that our leaders choose to prioritize the health and safety of our nations communities, over policing the personal morals of the citizens of the Land of the Free.

As a nation, weve lost sight of the forest for the trees. Weve charged law enforcement officers with the awesome responsibility of not only preventing violent crime and apprehending violent criminals, but weve further empowered them to act as the morality police, saving America from the evils of everything from cigarette smoke to cannabis to sex toys to, of all the crazy things certain kinds of fat! Where does it end?

The U.S. currently incarcerates more people for non-violent crimes, than for violent crimes. We lock up more of our citizens per capita than any other nation, even Russia, China and Cuba. Yet, according to national data from the FBI for 2006, the clearance rate for all violent crime was an abysmal 44.3%. Our current approach is not working. In all of this often politically-driven chaos, our priorities have been perverted.

Its time to reprioritize.

For decades weve waged a War on Drugs, supposedly designed to prevent and deter the abuse of ten substances through their prohibition. Instead of encouraging our citizens to abide by the laws of the land, this war on some drugs encourages entrepreneurial anarchy in a game won by survival of the most corrupt and callously capitalistic.

It has driven the major funding for organized crime and terrorism, created and maintains a black market so enormous that it rivals the wealthiest industries on Earth, and which has become directly responsible for far too much of the vigilante violence in our communities. It encourages everyone who would dare to taste the forbidden fruit to live outside of, and develop disrespect and disregard for, the laws of our land.

Instead of seeing heroes among police officers, suburbanites like me grow up to become adults who fear law enforcement. We view them as potential threats, terrorizing patients who need medical marijuana and pursuing and persecuting cannabis consumers, while child rapists are given slaps on the wrist some never spending a single day in jail, even for raping multiple children. And that only includes the small percentage of predators that are caught.

Additionally, NIDA reports indicate that survivors of sexual assault are 4-10 times more likely to abuse illegal drugs, than those who do not suffer

Moderation +3
    60% Insightful
    20% Troll
    10% Flamebait

Hey, TrollMods, your boy Ted Stevens is headed for the Cunningham Suite in the slammer. And your new star, Fred "Frogman" Thompson, has his own "strong convictions". McCain himself was kneedeep in the same S&L swindles - how long before your boy finishes his long career in public service making license plates, finally a productive Republican?

There have been three developments in apiculture in the last 30 years or so that have driven down the availability of honey, thus driving up the price.

First, DDT got banned. Ever hear the Joni Mitchell song that goes, "Hey farmer farmer, take away the DDT now. Give me spots on apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please." Unfortunately, the opposite happened: without DDT, honeybee competitors thrived, and stronger pesticides that actually did harm the bee were introduced.

The next problem was the spread of African or "killer" bees, which came to us via South America. These bees are basically the same as the European ones we've historically had, except for one trait: if they perceive hive attack, they don't stop attacking once the immediate threat is past, but follow the attacker until it is taught a lesson. They're somewhat more agressive in other ways, too, but it's been some years since I dealt with that.

Lastly, and possibly related to DDT removal, is a tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, that kills off entire colonies. I don't think they've found any bees with defenses against the mites, nor against varroa jacobsoni, another deadly mite.

These threats have basically wiped out the cottage beekeeping industry. It got to be expensive, and no fun.

But if genetic alterations can be engineered to make the "attack until dead" gene recessive, the mite problem would be tolerable, even for hobbyists. The mites can be warded off -- that's a solvable problem, but having the hive attack you isn't. It's unlikely that genetics or DDT could do much to counter the mites directly, but you never know.