Digg Dialogg: Al Gore
The voting period has ended and you've picked the top questions that Digg founder Kevin Rose asked Al Gore during this Digg Dialogg.
- Why is the drug that kills nobody the illegal one? (+347 diggs, view question, submitted by DeloreanDank)
- Since Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election, would there be a possibility that he'll offer you the position to be the head of the EPA, and if he did, would you take the offer? (+338 diggs, view question, submitted by Mist0r_Wiggles)
- Would you be willing to accept a cabinet level position under President Obama? (+166 diggs, view question, submitted by Altanar)
- What's your view on Net Neutrality? (+292 diggs, view question, submitted by alex361)
- What is your response to the latest MIT study that contradicts the claim that global warming is man made? (+226 diggs, view question, submitted by Reaktor5)
- What are your thoughts on opening up the election process for 3rd party candidates? (+195 diggs, view question, submitted by ozz109 )
- Do you feel as though a two-party system is sufficient for our country, or would you encourage more third-party involvement? (+90 diggs, view question, submitted by Venste)
- What is your opinion on clean-coal technology, off-shore drilling, and nuclear energy as solutions to America's dependence on foreign oil? (+137 diggs, view question, submitted by Bloake)
- I was wondering if you could elaborate on your long term strategy for spreading ManBearPig awareness (+113 diggs, view question, submitted by barryiggins)
- Do you feel Obama will do enough to fix the energy crisis? (+110 diggs, view question, submitted by TJ11240)
- When are you going to create a Twitter account, and can you please commit to updating on a consistent basis? (+93 diggs, view question, submitted by tastethevenom)
- Do you think the U.S. will ever be ready for an atheist president? (+92 diggs, view question, submitted by artofwar420)
- Are you going to be in any more Futurama episodes? (+92 diggs, view question, submitted by Tomholius)
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Alcohol deaths per year - nearly 100,000
Marijuana deaths per year - 0
Why is the drug that kills nobody the illegal one?
If Cannabis were legalized, it would become the #1 cash crop of our country, whether in the form of Marijuana or Hemp products.
Having a cheaper, more efficient alternative to all those corporate products would completely reshape the global market, taking much of the power away from those multi-national organizations and giving it back to the individuals who farm, process and distribute cannabis-based alternatives.
As long as federal legislation is dictated by the special interests of those corporations and industries, Cannabis will never be legalized.
-- George Washington
http://digg.com/business_finance/Marijuana_Can_Hel ...
Also:
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/execsummary.html
* The report estimates that legalizing marijuana would save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. $5.3 billion of this savings would accrue to state and local governments, while $2.4 billion would accrue to the federal government.
* The report also estimates that marijuana legalization would yield tax revenue of $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like all other goods and $6.2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco.
* Whether marijuana legalization is a desirable policy depends on many factors other than the budgetary impacts discussed here. But these impacts should be included in a rational debate about marijuana policy.
You have admitted to smoking pot in the past. Do you think you would be a better person if you had been arrested and prosecuted for such illegal activities? If so will you do jail time now, pay a fine, community service etc? If not, will you lobby to remove all punishment/consequences for current drug users?
I can't find an American source, but this could easily be used as a proxy.
They don't want an easily grown, extremely less harmful, medicinal, wonder drug to impede on their profits.
And one square acre of hemp can produce four times more ethanol than corn.
Reagan made it legal for prisons to be run by private run-for-profit groups, like Wackenhut, and to generate profits, they need prisoners.
80% of all illicit drug users use ONLY cannabis. If cannabis were legal, it would become extremely difficult for these private prisons to generate a profit.
Also, the CIA is responsible for shipping in the vast majority of the hard drugs into the USA (they don't do anything with cannabis) and wall street firms launder the money through an exemption set up some years ago that doesn't require them to cite their sources of income/profits.
If cannabis becomes legal, you get it from your local drug store, rather than your local drug dealer, whom also sells the hard drugs that create the ungodly profits for wall street. If cannabis is the main reason people visit the "black market" then making it legal would eliminate a huge amount of profit for bankers and globalist scum.
Check out the documentary "American Drug War" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMY_8OPDtH4
They must figure out a way of removing the foot from their mouth before benefiting from the taxes they could reign down on legal marijuana.
The chemical fire suppressant sprayed on all pillows is a known carcinogen.
Some types of plastic bottles leech a known carcinogen.
Anti-bacterial soap reduces your body's immune response to harmful infections.
Hydrogenated oils, used in almost every type of processed food, are linked to obesity and heart disease.
Why exactly are you singling out pot again?
http://paranoia.lycaeum.org/marijuana/facts/mj-hea ...
I don't think there is anything in this world you can say that hasn't at least killed one person or another.
The point is totally ridiculous. But you can't probably see that cause your dumb ass is too high to recognize.
For those who do not know the truth, this will get you started -- http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/ ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic ...
Don't you think Marlboro would be the first to start planting marijuana if it became legal? The existing tobacco companies are in the best position to market and sell marijuana, so if anything it'd add to their business.
I won't even get into the food/fuel/industrial uses that would benefit all of mankind.
Stop the madness! Stop ignoring the FACTS! Legalize Cannabis in all it's forms worldwide immediately!
Did they start smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol first? Where they on Ritalin or other pHARMacueticals as kids? Can you prove causation? That would be interesting, since nobody else can.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/mj_ove ...
I have 5 friends that smoke pot. 3 started in high school and now are on cocaine. the other two just smoke pot know that they are in college.
Risk != death
Your own source says "An increase in the risk of getting bronchitis, lung cancer and other diseases of the respiratory system. "
And no, it does not cause lung cancer by the way. Google Dr. Donald Tashkin. Look who funded him to prove causation, and look at his results. There are video interviews available on Google Video if you don't feel like reading.
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmQ16cGBHU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6pBw0bgmgA
Statistics? What is your sample size for a Marijuana drug trial? There are millions of smokers who have been smoking for 100 years. The sample size is huge and the statistics accurate. You can't possible tell me that there has been a drug test with a few million users of marijuana.
It is a simple test to determine levels of carcinogen, you don't need long term data to compare to cigarettes. But you do need long term data if you are going to contest that those carcinogens have anything but a similar negative effect as cigarettes.
I don't necessarily agree with that, because personally I know a lot of people who smoke marijuana, and fewer people who smoke cigarettes, but it is a point.
but i guess it gets dugg up and down. so i was one of the 420th ones.
but very fair question
IT DOESNT KILL ANYONE BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL!! THE OTHERS KILL PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE LEGAL!!!
>:(
In reality, though, these huge crops of hemp would provide enormous real benefits to our planet in the form of reduced pesticide use, reduced deforestation, huge supplies of food and fuel... just to name a few.
Info: http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_inf ...
"Many researchers agree that marijuana contains known carcinogens (chemicals that can cause cancer). They caution that smoking marijuana may decrease reproductive function and cause lung disease, as well as increase the risk of cancers of the lungs, mouth, and tongue. It may also suppress the body's immune system, and increase the risk of leukemia in children whose mothers smoked marijuana during pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should not use marijuana. "
-Digg
Tens of thousands of people died of car accidents each year, but driving is still legal;
At least a couple of people died of choking with food each year, but there will never be a law that bans eating.
Hamish Turner, the president of the Coroners' Society, told The Telegraph that the marijuana, often portrayed as harmless, has increasingly been the cause of deaths that have been reported as accidents or suicides.
"Cannabis is as dangerous as any other drug and people must understand that it kills," said Mr Turner. "From my long experience I can say that it is a very dangerous substance. Increasingly it is mentioned not only as the first drug taken by people who overdose, but also in suicides and accidental deaths.
"It is an awful waste of young lives. People are trying the drug at a very young age. Many go on to harder drugs and I am dealing with more and more heroin overdoses. People can also suffer severe consequences from the cannabis alone, however.
"Bereaved parents say to me, 'We didn't realise how dangerous it was until it was too late, if only we had done something'. It is heartbreaking."
Turner said that stronger varieties of cannabis are now common, leading to physical and mental problems in young people, compared to the pot that was available in the 1960s.
A simple google search can prove Pot is more deadly than you think :).