Over half the Australian public have tried or currently enjoy the number two recreational drug in Australia. What right does the Government have to stop people from having fun?

Lowering Of Blood Pressure Achieved Through Use Of Hashish-like Drug.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060620083025.htm

Marijuana was listed in the Pharmacopeia Brittanica as one of the most useful plants known to medical science right up until its prohibition by American politicians.

The reason it was suddenly banned? American timber mill owners were afraid that a new invention, the Decorticator, was going to bankrupt them by producing paper from hemp that was 10 times cheaper than timber pulp. Timber barons exerted enormous influence over the newspapers and politicians of the era.

They introduced the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937 under the pretense of stopping the narcotic. But really it was aimed at destroying the hemp industry. Then when war broke out they stopped fining farmers and started paying them to grow it. Until the war ended ofcourse. Then the fines came back.

Hemp fields were everywhere but even people living directly across the road from a Hemp field had never heard of 'Marijuana'. It began appearing in newspapers under such banners as "Teenager murders his family under the influence of Marijuana!"

All those headlines have since been proven false. Propaganda to develop public hatred towards this recreational drug. The word "Marijuana" actually comes from a small town somewhere in Mexico. Prior to the propaganda campaign led by FBI Agent Anslinger even, most Mexicans were unfamiliar with the word.

The original reason given for introducing the "Marijuana Tax Act"? Before voting on the legislation the members were told that the drug made people violent! Ten years later when the legislation came up for renewal with largely the same politicians voting on the issue? It was turning soldiers overseas into pacifists! A complete backflip on their original lie.

I don't deny that it can trigger Schitzophrenia in people prone to such mental illness. After 70 years and millions of dollars in Government research that's all they've found. Meanwhile the indisputably deadly tobacco and alcohol industries are thriving. Hypocrisy!

If they legalise pot how then will the cops make a bit of dosh on the side?...legalising pot only makes it easy for those who smoke..we have to think about the pockets of all those police etc struggling on their measly wages..

Its a great racket up here and only the non pot smokers are the ones who profit...police, business men etc all doing a roaring trade together.

I think the neighbors over the back of me are cooking up something weird and wonderful in their back shed too, but thats another story.

That's an excellent point. Cannabis is one of the easiest plants in the World to grow and also one of the fastest. It isn't called "Weed" for nothing. Close to a quarter of the Grass available on the market is popularly believed to be from Cops who have made raids and then returned the product to the streets. This organised crime couldn't exist without the prohibition to push up prices. If legalised it wouldn't be worth more than a few cents but currently a one gram bag sells for around $25 and an ounce for $350-400. About the same as Gold. No wonder the cops are tempted to steal the heads and then only burn the leaves and stems

Ditto Wayne...and the govermnets marginalisation of the poor and working class only makes the growing of 'green gold, even more attractive..
People are forced into crime because the society in which they live simply wont give them a break...centrelink etc playing hardball with them...Why Hell Wayne! Ive even given it a passing thought(not) or maybe that should have been ..not yet.

But to be completely serious economic motivators are the reason...and the rewards seems to negate the risk involved for some..

Up here it seems that the cops, local .drug dealers, 'clients 'all seem to have a healthy respect for realising the role they play in relation to the economic reality of the other......Am I missing something here?

Back in 1978 Gold prices were $30 an ounce , Interestingly so was marijuana. Today gold prices are $500 an ounce , interestingly so is marijuana.
mmmmmmmmmmmm interesting comparison ,don't you think

I could not agree more.

Prohibition is wrong on every single level. It is so intellectually void that I can not believe governments have managed to get away with inflicting such a failed policy upon us for so long. In fact not only have they managed to get away with it but the policy of doing more and more of the same still seems to hold massive support in Australia.

It truly amazes me that a policy which fails on every single one of its objectives, whilst tearing away our civil liberties, lining the pockets of drug cartels, ruining the health of citizens by handing quality control to criminals, making the price of the poor quality product so high that property crime rates sour, cost the tax payer billions of dollars a year and feed ignorance and fear into people for no reason... can still gain such unquestioning support.

Makes you realise how things like aparthied and Nazi sponsored genocide went unchecked for so long. Perhaps people are just not capable of rational though or reason.