Friday, March 13, 2009

And the survey says...

On a national scale.

Polls show growing support for ending marijuana prohibition.
by Ben Morris
Published February 23, 2009 @ 10:49AM PST
Three recent polls have shown that Americans are more sympathetic to ending marijuana prohibition than ever before.
The polls, conducted by Rassmussen Reports, CBS News, and Zogby, show 40, 41, and 44 percent support respectively. In conjunction with Gallop poll data going back to the 1960s, we see that support for ending marijuana prohibition has consistently trended upwards, while opposition has trended down.



New Poll Finds Growing Support for Legalization


February 19, 2009 -

A growing number of Americans, and a majority in the West, support legalizing marijuana, according to a January 29-31 poll of 1,053 likely voters by Zogby International, sponsored by California NORML and Oaksterdam University.

When asked: "Should marijuana be taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes to help raise money for public services and to reduce law enforcement costs?", voters responded: 44% Yes, 52% No, and 4% Undecided.

Surprisingly high support was reported in the West, where voters favored legalization 58% - 36%. However, the significance of this margin is questionable due to the relatively small number of respondents (232). Easterners were nearly divided - 48% Yes, 49% No - while other regions were strongly opposed.

A similar Zogby/NORML poll in 2006 found only 36% of Americans in support of legalization, with 55% opposed.

Nationally, voters under 30 were particularly supportive, by a margin of 55%-45%, suggesting that a majority could emerge in coming years. Among older groups, baby boomers aged 50-64 showed the strongest support, 48%-48%.

In another Zogby poll question sponsored by NORML, voters were asked whether Obama should fulfill his election pledge to end DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Voters overwhelmingly said yes by 72% - 21%, with voters in all demographic groups agreeing.

The day after the poll results were released, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro announced the administration's intent to end the DEA raids.

Chart source: fivethirtyeight.com

67 comments:

Rose said...

Yeah, I'd say you're one election away from Legalization, at least in California, and the other states would fold fast.

Get it over with, put an end to our misery, and to the sham of 215, and 215 cards, and stupid 215 docs.

hucktunes said...

I say get rid of all drug laws. They create the obscene black market profits that spawn gang violence.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Hi Huck, welcome back!

It looks like the weed will be legalized in the near future. I predict that the changes will be drastic and that many of them will bring unanticipated consequences.

The “Boutique” weed is laughable, it won’t happen. Maybe a few nostalgic old hippies will buy Humboldt Homegrown, otherwise the mainstream users will buy the cheapest stuff that they can get high on. That’s why cheap beer and wine is so popular.

The other thing that is probably laughable, is the thought that any of the small Humboldt Growers will be up front and pay taxes. The old bootleggers never went legit after legalization and the growers won’t either. That’s the trouble with having been around awhile, there are few surprises.

If Rose is willing to go through a depression just to get rid of Gallegos, I guess that says something about her commitment.

Robin Shelley said...

"Legal" still has to be defined... still much to be, um, hashed out, I think.

Anonymous said...

gauging by the roadside bottles i pick up, there is plenty of boutique beer being drunk.
gourmand pot will have a market for the same reason that not everyone drinks coors or ripple. taste and quality.
if you are saying that the boutique pot industry will support the local economy, that might become a laughable notion if the price bottom falls out with legalization.
there is both a demand and niche for higher quality pot, and with a large market used to the good stuff, not everyone will flock to commercial grade bud-lite.
respectfully disagreeing.

Ernie Branscomb said...

OMR, you do a great job of disagreeing without being disagreeable. That’s a great quality. We need alterative views to find good solutions.

The Gourmet Weed will be the non-taxed underground stuff, I promise.

\ said...

Ahem, attention class, a little edukation is required hear. Becuz Suzy has noticed thaat theres one thing that everybody babbling on abuot this issue has totally wrong --this idea of a humbodlt gourmet herb. There wont be any gourmet herb once its legal cuz its not at all like booze in that sense. Once its legal and trading can be done in the open ALL of the pot will be high quality. Large producers RJ Renolds or whoever if they get into large scale production will have just as high quality as the small pop and mom humbodlt growers. This is simple. With wine and beer it has all to do with the process, the materials used etc. With herb that angle goes out the window, the best pot comes from the best strain. I cant say that enough... If you have the best strain, u will have the bst pot. It doesnt matter much how you grow it, how much you grow, how big the farm or how small, the quality will be the same... if you got the best strain of seed or clone and use good fertilizer --you got the best.

Any questoins?
s

Robin Shelley said...

As I said, I always learn so much from these "legalize pot" discussions. Thanks, Suzy. You make a lot of sense.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Thanks Suzy, There goes one of our unanticipated consequences!

And to think, we thought that we were going to be special! Oh well, I guess that we can all go to work for "the man". They are going to need some experts.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a clue about the quality of pot but do know a little about wine. I always bought the cheap stuff at Safeway and Fred Meyer's so I thought I would treat myself to a "good" bottle of wine. I purchased a bottle of Chateau Lafite, Rothschild for $160 and to my amazement I was stunned at the difference. I would buy the Napa stuff any day regardless of the price.

Just a side note, this "good" wine was 12% alcohol and my uncle called 12% wine Dingbat and the 20% wine he called stupid juice.


Oregon

Anonymous said...

Think of all the money we can save the taxpayers if we legal all crime!

Anonymous said...

yah suz, the strain is mighty important.
nah, suz, the how is Very important.

the strain of a carrot can the same but a commercial non-organic is going to taste very different than a small organic carrot crop.

scuz me suz if i don't bring you an apple today. LUV is the most important ingredient of good pot.

commercial grows are going to be pesticide dependent, if big biz gets into it.

sometimes the best strains aren't the best producers. the multitude of strains we have around here arent going to be duplicated by the commercial interests.

i have a headache, so this could just be "strained" logic.

feel free to disagree.

Anonymous said...

I don't think taxing pot will help. When California started the Lotto they said half the income would go to the schools. The kids didn't get smarter and they didn't get more books and computers but the school districts did get smarter. More jobs and more money at the upper level that has nothing to do with teaching our kids. Sounds more like how your government works.
This is my point of view, I could be wrong.

Oregon

Ernie Branscomb said...

California teacher are some of the highest paid teachers in the nation. If they are anything like the teachers that I know, they are smart, sincere, and dedicated.


California kids are some of the poorest educated in the nation. I wonder if it has anything to do with coming to school stoned.

So what is it? Poor teachers, or students that think that they are capable of learning while stoned? Or do you have any other theory?

Anonymous said...

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the non-california numbers on those surveys..got me thinking, is this a reflection of tolerance on the part of non-users...or is the use mushrooming? (both, of course is the answer)
A quick search surprised me further... it is america's number 1cash crop: "The study estimates that marijuana production, at a value of $35.8 billion, exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion)". And from a non-ABC news source : "And it is everywhere. While California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Washington are the top producing states, pot is the top cash crop in 12 states and among the top three in 30 states. "There is a lot of demand for marijuana in the US, and it's only natural that production would increase here," Gettman told Drug War Chronicle'.
From this last site: ""The fact that marijuana is America's number one cash crop after more than three decades of governmental eradication efforts is the clearest illustration that our present marijuana laws are a complete failure," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which spearheaded the media outreach following the report's publication. "America's marijuana crop is worth more than our nation's annual production of corn and wheat combined. And our nation's laws guarantee that 100% of the proceeds from marijuana sales go to unregulated criminals rather than to legitimate businesses that pay taxes to support schools, police and roads."

While Gettman did not estimate possible tax revenues from the regulated sale of marijuana, he suggested they would be substantial. "Legal production would bring down the prices, but the fact that people are buying marijuana at black market prices demonstrates that people value marijuana and will pay for it," said Gettman. "Marijuana can be heavily taxed and still provide lower prices than now while providing revenues to the government," he argued."

It takes a lot of users to smoke 22million domestically grown pounds as cited by the government stats used in the study above. Take out 10%, or 2 million pounds for busts. 20 million pounds used by 40 million users would equal 1/2 pound a year per person (!?). 80 million users would then average 1/4 pound used per person (!?). 120 million users would be smoking an average of a little over 2 1/2 ounces. See where I am going, just how many Americans are smoking the stuff? And this doesn't factor in smoking the Mexican product, which is apparently enormous.
Like it or not, America is going to pot!

(ps. don't get me going on my last surgery!)

Ernie Branscomb said...

"Drug trafficking is the most profitable organized criminal business in Mexico. It is estimated that up to $25-$30 billion worth of illegal drugs comes through Mexico into the United States each year. A wide range of illegal substances enter the United States from Mexico, though the primary ones are cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines (meth). Most cocaine and heroin shipments originate in other countries and pass through Mexico on the way to the United States, meaning that the proceeds must be shared between Mexican traffickers and foreign producers. Marijuana and meth, however, are produced in large quantities inside Mexico, which means that Mexican cartels receive a higher portion of the sales profits. Marijuana crops are cultivated in rural areas throughout western Mexico, while meth is mass produced in large production laboratories, whose operation has been facilitated by bulk shipments from China of ephedra, a precursor chemical in the production of the drug."

Read more about the shocking drug trade in Mexico, largly supported by the U.S. Organized Crime in Mexico

Ernie Branscomb said...

Blogger has learned a new game, how to high-jack new subscribers by mining the blogsite for customers.

Goggle "organized crime in Mexico", then click on the link to go to a great article on Mexico.

\ said...

LUV is the most important ingredient of good pot.

LUV?! -nonsence and poppycock -- time 2 wake up OldManRiver-- what u call 'luv' is not even neccessary, yes its needed 4 sweeter carrots, and other food prodocts, but not 4 good medicine.

Humbodlt countys heart shaped purple vision of paisley walled mj boutiques cuogh cough is a bogus wishful pipe-hippy-dream .... and a disgusting dream at that... The simple truth is, u got the best strain clones and you got the best intoxicant --Period. Expensive gourmet pot grown with Luv my ass. id rather have a joint from a plant forgotten about in the thorny rosebushes --if its a better strain --than one grown with all the love and attention a person can have.

But yassss... Suzy will take teh organic cuz its hellthyer. and id take the local cuz its not trucked so far, but if u want to grow a huge plantation of the best quality (most intoxicating) bud in the world i know how. Maintain the best strain. Theres no expertise, or luv, needed. Just hard work. If u want more, u dont get a less intoxicating strain that gives a higher "count per unit", u simply grow more plants (its legal) of the best. Any ideot working in an office 4 RJ Renolds should know that much by now. hmmph.

but RJ Renolds? gimmeabreak... i dont think theres one person in humbodlt that would buy RJ Renolds pot any more then theyd buy gourmet pot. Why would you? It's toooo easy to grow. Youd just put in a plant or two or get it from yr neighbor. When its legal its gonna be free, thats what i see coming --Hallailulia.

Just in case yr right though Suzys applying for the patent on LUV before RJ gets it.

oxxo,
s

Anonymous said...

re: 3/14 1:32 pm
Teacher salaries are large, but in today's classrooms, it's worth the buck for the struggle to educate kids. This would be the students who are disrespectful, out of control and do not want to learn.

Classified Employees: maintenance, custodial and (IA's)salaries are ranked 51 out of 51 in California, and with the economy as it is many of these classified employees will be cut next year. This will affect education directly.

Currently, a small portion of students only attend school after 10th grade because the law forces them to, and they are the first to tell you so. School is a waste of their time; they have no intention of furthering their educations. I quote "I could care less about graduating because I can make more money right here growing while you work the rest of your life paying off college loans." They say, "I can make that much in a year."

However true this may be, I think it's SICK. It's time for us to take a reality check and recognize the direction the future leaders of our country are headed.

I would like to see an end to the violence in our beautiful hills. Yes, there are drug cartels amongst us. They show up like gangs in more than one vehicle, late in the evening or while people are sleeping. These people are armed and dangerous. Young children reside in many of these homes. How can they be expected to attend school after witnessing the threats to their families the night before?

I am for legalizing marijuana and taking the money out of it because I want the violence to end. I'm sorry for those who depend on it for an income, and I'm sorry for the businesses who claim they survive from the revenue. Are their high dollar vacations helping our communities?

For the person who can grow the high quality, do it! Smoke it! Enjoy yourselves! Let's get rid of all the prop this and prop that crap. It's the kids at school who have prescriptions for growing when there is absolutely nothing wrong with them that bugs me, because they think it's the new agriculture of America and they want a piece of it. I think the doctor prescribing permits to young people should lose his license.

In my world, it seems that we've allowed this problem, and I forsee huge problems with the younger generations if the pattern does not change.... but, who am I?

Anonymous said...

thank yu for feeling free to disagree! suz
waking up is the goal of my life and i thank you for the encouragement!

boutique and gourmet do connote expensive dont they. didnt mean that. maybe gourmand is a better word.
my sinse is that luvless corporations will not have the gazilion and one strains that the horticulturalists have perfected and popularized. just as a wine afficianado has many kinds in his wine cellar, there will be those who love and want a wide variety, and some the lighter blends rather than the heavy indicas. so in my greenpaisley coughingdream, as has been suggested on other blogs, i envision a more farmers market produce model with much cheaper pot. the open demand will spawn a desire for variety as well as strength.
expensive no!

i must have luv tastebuds.

you are qualified to teach by virtue of hard work and experience so i won't argue with the nature vs. nurture.

asleep at the back of the class.

Anonymous said...

thank you last anon. some very good points that need to be heard.

Cristina said...

Kids in California may be among the least well-funded (47th out of the 50 states) in the Union, Ernie, but believe it or not, they're among the best educated. California has higher state standards than just about anybody.

Not that I have much use for ANY of the educational standards in this country, since I'm a terribly old-fashioned daughter of two teachers (and niece of three others).

Anonymous said...

Cristina, again I am responding to your post here. When I started school it was in a quonset hut that that had a wood stove and it was the old Garberville school. As you can tell I am not well educated and not well writen, however I do have a opinion. I have trouble thinking if we pay the teachers more money it will make the kids smarter. My wife (Ex) went to school in Harris and she was the ony kid in her grade for 7 years. There was one teacher for 8 grades and one room in the school house. I guess what I am trying to say is she is not under-educated. Maybe I am saying more about the education the kids have now days. just an after thought, maybe parents could have a little infuence on the kids.

Anonymous said...

Dang, I did it again. The Anon post at 11:55 was Oregon. Just so everybody knows.

Oregon.

Cristina said...

Well, it's a pretty complex issue, and it's not just a matter of paying the teachers more money. It's being able to afford supplies such as computers and computer training, which are invaluable in order to compete in a 21st-century world, and basic needs such as building maintenance. The buildings on the South Fork campus are a disgrace, not because people don't care, but because there simply is no money for basic upgrades; the kids freeze in the winter and swelter in the summer, and if you look closely you'll see grime in all the cracks - not because the custodians don't work, but because one or two people can't possibly keep the whole joint spic-and-span.

As far as "standards" go, I've got serious issues with the "teach to the test" mentality that has overtaken this country with No Child Left Behind. Schools that don't perform well after "x" number of years risk losing funding, which means that the ability to pass standardized tests becomes the end-all and be-all of the school experience. In the meantime, arts, music, and vocational programs suffer disproportionately, because they're considered "extras" - an attitude that utterly appalls me. And don't get me going on the U.S. being the only First World nation where learning geography and at least one other language aren't compulsory.

I could go on for a long time, but I've got an article to finish. About the latest school-board meeting, no less!

Anonymous said...

Good morning Ernie and all........ Someone sent me 2 magazines from L.A. Unbelievable. These mags have all the hundreds of places one can buy pot in the LA basin. Photos of all the different buds, prices of grams and clones, Doctors names and places to get 215's. You will not believe it when I show you. 80 large pages filled with political issues and how to grow and where to buy legally, etc. It makes us, Humboldt Co, look like amateurs. I think there's one co-op in the whole county. One.

Last summer a tourist came into the Blue Moon and asked where our dispensary was. I laughed inside and told him all of Redwood Drive was the dispensary, we really didn't need a special place. Of course he wanted to do it legally, I could not help him.

Why should all the bad guys and really bad guys make all the money? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't mean our mon & pop grow scenes here. I mean the really bad guys. We as Americans keep them in business around the world.

Anonymous said...

The magazine is called LA JEMM. "The Los Angeles Journal for Education on Medical Marijuana"

\ said...

corporations will not have the gazilion and one strains that the horticulturalists have perfected and popularized.

Why not?

Anonymous said...

Unfunded mandates like "No Child Left Behind" are one of the reasons fot the decline in education. Teachers and even tenured teachers are getting pink slips. It is sad. I am going to start to wear pink on Fridays to show my solidarity with the teachers. I will wear pink with black, so I am also in solidarity with Women in Black. Pink and black are nice colors, too, and coordinate well.

I would like to see it legalized, not so RJ Reynold or Merck can make money off of marijuana. I just want to be able to grow it in my garden in the sunshine along with my other herbs. It is a beautiful plant!

Anonymous said...

hi suz... about the variety...that is again, just conjecture. but it is based upon observing how many vegetable varieties have gone by the wayside with corporate farming. there are a gazillion kinds of spud and apples, but only the farmer's market carries a little variety. in a liquor store, the amazing variety of beers comes from small breweries.
i was extrapolating.

Carol said...

I have dabbled in zymurgy and zymergy and brewed beer and made wine. Many times I had great results, sometimes not such good results. But it was fun. The elderberry wine was the best!

I am an avid gardener. I would love to grow a marijuna plant in my garden, but feel I can't because it is still illegal federally or someone would steal it. So decriminalize it, so I can add it to my plant collection!

Rose said...

Try to hire tutors for your kids for math, science, reading etc. You can't afford it. But we, as a society, pay for teachers for all of our kids, because we value education. It is the biggest item in a State's budget.

The education is there for the taking, and you will get out of it what you put into it. You can get the greatest education in the world at our local high schools. We have excellent and dedicated teachers.

Too many kids resent being there and don't realize the opportunity that has been given to them as a gift, and they spend their time and effort wishing they weren't there.

But talking about education has become an esoteric exercise with no basis in reality - with politicians who know nothing about the day to day working reality of education using it as a platform and mouthing platitudes like "We will hold teachers and schools accountable." That is political speak for "it will cost you more and we will make it more and more painful for teachers to teach." And politician who uses those words should be ousted.

It's also a fact that, no matter what you do, the percentage of high achievers, middle ground and low achievers remains somewhat constant. Throwing more money at the bottom 10% will never have an effect, yet that is what we do. When throwing even a small amount of extra money at the top 10% can result in the cure for cancer, we choose not to do that. We've abandoned trade schools, and pretend that everyone must be an academic.

Complex subject, too much to say - anyways, here is a great article - you may find it interesting 17 REASONS WHY FOOTBALL
IS BETTER THAN HIGH SCHOOL

\ said...

I just want to be able to grow it in my garden in the sunshine along with my other herbs. It is a beautiful plant!

That says it all.

Anonymous said...

i liked your comments rose, thank you.

\ said...

...gone by the wayside

ok omr, its time 2 compare notes, or as Ernie would say, "now u got me thinking", pbviously u have been able to study extensively the array of multiple choices available at the liquor store without leaving the farmers market behind which indica-ates that u have a mind that sythenssizes thought faster than old shamans feet with organic corns can run to the moon and back for pizza and so forth, and so onward ... but,

suzy thuoght cuogh cough it over and extrapolated on some conjectures my own self and found that u r rite, but i have a question -- becuz now that theres too much data, gone, forever, teh tickertape having went wild too many years ago, gone now the chance by the wayside, gazillions of info packets per nano-second today, so small cant compete any more ... large market, tolerance on the part of non-users secured, what about the kids? Are they all too stoned now? Cuz small horticulturalists are going to need a gadzillion little experts when large corporate farming becomes the most important ingredient 4 teaching our small kids of all the large money we can save the taxpayers... across the bored... More jobs and more money needed --NOW! Bottom line is -- we cant wait any longer to all go to work when Lafite Rothschild gets the best strain of seed and 80 million users average 1/4 pound used per person that ordinarily might pass through Mexico on the way to the United States when the quality of pot smoke of 22million domestically grown pounds folds fast under the pressure from the Cartels. Cartels? yes were going to need some experts ... if the taxpayer exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and eats $7.5billion) acres worth duplicated by the commercial pesticide interests then what?

My figures have it as little over 2 1/2 ounces 4 Suzy to smoke a day... Not bad if its organic train wreck.

Cristina said...

"We've abandoned trade schools, and pretend that everyone must be an academic."

That is so, SO true.

My grandfather, a brilliant man, was apprenticed to a master woodworker in Germany when he was 13 (this would have been in 1913); he became a master woodworker and sculptor in his own right, and after coming to the U.S. in 1928, he went on to work for the National Park Service for 37 years.

My grandfather spent his entire life in a world surrounded by fine art, artists, and literature, but he was not an academic, and neither did he wish to be one. But his contributions to society are just as valuable as those of people who spend their entire lives in the ivory tower (in many cases, more so).

I'm a bookish sort myself, but I always envied the shop kids for being able to make things that I couldn't.

Rose said...

We've deteriorated into an either-or mentality.

Nothing says that a tradesman, a craftsman, isn't also highly intelligent, but for some reason that knowledge, which we all have, doesn't make it into the rhetoric. That, and there are different kinds of smarts, a pedigreed education isn't necessarily an indicator of wisdom or character.

Maybe it's just part of the cosmic polarization that we are living through.

Still - when I was in high school we had classes in Psychology, Anthropology, Jewelry, Pottery, Drama, Stagecraft, Sculpture, Woodworking, Auto Shop, Drafting, and Photography, as well as the traditional Languages, Math and Science. Even thought we are spending more money now, we have almost none of that, and kids on the college track have no room for any electives that give them a well-rounded education. It doesn't necessarily improve in college, as the required classes take up the entire schedule.

Kids work harder, and teachers not only work harder now, but are burdened with increased paperwork, state dictated curriculum and state mandates that interfere with individualized strengths - something charter schools were intended to ease. Yet even they will soon lose that freedom.

It's sad.

You know, we also made both beer and wine in our Biology class back then, and funny thing - the world didn't come to an end.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Omar for appreciating my point.

Rose: reading your comment sounded like it was coming from my fingertips on this keyboard. You are so right on!! about the educations being there for the ones who are willing to learn. Their educations would be excellent if only they allowed. That was one of the points in my last annonymous comment, with the exception that I elaborated on the students who don't think they need an education for the trade they are chosing.

As for Trade Schools,I think Trade Schools rock. It wouldn't be a bad idea to extend the high school education requirements by adding a trade. I believe that in many cases learning a trade before leaping into the higher level of learning would be a huge foot out of the door. I mean, at present you have to pass the CAHSEE. Why not a trade?. Like mandatory 6-18 months extended education in a trade that would put you to work immediately if the opportunity were there; what a benefit. The more studius could then continue down their road to a larger degree.

Sorry Ernie. I'm really off the subject here and mutilating your post, but it all goes hand in hand.

Anonymous said...

i love the education talk, please don't stop.
ernies threads go where we take them and you two are wonderfully articulate.

Anonymous said...

I have three pieces I made in high school woodshop that I treasure. With two academics as parents, I was raised in an advanced academic environment that made getting good grades and pedigrees easy.
But it is making things with my hands that I find my passion, and crafts have been my mainstay for most of my adult years.
Glad I had some shop in high school.

Anonymous said...

suz--- "what then?"....
all this extra-polating has worn out my factuality sensors...
next time i am consulting a psychic to find out why penelope cruz won't write back i am gonna ask about what the future will bring with the issue and ramifications of marijuana legalization.

spyrock said...

omr, maybe you should have someone translate your letters into spanish. penelope may not be able to read english.

spyrock said...

back when they busted the union, i lost my job for four months and during that time i worked as a substitute teacher. i worked k through 12. that was 20 years ago but the pay is only a couple of dollars more an hour nowadays.
back then, i saw quite a few teachers leaving the profession for higher paying jobs in the private sector. the main reason being the high number of kids that don't want to be there and make learning impossible for the ones that do want to learn. i constantly saw students verbally abusing and intimidating teachers. my neice only taught about 4 years before joining her husband in his restaurant business.
the people who get paid the big money these days are the principals and other officials that deal with the public. i knew a principal that i used to play golf with at the junior high level. the guy was ex air force and in very good health. he was about a year away from retirement and just made his last house payment. he was a stern but fair guy and all the kids loved him. but he died of a heart attack just the same.
my step son is a refrigeration guy just like ernie. he could be his own contractor if he knew how to read or spell and pass the test. he was the class clown in high school. but he's not only a union frig guy, he's got a ton of clients on the side.
my nephew took wood shop in high school and after being the head guy for a local firm for 20 years, he left them to be a supervisor in a cabinent company and makes over a 100k a year. he can't spell either. my uncle ken who was the county corner for 40 years told me the same thing, he had a secretary who did all the spelling for him.
they should make education mandatory k thru 8 and allow high school to be voluntary just like college and grad school. however, i think that education should be free all the way to grad school to whomever wants it.
then the gang bangers could legally stay home with their parents and not disrupt anyones education or they could work in the fields or trades where most of them will wind up anyways.
right now we are just wasting money teaching people who don't want to be there anyway.

spyrock said...

just to let your know some history. the san francisco music scene started when some very average musicians began playing at some electric koolaid acid tests. this koolaid had been given to the locals by the cia and others who were interested in its effects on people for various reasons. this koolaid had actually been around for some time but those people thought that it was better left to the elite. that is until tim leary thought that everyone should take it. that was january 1967. it wasn't until 1968 that higher strains of mj started showing up in the bay area. up until that time most of it was kilos of low quality hemp from mexico that was maybe a shade stronger than regular pipe tobacco. by that time most of the pure koolaid had already been drunk and the new stuff wasn't the same. the new stuff was cut with speed and other things. so the better strains of mj showing up from all over the world fulfilled the need of people who could no longer find pure koolaid. because so many of these people were college students, these high thc content strains were developed into the ones on the market today. so suzy is right, no amount of love is going to make some michuacan rope weed taste or get you high like panama red. at the same time, i spent 15 minutes at the supermarket looking at the different beers and about the same amount of time looking at the different wines at various price levels and alcohol content. so you would be looking at high level marketing with labeling requirements such as thc content and whether or not the weed was organic or not for starters. but y'all been smokin loco weed to think that the fundamentalists are going to ever let you smoke or grow weed legally. so just forgetaboutit.

Carol said...

Darn it, Spyrock, I so wanted to grow one of those beautiful plants. I guess I will just have to settle for hemp ale.

\ said...

i am gonna ask about what the future will bring ...

OMR -if she doesnt use purple font thats a clue that shes not a real psychic.

i spent 15 minutes at the supermarket looking at the different beers and about the same amount of time looking at the different wines

Spy --always a good story from yuo, keep the pure koolaide comin at us...

Ernie, I'd luv to tell yuo more abuot my philosophy of fallen trees but Suzy just doesnt have enuogh time... im totlally busy wurking on a new writing project now that im now totally involved in the writing thereof.

Bunny, i decided to jump on the pot blah blah bandwagon... i just started writing a movie script abuot a 64yr old man who was barn and raised in the Em Triangle. Pot smoke wafts thruogh the scenes of his life as does pot money, potheads, etc etc blahblabla... its sort of a cross between 40yr old Virgin and UP in Smoke... if u have any interesting antidotes pleeze send them to suzyblahblah@hatmail.com or --just post them here LOL... i have 2 working titles "Once in The Blue Moon" and/or "Big Deal"

huggles,
s

Anonymous said...

looking forward to that buk suz.
i used to have a lot of auntiedotes, but i outlived em all.

spyrock...thanks for the suggestion for the translater. i guess if i can't get penelope to respond to my luv, i shouldnt expect others to listen to my love your plants and they will love you rap.

i remember all too well the dirty moldy mexican pot we had in the midwest. there was even a blurban legend that burying it to get it a little moldy would increase its potency. hooboy. (no luv in that bud).

now i am not going to argue about luving your plants, it is either self-evident or not.
maybe it can't overcome bad genetics but it is still my favorite amendment for all my flowering plants. maybe that is strainwrecked thinking...

luv the bud yr with...

\ said...

and if u cant be with the (hick) one bud dank pruple best
-- dew luv the moldy bust kick ur bud red stills can

\ said...

looking forward to that buk suz.

thnx yeah itll be a good buck alrite -i got a surprize ending birthday party scene and new working title --
"When I'm Sixty Five"
(after the Rolling stones song)

knitting a story by the fireside,
s

Anonymous said...

I think you dropped a stitch.
Though I would like to hear a Rolling Stone version of the song you allude to, I am pretty sure it was Paul and the Insects, not the Stones.

\ said...

No teacher, "When Im 65" wasnt made by Pual and the Insext ..Suzy just did a goggle saerch and imho im almost totally positive yr wrong becuz im 93% sure now at this point in my research 4 the story that it says in wackypedia that it was the Stones --89% absolutly 4sure going by the lower estimate and allowing 4 wiggle room. Speaking of wiggle, heres something really exciting, while i was researching i found out that Elvis and Costello wrote the song in the 50s on the Ed Sullivan show--thats a fact u may want to make note of according to a survey i found. It may have been skewed a percetile here or there --they had a lot of groupies you know LOL! but im pretty positive 4sure now that it was a band called "The Baetles" that made "When I'm 64" --thats a totally different strain ...

ok thats all 4 now teach, suzy gotta lotta homewreck to do.

oxoxo
s

Anonymous said...

scewlteacher got tot a lesson in suzysubtlety....
today is mick jagger's birthday and yes, now he gets to ride the bus for free in england--65 will get you there.
paul gets there on june 14th, boomers to your kleenexes!
suz almost got her book title stole before she could write it:
“It was really an arbitrary number. I probably should have called it When I’m 65 , which is the retirement age in England. And the rhyme would have been easy, ‘something, something alive, when I’m 65.’"

that was some impressive data, tho at some point your search engine may have derailed with the rest of the trainwreck... unless you were going for a Piled Higher and Deeper degree from the scewl of laugh.

Anonymous said...

i think you qualify for that degree olmanribber--- if you had read the date on the link you provided you would have seen paul turned 64 in '06... doh!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Dang! Few a few minutes there I was young again. Oh well.

\ said...

good link --he woulda called it "When im a 49er" if he had time traveled to the...
never mind but what i am still patiently resaerching is something that the link didnt define --did Paul ever smoke Pot?

hey it would be kewl to have Paul derail the suondtrack for the Movie if hes still alive ...

Ernie, smoke some purple and listen to "yesterday" by the Crosby Still Young Band --youll feel 63 again!

luvs is such an easy game to play,
s

Anonymous said...

being of unsound body and mind, i double checked the mick turning 65 and found it was from a march 17, 2009 paper showing an article from july 26,2008. phd thesis denied!
(mick the leo makes more sense than mick the sensitive pisces)

i am turning redder than a salmon crick tom, and i apologize, back to the rocker for awhile for me.

Anonymous said...

Another public senior moment! Happy rockin' omr!

Anonymous said...

omr. Sorry for misspelling your name in post 3-15 2:38. :0)

Anonymous said...

anon that was kind...thanks for the public correction, i did gulp a little thinking it was a poor historic time to be talking illegal talk while named omar. all agencies of discrimination and surveillance please take note. omr...not omar.
whew.

spyrock said...

just trying to let you know that what you have now is way different than what we had when. and those of us like bill clinton who didn't smoke, didn't know how to inhale it anyway. but i totally believe that love is very good for plants. you can even love them at a distance, love them back when they were seeds and love them when they become purple people eaters. i call this kind of love, quantum love. first the doing, plant the seed, water it, etc. then the being, love it watch it grow. you know. doobee.

\ said...

Nope. sorry guys but it doesnt matter how much 'love' you give a mariwanna plant --if its not a good strain you wont have high quality bud.
You will have a stronger healthier plant and (this is the key) you will have MORE pot (to sell). But the truth IS what the hippys in Humblodlt call 'love' is more commonly know as 'greed'.

Anonymous said...

Ouch, suzy.

Robin Shelley said...

This came to my in-box a couple of days ago. Thought some of you here might get a kick out of it!

Some of the artists of the 60's are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers:

NEW LYRICS:

Bobby Darin:
Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash.

Herman's Hermits:
Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker.

Ringo Starr:
I Get By With a Little Help From Depends.


The Bee Gees:
How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?

Roberta Flack:
The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face.

Johnny Nash:
I Can't See Clearly Now.

Paul Simon:
Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver.

The Commodore:
Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom.

Marvin Gaye:
Heard It Through the Grape Nuts.

Procol Harem:
A Whiter Shade of Hair.

Leo Sayer:
You Make Me Feel Like Napping.

The Temptations:
Papa's Got a Kidney Stone.

Abba:
Denture Queen.

Tony Orlando:
Knock three Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall.

Helen Reddy:
I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore.

Leslie Gore:
It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To.

And Last but NOT least:

Willie Nelson:
On the Commode Again.

spyrock said...

those are great songs. i always like to hear grandpa doug sing looking through the knot hole in grannies wooden leg. maybe somebody could redo all those hits of the sixties before oldtimers sets in on us and we really can't remember what happened back then.
it was easy to spot me when i visited spyrock, i was the only one who didn't drive a brand new xtra cab pickup truck. and nobody invited me in for tea or free samples, maybe you got a point suz.

\ said...

ya Spy, they probly thought you werent likely to have anything that they needed... little did they know about whats truly valuable in this old world! yaknow, but my real point is that i dont think that Humgrowers woould be well advized to xpect to be selling much special-bouquet weed once its legalized.

It wont work.

The most sought after pot comes from the best strains, it doesnt matter how much you chant ommmm over it, the genetics is what counts. And, the best strains (clones) are already available more or less everywhere, and that's all you need --that and some chicken shit and some sunshine.

Of course love and chanting and good vibes and positivity dont hurt, Suzy sings to her gurls and tells them stories and jokes and they luv it!!! -- but its the strain that wrecks the train.

robin --those song titles are really really reaaly funny! this time Suzy truly did LOL!

ok time to go get "on top of ol smokey," for a spell,

later,
s

Anonymous said...

great laughs robin, thanks!


i sure agree the word strain takes on more importance in a variety of ways as you age. your mid-section strains at the beltline, you get eyestrain, your logic and humor get strained, the food needs to be strained,...last time i hurt my back i was a strained wreck.

so if you wanna say that the strain pulls the train of potency, i won't rail against ya.
i gno u luv what you do, and Be= doBe

Anonymous said...

The legalization discussion is taking place in the US News and World Report, and the Capital Hill Blog. the latter link refers to the Institute of Medecine’s Marijuana and Medecine report, one for the files.