Because the government should have no right to tell an individual what he/she can or cannot consume. If the natural, far less harmful plants (even less harmful than legal alcohol and cigarettes) were available under controlled circumstances and not illegal...these somewhat dangerous and unpredictable substances would not even exist.

If only there was some natural plant that didn't have all these nasty, nasty side effects, no LD50 concerns, no physical addition concerns, grows like a weed, can be used to replace paper, nylon, oil, cotton and other commodities, reduces alcohol abuse, DUI and crime, and has been used by mankind for over 20,000 years....

Operation Log Jam

Now that's funny.

Fifty-three weapons and $6 million in assets were also seized during the operation

Whew. Glad those weapons are off the street. When are they shipping them to Mexico?

"The more we can keep it out of the country, the more we can protect public safety," Chaparro said.

Yes. The feds are doing such a good job enforcing immigration policies. lolll

"What's troubling is they're marketing to young people

Big tobacco hates competition.

yea spider those damn drunks are killing people daily

Synthetic drugs were initially thought to be a factor in an infamous case in Miami in May, when a naked man was fatally shot while chewing the face of a homeless man. But toxicology tests found he had only marijuana in his system.

lol. What a bullsh!t wrap up sentence. I've been smoking pot for 30 years and have
never eaten anyone(literally), just Doritos and pizza.

Amen, Spider.

literally.....hahaha!

Doritos and pizza, and probably a lot of them!

Why can't we go along with the gun issue.
"Guns don't kill people people kill people."
"Drugs don't kill people people kill people."

Everyone should have a right to use drugs and the good drug user shouldn't be blamed for the actions of the bad drug user!

Sorry Spider.

That wasn't the nightly news. That was a rerun of Reefer Madness. You can tell, because it's in black and white. No one in real life has ever committed violence because of the direct effects of marijuana. Only an idiot would believe they have.

Den O'synn, you need to read Spider's statement a little more closely. He did not use the word "marijuana". The word he used was "chemical". Presumably he's referring to various mind-altering substances, not just one.

Chaparro said the problems with these drugs isn't limited to the U.S.

WTF. This is the 4th day in a row that the editors missed sh!t.

AREN'T limited to the U.S.

They need to make cannibanoids legal and stop burning billions of $$$ enforcement. What a waste of tax dollars!!!!

Yay! The good guys strike back!

Petercha.

Spider was responding to KS712. KS712 was talking about pot.

Mr. Blinkie, I think you meant the "empire strikes back". These aren't the good guys.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, etc., government.

Michele looks like she has something going on.............???????

I would like to compare our gov to certain Germans of ill-repute, but that is usually frowned upon by people on either side of the equation...

Well, when a person just smokes a little cries about manufactured drugs cries that is telling me he does other drugs as well. It gives a bad name to the true stoners and makes it harder for them to do a little legal grass. The ones always crying about the Alchol and tobacco crowd tend to piss me off. I wish you would just pack your bags and move to Sweeden. By the way, they are changing the law there, if your not Sweedish you can buy drugs legally. You can give up your US Citizenship and become a Sweedish Citizen, but they have a three year Draft. Now if you think the grass is Greener there have at.

My 18 year old son had some friends bring some k-2 (a.k.a spice) over. It was, of course, safe because it was legal. He took three hits on it and went into convulsions. He thought he was dying (literally) and was rushed to the emergency room near full cardiac arrest (his heart was going crazy). He almost died from this stuff. It's dangerous and deadly and those who profit from it should be locked up for a long long time. Anyone who thinks this stuff is safe should have been at my house that evening. You would change your mind very quickly.

@ Bruce - agreed that 'spice' is very dangerous. Most people I know that tried it did so because it doesn't show up in drug tests and because it was 'legal' as you say. Most said they felt like their heart was going to beat right out of their chest.

I've smoked plenty of Cannabis in my day, and I would never touch lab-made cannabinoids. Mother nature knows best. And to petercha and spider in the words of Ben Harper:

"My choice is what i chose to do; and if I'm causin no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you chose to be; and if you're 'causin to harm, then you're alright with me."

Pot should be legal. America need 10,000,000 more 30 year old guys living in their mom's basements.

It's about time they got this crap off the streets.

Because you don't know how chemistry works. That's why.

Contention, try to use logic. The article didn't say that smoking marijuana was the reason the man chewed off the other man's face. All it said was marijuana was found in the man's system -- not the bath salts they thought he had consumed.

Funny (and sad at the same time) to see that nothing gets Americans off their couch like defending their rights to guns and drugs. What a f^%#@ed-up civilization! The fall of the new Rome is close.

And once again the DEA plays Whack-A-Mole.

Same game they've been playing unsuccessfully for 40 years.

Push one down - another pops up.

.

WOW !!!!! I feel so much safer now in the knowledge that over 10,000 government employees, with an annual budget of well over $2 billion (the DEA), have arrested 90 people, who are only in business because cannabis is illegal. There would be no demand for these potentially dangerous substances if cannabis were legalized at the federal level. This needless self-serving agency (DEA) continues to waste our precious tax dollars on a demonstrably un-winnable war. At the end of the day, we as a people need to ask ourselves, are we really comfortable with how over $2 billion dollars of our tax money is being spent?

Now if the Secretary of the Treasury can get off his "blanketedy blanketedy" and take ALL those folks who have failed to pay their BACK IRS TAXES to FEDERAL COURT:

• http://fromtheleft.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/41-obama-white-house-aides-owe-the-irs-831000-in-back-taxes/
• http://www.bermanpost.com/2010/09/over-280000-federal-workers-owe-33.html

People are always going to need a vice. Whether smoking, drinking, gambling or bible thumping. What is going to happen when they take away all ways of escaping this messed up real world? Alcohol kills more. Why isn't that attacked by the DEA? This whole war on drugs is a waste of money. Sure go after the cocaine and heroin and meth, but weed? Never saw a whacked out stoner before. Seems there are a lot worse problems out there than weed and fake weed. Got to relieve some of this stress somehow, and a lot of it was caused by the same government that is trying to take away your only good time. Back off and create some jobs already.

tiny-2847455, Steve Jobs smoked plenty of pot and create Apple Computer in his mom's garage What have you done to compete with "that loser" as you would call him?

Yeah, KS712, when you and your weak-minded little friends, who can't seem to function without some kind of s**t in your system, quit committing bizarre, dangerous, and sometimes deadly acts while you are high, the rest of us will consider legalization. But until we can turn on the nightly news and see no crimes and accidents caused by some idiot's chemical stupor, don't look for much sympathy.

I see 10x more stories about drunk people killing people/hurting people than I do about people on drugs. Face it, alcohol is worse and it is legal. All drugs should be made legal. This 'war on drugs' isn't about public safety. It is about lining the pockets of corporate prisons, judges, lawyers, police departments, etc. You really think that because the cops seized some drugs that you are going to be safer? Most of the gangs only exist because they can make bank selling the illegal drugs. Law enforcement are constantly battling problems they created. Waste of money. People would not be synthesizing/using these drugs if regular drugs were legal. They only make these as a workaround. I blame law enforcement for the rise in synthetic drug use.

Tiny,

My Mom doesn't have a basement, she's a Snowbird. I have to rent a basement apartment. I'm not complaining though, at least it stays cool. And the rent is just a little over a third of my monthly 401K contribution. I figure I'll need a lot more than Social Security to live on when I retire. Since I'm such a loser.

Oh please, spider. If you think pot was a factor in someone chewing someone's face off, you are an idiot. I don't even smoke it and I know that. Pot might make people act lazy and stupid and eat too much, but other than driving while high, (OK, and maybe using chainsaws and stuff like that) there isn't really anything that can make someone dangerous just because of pot. Its just something the government uses to show people how much they can control us.

Pot makes people chew other face? Now you know why nobody trusts the news media and government!

@ bruce-308647

I've seen the exact same thing happen
to a friend of mine only he had been eating peanuts, maybe we should
ban those too?

Tyler, do they give you stock options on this censor job? Or contribute to your 401K?

What's the next step up the ladder?

The USA worlds single largest drug consumer. And keep blaming the rest of the world for it.

Free enterprise at its best. Just ask Romney. Your next president?

I just wish every year was an election year....

Rich-3050148

They do have a new drug test that spice & K2 shows up on. They have it my my county in GA. They passed a new law last year banning Spice & K2 & other synthetic drugs in GA. I heard the 1st group of probationers they tried it on 13 out of 20 failed. (I don't know if it's true) They do have the new testing machine though. In Dougherty Co. it's 30 to 90 days in jail for dirty UA & if they are on parole they can revoke you.

@Roger:

It's true that peanuts kill more people than weed.

Anaphylactic Shock or anaphylaxis is the name for it. I have a nephew that would get it from a bee sting.

Yeah, KS712, when you and your weak-minded little friends, who can't seem to function without some kind of s**t in your system, quit committing bizarre, dangerous, and sometimes deadly acts while you are high, the rest of us will consider legalization. But until we can turn on the nightly news and see no crimes and accidents caused by some idiot's chemical stupor, don't look for much sympathy.

I will agree with you once I don't turn on the news and see people committing the same types of crimes on alcohol.

Laws against possession or use of a substance is a violation of American citizens right to liberty.

Anaphylactic Shock or anaphylaxis is the name for it. I have a nephew that would get it from a bee sting.

Our politicians better make bees illegal so that we are safe

Well, we've heard from the kids on this board. Now it's time for Mom to chime in. Marijuana is banned and bill continued to be banned because it's considered a GateWay Drug.

I smoked my share of it and I also smoked my share of it with my older teen sons. I wanted them to understand that I knew what I was talking about.

When weed is not available, the party people will find something to ingest because they aren't fluent in having a good time without just using their personalities or doing something interesting.

Lazy minds. We have an epidemic in this country. Instant gratification and many have been doing it so long they know of no other way to have fun.

I'm sure this post is going to be as popular as a turd in a punchbowl so flame away. When my boys would ask me if I'd like to smoke that crap-Weed, I tell them and wave them away saying...that's kid @!$%#. How about going roller skating around the lakes with me?

Guess which option they choose? Get high and watch reruns of South Park, smashing Doritos in your face along with a pack of Oreos or slapping on a pair of rolling skates?

By me constantly calling it Kid @!$%#, the must've started them thinking that maybe it was exactly that. Kid @!$%#.

The use of marijuana for pain relief is the only exception I can think of that making it worthy of being on a market.

Cigarettes are a GateWay drug.

To investigate the associations between cigarette smoking and illegal drug use, the researchers analyzed data from the 1994 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse which provided information about the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among members of the non-institutionalized United States civilian population aged 12 or older. The survey data were originally collected through personal visits to the residences of 17,809 respondents.

Results showed that those who had smoked cigarettes were more likely to use illegal drugs. For all age groups combined, the 65.8 percent of participants who had ever smoked were: seven times more likely to have tried marijuana; seven times more likely to have tried cocaine; 14 times more likely to have tried crack; and 16 times more likely to have tried heroin. The results were even more startling when the statistical evidence was sub-divided by age groups. Associations between smoking and illegal drug use were significantly stronger for young people. For instance, people ages 12 to 15 who smoked cigarettes were 44 times more likely to use crack, compared with only a twofold risk in those 50 or older.

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Alcohol is a GateWay Drug

Of three drugs or drug-containing substances - alcohol, tobacco and marijuana - the study found that the former, not the latter, led to more drug use.

In examining a nationally representative sample obtained from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future survey, the study concluded: "Results from the Guttman scale indicated that alcohol represented the 'gateway' drug, leading to the use of tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit substances. Moreover, students who used alcohol exhibited a significantly greater likelihood of using both licit and illicit drugs."

According to a study to be published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, cannabis does not lead to the use of hard drugs (Sunday Times of 16 December 2001). Findings are based on a survey of drug users in Amsterdam over a 10-year period. The study by Jan van Ours of Tilburg University in the Netherlands shows that cannabis users typically start using the drug between the ages of 18 and 20, while cocaine use usually starts between 20 and 25. But it concludes that cannabis is not a stepping stone to using cocaine or heroin. Four surveys, covering nearly 17,000 people, were carried out in Amsterdam in 1987, 1990, 1994 and 1997. The study found that there was little difference in the probability of an individual taking up cocaine as to whether or not he or she had used cannabis. Although significant numbers of people in the survey did use soft and hard drugs, this was linked with personal characteristics and a predilection to experimentation.

The Institute of Medicine study characterized marijuana’s role as a “gateway drug” as follows:

"Patterns in progression of drug use from adolescence to adulthood are strikingly regular. Because it is the most widely used illicit drug, marijuana is predictably the first illicit drug most people encounter. Not surprisingly, most users of other illicit drugs have used marijuana first. In fact, most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana—usually before they are of legal age.

How does something that's "illegal" get into all the stores, created, packaged and warehoused, and sold in quantities such that 10's of millions of dollars are generated, THEN the DEA raids them and seizes the money??? If it's illegal, why not bust them when they start up? How is this not a giant money grab by CASH STRAPPED GOVT.? Think about it and ask yourself how the supply got to be so huge, out in the open, without someone saying "this is illegal, were going to shut you down" BEFORE the giant pile of cash and assets came along with the bust. AND, how many kids got screwed up on this crap while they waited for the cash to pile up?

If im a woman and I say "ITS MY BODY AND I WANT TO KILL THE BABY IM CARRYING!" Most People say well she has a point there,so its ok to let her KILL an INNOCENT BABY. And we in the federal government, are going to sell guns to drug dealers in another country its ok because we are the AUTHORITY! And if you dont like it you are Against women and the Government. SO we all shut our mouths ,close our eyes,and say nothing for fear of being labeled a chauvanistic pig or a racist because the man in charge of gun selling is Black. But DAM YOU ALL TO HELL if you want to put drugs into YOUR BODY. It is NOT YOUR BODY where drugs are concerned. and if you want to do drugs you are a foul evil murder who may at any moment Rape grandma hopped up on weed. and at the same time Zanax is the number one prescribed drug in America. So everyone STOP Bitchin about BIG BROTHER chasing symthetic drugs that some poor soul is using to escape his miserable cant find a job while his Girlfriend Kills his baby without his say life Because remember Its HER BODY SO SHE DOSNT NEED HIS SAY! And it makes the Obama Administration look like its doing something to help save our country. Its much easier than using those same Police to round up LAW BREAKING ILLEGAL IMIGRANTS, They will vote for him Synthetic drugs wont! Never do anything to destroy the votes from all the BABY KILLERS and the GAYS and the MEXICANS. But piss on anyone looking for a little reliefe from the miserable world that is being created at the expence of the ex working man. Welcome to the BRAVE NEW WORLD. OH and remember to smoke another cigarette behind Michelle's Broad Back Barry!

Parents give their kids to much money.

@ Mon-El

What a crazy, disjointed, illogical, incoherent string of sentences you've put together... Have you just smoked a little too much ganja after ripping little Mon-El out of your belly? You're just not making much sense.

THIS ARTICLE IS A PIECE OF GARBAGE! Did I miss the part where it mentions what they're being charged with? Last time I checked it was legal. Apparently the DEA doesn't need to worry about pesky laws and constitutional rights.

Welcome to the machine.

"Earlier this month, President Barrack Obama signed a bill that banned the sale, production and possession of some chemicals used for making many types of synthetic drugs. The bill added 15 synthetic drugs to the Controlled Substances Act."

Apparently you did miss the part where 15 drugs were made illegal. Now, the article is still kind of garbage due to lack of detail but to assume the DEA is acting without having some kind of authority of law behind it is stupid.

Tax evasion, money laundering... I'm sure they can come up with something to charge them with.

Last year I got a call "Mom I'm so sorry...I think I'm having a heart attack and I can't see. No I don't know where I am...help me!" My son's friend purchased Mr. Nice Guy bath salts and they smoked some. His friend got scared and left my son throwing up and blind in the woods near our house. A neighbor heard him crying out for help and called police...three and a half hours later he came off the "high" in the emergency room. They thought it would be okay, cause it was bought in a smoke shop.

This stuff is poison and the people responsible need to lose everything and go to jail.

Good news is that the experience scared my son straight...but it could have ended up so tragically.

Bravo to law enforcement!

I think you're lying Momma lrj. I don't think people smoke bath salts and I think Mr. Nice Guy is incense not balt salts.

Busted for selling synthetic drugs. It seems only fair that, the way the economy is going, they'll be able to pay their lawyers and fines with synthetic money.

So, how much spice can your brain surgeon ingest prior to your brain surgery?

How much can your pilot ingest prior to flying you to your destination?

The FDA doesn't approve any of this as safe. It's all home made.

momma, you really should teach your children better. "They thought it would be okay, cause it was bought in a smoke shop." A smokeshop sells tobacco products....You are telling me your child thinks cigarettes are okay because it was bought in a smokeshop? I think your child is lacking basic common sense. Hopefully you already knew this and are just in denial.

Bath salts would disappear over night if pot was taken off schedule 1. Overnight!

I agree these synthetic drugs are dangerous and should be taken off the streets AND they only exist because kids don't want to get busted for pot.

Try to catch the Nat Geo show called Drugs Inc. They did an episode on designer drugs in which they have a very sad story about a kid who committed suicide after taking K2. He only started doing it because he got busted with pot and would have been violating probation if he got caught with it again.

Tons of weird stories.

I know a lot of people who have smoked 'incense' with no problems at all.

I've also heard of people who smoked righteous pot and went to the emergency room.

I think most of the stories are just propaganda, when talking about incense or spice. I've even smoked some, no horror stories - it is just like pretty good weed, except wears off pretty quickly.

If everybody was going to the emergency room and dying off - the smoke shops would be out of customers. The stuff has been around for three years at least. The majority of people who buy it are repeat customers.

I've never seen or known anybody to try the bath salts, and I wouldn't try them either, but the spice horror stories are b.s., unless somebody was just totally inexperienced, had never smoked a joint, and simply freaked out. If they would have waited 20 minutes, they could have saved a big doctor bill.

Don't mistake this post as an advertisement, I have nothing to sell, and nothing to promote. Still, propaganda is the norm these days, and it has been honed to a fine craft.

The truth is, pot does have it's dangers, and I could explain them, but not what the propagandists are selling, which is basically fear.

Please, explain the dangers of pot that you speak of.

Are you a toker, steveland?

freedman1.

Could you be more specific as to exactly which strain of Marijuana sent someone to the emergency room?

Man, this was a few years back...

I bought a quarter from this guy, a young guy. He warned me to be careful, that this was extremely potent stuff. That a chick he knew had gone to the emergency room just two days prior.

I thought to myself, fantastic!!

If you read my comment, I said I've heard of people who smoked righteous pot and went to the emergency room.

The pot was fine. It wasn't fantastic, though. Maybe she did go, but it wasn't because of anything but inexperience, I suppose. Maybe it was a strange dealer marketing ploy, I don't know.

Most all these type of stories are b.s. Look at everything above. Not one of them are first hand stories. Except mine. Yes. I have smoked fake pot. K2, before it was outlawed, and that was the best, but some of the other stuff has been pretty good too. I never went to emergency room. I didn't go blind. My heart didn't explode. I also have never personally known this to happen to anyone else, although I do know several others that have smoked fake pot.

Nothing above applies to bath salts, which I take is predominantly speed. Never tried it, never will, and don't know anything much about it other than what's in the news.

I think freedman1, is just pandering... weed doesn't send you to an emergency room unless you combine it with something else... like pills, alcohol, etc!

laced with hash oil,angel dust or pcp...etc...it can screw you up...

(plain bob laced with hash oil,angel dust or pcp...etc...it can screw you up..)

Take out the hash oil, and I would agree >:o): Though a joint with a nice line of oil painted on the paper can be rather interesting, just don't go driving or play with power tools. lol

Angel Dust was a way around the pot issiue along time ago. It was parsley spiked with pcp..some times mda......thoughs can f**k ya up to a dangerous level.

""Just a quick "soap box" moment, putting it away now."" >:o):

Much Love,

Da Pup

>:o): PuRrRrRrrRrRRRrrrrrrr

Anyway, we would not have this cat n mouse "game" with legal pot. There would be no need, and much less danger avoided.

It is NOT Pot that destroys lives, IT'S the LAWS against Pot that destroys lives.

My brother went to Vietnam when he was 18! WWII & Korean vets went to war when they were 18!! And I have no respect for anyone coddling and babying their EIGHTEEN year old or older punk brats "Oooooh, he's just eighteen ... he made a bad decision ... boo hoooo."

Why don't you tell your EIGHTEEN year old sons to man up, grow a pair, or just suck it up! If you drama mama's haven't started to wean your baby boys off your teat by the time they are eighteen, some of these "bad decisions" are some of your responsibility. They have nothing better to do than play violent video games, watch violent movies, go on binge drinking sprees or get stoned and think their navel lint is hilarious. And don't even get me going on those punk "big man" gang bangers who will eventually just kill each off if given enough time. No, these are not boys, they are young men. Young men who were not parented with a stable nuclear family with their natural parents in the household. Yes, I do know that is not always a guarantee, but I think it sure helps to raise children with more ethics and morals.

In the last 20 years or more, our U.S. society is being destroyed by the destruction of the nuclear family. The destruction of good paying jobs for fathers who now can't be the sole breadwinners so their wives can stay home and raise their children. Now their wives have to go to work and throw their children in day care which just eats up her income that she earns.

The middle class of the United States is being eroded and is now broken completely. We are now a two class society. My husband busts his ass off working day after day so our taxes can go to entitlement benefits for the poor <ahem> and the rich pay taxes only on what they claim after they shelter all their money off-shore.

So keep on smokin' your Spice or K-2 or cannabis or pop your pills to escape reality, but once in a bit why don't you say thank you to all of us sad suckers now in the LOWER middle class after working 30 years so can enjoy it.

I took someone to the ER for pot before. And no, I can't tell you what "kind". Just that the dumb guy chose my porch to take a dive off of. Told him to stay on the porch when I saw he was wasted. Found him in the flower bed having trouble breathing. Says all he did was smoke a "j". Another self-righteous head inflicting needy consequences on someone else. Wanted to borrow gas money, too!

Zevon, I joined up when I was 18 as well.

Ask your brother if he ever saw any marijuana in VietNam.

Sounds like Acapulco Gold to me Henry. Possibly a Maui Wowie blend.

Whatever...not on my porch

I'm thinking that there is more to come.

They busted the only headshop in our town a few months back. It was headline news for a couple of days. They had the synthetic mj after it was outlawed July last year.

Yeah, people commit such sane, safe, intelligent acts when their little pea-brains are fried. Why not just refrain from ingesting foreign s**t, BL? That would completely solve the problem.

So I take it you don't drink then?

spider all drugs you are getting from your doctor are foreign to your body.

Spider is right stick to cannabinoids. They are not foreign, they're good for you.

h t t p://worldtruth.tv/cannabis-oil-is-a-highly-efficient-natural-cancer-cure-2/

Remove the extra spaces in http.

Still sucking on the govt. teat spyder? What a fine conservative.

Lunatic, you can't be real!. Why makes so much sense ?

If MJ was legal there wouldn't be a market for this synthetic BS. Just another waste of money on the governments part. Legalize pot tax it and take care of this lethal problem.

The rule of law means nothing to these zealots.

Badly written article. The fact that previously legal synthetics are now illegal was at the end of the article, rather than near the top where it logically belonged.

Always follow the money - these synthetics are cutting into Mexico's drug profits.

to late KS i dont know about where you stay but here in texas if you dont have a lic or id card aka (papers) you will be arrested!

Don't worry there is always Home Lnad Security who seems to have a blank cheque to do what ever they want.

Remember you signed all your right away with GW and Odumbo. The government took you all for a ride when you freaked out after 9/11. Still to many question to be asked about that and still to many secret about that are being kept.

I.E I don't trust the bastards. All the governments in the world have their own agenda and it is not necessarily for for benefit.

Ye really live up to your name. The sexist expletive you used to attempt to describe a woman in public service is beyond contempt.

EMS.

I saw the hearing to which the tard is referring, on CSPAN. This particular public servant is beyond contempt.

Well... Using the term "twat" was probably wrong; however... Look this woman up on YouTube, and watch her congressional testimony and questioning she attempted to duck and dodge from the Congressmen from Colorado and Tennessee.

You'll be amazed that this idiot is in charge. She looks like a deer in the headlights and absolutely clueless about anything. You'd almost think she was on drugs or something...

Sorry if I've hurt your feelings Mikey but my disdain for this @!$%# knows no bounds and while I like bush I've never been accused of beating around it, so to speak. As long as we have this twat I may just vote for Twit.

Also, if bad words are offensive to you I'd recommend looking into "settings" to block the author or words you find disturbing.

Kind of a harsh word, but watch the video before you make any decision. Her utter lack of any valid answers to the questions being put to her is appalling. The ongoing continuation of the 'War on Drugs' should be an embarrassment to the federal government, but you have a department addicted to its funding, and a public that has written off so many of their freedoms that they don't care about others freedoms either.

The game of whack-a-mole as they outlaw substance after substance in a puritanical obsession over 'protecting people from themselves' is a century-long failure, where the only rational decision ever made was to end Alcohol's Prohibition.,

A black market economy exists with zero taxation, and zero regulation, and while most often American citizens suffer at the hands of the 'War on Drugs' the ones getting wealthy are not just the cartels, but the suppliers and lobbyists who continue to push this obviously failed policy.

END the 'War on Drugs'!

Hey, Evil! Well said.

A clear message would be to fire her happy ass.

Seeing as how she stated the DEA is going to go after people even if they follow the law, I agree with you 100%

Who the heck knows what sustains this ridiculous war on drugs?

Alcohol is by far the most abused and damaging mind bending substance known to man

Way back in the 60's some nice quite college friends were having a few tokes of grass, when a drunk student from another apartment started yelling and banging on the door hard enough to knock the needle off the record. The grass smokers, unable to call the police for obvious reasons, were pretty scared. This guy was totally nuts and quite large. Fortunately he quit banging on the door and instead picked up a two by four and started bashing an outdoor picnic table with it while continuing to yell.

Part of what sustains this ludicrous system is the ignorance among the public about the actual affects of various drugs. They confuse the effects of drugs with the for profit activities of drug dealers.

Exactly why the system is still in place despite it's obvious failure to "control drug use", I can hardly guess. Calling a drug like pot dangerous is a complete joke when tobacco is legal. Tobacco is one of the most addictive drugs known. It also tends to be fatal in later life. So clearly it has nothing to do with health.

The prohibition increases crime lately thousand of people in Mexico are being killed. This is certainly because the price is high, the profits are large and the competition to cash in is ruthless. The "war on drugs" sustains this situation and is directly accountable for the escalation of violence. So clearly it inspires crime rather than reducing it.

Does the answer perhaps lie in puritanical values? Alcohol is allowed but that drug tends to remove inhibitions and result in such non-puritan behaviors as adultery and violence. So that can't be the reason.

Perhaps there is some fear that drug usage could somehow lead to rebellion against the actions of authorities. For example the rebellion of the anti-war movement during the 60's and early 70's. After all, that's when Nixon launched the "war on drugs". Maybe that is the underlying fear. There is no such fear concerning alcohol which rarely inspires ideas. Alcohol is the drug of choice in the military where it is liberally provided.

One final remark is that the right tends to strongly support the prohibition of drugs while at the same time claiming to favor individual freedom above anything else, including government regulations.

Strange. What enables people to be so completely illogical? Maybe they need a few tokes to get their heads straight.

TooMany.................Thank You n AMEN!!!!!

Hey DEA needs jobs too, right?

Riiiiight.....

@ Petercha - so you don't think legal MJ would put this junk out of business? The 'bath salts' and 'spice' markets exist solely due to MJ prohibition. This junk is largely sold in head shops because they can't sell weed.

Wrong. Making pot legal would drive the cost up and people would still get rich selling the cheap synthetics made from legal chemicals to those who can't afford the safe stuff, this problem wouldn't go away. Please don't legalize pot (for both reasons). Education campaigns work best.

Making pot legal would not drive the cost up. That's a crazy argument. Cannabis is very inexpensive to grow and produce. Even heavily taxed it would cost dramatically less than it does now.

"Education campaigns work best."

Ummm yeah because Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign worked so well...despite that I agree, don't legalize pot, decriminalize it. That solves the problem without the government having to endorse smoking a mind-altering substance.

sorry, but I have to disagree. Yes many people will be completely happy smoking cannabis, but many will also feel as if cannabis is not strong enough, or they will like the speedy or hallucinigenic effects of things like spice and bath salts. Unfortunately a few of my younger friends have gone down that path already. Some people are just wired differently and feel the need to stretch the limits.

@bobby - yes there are people who are wired that way, but those people are going to push the limits no matter what. I had a friend in school who was that way and he ended up in rehab. He tried everything including Heroin, LSD, Shrooms, Meth, Cocaine, you name it, he tried it.

I still contend that legal weed would push most of the fake stuff out of the market. Don't forget that there are many different strains of Cannabis and the effects vary. Indicas tend to make you sleepy and lazy (stoned), and sativas tend to get your brain active and are uplifting (high). There are hybrids too - plus concentrates (hash, etc..) can have a very powerful effect. All are still much safer than spice and bath salts.

Actually, fake pot costs more than real pot.

Some people don't think a cold beer is strong enough - so they go get a bottle of Jack.

Some people are nuts, and they'll sniff gasoline, which is legal to buy.

Making pot legal would drive the cost up and people would still get rich selling the cheap synthetics

Are you kidding? Precisely the opposite is true. When has an illegal product EVER been cheaper than a legal one? Public competition drives prices DOWN, especially when you don't have to hide your products from the authorities. Cheaper, safer, more consistent products would be the result, and the profits would go to AMERICANS, because everyone would rather buy from Farmer John, than Farmer Juan.

I say regulate the crap out of these bath salts, and make them put labels on their products like tobacco, and then hold people accountable for their actions. That's what FREEDOM and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY are about. Being able to make decisions, even poor ones, and dealing with the results.

Putting Americans in jail for only' harming' themselves is patently foolish.

Pot currently sell s for anywhere between $1500 and $5000 a pound. A single plant produces between 1 and 2 pounds. Show me a tomato plant that produces that much profit in tomatoes. Pot is easier to grow than Tomato plants. In other words it cost extremely little to make a pound of pot. Get rid of the fear of going to jail and the cost will drop down to tobacco levels or lower. When was the last time you heard some one shooting some one over tobacco? You could put a dollar a joint tax and still undercut the illegal trade.

huff'n gas and smoking weed don't mix well...might get that... boom boom pow...

You could put a dollar a joint tax and still undercut the illegal trade.

I'd wager you could put a $5 tax on that amount, and the hippies/stoner would be happy to pay it. Funny how not being harassed, sent to jail, or run out of good jobs in perpetuity has that effect on someone.

Heck, you want to pay for Universal Healthcare? Put it on the back of the stoners, they'd probably be 'dumb' enough to think they were helping! (and they would be)

How so Robb?

Yeah, Awesome for Mexican drug cartels.

Awesome for the chemists. It's job security.

Petercha, do you work for the alcohol or tobacco lobbies Prison lobby perhaps?

Because no citizen with a lick of common sense supports this disaster of a 'War on Drugs.

Boy, you guys can't catch sarcasm much, can you.

Let's do math - 300,000,000 people nationwide. 90 people busted across the entire nation.

Hmmm...

three one hundred thousandths of one percent.

A citywide bust in a medium sized city might yield 90 arrests.

So yes - AWESOME work government people.

"Because no citizen with a lick of common sense supports this disaster of a 'War on Drugs".

Perhaps family members who have lost a son, daughter or a parent to drug use, or to crime & violence caused by someone else's drug use don't feel the 'War on Drugs' should be completely given up on. I guess as a result of the trauma they've endured and the despair they must feel, they're entirely lacking in common sense.

Stupidity,

If that is the case, then why isn't the temperance league marching again? After all, alcohol (with driving) is more than frequently the cause of death or serious damage to young people than all other drugs combined.

They are lacking in common sense if they think the usage can actually be prohibited as a solution. That cannot happen unless we choose to live in a fascist state.

You tell me, why IS stupidity the norm? Is it because people don't check facts or because they just plain cannot think on their own.

"Perhaps family members who have lost a son, daughter or a parent to drug use, or to crime & violence caused by someone else's drug use don't feel the 'War on Drugs' should be completely given up on"

Why? Because more of the same FAILURE is good?

Alcohol KILLS 75,000 Americans per year

Tobacco KILLS 450,000 Americans per year

ALL ILLICIT DRUGS COMBINED kill ~17,000 Americans per year.

Cannabis kills ZERO Americans per year (yet is the core 'evil' per the DEA)

And you are all fired up on illegal drugs? Are you clueless, or simply grasping at straws to justify an ongoing policy and human disaster? Drugs don't kill people, drug ABUSE by PEOPLE kills people.

Outlawing the substances they use DOESN'T HELP, as they simply find another substance to abuse.

Indigo,

Go brew a soothing cup of Tea, and then just go way. You fail to bring anything to the conversation and just wander off into a rant that we'ver heard before.

What did you bring to the conversation Bill?

i got some...boom boom pow...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrEJCFHyx7U&feature=related

Sure it does, we now have to pay for 90 peoples stay in the ironbar hotel, three hots and a cot on us for being entrepreneurs.

They couldn't sell it if people wouldn't buy it.

Nothing could be worse than the Drug War and the situation we have now, I had hoped that Obama would follow the AMA recommendation and declassify Cannabis as a Schedule 1 Drug, thus beginning to end the War on Cannabis but President Obama is actually worse than President Bush was on this - especially Medical Cannabis! It leaves only one choice regarding this issue come this November - Gary Johnson! Speaking to two friends at lunch today, I was surprised that both planned on voting for Gary even though there is not a peep out of the media on him!

Gary Johnson is a class act.

Ever see a purely logical comment fly over everyone's heads? Watch this one...

Rock, never compare apples to apples. It confuses them. They don't know how to respond.

I can see the argument now, Golden Delicious vs. Granny Smith...

Job security for the feds.

Paxil.