In my mind, there is a wide gulf between "taken with a grain of salt" (meaning there may be measurement error in the data) and even "inaccurate," much less "entirely inaccurate." Just knowing that the data is a bit on the low side is enough to account for it when analyzing policy. Once mar1juana is legal, hemp will also be legal. The fact that hemp remains illegal (or ever became so in the first place) speaks to the inordinate stupidity of our drug policy.
Are you saying the FDA could be bypassed... Or we could actually do without them. Please elaborate. I just know the FDA sucks. But never thought about what could be done about it. Especially considering the fact that the founding fathers of this nation grew it themselves... A lot of companies would take a financial hit if industrial hemp was cultivated... Like the building material industry (everything from concrete to roofing), paper, plastic, food & drink, and fuel. Technically it's not illegal to grow industrial hemp in some states ---> you just need a permit from the DEA to do so. And there are people who get paid very well to keep the DEA from handing out those permits. And guess who's paying them. Same with mar1juana. You can bet pharmaceutical companies dish out plenty of cash to keep it illegal... And so does the alcohol and tobacco industry.
There was a campaign during WWII called "Hemp for Victory," where farmers were encouraged to grow hemp for the war effort... Yes, there are many established industries this would disrupt, but those industries need some disruption. Yes, the DEA hasn't given out any such permits, but last year, the House told the DEA to quit obstructing the process... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/hemp-dea-house_n_5414458.html The biggest cornerstone contributors in the "Partnership for a drug free America" were alcohol producers.
Check out the money being spent on lobbying by these guys. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/08/money-not-morals-drives-mar1juana-prohibition-movement/ This article is a little older but the players haven't changed. http://www.republicreport.org/2012/mar1juana-lobby-illegal/
My preference would be to eliminate the FDA altogether. But at the very least it should be relegated to a certification agency that people can choose to ignore if they want, being adults and all. Or here's a novel thought, have congress vote on drug prohibitions rather than letting unelected FDA commissars decide. But legally no, it can't be bypassed.
Congress Is Closer Than Ever to Ending the Federal War on Weed Democrats, now in control of both chambers of Congress, say they will push ahead with mar1juana reform with or without the support of the White House. https://reason.com/2021/04/18/congress-is-closer-than-ever-to-ending-the-federal-war-on-weed/
Yea i wish this is about SmOkiNg WeEd, we have to look at the economics and all the societies cost. We spend some hundred billions enforcing this in law enforcement, which could go instead in terms of tax payer money, time, energy of the enforcement towards actual serious violent crimes. Just like with prohibition, making something illegal, didn’t curb alcohol demand it just put society at edge with what they felt was unjust and contrary to the constitution that people can live their lives so long as they are not hurting, intruding, or imposing it on others, let alone in their private homes. Cannabis is that way, not to mentioned people use the plant as medicine and not psychoactive as well. Secondly the cost and time to our already backed up judiciary system, let alone as you mentioned in the us we spend 30-80k per prisoner to house them. We also lose the opportunity cost of them paying taxes, and someone also either lost a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, so on...imagine the community cost if your closest loved one was put in jail for a beer or a joint, that would probably upend your own direction in life, or throw it off, can hurt communities, put people into crime, poverty, have a more hostile view of law enforcement too. Then you also think about gangs and how they make their money, primarily drug sales , and they aren’t checking quality or ages. When we legalize, we tax it, it goes back to our system and resources, we also make it safer for kids and safer for users, let alone we cut funding from gangs which helps communities, which helps law enforcement, also lowers crime rates. It’s hard to make sense of this crap show that is. Our government in doing this when its supported by majority of the people, you can say cannabis is bad just like you can say alcohol is bad, its much further to say we should make it illegal and spend all sorts of astronomical cost trying to enforce that, its dumb economics.
