Don't forget, old Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger during prohibition. Ted's daddy would have been who you were scoring bags from if he was around today.

I completely forgot that it was easier to get pot in high school than it was to get alcohol. I think that's because it was still an 18 drinking age when I graduated. So yes, that is a valid point, a legalized system would decrease youth substance abuse and probably eliminate the false notion of pot as a gateway drug.

But we aren't talking about recreational substances here. We are talking about the improved logic of hemp technologies and their uses. If I can never smoke a jay while walking down main street, that's fine. But I see no reason why hemp oils should be kept off the market.

As a farmer, I can tell you there is more oil in those tiny little seeds you toss in the ashtray than in an equivilant number of soybeans or corn. So the use of hempseed to make ethanol would be a wiser investment of resources. Plus there isn't a farm in America where you cant find some hemp growing. The first crop is already there.

Grandpa used to tell me that hempseed oil made a heck of a lot better treatment for wood than linseed oil. It held better and lasted longer, so why can't I use it. Because of some racist polititon from the 1930's? Don't forget, Mr. Anslinger, who led the criminalization movement, was looking to keep his job after prohibition ended. So really, in the course of the history of the United States, pot was legal longer than illegal.

It wasn't my kid, so what do you know?

Great! Just what I need, one more reason for them to pull me over and do a search.

Sounds good in theory, but putting it in practice is the catch.

Kids could still buy it from someone who has the tax stamp.

The same is true with everything, from perscription pills, to cigarettes, to beer. Prohibition never works and even some in law enforcement are starting to realize this fact. Go check out LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Those folks have some interesting things to say about the Drug war.

Actually one of the best comprimises in the war on drugs that I read was in a book called the Phoenix Solution, by Vincent Bugliosi. He was a prosecuter for the county of Los Angeles for several years. You might recognize the name, he worked Charlie Manson's trial.

The simple matter is, you can't regulate morals. You cannot tell another person what is, or is not acceptable behavior in social situations. It's a matter of perspective and upbringing. There are real crimes that we all agree on. Crimes against persons and property most can agree are bad. You can see the direct result of the actions. But victimless crimes are of no real value to society.

Does anyone here know how the drug war came to be in the first place? The push for the Harrison Act of 1914. (I kind of agree with the pure food and drug act of 1906) This law was pushed forth by the Upper-Manhattan Social Club. A group of twelve very wealthy ladies who were tired of their husbands going to the "Chinaman's" (opium parlor for those who don't know). So basically, every person in America had their personal liberties infringed upon because a group of rich old women couldn't keep their husbands under control. Hmm, sounds a lot like how alcohol prohibition got started, we saw how that worked out.

Truth is all making any drug illegal does is open a gate for crime to grip society. When alcohol was re-legalized, there was over a 70% drop in violent crime. I'm not saying we should be able to buy heroin in the local 7-11, but we need to re-examine how we are going about controlling our drug culture as a whole.

By the way, none of this has anything to do with the topic.

You realize hemp is not really smokable. I mean you would have to smoke a pound or something.

Oh you can smoke it, but all you'll get is a headache, if you're lucky enough to get that. Ditchweed rules!!!