Rob Kampia on CNBC Reports 05/06/2009
Comments (14)
May 7, 2009
May 7, 2009
MPP’s Rob Kampia debates the benefits of taxing and regulation marijuana like alcohol with Kevin Sabet, drug policy advisor to the Clinton and Bush administrations. This segment aired a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for an open discussion of marijuana reform as a means to solve California’s financial problems.
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14 Comments, Comment or Ping
Dan C
WOW kevin just screwed himself over and over again, great job keeping your cool Rob. Cigarettes KILL alcohol KILLS, THC….. still waiting. the fact is IT DOES NOT KILL. so the rest of america truely needs to ask themselfs which is the better stimulant? i know my vote, my dad is one of the first in michigan to get his Medical Marijuana Card and we owe that to you Rob, great job don’t stop fighting for the rights of the people and the states.
May 7th, 2009
Sean
Nice job rob! I dont understand how people can still be this stubborn over something that has yet to cause any deaths as a direct result of using it…
May 7th, 2009
Cap
There are so many lies and fallacies in Sabet’s mouth I don’t know where to begin.
There are “two legal drugs?!” How did he ever get a Ph.D.? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of legal drugs! What separates them? Only the fact that those who claim to know better than us have a man-made line “illegal/illegal” and put some here, some there.
One of my favorite drugs, psyllium husk fiber, which I do not consider a drug, has a big “Drug Facts” label on the side. Yet the container has sucrose (sugar) in it, which goes straight through your intestines in to the blood stream and sends a sudden shock to your pancreas! But the inert psyllium husk fiber which passes through innocuously is the “active” ingredient!
What about coffee? Certainly many of us think the warm, bitter, smooth texture and flavor go well with a nice cool, sweet, creamy desert, but I bet most of us drink it for the drug: caffeine. But the last time I checked, there was not a “Drug Facts” label on the side of my Taster’s Choice instant coffee container!
So what’s my point here? Education! People read, learn from each other and doctors, which drugs work for them and which don’t, which drugs they should consider taking and which they shouldn’t.
But then again, someone who uses “the giggle test” as some sort of scientific foundation is seriously mislead by whoever has him by the nose.
The host was seriously misleading when he announced the use of billboards to advertise marijuana, who said anything about that? My opinion is NO drug should be on billboards (except maybe psyllium husk fiber
.
Sabet said, “It’s very difficult to compare a tiny country to the Netherlands to the U.S.”
Hmm… that didn’t stop him just a few minutes before.
With regard to Sabet’s comments about how folks caught with marijuana are let off with nothing more than a parking ticket… Ask him which he would rather have on his record, and why. That is pure FRAUD to associate the two as though they were equal or not very different in the eyes of cops/judges/etc…!
Another obvious fraud to come out of Sabet’s mouth was the statement, “You can’t compare alcohol and drug prohibition at all.” He had just spent the past 5 minutes talking about the drug alcohol and how it was so bad for society! The parallels between alcohol prohibition and our current drug prohibition are too numerous for me to list here. Judging by the background behind Sabet, he’s in Boston. He should take a bus (or drive/walk/ride bike) to LEAP headquarters in Medford and have a nice chat with the friendly Mr. Jack Cole. http://LEAP.cc/
May 7th, 2009
Snacks
Can I get a NON interrupted debate Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Everytime there is a lean towards legalization of marijuana; the opposition side does their best to speak during the positive arguement. Is the opposition fearful people may choose a blunt over alcohol?
I heard what California’s Governor said, and he wants a debate.
When will this formal debate take place? 2012 Presidential debate? Will President B. Hussein Obama anwser his most asked question? Will other candidates want to anwser the question and get 56% of California’s votes? I heard they got some delegates.
People are forgetting, there will be an age limit, like cigarettes and alcohol. You will have citizens & immigrants working in the stores that sell this product. They will sometimes card and sometimes not.
I know people that started smoking cigarettes before they can drive. Infact everyone reading this comment knows atleast 10 people who started smoking cigarettes before their sweet sixteen(*I do not mean just women)
Alcohol, heck my cousins had a swig of beer before they reached double digits. And wine, in the comfort of private homes across this great country, grandmothers and family members happily share their choice of champagne with their youth.
Once marijuana becomes readily available to responsible adults, there will be a change. People will DUI just like they DWI. Again the responsible adults need to decide which is better, to stay home and enjoy their freedom or to go for a ride and endanger others.
It all comes down to one simple fact, can we have a fair and balanced debate over the legalization of marijuana so our Government can tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. This will bring extra revenue to an ailing nationwide budget and limit the American dollars going into hiding.
May 7th, 2009
R.O.E.
“With regard to Sabet’s comments about how folks caught with marijuana are let off with nothing more than a parking ticket… Ask him which he would rather have on his record, and why. That is pure FRAUD to associate the two as though they were equal or not very different in the eyes of cops/judges/etc…!”
(Cap)
Hows this drug warrior compare getting busted with a joint to a parking ticket FFS! In my state if you get busted you 1) lose your job 2)lose any ability to get federal money for education 3) your ability to get another job is severly crippled (thats 3 hits to your ability to not become a homeless person). 4) public housing will be very difficult to get. I’m sure there a many more things that happen to your life after an arrest that I haven’t thought about. All this because of a law,not marijuana. A parking ticket? Are you serious Mr. Drug Warrior?
If these drug warriors want to get up on national T.V. and shoot themselves in the foot…let them. Marijuana will be legal by the end of the year with their help.
Great job Rob, Keep the faith.
May 8th, 2009
Rhayader
Hey I didn’t catch the name of the anchor here, but he seemed to be firmly in Rob’s camp on this one. It’s good to see the mainstream media starting to embrace this issue.
May 8th, 2009
Christian Conservative
It’s going to be politically important to identify a way to tax personally cultivated marijuana so the money can flow to the public treasury and the rebuilding of America.
We all know the gang violence and destruction of public lands caused by criminals operating outside of the prohibition laws would end if individuals could legally grow a few plants of their own at home.
One approach: support a personal use and cultivation permit, for example $100 for twelve plants, with the revenue split between the Federal and State governments.
Let’s let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own backyards and put the criminal cartels out of business.
May 8th, 2009
FiddleMan
Nice job, Rob!
I cannot understand why Cannabis is still criminalized while Alcohol is legal. I am not out to see Alcohol criminalized, but the public (mostly the government) really needs to get the Cannabis versus Alcohol debate into perspective!
Alcohol is 5 Times Deadlier than All Illegal Drugs Combined!
Total Alcohol and Tobacco Deaths per Year (U.S. Only): 520,000 deaths – over one-half million dead Americans.
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect Deaths per Year (U.S. Only): 17,000 deaths.
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect (yes, this would include Methamphetamines, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, etc. – all hard drugs and soft drugs – all illegal drugs) deaths compared to the annual deaths caused just by Alcohol and Tobacco = 0.03269. This means that all illegal drug use put together is less than 03.27% as harmful as Alcohol and Tobacco use. Wow!
Deaths per year caused by the two legal drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco, are over 30 times more than all illegal drugs combined! Even with 30 times the total number of hard drug users in the U.S. the death rate would still be lower than the annual U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco death rate!
Now let’s look at just the deaths due to Alcohol: 85,000 deaths. 17,000 (All illegal drugs) / 85,000 (Alcohol) = 0.2. This means that all illegal drug use combined is only 20% as harmful as Alcohol use. So – Alcohol accounts for 5 times more deaths per year than all illegal drugs combined! Wow again! – Put that in your beer mug and drink it!
So when you hear a Drug Warrior say that “Legalizing Cannabis sends the Wrong Message to our children” – “The Message” that they are really telling our children is that (when the children reach legal age) they will NOT be allowed to use a safe recreational drug like Cannabis but they Will be allowed to use Alcohol as a recreational drug, even though legal alcohol kills 5 times more people per year than Methamphetamines, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin and all of the worst illegal drugs combined!
Now let’s look at Cannabis.
For those who do not know, Cannabis is the genus name for the very common plant that Harry Anslinger called “Marijuana”, so that he could confuse/trick the public into thinking that Cannabis was some new type of dangerous drug as well as to use racism in quest for criminalization back in the 30’s. (I refuse to use Harry Anslinger’s derogatory terminology)
Total Cannabis Deaths throughout All of Recorded History (Worldwide): 0!!!. Usage of Cannabis (Marijuana) has never killed anybody – ever!
Hmm, we can’t even get a percentage of Cannabis Deaths (0) compared to Alcohol and Tobacco Deaths (85,000) since Cannabis has never ever killed anybody can we?
So – Alcohol and Tobacco kill over a half million Americans in one year and Cannabis has never killed anybody (in the whole world – ever), yet we allow the U.S. Government to support the Alcohol and Tobacco industry while they arrest us, put us in cages and steal our homes/cars/money for using Cannabis – a safe alternative to Alcohol!
The Pharmaceutical Industry also “pushes” many extremely deadly poisons that could easily be replaced by Cannabis and Cannabis Derived Drugs. “Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs” kill around twice as many people per year as “All Illicit Drug Use Combined” – and that Cannabis use has never killed anyone!
I wonder how many people die yearly from Alcohol and Tobacco who would prefer Cannabis instead? Cannabis is a completely safe alternative to Alcohol. Alcohol almost killed me. I would love to use Cannabis as a substitute for the deadly drug Alcohol! The problem is that I live in a country where Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is NOT possible – I live in the United States of America – Freedom is NOT an option here. The American public is completely terrorized by the U.S. DEA.
Terrorism is, most simply, policy intended to intimidate or cause terror. It is more commonly understood as an act which (1) is intended to create fear (terror), (2) is perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a materialistic goal or a lone attack), and (3) deliberately targets (or disregards the safety of) non-combatants. (Wikipedia)
Therefore, the U.S. DEA, who break into peoples homes, incarcerate people for exercising their Constitutional Freedom to use Cannabis as a safe alternative to Alcohol (or even as medicine), revoke student aids, separate families, cost people their jobs, take their driving privileges, take their homes, take their right to vote, and kill family pets, are indeed Terrorists! We need our government to dismantle the U.S. supported and funded American Terrorism Group also known as the U.S. DEA. We the People are PAYING for our own Terrorization with our own taxes!
The U.S. – with 5% of the world’s population – cages 25% of the world’s population caged population. Many of the people who are kept in cages should not be. Many people who are forced to live in cages and suffer the brutality of the American Prison System are otherwise law abiding citizens who have simply exercised their Constitutional Right of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Prison Reform (as well as Basic Human Rights) NEEDS TO Seriously Consider Legalizing Cannabis!
Legalize Cannabis Now!
May 8th, 2009
Legalization
This clown (Kevin Sabet) didn’t even give Rob the respect he deserves. He should have allowed Rob a chance to speak and defend his arguments (which he was trying to do, but kept getting interrupted by Kevin). Sabet is also wrong about one thing. Cannabis is not technically legal in the Netherlands, but officially tolerated by Dutch authorities. The Dutch have lower rates of cannabis use than the US in all categories (and they also have lower rates of hard drug use than [to the best of my knowledge] almost all other countries in Europe).
Many of the problems concerning this “tolerance” policy in the Netherlands are attributed to the “backdoor problem” (supplying coffeeshops with cannabis is still illegal). Full legalization, which is advocated by many within the Dutch government, would correct the supply issue, and therefore remedy almost all problems associated with coffeeshops, but the Dutch cannot legalize because of international treaties regarding drugs.
My opinion on this debate is that Rob could have done better, if he was given a fair chance to speak up. I don’t think it was really his fault, because the debate was not moderated well. I feel like most of the debating was being done by the anchor.
May 9th, 2009
Craig
Nicely done, Rob!
May 9th, 2009
David Braverman
Marijuana should be completly legalized.
- over 70 years of a “war on drugs” and billions of dollars and no reduction in usage, probition does NOT work
- zero deaths in the history of man kind – world wide – due to marijuana use
- it’s my personal choice what I put in my body
- as a teenager it was way easier to get marijuana then alcohol, if marijuana was legal and regulated it would be harder to get as a minor
- no one should be deprived life, liberty, and labeled a criminal for smoking a harmless substance
- getting arrested for marijuana possession is not the same as getting a traffic ticket – it’s much worse and costs way more
May 10th, 2009
Troy A
Why should we have a 3rd mind altering drug legalized? Because it’s not governments place to control morality, and behavior.
MPP should sponsor a freelance documentary covering all aspects of marijuana prohibition. Legal, historical, medicinal . . .
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson (pothead btw)
May 11th, 2009
theHypnotoad
In response to Christian Conservative on the issue of taxation of personal growers:
The government would have no right to tax growers (as long as they do not distribute their crop for profit) in the same way that a person can brew beer or make liquor in the privacy of their own home. The government can put a sales tax on the grains/hops/yeast, even the water, used in the making of beer, but unless the individual is distributing or selling the alcohol he/she does not need to have a liquor license, and does not have to pay taxes on the beer itself.
May 14th, 2009
Cap
I agree with THEHYPNOTOAD.
While I am in favor of compromise and acknowledge that being humble is a good thing, requiring a permit to grow for personal use it not right.
Charge a nominal sum for a permit/license to grow for commercial purposes; there are already going to be lots of fees for commercial growers, like paying to have it tested, insurance, taxes on its sale, etc… and anyway, all those fees are passed on to the customer.
May 14th, 2009
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