2 PARAGRAHS 4 LIBERTY: #179 “GOVERNMENT OFTEN IS JUST MONEY”

-->

     Are you ready for this?  Much of the time, government is just money and the influence that comes from it.  As an example, even though marijuana is still labeled federally as a Schedule I drug which, by definition, means that it is highly addictive and has no beneficial medical usages, Marinol, which is a synthetic marijuana, is a Schedule II drug.  So marijuana cannot be prescribed by a medical doctor, but Marinol can be.  How could this hypocrisy have happened?  Easy.  The pharmaceutical companies can’t make money from a natural plant, but they can from a synthetic substance.  So they used their political lobbying power, i.e. campaign contributions, to get the regulations changed in their favor.  Of course, along the way this often keeps patients from realizing the benefits from the CBD Oil from marijuana, which also has no mind-altering properties, but is highly useful in combatting such things as neurological seizures, nausea and glaucoma.  So instead patients use more narcotics, which are purchased from pharmaceutical companies.  Probably the same results were obtained to keep Hemp illegal.  Hemp consists of the seeds and fibers from the marijuana plant, but they have no mind-altering properties whatsoever.  But industrial hemp has many beneficial uses.  For example, manufacturers can get four times the amount of paper pulp from an acre of hemp than from an acre of trees, and more of the gasoline additive ethanol than from corn. In addition, the hemp seeds not only are nutritious, but they can be used for cosmetics and healing creams.  And the hemp fibers for centuries have been used for both fine and course cloth for clothes and gunny sacks.  So who lobbies to keep Hemp illegal?  Logically, companies that grow trees and corn and who manufacture synthetic cloth like rayon.

     What is the answer?  Liberty!  Today the Head of the DEA decides which drug should be on which schedule.  So that procedure should be changed so that the decision is made by a medical doctor, such as the United States Surgeon General.  And allow the market to decide which substance provides more and better ethanol, cloth and pain relief at a better price, instead of these decisions being made by politicians and the companies that lobby them.  Installing the influence of Liberty decreases the influence of money.

--> Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

--> 2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with Governor

--> Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quote of the week: “I was married by a judge.  I should have asked for a jury.”  Groucho Marx

--> By the way, these columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray@wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty!