I was sitting there thinking earlier today, and I do think that change (of some sorts) is coming.
We saw something almost identical in the music industry in the passed few years. RIAA, ASCAP, BMI, and several others I cant remember right now went ballistic when it came to targeting piracy. It was absolutely forbidden to share content in any fashion (aside from letting your buddy borrow your Blues Brothers 8-Track)
Nowdays we have all kinds of music 'sharing' communities that allow you to purchase 'rights' (if you will) to the music that you are looking to acquire. Nowdays you cant watch a video on Youtube without having to sit through a 30-60 second commercial. Heck, even your NEWSFEEDS are following the same suit. People want it, they are going to use about any means they can to acquire it, so why not make it work for ALL of us?
And also, I was thinking the other day that it pisses me off to no end that the guy who I go to get my 'meds' from could very well be peddling things like cocaine and ecstasy. I dont use either of these substances, and honestly I dont care to associate with individuals who do. So what are my options? (And dont tell me abstinence because I didnt quit having sex when AIDS, I was presented with a safer way to accomplish it)
Are we comparing pirating music to buying and selling an illegal drug?
It's apt. They are both black listed commodities, pirated music is essentially "illegal music".
They both have ill founded and ill funded government responses, and both it seems, are going to have the mandate of their prohibition lifted due to the ever present fact that prohibition is a violation of what it is to be free. Both are overburdening our court systems, and both are unjustly prosecuted.
They biggest difference I see, is pirating music can affect the cash flow of artist.
Buying, Selling, Smoking, and Cultivating Marijuana only affects you and your community if it's illegal.
It's illegal for a lot of reasons, number one being racism, second being the supplementation of cotton in the textile industry, third is the legal recreational drug lobbyist, in other words the fine people that bring us alcohol, one of the world most destructive drugs, which is entirely legal, and third, people not understanding how it is a Narcotic in name only, but not by scientist, who study it, and have Doctorates. It also fails to fall under the category of addictive.
Are we comparing pirating music to buying and selling an illegal drug?
Yes, yes we are. What if you were in a 'different religion' that made it illegal for you to own any sort of literature or music for that matter?
I acknowledge the fact that its currently illegal. Pirating music is illegal too. My point is - BOTH are big business, and neither are going to go away any time soon.
Why not work with it and try to find a better way of dealing with this 'issue' rather than throwing away $$$ to attempt to eradicate it? I was watching the first half of a CNBC special regarding this, and I was flabbergasted at the amount of $$$ that it cost for some of these operations.
The figures were something along the lines of $800 an hour (multiplied by an 8 hour day on average) to keep a helicopter in the air to locate these illegal grows. Those figures ALONE are staggering - considering the size of these grows they are finding and destroying. These grows, even if given the opportunity to make it to harvest, would not equate the $$$ amount (even at street value) that it takes for ONE DAY of these 'enforcements'.
It's apt. They are both black listed commodities, pirated music is essentially "illegal music".
They both have ill founded and ill funded government responses, and both it seems, are going to have the mandate of their prohibition lifted due to the ever present fact that prohibition is a violation of what it is to be free. Both are overburdening our court systems, and both are unjustly prosecuted.
They biggest difference I see, is pirating music can affect the cash flow of artist.
Buying, Selling, Smoking, and Cultivating Marijuana only affects you and your community if it's illegal.
It's illegal for a lot of reasons, number one being racism, second being the supplementation of cotton in the textile industry, third is the legal recreational drug lobbyist, in other words the fine people that bring us alcohol, one of the world most destructive drugs, which is entirely legal, and third, people not understanding how it is a Narcotic in name only, but not by scientist, who study it, and have Doctorates. It also fails to fall under the category of addictive.
Just my opinion.
Could you elaborate on the number one reason being racism?
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I'm wondering if legalizing it will result in less people smoking? Sort of like when someone smokes or drinks under age because "it's cool", then when they are of legal age they stop, since it's not "cool" anymore....
Just a thought. I don't smoke anything, and am not going to start, so i'm not voting....
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Pirated music is the record companies and the RIAAs fault because they absolutely refuse to adapt to the times and keep hiking up prices for less content to suck as much money out of the artists they "support" as possible. Distribution of an artists material is in no way detrimental if they're any good, it's simply exposing their material to a larger audience who are more likely to support an artist they like in return. Some of the most successful artists out there today you won't hear of on MTV, the radio, ect because they've used things like peer to peer programs and torrents to distribute their material and build a legitimate fan base and have realized they don't need scumbag corporate record producers and the RIAA leeching off them to do so. They're so scared of more and more artists realizing this that that's why they've hiked prices up so high in the last few years, not because piracy has effected record sales negatively.
But lets just say for the sake of argument that your theory (could) be wrong. Lets say that EVERYONE decides to take up consuming this plant. AND to take it even further, lets go worst case scenario. They do it all day every day.
Whats the worst thing that will happen?
While there may be many gotchas in that scenario, I can tell you one thing that is almost an impossibility - An overdose death. Accidental or even intentional, it is all but impossible to OD (to the point of death or even coma) with Cannabis.
Now stop smoking and start vaporizing. Even your doctors suggest this
(And I stayed in a HI Express last night)
i bet you could overdose from the other thc products that would be on the market. it wouldnt be legalizing marijuana, it would be leagalizing thc. food for thought (pun HA!)
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