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Cannabis can help preserve Earth
Cannabis is a perfect source for clean-burning alcohol, methanol and methane gas. These 'biofuels' contain no sulfur, the pollutant that causes acid rain. Growing the fuel also produces oxygen, to balance the oxygen consumed during combustion. Engines stay cleaner and the air remains much cleaner.
Cannabis may be the most profitable and productive fuel crop that can be grown in many areas of America. Cannabis can produce about 1,000 gallons of methanol per acre, four times as much as can be produced from trees. Fuel can be produced locally, reducing transportation costs and would cut down on vehicle pollution, therefor reducing global warming and improving the air we breath! The production process, called biomass conversion, is safe and clean. It would create a domestic fuel industry, freeing us from Middle East oil dependency, providing jobs and keeping our currency at home.
Cannabis fuel needs no taxpayer subsidies, as oil receives. The Department of Energy estimated that fuel could be produced from cannabis for about 36 cents per gallon. In New South Wales, Australia the Minister of Energy told the parliament they should consider burning confiscated cannabis to produce electricity. "It burns at extremely high temperature, produces a lot of power and is cheaper (and much cleaner) to burn than coal."
Cannabis was the subject of a 1991 conference held in Wisconsin. One speaker pointed out our government spends $26 billion each year to pay farmers not to cultivate their land. Instead of this waste of taxpayer money, farmers could grow cannabis or other fuel crops. This could completely end our dependence on foreign oil.
Cannabis has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from cannabis than from trees. Cannabis paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime. Save the rain forests and grow cannabis!
Cannabis plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they will break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural cannabis plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Cannabis products are safe and natural.
Wold hunger could end! A large variety of food products can be generated from cannabis. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature!
Cannabis clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50% hemp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans?
Why Should Cannabis be legalized?
People deserve freedom to use cannabis. The first and most basic reason that cannabis should be legal is that there is no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'why should cannabis be legalized?" but we should ask "Why should cannabis be illegal?" From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not logically apply to cannabis because cannabis is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and actually even aspirin.
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Tobacco will kill 400,000 Americans this year
Alcohol will kill 100,000 Americans this year
(not including people killed by drunk drivers)
All legal drugs will kill 25,000 Americans this year
Caffeine will kill 2,500 Americans this year
Aspirin will kill 500 Americans this year
Cannabis will kill ZERO people in the WORLD.
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NORML is a nonprofit public-interest advocacy group working to reform current outrageous marijuana laws. NORML represents the interests of the tens of millions of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly. During the 1970s, NORML led the successful efforts to decriminalize minor marijuana offenses in 11 states and significantly lower marijuana penalties in all others. Our mission is to move public opinion enough to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.
This is the Fox Valley chapter of Wisconsin NORML (www.winorml.org) If you would like to be an official member please contact us. For more information please visit www.norml.org
Wisconsin Marijuana Penalties
Possession of marijuana is punishable by six months in jail and/or a fine of $1,000 for the first offense, and for second or subsequent offenses (includes ANY prior controlled substance conviction), 3.5 years in jail and a fine of $10,000. Conditional discharge is available for first offenders. Possession within 1,000 feet of a school, school bus, public park, public pool, youth center or community center adds an additional 100 hours of community service to the sentence for possession.
Manufacture / Distribution / Delivery / Possession With Intent of 200 grams or less of marijuana is punishable by 3.5 years in prison and a fine of $10,000. For amounts greater than 200 grams the penalty increases to 6 - 15 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 - $25,000.
If a person 17 years of age or over delivers a controlled substance to a person 17 years of age or under who is at least 3 years his or her junior, the applicable maximum term of imprisonment may be increased by 5 years. Sale within 1,000 feet of a school, school bus, public park, public pool, youth center, community center, treatment facility, jail or public housing project adds five years to the maximum possible prison term. Distribution or sale on a public transit vehicle also increases the maximum possible prison sentence by five years.
Possession of paraphernalia is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine up to $500. Delivery or possession with intent to distribute is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000, unless the sale or delivery was to a minor, in which case the penalties increase to a possible 9 months in jail and a fine up to $10,000.
Upon conviction of a drug offense, the offender's driver's license is suspended for 6 months - 5 years.
Drugged Driving Law
Wisconsin has a per se drugged driving law enacted. In their strictest form, these laws forbid drivers from operating a motor vehicle if they have any detectable level of an illicit drug or drug metabolite (i.e., compounds produced from chemical changes of a drug in the body, but not necessarily psychoactive themselves) present in their bodily fluids above a specific threshold.
MANITOWOC: Tickets for marijuana possession OK'd
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
In February, Manitowoc, Wisconsin city council was considering making first-time cannabis possession cases under 8 grams a city ordinance violation. On June 19, Manitowoc's Herald Times Reporter reported the city has now passed the ordinance. Hopeful signs from Manitowoc that the city may start ticketing first time pot offenders instead of filing criminal charges. It's interesting to note that the idea originated at a meeting of local police chiefs, and that a number of other municipalities are also planning to decriminalize.
A Voice for Responsible Marijuana Smokers
A nonprofit public-interest advocacy group, NORML represents the interests of the tens of millions of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly. During the 1970s, NORML led the successful efforts to decriminalize minor marijuana offenses in 11 states and significantly lower marijuana penalties in all others.
Today NORML continues to lead the fight to reform state and federal marijuana laws, whether by voter initiative or through the elected legislatures. Our sister organization, the NORML Foundation sponsors public advertising campaigns to better educate the public about marijuana and alternatives to current marijuana policy; provides legal assistance and support to victims of the current laws; and undertakes relevant research.
The oldest and largest marijuana legalization organization in the country, NORML maintains a professional staff in Washington, DC, headed by Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, and a network of volunteer state and local NORML Chapters across the country.
