What Do You Know, The Ex-Drug Czar Is Still Full Of S—-t!
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May 7, 2009
Update: Today’s blog post is also featured on Huffington Post. Please feel free to post your feedback there as well.
In a revelation that I’m sure will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, it turns out that ex-Drug Czar John Walters is still full of s—-t.
Responding on CNN last night to California Gov. Schwarzenegger’s call to debate the merits of taxing and regulating the adult use of marijuana (E-mail the Governor here), Walters demonstrated that he remains an unrepentant liar — even though he’s no longer paid by the federal government to be one.
To summarize: in under five minutes Walters manages to falsely claim that:
Today’s marijuana is far stronger — and thus more dangerous — than ever before. Actually, the Feds’ own data indicates that the average strength of domestic cannabis hasn’t changed in over ten years; that marijuana — regardless of THC content — is relatively non-toxic and incapable of causing a fatal overdose; and that most folks — when given the choice — prefer to consume milder marijuana over highly potent pot.
More people seek drug treatment for pot than all other drugs combined. Technically true, but only because between 60 percent and 70 percent of individuals enrolled in substance abuse ‘treatment’ for cannabis are small-time pot offenders who were referred there by the criminal justice system. In fact, according to the latest federal data, nearly four in ten people admitted to substance abuse treatment programs for cannabis did not even use it in the month prior to their admission.
Nobody is actually in jail for marijuana-related offenses. Ah yes, the “unicorn” theory. Never mind those 50,000 or state and federal inmates serving time for pot offenses the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics talks about. In John Walters fantasy world, they simply don’t exist.
Consuming cannabis leads to violent behavior and other criminal acts. Apparently, when pot doesn’t make you “docile and unresponsive, to the point of helplessness,” it makes you unpredictably violent. Or not. Look, I asked this question on Monday and I’ll ask it again: Read about any gang-related violence surrounding the sale of alcohol lately? How about vicodin or paxil? Didn’t think so. Consuming marijuana doesn’t cause violent or criminal behavior, but criminals and violent people do engage in the black market trafficking of illicit drugs. The irony, of course, is that the very ‘violence’ that Walters claims to lament — that is, when he and his colleagues over at the DEA aren’t hailing the increase in drug-related violence as a good thing — is a direct consequences of the public policy (prohibition) he reflexively endorses.
**Side note: Maine Gov. John Baldacci just signed legislation into law on Friday making the possession of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana a civil violation, punishable by a fine and no jail time. (Read more about this law in this week’s NORML News stories.) Expect to hear Walters ranting and raving about marijuana cartels setting up shop in the Pine Tree state any day now.
Finally, for good measure, Walters even resurrects the claim that there are now more medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of San Fransisco than there are Starbucks — an allegation so absurd that the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper laughed it out of the room some six months ago.
So here’s my question: Gov. Schwarzenegger — as well as U.S. Senator Jim Webb — have called for a “debate” on whether or not to legalize the use and distribution of cannabis for adults. Webster’s dictionary defines “debate” as “to argue opposing views.” But as Walters’ comments so adeptly illustrate, the opposing side has no actual “views,” it only has lies and seven decades of bulls—-t.
Therefore, I say we skip the public debate and go straight to the public ‘debunk’ (verb: to expose the fallacy or fraudulence of). I’m sure we can find Mr. Walters a seat at the head of the table.
150 Responses to “What Do You Know, The Ex-Drug Czar Is Still Full Of S—-t!”
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The Whole reason they find marijuana in people who commit violent crime is not cause of the marijuana. Its the person first of all and second, The person commiting the crime is rebelious and marijuana is just part of his life. It’s the same thing over and over. So stupid just because the find marijuana in someones system that commits a violent crime is not because he was on drugs its because hes an idiot. Its just another stupid excuse to build up more lies. Shut up Walters your so f@#king stupid.
i cannot wait to see more of this debate….John Walters is making a complete ass of himself…. Save the Economy, Legalize Marijuana myspace.com/stelm
He killed him with that last statement. Great job by the Harvard professor on that debate. Very professional and to the point.
NO MATTER WHAT IM ALWAYS GONNA BE SMOKIN LALA
AND HAVE FOR THE LAST 9YRS AND IM 22 IN COLLEGE AND ABOUT TO START MY LEGIT BUSINESS!
I ca’t believe there are still ppeople who believe all the shit walters does. Its just sad. if you live in NH join “Change Marijuana Laws in New Hampshire” on facebook if you want to see real change.
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/241102/14062168?m=1a240be5
God almighty I fucking hate that man by the name who calls himself John Walters….I wanna punch him in his arrogant stumbly fucking mouth. Miron demonstrated every one of his points…walters just told his same old bullshit. Telling us rather than showing and E-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-I-N-G. He’ll die off soon enough at least. Ugh…needed to vent after watching him.
Walters?? I hardly recognized him… he looked bad, bloated. After seeing the video, I sure that pot will be legal in California soon. The warriors have only lies and everyone can see through them. They are doing something to marijuana like the government is doing to UFOs, what is the mystery that scares them? Maybe Mexico can calm down and make a lot of money too? Not your “father’s marijuana”? I wish I could legally buy ‘everclear’ kind bud for a trip inside my comfortable pad on a rainy day, and easily get my hands on weak stuff to carry me through the day as a safer alternative to tobacco, with a high instead of low. When people prove cannabis not only safer, but enhances your vision. This is better than diet soda. This is a product that is fun and also inspires you, at the same time reduces pain and helps you appreciate food.
Imagine if pot were legal and people had a controlled choice of safe product? I would give anything for a CONTROLLED legal cannabis market, where profits stayed out of criminality. That is the way to solve this crime. The smart thing is for the government to regulate, that is to engage in the legal distribution of cannabis.
If we keep talking, along with TV and people like Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Michael Phelps, people will see why the Beatles smoked pot and Carl Sagen for good reason. For the CREATIVE BENEFITS! The people who hate psychedelics are people who hate to face themselves. Pot can trip you into looking at the truth, however scary.
But for the sound and creative, marijuana experience can be a relative. Someone high on pot is actually medicating more than someone who is say drinking alcohol, especially if one can do better at snowboarding and video games.
Norml should do a study on the benefits of the marijuana experience. The benefits to being creative and introspective meditation. This might sound crazy but I think that people who consume psychedelics are sending their consciousness into warp (like a time shift for one example, etc.,). This is very interesting and why pot is not legal ALREADY in my humble opinion!
Stoners are mountain bikers, poets, scientists, actors, musicians, and skiers, the best at video games and a new kind of breed of people. People who smoke pot do to face themselves and then become enhanced because they are surfing the potentials of different realities. Now that is what it is like to be stoned.
The fact is not only is pot much safer than alcohol and tobacco, it can also act as body medicine and expand the consciousness into enlarging your world of thoughts. In other words a good thing if he are writing a song, or swimming, or watching a movie, playing a video game, or simply eating a gallon of ice cream. To be stoned is to see a larger reality! This is almost as good as a fountain of youth if you want to dwell on seeing a mountain to say board.
Good luck without it… see ya in the future!!!
This is off subject but I thought everyone might like to know we have an unusual alie, the Montana legislature. Who has just passed a law exempting guns made and sold in Montana form federal gun laws.
So what you ask?
Well this law seeks to restore state’s rights as they were known before the supreme court gave the federal government the ability to control every aspect of our lives though a claim of regulating interstate commerce.
Still don’t get it?
The Federal government’s war on drugs hinges on a claim of regulating interstate commerce. If the Montana law is successful if will also severely damage the the feds ability to prosecute a war the drugs. People in any state that legalizes weed or other drugs will be free of federal prosecution as long as their activity is limited to their state.
Not free because the fed are looking the other way but because federal law will not apply.
Wait it gets better!
If the court finds in favor of the Montana law. many thousands of people in federal prisons may have to be set free as their convictions would be unconstitutional.
Texas republicans are also pushing a similar law. If there was ever a time to support the whole tea party crowd it’s now!
i cant wait until we leagalize marijuana so i can just walk right on up to john walters and take a nice healthy hit off the bong and blow it right in his lying face lol
Jesus Christ almighty I seriously want to punch that fucking man, John Walters in his stumbling arrogant ass mouth. Still repeating the same Reefer madness BS with a twist. He NEVER goes into a thing I call E-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-I-O-N. Miron dominated that entire segment. Walters is the last of a dying breed. He will soon leave this world at which point I’ll rejoice and smoke a smooth, enticing blend of some nice indica haha. One thing I wish Miron would point out is that if you look at the Shaffer Report commissioned under the nixon admin. and if you know anything about pot, you’ll realizee they’re telling the real truth! Which might I add, the same (and one of the most disgraceful) admin., that created the DEA and this asinine war.
Woops, just realized it posted once. Sorry.
I WAS ARRESTED IN 2008 IT COST ME 15000.00 AND ONE YEAR OF PROBATION AND HAD TO DO DRUG REHAB FOR CANNABIS AND IT WAS A COURT MANDATE AND I WAS GROWING JUST 12 PLANTS FOR MY OWEN PERSONEL USE FOR NECK AND BACK PAIN FROM BEING HIT IN THE HEAD BY A TRAKEHOE SO NOW I HALF TO EAT PAINKILLERS WHITCH IS MORE HARMFUL THAN CANNABIS SO JOHN WALTERS CAN KISS MY ASS.
Just watching that video with walters makes me
sick. HE just randomly spews falsehoods out of his mouth. To attribute marijuana to violence is absurd.
I cannot believe how ignorent some people are and blinded by their own harsh misconceptions of the truth. God gave the world the cannabis plant.
It helps some people. If God didnt want it to be here
on this earth than it wouldnt be hear treating
people with Cancer, HIV/AIDS, pain, etc!
To demonize a harmless herb that helps millions of
people every day is a crime in itself. One
points a finger at a harmless plant, not
realizing that the crime associated with
such cannabis is because of the nature of the
black market it self. Only criminals can sell
it,
using cannabis makes you a criminal.
But yet 14 million americans smoke cannabis.
that makes some 5% or so of our population a
pure criminal on the sheer fact that you use
cannabis.
I guess we are all criminals.
*rant notice*
I’m sick of these w.a.s.p pussies. There is nothing that these anti-mrijuana lobbiests can say that isn’t already happeneing. “Oh crime will rise” wtf, remember prohibition? “Behavior would be made worse” How could it possibly be any worse than it is right now. I bet you that if these maniacs who slaughter their families and then themselves would smoke marijuana rather than take ssri/prozac/alcohol/hardcores, there would be less of these violent nonsensical crimes occuring.
I’m sick of “drug opponents”. What a hypocritical situation. You cannot smoke a flower or a leaf, but rather the government wants you to ingest potential poisons called pharmaceuticals that have much worse side effects than smoking a joint. Hell, some of the “legally prescribed medications” have the potential side effect of death! No one has ever died from smoking marijuana itself. So…what the hell?
“Marijuana is stronger now than ever” big flippin deal, pussy talk man. And trying to compare it to beer and liquor is rediculous it’s a totally different substance. And who the hell needs more starbucks anyways, I don’t even like coffee.
Legalize to end the suffering of the world. Enough is enough.
P.S. John Walters needs to light up and stop being a square loser. You can’t fix the world John!!! You can only deal with it!
Y jus California all the time I thought we r the United States………..
I thought John Walters mounted a UNICORN and left for NEVER NEVER LAND never to return. From fantasy back to reality again, some people don’t know when to stay out of the BIG PICTURE. A MARIJUANA PROHIBITIONIST TO THE END. No wonder why there is so much chaos in this country, ORWELLIAN MENTALITY still on the loose.
Seriously? He never offered any proof for anything he said. He is so full of shit!
You guys really need to get those TV ads going.
That is right, they are from the old school!
You know, I am almost his age and I think he is atill trying to be of power. His voice does show that he really believes what he is saying. I keep up, what is his problem, He is Demented! Old Codger, die out.
THe other guy speaks of Marijuana dependency…WHAT!?
I’ve never heard of this, marijuana has virtually no withdrawal symptoms…This is what pro-regulation should be focusing on
And someone, preferably the person who wrote the blog send the falsely claims part to the Con guy.
Walters is an old school god fearing christian tool (absolutely no offense to the christian community at all, however he does take it a step WAY too far). He makes totally disgusted.
honestly john walters is an idiot. he has not studied any economics. he has not studied any ethics.
800,000 arrests per year for cannabis. how many wasted man hours is this by our police & DEA pursuing HUMANS WHO WANT TO CONSUME A FLOWER OF A WEED. we don’t often use the LEAVES ARNIE. but we would with hemp.
EDUCATE YOURSELVES on the herb.
people will most likely consume more cannabis and less alcohol once it is legalized. this will result in less violence.
nobody is pulling a gun to your heads to smoke the herb peops who are so uptight against it. quit preaching your morals. we are moving rapidly towards a more open and free society of ideas and the time is well upon us …
TO END THE PROHIBITION ON CANNABIS AND HEMP.
Great idea Davinici, i would love to see Paul actually get national or at least california primetime education on the issues of cannabis and hemp. it would be great if ARNY could be there and answer why he vetoed californians right to grow INDUSTRIAL HEMP an plant that has never harmed anyone and has thousands of quality uses.? could he actually sit still for 5 minutes and be educated on the origins of this atrocious prohibition?
please can we hear from anyone who wants to keep this prohibition alive pose some actual evidence?
it is the DEA, our prisons, & our cops that are addicted to the CASH/taxpayer dollars they get from this innocent plants prohibition. it is nauseating to watch them perpetuate these lies to keep getting their fix.
free the weeds, both cannabis & hemp, and free the people!
i forgot to mention the rehab clinics too are addicted to the cash for rehabing marijuana consumers who actually don’t have a problem with the flowers and are their against their will.
defund 60% of our drug cartels profits RIGHT NOW by ending the tragic prohibition on cannabis and hemp across the americas. thats a hell of alot less guns heading south of our border. is smith & wesson & rivals or even wal-mart who sells all those bullets actually in on keeping the herb illegal?
please everyone who hasn’t done so already create and account and sign up for a couple actions…
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/legalize_the_medicinal_
and_recreational_use_of_marijuana
and
http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/legalize_marijuana
I think this whole thing smells of desparation, I truly think these Pro Prohibition people are crapping in their pants! They are scared and they have reverted back to lies.
That said, the more I watch this, I really wonder why Anderson didnt jump all over the Violence and usage lies! Those both can be proven wrong with the date we have from all the states adn countrys tha thave some sort of Decrim law!
Media needs to step in and call these guys out, stop letting them pass lies off as the truth! they know dam well they are lying yet they dont even say, boo!
Start calling and writting these news stations and demand they call these lies out! I wrote to AC360 and told him he needs to speek up and call people on lies. however I do believe people are smarter now and will not fall for these lies as they have in the past! But keep up the truth and we will win this!
more potencey ok takes smaller doses and all of us middle age stoners know “dont smoke dope when your stoned, you dont get any higher, just lower on dope” gallagher. GO MAINE ty citizens of maine
Our best defense against people like John Walters is the truth. We need to continue to meet these lies with facts, expose the greed and manipulation for what it is and just keep beating the drum louder and louder!
We only need to achieve critical mass and we are almost there. That’s when enough people know the truth that the tide turns in our favor, like the domino effect.
To you folks who just want to slap the piss out of John Walters, I sympathize with you but let’s rise above that because there has already been too much violence propogated by our government surrounding this plant.
Rant #2…..
Its silly, I personally know, that if I am high, I am too layed back and in too good of a mood to be violent. Anyone who smokes it could attribute to that fact. You could halt wars by setting off massive reefer bombs for crying out loud. The only percentage of people that Walters may influence are people who have never smoked, or been around pot. And those numbers are dwindling. I know plenty of people who have no desire for it want to see it legalized. Walters and people like him can never elaborate, nor justify what they say. They will pick one “expert opinion” (key word-OPINION) to go by while denying ever seeing facts. There is a major gap between fact and opinion. I love when the reporter told walters “you just defeted your own arguement”. OF course he did, they always do and are too ignorant to see it. Walters is another fault line in this earthquake, got to find the epicenter of it. Our own consitution is written on HEMP paper, the very thing they swear to uphold but yet never do. Ultimately, it is up to us as voters to rid of them. Were the ones with the power over their jobs. Were the ones that have to step up to the plate and make it happen, or we can continue to debate with them. Get candidates stances on it, get current officials stances on it, and vote from there. But it must happen in every state, or at least the majority. We outrank them, if they don’t shit or get off the pot, they need to be reminded their jobs are in our hands as voters. Represent the people or get out, plain and simple.
Writing eumhamistically, I do not know what planet Mr. John Walters is from, but here on Earth, positions are valid only when they are based on truths derived from relevant, inclusive, objectively verifyable facts. It is obvious Walters is confused, demented, delusional and/or lying.
agreed Beastie.
“The greatest Americans have not been born yet. They are waiting for the past to die.”
Walter is right most marijuana offenders in prison aren’t there just for possession…….Thats only because the Police and even moreso the Fed’s, love to call possessing and Ounce and a Scale, Intent to Distrbute, and manufacturing.
It so laughable. How can one manufacture a PLANT? Im guessing they assume it take a genius to grow weed.
How is this for absurd. Ayahausca is the most potent hallucinagenic drug known to man (DMT), but its legal to buy and possess, but once you want to use it as a drug. ILLEGAL!
I can only hope John Walters gets cancer, and is allergic to presc. meds.
I think this whole fiesco is ridculous. Let’s Legalize HEMP, and stop focusing on Med. Marijuana.
There is absolutly no logical reason to keep Inds. Hemp illegal. Its benefits far outway its “risks”….
the problem is that the media are just like politicians in the sense that they have to be careful not to alienate their viewers who do not support it. they too have the elephant in the bedroom. but as long as we stay active here aswell as at the news station websites they will talk about this in a descent light because it draws attention.
RON PAUL IN 2012.HE IS RUNNING AND THEIR IS OUR CHANCE.OBAMA BELIEVES IN LEGALIZATION,BUT HE DOESNT WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.THATS WHAT I BELIEVE.1 THING THEY KEEP REPEATING IS IF LEGAL THE USAGE WOULD GO UP.THINK BOUT THIS IF YOUR NOT A SMOKER THEN YOU PROBALY ARE NOT GOING TO BECOME ONE JUST BECAUSE ITS LEGAL.THE SMOKERS ARE SMOKING NOW YOU DUMB ASSES.THEY THINK JUST BECAUSE WEED IS ILLEGAL NO ONES GOING TO SMOKE R U KIDDIN ME.PROPS TO MICHAEL DOUGLAS,DREW CARY,HUGHLEY,OLE WILLIE AND ALL THE FAMOUS PEOPLE 4 BEING OPEN AND STANDING UP FOR POT.OK BACK TO THIS DICKLICKER JOHN WALTERS.WHO THE HELL IS THIS RETARD!1ST DICKLICKER JOHN,WHO APPOINTED YOU GOD?2ND MAYBE YOUR THE ONE SMOKING WEED,CAUSE EVERYTHING COMING OUTTA YOUR MOUTH IS PRETTY FUNNY.YOU HAVE NO CLUE JUST ANOTHER LOW LIFE POLITICIAN DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST:lie.OK IF WEED IS MAKES YOU VIOLENT,THEN I MUST BE GETTING BUNK SHIT CAUSE MINE MAKES RELAX IN MY RECLINER WITH A BAG OF CHEETOS. LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY OBAMA,JOHN THE RETARD AND ALL GOVERNMENT WE WILL SMOKE WEED REGARDLESS OF YOUR STUPID ASS LAWS.BEEN SMOKING 4 25YEARS NOW AND DONT PLAN TO QUIT BECAUSE JOHN THE RETARD SAID IT WAS BAD 4 ME.YOUR NOT A SMOKER,EMPLOYED BY THE GOVRNMENT OR MY MOTHER SO TAKE YOUR LIES N SHOVE M N UR PIEHOLE.AND YES IF HE WAS IN FRONT OF ME NOW I WOULD TELL HIM THE SAME DAMN THING.SO TO ALL THE SMOKERS OUT THERE KEEP SMOKING.FIGHT THESE BASTARDS!VOTE RON PAUL 2012.
omg i wish nothing but bad things for the walter peice of shit. seriously i kno corruption and greed r keepin herb illegal cuz pigs, and feds and others can make mad money with prohibition. but i keep thinkin if these ppl truly want to line their pockets coodnt the government make shitloads more money by legalizin and taxin it? greed is a powerful motivater. ppl who hate pot but love money shood even be for legalizaion if they were smart rite?
John Walters is a fucking asshole! hope he dies of a heart attack!
To put things into perspective…
one trillion dollars (plus) has been wasted on the failed drug war. A one dollar bill is 6.375 inches long, so if you do the math and multiply 6.375 inches by one trillion and then divide the result by 12 you get 531 billion 250 million feet and divide that by 5280 you come up with (drumroll please)
100,615,530.3 miles
the money wasted on the drug war if laid out in one dollar bills would make a line..
onehundred million sixhundredfifteen thousand and fivehundredthirty miles long….
According to wikipedia the distance from the earth to the moon (center to center) is 384,403 km or 238,856 miles. That means the dollars wasted on the drug war would stretch from the earth to the moon 261.75 times!
WOW!
more potency would be good less comsuption better quality than the streets sometimes.And rehab for Marijuana then maybe there should be rehab for Tobacco cause those withdrawls r faaaaar worse than Marijuana withdrawls
Legalize Hemp!!! Give the tree’s some relief…
I can’t believe that, even if all of the things Walters was claiming were true (which they aren’t; not even close). How can he sit with a straight face and claim that NO ONE is in jail based on drug possession when my own girlfriend’s brother went to jail for 6 months for two charges of marijuana possession in Louisiana! Way to go Walters- We can all tell you were qualified to intrude on our lives for so many years…
ok, they say there are so many people in rehab for marijuana addiction, more than alcohol. one, alcohol is legal. two, there is no reason for marijuana rehab cause it’s not that we need rehab, the government gives you two options; “jail” or “rehab”. They(government) threaten us to go to rehab, and if we fail to go, then we serve jail time. and so on and so on…………..
can’t stop the media age. the lies will be exposed to the public soon enough! fuck john walters, may he die a horrible death of terminal cancer and aids
you got a professor at Harvard who wants to legalize weed and is debating with this idiot that probably got his GED in high school and graduated from community college.
I have a good friend that is 80 years old and a retired state policeman. He was a law enforcement officer back in the 60s and 70s and he told me today that he is all for the legalization of marijuana. He was totally against the ideal until I had a long talk with him about all the different aspects of the issue and so he changed his mind. If we can get the word out to these people that just don’t know the truth because of years of untruths and lies then it will be easy to get the approval rating closer to 100% then ever.
We have got to keep the pressure on and we will finally get what we all want Marijuana for all that want it. That day is coming the people have spoken.
I have looked and looked for information about this being a scam.. and below is what I found about it. I plan on calling the number as soon as I am finished typing this responce..
****************************************************
I was just given a number to call by a fellow smoker saying it was a poll for legalization. I was a little skeptical but after doing a bit of research on the matter, found out it was a legit poll to be given to Obama once it hits the one million mark.
For those of you in the states, give 973-409-3274 a call and put your vote in.
article is as follows:
Marijuana Phone Poll NOT a Scam, Just Confusing
So let me be the first to say that this all has been much more confusing than I would have ever expected.
To rehash for everyone, the other day I was contacted by a fellow marijuana supporter telling me to call 973-409-3274 to “help legalize marijuana”. I called the number, but something didn’t seem right to me since there was no identification whatsoever for who was conducting this poll. I chose not to vote and, instead, started googling to hopefully figure out who was behind this number.
The first bit of information I found claimed that the number was related/endorsed by Change.org, however, I could not find any information which would support this claim on Change.org’s website. I sent an e-mail off and got a reply from Ben Rattray (founder and CEO of Change.org) who dismissed the claim and denied any endorsement for the number. Update: Change.org has posted its own reply to this confusion.
Some claims made regarding the number said it was a “national census” being conducted, others claimed it was directly related to specific pro-marijuana bills which needed support.
It appeared that there was much mystery/controversy surrounding this combination of digits which made it appear very shady.
Thankfully, though, we have reached the end of this adventure and have finally figured out what exactly this number is, what is is not, and, most importantly, who owns it.
I was up fairly late last night updating this whole escapade with new information, planning to realease a follow-up article to various social networks this morning. Before I could do so, however, I noticed a new twitter message which claimed that it was not a scam and was owned by Humor Hotlines (most famously known for their “reject-hotlines“).
When I checked out their website, I did notice that they had a section for a “Marijuana Legalization Endorsement Line”, but the number was not the same as the one in question.
In this same block of time, I received an e-mail from an intern at RHBrands.com (the apparent owner of Humor Hotlines), saying:
Hello, my name is Michael. I am an intern with RH Brands in Atlanta, Ga. We manage a portfolio of hundreds of humorous hotlines that you may be familiar with such as The Rejection Hotline, Psychiatric Hotline, It Could Always Suck More, and Call to Santa. you can find out more at rejectionhotline.com. Today, I ran across some tweets of yours saying that our Marijuana Legalization Endorsement Line (973-409-3274) is a scam. I just wanted to let you know that we aren’t scamming anyone. All of our numbers are completely free to call, and we fully intend on sending a petition to Washington once we reach 1,000,000+ endorsements. Although most of our services are humor related, this particular line isn’t. Sorry for any confusion. Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding the number, and have a good day.
Finally! Looks like we are making progress…
Through Michael, I was able to get on a phone call with Jeff Goldblatt, President and Founder of RHBrands.com who helped clarify everything.
What appears to have happened is an unfortunate series of events which started with Goldblatt’s company creating a legitimate phone-poll petition in hopes of legitimately presenting it to people in the government through various contacts. RH Brands is not an actual political/advocacy group and has no major connections or affiliation with any political group/person which could ensure something like this would “make it in front of the Preisdent” (as so many messages online made it appear to be), and in Goldblatt’s own words it is a “half-a-step-better” than calling your congressman.
RH Brands did not misrepresent itself, though… it just probably should have represented itself a bit more. Due to the fact that Goldblatt wanted the poll to be taking seriously, he did omit adding “brought to you by Humor Hotlines” and admits that this was–in retrospect–probably not a good decision (as it aided in the confusion).
What appears to have happened is a few rogue users wanted to help spread this phone number so they invented stories to make it seem more legitimate (by claiming it was backed by Change.org, for example). We all know how the game of “telephone” works, and as one person told another and that person told another, the story began to slowly evolve into the various ones currently seen throughout the internet.
So let me break it down simply into what this number is and what this number is not:
What this number is:
* This number is one of many numbers created by the novelty-number company Humor Hotlines.
* Unlike other numbers from HH, Goldblatt claims this is a legitimate poll being conducted which he plans to compile and give to various contacts within the government in hopes that it will be presented to Congress and President Barack Obama.
* This number is completely free and has apparently no known risks/fees associated with it outside of normal cell phone charges/minutes used/etc.
* If the number reaches a certain amount of votes (1,000,000), HH has every intention to follow through and send the compiled petition to the government.
What this number is NOT:
* A scam.
* This number has no relation with any political group or marijuana advocacy group.
* Endorsed by any politician, political group, advocacy group, or any person/group in a position of political authority.
* This number has no deadline.
* The number has no more power/authority to legalize marijuana than any other petition created by people online (however, every bit helps).
* Though some have claimed to have received charges after calling this number, it must have been coincidence or confusion because the number does not appear to create any charges (though if you can prove to me it does, feel free to contact me).
So… should you call it? If you want to, yes… there doesn’t appear to be any harm in it and it actually may end up being a good petition. But please do not think that you are directly helping to “legalize marijuana”, and definitely do not tell others it is backed by groups which have no idea what it is.
Honesty is crucial and when people lie to get others to do something–even if they think it is right–things like this happen.
I apologized to Goldblatt for the confusion, however he was very understanding and even admitted that he himself is wary of things that sound “too good to be true” and understands why I was warning others to be cautious. While Humor Hotlines has undoubtedly benefited from the mass confusion regarding their number, it is clear that this is not the fault of Goldblatt’s company… rather, it appears to be the result of some trouble makers online and the ripple-effect of social networking.
I’d like to thank him again for taking the time to clear things up and hopefully now that the mystery is gone surrounding this number people can begin calling it for what it is, rather than calling it under the false-assumption of it being something it is not.
SOURCE: http://www.showmethefacts.org/2009/04/24/marijuana-phone-poll-scam-confusing/#more-600
i am flushing out my system tobecause i need a job. its a drag, however i digress.. Last night i had a few strong drinks. I woke up today feeling like trash. after a week of not smoking and a longer while yet since drinking alcohol, i have come to the conclusion that i dislike alcohol. Dont get me worng I have a few favorite drinks, but honestly if you gave me the choice of a martini or a joint, id pick the joint.