I agree with you, Mfgr. You make a lot of valid points.

I personally don't feel our Government and taxation of cannabis is an issue. If cannabis was legalized and decrimalized it would prevent alot of crimes. Having a Black Market is bad in itself. Leaving our beloved herb in the hands of true criminals is not the solution we need. Yes, I also believe that cannabis should be sold in shops like Amsterdam. Amsterdam is an excellent example to follow. For one, the prices would drop. How ridiculous is it to pay $20 for one gram of "haze"? In Amsterdam, you can buy 3 grams of White Widow for about 16-20 Euros, max. Don't want to pay the taxes for buying it, grow your own. You should be legally allowed to grow five plants for personal use. With today's modern methods of growing, you can easily produce enough cannabis with five plants to support you until the following harvest. It's not illegal in the US to grow tobacco. I'm not sure where you got that bit of erroneous information. If you are growing tobacco commercially, you will need a permit. There's no taxation on growing tobacco, just the selling of it. This should extend to cannabis as well. Legalizing cannabis would allow us to produce an unaltered product. Think of the advances in cannabis breeding/genetics we'd be able to make. I'm not saying legalizing cannabis would make the World a better place, but it would make a definite impact on us and our environment.

Hyperion