Drug WarRant

[DdC]

9.15.8

Amsterdam's drug czar spare changers banning tobacco in hopes of sticking their tongues out at pothead tourists, who don't use tobacco with their Ganja, so only the locals are harrassed by the BS rules. Domestic terrorism, same as the states. On our tax dollars they do this to us. Same insanity in Insanity Cruz, where the local council member/teacher spreads gossip and hate speech to students he's saving from sick and dying park tokers. Denver Gestapo still don't need no stinking laws to tell them what they can bust. Richard Cowan has a new site taking a bite out of drugczars.
Prohibitionists to Patients: “Drop Dead!”
Police, Politicians, and Quacks Put Cannabis Prohibition
Ahead of the Sick, Dying and Disabled.
“To Jail In An Ambulance.”

I remember Robert Anton Wilson always saying the Ganjawar was against the 10th Amendment, Low and behold... "The federal authorities have been charged with violating the 10th Amendment for harassing medical marijuana patients and state authorities." I've been using a lot of hemp oil to help patients ward off infections, and a Ganja/Hemp oil extraction for skin problems, with amazing healing abilities, usually with edema it is difficult to even get a wound to heal, especially at a normal rate. Nice when science catches up and even better to show the skeptics a Second Study In Two Months Touts Cannabis' Germ-Fighting Abilities." And we pay big bucks to a politician drug thug to say there is No Medicinal Value in Ganja? Presidential candidates who not only can't get online but still side with the liars clubs denying blindly, the value of Ganja. It's 2008 ya frickin wombats! But our paid terrorists in government would rather us be zombied out or in pain rather than ever admit that Cannabis Spray Demonstrates Long Term Efficacy In Neuropathic Pain.

[DdC]

Police Should Simply Enforce Pot Law as Written Editorial
CN Source: Gloucester Daily Times January 01, 2009 Massachusetts
On Nov. 4, a majority of voters in Massachusetts chose to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Those in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are no longer charged with a criminal offense but instead face a $100 fine. The new law officially takes effect tomorrow. Yet some police departments across the state say they are uncertain as to how to enforce it, noting they do not have the proper citations and raising other questions. Indeed, the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security just Monday issued guidelines for police departments regarding local enforcement of the new mandates.
continued...

How the Harper government wasted millions
and alienated academe in its campaign to shut Insite.
By Paul Webster published Dec 29, 2008
Thomas Kerr reached the top of the politics-laced field of addiction research at an age when he was still undimmed by academic apathy. Square-jawed and rapid-talking, the 41-year-old UBC epidemiologist has something of a boxer's poise. When he talks about his research into hard-drug use in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, his anger surfaces in flashes of acerbic wit and penetrating knowledge. Among academics and street people alike, Kerr is usually the smartest guy in the room-and, perhaps, the toughest. But he admits that what he encountered last May on Parliament Hill in Ottawa was more than he'd bargained for: "It was like an event that makes you question your faith in God," Kerr recalled over a burger and a beer at a Vancouver restaurant six months later. "It was absolutely, without a doubt, the lowest point in my career."
continued...



INNOCENTS DIE IN THE DRUG WAR
Of all the casualties claimed by the U.S. "war on drugs" in Latin America, perhaps none so fully captures its senselessness and injustice as the 2001 CIA-directed killing of Christian missionary Veronica Bowers and her daughter Charity in Peru.

FAMILY RACKED BY CIA COVER-UP

The Agency Lied About a 2001 Plane Downing in Peru That Killed a Woman and Her Daughter, a Report Says. Former Poquoson resident Gloria Luttig learned this week that her daughter's and granddaughter's deaths were shrouded by a CIA cover-up.

Bushit Rumcheney Cocktail
Fascist Nationalism and MKULTRA

Scientist's death haunts family (Merc News Complete Article)

excerpted: The death in 1953 of a government scientist, Frank Olson, in a fall from a New York hotel window, is one of the most notorious cases in CIA history.

The documents show that two of the key officials involved in the decision to withhold that information were White House aides Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, today the nation's vice president and x-secretary of Defense.

``These documents show the lengths to which the government was trying to cover up the truth,'' said the scientist's son, Eric Olson, who gave them to the Mercury News. ``For 22 years there was a coverup. And then, under the guise of revealing everything, there was a new coverup.''



Eddys Medicinal Gardens

Lepp Indicted Monday

Marijuana Grower Could Face Life in Prison

DEA Raids Lepp's Pot Farm

Eddy's website has just been revamped and made interactive,
you can show your support now.

Eddy Lepp Will Head To Amsterdam for Award


Eddy and Ferre in the Sensi coffeeshop, Amsterdam, last year.

Cocaine Replaces Mulled Wine
At Austrian Ski Resorts As Drug Use Rises

Pot vending machines take root in Los Angeles
Machines distribute to people with cards authorizing use

You Can Drink Yourself to Death, But You Can’t Smoke Pot
by One Pissed Off Liberal Thu Nov 30, 2006

Consider Hemp by Gary Christ
Northwest Herald 26 Nov 2008 Crystal Lake(IL)

The American Spirit was the banner carried by my class of '75. This we need today like never before. For the love of God, country and my classmates, begin by sharing these truths. During the Bush administration, the hopes and chances of repealing the federal prohibition on industrial hemp and medical cannabis were about zero. Of the G8, only the USA prohibits hemp farming, yet we allow imports. How can I call myself a Christian, and just watch my sick, dying neighbor be needlessly denied God's free, most healing plant? How can I just watch millions of fellow Americans be jailed and careers ruined for simply possessing a less harmful plant than tobacco?

Where is the love-your-neighbor in that? Likewise, how can I consider myself an environmental activist and not pull the plow of change in the agricultural dynasty? Replacing chemical dependent crops with organic hemp has ample benefits for the ecosystem. And hemp is America's ticket to freedom from dependence from foreign oil. Visit votehemp.com Besides, it's the patriotic thing to do. I think George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and most every other patriot would exclaim in the true American spirit, "Why not today?"

High on Hemp

Ganjawarnews: Linx



Law Officers 'Don't Get It' by Stan White
Metrowest Daily News 05 Dec 2008 MA

As a Christian American who helped pass Question 2, I strongly disagree with William G. Brooks III's assertion ( "How weed was decriminalized," Nov. 30 ) citizens are "left with a law that makes no sense." Caging responsible adults for using the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis ( marijuana ) is what makes no sense; in fact it's ignorant and luciferous.

It does only decriminalize small amounts; a compacted ounce equals about 2 packs of cigarettes. Brooks' concept of its value is conveniently dictated by black market influences which law enforcement agencies and their unions help create; its honest value in a regulated society could be less than $100.

Fact is, law enforcement officers still don't get it. Nationally, responsible cannabis users are through being discriminated against for choosing cannabis instead of beer, wine or whiskey and through being forced into "treatment" in order to avoid being caged. Cannabis prohibition is the "mess," not passage of Question 2, and citizens are fixing this mess the best way possible.

Cops Against the Drug War

[DdC]

===============1-2-9===============


Friday, January 2, 2009

Whiners lose
It seems that the incessant complaining by law enforcement in Massachusetts about the problems they'll have administering the new marijuana decrim is starting to get some blowback.

Scott Morgan has the story of another botched raid. The only thing we can be sure of is that these will continue to happen more often as long as law enforcement policies continue in their current direction. And there will be more dead cops and dead innocent civilians.

Massachusetts marijuana decrim law goes into effect today. It's unlikely to change things much, but it does make it clear that Massachusetts law enforcement is apparently populated primarily by whining, confused incompetents. After reading their complaints, I'm really glad I don't have to depend on them to, oh, say, investigate anything.

Judge blasts plan to randomly drug test teachers.

A federal judge halted the Kanawha County school system's plan to randomly drug test teachers.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Robert Goodwin said the drug testing plan would force teachers to submit to an unconstitutional and unjustified search. He also gave a scathing rebuke of the policy and the school board that approved it. [...]

He said that the school board's argument that something bad could happen while a teacher under the influence of drugs was supervising children was based on an unreasonable kind of worse-case-scenario thinking. Goodwin asked why the board had not also passed a policy to randomly test teachers for tropical diseases.

"Total security for us and our children is only possible -- if unlikely -- in a totalitarian state," Goodwin said.

He added, "Who wants to live in a society when a government will stop at nothing to prevent bumps and bruises."

Federal Judge Rejects West Virginia School Board's
Random Tests of Teachers



Safety Group Maps Plan for Tackling New Pot Law By Kyle Cheney
CN Source: Gloucester Daily Times January 02, 2009 Boston, MA
Once admittedly flummoxed at the prospect of implementing a new voter law decriminalizing the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, state officials are now offering a first glimpse into their strategy. The strategy, addressing the new marijuana law that went into effect today, includes encouraging cities and towns to pass new penalties for using marijuana in public, and reaffirming public schools' right to expel or suspend students who smoke pot on school grounds. continued...

Editorial An Inconvenient Question
CN Source: Boston Globe January 02, 2009 Boston, MA
The State's new law decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana takes effect today, and while it is not likely to turn Massachusetts into Amsterdam overnight, there are several loopholes and loose ends about the law - passed by the ballot Question 2 in November - that need addressing. The most pressing issue is how to enforce the core provision that replaces criminal penalties for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana with a $100 fine. continued...



Editorial A Simple Law Goes One Toke Over The Line
CN Source: Patriot Ledger January 02, 2009 Quincy, MA
The voters of Massachusetts spoke clearly Nov. 4 on the topic of marijuana: They want simple possession treated as a civil infraction, more like a parking ticket than a serious crime, with a maximum fine of $100. Other laws involving marijuana stay in place, and those under 18 caught with less than an ounce of pot are required to attend a drug-education course as well as pay the fine. continued...

Editorial New Marijuana Law Shouldn't Pose Problems
CN Source: Eagle-Tribune January 02, 2009 Massachusetts
On Nov. 4, a majority of voters in Massachusetts chose to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Those in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are no longer charged with a criminal offense, but instead face a $100 fine. Today, the new law takes effect. Yet some local police departments, as well as others across the state, say they are uncertain about how to enforce it. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security just Monday issued guidelines for police departments on enforcement of the law. continued...



HASHISH FUDGE Soma and the Wootton Report

Pot Law Leaves Rule Very Fuzzy By Karen Nugent
CN Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette January 02, 2009 Massachusetts
Using a strict interpretation of the new state marijuana law, it’s OK for a police officer to light up a joint in a cruiser — but the same officer could be fired for smoking a cigarette in that cruiser. Officers hired in Massachusetts after 1990 are not allowed to use tobacco products. The new marijuana law, approved by state ballot referendum in the November election, not only decriminalizes marijuana, it makes it illegal for prospective employers — including police and school departments — to discriminate against those who possess less than an ounce of the substance because, as of today, it is a civil offense not subject to hiring rules. continued...



Law Or No, These Joints Are Smokin' In The City
Loriggio, Paola Toronto Star 01 Jan 2009

Medical Pot Cards To Be Available
Farrow, Ross Lodi News-Sentinel 01 Jan 2009

Pot ID Cards Available In San Joaquin County
San Francisco Chronicle 01 Jan 2009

Carroll's Sentence Commuted
Dooling, Nancy Press & Sun-Bulletin 01 Jan 2009

Sworn Congressional testimony 1937
MR. DINGELL: I am just wondering whether the marihuana addict graduates into a heroin, an opium, or a cocaine user.
MR. ANSLINGER: No, sir; I have not heard of a case of that kind. I think it is an entirely different class. The marihuana addict does not go in that direction. Sworn Congressional testimony 1937

Editorial: Sen. Webb's Call for Prison Reform
New York Times 01 Jan 2009

Bust Causes All But Cows To Ponder Rural Area's
Kothe, Charles The Spectrum 01 Jan 2009

Effort To Get Marijuana Raises Question Of Worth
McSpadden, Matt Springfield News-Leader 31 Dec 2008



Dope Menace
The Sensational World of Drug Paperbacks
Stephen J. Gertz (Feral House, 2008)

While we now enjoy this exploitative genre for its campy kitsch, gloriously bad writing, and outlandish misinformation, drug paperback books were once a transgressive medium with a perversely seductive quality.

DOPE MENACE collects together hundreds of fabulously lurid and collectible covers in color, from xenophobic turn-of-the century tomes about the opium trade to the beatnik glories of reefer smoking and William S. Burroughs’ Junkie to the spaced-out psychedelic ’60s. We mustn’t forget the gonzo paranoia brought on by Hunter S. Thompson in the ’70s, when anything was everything.



Not to Worry --
Concerns About Pot Coffee Houses in Amsterdam
Have Gone up in Smoke by Phillip S. Smith

Exporting DEAmocracy

Ganjawar Puppets Cave... again

Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight

Drug War Mayhem in Mexico --
The Public Is Sick of It by Sara Miller Llana

During the hearings on the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, Harry J. Anslinger read this letter into the official record, "I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That's why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions."

Discriminatory intent was not limited to the Federal level. In Texas, the anti-marijuana proponents included this statement in the official records; "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff (referring to marijuana) is what makes them crazy."

Perhaps even more disturbing is the testimony of Dr. Fred Fulsher during Montana's prohibition; "Marijuana is Mexican opium, a plant used by Mexicans and cultivated for sale by Indians. When some beet field peon takes a few rares of this stuff, he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico so he starts out to execute all his political enemies. I understand that over in Butte where the Mexicans often go for the winter they stage imaginary bullfights in the "Bower of Roses" or put on tournaments for the favor of "Spanish Rose" after a couple whiffs of Marijuana. The Silver Bow and Yellowstone delegations both deplore these international complications."
- Portland NORML News - Saturday, October 3, 1998



Drug Reporter



Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) Issue #566 - 1/2/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly --
The Top 10 Drug Policy Stories of 2008

Gazing Into the Crystal Ball --
What Can We Expect in 2009?

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Another jailer gone bad, another deputy with problems, and a murky tale from Tennessee involving cops, docs, guns, and pills. New year, same old same old.

Cops Against the Drug War

Massachusetts Decriminalization Goes Into Effect Today --
Includes Hashish

Maine Activist Wins Acquittal on Growing, Trafficking Charges

Peru's Shining Path Making a Comeback?

Austria, Germany Latest to Ban Herbal Drug "Spice"

Dutch Appeals Court Rules
Five-Plant Home Growers Cannot Be Prosecuted,
No Matter How Big the Harvest

Fall-Out Continues in the Case of Murdered Informant Rachel Hoffman

Rachael Hoffman RIP

[DdC]

===============1-3-9===============

Change.Org Final Round Voting Starts January 5th!

Change.Org

Final Round Voting Starts January 5th!

The first round of voting for the Ideas for Change in America competition ended at midnight on December 31st. The top 3 rated ideas for each of the issue-based categories, which are listed below, will qualify for the final round of voting beginning on January 5th.* Voting totals will be reset at zero for all qualifing ideas to ensure an equal playing field.

On January 16th, Change.org will co-host an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce the top 10 rated ideas and our plans for supporting the formation of a national advocacy campaign behind each idea in collaboration with our nonprofit partners.

Criminal Justice

# 5023 votes
Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana
- Jose Torres (1546 comments)

# 1785 votes
End the war on drugs
- dan bachelder (44 comments)

Economy

# 1142 votes
The War On Drugs has Failed- Decriminalize Marijuana
- Joshua Gomez (45 comments)


askleap

Important activist threads - check here first

Mass Says New Pot Law Allows Other THC Drugs, Too
Johnson, Glen Asheville Citizen-Times 29 Dec 2009

The DEA has recently estimated the total number of clandestine LSD labs operating in the United States at only 100, with most of them located in Northern California. This alarmingly low number of labs leaves the supply of LSD in this country at constant peril.
-- Uncle Fester, "Practical LSD Manufacture," 1997

Police Prepare For New Pot Law
Welker, Grant The Herald 01 Jan 2009

Mexico At Odds Over $1.4 Billion Aid Package To Battle Drug Cartels
Meyer, Josh Sun-Sentinel 02 Jan 2009

Argentina: Drug Possession Ruling Postponed
Buenos Aires Herald 30 Dec 2008

"The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed."
- Thomas Jefferson, 1776



Obama Faces Mexican Drug War
Seper, Jerry Washington Times 02 Jan 2009

Editorial: Don't Complicate Pot Law
The Herald News 02 Jan 2009

Editorial: Another Way
The Register-Herald 01 Jan 2009

"American farmers are promised a new cash crop
with an annual value of several hundred million dollars....
It is hemp."
-- Popular Mechanics - February 1938



New Pot Rules May Allow Having Hashish
Massachusetts police may no longer be able to arrest people for having a small amount of hashish, because a new law that decriminalizes possessing up to an ounce of marijuana could apply to other drugs with the same psychoactive ingredient, according to guidelines issued today. full story

Happy 2009! Its Positively Decriminalized
Barnestorming, George Barnes Worcester Telegram & Gazette 02 Jan 2009

Editorial: All About Alternatives
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 01 Jan 2009

NYC Crime Rate Drops Nearly 4% Overall
Newsday 01 Jan 2009

"In the end, legalization of certain substances may be the only way to bring prices down, and doing so may be the only remedy to some of the worst aspects of the drug plague: violence, corruption, and the collapse of the rule of law."
-- Jorge Castaneda,
Mexican Foreign Minister,
quoted in Newsweek, September 6, 1999


grandpaspotbook

Letter Writer Of The Month
DrugSense Weekly 02 Jan 2009

Letter Of The Week
DrugSense Weekly 02 Jan 2009

Patients Oppose Strict Rules for Medical Marijuana
Mcclellan, Theresa D. Grand Rapids Press 03 Jan 2009

MJ Decriminalization Thrills Some, Worries Others By Shauna Staveley
CN Source: Sentinel And Enterprise January 03, 2009 Massachusetts
Ashby resident Dustin Rantala thinks the law decriminalizing the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is a benefit to Massachusetts taxpayers. "Such a small amount of marijuana really isn't a big deal," Rantala, 18, said Friday night outside of Market Basket on John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg. "I think it's going to be good because all our tax money isn't going to be going toward (prosecution)." continued...



Marijuana Decriminalization Law Goes Into Effect In Massachusetts
It's no longer a crime to have one ounce or less of pot. The state's new marijuana decriminalization law, approved by voters in a November referendum, goes into effect today. full story

Answers Few on 'Question 2' By Conor Berry
CN Source: Berkshire Eagle January 03, 2009 Pittsfield, MA
A new state law decriminalizing possession of an ounce or less of marijuana took effect Friday, and the sky did not fall. But the state did recently issue guidelines to help answer last-minute questions from law enforcement officials, while the Berkshire District Attorney's office held training sessions earlier this week for local police departments. Some county law enforcement officials polled by The Eagle on Friday said they had yet to issue any tickets for the new civil offense, which was approved overwhelmingly by voters on Nov. 4. continued...



Former Drug Officer Barry Cooper Debuts 'KopBusters' Trailer
An ex-drug warrior turned filmmaker busts corrupt cops breaking search warrant rules in a new reality show. full story

Marijuana Possession Should Be Legalized By The Bristol Press
CN Source: Bristol Press January 03, 2009 Connecticut
On Nov. 4, our neighbors to the north voted to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. As of Friday, anyone in Massachusetts caught with an ounce or less would be issued a $100 ticket and would forfeit the pot. Those younger than 18 who are found to have less than an ounce of the drug must also complete a drug-awareness program within one year. Marijuana is not physically addictive and has been used for centuries without any serious deleterious effect. Overuse can cause problems, like anything else but, used responsibly, marijuana is benign, even more so than alcohol. continued...

"Freedom is like birth. Till we are fully free, we are slaves."
-- Mahatma Ghandi



CB - Loss of CB1 Receptor Linked to Intestinal Tumors

CB - Body's Own Cannabis is Good for the Skin

CB - CB2 Cannabinoid Receptors: New Vistas

"In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell

Ganjawarnews Template

Ganjawarnews * Ganjawareness 270 views Sep 14, 2008

Ganjawarnews.Ganjawareness 1591 views Dec 28, 2007



German Drug Czar Seeks 'Spice' Ban
Germany will ban the sale and possession of the herbal drug mixture known as "spice," after finding it contained a synthetic ingredient similar to marijuana, the country's drug czar said Tuesday. full story

"The white man goes into his church and talks about Jesus;
the Indian goes into his tepee and talks to Jesus."
-- Quanah Parker

Sovereignty Enjoyed by Indian Nations? Aug 20

No Extradition for the BC3!

[DdC]

===============1-4-9===============

Renagade Cops & Ganja Props

Police Plan Clamp Down On Shops Accused Of Glamorising Drug Use
Barrett, David Daily Telegraph 03 Jan 2009
Police are to launch a crack down on retailers who display drug-related paraphernalia, because of fears they are glamorising abuse of illegal substances. The businesses, known as "head shops", operate entirely within the law but the Association of Chief Police Officers ( Acpo ) is devising new rules on how police and local councils can work together to combat "community concerns" about the stores. The guidelines are expected to see police and trading standards officers demanding changes to the way stores operate, and could even lead to the authorities demanding that items are taken off display.

Head Shop Supply
"World's Largest Head Shop Directory"



Coming to terms with the impossibility of winning a drug war
DWR: Sunday, January 4, 2009

Massachusetts police finally get it...
DWR: Saturday, January 3, 2009

Smoky Subject By Sam Allis
CN Source: Boston Globe January 04, 2009 Massachusetts
The Observer views 2009 with optimism and dread. It depends on the day. What's raising my spirits exponentially are visions of the enforcement of Question 2, the referendum approved in November that reduces the penalty for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana from a criminal offense to a giggle. Question 2 went into effect the day before yesterday. On first inspection, the law looks swell. Anyone over room temperature IQ knows that the criminal prosecution of someone with some dope in his pocket is lunacy. And the mere idea that someone could lose a student loan or flunk a job application because of a dope record is appalling.



Boston Goes To Pot
By Jessica Fargen and Dave Wedge
CN Source: Boston Herald January 04, 2009 Massachusetts
Relieved weed smokers brazenly lit up on Hub streets without fear of arrest for the first time as cops statewide sought to sort out how to handle Massachusetts’ weakened pot laws. “It’s super-relaxing,” said one 31-year-old professional as he fired up a joint in an East Boston park yesterday. “It’s just a lot more easy. I’m super happy this happened. It’s kind of like, ‘What’s the big deal?’

Hot Off The 'Net and What YOU Can Do This Week
DrugSense Weekly 02 Jan 2009

On The Front Line Of The Crack Epidemic
Pearson, Matthew Ottawa Citizen 03 Jan 2009

Decision On Methadone Clinic Is Imminent
Koziol, John The Citizen 03 Jan 2009

Police Balk At Ticketing Marijuana Offenders
Levenson, Michael Boston Globe 03 Jan 2009
Massachusetts officially decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana yesterday, but many police departments across the state were essentially ignoring the voter-passed law, saying they would not even bother to ticket people they see smoking marijuana.

Khat -- Is It More Coffee or Cocaine?
Dizikes, Cynthia Los Angeles Times 03 Jan 2009



Editorial: Pot Possession Should Be Legal
Register Citizen 02 Jan 2009

Editorial: Marijuana Possession Should Be Legalized
The Herald 02 Jan 2009 The Middletown Press
As Californians can testify, getting the stuff, even for legal medical use, is risky, thanks to a federal government that stands four-square against legalization and occasionally demonstrates this by prosecuting suppliers, whatever the state statute.

Editorial: Prison Blues
The Star-Banner 31 Dec 2008

Editorial: Hear No Evil, See No Evil
Miami Herald 03 Jan 2009



CCUA Chronology of Implementation
by Fred Gardner and Pebbles Trippet
November 1996 through May 1999

Introduction

1996
1997
1998
1999

When Prop 215 passed, many optimists thought it would mean the beginning of the end of a destructive, costly prohibition. They assumed the significance of the vote was unmistakable —the people of California had told the government to lay off citizens who were using marijuana for medical purposes. These optimists clung to the naive belief that, America being a democracy, elections results mattered.

But the passage of Prop 215 was viewed by Attorney General Dan Lungren, as a mistake to be rectified by law enforcement. He instructed police and prosecutors to keep arresting and charging people who used marijuana, even if they had the approval of a physician. Marijuana arrests in California actually increased in 1997, according to the Bureau of Criminal Statistics, to 57,667 —up for the sixth year in a row. Many doctors came to feel less willing to discuss marijuana as a treatment option with their patients, as they feared Lungren’s wrath and the attention of Janet
Reno’s Justice Department.

This chronology of the medical marijuana movement is for patients, caregivers and concerned citizens who want a fuller, more coherent account than the corporate media has provided. We apologize in advance for the incompleteness of the chronology. We ask all participants in the movement to contact us ASAP to fill in the blanks.
—Fred Gardner and Pebbles Trippet continued...



California Senate Bill 420 (HS 11362.7)

Medical Marijuana Implementation
AUTHOR(S): Vasconcellos
Principal co-author: Assembly Member Leno

SB 420 was a compromise that considered much input from patients and reformers.
It clears up certain implementation issues surrounding Prop 215 (HS11362.5)
and formulates a voluntary system to protect patients from arrest.
It sets biased and unrealistic standards as the default baseline for protection,
but also empowers localities to adopt scientific local medical marijuana guidelines.

compromise / käm-prə-ˌmīz
Settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions.
Something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things.
A concession to something derogatory or prejudicial (a compromise of principles)

con·ces·sion / kən-ˈse-shən
The act or an instance of conceding.
The admitting of a point claimed in argument.
Something conceded.

con·cede / kən-ˈsēd
To grant as a right or privilege.
To accept as true, valid, or accurate.
(the right of the state to cage sick people is generally conceded)
To acknowledge grudgingly or hesitantly.

Nixon lied to schedule Ganja #1

NO ConPromise!


The Website for Cultural Survivalists

California medical marijuana law, SB 420

Proposition 215 and You

[DdC]

Introducing the MarijuanaNews Daily Briefing
With News and Analysis by Richard Cowan.
Posted by Richard Cowan on January 4th, 2009



Violent Cecil Scared Police
Calgary Herald 04 Jan 2009

Bribery Probe Snares Bailiff
Perry, Kimball Cincinnati Enquirer 04 Jan 2009

India: Narcotics Production On The Rise
Chatterjee, Rajib The Statesman 04 Jan 2009

Tawain: Number of Narcotics Offenders on Sharp Rise
Nai-kuo, Han Taiwan News 04 Jan 2009

US MA: Cape Tip Chief Says Issues Impact New Pot Law
Desroches, Steve The Cape Codder 01 Jan 2009



This Is Your War -- And This Is Your War On Drugs
Cyr, Arthur I. Minneapolis Star-Tribune 04 Jan 2009

Tough Love for Hard Cases
Fletcher, Tom Merritt Herald 05 Jan 2009

Editorial: Confidence Must Be Restored In Drug Forfeiture Process
The Star Press 04 Jan 2009

Editorial: Rethink Long, Mandatory Drug Sentences
Des Moines Register 04 Jan 2009

Editorial: No Deaths, This Time
Las Vegas Review-Journal 04 Jan 2009


DAREyl SWAT Gates LAPDog Perversions

Medical Marijuana Rules Called a Burden on Police By Megha Satyanarayana
CN Source: Detroit Free Press January 05, 2009 Michigan
A spokesman for the Michigan State Police said the department does not want the responsibility of destroying excess medical marijuana, as written in the draft rules being discussed today in Lansing. Greg Zorotney of the State Police executive division said a better solution would be for users or caregivers to destroy excess supply or for the Michigan Department of Community Health to write rules allowing for the transfer of medical marijuana from a retired user to a new user. continued...

Public Questions Proposed Rules on Med Marijuana By Neal McNamara
CN Source: City Pulse January 05, 2009 Michigan
A set of draft rules for Michigan’s medical marijuana law presented at a state Department of Community Health public hearing this morning were met with intense criticism from the public, with some saying that the proposals contradict the law passed in November by voters. For nearly three hours, members of the public — including medical marijuana users, activists and advocates — expressed concern about some draft rules, including requiring useable marijuana to be kept in a locked cabinet and requiring patients and caregivers to keep an inventory of their marijuana. continued...

Group: Medical Marijuana Draft Rules Unfair By Megha Satyanarayana
CN Source: Detroit Free Press January 05, 2009 Michigan
The draft rules for the state's medical marijuana program treats users like criminals, and not patients that are part of a public health program, said patient and medical marijuana advocates during the opening comments of the only public meeting regarding the new law today in Lansing. About 100 people gathered at state offices to voice their concerns about the multiple rules and regulations drawn by the Michigan Department of Community Health, which will oversee the medical marijuana program starting April 4. continued...

John Lennon and Sinclair

Marijuana Revolution



DWR: Voting for the opportunity to be heard

As has been noted in comments, Change.org (not to be confused with Obama's Change.gov) has moved to the next round of voting. The top 10 ideas will be presented to the administration on January 16 at the National Press Club and will also receive a national advocacy campaign. continued...

How the Obama administration
could be better for drug policy reform even if unsupportive
DWR: Monday, January 5, 2009

Much of the speculation of how the Obama administration may differ from the Bush administration has been over the degree to which Obama may actively support change, or even passively allow change through benign neglect. continued...

DWR: A message from the front lines in D.C.

If there's anyone who has a finger on the pulse of Congress when it comes to drug policy reform, it's probably Howard Wooldridge. LEAP's cowboy-hat-wearing lobbyist has become a familiar figure in the Washington corridors. His LEAP on the Hill posts are always a delight to read.

He makes a strong and important point in an email:

The marijuana contingent of prohibition reform needs to do more outreach and education to the 'unconverted' and the uninformed. This will involve moving outside the comfort zone of a hemp fest 'free the weed' type meeting and into a Rotary or other such venue. LEAP can use all the help possible to educate the citizens. My wife wears a t-shirt that says: MOMS SAY LEGALIZE POT - Ask Me Why... in my 13 years I have never seen a MJ reformer wear a t-shirt that invites a discussion or even effectively advertises their position. A Shirt that just has MJ leaves on it or NORML is essentially worthless in converting a soccer mom or dad to our side. continued...



Change.Inc? Censoring posts? tsk tsk tsk...

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races. Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing. Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death. Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
- Harry J. Anslinger - America's 1st Drug Czar (FDR - JFK)



"In a republic like ours, people often think that the proper response to an unjust law is to try to use the political process to change the law, but to obey and respect the law until it is changed. But if the law is itself clearly unjust, and the lawmaking process is not designed to quickly obliterate such unjust laws, then the law deserves no respect — break the law."
- Henry David Thoreau

Nixon Pot Tapes

"You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob?"
- Richard Millhouse Nixon

Nixon lied to schedule Ganja #1

"Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do.



Leary v. United States
Marihuana Tax Act violated our right against self-incrimination.

"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it. Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it."

Just say no?

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
From Benito Mussolini
contributing to the "London Sunday Express," December 8, 1935

Cops Against the Drug War ( 274 Place)

The Joseph McNamara Collection

Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana
1901 votes Criminal Justice
This idea is currently in 1st Place
and is in position to be part of the final 10 ideas
presented at our event in Washington, DC

End the war on drugs
1093 votes Criminal Justice
This idea is currently in 4th Place

The War On Drugs has Failed- Decriminalize Marijuana 403 votes

Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access
This idea finished in 19th Place in Iraq War category

[DdC]

Proposed State Med Pot Rules Rile Users By Gary Heinlein
CN Source: Detroit News January 06, 2009 Lansing, MI
State officials are proposing overly restrictive rules that would undo the intent of compassionate medical marijuana law that voters approved in November, backers of the new measure claim. At a hearing Monday on proposed rules to govern medical marijuana use, supporters especially objected to requirements that patients and caregivers keep inventories of the marijuana grown for medical use.

Oakland NORML News#20 U2b

Oakland County NORML



stop the madness

I WANT FEDERAL LEVEL HEMP/MARIJUANA LAW REFORM
Posted on January 01, 2009 by rev420

*Hemp can save the Economy and the Enviroment
*It is a spiritual mandate for about 20 milion people's religion
*Marijuana can help heal all man's ailments
*It is a safer and more wholesome alternative to alcohol
*Plus marijuana can and will promote world peace while helping the energy crisis
*It can make the earth a safer less polluted planet.



Mentally Ill and Locked Up by Brian Sullivan 1.6.9
An Alternative to Throwing Disabled People in Jail

Glossing Over Mistreatment in The Magbie Case 4.7.6
Jonathan Magbie was a 27-year-old man who was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a childhood accident. Although he had never been convicted of a criminal offense and although he required private nursing care for as much as 20 hours a day, Magbie was given a 10-day sentence in the D.C. jail in September 2004 by D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin for possession of a marijuana cigarette. He died in city custody four days later.

Glossing Over Mistreatment! 4.10.6

DEAth Sentence for Small-Time Crime 4.2.6


Young Jonathan Magbie in 1982 (paralyzed from the chin down), meeting President Reagan during the proclamation of National Respiratory Therapy Week. Last month, he was sentenced to jail for marijuana possession. It turned out to be a death sentence.

Journey for Justice Pedaling for Pot
Bicycling members of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will be blazing through the Boulder area today in part of their Journey for Justice, advocating the right of patients and doctors to use medical marijuana.



US FL: Proposed Cuts To Social Services Come Under Fire
Patterson, Steve Florida Times-Union 06 Jan 2009

CN BC: Courtenay Man Wins New Trial
Fraser, Keith Victoria Times-Colonist 06 Jan 2009

US MI: Rules For New Medical Pot Program Draw Complaints
Satyanarayana, Megha Detroit Free Press 06 Jan 2009

US HI: OPED: Legislation Needed To Correct Deficiency In The Hawaii Medical Mari
Murphy, Brian The Maui News 04 Jan 2009

US HI: Chief: Column: Teachers Should Be Drug Tested
Perry, Darryl Garden Island 04 Jan 2009



Nigeria: Stop Giving Farmland To Indian Hemp Barons -- NDLEA Tells
Raheem, Tunde Daily Sun 06 Jan 2009

US WA: Editorial: Pooch Patrols
The Columbian 05 Jan 2009

US PA: Church Hopes To Keep Jurors From Seeing Video Clip
Harr, Jennifer Herald Standard 06 Jan 2009
When a religious rights trial centered on a Bullskin Township church goes to federal court, attorneys for the Church of Universal Love and Music do not want jurors to see a videotaped segment on the dispute that aired on a Comedy Central television show. Five years ago, "The Daily Show," a half-hour show hosted by comic Jon Stewart, did a four-minute segment on religious freedom that featured the church.

Pot Church Takes a Hit
Suspects Say Pot Is Part of Faith
Faith-Based Rehabilitation



The MarijuanaNews Daily Briefing 1.6.9
News and Analysis by Richard Cowan
“Decrim” Panic In Massachusetts.
Uganja In Uganda?
NYTimes Notices Real Terror In Mexico.

Why Head Shop Raids Are Unfair and Unjust
How a reckless mayor, heartless federal agents and a disorganized drug-consuming public led to a pointless raid on head shops.

Head Shop Raids Are Unconscionable
January 3rd, 2009 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director
“Look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed. They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed. Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain. But Monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game. And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody. Outside of a small circle of friends.”



Investment advice from Hell
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Link

The deep recession expected in 2009 will likely lead to higher rates of crime. Adam Lass says investors can play this trend by picking up shares of commercial jails. Florida-based Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) operates in several countries and is rapidly expanding its detention facilities. Adam says investors could be in line to double their money by the summer.

I blame West Wing
Obama apparently wants CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta as a high-profile Surgeon General.

So with a celebrity Surgeon General, can we expect controversial truth-telling like Joycelyn Elders or West Wing's Surgeon General Millicent Griffith?

Maybe not, given Gupta's incoherent article on medical marijuana in Time a couple of years ago: Why I Would Vote No On Pot.



Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and MMJ Prohibition
Writing from a Birmingham jail in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., explained the four steps of civil disobedience. First, research must reveal an injustice. If the facts show that a law is unjust, then the next step is to negotiate a remedy with those in a position to fix the problem. If after good faith negotiation the people in power refuse to repair the damage they caused, then the next step is self-purification. Unclean hands should not accuse other hands of being too dirty. The final step of civil disobedience is to actually disobey a civil law.

[hood1]

thanks Ddc for the link more late
_________________
Cherokee Fred Hussein Stein King aka Stupid old man

[DdC]

===============1-7-9===============

City Council Goes Rogue
DWR: January 7, 2009 El Paso, Texas

A mere stone's throw from Mexico and the violent drug war there - naturally has concerns about the drug war there, and the fact that everything we've been doing just makes it worse and more violent.

Well the city council apparently must have snapped from the pressure, because they actually suggested, unanimously, in a resolution, that the U.S. government start an "open, honest, national dialogue on ending the prohibition of narcotics."

Deranged council member Beto O'Rourke tried to defend the radical proposition:

"We think it should at least be on the table and so far it hasn't," O'Rourke said.

Hmm, seems like a pretty far fetched idea - to discuss options that haven't been discussed yet.

Fortunately, Mayor John Cook stepped in to restore sanity and promptly vetoed the non-binding resolution to insure that nobody would think that El Paso wanted the U.S. government to discuss options. continued...

Update: Council Member O'Rourke discusses the issue -- extremely well -- in this video at El Paso Times. Worth watching.



Smoking Herb Not Necessarily a Road To Ruin
The country’s far-flung laws on the drug reflect how dysfunctional we are on the subject. It is a petty offense and a maximum fine of $100 for possession of less than an ounce in Colorado. It is a $2,000 fine and up to a year in jail in New Hampshire for possession of any amount. It is a $5,000 fine and three years in prison for possession in Puerto Rico, one of our territories.

Massachusetts Police Chiefs Legalize Marijuana
Bent out of shape by the details of Question 2, the decriminalization measure that voters passed in November, those law-enforcement officials have announced that they won't bother issuing tickets to people caught smoking marijuana.

Ganjawarnews Template

Daniel Pinchbeck- Modern Shamanism and Reality Bending

California NORML: Latest News from California

California NORML Agenda for Reform in 2009
December 18, 2008 - Buoyed by Obama's election and the end of the Bush regime, California NORML will be pushing for meaningful changes in marijuana enforcement in the coming year.

Crime, Drug Prohibition, International Smuggling, Terrorism: Inevitable Convergences



Broom the CIA By Al Giordano
US Senator Diane Feinstein’s Violent Opposition to Leon Panetta as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Speaks Volumes About the Crimes She Seeks to Hide.

As three of the few members of Congress with committee positions that give them access to classified information about The Agency's doings, each of them - Feinstein, Rockefeller and Bond - are complicit in enabling (and keeping from public view) the CIA's activities around the world (and, illegally, at home). continued...

DiFi WATCH
an "unofficial" source for information about U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

"We are at War, I would agree that the drug war has not been won, [But] I also would say, 'Don't throw in the towel,'
Feinstein said near the outset of the hourlong debate at KRON-TV. "Campbell, Feinstein Clash on Middle East, Drug Laws

Support for dumb laws - i.e. Internet censorship, anti-flag burning amendments to the constitution and laws to prevent people from talking about drugs on the Internet. Where does she come up with this stuff? Who is advising her? surely not the Dalai Lama.



Drug War Facts.org

"A valuable resource for anyone concerned with drug policy."
— Ira Rosen, Producer, 60 Minutes

SSDP: News & Updates

1/6/09 - Obama Drug Policy Petition Reaches 55,000 Signatures!

In November, SSDP launched a Facebook petition calling on President-elect Obama to fix U.S. drug policy by shifting from a criminal justice model to a public health model. Since then, more than 55,000 signaures have been added to the petition. If you haven't signed yet, what are you waiting for?

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation - 1-800-723-0188

The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation is working to educate the public about the truth concerning hemp and cannabis as well as helping medical marijuana patients. We have several clinics where our doctors help patients obtain a permit for medical marijuana.

The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH)

The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) goal is to educate people about the medicinal and industrial uses for cannabis in our global society in order to restore hemp cultivation and end adult cannabis prohibition.

Restore Hemp & Marijuana News Archive



Something In The Way by Preston Peet
- A True Life Misadventure Tale of an Illicit Drug
(Ab)user's Life On and Off Streets Around the World

Description

Hard and soft drugs, legal and non-legal, blood, violence, occasional peace, prostitution, pain, incessently dodging the Law, an addict toils harder than most Nine to Fivers.

Twenty-four hours a day, the need to stay well takes precedence. In this book you take the trip to its deepest, darkest, most graphic depths.

Every word is true, every line lived completely. No punches are pulled in this tale, told exactly how it was for for one person strung out on the streets for a number of years.

So prepare for a wild, harrowing, biting and sometimes humourous
no-holds-barred ride into and out of the depths of hell. This is the story of one young man who found himself living a life of misadventure, from

Atlanta to London, Amsterdam to New York City, on the streets, in squats, in stately manor homes, seedy and not-so-seedy hotels, sofa surfing, all the while playing his guitar, selling real and fake drugs, and whatever else he could do to collect the money for every fix, every single day.



News2020.com - The Drugs War under Scrutiny

‘the DEA’s hands’
MAPS Members, Supporters, and Friends, The fate of MAPS’ quest to put marijuana through FDA clinical trials is in a thrilling but precarious position — the DEA’s hands. After six years of struggle since renowned agronomist Professor Lyle Craker first applied to the DEA for a Schedule I license for a MAPS-sponsored [...]

Big Brother…
Student activists are accusing University Police of violating students’ privacy with overly aggressive drug enforcement tactics in the wake of several incidents in which officers posed as students or drug dealers. Undercover officers frequently patrol hallways in dorms searching for would-be narcotics buyers, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said. But the activist group Students for [...]

Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs
Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs Study: Alcohol and Tobacco More Dangerous Than Some Illegal Drugs Like Marijuana or Ecstasy By MARIA CHENG The Associated Press LONDON - New “landmark” research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according [...]

Signs of Sickness and D.E.A.th

Arno's Corporatism

Ganja/Hemp "The Other White Meat"

Wall street's Spontaneous Abortionists



Investing in Citizen Cages...
Like organ farms, then what, Soylent Green?
Making people sick, just to sell them medicine.
Haliburdon catering service. Prison Parephernalia Supply.
Outlawing Competition... MKULTRA and Tuskegee Experiments ...
Brainwashed kids, teachers and parents.
Welcome to U.S.Al Qaeda!



Investment advice from Hell
DWR: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Link

The deep recession expected in 2009 will likely lead to higher rates of crime. Adam Lass says investors can play this trend by picking up shares of commercial jails. Florida-based Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) operates in several countries and is rapidly expanding its detention facilities. Adam says investors could be in line to double their money by the summer.

Private Prisons for Dummies



Morality is always the product of terror;
its chains and strait-waistcoats are fashioned
by those who dare not trust others,
because they dare not trust themselves, to walk in liberty.
-- Aldous Huxley

Ganjawar: Prison Slave Labor, Rape & Pillage Deterrent

It is legal in the United States to use slave labor. The 13th Amendment of the Constitution states that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States."


november.org

Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'

What's life like in our prisons for those marijuana convicts? Let's steel our nerves and go visit the Web site www.spr.org where the Los Angeles outfit "Stop Prisoner Rape" has posted the little plain-talking handbill it has prepared for young men entering our prison system, titled "For Prisoners: Advice on Avoiding HIV/AIDS."

The group's handout -- targeted primarily at heterosexual men who have no desire to ever be involved in homosexual activity -- advises: "HIV/AIDS transmission during a sexual assault is a serious concern. The following are practical tips for reducing your risk. ...

"If you have a choice, try to avoid men who used needles for drugs in the past or are still doing so. ... The more often you are raped, the more exposed you will be, so especially try to avoid anal gang-bangs.

The Child Protection Racket


Loretta Nall

I told the teacher that it is funny to me that schools preach to our kids about not resorting to drugs and violence to resolve their problems, there are even cops paid to teach the DARE program, and yet drugs and violence are the very first things the school resorts to when a problem arises with a child.

No wonder our kids are so confused.

When parents are involved in the education of their children it becomes much harder for the school/state to brainwash, manipulate and coerce kids into being more loyal to the state than the family.

Loretta founded the US Marijuana Party after being raided and busted for an alleged roach in 2002,

[DdC]

===============1-8-9===============

What The Next Surgeon General Doesn't Know By Russ Belville
CN Source: AlterNet January 08, 2009 USA (excerpted)

In 2002, Gupta was more than willing to echo the outrageous claims that smoking pot would lead to psychosis, depression and schizophrenia:

But the three studies you are talking about talk specifically about schizophrenia and depression, and the fact that marijuana use earlier in life actually may lead to an increased -- 30 percent increase -- in schizophrenia later in life.

Depression, also a very big diagnosis -- roughly 18.8 million in this country have it. Again, they looked this time at 1,600 high school students and followed them over about seven years. This is in Australia, not in the United States. But they actually found that all of these boys and girls, particularly girls, were more vulnerable to the symptoms of depression later on in life, again if they were frequent or even daily marijuana users.

I hope that the next surgeon general has been following the research on cannabis and mental health since 2002. This year, Dr. Mikkel Arendt of Aarhus University in Risskov, Denmark, said that people treated for a so-called cannabis-induced psychosis "…would have developed schizophrenia whether or not they used cannabis."

I hope that Gupta has kept up with the journal Schizophrenia Research and the research published there last year by the London's Institute of Psychiatry, which found no statistically significant "differences in symptomatology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users," found no "evidence that cannabis users with schizophrenia were more likely to have a family member with the disorder" and that these findings "argue against a distinct schizophrenic-like psychosis caused by cannabis," authors concluded.

Regarding depression, in 2006, researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore found "that the associations observed between marijuana use and subsequent depression status may be attributable not to continued marijuana use, per se, but to third (common) factors associated with both the decision to use marijuana and to depression."

In fact, the year prior, researchers at USC had found among cannabis smokers, "those who used once per week or less had less depressed mood, more positive affect and fewer somatic (physical) complaints than non-users," and that "[d]aily users [also] reported less depressed mood and more positive affect than non-users."

Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia



City Attempts To Strengthen Pot Penalties By Nick Kotsopoulos
CN Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette January 08, 2009 Worcester, MA
A move is in the works on the City Council to have the city establish a civil penalty, and even the possibility of criminal indictment, for the use of marijuana on public property under the control of the city. Councilor-at-Large Joseph M. Petty, District 4 Councilor Barbara G. Haller and Councilor-at-Large Kathleen M. Toomey have jointly filed an order, asking the administration to prepare such an ordinance in response to the passage of Question 2 on last November’s ballot that decriminalized the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

CN NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - January 8, 2009

Massachusetts Becomes Thirteenth US State To Decriminalize Pot
January 8, 2009 - Boston, MA, USA

Marijuana Legalization Question Leads In Final Round Of Online Voting
Change.org: January 8, 2009 - San Francisco, CA, USA

Final Week To Enter $10,000 NORML Ad Challenge
January 8, 2009 - Washington, DC, USA



Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Keary Prophet myspace

CNBC Originals - Marijuana Inc: Inside America's Pot Industry
cnbc ekim January 07, 2009

Hello future medical marijuana patient

“I’ve always believed in the medicinal effects of marijuana.”
- Sona Patel M.D. Doc 420



Mayor Vetoes Resolution Asking For Debate On Legalizing Drugs
US TX Acosta, Gustavo Reveles El Paso Times 06 Jan 2009

Looks like we still got some educatin' to do
DWR: Wednesday, January 7, 2009

El Paso Comments

El Paso Cops Against the Drug War

When people are stupid
DWR: Thursday, January 8, 2009

The recent comments to various articles in the El Paso story yesterday reminded me of one of the frustrating parts of being in drug policy reform and, well, having a brain.

It's the incredibly stupid arguments that reappear time and time again.

There are plenty of reasonable concerns expressed, and I don't mind answering them -- how would legalization occur, what kinds of regulation might be involved, would there be more or less damage from drug abuse, etc.

But here are the three that always annoy me: continued...



Former mayor to City Council
Stay the course on drug resolution

Wow
Read the whole thing. It's really outstanding.

DWR: Good News! Violence expected to increase.
"Calderón must -- and will -- keep the pressure on the cartels, but look, let's not be naíve: There will be more violence, more blood, and, yes, things will get worse before they get better. That's the nature of the battle," [U.S. Ambassador Tony]Garza said. "The more pressure the cartels feel, the more they'll lash out like cornered animals."

Good thing we're not discussing any other options, since this drug war thing is going so well.



Governor Finally Wants Prison Reform
US CA Editorial: San Jose Mercury News 06 Jan 2009

Cages: Shamefully, America Is The World's Largest Stockade
US WV: Editorial Charleston Gazette 06 Jan 2009

The US Gulag Prison System

SPR - Stop Prisoner Rape

'Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'



The Drug Problem Hasn't Gone Away You Know
Ireland: Editorial Westmeath Examiner 06 Jan 2009

Band Of Brothers Supports Vet On Trial
US CA: Column Fisher, Patty San Jose Mercury News 07 Jan 2009

Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access

THE DEMONIZATION OF MARIHUANA
By strange coincidence the final assault of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics on marihuana occurred simultaneously with its own awareness of the emergence of a new hemp industry in America in 1935.

Nixon Tapes Show Roots of Marijuana Prohibition
Misinformation, Culture Wars and Prejudice



Darryl Rouson's Anti-Drug Crusade At The State House
US FL Pickett, Alex Creative Loafing 07 Jan 2009

A Clear and Present Danger
Marijuana and The Marginalization of Prevention
By Stephen Wallace, MS Ed National Chairman and CEO of SADD
(Students Against Destructive Decisions) January 7, 2009

Here's his website

CrazyCalvinaFay

WomansWackyVengeanceUnion



Decriminalize Marijuana/Hemp
Posted by Cherie M. on 01/06/2009 @ 02:43PM PST
I am so sick of the ongoing debate over medicinal marijuana use. If you assess marijuana in terms of the Controlled Substances Act (also known as the law that our Federal government is using to send people to jail and throw away the key), I think you will find that marijuana is getting a bad rap. We're sending people to jail and to drug-treatment facilities over bags of the leafy marijuana, but we're looking the other way as tobacco leaf farmers poison cigarette smokers, recruit new ones, and are bleeding this nation's health system dry along the way! Look at the schedule below, then you decide which leaf falls into which Schedule!



Schedule I drugs

(A) The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Schedule II drugs

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Schedule III drugs

(A) The drug or other substance has a potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in schedules I and II.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.

Schedule IV drugs

(A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III.

Schedule V drugs

(A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.

Cannabis is rated as a Schedule I drug, which seems a little odd to me since it DOES have accepted medical uses and its potential for addiction is LOW. It is very safe under medical supervision – so who dropped the ball on this one!? And don't even get me started on, "but it impairs you"; so does alcohol, but I don't see that being outlawed any time soon! Nicotine on the other hand, has a HUGE potential for addiction and has NO medical use. Why isn't IT an Illegal Schedule I drug? Time to write your congressional representatives and tell them we need to re-evaluate this Act and enforce it correctly!



Why is marijuana illegal? -- learn the real history.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus
-- A Guide to the Supreme Court student speech case.



Drug War Victims


Drug WarRant on Facebook

Drug War Videos



DC Metro is pretty pathetic
DWR: Thursday, January 8, 2009
In October, DC Metro began a random search program without public input. Flex Your Rights stepped up and started passing out flyers at subway stations informing people of their rights not to consent to a search, and got a lot of positive media coverage. In the next month, Metro refused to debate the policy and has been challenged by the Riders Advisory Council to come up with justification for their policy.

First Amendment Trial Starts in Boston 02/06/02

Boston Trial Fireworks 02/06/02
On Friday, February 1(2002) our trial in Federal District Court against the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began in Boston. Our case is simple: the MBTA refuses to place our marijuana reform ads because they don't like our point of view. This is the first case to go to trial against the MBTA even though there have been three previous cases -- all decided against the MBTA.

[DdC]

===============1-9-9===============

Dea Denies Recent Rescheduling Petition

On May 12,2008, you petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to initiate rulemaking proceedings under the rescheduling provisions of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). You requested that DEA remove marijuana from schedule I of the CSA based on your assertion that the federal definition for a schedule I controlled substance no longer applies to it. You contend that federal drug law gives states the authority to determine accepted medical use and that marijuana, therefore, has a "currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States" because 12 states have passed laws relating to the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Based on these same assertions, on August 5, 2008, you filed a "Notice and Deadline to Cease and Desist Illegal Enforcement of Fraudulant [sic] Marijuana Regulation." The notice states that the DEA must "cease and desist enforcement of the illegal regulation of marijuana" within 30 days or you will file a federal civil injunction. continued...

The feature article: DEA Rejects Yet Another Rescheduling Petition, But the End Game Lies Far Down the Road is an excellent view of the current efforts to reschedule marijuana, with the recent, but expected rejection by the DEA of Carl Olsen's petition.

Iowa NORML
Affiliate of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Post Office Box 4091
Des Moines, Iowa 50333
phone (515) 288-5798 / fax (515) 288-5798
iowanorml@commonlink.com

Petitions to Reschedule Marijuana

Olsen v. DEA (No. 94-1605)

Welcome to Carl Olsen's Marijuana Archive!



Officials Look To Tougher Fines for Smoking Pot By Lane Lambert
CN Source: Metrowest Daily News January 09, 2009 Massachusetts
A week after the state’s new pot possession law went into effect, South Shore police have yet to report their first $100 civil citations. But the area’s largest communities are already moving to pass tougher penalties for public marijuana smoking. In Quincy, Councilor Kevin Coughlin is ready to introduce an ordinance setting a $300 fine for public smoking, while Mayor Thomas Koch is preparing a similar proposal. continued...

More Marijuana Fines Possible By Sabrina Cardin
CN Source: Daily News January 09, 2009 Newburyport, MA

NM Finalizes Rules for Medical Marijuana By Sue Major Holmes
CN Source: Associated Press January 09, 2009 Albuquerque, NM
The state Department of Health is accepting applications from nonprofit businesses that want to produce and distribute medical marijuana to certified patients in New Mexico. Qualified patients also can apply to produce medical marijuana for themselves. The department announced Friday it has finalized regulations for identification cards and a production and distribution system under the state medical marijuana program that went into effect in 2007.
continued...

State Finalizes Medical Marijuana Rules
CN Source: New Mexico Business Weekly January 09, 2009 New Mexico

Medical marijuana business opens in Livingston
By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

Three years ago, Montana voters decided by a 62 percent margin that marijuana should be available for medical purposes.

No issue or candidate had received that sort of statewide endorsement for 25 years.

Since then, a network of suppliers and users has been created around the state, working under new laws that limit the amount of marijuana that can be grown and sold and who can do it. continued...
continued...


DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE
Dave Minnick stands among his "mother plants" in a building behind his Livingston home where he grows marijuana for patients whose symptoms are relieved by using the plant.

Just Say No
US MI: McNamara, Neal City Pulse 07 Jan 2009

City Council: Amendment Altered Focus
US TX: Editorial: El Paso Times 08 Jan 2009

Cheech and Chong Reunited, Like Old Times
US TX: Doug Pullen 9 Jan 2009 El Paso Times (TX)

The Bong Remains the Same

After 23 often bitter and contentious years apart, Cheech and Chong's decision to have a reunion tour came as a bit of a surprise last year.

"We always got along when we were working," 70-year-old Tommy Chong said in a telephone interview. "We never fought when we were working on movies, records, television or anything. It was when we had nothing to do except argue that we didn't get along.

"Now, we've got a lot of work to do." continued...



In The Netherlands, Legalization Takes All The Fun Out Of Pot
CN AB: OPED: Littlefield, Connie Edmonton Journal 08 Jan 2009

America Begins To Ease Up On Marijuana Smokers
CN BC: Column: Mulgrew, Ian Vancouver Sun 08 Jan 2009

First US-Based Medical Marijuana Cannabis Seed Vendor Online
Posted by The Marijuana News Staff on January 9th, 2009

A Brief History of Hemp
by Exist To Exit, Sep 29, 2008

The uses and facts about hemp.



OCTA

Our OCTA 2010 Petition is not currently available for download.
This site is a template for when the updated OCTA is complete.

Contents Updated Last on 11/08/08

Please Tell Ten More To Help Us Restore!

Looking to make a difference in your community? We need college students across Oregon to create hemp advocacy groups and help us collect signatures for OCTA 2010 when we resume.

In order to be successful, the mission will require key assistance from Volunteers all over Oregon.

The Market for Hemp Products
Our OCTA 2010 Petition is not currently available for download.
This site is a template for when the updated OCTA is complete.

Contents Updated Last on 11/08/08

Please Tell Ten More To Help Us Restore!

Looking to make a difference in your community? We need college students across Oregon to create hemp advocacy groups and help us collect signatures for OCTA 2010 when we resume.

In order to be successful, the mission will require key assistance from Volunteers all over Oregon. continued...

The Market for Hemp Products U2b Dr Andrew Weil



Mexican President, Obama to Talk Monday
US: Valdez, Diana Washington El Paso Times 09 Jan 2009

Q & A with Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel
Colombia: Kraul, Chris Los Angeles Times 09 Jan 2009

The Alabang Boys
Philippines: Column: Lopez, Tony Manila Times 06 Jan 2009

"The smoking of the leaves, flowers and seeds of Cannabis sativa is no more harmful than the smoking of tobacco... It is hoped that no witch hunt will be instituted in the military service over a problem that does not exist."
-- "The Marijuana Bugaboo,"
editorial in the Military Surgeon, by Col. JM Phalen, 1943

As His Inmates Grew Thinner, a Sheriff's Wallet Grew
US AL: Nossiter, Adam New York Times 09 Jan 2009

How America Lost the War on Drugs
Ben Wallace-WellsPosted Dec 13, 2007

After Thirty-Five Years and $500 Billion, Drugs Are as Cheap and Plentiful as Ever: An Anatomy of a Failure.

"Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground, evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded, there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV comedy of American Life."
- Timothy Leary

Leary v. United States



MAPS Members , Supporters , and Friends

The fate of MAPS' quest to put marijuana through FDA clinical trials is in a thrilling but precarious position — the DEA's hands. After six years of struggle since renowned agronomist Professor Lyle Craker first applied to the DEA for a Schedule I license for a MAPS-sponsored research-grade marijuana production facility, we are now just one signature away from breaking the federal government's decades-long stranglehold on medical marijuana research. On May 15, the case was officially transmitted to DEA headquarters.

On May 16, a “Dear Colleague” letter by Reps. John Olver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was sent to all members of the US House of Representatives, urging each member to add their name to their Congressional Sign-On letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy urging the DEA to accept the recent non-binding ruling by DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner in favor of MAPS and Prof. Craker. To succeed at this critical juncture, we'll need each supporter to contact his or her Congressional Representative (see Item #2).

Meanwhile, the MAPS staff is continuing to refine the organization's objectives as we prepare for the next stages of our psychedelic and marijuana research agenda. MAPS has a valuable new addition to the Board of Directors (Item #9) and will be undergoing a specialized management review over the next two months (Item #10). These developments are a continuation of our larger strategy to build a thoroughly efficient, sustainable research and educational organization that will meet both its short-term and long-term goals.

MAPS has positioned itself at the center of the conflict between scientific exploration and the politically-driven strategy of the War on Drugs. Your support is needed to translate hard-won scientific freedom into new research results and possibilities.

Help bring MAPS' challenging but realizable vision to fruition for ours and future generations by making a purchase or a charitable gift today.

There's so much good news to report this month that the headlines are split into four sections.

MAPS & Medical Marijuana continued...

"Global ganja culture should now be going on the offensive. We have the prohibitionists on the run, we have momentum and public opinion on our side, and we must articulate a vision of how we want our culture and our plant defined in the new millennium."
-- Dana Larsen, Editor of Cannabis Culture

Marijuana Business News

Marijuana: Quickest Path to Millions
The New California Gold Rush
Marijuana is making more millionaires faster than any other line of business. Read about what is happening in California.

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High

TV guide
DWR: Friday, January 9, 2009

Via NORML and D'Alliance[/url

January 16 on NBC: Dateline. [url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/]Hour-long profile on the tragic death of Rachel Hoffman.

Rachael Hoffman RIP

January 16 at 10 pm (Eastern) (tentative) on ABC: 20/20. Feature on convicted medical marijuana provider Charlie Lynch.

January 21 at 9 pm (Eastern) on CNBC: Marijuana, Inc: Inside America's Pot Industry

February 10 on PBS: Tulia, Texas

Thank you Miss Rosa

Open For Questions round 2 response

This time delivered by incoming Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in a five minute video.

So, the big question -- how did they manage to avoid talking about drug policy this time considering all the top-rated questions that were asked on the subject?

Since there were so many popular questions in so many categories, we tried to pull out some of them that had been addressed previously by the President-elect of vice-President-elect in order to focus the video portion on questions that haven't been as specifically addressed during the Transition.

And then they listed the marijuana question from the first round and the pathetic answer.

"Will you consider legalizing cannabis/marijuana/hemp so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a multi-billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"
--DJ C, Chicago, IL

"President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana."
Open for Questions Response, 12/15/08

Yep. That's it. Hey, at least they let us ask. And other people got to see the questions. And a lot of people got to see the strength of interest. They can still dodge it for now, but they won't be able to forever, and I'm betting that they fully realize it. Now go pester your Representatives!



DWR: Open Thread
Lots of stuff going on and some great stuff to read.

Also don't miss the open rebellion by Chess players regarding the stupid drug testing rules.

Why Head Shop Raids Are Unfair and Unjust at Alternet.

An enlightened mayor might have called the chamber of commerce or invited a community discussion to discuss alternatives. The mayor might have used code enforcement and local ordinances to mandate zoning changes. Instead, he called and asked the feds to do what her own city cops were not allowed to do.

Taking the fun out of pot
The lower rate of pot smoking in the Netherlands would certainly seem to indicate that the way to solve our drug problem is to legalize drugs. Soon, even prohibitionists will have to admit this is the case. It is a concept that certainly warrants further consideration.

Confidence Must Be Restored In Drug Forfeiture Process
While the actions of the local DTF and prosecutor's office were particularly egregious, the origins of the situation can be traced to the state and the Indiana General Assembly. Legislation governing the handling of confiscated drug-related funds and property is vague, and officials in most counties are unsure exactly how the money is to be handled. With few guidelines, they have for the most part created their own procedures. The fact no money apparently has ever been sent to the designated state education fund is particularly telling.

Editorial: No deaths, this time

But Procedures That Make It Hard To Identify Police At The Door Should Be Reviewed [...]

Pardon us if we doubt the officers waited even two or three minutes for residents to pull on clothes ( if necessary ), come to the door, ascertain who was there and ask to read the officers' warrant.

For that matter, wouldn't the chance of violence have been reduced -- in a home where police should have known young children were present - -- if someone had simply telephoned the home, explaining police were approaching the door with a warrant ... preferably during daylight hours?

Some will say such a procedure would be naive -- drug dealers could use the time to flush their product down the toilet.

But no cocaine was found -- and a dealer who can eliminate all his product in one toilet flush isn't really very big-time, is he? [...]

The drug war has taught us to accept as "normal" police procedures -- even in the case of a man alleged to have dealt quantities of drugs worth only a few hundred dollars -- which increase the risk of violence and death in our neighborhoods.

Just as in cases where some jurisdictions have found overall fatalities could be reduced by having ambulances obey stoplights, it is those "standard" procedures that are in need of a serious new review.

Commenter Steve Clay thoroughly fisks the latest Ask the White House session by the drug czar (where some of our commenters managed to submit questions)

Don't forget to make sure you've voted at Change.org

(Marijuana legalization is currently #1 and End the drug war is currently #3) and also at Change.gov's Open for Questions
(where drug policy questions appear to be #2,4,5,6,9 in Additional Issues and 1, 5, 6 in National Security)

8787 votes
Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana
Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana. "Marijuana has been proven to relieve the suffering of the chronically ill, as well as disabled patients undergoing chemotherapy, and other forms of medical treatments, yet using it for medical purposes.

7292 votes
End the war on drugs
We have the highest non-violent incarceration rate in the world. We need to free up our police, jails and courts to deal with people who actually pose a clear and present danger to life and liberty. Stop persecuting non-violent drug users.

4245 votes
Decriminalize Marijuana/Hemp
My idea is simple, the war on drugs is obviously not working, it is time to try another tactic,marijuana was made illegal due to misinformation and gravely outdated laws. So with this in mind I believe that if America took another look at this plant,...



Drug War Chronicle - Issue #567 - 1/9/09

* Feature: Proposed Medical Marijuana Rules in Michigan Stir Chorus of Complaints
* Drug Legalization: El Paso City Council Unanimously Calls for National Debate, Mayor Vetoes Resolution Same Day, Override Vote Set For Next Week
* The Border: US Prepares "Surge" In Case Prohibition Violence in Mexico Spills Over
* Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
* Salvia Divinorum: Banned in Ohio in 90 Days
* Obama Administration: Surgeon General Nominee Gupta Hates
Marijuana, Sort of Supports Medical Use
* Marijuana: Arizona Supreme Court to Hear Case Asserting
Religious Right to Use, Possess
* Drug Testing: Chess Players Rebel
* West Africa: Here Come the Narcs
* Weekly: This Week in History
* Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy
* Students: Intern at DRCNet and Help Stop the Drug War!

Roll Call Is NORML!
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Capitol Hill Cannabis Law Reform Lobby Highlighted
Since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, despite the government’s best, but utterly feckless efforts to suppress cannabis culture and use in America, the ‘buzz’ in Washington D.C. and nationwide these days about alternatives to cannabis prohibition is palpable.



Part VIII. ACCEPTED SAFETY FOR USE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION
With respect to whether or not there is "a lack of accepted safety for use of [marijuana] under medical supervision", the record shows the following facts to be uncontroverted.

The Family Council on Drug Awareness

"Responsible decisions based on accurate information."
The Young Decision: DEA Administrative Law Judge Findings
While DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young's monumental decision that cannabis (marijuana) should rightfully be placed in Schedule II or lower of the Controlled Substances Act to make it available by prescription has been held hostage by the DEA's discretion in doing so. Nonetheless, the factual findings of his decision remain permanently on the record, and serve as a testimonial to his honest pursuit of the medical issues surrounding cannabis.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration Docket No. 86-22
In The Matter Of
MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION

OPINION AND RECOMMENDED RULING, FINDINGS OF
FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION OF
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE FRANCIS L. YOUNG,
DATED: SEPTEMBER 6, 1988

"Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do.

Future Doctors Support Medical Marijuana
The Medical Student Section (MSS) of the American Medical Association (AMA) overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution urging the AMA to support the reclassification of marijuana for medical use at the AMA's annual conference in Chicago earlier this month. The resolution will now go before the AMA House of Delegates for a final vote at its interim meeting in November.

Reschedule Cannabis
Medical Cannabis News

[DdC]

===============1-10/11-9===============

Feds plan 'surge' if Mexico drug war spills over.

Military could be deployed against cartels if violence spreads into U.S.

EL PASO, Texas - If Mexican drug violence spills across the U.S. border, Homeland Security officials say they have a contingency plan to assist border areas that includes bringing in the military. continued...

"What should move us to action is human dignity:
the inalienable dignity of the oppressed,
but also the dignity of each of us.
We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable."
-- Dominique de Menil



Back to El Paso
Sunday, January 11, 2009

LEAP's Terry Nelson has an excellent guest column in the El Paso Times: Legalized drugs only way to halt cartels.

Naturally, that's started the comment thread again -- this time the stupids seem to be focusing on #3 (no point legalizing - the cartels will just go into other crime).

I got a great letter from Mark, an El Paso local who gave some helpful insight into the area, including the fact that El Paso has a major drug war enforcement industry there (including EPIC - The El Paso Intelligence Center). This could explain, in part, why so many of the commenters are hard core drug war supporters. As Mark says "It's paying the rent & plenty more for a lot of local families."



Legalized drugs only way to halt cartels
By Terry Nelson / Guest columnist
Posted: 01/11/2009 12:00:00 AM MST

As a retired federal officer with over three decades of service, many of those years spent fighting America's "war on drugs," I was pleased to read that the El Paso City Council unanimously called for a long overdue discussion on the effectiveness of our nation's drug policies.

You might be surprised that a veteran anti-drug agent would be glad the council specifically said drug legalization should be included in this new national conversation. continued...

Editorial So Many Criminals?
CN Source: Daily Press January 11, 2009 Virginia
On Election Day, voters in Massachusetts took what they think will be a step forward for their state: They decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Before you brush that off with, "Well, that's Massachusetts for you," consider that this is a state with not only a liberal bent but a strong Puritan streak. This is a place where you can't buy wine in a grocery store or pick up beer in a 7-Eleven. continued...

US NJ: Won Their Nabe Back From Drugs And Thugs
Shortell, Tom The Jersey Journal 10 Jan 2009

CN MB: OPED: Lipstick On A Pig
Marshall, Robert Winnipeg Free Press 11 Jan 2009

US HI: OPED: Reefer Madness
anonymous Maui Weekly 08 Jan 2009

"In some districts, inhabited by Latin Americans, Filipinos, Spaniards and Negroes, half the violent crimes are attributed to marijuana craze. Dr. Lee Rice of San Antonio reports that eighty per cent of all the murders committed by Mexicans are done while the killers are drugged by marijuana."
The Christian Century (newspaper) - 1938



U.S., Mexico Set Plan For a 'Smart Border'

X-rays and laser scans, computerized databases and speedy immigration lines for Americans, Mexicans and Canadians at one another's airports -- those are some of the border security improvements envisioned in a "smart border" plan adopted here today by President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Preparing for a New War? SOS Different day

Posse Comitatus and Insurrection Act RIP.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 16, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) in the former Confederate states.

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.



Insurrection Act
From Wikipedia

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the President of the United States of America's ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion. The laws are chiefly contained in 10 U.S.C. § 331 - 10 U.S.C. § 335. The general aim is to limit Presidential power as much as possible, relying on state and local governments for initial response in the event of insurrection. Coupled with the Posse Comitatus Act, Presidential powers for law enforcement are limited and delayed.

Recent legislative events

On September 26, 2006, President Bush urged Congress to consider revising federal laws so that the U.S. military could seize control immediately in the aftermath of a natural disaster, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

These changes were included in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (H.R. 5122), which was signed into law on Oct 17, 2006, subsequently repealed in their entirety.[2]

Section 1076 is titled "Use of the Armed Forces in major public emergencies".

Bush Guts Posse Comitatus, Grabs National Guard!

All changes have been repealed, and have changed back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Marine “Military Presence”
Confirmed in San Bernardino County
Kurt Nimmo Infowars December 15, 2008

The military have begun domestic police work... It appears they've used MP's to populate a DUI road block in California. I get the feeling that they're trying to slowly convince people that the military are just like regular police and there's nothing wrong with using them to enforce civil laws.



The Authoritarians is out in print and in audio book,
or just read the whole book online.

Authoritarians

Authoritarians Wrecking Crew

How's that war on drugs going?

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."
-- William Randolph Hearst - Newspaper Tycoon (1936)



Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight

Mexico Decriminalizes Small Amounts of Drugs
Owning marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by the Congress.
F U L L S T O R Y

Ganjawar Puppets Cave... again

"[Marijuana] is highly intoxicating and constitutes an ever recurring problem where there are Mexicans or Spanish-Americans of the lower classes."
New York Times - Newspaper (1933)



EDITORIAL: OH, MEXICO
(OH, THE EMBARRASSMENT)
US officials have now embarrassed us with both our immediate neighbors by interfering in their internal drug policies.

MEXICO MOVES TO DECRIMINALIZE DRUG POSSESSION
-- NO, WAIT, NEVERMIND
For a few days this week, it looked like Mexico was going to decriminalize drug possession, but that ended Wednesday when President Fox rejected the bill under US pressure.

Threats From USA Force Mexico to Drop Decrim Plans
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Vicente Fox refused to sign a drug decriminalization bill Wednesday, hours after U.S. officials warned the plan could encourage “drug tourism.” Fox sent the measure back to Congress for changes, but his office did not mention the U.S. criticism.

Mexico President Seeks Review of Drug Law
By James C. McKinley Jr. and John Broder
Source: New York Times May 03, 2006 Mexico City
After intense pressure from the United States, President Vicente Fox has asked Congress to reconsider a law it passed last week that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as part of a larger effort to crack down on street-level dealing. In a statement issued late Wednesday, Mr. Fox said the law should be changed "to make it absolutely clear that in our country the possession of drugs and their consumption are and continue to be crimes."



Bush's Contra Buddies By Peter Kornbluh
A number of his foreign policy appointments are former Iran/contra operatives who are being rehabilitated and rewarded with powerful foreign policy posts.

Kill the Messenger

Discriminatory intent was not limited to the Federal level.

In Texas, the anti-marijuana proponents included this statement in the official records; "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff (referring to marijuana) is what makes them crazy."

Perhaps even more disturbing is the testimony of Dr. Fred Fulsher during Montana's prohibition; "Marijuana is Mexican opium, a plant used by Mexicans and cultivated for sale by Indians. When some beet field peon takes a few rares of this stuff, he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico so he starts out to execute all his political enemies.

I understand that over in Butte where the Mexicans often go for the winter they stage imaginary bullfights in the "Bower of Roses" or put on tournaments for the favor of "Spanish Rose" after a couple whiffs of Marijuana. The Silver Bow and Yellowstone delegations both deplore these international complications."



"Ideas are far more powerful than guns.
We don't allow our enemies to have guns,
why should we allow them to have ideas? "
- Joseph Stalin

"Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the street but also to protect the public from harmful ideas."
- Robert Ingersoll - Former DEA Director (1972)

"The DEA is unequivocally opposed to the legalization of illicit drugs
(including, marijuana, hemp, and hemp seed oil)."
- US DEA booklet, "Speaking Out Against Legalization"



Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban
Published May 22, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times
All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.

THE OIL WAR OF 1872
The transaction by which Standard Oil acquired this power was so stealthy that not even the best-informed newspaper men of Cleveland knew what went on. It had all been accomplished in accordance with one of Mr. Rockefeller's chief business principles -- "Silence is golden."

Iraq war is costing/earning $100,000 per minute

Alcohol/Drug Prohibition and its effect on the economy

Freak Trade * Free Raids

Outlawing Common Sense

"Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could."
-- William F. Buckley, Jr. - Writer

America's Biggest Cash Crop

The Elkhorn Manifesto
SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA

Follow The Drug War Money By Paul Campos
Source: Rocky Mountain News April 25, 2006 USA
This is the story of two drugs. The first, dexfenfluramine, was the active ingredient in the weight loss drug Redux. Although it was available in the U.S. and Canada for only about 18 months, it killed hundreds of people, and severely injured thousands more. The second is marijuana. Over the past several decades, tens of millions of people across North America have used this drug regularly. It has, as far as anybody knows, killed no one.



DEFYING 70 YEARS OF PROHIBITION

JUST SAY NO TO AMERICA

Veto Sparks Mexico City Marijuana Smoke-In
CN Source: Fox News Network Mexico City May 06, 2006
The issue of drug decriminalization split Mexican politics in strange ways on Saturday, after President Vicente Fox refused to sign a bill that would have eliminated criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs. About 500 protesters held a marijuana smoke-in in Mexico City, and a presidential candidate who visited the demonstration came out in favor of decriminalization. Mexico City's police chief came out against it, and some members of Congress accused Fox of yielding to U.S. pressure to veto the bill.

Cannabis Report Challenges `Zero Tolerance'

Self Perpetuating Lies



Marijuana - The First Twelve Thousand Years

Reefer Racism

In the southwest, the sudden increase in Mexican immigration to the Untied States around 1910 set off yet another round of ethnic confrontation. The Mexicans were lower-class immigrants. They were crude, loud, uneducated. They lived in dirty shanties, ate strange food, and spoke a foreign language. The more resentful of these foreigners Americans became, the readier they were to attribute other negative characteristics to the Mexican. The fact that the Mexicans were Catholics made their situation even more touchy since Protestant America considered Catholicism a religion of dark superstition and ignorance.

The Mexican was the Negro of the southwestern United States. While not a slave or a sharecropper, he was a peasant. The stereotype of the Mexican was that of a thief, an untamed savage, hot-blooded, quick to anger yet inherently lazy and irresponsible.



How The Canadian Media Import Counterfeit News From The States.
The Drug Czar Lies and Even The Best Papers Don’t Check the Facts.
Posted by Richard Cowan on 2005-03-17 16:20:00
“But it is time to acknowledge that the nation's news organizations have played a large and unappetizing role in deceiving the public….”— The New York Times

Front Page Fantasy:
The New York Times Pushes Fact Free Journalism
Supposedly About “BC Bud”
Posted by Richard Cowan on 2005-03-17 16:20:00
This article was cited in the Canadian Parliament as proof that Canada cannot even decriminalize cannabis because of US opposition, “causing costly cross-border delays.” Lies have consequences, which is why people lie.

Bad research makes headlines



San D.E.A.go Soups To Appeal Prop. 215 Ruling

DEAth Raids in LA

"I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That's why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions."
Harry J. Anslinger read this letter into the official record during the hearings on the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act,

Cover-Ups, Prevarications, Subversions & Sabotage

15 States Busted/WoD Collateral Damage

Officially GOPerverted

H.R. 1310, the Medical Marijuana Prevention Act of 1997, directs the Attorney General to revoke the medical license of any practitioner who recommends the use of a controlled substance that is illegal under federal law.

H.R. 309, the Anti-Drug Legalization Act, prohibits any federal department or agency from conducting or financing any study or research involving the "legalization" of drugs.
Gerald B. H. Solomon (R-NY)



ALLEGED TRAFFICKER DIES OF WOUNDS IN ENSENADA ATTACK
Orange County Register (CA) 4 Oct 1998
An alleged drug trafficker who survived the massacre of his extended family last month died Friday in the Baja California town of Ensenada, police said. State police Officer Cesar Beltran Lopez said that Fermin Castro Ramirez died at a hospital as a result of complications from two bullet wounds in the Sept. 17 killings that left 18 people dead near Ensenada. Also on Friday, police arrested four more suspects in connection with the massacre.

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
-- Harry Anslinger,
1937 testimony to Congress in support of the Marijuana Tax Act.



70s Marijuana Warning Video *REAL*
Propaganda spoof from the "Dazed and Confused" DVD
(running time: 4:20)

[HCLU Media]

Smoking without Borders

An HCLU film about drug tourism in the Netherlands: is it really only the problem of the Dutch?

Bergen op Zoom is a Dutch town near the Belgian border. The city’s name became known from the media in the end of last year, when its mayor decided to close down all coffee shops selling cannabis. Some articles reported that this decision was made because of the crime and nuisance caused by drug tourists coming from Belgium. Some reports even concluded that the Dutch coffee shop system proved to be a failure and Dutch drug policy needs to be revised. HCLU’s video advocacy team decided to visit the Netherlands to find out the truth. We interviewed the mayor and learnt that he has no problem with cannabis users or coffee shops in principle – but he is fed up with the 25.000 drug tourists invading his town every week, accompanied with traffick jams and drug runners. We traveled to a nearby city, Tilburg, where the mayor has plans to legalize the large scale cultivation of cannabis. We spoke with the manager of a coffee shop who explained that coffee shops are integral part of Dutch society and cannot be simply wiped out any more.

Our major conlusions are:

1) The problem of drug tourism is not caused by cannabis use or coffee shops. The real problem is the illegality of cannabis in neighboring countries.

2) The problem cannot be solved by closing down coffee shops: the supply won’t be reduced but it will go undeground to cause more problems.

3) The real solution to the problem is in the hands of the neighboring countries: to regulate and control the cannabis market.

In Belgium cannabis activists have already made a legal case to establish a collective cannabis plantation (Trekt uw Plant), you can find more info here!

If you agree with us, please send an email to the Belgian Ministry of Justice and ask them to consider the regulation and control of cannabis instead of pushing the Dutch government to close down the coffee shops!

You can find our sample letter below:

Dear Sir/Madame,

we learnt from the media that two Dutch cities at the Belgian border plan to close down all coffee shops in order to prevent the nuisance caused by the thousands of Belgian drug tourists coming to buy cannabis every week. The mayors made it clear that they don’t have any problem with cannabis or coffee shops in principle, but only with the organized crime and unsafety associated with the influx of drug tourists from Belgium. So if there were no drug tourists they would allow the coffee shops to operate.

Please watch the video made by a human rights NGO, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) about this issue: http://www.drogriporter.hu/drugtourism

We think by closing down the coffee shops the Dutch cities will not solve the drug tourism problem, because young people will still go to the Netherlands to buy the good quality marijuana (so called Netherweed) there – but not in a controlled environment anymore, but from dealers and drug runners in shadowy alleys. Here nobody asks for IDs to prove that the customers are not underage and they can also obtain more dangerous drugs such as cocaine and heroin. The ban will not reduce supply but only pushes it undeground.

It is the common interest of the Belgian and the Dutch governments to protect their young people from harms caused by the black market of drugs – but it is not possible through repression, but only with more regulation and control. Therefore we ask the Belgian government to reconsider its drug policy and instead of pushing the Netherlands to ban coffee shops start a negotiation about the possibilities of a regulated and controlled cannabis market in both sides of the border.

We ask the Ministry of Justice of Belgium to take the lead in designing a new legislation that allows the opening of coffee shops in order to reduce the harmful consequences of drug tourism and the crime associated with it.

Kind regards,

(Your name)

You can simply copy-paste this sample letter to your email and send it to the Belgian Ministry of Justice: info@just.fgov.be

Thank you for your help!

Check the HCLU homepage for the video: http://www.drogriporter.hu/en/drugtourism[/b]

[DdC]

thanks HCLU Media, I'll pass it on...

===============1.12/13.9===============

Smoking without Borders
scroll back to previous post.

Obama's Marijuana Prohibition Acid Test
Posted by Staff on at 19:28:09 PT
By Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
CN Source: Columbus Free Press January 13, 2009 USA
The parallels between the 1933 coming of Franklin Roosevelt and the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama must include the issue of Prohibition: alcohol in 1933, and marijuana today. As FDR did back then, Obama must now help end an utterly failed, socially destructive, reactionary crusade. Marijuana prohibition is a core cause of the nation's economic problems. It now costs the U.S. more than tens of billions per year to track, arrest, try, defend and imprison marijuana consumers who pose little harm to society. continued...



DEA Rejects By Bina Venkataraman
UMass Request To Grow Med Marijuana
CN Source: Boston Globe January 12, 2009 Washington, DC
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has rejected the bid of a UMass Amherst researcher who wants to create the second laboratory in the nation authorized to grow marijuana for medical research. The ruling released today came nearly two years after a federal administrative law judge recommended that Lyle Craker, a horticultural professor who specializes in medicinal plants, be allowed to grow marijuana for medical research.
continued...

DEA Denies Professor’s Marijuana-for-Research Bid
CN Source: Associated Press January 13, 2009 Washington, DC

DEA Rejects By Andrew Miga
Professor's Bid To Grow Marijuana
CN Source: Associated Press January 12, 2009 Washington, DC
The Drug Enforcement Administration has rejected a petition by a University of Massachusetts-Amherst professor to let him grow marijuana for medical research. DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney on Monday confirmed the agency's ruling, but declined further comment. continued...

Patrick M. Ward
Acting Deputy Director for Supply Reduction
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy



U.S.-Mexico drug war: We're clucking like chickens
By showing true mettle and grit -- by standing with staid backbones -- Beto O'Rourke and the seven other city representatives sent others running for the proverbial hills, like chickens...continued...

Comments

COPsAgainstGanjawar

In the Morenos Mountains campesinos are planting their fields
While the ghost of Zapata rides a horse that can still outrun the wind
While free in the sky high above, nearly clear out of sight
It's the Free Mexican Air Force flyin' tonight.
In the City of Angels a cowboy is cooling his heels
Remembering that God gave us herbs and the fruits of the fields
But a criminal law that makes outlaws of those seeking light
Made the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!

Obama - Calderon
DWR: Sunday, January 11, 2009
So on Monday, President-elect Obama will be visiting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. I don't expect much of real value to come from this meeting. But still, the lede in the AP story appearing in papers all over the country was depressingly, yet unsurprisingly, incoherent. continued...

The structure of the sentence is as follows...
Pete Guither

1. Violence in Mexico was at level x
2. Calderon instituted plan M.
3. Violence increased dramatically as a direct result of plan M to level z, spilling into the U.S.
4. Violence of this level is undesirable.
5. Therefore, Obama will support plan M. Right.

In the meantime, just in case the violence "spills" into the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, known for supervising such tactical masterpieces as the U.S. response to Hurricane Katrina, and the banning of shampoo on domestic flights, is prepared to provide a "surge" (whatever that means), which will include bringing in the military.continued...

Yeah, that'll end well.

How strange that an innocent herb causes money to burn
They'll jail you or kill you for making those rich fat cats squirm.
They're the fools who make rules with no difference between wrong
and right That's why the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight.
Uncle Sam in his misery put a Nix on the fields of, Guerreros
Sayin' shoot down all gringos and wetbacks who dare wear
sombreros Either run for your life, surrender, or stand up and fight --
Or join the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse,
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flying tonight!

Obama's First Meeting With Calderon
US TX: OPED: Selee, Andrew Dallas Morning News 12 Jan 2009

Push on Immigration Crimes Is Said to Shift Focus
US: Moore, Solomon New York Times 12 Jan 2009

Mexico's Drug Wars A Serious Threat To US
US NV: OPED: Farmer, Guy W. Nevada Appeal 11 Jan 2009

Drug War Spillover: Be Prepared For Refugees
US TX: Editorial: El Paso Times

It is not marijuana destroying the minds of the young
But confusion continued for power and greed in all forms
Well, the borders of evil will fall to the smugglers of light
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!
In San Antonio they tell me that power and money are one
They can buy us or sell you to keep you afraid, on the run
But no one can stop us! My vision is clearly in sight.
And the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse,
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight

New Addition to the Marijuana News Network!
— Stonertainment.com
Posted by The Marijuana News Staff on January 12th, 2009

Some were smoking Colitas while other were loading their guns
Blowing smoke from their six-shooters, spinning their barrels for fun
Contrabandistas, banditos alike -- We're the Free Mexican Air Force
and we're flyin' tonight. High in the hills we are harvesting sweet
sensimilla. Yeah the law wants it all 'cause they know that the wild
weed can free ya. And freedom for us is a prison for the rulers of
might.
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding
his white horse -- Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight
Flyin' so high- yi- yee...Flyin' tonight!
Free Mexican Air Force by Peter Rowan



Five Key Areas for Reforming America's Idiotic War on Drugs
By Tony Newman Monday, January 12, 2009 AlterNet

The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars waging its 40-year "war on drugs," responsible for the imprisonment of 500,000 of our fellow American citizens. Despite this enormous waste of money and lives, drugs are as easily available and cheap as ever. The drug-warmongers say it is all for the safety and protection of our children, yet high schoolers all over the country can easily obtain just about any illegal drug they are seeking in this unregulated market. Half of all high-school seniors will have tried marijuana before graduating. The government's latest Monitoring the Future report, released [when?], indicates that more young people are now choosing to smoke pot rather than cigarettes.continued...

Three Things You Can Do to Make a Difference
Web: Sharpe, Robert DrugSense Weekly 09 Jan 2009



Sentence Rules Have High Costs
US OR: Gustafson, Alan Statesman Journal 11 Jan 2009

Don't Quit, PDEA Chief Tells DOJ Lawyers
Philippines: Tandoc, Edson C. Jr. Philippine Daily Inquirer 11 Jan 2009

US PRAISES THAI DRUG WAR!

Witness: Drug War Spraying Colombia To D.E.A.th



City's Pot Fine Takes a Hit By Monte Whaley
CN Source: Denver Post January 12, 2009 Federal Heights, CO
Times are tough for everyone, including pot smokers busted under the city's old possession law. So the council, which represents about 12,000 people, decided last week to cut the fine for marijuana possession of an ounce or less from $1,000 to $500 and eliminate the possibility of jail time.continued...

A Neglected Revenue Source for CA - Marijuana By F. Aaron Smith
CN Source: San Francisco Chronicle January 12, 2009 San Francisco, CA
Only if you lived in a cave could you avoid news about California's dire financial situation. The governor and legislators still disagree about what to do, but all of the proposals aimed at closing the state's $42 billion budget gap are painful and politically unpopular. One obvious way to take a big chunk out of the deficit - without closing schools or putting the sick and elderly out on the streets - hasn't even been discussed. Tax marijuana. continued...



"Presumed Guilty
The Law's Victims In The War On Drugs"

HPD Gets $14M In Forfeiture Revenue
US MS: Butler, Earlesha Hattiesburg American 11 Jan 2009

Forfeiture revenue allocated to the Hattiesburg Police Department over the past six fiscal years has amounted to nearly $1.4 million,

"We want to enhance our effectiveness by equipping our officers with the best possible equipment,"

"We've got to give our officers the necessary tools to be effective in fighting crime."
-- Assistant Police Chief Frank Misenhelter

Seize This!

Cops Maliciously Punish Amputee by Confiscating Scooter


"They divide my clothes among themselves
and throw dice for my garments."
-- Psalm 22: Vs 18

Forfeiture: Legal Background, History and Concepts
On this page, we will provide some history, legal and legislative background, and theory of government forfeiture, seizures, confiscations, etc. While we hope to expand this page in the future, for now it consists mostly of links to other resources.

FORFEITURE VICTIM STORIES

Bibliography of Newspaper Articles About Forfeiture
compiled by John Paff, 7/25/95

Media Archive



California: "Police Forfeiture Reform In California Seen As A Guide"

The DrugSense Weekly has a short blurb, Jan. 31, 2003,
on Utah's plight with their police property grabbers.
"STATE NOT GETTING FORFEITURE FUNDS"

"The Week Online with DRCNet Issue #263, 11/15/02" reports that Utah cops are getting dangerously hungry -- so desperate that have resorted to lying. Imaging that, if you can. continued...

"Critics target drug raid seizures:
Police often keep property even absent a conviction",
Thursday, December 13, 2001, By SAM SKOLNIK, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER.



The Drug War - Back To The Stone Age

Criminal Possession Law is Reefer Madness

"They say you can't legislate morality.
Well, you certainly can."
-- John Ashcroft Chicago Tribune May 25, 1998

For Ashcroft, Ideology Overrides Suffering

John Ashcroft Declares War On Non-Terrorists

To Fight Terrorism, First Scuttle the Drug War

Priorities, Priorities, Terrorism, Not Pot

Terrorism and the Constitution



America's Other War

How Terrorists Profit from Drugs

Silencing Political Dissent

"If a juror feels that the statute [law] in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural God-given unalienable or Constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all - for no one is bound to obey an unjust law"
-- Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone

The Law of Posse Comitatus

The Drug War Is The Inquisition by Dan Russell

The War on Drugs is Necessitating War on Terrorism

Supporting the Drug War Supports Terrorism By Andrew Looney
Who Are The Real Bad Guys?



November

F.E.A.R.
Forfeiture Endangers Americans Rights

FAMM
Families Against Mandatory Minimums

"When citizens require protection from their own government and need to cloak in secrecy acts of compassion for the sick and dying a great darkness befalls our nation. All people face suffering; every human being will find intimacy with this. It is our hope that this truth will awaken the sympathies of our judiciary and of congress. For it is the business of government to protect its people and to maintain the path of liberty clearing the way for freedom."
-- Valerie Leveroni Corral (WAMM Co-founder)

WAMM

WAMM Raided on September 5, 2002

Pictures From WAMM Protest

Declaration of Arnold Leff, M.D.



Massacre at Rainbow Farm, September 2001
links

By mid-summer, the pressure on Crosslin and Rohm was mounting. Crosslin faced 20 years in prison on marijuana and weapons charges, was free until trial on a $150,000 bond, and the state of Michigan was moving to seize Rainbow Farm under civil asset forfeiture proceedings.

On Labor Day weekend 2001, "Tom and Rollie were executed by the forces of so-called law and order" at the campground near Vandalia. "They were not killed to protect the public safety, to punish them for smoking cannabis or because of the plants in their basement," according to the Michigan Cannabis Action Network announcement of the vigil.

"Our friends worked boldly and passionately to change destructive, unjust laws and to inspire same; and in the end they rejected the authority of a court that had amply shown its bias. They refused to hide. They refused to run. They refused to bow down. And for that, the Police State ground them up in its gears."



Asset Forfeiture Abuse

Misdemeanor Charge: Pot May Cost Homeowner

Prosecutors Seek To Uphold Property Seizure Law


Spectre of Forfeiture acrylic on canvas by G. Tompkins

Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.

In their styes with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a damn good whacking.

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.
Beatles - Piggies

Police officials lied..., False pretext to toughen laws...

Cops on the Dole

Cop Gets 30-days for Brutal Beating
Victims of federal forfeiture cases whose homes were seized are eligible for court appointed counsel under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Act of 2000 (CAFRA).



Yucca Council extends medical-marijuana ban
YUCCA VALLEY — The Town Council Thursday night approved extending a 45-day moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries or its distribution at existing businesses an extra 10 months and 15 days. continued...

Comments

New Rite-Aid, market OK’d
YUCCA VALLEY — Yucca Valley’s four-member Planning Commission on Tuesday approved, with some minor amendments to the conditional use permit, a new shopping center on the south side of Twentynine Palms Highway at Warren Vista. continued...

[DdC]

Ganjawarnews * Ganjawareness 1.14/15.9

===============1.14/15.9===============

Illegally Seized Evidence Can Be Used, Top Court Says

A divided U.S. Supreme Court gave prosecutors more ability to use evidence obtained in violation of the Constitution, ruling against a man who was arrested and searched only because of a police clerical error. Not Deliberate

“As laid out in our cases, the exclusionary rule serves to deter deliberate, reckless or grossly negligent conduct, or in some circumstances recurring or systemic negligence,” Roberts wrote. “The error in this case does not rise to that level.”

“In such a case, the criminal should not go free because the constable has blundered,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, using a line from a 1926 Supreme Court decision.

Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy joined Roberts’s opinion.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer dissented.

Discussion

"By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments ... The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments ...that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity."
--John Hospers


aclu

Ore. lawyer, wife arrested, children taken away
Police found 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana, drug residue and paraphernalia at the couple's home. Police also seized a handgun and a shotgun. Anglemier says the seized marijuana was worth $500 to $600. The Carls, both 31, have 3-year-old twin boys that were placed in the protective custody of the Oregon Department of Human Services.

Still Rolling Out By Curt Guyette
CN Source: Metro Times January 13, 2009 Michigan
You can't blame Rochelle Lampkin for being wary. During the campaign to gain public support for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, the Detroit grandmother was willing to step up and reveal that she would take a toke or two to deal with the excruciating pain she sometimes experiences as the result of an eye condition associated with her multiple sclerosis. The courage she and a few others showed in admitting publicly that they were breaking the law paid off in a big way.
continued...

Council Thwarts Marijuana Proposal By Nick Kotsopoulos
CN Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette January 14, 2009 Worcester, MA
The City Council last night thwarted an effort to have the city establish an additional civil penalty, and even the possibility of criminal indictment, for the use of marijuana on public property. By a 7-4 vote, the council placed on file two orders that had asked the city administration to prepare such an ordinance in response to the passage of Question 2 on the November ballot that decriminalized the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. continued...

Case Centers On How Kid Came Across Pot Brownie
US CA: Vau, Terry Chico Enterprise-Record 13 Jan 2009

$815,000 Settlement For Fired Mountlake Terrace Cop
US WA: Carter, Mike Seattle Times 13 Jan 2009

Fired Officer Gets His Job Back With Settlement
US WA: Nalder, Eric Seattle Post-Intelligencer 13 Jan 2009



Nominate the Netherlands for Nobel Peace Prize

Reward Marijuana Sanity!
Netherlands For Nobel Peace Prize
January 13th, 2009
By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is beginning the New Year by coordinating the nomination of the Netherlands for a Nobel Prize for its achievements in minimizing drug use in its citizens, while at the same time restricting imprisonment.

Netherlands 4 Nobel Peace Prize

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace.

- Alfred Nobel,
the inventor of dynamite.

ALFRED NOBEL, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY,
ASSIGNOR TO JULIUS BANDMANN,
OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.
Letters Patent No 78,317, dated May 26, 1868.

IMPROVED EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND
To guard against this, the cap should only be fairly inserted into the powder, and poor fuses wound next to the cap firmly with strong glued paper or hemp, or otherwise secured.

Nobel later on combined nitroglycerin with another explosive, gun-cotton, and obtained a transparent, jelly-like substance, which was a more powerful explosive than dynamite.



"The processing of nitrating cellulose into explosives is very similar to the process for nitrating cellulose into synthetic fibers and plastics. Rayon, the first synthetic fiber, is simply stabilized guncotton, or nitrated cloth, the basic explosive of the 19th century."
- Man-Made Fiber - The Toxic Alternative to Natural Fibers

“Thousands of tons of hemp hurds are used every year by one large powder company for the manufacture of dynamite and TNT.”
-February 1938 Popular Mechanics

"The value of hemp goes far beyond line fibers; although recognized for linen, canvas, netting and cordage, these long fibers are only 20% of the hemp stalk’s weight. Eighty percent of the hemp is in the 77% cellulose hurd, and this was the most abundant, cleanest resource of cellulose (fiber) for paper, plastics and even rayon."
-- jeannieherer

Hemp flax linen paper and in short all substances consisting of cellulose yield analogous products the inflammability and projectile force of which are however not the same owing undoubtedly to the difference of cohesion of the cellulose in the original substance.

There are other textile fibers other than cotton and flax that have been used as sources for paper. The waste material of the jute and hemp industry, in the form of old ropes, sacking, sailcloth, etc. was once used extensively for making strong and tough papers... hemp, after bleaching, yielded ledger and bank-note paper.
- Sugars, Starches & Cellulose Products ucr.edu

Hemp for Traitors.jpg1024x582



HEMP: A True gift from God(ess)
Written by Dr. Heather Anne Harder
Eco-friendly hemp can replace most toxic petro-chemical products. Research is being done to use hemp in manufacturing biodegradable plastic products. These products include plant based cellophane, recycled plastics, resins made from hemp seed oil, to name but a few. The most hazardous toxic waste comes from petro-chemicals and nuclear power. Hemp can safely, cleanly and completely replace them both.

Hemp is already a profitable cash crop in several American states-why not let all states have the choice to grow hemp? After all hemp has been around for a long time. If offers little surprise to the American consumer.



BOSFISH Bennetts of Sheffield Ltd
Fishing Tackle

Dynamite Baits

Frenzied Hemp
Developed using the finest quality hempseed which proves irresistible to all fish.

Groundbait * Chilli * Garlic



Marijuana Dealers/Growers
Offer Schwarzenegger One Billion Dollars

http://LetUsPayTaxes.com



Fighting Addiction A Lifetime Process
US IN: Schultz, Teresa Auch Post-Tribune 13 Jan 2009

Drug-bust AFP Major To Lose PDEA Post
Philippines: Pulta, Benjamin B. The Daily Tribune 14 Jan 2009

It's The Law; High Time To Issue Cards
US CA: Editorial: The Times-Herald 13 Jan 2009



"No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."
-- P.J. O'Rourke: Writer

A New Anti-Drug Czar
Editorial: Philippine Star 14 Jan 2009

Drug talks: Presidents Must Show Resolve
US Editorial: El Paso TimesTX: 13 Jan 2009

BC Losing War On Drug Gangs
CN BC: Fletcher, Tom Revelstoke Times Review 12 Jan 2009



Tuesday, January 13, 2009
El Paso Council fails to override Mayor's veto; knuckle under due to threats from state and federal representatives

City Council did not override Mayor John Cook's veto of a resolution that had asked for a federal debate on the legalization of narcotics.

Council voted 4-4 on the veto reversal. At least six of the eight city representatives needed to approve the item in order to override the veto.

Still... Kudos to Beto O'Rourke for attempting to generate a discussion (and thereby generating a discussion), despite the certain intense opposition from entrenched drug war interests.

The deciding factors, according to the city representatives, were the two letters received Monday.

The five Texas House members of the El Paso delegation and Reyes had sent letters to El Paso City Council claiming that the resolution would be used against the city's efforts to secure funding. [View letters via links below the article]

"If we had voted yesterday I would have voted in favor (of overriding the veto)," Acosta said. "I will take a personal position on this, Rep. O'Rourke if you so want but I cannot jeopardize any funding El Paso might receive." DWR: Full Story



El Paso council achievement
DWR: Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The resolution ultimately failed, but the discussion continues and the seed is planted.

mailto:mayor@elpasotexas.gov



John Walters' final four days as drug czar

It's official - John Walters has been given his new lucrative position. No, it's not in drug testing like so many of us assumed -- unfortunately, he'll be in a position to continue to damage our criminal justice and foreign policy.

John P. Walters, who has served as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) since December 2001, will join Hudson Institute as Executive Vice President effective January 20, 2009.

At Hudson, Walters will build on his broad public policy experience, including running the cabinet-level ONDCP, to develop research-based initiatives in fields ranging from crime and drug policy to international affairs.

The Hudson Institute is a far-right conservative think tank focusing on defense, crime, and international issues such as the Middles East and Latin America.



politicalfriendster.com

John P. Walters

Philanthropy Roundtable
1996 until 2001, Walters served as president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, established by Harry Bradley to help facilitate conservative grantmaking.
(Lynne and Harry Bradley Foundation)

New Citizenship Project
Former President
According to NCP's listing in The Right Guide, NCP and the Philanthropy Roundtable are in the same building on the same floor --and share a single phone number.

William Bennett's & Friends
1989 to 1991, Walters was chief of staff for William Bennett
and was Deputy Director for Supply Reduction from 1991
until leaving the office in 1993. U.S. Secretary of Education editing hemp out of books. Became wealthy on Rush Limbaughs, hawking books on Virtue and how to lose 8 million in slot machines

Walters was appointed as the Director of the ONDCP by Bush#2 who was appointed president by Bush#1

Hudson Institute
Visiting Fellow Walters since 1993

The Hudson Institute - USAl Qaeda
politicalfriendster

As nightfall does not come at once,
neither does oppression. In both instances,
there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged,
and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air,
however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
-- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Authoritarians

Authoritarians Wrecking Crew

Anti-Drug Campaigns Dumb Down Vital Message

Bivings Group
Bivings work, premised on the power of the Internet, engages in covert online attacks and web based front groups.

Cannabis and Censorship

SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA

Who Rules America? by James Petras

Ruling Elites page

The Wrecking Crew, on How Conservatives Rule
Democracy Now Interview: Thomas Frank
“Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident, nor is it the work of a few bad individuals. It is the consequence of triumph by a particular philosophy of government, by a movement that understands the liberal state as a perversion and considers the market the ideal nexus of human society. This movement is friendly to industry not just by force of campaign contributions but by conviction.”



Grave Duffis: Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License?!? 05/03/00
AB 2595 is opposed by California NORML, who provided the information for this alert, and by the ACLU, California AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, the California School Employees Association, the Service Employees International Union and other labor groups. 32 states, including every state west of Texas, have passed "opt-out" legislation, and a California poll by David Binder found that voters oppose "Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License" by 2-1.

Let Gov.Davis Know What You Think! 05/03/00
To the surprise and outrage of civil libertarians, Gov. Davis made it known that he supports a federal mandate requiring states to impose an automatic, six-month drivers license suspension for all drug offenses, regardless of whether they are driving related, and that he would refuse to sign a statement agreeing to an "opt-out" provision previously approved by the legislature. Under federal law, the state stands to lose $100 million in highway funds unless either the legislature passes a license suspension bill, or the Governor agrees to sign an opt-out statement.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus



The Drug War Gravy Train By Daniel Forbes 04/05/00
Source: Salon Magazine
At least six major U.S. magazines have submitted anti-drug articles they have published over the past year to the government's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in an attempt to qualify for thousands of dollars of financial credits under the same federal advertising program that has benefited the television networks, Salon has learned.

TV, Drugs & Civil Liberties - Ministers of Truth

White House Defends TV Drug-Ad Deal

Drug Money, How the White House Secretly Hooked TV

Magazines Paid To Spout Drug War Propaganda
- DrugSense Focus Alert



Pot-Eradication Program Axed May 18, 2007

Big Island Rejects Federal Funds for War on Pot

Hawaii County's controversial pot-eradication program is going up in smoke.

Responding to citizen complaints of privacy intrusions and alleged police harassment, the County Council voted 5-4 Wednesday against spending $582,000 for "Green Harvest" helicopter operations.

"I just think it's time to stop this marijuana war," said Ka'u Councilman Bob Jacobson, a longtime critic of the eradication program.

Voting against the program were Jacobson, Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong, South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford, Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole, and Hilo Councilman Stacy Higa.

Hilo council members J Yoshimoto and Donald Ikeda joined Chairman Pete Hoffmann of Kohala and North Kona Councilman Angel Pilago in voting to continue funding the pot raids.

The swing vote was cast by Higa, who expressed reservations about turning down the federal grants.

"We've always accepted the money," Assistant Police Chief James Day told lawmakers. The program started more than 20 years ago.

Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii

10:45 A.M. SCHEDULED ITEM May 7, 2002
Consider report on the 2001 Marijuana Suppression Program; consider approval of the Cannabis Eradication Program Grant in the amount of $19,688 and approval of application for the Marijuana Suppression Program in the amount of $250,000 and take related actions.



Mark Tracy Sheriff-Coroner
Santa Cruz, CA April 11,2002 (68 Pages.pdf)
Agenda: May 7, 2002
Board of Supervisors County of Santa Cruz
RE: 2002 Marijuana Suppression Program funds
Dear Members of the Board: The Sheriffs Office is requesting approval by your Board to apply for $250,000 in Marijuana Suppression Program funds for fiscal year 2002/2003, and approval to renew the Cannabis Eradication Program grant. This letter is to provide your Board with background information regarding the Marijuana Suppression Program and related matters.



MENDOCINO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS RECEIVE NATIONAL AWARD

"We could not have been successful without the teamwork with the Sheriff's Departments of Glenn, Colusa, Tehama, Lake and Mendocino counties, the California National Guard, and Department of Justice CAMP teams," LEO Casey said. "We all worked together to locate and remove this illegal use of our public land."



Say No To Green Harvest, Yes To Medical Marijuana
By Sarah Margaret Taylor (Excerpted)

I am a patient with a medical marijuana permit in three states and Canada.

Allowing public funds to go to the war on marijuana violates many civil rights laws, for example: By Sarah Margaret Taylor

* Propaganda by the government against this medicine violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by causing others -- the patient's family, friends, employers and community -- to discriminate against people with disabilities who have the right to use marijuana to treat their medical condition.

* Not only do patients have the right to use, possess and grow marijuana in 11 states, they have this right through the ADA of 1990. According to this act and the Rehabilitation Rights Act of 1973, a substance is NOT an illegal drug if it prescribed by a medical doctor. Both these acts are tied to the Controlled Substance Act, which is a federal law.

* By imprisoning growers, suppliers of growing equipment and distributors, we are illegally coercing and threatening people with disabilities, their families, their medical doctors and providers, further violating the ADA of 1990.

* People who are interfering with the legalization of medical marijuana should understand fully that they are, in fact, personally contributing to discriminating against, threatening, isolating and harming people with disabilities. They are causing families to turn against family members with disabilities, further isolating and harming these patients with disabilities.

* We do not use public funds to turn family members against patients using antidepressants, oxycodone, Valium and so many far more dangerous medications. We do not threaten users of prescribed pharmaceuticals from taking their medications on airplanes, buying it via the Internet or shipping via the post office; nor do we charge them with violating rules of interstate commerce.



Eradicated Marijuana Is 98 Percent Ditchweed
CN Source: DC NORML's Weekly News -- September 7, 2006

More than 98 percent of all of the marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in the United States is feral hemp not cultivated cannabis, according to newly released data by the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics.

According to the data, available online at: albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4382005.pdf of the estimated 223 million marijuana plants destroyed by law enforcement in 2005, approximately 219 million were classified as "ditchweed," a term the agency uses to define "wild, scattered marijuana plants [with] no evidence of planting, fertilizing, or tending." Unlike cultivated marijuana, feral hemp contains virtually no detectable levels of THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, and does not contribute to the black market marijuana trade.

Previous DEA reports have indicated that between 98 and 99 percent of all the marijuana plants eradicated by US law enforcement is ditchweed.



UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN JOSE DIVISION
county of santa cruz, California; City of santa cruz, california; Valerie Corral; Eladio V. acosta; james daniel baehr; Michael cheslosky; jennifer LEE hentz; dorothy gibbs; harold F. margolin; and Wo/men’s alliance for medical marijuana

Declaration OF ARNOLD S. LEFF, M.D., IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

June 02, 2008
Barney Frank Files Marijuana Decriminalization Bill



DEA Dirty Tricks Hit Cannabis Clubs
Revolutionary Worker #943, February 8, 1998
On January 9, the U.S. Justice Department moved to shut down six centers in northern California that supply marijuana to cancer and AIDS patients and to others who use it as medicine for a variety of illnesses. In November 1996, a medical marijuana initiative was passed in California which was supposed to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. This new attack by federal authorities is the most recent move in a two-sided battle that is underway over the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Proposition 215).

DEA Hires Blackwater



Americans Reject Bush Drug War Doctrine
November 5, 2008 - Washington, DC, USA

Fascist wannabe's don't..
Thursday, January 15, 2009.

Our next drug czar?
I won't stink up the post or internet mentioning the slimballs name.

Pot of trouble: grow marijuana for medical use in California, and you can get off. Do it in Oklahoma, and you can get 93 years. Will Foster, a 38-year-old father of three who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis in his back and feet. Over the years, he has tried various drugs for his condition.

The Emperor Wears No Clothes By Jack Herer
Chapter Sixteen: Alternatives to Prohibition
In conclusion, we see that the government’s case against marijuana is woven of transparent lies. In this chapter, we bring to light some research that the government does not like people to know about. Then we talk about some realistic alternatives.



Guru of Ganja' mounts second court appeal
By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune
Posted: 01/14/2009 * Updated: 01/15/2009

A lawyer asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to overturn the re-conviction of Oakland's Ed Rosenthal, claiming the "Guru of Ganja" wasn't allowed to present a full, adequate defense at his second trial.

Attorney Michael Clough told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Rosenthal, now 64, was denied the ability to present witnesses who would corroborate his claim that he honestly, reasonably believed he'd been deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana for area medical marijuana cooperatives, and so was protected from federal prosecution.

California law and Oakland ordinances allow for medical marijuana use, possession and cultivation, but federal law — which bans all marijuana use, possession and cultivation — trumps them.

Circuit Judge Richard Paez noted that U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over Rosenthal's trials, had offered to let Rosenthal testify to this belief. But Clough said letting him do so without allowing any corroborating witnesses to testify essentially amounted to compelling Rosenthal to testify in order to mount his defense — and the Fifth Amendment forbids compelling defendants to testify. continued...

Green Aid: About Ed Rosenthal

Showing unexpected leniency, a judge sentenced
'ganja guru' Rosenthal on Wednesday to a day in jail
for growing the drug in violation of federal law.

Pics and Arts

The 'Guru of Ganja' Walks Free By Ann Harrison
CN Source: AlterNet June 04, 2003

Set free by a San Francisco federal judge who sentenced him to just one day in prison, medical cannabis grower Ed Rosenthal said today that his case will be the catalyst to overturn all U.S. marijuana laws under which 750,000 Americans are arrested each year.

"These laws are doomed," said Rosenthal to group of cheering supporters outside the courthouse after his sentencing. "I am going to make it safe for everyone to grow by bringing these laws down."


Federal Court in San Francisco, June 4, 2003
Ed Rosenthal points to the Federal Building behind him
during a heated speech to members of the media

The Drug War: Suppression Tactics Will Never Work
11 March 1999

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Thomas Constantine blames the failure of our drug war on the public; he said the public is unwilling and unable to fight the war.

Maybe. It seems more likely the public is willing to fight a war, but dissatisfied with the present tactics. The drug war as presently conducted, it turns out, may be a grand mistake.

From the very beginning, official exaggerations hold an honored place in the government mendacity hall-of-fame. During the Nixon administration when the program first needed a worthwhile enemy, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs decided that for every known addict there were four unknown and, a year later, seven unknown, causing the ``official'' number of addicts to rise from 68,088 to 559,000 in only two years.

Along with the manipulation of statistics, the drug war has waged a vigorous campaign to elevate drugs in the public consciousness from a behavioral and psychological concern to a major national depravity. These essentially natural products that have been with us for history have suddenly become evil incarnate - the 20th century snake in the American Garden of Eden. There is reason to believe much of the purple prose about the horrors of drugs may be as suspect as the bureaucratic guesstimates of addict numbers.



Cocaine Prohibition
Friday, February 29, 2008
Water or Gasoline (for treating the flames of drug abuse)
Originally published in the 1991 conference paper compendium of the
Washington, D.C. based "Drug Policy Foundation"

“the hypothesis that long term use of cocaine is inevitably associated with escalating dependency marked by more frequent patterns of use is not supported by these findings.”

From the standpoint of those who usually focus exclusively upon the worst segments of a bad situation though, it is certainly understandable how some do become conditioned into seeing things the way they do. As 800-COCAINE’s Mark S. Gold presents the perspective not of those who study drugs broadly, but rather the hard core abusers whom form a minority of the total population of illegal drug users.

U.S. law under the 1970 Drug Control Act, defined as a substance with a high potential for abuse...

Amongst these are a number of medical applications with an interesting twist upon one of the drug’s popular uses and forms under prohibition. For elderly people suffering from rheumatic arthritis who invariably lost much of their ability to move, intranasally administered Esterene worked where any of the conventional treatments failed. It gave them an increased range of motion, improving the consumer’s muscle, joint functions and strength, a situation all of the physicians present agreed was due to Esterene – sniffed freebase crack cocaine.