Texas Tea Pad

Study: Auto Fatalities Decrease in Medical Marijuana States

2011-12-01T22:40:00.000-06:00

Re-posted from High Times

Amidst all the recent doom and gloom in the medical marijuana scene, an encouraging new study indicates there is a marked decrease in auto fatalities in states that have legalized medi-pot. Though the research has yet to be peer reviewed, it has been posted on the website of the German Institute for the Study of Labor after being released jointly by University of Colorado Denver professor Daniel Rees and Montana State University professor D. Mark Anderson.

Professors Rees and Anderson reported the traffic-death rate drops almost nine percent in states following legalization of medical marijuana. The pair of profs arrived at that calculation after including other factors such as traffic laws changes, seat-belt usage and miles driven. While the study does not openly declare that medicinal cannabis legalization was directly responsible for the reduction in traffic fatalities, the implication is clear.

However, Rees and Anderson do not attribute this decrease to drivers being more cautious when driving while medicated on marijuana (as previous studies have indicated), but rather that medical marijuana use at home (or in other non-driving scenarios) may in fact alter those patients’ use of alcohol. In other words, medicinal cannabis consumers – including younger adult drivers in their late teens and 20s – are smoking more pot and drinking less booze.

Professor Rees told the Denver Post when medi-pot is legalized in a given state, there is an average corresponding 12 percent decline in alcohol-related auto fatalities and specifically a 19 percent drop in the auto wreck death rate of those in their 20s. One possibility the study did not address – if these people are driving with the same frequency now that they were before medical marijuana legalization and if they are smoking more pot instead of drinking, that suggests they are potentially driving while stoned and experiencing less fatalities, which would further substantiate the aforementioned studies (1983 and 1992 in the U.S., 1998 in Australia and 2000 from the UK) that do indicate people actually tend to drive more cautiously when stoned.

Regardless of that argument, this new study posits that with easier, safer and legal access to medi-pot, people in those states are drinking and driving less. We seem to find a new benefit of medical marijuana every day and here is yet another.

Two Governors Ask Feds to Reschedule Cannabis

2011-12-01T22:36:00.002-06:00

Re-posted from High Times

Two governors have petitioned the federal government to reschedule cannabis this week. Governors Christine Gregoire of Washington state and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island requested that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule II drug (like cocaine, opium, and morphine). Marijuana has been a Schedule I narcotic (a category reserved for drugs with no accepted medical use) since the creation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Both Washington state and Rhode Island have legalized the use of medical marijuana. However, with the federal government cracking down on medicinal cannabis and threatening to prosecute state employees who help facilitate dispensary systems, many governors of MMJ states have gotten cold feet.

Cynics might see the governors’ petition as a stall tactic similar to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s suit asking for a judgment on state official’s risk of prosecution, which also delayed the implementation of a state dispensary system. Of particular note is the fact that the feds just rejected a petition to reschedule cannabis this summer (a decision that came nine years after the petition was filed).

However, it is hard to fault the governors for wanting state law to comply with (or at least vaguely comport with) federal law. What’s more, Governor Gregoire’s message – “People die from overdose of opiates … has anybody died from marijuana?” – is an admirable (and accurate) assessment of the situation. Let’s just hope that the governors desire for federal enlightenment won’t hold up the will of the voters.

Congressional Letter Urges Obama to Change Policy

2011-11-21T20:38:00.002-06:00

From Americans For Safe Access

Nine members of Congress have directly asked President Obama to end the ongoing attacks on state medical cannabis programs.

In a letter sent to the White House late last month, representatives from California, Colorado and Tennessee called the targeting of state-licensed medical cannabis dispensaries “unconscionable” and called on the President to reschedule cannabis to make it available as a medicine. The letter also urges support for the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, legislation introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would prohibit federal interference in state medical cannabis programs.

"It is critically important for patients to have safe access to this treatment that continues to be recommended by doctors. California voters decided to adopt clear regulations to allow patients to do just that,” Rep. Sam Farr told the media after the letter was sent. “It is unfortunate that the federal government has decided to target these legal vendors instead of focusing limited resources on those who sell illicit drugs."

The other members of Congress who signed the letter are Democrats Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Lynn Woolsey, and Republican Dana Rohrbacher – all of California – and Democrats Jared Polis of Colorado and Steve Cohen of Tennessee. Staff from Americans for Safe Access’s Washington D.C. office worked with the representatives in preparing the letter.

"We write to express our concern with the recent activity by the Department of Justice against legitimate medical cannabis dispensaries in California that are operating legally under state law," the letter said.

The four U.S. Attorneys in California announced Oct. 7 that they were stepping up enforcement actions against dispensaries in the state. The announcement follows a Department of Justice memo issued June 29 stating that anyone involved with medical cannabis programs, even those expressly legal and licensed under state law, is subject to federal prosecution and asset forfeiture.

"It is our strong position that local and state governments must be allowed to develop, implement and enforce their own public health laws with regard to medical cannabis," the letter stated.

The Representatives also noted that the recent escalation in California follows months of federal interference in other state medical cannabis programs, including federal raids in seven states. Americans for Safe Access has documented 125 medical cannabis raids under the Obama Administration.

More information:
The letter to President Obama from members of Congress

Switzerland Legalizes Growing Cannabis At Home

2011-11-19T20:02:00.002-06:00

Someone out there is finally getting it.

In order to combat the increasing illegal sales of cannabis in Switzerland, four of the seven French-speaking Swiss cantons (similar to states in the U.S.) will be allowing individuals to grow four cannabis plants at their home, starting in January 2012. The cannabis is only authorized for personal use and cannot be sold.

The cantons involved are Geneva, Neuchatel, Vaud (Lausanne) and Fribourg, according to this article (in French, see translation here). People can apply for permits to grow more than four plants.

We here at The 420 Times fully expect this new law to reduce crime and police expenses in Switzerland, and everywhere else this kind of progressive thinking comes to pass.

If four plants sounds a bit restrictive, remember two things: first, it’s still illegal to do this in most of the world (thanks to U.S. government intervention in everyone else’s business) and second, a properly done grow can yield some pretty spectacular results.

Read about it here.

Texas Drug Policy Conference, January 2012

2011-11-19T09:10:00.004-06:00

January 11-13, 2012
Hall of State, Fair Park
Dallas

For more information

ICE officer arrested in pot smuggling

2011-10-19T21:10:00.001-05:00

PHOENIX (AP) — A deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led Arizona state police and federal agents on a high-speed desert chase in his government vehicle, throwing bundles of marijuana out of the window as he fled, the Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.

The deportation officer, identified as Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, had been under surveillance for more than month after a known smuggler who had been arrested gave authorities a tip about the officer in an effort to get lenient treatment, Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook told The Associated Press.

Lowery, who lives in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, does not yet have an attorney.

DPS and federal agents tried to pull Lowery over Tuesday after he picked up a load of marijuana in the desert with his unmarked ICE pickup truck, Cook said. The officer fled, leading agents on a 45-minute chase at speeds of up to 110 mph as he threw 10 of the 14 bundles of pot that he had in the truck out of the window, he said.

Read the rest of this story.

California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana

2011-10-15T23:33:00.001-05:00

The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance.

By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times

October 16, 2011, 6:01 p.m.

Reporting from Sacramento— The state's largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.

Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.

Select this link to read the rest of the article.

American marijuana growers could beat this war on drugs

2011-10-05T20:14:00.002-05:00

Clandestine grow-ops sown by industrial Americans could damage drug cartels more effectively than the US military

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

If industrious Americans were to saturate their landscape with clandestine grow-operations, it would substantially damage the profitability of the cartels, which draw somewhere in between 25% to 60% of their profit from marijuana. This would eliminate much of the US government's motivation to interfere in the narcotics policies of foreign countries, while forcing the issue of legalisation at home.

For those who would prefer a future with less drones, take comfort in the fact that the market is trending towards this possibility: Americans are growing more pot than ever. If this continues, the decisive battle in the war on drugs will be waged in the backyards, basements, and national parks of America. It will see stealth agriculture pitted against stealth surveillance – the outcome of which will depend on whether or not American ingenuity can defeat its own government's military supremacy.

Skunk Magazine's Top 132 Pot Activists

2011-08-25T23:05:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't make the cut, but I'm happy to see a lot of my "buds" on here.

For its 50th issue, Skunk has compiled a list of the 132 leading marijuana activists in the U.S. and Canada. There 85 men and 47 women, seven Top CelebStoners and five politicians on the list.

CelebStoner

In alphabetic order:

Dr. Donald Abrams
Michael Aldrich
Michelle Aldrich
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano
Tom Angell - LEAP
Paul Armentano - NORML

Steve Bloom - CelebStoner.com
Dave Borden - Stopthedrugwar.com
Richard Branson
Sandee Burbank - MAMA
Cara Crabb-Burham - SSDP
Al Byrne - POT

Nora Callahan - November Coalition
Rielle Capler
Tommy Chong
Carina Cialini - Cannabis Times
Jack Cole - LEAP
Richard Colibri - ACT4CO
Chris Conrad - West Cost Leaf
Mike Corral - WAMM
Valerie Corral - WAMM
Richard Cortes - "It's Just a Plant"
Stacia Cosner - SSDP
Rick Cusick - High Times

Ervin Dargan - POT
Danny Danko - High Times
Tom Daubert - Patients & Families United
Anne Davis - NORML NJ
Steve DeAngelo - Harborside Health Center
Anna Diaz - Oregon NORML
Rick Doblin - MAPS
John Dvorak - Hempology.org

Dr. Mitch Earleywine - NORML Advisory Board
Georgia Edson - NWA
Warren Edson - Mile High NORML
Jon Elford - ASA
Matt Elrod - DrugSense
Jodie Emery - CannabisCulture.com
Marc Emery - CannabisCulture.com
Steve Epstein - Mass Cann
Melissa Etheridge

Debbie Fagin - Calgary 420
Keith Fagin - Calgary 420
Sabrina Fendrick - NWA
Jeanne Ferguson - Grandmas for Marijuana
Diane Forbacher - NWA
Cher Ford-McCullough - WONPR
Morgan Fox - MPP
Steve Fox - Cannabis Industry Assocation
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank
Serra Frank - Moms for Marijuana
Neill Franklin - LEAP
Dr. Mollie Fry

Greta Gaines - NWA
Ira Glasser - ACLU
Debby Goldsberry - United Cannabis Collective
Chris Goldstein - Freedomisgreen.org
Judge James Gray
Dr. Lester Grinspoon - Harvard
Ol' Jay Green
David Guard - DRCNet
Crystal Guess - Women's Marijuana Movement

Steve Hager - High Times
Woody Harrelson
Mark Henrich - Mardi Grass
Alison Holcomb - ACLU
Aaron Houston - SSDP

Gideon Israel - Rainbow Family

Wanda James - Simply Pure Edibles
Anthony Johnson - Oregon Measure 74
Dale Sky Jones - Oaksterdam U
Jeff Jones - Oaksterdam U

Former Nebraska Gov. Bob Kerrey
Kris Krane - 4Front Advisors
Charles Kwiatkowski - CMMNJ

Richard Lake - DrugSense
Jennifer Lande - CMMNJ
Amber Langston - Show-Me Cannabis
Dana Larsen - Vancouver Dispensary Society
California State Sen. Mark Leno
Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Richard Lee - Oaksterdam U

Kelly Maddy - Joplin NORML
David Malmo-Levine
Jahan Marcu - ASA
Allison Margolin
Bruce Margolin
Jean Marlowe - NC Cannabis Patients Network
Mickey Martin - Tainted
Deanna Martinez
Madeline Martinez - NORML Board of Directors
Mary Lynn Mathre - POT
Todd McCormick - Hempire
Kirk McNeil - NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy
Vivian McPeak - Seattle Hempfest
Doug McVay - Common Sense for Drug Policy
Dr. Bob Melemede
Matt Mernagh
Jim Miller - CMMNJ
Kyndra Miller - NWA
Scott Morgan - Stopthedrugwar.com
Elvy Musikka - Federal MMJ Patient

Loretta Nall - Alabamans for Compassionate Care
Mikki Norris - West Coast Leaf

Garret Overstreet - Tulsa NORML

Mieko Hester Perez
Dennis Peron
Victor Pinho - CMMNJ
Colorado Rep. Jared Polis

Angel Raich - ARCH Collective
Jacki Rickert - IMMLY
Joe Rogan
Irv Rosenfeld - Federal MMJ Patient
Ed Rosenthal - Quick Trading

Keith Saunders - NORML Board of Dirtectors
Dale Schafer
Tony Serra
Lynette Shaw - Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana
Steph Sherer - ASA
F. Aaron Smith - Cannabis Industry Association
Phil Smith - Stopthedrugwar.com
Niki Smokes - Mass Cann
Eric Sterling - Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Allen St. Pierre - NORML
Keith Stroup - NORML

Cliff Thornton - Efficacy
Shaleen Aghi Title - LEAP

Dr. Cyril Wecht
Cheyenne Weldon - Texas NORML
Arlene Williams - "Ganja Granny"
Don Wirtshafter - Hemp Industries Association
Ken Wolski - CMMNJ

Cannabis Science

2011-08-24T22:33:00.005-05:00

http://cannabinergy.com/

#AskObama Twitter town hall ignores flood of marijuana legalization questions

2011-07-09T15:50:00.000-05:00

from The Raw Story

Republicans were not the only ones flooding President Barack Obama with questions during his "#AskObama" Twitter town hall; the event also generated a huge response from those opposed to the war on drugs.

Data gathered by TwitSprout showed the most retweeted question for Obama was about the legalization of marijuana.

"Would you consider legalizing marijuana to increase revenue and save tax dollars by freeing up crowded prisons, court rooms?" was retweeted 4911 times, according to the analytics service.

A question about letting the Bush tax cuts expire came in second place, with only 1800 retweets.

Although marijuana legalization was an overwhelmingly popular question with Twitter users, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who moderated the online town hall, focused on questions pertaining to the economy, education and space exploration.

"#AskObama why they will answer Rep. Boehner's question, but won't talk about #CannabisJobs! Legalize it, start a new job creating industry," the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws complained in tweet, which was itself retweeted more than 100 times.

During his YouTube Q&A in January, Obama was asked what his plan was to help alleviate the detrimental effects of America's drug war.

He responded by saying that while he's not in favor of legalization, he did see room for adjusting the drug war to focus less on incarceration and enforcement and more on medical treatment and other forms of interdiction.

The position expressed by President Obama was largely unchanged from 2009, when he told a community driven Q&A that he did not believe legalizing marijuana was a good strategy to grow the economy. He did not, however, crack a joke about the question, calling the debate over drug policy "legitimate."

With prior reporting by Stephen C. Webster

JR Ryan said it

2011-07-07T22:13:00.002-05:00

Sam Harris said it

2011-07-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

"The "war on drugs" has been well lost, and should never have been waged. I can think of no political right more fundamental than the right to peacefully steward the contents of one's own consciousness. The fact that we pointlessly ruin the lives of nonviolent drug users by incarcerating them, at enormous expense, constitutes one of the great moral failures of our time. "

In the Huffington Post

Carl Sagan said it

2011-07-02T23:32:00.001-05:00

"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world."

Plans to stop non-Dutch residents from buying Amsterdam pot thwarted

2011-06-27T22:29:00.002-05:00

UK Cultivator

CANNABIS Law Reform (CLEAR) has welcomed news that controversial plans to forbid foreigners from buying cannabis in Amsterdam’s famous coffeeshops have been shelved.

The Dutch government had wanted to introduce the Weedpass scheme, which would have prohibited non-Dutch nationals from buying cannabis in the country’s famously liberal coffeeshops.

Critics of the proposals said it would drive the trade in cannabis on to the streets, damage the Dutch tourist industry and lose taxation revenue.

The legality of it has also been questioned, as it would discriminate against EU citizens.

However, it was announced the Dutch Tolerance Policy will be renewed from 1st July 2011 and will be valid until June 30th 2015.

This means the Weedpass can only be implemented through local legislation.

Since City Councils like Amsterdam do not want the Weedpass scheme and local politicians such as the Mayor of Haarlem have said they do not want it either, it means it will not be possible to implement for at least 4 years.

Peter Reynolds, leader of CLEAR, said he was "delighted this ridiculous scheme looks like history".

“European countries have been putting pressure on the Dutch to end their liberal policies on cannabis, as they have been seen as a success and show up their own failed policies of prohibition.

“I now call on all European governments to follow the Dutch example and allow the regulated sale of cannabis to adults."

Nol van Schaik, a coffeeshop entrepreneur from Haarlem said, “I’m very happy to see there are still some Dutch politicians with common sense.

“I say, let the weed pass from the Dutch coffeeshops to those who want it, from wherever they are. I call upon the German, French and Belgium cannabis aficionados to try to open their own cannabis outlets; the EU will let you do it,” said Mr van Shaik.

If you would like more information or would like to arrange an interview please contact us.

www.clear-uk.org

Reps. Ron Paul, Barney Frank to unveil bill legalizing marijuana

2011-06-22T22:46:00.002-05:00

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank and Texas Rep. Ron Paul will unveil legislation aimed at legalizing marijuana.

Mr. Frank and Mr. Paul will “bi-partisan legislation tomorrow ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states legalize, regulate, tax, and control marijuana without federal interference,” according to a press release from the Marijuana Policy Project.

Both Mr. Frank and Mr. Paul have long advocated for legalizing marijuana. It remains unclear whether the proposal has the necessary support in the House, however, its introduction comes as a number of states are considering measures to legalize small portions of the narcotic.

Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA).

The news comes as Mr. Paul continues to embark on his campaign for president. The Texas Republican announced his campaign earlier this year, focusing on limited government. Mr. Paul has called for the legalizing of marijuana during his time on the campaign, however, he has yet to make it a key campaign issue. While Mr. Paul has gained national attention in his bid for president, the Texas Republican will not join Mr. Frank at a Thursday press conference.

The bill is the latest attempt to legalize marijuana at the federal level. Both Mr. Frank and Mr. Paul introduced a similar bill last year. The act, titled Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults, would have “eliminates most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use, and for other purposes.” The bill did not receive a vote, instead it was referred to committee.

The State Column

It's Time for a New Approach to Marijuana

2011-06-22T22:30:00.004-05:00

June 22, 2011
Contact: Alison Holcomb, New Approach Washington
206.245.5342; Alison@NewApproachWA.org

New Approach Washington Files Initiative to Legalize, Tax, and Regulate Marijuana
Sponsors Include Civic, Public Health, Legal Community Leaders

OLYMPIA – The newly formed political action committee New Approach Washington today filed an initiative to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. Sponsoring the measure are individuals prominent in civic life and the public health and legal communities.

The initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and over through state licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education, and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directedto the general fund and local budgets.

The following individuals are sponsoring the initiative:

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes
John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, 2001-2007
Travel writer Rick Steves
Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, Washington state legislator, 36th District
Kim Marie Thorburn, MD, MPH, former director of the Spokane Regional Health District, 1997-2006
Salvador A. Mungia, immediate past president of the Washington State Bar Association
Mark Johnson, past president of the Washington State Bar Association, 2008-2009
Robert W. Wood, MD, former director of the HIV/AIDS Program of Public Health – Seattle & King County, 1986-2010
Roger Roffman, DSW, professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Social Work
Alison Holcomb, New Approach Washington campaign director

The campaign will have until December 30 to gather the 241,153 signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot. Once signatures are filed, the initiative will go to the legislature for consideration during the 2012 session. If the legislature takes no action, the proposal will go before the voters in the November 2012 general election.

“Ending marijuana prohibition and focusing on rational regulation and taxation will free up law enforcement resources to combat violent and property crimes, and it will restore respect for government and the law,” said Pete Holmes, Seattle City Attorney. In 2008, there were over 8,200 arrests of Washington adults – more than 20 per day – for simple marijuana possession, and more than 3,200 convictions, costing the state millions of taxpayer dollars.

Marijuana is one of Washington's largest cash crops – second only to apples – and billions of dollars go into the illegal market untaxed. "We cannot afford to ignore an enormous source of untaxed revenue, and we must stop the financing of drug cartels,"said Mark Johnson, former Washington State Bar Association president. "These are revenues we could capture and direct to effective programs that protect youth from risk factors that contribute to early use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana," said Roger Roffman, a marijuana dependency treatment expert.

“As a parent and as someone who cares deeply for my community,” said travel writer Rick Steves, “I’ve seen how Europe treats drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal one. The fascinating result: per capita, Europeans consume far less marijuana and have far fewer people in prison than we do.”

Initiative sponsors pointed out the serious impacts that our current marijuana laws have on individuals. "Criminalizing marijuana use disrupts families and cannot be justified when marijuana is compared to alcohol and tobacco," said public health doctor Kim Thorburn.

"The public health impacts of alcohol and tobacco are more serious than marijuana, but we do not criminalize the use of these substances,” said Bob Wood, a public health doctor. “It is time for Washington to take a new approach to marijuana focused on regulation and education rather than punishment."

Further, marijuana laws are enforced disproportionately against people of color. In Washington, an African American is three times as likely to be arrested, three times as likely to be charged, and three times as likely to be convicted for marijuana possession as a white Washingtonian, despite the fact that whites use marijuana at higher rates.

"Even a misdemeanor conviction for marijuana possession can permanently alter the trajectory of a person's life," former bar association president Sal Mungia pointed out.

The campaign expects petitions to be ready for signature gathering beginning in August. More information is available at NewApproachWA.org.
-- 30 --

Here We Go, Washington

2011-06-21T23:07:00.002-05:00

The Stranger - Seattle

Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 4:40 PM

By the look of things, we're about to become ground zero in the national battle to legalize marijuana. Tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. in the Downtown Seattle Library, a well-organized new campaign called New Approach Washington will roll out the details of a still-partly-mysterious marijuana legalization initiative. So far they're only saying it would "authorize the Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and over in state-licensed stores."

It appears to be an unprecedented attempt to replace marijuana prohibition with a fully regulated marijuana industry.

Past measures that failed have been, in general, decriminalization proposals that left many questions unanswered. For instance, Sensible Washington has run a petition drive two years in a row for a measure that simply removes criminal penalties but makes law enforcement and other critics wonder what happens to a loose-cannon, unregulated supply chain. I asked the leaders of Sensible Washington yesterday if their petition, which is due in early July, had a chance of making the ballot. They never replied, but their website says they've collected only 56,000 signatures (less than a quarter of the number they'll need).

This new initiative is cut from a different cloth. The backers look powerful. And given that it will be filed in mid-summer, this would be an initiative to the legislature (which goes to lawmakers in Olympia early next year and to the ballot in 2012). That will allow New Approach Washington to petition all summer and fall, gather funding for over a year before reaching the November 2012 ballot, enjoy the progressive electorate of a presidential year, be an asset to Democrats and unions that want to draw young pro-pot voters to the polls, and win next year.

Polling shows most Washington voters support marijuana legalization.

Let me say it again: This could win. This could be the big fight with the federal government. It will certainly stir the debate. It may go to the Supreme Court in a challenge of federal preemption. And these guys are serious.

Look at the lineup of the initiative's sponsors:

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes

John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington (2001-2007)
Travel writer Rick Steves
Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, Washington state legislator, 36th District, prime sponsor of HB 2401 (2010) and HB 1550 (2011)
Kim Marie Thorburn, MD, MPH, former director of the Spokane Regional Health District (1997-2006)
Salvador A. Mungia, immediate past president of the Washington State Bar Association
Mark Johnson, past president of the Washington State Bar Association (2008-2009)
Robert W. Wood, MD, former director of the HIV/AIDS Program of Public Health — Seattle & King County (1986-2010)
Roger Roffman, DSW, professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Social Work
Alison Holcomb, New Approach Washington campaign director

That's right: A former US Attorney is a co-sponsor of a campaign to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. Here we go.

What we'be been saying all along

2011-06-20T23:35:00.004-05:00

Mortality Within the First 2 Years in Infants Exposed to Cocaine, Opiate, or Cannabinoid During Gestation

Mothers testing positive for cannabis have half the infant mortality rate of mothers testing positive for NO DRUGS AT ALL.

"No drugs at birth" deaths....... 15.7 deaths per 1000 live births
"Cocaine positive" deaths.......17.7 deaths per 1000 live births
"Opiate positive" deaths..........18.4 deaths per 1000 live births
"Cannabis positive" deaths....... 8.9 deaths per 1000 live births

PEDIATRICS is an official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Tosh Family legalize it contest

2011-06-17T21:42:00.002-05:00

Call Off the Global Drug War

2011-06-16T23:46:00.000-05:00

New York Times

By JIMMY CARTER

Atlanta

IN an extraordinary new initiative announced earlier this month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy has made some courageous and profoundly important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective control over the illicit drug trade. The commission includes the former presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary general of the United Nations, human rights leaders, and business and government leaders, including Richard Branson, George P. Shultz and Paul A. Volcker.

The report describes the total failure of the present global antidrug effort, and in particular America’s “war on drugs,” which was declared 40 years ago today. It notes that the global consumption of opiates has increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent and cannabis 8.5 percent from 1998 to 2008. Its primary recommendations are to substitute treatment for imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm to others, and to concentrate more coordinated international effort on combating violent criminal organizations rather than nonviolent, low-level offenders.

These recommendations are compatible with United States drug policy from three decades ago. In a message to Congress in 1977, I said the country should decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, with a full program of treatment for addicts. I also cautioned against filling our prisons with young people who were no threat to society, and summarized by saying: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”

These ideas were widely accepted at the time. But in the 1980s President Ronald Reagan and Congress began to shift from balanced drug policies, including the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts, toward futile efforts to control drug imports from foreign countries.

This approach entailed an enormous expenditure of resources and the dependence on police and military forces to reduce the foreign cultivation of marijuana, coca and opium poppy and the production of cocaine and heroin. One result has been a terrible escalation in drug-related violence, corruption and gross violations of human rights in a growing number of Latin American countries.

The commission’s facts and arguments are persuasive. It recommends that governments be encouraged to experiment “with models of legal regulation of drugs ... that are designed to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.” For effective examples, they can look to policies that have shown promising results in Europe, Australia and other places.

But they probably won’t turn to the United States for advice. Drug policies here are more punitive and counterproductive than in other democracies, and have brought about an explosion in prison populations. At the end of 1980, just before I left office, 500,000 people were incarcerated in America; at the end of 2009 the number was nearly 2.3 million. There are 743 people in prison for every 100,000 Americans, a higher portion than in any other country and seven times as great as in Europe. Some 7.2 million people are either in prison or on probation or parole — more than 3 percent of all American adults!

Some of this increase has been caused by mandatory minimum sentencing and “three strikes you’re out” laws. But about three-quarters of new admissions to state prisons are for nonviolent crimes. And the single greatest cause of prison population growth has been the war on drugs, with the number of people incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses increasing more than twelvefold since 1980.

Not only has this excessive punishment destroyed the lives of millions of young people and their families (disproportionately minorities), but it is wreaking havoc on state and local budgets. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out that, in 1980, 10 percent of his state’s budget went to higher education and 3 percent to prisons; in 2010, almost 11 percent went to prisons and only 7.5 percent to higher education.

Maybe the increased tax burden on wealthy citizens necessary to pay for the war on drugs will help to bring about a reform of America’s drug policies. At least the recommendations of the Global Commission will give some cover to political leaders who wish to do what is right.

A few years ago I worked side by side for four months with a group of prison inmates, who were learning the building trade, to renovate some public buildings in my hometown of Plains, Ga. They were intelligent and dedicated young men, each preparing for a productive life after the completion of his sentence. More than half of them were in prison for drug-related crimes, and would have been better off in college or trade school.

To help such men remain valuable members of society, and to make drug policies more humane and more effective, the American government should support and enact the reforms laid out by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

Juneteenth Quote

2011-06-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

Forces that threaten to negate life must be challenged by courage, which is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of life's ambiguities. This requires the exercise of a creative will that enables us to hew out a stone of hope from a mountain of despair. ~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Joy Strickland on Dallas TV Station

2011-06-03T22:56:00.001-05:00

Panel: War on Drugs Failed, Regulate Marijuana: MyFoxDFW.com

Groups Sue Feds Over Marijuana Rescheduling Petition Delay

2011-05-30T22:39:00.003-05:00

by Phillip Smith, May 23, 2011, 04:26pm
StopTheDrugWar.org.

A coalition of medical marijuana and drug reform groups filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC, Monday in a bid to force the government to act on a rescheduling petition that has languished at the DEA for nearly nine years. The lawsuit asks that the government respond to the petition within 60 days.

The DEA has had more than enough time to issue a ruling on a marijuana rescheduling petition. The petition argues that marijuana has accepted medical use and should thus be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow for the medicinal use of marijuana, and an ever-increasing mountain of evidence has shown marijuana to be effective in treating a number of diseases and conditions.

The groups filing the lawsuit include the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Patients Out of Time, NORML, and California NORML. Also included are medical marijuana patients William Britt, Kathy Jordan, Michael Krawitz, and Rick Steeb.

"The federal government's strategy has been delay, delay, delay," said Joe Elford, chief counsel of ASA and lead counsel on the writ. "It is far past time for the government to answer our rescheduling petition, but unfortunately we've been forced to go to court in order to get resolution."

"Adhering to outdated public policy that ignores science has created a war zone for doctors and their patients who are seeking use cannabis therapeutics," said ASA director Steph Sherer.

"It is unacceptable for seriously ill Americans to wait a decade for their government to even respond to their petition for legal access to medicine to relieve their pain and suffering," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. "The government's unreasonable delay seriously impugns its competence to oversee Americans' health care. The administration should act promptly to address its obsolete and bankrupt policy in accordance with President Obama's pledge to put science above politics."

"The Obama administration's refusal to act on this petition is an irresponsible stalling tactic," said Jon Gettman of the CRC.

This isn't the first time the DEA has failed to act on a marijuana rescheduling petition. NORML filed a petition in 1972. That time, it took the DEA 22 years to reject it, overruling its own administrative judge's finding that marijuana did have accepted medical use. Since then, the case for the medicinal use of marijuana has only grown stronger.

Forcing the DEA to act on the petition is a win-win for reformers. If the DEA concludes that marijuana does have medicinal value, it must be rescheduled. If the DEA concludes it does not, that finding can then be challenged in the federal courts.

Washington, DC
United States

Leading world politicians urge 'paradigm shift' on drugs policy

2011-05-30T09:53:00.001-05:00

From TheObserver

Kofi Annan, George Shultz and Richard Branson Among Those Urging Public Health Approach

Former presidents, prime ministers, eminent economists and leading members of the business community will unite behind a call for a shift in global drug policy. The Global Commission on Drug Policy will host a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York to launch a report that describes the drug war as a failure and calls for a "paradigm shift" in approaching the issue.

Those backing the call include Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; George Papandreou, former prime minister of Greece; Cesar Gaviria, former president of Colombia; Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil; George Shultz, former US secretary of state; Javier Solana, former EU high representative; Virgin tycoon Richard Branson; and Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

The commission will call for drug policy to move from being focused on criminal justice towards a public health approach. The global advocacy organisation Avaaz, which has nine million members, will present a petition in support of the commission's recommendations to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

The commission is the most distinguished group to call for such far-reaching changes in the way society deals with illicit drugs. Danny Kushlick, head of external affairs at Transform, the drug policy foundation that has consultative status with the UN, said current events, such as the cartel-related violence in Mexico, President Barack Obama's comments that it was "perfectly legitimate" to question whether the war on drugs was working, and the wider global economic crisis, had given calls for a comprehensive overhaul of the world's drugs policy a fresh impetus.

Kushlick described this week's conference as hugely significant. "What we have here is the greatest collection thus far of ex-presidents and prime ministers calling very clearly for decriminalisation and experiments with legal regulation," he said. "It will be a watershed moment."

Transform believes the case for overhauling the prohibition approach to drugs is now overwhelming. It quotes Nicholas Green, chairman of the Bar Council, who observed that drug-related crime costs the UK economy around UKP13bn a year. "Decriminalising personal use can have positive consequences; it can free up huge amounts of police resources, reduce crime and recidivism and improve public health," he said.

But while politicians no longer in office are vocal in calling for a change, incumbents appear less likely to back the idea of any radical shift in policy. In its 2002 review of UK drug policy, the parliamentary home affairs select committee, which included the prime minister, David Cameron, called for the government to "initiate a discussion" into the possibility of legalising and regulating drugs.

Despite the calls successive ministers have declined to endorse them.

Jesus 'healed using cannabis'

2011-05-26T22:42:00.001-05:00

From the Guardian UK

Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings.

The anointing oil used by Jesus and his disciples contained an ingredient called kaneh-bosem which has since been identified as cannabis extract, according to an article by Chris Bennett in the drugs magazine, High Times, entitled Was Jesus a Stoner? The incense used by Jesus in ceremonies also contained a cannabis extract, suggests Mr Bennett, who quotes scholars to back his claims.

"There can be little doubt about a role for cannabis in Judaic religion," Carl Ruck, professor of classical mythology at Boston University said.

Referring to the existence of cannabis in anointing oils used in ceremonies, he added: "Obviously the easy availability and long-established tradition of cannabis in early Judaism _ would inevitably have included it in the [Christian] mixtures."

Mr Bennett suggests those anointed with the oils used by Jesus were "literally drenched in this potent mixture _ Although most modern people choose to smoke or eat pot, when its active ingredients are transferred into an oil-based carrier, it can also be absorbed through the skin".

Quoting the New Testament, Mr Bennett argues that Jesus anointed his disciples with the oil and encouraged them to do the same with other followers. This could have been responsible for healing eye and skin diseases referred to in the Gospels.

"If cannabis was one of the main ingredients of the ancient anointing oil _ and receiving this oil is what made Jesus the Christ and his followers Christians, then persecuting those who use cannabis could be considered anti-Christ," Mr Bennett concludes.

A Big Day on the Hill

2011-05-25T22:05:00.002-05:00

Message from the Marijuana Policy Project:

It’s not often that three bills related to medical marijuana are introduced in Congress on the same day. In fact, it has never happened in history – until today!

This is big news, and we are hoping you will help spread the word in Washington.

All three bills would benefit medical marijuana patients and their providers. The “States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act,” which has been introduced in past sessions of Congress, would modify federal law so that individuals acting in compliance with state law are immune from federal prosecution.

The other two bills – the “Small Business Tax Equity Act of 2011” and the “Small Business Banking Improvement Act of 2011” – have never been introduced before and address critical tax and banking issues faced by medical marijuana centers and dispensaries as they attempt to serve patients, comply with statewide regulations, and pay their fair share of taxes.

Having lobbied Congress for years on these issues, MPP is excited to see the sponsors of these pieces of legislation sending a strong message to the rest of the nation about the need for the federal government to respect state medical marijuana laws and to treat fairly the individuals following them.

Now that these bills have been introduced, we need members of the House to sign on as co-sponsors. This is where you come in. We have drafted an email for you to send to your U.S. representative. With less than two minutes of your time, you can let your representative know that his or her constituents care about this issue. This really makes a difference.

The tides of history are turning in our favor. But with people like you speaking out, they will turn even faster.

Thanks for taking action!

End the War on Drugs! - AVAAZ.org

2011-05-24T21:46:00.001-05:00

In days, we could finally see the beginning of the end of the ‘war on drugs’. This expensive war has completely failed to curb the plague of drug addiction, while costing countless lives, devastating communities, and funneling trillions of dollars into violent organized crime networks.

Experts all agree that the most sensible policy is to regulate, but politicians are afraid to touch the issue. In days, a global commission including former heads of state and foreign policy chiefs of the UN, EU, US, Brazil, Mexico and more will break the taboo and publicly call for new approaches including decriminalization and regulation of drugs.

This could be a once-in-a-generation tipping-point moment -- if enough of us call for an end to this madness. Politicians say they understand that the war on drugs has failed, but claim the public isn't ready for an alternative. Let's show them we not only accept a sane and humane policy -- we demand it. Sign the petition and share with everyone --if we reach 1 million voices, it will be personally delivered to world leaders by the global commission.

Read the article here

Honor Thy Daughter

2011-05-21T22:16:00.004-05:00

Honor Thy Daughter is an intimate true story by Marilyn Howell, Ed.D., about her family's search for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing as her daughter struggles with terminal cancer. The family's journey takes them through the darkest corners of corporate medicine, the jungles of Brazil, the pallid hallways of countless hospitals, and ultimately into the hands of an anonymous therapist who offers the family hope and healing through MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. The story was originally featured in a 2006 Boston Globe article in which Howell's identity was concealed. With psychedelic medicine increasingly a part of the mainstream vocabulary, in Honor Thy Daughter Howell comes out of the closet and shares with us how psychedelic therapy helped heal the bonds ripped apart by illness.

Order Honor Thy Daughter here.

Q&A: Michelle Alexander on “The New Jim Crow”

2011-05-21T22:08:00.002-05:00

Excerpts from this article

It became very clear to me, abundantly clear, that our criminal justice system, though it appears on the surface to be color blind, is actually working to effectively recreate a caste-like system in America. Young folks of color are shuttled from decrepit, underfunded schools, to brand new high-tech prisons. And once they’re released from prison, having been branded a criminal or felon, they’re ushered into a parallel social universe in which they’re stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement.

***************

Numerous historians and political scientists have now documented that the war on drugs was part of a grand strategy, known as the “Southern strategy” of using racially coded, racially charged get-tough appeals on issues of crime and welfare to appeal to poor and working class whites, particularly in the South, who were anxious about, resentful of many of the gains made by African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement.

****************

Jim Crow was so deeply rooted in the economic political and social structure there that many people thought it wouldn’t fade away and many people were determined to ensure that it would never fade away. But it was possible to bring Jim Crow to its knees as the result of a major social movement. And I believe we can end mass incarceration as well. And yes, it will mean ending the drug war entirely. It’s time for us to rethink drug prohibition, especially for marijuana. The harms associated with spending time in prison and the criminal record that will follow you for the rest of your life are so much greater than any harm a marijuana cigarette could cause anyone.

100th Anniversary of the First Anti-Marijuana Law - April 29, 2011

2011-04-30T01:04:00.001-05:00

The Government's Hundred Years' War on Marijuana

by Dale Gieringer, California NORML

This week marks a centennial worth notice if not celebration, the 100th anniversary of the nation's first anti-marijuana law. On April 29th, 1911, Massachusetts enacted a statute making it illegal to sell or possess cannabis or other "hypnotic" drugs such as opium without a prescription. Violators were subject to a $100 fine and up to six months in jail, and just being present could get you three months.

Ironically, there is no record of any public concern about cannabis at the time. "Marijuana," the Mexican name for cannabis leaf rolled into cigarettes, was still unknown outside a few border settlements in the Southwest.

The Massachusetts law was not primarily aimed at cannabis, but at opium, morphine and other narcotics, abuse of which had become a concern among Progressive Era reformers and temperance advocates. By prohibiting the use of narcotics without a prescription, it was hoped their abuse could be stemmed. Cannabis was added for the sake of completeness, being one of the familiar hypnotic drugs traditionally available in pharmacies. This incidental decision would turn out to have far-reaching consequences, aptly illustrating the dangers of governmental misjudgment in matters of drug regulation.

Significantly, the law expressly permitted pharmaceutical sales of cannabis, the medical value of which was widely acknowledged at the time. Only in 1937 was medical cannabis suppressed at the insistence of federal narcotics boss Harry Anslinger, whose last-century "reefer madness" policy sadly remains with us today.

Other states soon followed Massachusetts in passing anti-cannabis laws of their own, beginning with California, Maine, Indiana and Wyoming in 1913. As in Massachusetts, there was no public concern about marijuana at the time.

Significantly, the laws were the handiwork of pharmacy boards and Progressive era advocates of government regulation, who believed that drug use should be restricted by force of law. Officials admitted that cannabis was not a problem at the time, but warned that it might become one unless steps were taken to prevent it.

Ironically, only after being prohibited did cannabis become widely popular. During the 1920s, marijuana use spread inexorably, from Mexican and Caribbean immigrants to jazz musicians, hipsters, and reprobate youth. As usage proliferated, so did laws against it. Over 30 states had prohibited marijuana by 1937, when Congress enacted the first federal prohibition law, and penalties were further enhanced in the 1950s. None of this did anything to prevent an explosion in marijuana use in the late 1960s and 1970s. The result was to leave marijuana firmly established as America's second most popular intoxicant after alcohol, a status it seems destined to enjoy or the foreseeable future.

Ironically, America's problems with marijuana post-date the laws that were supposed to prevent them. Since 1911, the number of consumers has soared from a handful to tens of millions Americans. Meanwhile, over 20 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges; over 40,000 are now in prison for marijuana crimes; marijuana production has become a multi-billion dollar illicit industry; billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent on eradication and enforcement, and thousands of lives lost in prohibition-related violence in Mexico and elsewhere. Over the same time, not a single death has been recorded from a toxic reaction to marijuana.

In sum, the evidence is overwhelming that the 100-year war on cannabis has failed. In practice, prohibition has served as a crime-creation program, criminalizing otherwise innocent Americans, promoting a criminal market, and generating disrespect for the law. In the wake of this historic failure, public support for re-legalizing marijuana has recently risen to record levels, reaching majorities in the West Coast and New England. As in 1911, so today it is government officials, drug cops and bureaucrats, now entrenched in a multibillion-dollar complex of anti-drug agencies and programs, who are the staunchest supporters of the failed system that keeps them on the public payroll. Americans would be well advised to reject their bankrupt paternalism and reclaim their historical freedom to use cannabis.

[For more on early anti-cannabis laws see: "The Forgotten Origins of Cannabis Prohibition in California," http://www.canorml.org/history.html.]

Dale Gieringer,
California NORML
www.canorml.org

Message from Americans for Safe Access

2011-04-21T22:42:00.002-05:00

Obama’s administration has taken its gloves off. After giving the medical cannabis community a false sense of security, Obama’s administration continues to ignore state laws, intimidate state officials, and raid medical cannabis patients and facilities.

This month, ASA launched our new national campaign, and we are sending a clear message to President Obama from the medical cannabis community: We are sick and tired. We are suffering from chronic and debilitating conditions, and we are weary of false promises that do nothing to protect our rights as patients.

ASA’s Sick and Tired Campaign involves approaching the federal government from several angles, and we need your help to reach every corner of Obama’s administration.

Today, ASA released the Obama Report Card. This details federal interference in medical cannabis laws under the Obama administration, and Obama fails. Even though he promised to not use federal resources to interfere with states’ medical cannabis laws, Obama’s administration has continued raiding legal patients and facilities. Additionally, the administration has launched new tactics and constructed new roadblocks for patients, including issues related to patient privacy, access, banking, taxation, and threats of filing suite against state employees who participate in upholding state law.Join us in calling on Obama to keep his promise.

Sign ASA's petition urging Obama to end federal interference in existing medical cannabis programs, and legitimize medical cannabis for the sick and dying across the country.

But we’re not stopping there. ASA is hosting a National Day of Action on May 2, centered on Dale Schafer and Mollie Fry’s surrender date in Sacramento, CA. Mollie and Dale are legal patients and were arrested and convicted without a defense under President Bush. They appealed their sentence, which was vigorously fought by the Obama administration in the Ninth Circuit. Mollie and Dale's sentences were upheld in November. Additionally, a clemency petition was filed this week in an effort to shorten Mollie's sentence. Please mark your calendar to join ASA on May 2 and keep an eye out for Information about a rally near you.

ASA’s Sick and Tired Campaign will bring new accountability to Obama’s administration. Please help ASA hold Obama to his word and protect patients across the nation.

We are sick and tired, but we won’t give up until there’s safe access.

Sincerely,
Steph Sherer

Ex-N.M. governor Gary Johnson announces for president

2011-04-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson said today he is running for president in 2012.

Johnson, a Republican who was governor from 1995 to 2003, made his announcement on the steps of the State House in Concord, N.H. On Twitter a short while ago, his staff tweeted for him:

First time to say it. "I am running for president."

Johnson has libertarian views and is perhaps best known for his efforts to legalize marijuana and for cutting New Mexico's budget and taxes. He's been traveling to early presidential contest states such as Iowa and New Hampshire talking about the nation's debt and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Libya.

Johnson now runs Our American Initiative, a political organization seeks to "enlighten the population about civil liberties, free enterprise, limited government, and traditional American values."

He is not well-known outside of his home state. Among Republicans, former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota have announced their presidential exploratory committees for 2012.

USA Today

Obama Administration Warns It May Prosecute State Employees if Gregoire Signs Medical Pot Bill

2011-04-15T19:02:00.004-05:00

Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 6:53 PM

The top federal prosecutors in Washington sent a stern warning to Washington State that a medical-marijuana law passed by the legislature this week, which would license dispensaries and growers, could result in a wave of criminal charges against cannabis providers and even state employees. At the same time, in a mixed message, they telegraphed that the Obama Administration's policy of tacitly permitting states with medical marijuana laws would proceed.

"The Washington legislative proposals will create a licensing scheme that permits large-scale marijuana cultivation and distributions," wrote US Attorneys Jenny Durkan and Michael Ormsby, respectively representing the Western and Eastern districts of Washington State, in a letter sent today to Governor Chris Gregoire. "This would authorize conduct contrary to federal law and thus, would undermine the federal government's efforts to regulate the possession, manufacturing, and trafficking of controlled substances. Accordingly, the Department could consider civil and criminal legal remedies regarding those who set up marijuana growing facilities and dispensaries as they will be doing so in violation of federal law. ... In addition, state employees who conducted activities mandated by the Washington legislative proposals would not be immune from liability..." including "criminal prosecution."

The letter was sent in response to an inquiry from Governor Gregoire to Attorney General Eric Holder (The federal prosecutors' letter is here and Gregoire's letter is here).

But this may not be as unequivocal as it first reads. AG Holder issued a memo in 2009 that indicates, in essence, the feds won't intervene with medical-marijuana cases that are in compliance with state laws. Holder said, of course, that the feds reserved the right to prosecute those cases.

In that vein, US Attorney Durkan also issued a statement today that "in every area we prosecute, our office works to focus our limited resources on impactful cases that implicate an important national or community interest. In the area of marijuana drug prosecutions, this means our targets include organized criminal groups, those who abuse public or tribal lands, people who commercialize the marijuana trade for profit or use it to finance other criminal activity, and doctors who abuse their positions and fraudulently certify individuals as medical marijuana patients. We have not prosecuted truly ill people or their doctors for using marijuana to lessen suffering, as permitted under state law."

So what to make of this? It's breaking right now (and I'm not a lawyer), but here's my take:

Gregoire may have requested this letter as political cover so she can veto the bill (citing the federal conflict, the risk to state employees, etc). Of course, our medical marijuana law already conflicts with federal law, her employees have already been collecting taxes on medical marijuana against federal law, and her employees provided input on this bill. So they are already complicit. This is the best chance Washington has ever had to improve its medical marijuana law. Gregoire should sign it into law—standing by her legislature—and make Obama figure out what the hell he wants to do. Does he want to throw down with the states trying to do the right thing (uh, the states that have medical marijuana laws are also the ones that elected him)?

Right now, the Obama Administration is needlessly being an asshole. Seriously sick people and their families need to know that they have safe access to medical marijuana, and families need to know they don't have to go to alleys to get pot. Dispensaries and growers, obviously, are the way patients get the medicine they need. The feds need to stop playing nice nice with legalese and make it clear where the rules stand.

Montana: Governor Vetoes a Bill to Repeal Medical Marijuana Law

2011-04-14T23:04:00.000-05:00

Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have repealed the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law. Mr. Schweitzer, a Democrat, vetoed the Republican-backed measure along with several others he called “frivolous, unconstitutional or in direct contradiction to the expressed will of the people of Montana.” Voters in 2004 approved the use of medical marijuana by the very sick. There are over 28,000 registered medical marijuana users. Supporters of the repeal say that the boom has gone too far and that the voter initiative has too many holes to be effectively reformed.

From the New York Times

Message from Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

2011-04-12T22:31:00.001-05:00

Here’s a quick snapshot of MPP’s legislative accomplishments in just the past week — and how your donations actually change marijuana laws. Would you please donate today, so that we can maintain this legislative juggernaut?

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — Mayor Vincent Gray announced that he will issue final regulations to implement the local D.C. medical marijuana law. As a result, five establishments will soon start selling marijuana to patients within a couple miles of Capitol Hill.

MARYLAND — The Maryland Legislature is about to pass MPP’s bill to remove the threat of conviction for patients who prove in court that their marijuana use was medical in nature. Aides of Gov. Martin O’Malley have said publicly he would sign our bill.

VERMONT — The Vermont Senate passed MPP’s bill to authorize four dispensaries. The bill is highly likely to pass the House and be signed by Gov. Pete Shumlin, who MPP helped elect this past November.

COLORADO — We just drafted a ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in Colorado. Assuming we can raise the money that’s needed for the signature drive this year, we’ll place this initiative on the November 2012 ballot.

ARIZONA — The head of the state health department spoke at MPP’s training forums in Tucson and Phoenix for entrepreneurs who are thinking about opening medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona.

NEW JERSEY — The state health department announced the six organizations that will be growing and selling medical marijuana to patients in New Jersey.

MAINE — Eight dispensaries have received permits to sell marijuana to patients in Maine.

Because of MPP’s dues-paying members, we’re making progress and changing laws. The government spends more money waging the drug war in one hour than MPP spends on its entire agenda in a full year, so ...

... please help us maintain our momentum by donating right now!

When It Comes to Marijuana, Willie’s Punishment Seems to Vaporize

2011-04-03T08:13:00.001-05:00

By making a joke of possession and enforcement laws, Mr. Nelson has done more to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of marijuana prohibition than a hundred lobbyists or a thousand politicians could ever do.

Read the rest of the New York Times article.

Texas Medical Marihuana - HB 1491 Stuck in Committee

2011-03-29T21:42:00.001-05:00

******ACTION ALERT******

HB 1491 was referred to the Public Health Committee on March 2. As of today, it has not been granted a hearing. Without a hearing, it will never come to a vote in the full House.

A group of Veterans is waiting to testify.

Call Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, Chair of the Public Health Committee, and ask that a hearing be scheduled for HB 1491. Her office number in Austin is (512) 463-0600 and in Brenham is (979) 251-7888. You can also call the Public Health Committee Clerk at (512) 463-0806.

You might mention the fact that the Federal Government has admitted that cannabinoids are therapeutic. (see post about National Cancer Institute below.)

Texans are suffering. Doesn't Representative Kolkhorst have any compassion?

National Cancer Institute - Cannabis and Cannabinoids (PDQ®)

2011-03-28T23:50:00.003-05:00

From the National Cancer Institute

History

Cannabis use for medicinal purposes dates back at least 3,000 years. It was introduced into Western medicine in the 1840s by W.B. O’Shaughnessy, a surgeon who learned of its medicinal properties while working in India for the British East Indies Company. Its use was promoted for reported analgesic, sedative, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and anticonvulsant effects.

In 1937, the U.S. Treasury Department introduced the Marihuana Tax Act. This Act imposed a levy of one dollar an ounce for medicinal use of Cannabis and one hundred dollars an ounce for recreational use. Physicians in the United States were the principal opponents of the Act. The American Medical Association (AMA) opposed the Act because physicians were required to pay a special tax for prescribing Cannabis, use special order forms to procure it, and keep special records concerning its professional use. In addition, the AMA believed that objective evidence that Cannabis was addictive was lacking and that passage of the Act would impede further research into its medicinal worth.[6] In 1942, Cannabis was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia because of persistent concerns about its potential to cause harm.

In 1951, Congress passed the Boggs Act, which for the first time, included Cannabis with narcotic drugs. In 1970, with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana was classified as a Schedule I drug. Drugs in this category are distinguished as having no accepted medicinal use. Other Schedule I substances include heroin, LSD, mescaline, methaqualone, and gamma-hydroxybutyrate.

Despite its designation as having no medicinal use, Cannabis was distributed to patients by the U.S. government on a case-by-case basis under the Compassionate Use Investigational New Drug program established in 1978. Distribution of Cannabis through this program was discontinued in 1992. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs approved marijuana use for patients in states where its medicinal use is legal.

The main psychoactive constituent of Cannabis was identified as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In 1986, synthetic delta-9-THC in sesame oil was licensed and approved for the treatment of chemotherapy -associated nausea and vomiting under the generic name dronabinol. Clinical trials determined that dronabinol was as effective as or better than other antiemetic agents. Dronabinol was also studied for its ability to stimulate weight gain in patients with AIDS in the late 1980s. Clinical trial results showed no significant weight gain, although patients reported an improvement in appetite.

Within the past 20 years, the neurobiology of cannabinoids has been analyzed. The first cannabinoid receptor, CB1, was pharmacologically identified in the brain in 1988. A second cannabinoid receptor, CB2, was identified in 1993. The highest concentration of CB2 receptors is located on B lymphocytes and natural killer cells, suggesting a possible role in immunity. Endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids) have been identified and appear to have a role in pain modulation, control of movement, feeding behavior, and memory.

Did one woman's pot go up in smoke?

2011-03-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

On CNN.com

Elvy Musikka, 71, of Eugene, Oregon, says the post office lost something that could cost her more than just a buzz. She could lose her eyesight.

Six metal tins packed with medical marijuana joints --1,800 in all -- are in transit somewhere with her name on it. That's enough for up to 10 potent smokes a day for six months.

It's a prescription she receives twice a year to treat her glaucoma.

"I just don't know what to do," Musikka said.

Musikka says she's one of four remaining patients getting pot for free as part of a federal government program called Compassionate Use Protocol, developed in the 1980s.

Her attorney says the cannabis is grown in a government lab at the University of Mississippi.

"It relaxes the eye so whatever excess fluid can get through, " Mussika said.

She usually flies back to Miami, her former home, to pick up the pot from her eye specialist at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. But this time, the medicine was delayed, and she had to fly home without it.

Her attorney, Norman Kent of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, accepted the pot for her and shipped it as next-day delivery through the U.S. Postal Service on March 17.

It never arrived at Musikka's Oregon home.

"I spent $120 for (shipping) three cartons, " Kent said.

On Monday, Kent started calling the postal service.

He discovered he mislabeled the ZIP code. It was off by one digit and the shipment was sent to the post office in Santa Monica, California, about 850 miles away from Eugene, Oregon.

"I called consumer affairs' lost and found, the complaint and tracking departments, and everyone says that they're looking," Kent said.

Now, more than a week after the packages were mailed, there has yet to be a whiff of the missing cartons.

"I find it fascinating that the post office can tell me because of their tracking that it was misrouted and can acknowledge that it went to the wrong place, but they can't tell me what happened to it after that," Kent told CNN. "It's astounding."

Kent said the contents are not marked on the outside of the cartons. Inside, he included letters explaining why the rolled joints are stacked within the shiny metal tins.

"As each day goes by and it doesn't show up, I just get more confused. It's just very exasperating," Musikka said.

Musikka has her own website and sometimes lectures on the medical need for marijuana.

After spending hours on the phone with the postal service, Kent sent a letter to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday asking for help.

In the letter, he wrote that he hopes "the DEA recognizes it is not in the public interest to have marijuana missing in the U.S. mails," and adds the need to "make a record of this loss in order to procure a new prescription."

Contacted by CNN, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said the agency is looking for the lost shipment.

"She's not asking for much," Kent said. "Just her marijuana."

RI looks at legalizing pot for recreational use

2011-03-16T23:50:00.000-05:00

Boston.com

March 16, 2011

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Rhode Island would become the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana for recreational use under legislation that would replace criminal penalties for possession with alcohol-style regulation and taxes on America's most widely used illicit drug.

The proposal would lift the ban on possessing marijuana for anyone over the age of 21. It would still be illegal to smoke it publicly, or while driving a vehicle.

Cash-strapped Rhode Island, which legalized medical marijuana in 2006, would stand to make tens of millions of dollars off the deal.

The legislation would allow individuals to grow up to three marijuana plants, but only if they've paid $100 per plant. Wholesalers would have to pay a $50-per-ounce excise tax, retail licenses would cost $5,000 annually, and all retail marijuana sales would be subject to sales taxes.

"It would do wonders to improve our budget situation," said Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, one of five lawmakers sponsoring the bill.

Retired police officers and several Rhode Island residents told lawmakers that the long-standing prohibitions on pot fail to reduce its availability. Tight government regulation and taxes, they said, would recognize that pot is here to stay -- and raise some revenue in the process.

"This will allow police to return to tracking down violent criminals," said Jack Cole, a retired narcotics detective from New Jersey and a leader of a group of retired law enforcement officers who support legalization. "Prohibition has not worked."

But many lawmakers say the state's medical marijuana law is too new to consider legalizing the drug for everyone. Rep. John Carnevale, D-Providence, said the state needs to proceed carefully. Carnevale served 22 years as a Providence police officer, including three in the narcotics division.

"People say it's no worse than alcohol," Carnevale said. "Think about the problems we already have with alcohol. Why would we add another drug? What do we do the next time there's a downturn -- do we say 'OK, how much can we make on cocaine?'"

Some lawmakers would stop short of legalization and instead relax the penalties for marijuana possession. One legislative proposal would replace criminal fines and jail time with a $150 civil fine.

The debate is the latest example of how states throughout New England and the rest of the country are re-examining marijuana and its role as medicine, recreational drug and revenue generator. More than a dozen states now make marijuana a civil violation rather than a criminal offense. California voters last fall defeated a measure to legalize marijuana.

Rhode Island is one of 15 states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. On Tuesday state health officials announced three authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. The dispensaries aren't even open and yet Gov. Lincoln Chafee has already suggested imposing taxes on them.

"Our war on drugs has not been successful on marijuana," Ajello said. "We are moving toward accepting it."

HB 548 Hearing

2011-03-06T16:50:00.002-06:00

Texas Medical Marihuana - HB 1491

2011-02-23T18:43:00.002-06:00

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT relating to the medical use of marihuana.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 481.121, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:

(c) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution underSubsection (a) that the person possessed the marihuana as a patient of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state pursuant to the recommendation of that physician for the amelioration of the symptoms or effects of a bona fide medical condition.

(d) An agency, including a law enforcement agency, of this state or a political subdivision of this state may not initiate an administrative, civil, or criminal investigation int a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state on the ground that the physician discussed marihuana as a treatment option with a patient of the physician or made a written or oral statement that, in the physician's opinion, the potential benefits of marihuana would likely outweigh the health risks for a particular patient.

SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 164, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Section 164.0525 to read as follows:

Sec. 164.0525. MEDICAL USE OF MARIHUANA. A physician may
not be denied any right or privilege or be subject to any
disciplinary action solely for making a written or oral statement
that, in the physician's professional opinion, the potential
benefits of marihuana would likely outweigh the health risks for a particular patient.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that date.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.

Study turns pot wisdom on head

2011-02-19T17:50:00.000-06:00

Forget the stereotype about dopey potheads. It seems marijuana could be good for your brain.

While other studies have shown that periodic use of marijuana can cause memory loss and impair learning and a host of other health problems down the road, new research suggests the drug could have some benefits when administered regularly in a highly potent form.

Most "drugs of abuse" such as alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine suppress growth of new brain cells. However, researchers found that cannabinoids promoted generation of new neurons in rats' hippocampuses.

Hippocampuses are the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, and the study held true for either plant-derived or the synthetic version of cannabinoids.

"This is quite a surprise," said Xia Zhang, an associate professor with the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

"Chronic use of marijuana may actually improve learning memory when the new neurons in the hippocampus can mature in two or three months," he added.

Read the rest of the article.

Meet The Craig's List Of Marijuana: 420list.org

2011-02-11T21:18:00.001-06:00

420list.org

A platform for medical marijuana patients to share classified ads, listings, events, news and more, 420list.org serves as a central hub to facilitate communication between patients and dispensaries with local and real-time ads.

Article from Toke of the Town.

Border Patrol agent loses job after stating the obvious

2011-02-04T10:46:00.001-06:00

The War on Talking About the Drug War

Border Patrol agent loses job after stating the obvious

By Jordan Smith, Fri., Feb. 4, 2011

In April 2009, El Paso native and rookie Border Patrol Agent Bryan Gonzalez was working a stretch of the Mexican border near Deming, N.M. It was a relatively slow day, so when Gonzalez saw fellow Agent Shawn Montoya patrolling in the same area, the two men took a break, pulled their vehicles up next to each other, rolled down their windows, and began talking. When the conversation turned to the drug-related violence that was plaguing the border, Gonzalez "mentioned that he thought that legalization of marijuana would save a lot of lives across the border and over here," New Mexico ACLU spokesman Micah McCoy said during a recent interview. Gonzalez also mentioned that there's an organization of law enforcement officers and officials – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – that stands in opposition to the drug war. "The other guy didn't agree" with Gonzalez's views, McCoy said, but regardless, "it was a friendly conversation" between the two men.

The conversation ended, and that was that – or so Gonzalez thought. As it turned out, Montoya related the content of the conversation to a fellow officer stationed out of the Customs and Border Patrol El Paso Sector headquarters; in turn, that agent bypassed his supervisor and went straight up the food chain to the agency's Joint Intake Command in Washington, D.C., to report what Gonzalez had said that day. "From there, they started a full-blown Internal Affairs investigation," says McCoy.

Interestingly, Gonzalez, who was nearing the end of his two-year probationary agent period, wasn't aware that there was anything amiss until he was called to come to the El Paso HQ by his supervisor. When he got there, he was immediately placed under interrogation: "Do you have plans to overthrow the government?" the agents asked him. "They also asked if he was a socialist," McCoy said. Gonzalez was completely surprised and devastated, when not long after and just a month before his probationary period would have ended, he was handed a termination letter. According to the letter, Gonzalez was being fired because he held "personal views that were contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and esprit de corps."

That, says Terry Nelson, a former Border Patrol agent who is now a member of and speaker for LEAP, is idiotic. For starters, the termination letter absolutely misstated the values of the agency, which are actually "vigilance, service to country, and integrity," says Nelson. And part of "service to country is the dedication to defend and uphold the Constitution – and the last time I checked, the First Amendment was still the First Amendment to the Constitution." You "don't give that up just because you put on a badge," he said. Nelson should know: It was during his time serving as a Border Patrol agent, and then later, working with the government in South America, that Nelson decided the country's drug war was an utter failure. He spoke out about that from time to time, he said last week, and he was occasionally reprimanded, though not formally. "I got a finger in the chest: 'You don't make policy; you enforce it,'" he says he was told.

But there is no way that exercising your First Amendment right to free speech should get you terminated from a job – especially after the government has put so much money into your training. Gonzalez was an otherwise exemplary officer: While he was under investigation, he was actually named employee of the month, and he was regularly tapped to perform special duties reserved for high-performing agents, says McCoy. "By all accounts, he was an excellent agent and good at the job," he said. Indeed, Gonzalez, now 26, was looking forward to making a career out of his new job. Nelson says it's unfair that Gonzalez would be terminated for commenting privately that he believed there might be a better approach to drug policy than the one the U.S. has pursued for more than four decades. In short, the drug war isn't working, says Nelson, and it's ridiculous to pretend otherwise – and certainly foolish to fire someone for simply pointing that out. "He wasn't saying, 'I'm not going to enforce the law,'" Nelson points out.

Indeed, LEAP advocates for legalization, regulation, and control of the drug trade as the only means to reduce the harm associated with the drug trade and drug use. "Get it out in the open where we can control it; provide education and medical treatment when necessary," Nelson says. Gonzalez agrees. "I believe that the drug war just hasn't worked, and I think it's important for people to realize that it hasn't worked," he told Reuters last week.

On Jan. 20, Gonzalez, with the help of the New Mexico ACLU, filed a federal lawsuit in Texas against Customs and Border Patrol, alleging that his termination violated the First Amendment. Because Gonzalez was still a probationary agent at the time, he was unable to avail himself of civil service protections in order to contest his termination. Indeed, law enforcement agencies generally have wide latitude in firing probationary rookies.

Nonetheless, says the ACLU's McCoy, that doesn't mean an agency can "fire someone for discriminatory reasons" – and that is exactly what happened with Gonzalez, he said. Indeed, in a similar case, a LEAP speaker, Officer Jonathan Wender of the Mountlake Terrace, Wash., police department, was terminated for speaking out in favor of legalization; he was ultimately reinstated and given back pay. McCoy says he believes the CBP's actions were so egregious and the violation of the First Amendment so obvious that Gonzalez, too, should be compensated for the loss of his job. Moreover, the lawsuit against the agency seeks punitive damages large enough to deter the agency from behaving the same way in the future.

In short, says Nelson, the country needs to start getting serious about the failure of its drug policy and stop trying to silence those who speak out. Indeed, responding to questions during his second YouTube town hall meeting last week, President Barack Obama said that while he doesn't favor legalization, the topic is "worth a serious debate." Apparently the CBP – or at least those responsible for Gonzalez's termination – doesn't agree. But that's exactly the conversation the country needs to have, Nelson says. "The only way we're going to 'win' [and keep people off drugs] is through education," he said. "We're not going to arrest our way out of the problem."

Botched Paramilitary Police Raids:

2011-02-03T22:39:00.002-06:00

An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"

"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern."

—Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.

An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.

Obama Says Legalizing Drugs is Worthy of Debate

2011-01-27T19:14:00.004-06:00

Here's one person's comment:

"Worthy of debate" is government whore speak for we will discuss it, but no action will taken to legalize drugs. Don't expect Obama to fully agree with legalization until he's out of office.

He's probably right, but that's better than anything we've gotten in the past.

Marijuana Dominates Questions for Obama's YouTube Q&A

2011-01-27T19:02:00.003-06:00

President Obama today is conducting his now-annual YouTube question-and-answer session, and as always, the questions dominating YouTube today have to do with marijuana.

More than 193,000 people have submitted questions for the president via the video website or cast votes, rating the questions positively or negatively.

The Huffington Post reports that of the first 200 highest-rated questions, 198 have to do with drug policy. The top-rated question comes from a retired police officer with the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

"The so-called war on drugs has been waged for 40 years at a cost of a trillion dollars and thousands of lives, with nothing to show for it but increased supplies of cheaper drugs and a dramatic increase in violence associated with the underworld drug market," the officer says in his video. "Do you think there will or should come a time to discuss the possibility of legalization, regulation and control of all drugs, thereby doing away with the violent criminal market as well as a major source of funding for international terrorism?"

When marijuana questions dominated his online "town hall" in 2009, Mr. Obama did take the time to answer one of the questions, stating that he opposes marijuana legalization, though he took a dismissive tone. "I don't know what this says about the online audience," he joked, referring to the popularity of the question. In 2010, he ignored the issue.

The Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the Marijuana Policy Project, NORML and Students for Sensible Drug Policy issued a joint statement statement today about the Q&A session.

"We are encouraged by the grassroots response bubbling up around this issue and urge President Obama to address this issue seriously and thoroughly," the statement said. "The American people want to know why our country is continuing the failed, catastrophic policy of drug prohibition."

CBS News

Border Patrol Agent Fired For Views On Drug Legalization Files Lawsuit

2011-01-26T19:19:00.001-06:00

In September of 2009, border patrol agent Bryan Gonzalez was fired for expressing his views on drug legalization to a fellow agent. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has joined Gonzalez in filing a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Gonzalez, 26, alleges that he was dismissed from his job in El Paso, Texas after saying in casual conversation that legalizing and regulating drugs would help stop cartel violence along the southern border with Mexico. His letter of termination stated his comments were "contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and esprit de corps."

Gonzalez told his colleague Shawn Montoya in April of 2009 that "legalization of drugs would end the drug war and related violence in Mexico," adding that "the drug problems in America were due to American demand for drugs supplied by Mexico," according to the complaint he and the ACLU-NM filed in federal court.

Montoya reported the conversation to officials, sparking an internal-affairs investigation. Gonzalez was dismissed just one month before the end of his two-year probationary period, despite consistently-excellent performance reviews. He served from October 2007 until September 2009.

Read the rest of this story on HuffPo.

Mexico's Ex-President Vicente Fox: Legalize Drugs

2011-01-19T21:59:00.000-06:00

As Mexico drowns in drug related bloodshed - suffering almost 12,000 murders in 2010 - it is perhaps unsurprising that government critics turn up their screaming that the war on drugs isn't working. But it was a bit of a bombshell when former president Vicente Fox added his voice to the chorus. The cowboy-boot wearing leader, who ruled Mexico from 2000 to 2006, had once declared the "mother of all battles" against crime and rounded up drug kingpins. But before he left office, he had witnessed the first big spike in violence as the narcos retaliated. In August of 2010, evidence surfaced that his vision had changed when he wrote on his blog that prohibition wasn't working. Now, in a recent interview with TIME in his hometown in Central Mexico, he explains that his views have moved on to the other end of the spectrum: favoring full-on legalization of production, transit and selling of prohibited drugs. Fox is most explicit about marijuana, but argues that the principle applied to all illegal drugs.

TIME magazine

Portugal's drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons

2010-12-28T18:07:00.002-06:00

By BARRY HATTON and MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press © 2010 The Associated Press
Dec. 26, 2010, 11:02PM

From the AP story, which appeared in several papers:

Other European countries treat drugs as a public health problem, too, but Portugal stands out as the only one that has written that approach into law. The result: More people tried drugs, but fewer ended up addicted.

Here's what happened between 2000 and 2008:

_ There were small increases in illicit drug use among adults, but decreases for adolescents and problem users, such as drug addicts and prisoners.

_ Drug-related court cases dropped 66 percent.

_ Drug-related HIV cases dropped 75 percent. In 2002, 49 percent of people with AIDS were addicts; by 2008 that number fell to 28 percent.

_ The number of regular users held steady at less than 3 percent of the population for marijuana and less than 0.3 percent for heroin and cocaine — figures which show decriminalization brought no surge in drug use.

_ The number of people treated for drug addiction rose 20 percent from 2001 to 2008.

Montana Jurors Raise Hopes of Marijuana Advocates

2010-12-23T11:35:00.000-06:00

Marijuana fans are calling it the Mutiny in Montana.

t all began last Thursday, when a group of prospective jurors in Missoula were seated for a two-day trial of a repeat offender by the name of Teuray Cornell, whom the local police had arrested and charged with selling marijuana, a felony, and possession of a small amount of the drug, a misdemeanor.

To seat a 12-person jury, Judge Robert L. Deschamps III of Missoula County District Court had called a passel of Montanans to serve, and 27 had arrived at court on Dec. 16. So far, so good.

But after the charges were read, one of the jurors raised a hand.

“She said, ‘I’ve got a real problem with these marijuana cases,’ ” Judge Deschamps recalled on Wednesday. “And after she got through, a couple more raised their hands.” All told, five jurors raised questions about marijuana prosecution.

Read the rest of the New York Times article.

Marijuana Christmas Tree Seized In Germany

2010-12-08T21:54:00.000-06:00

Perhaps they should call it a case of "Merry-Juana." A German man is now facing drug possession charges after local police discovered a six-foot-tall marijuana plant in his home that had been decorated with twinkling Christmas lights, the AFP is reporting.

"The marijuana plant had been put in a Christmas tree stand and decorated with a string of lights," officers said in a statement, according to the AFP. "When asked, the hashish fan told the perplexed officers that he had intended to add more decorations to the 'tree' and place the presents under it, according to tradition." Times Live reports that 150 grams of marijuana had been found in the man's home in Koblenz before the tree was discovered.

Turns out he wasn't the only German getting into the Christmas spirit with cannabis this year. On Tuesday, a 21-year-old Munich man was reportedly arrested after making an Advent calendar with marijuana hidden behind each door instead of chocolate. Claiming he had been given the calendar as a present, that suspect was ultimately released but now faces charges of possessing drugs.

From Huffington Post

On the benefits to county budgets, local police coverage from reducing pot penalties

2010-11-18T22:34:00.002-06:00

Thank you Grits.

Grits has been arguing that budget cuts in corrections will require policy changes in addition to merely reducing line items at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, a reality that other states like Arizona andOklahoma are struggling with as well. One of the simplest, most elegant and helpful solutions would be to ratchet down drug penalties one notch all the way across the board - both for felony levels and misdemeanor marijuana charges. I've been focused on ways to save money in the state budget - particularly through lowering "less-than-a-gram" cases from a state jail felony to a Class A misdemeanor, and long-term by reducing the highest felony drug penalties (which at current levels often exceed murder sentences).

But savings to county budgets would be significant as well, particularly as it regards marijuana arrests. And just as important, lowering penalties would free up police officers to focus on more important crimes. Right now possession of an ounce of weed is a Class B misdemeanor, which means police typically arrest the person, take them to the jail, and the arresting officer is out of circulation for some period of time (let's conservatively say an hour) for booking and processing. After that, the county must pay for attorneys for the indigent among them, jail and court costs, etc.. And in the end most sentences are probated, misdemeanor probation caseloads become bloated, fines and fees collected don't cover costs, particularly for indigent defendants, and the whole process comes to seem rather pointless all the way around.

Ratcheting down the penalty to a Class C for low-level pot possession would save money on jail time, indigent defense, and keep more officers on the street to focus on more significant crimes. Plus Class Cs generate fine income without the county paying for indigent defense, etc.. California recently shifted to fine-only tickets for low-level pot possession, but it's been in place so short a time I doubt there's data yet on payment rates. In any event, we're talking about a lot of resources devoted to pot possession arrests. These data were compiled from Chapter 8 of DPS' annual Texas Crime Report:

Marijuana Arrests as a Percentage of All Texas Drug Possession Arrests

2006: 52.1%

2007: 52.7%

2008: 54.6%

2009: 57.9%

At a time when clearance rates for offenses from burglary to murder are low, these data represent misplaced crime fighting priorities. Texas law enforcement arrested 69,956 adults for marijuana possession in 2009. If 80% of those were ticketed without arrest, that would have been 55,965 fewer arrests statewide. Assuming each arrest takes the officer off the street for one hour, reducing this penalty would be the equivalent of adding nearly 7,000 8-hour officer days on Texas' streets to perform other, more important tasks, without paying one dime extra! And those assumptions still allow for police to arrest one person in five found in possession of marijuana, including juveniles, those also engaged in other crimes, and those who pose a threat to themselves or others.

This suggestion does not propose "decriminalization," and pot possession would still be illegal, just like possession of harder drugs. The penalties would just be rationalized to reflect the state's actual ability to pay for them, and to get more bang for the buck from our criminal justice dollars at all levels of the justice system.

Leaves of Grass

2010-11-14T14:16:00.001-06:00

New York Times
November 13, 2010

By AMY STEWART

Eureka, Calif.

THE day after voters in California rejected an initiative to legalize marijuana, a package arrived at the bookstore I own with my husband: eight ounces of premium bud. This was not a gift from a grateful customer, nor was it a new product we’d brought in for the holiday season. The package came from a grower here in Humboldt County who had decided it would be amusing to use our bookstore as the return address.

And it might have gone directly to a buyer in Austin, Tex., except that the grower had used a little too much packaging, pushing it over the Postal Service’s weight limit. Stamped packages weighing more than 13 ounces have to be handed over in person at the post office, not dropped anonymously in a mailbox. And so the padded envelope and its aromatic contents were returned to sender — in this case, our antiquarian bookstore, which is better known for shipping signed first editions and vintage bird lithographs than Humboldt County’s most famous agricultural product.

At first we couldn’t believe our luck. Rare book dealers are in the business of buying low and selling high, but never had we had the opportunity to take that phrase quite so literally. Anyone else might have been inclined to keep the package for personal use, but we’re shopkeepers facing a busy holiday season. We can’t afford to let the next few weeks drift away in a cloud of smoke.

Being retailers, we weren’t immune to the temptation to sell our windfall. One of our regular customers walked in just after we’d opened the package; he offered us enough cash to cover our rent through the end of the year. But although medical marijuana laws and a tolerant attitude by law enforcement make the drug practically legal here, we weren’t quite ready to take the next step and start dealing from behind the counter.

Strangely enough, though, the idea that a bookstore could keep itself in business by selling marijuana might explain why someone chose to put our return address on the package to begin with.

Two months ago, a local weekly, The Arcata Eye, asked if it could run an excerpt from a novel I had written a few years ago in which digital books had become so popular that bookstores everywhere were forced to shut their doors. Only one remained open: a creaky old antiquarian bookstore in northern California much like my own. The shop, finding itself in the national spotlight, could no longer hide the fact that it had been selling something other than books for years.

Soon the story about the bookstore that tucks marijuana between the pages of old books appeared in The Eye; it was part of a fictionalized series about life in cannabis country that ran as the state debated the failed referendum, Proposition 19, which would have allowed licensed retailers to sell marijuana to people over 21 for recreational use.

I like to think that pot growers read the newspaper, and read novels, and enjoy contemplating the fine line between fiction and fact. I envisioned one packing the week’s shipments and facing the persistent conundrum of what imaginary return address to print on the envelope. In a moment of inspiration, he or she must have realized that it would take only a few strokes of the pen to bring my novel to life. And so it was that our bookstore — at least according to the fiction written across a padded envelope weighing slightly over 13 ounces — made its first shipment of marijuana.

We hope this will also be the last shipment. In the end, we didn’t smoke it or sell it or give it to our employees as a holiday bonus.

We called the police and asked them to come pick it up. This is a laughable move in Humboldt — it was difficult to persuade the officer to bother making the trip down to the store at all — but we realized that we needed to establish some sort of plausible deniability before a drug-sniffing dog got a whiff of another package with our address on it.

Besides, the voters of California have made it clear they aren’t ready for a bookstore that sells pot — for now.

Amy Stewart is the author, most recently, of “Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities.”

Protesters bomb police station with cart full of burning cannabis: report

2010-11-13T21:29:00.000-06:00

The Raw Story
By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, November 12th, 2010 -- 3:36 pm

Police in the New Zealand capital of Wellington were weighing charges Friday against a group of pro-cannabis protesters who invaded the cop-shop with a cart full of burning marijuana, according to a report from the scene.

The activists had been demonstrating on parliament grounds by smoking marijuana openly in front of police and security, as party of an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience.

Amid the noisy scene, with a rowdy crowd shouting and cheering in approval, one of the protest organizers declared that he was "proud as hell" to have been a part of the demonstration, telling a reporter that they had "declared war" on their country's drug laws.

"Free the weed! Free the weed!" the crowd chanted as police rushed in with fire extinguishers and handcuffs.

Dakta Green, briefly interviewed by 3 News in New Zealand, is a marijuana activist who has been leading a campaign of "peace" between tokers and police, calling his cause the "Armistice Tour." The main goal, apart from the outright legalization and regulation of cannabis, is to convince police to let sports fans smoke during the rugby World Cup next year.

New Zealanders have a history of violence when it comes to losing rugby matches, and much of the rage, many locals portend, is due to copious alcohol consumption. The marijuana campaigners suggest that allowing fans to smoke marijuana instead would be safer.

Meanwhile, traveling around the country in a big, green bus -- apparently nicknamed "Mary Jane the Cannabus," according to their website -- the group is hoping to encourage other marijuana consumers to "live like it's legal."

Video posted to an 'Armistice' campaign website showed a group of people laughing and talking while smoking on the lawn in front of parliament. Green later delivered an "Armistice Agreement," allegedly bearing the signatures of 4,500 people, to New Zealand Green MP Gareth Hughes.

The New Zealand Herald called it "one of the happiest protests the political precinct had seen in a long time."

Their protest inside the police station would seem to have been a bit more eventful.

Police said they were examining a shopping cart, which reportedly contained a heap of flaming marijuana. The brazen act of defiance was allegedly committed on camera, but authorities have not yet released the footage.

This video is from 3 News in New Zealand, broadcast Nov. 12, 2010.

Watch this video on iPhone/iPad

Silver Lining Seen in Defeat of California Measure

2010-11-13T10:25:00.001-06:00

SAN FRANCISCO — Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California, received more votes than the Republican nominee for governor, Meg Whitman.

It also received untold news coverage, bringing the debate a new level of legitimacy in the eyes of many supporters. And while it lost — with 46 percent of the vote — its showing at the polls was strong enough that those supporters are confidently planning to bring it back before voters in California, and perhaps other states, in 2012.

“We’re going to win,” said Aaron Houston, the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nonprofit group in Washington. “And we’re going to win a whole lot sooner than anybody thinks.”

Read the rest of Jesse McKinley's New York Times article here.

Texas Prop 19

2010-11-10T00:06:00.002-06:00

I get a lot of hits from people searching for Texas Prop 19. I wonder if they think we might be able to introduce something like Prop 19 here in Texas? If you think so, wake up from your pipe dream. Texas Legislators are trying to see who can file anti-drug bills the fastest.

Democrat Aaron Pena almost tripped over Debbie Riddle trying to file H.B. No. 49, which would add "synthetic cannabinoids" to Penalty Group 2. (I wonder if this includes Marinol?)

My friend Buford says, "As many real tigers as the Lege has to fight this year, this bill probably won't see the light of day. The real problem is that since the state's fiscal problems can't be solved without a massive redoing of the tax structure (can anyone say "In***e tax"?), the Lege may try to play to its social conservative base with a bunch of feel-good junk like voter ID, anti-immigration, and banning "fake mj". This entire session should rate somewhere between pie-in-the-face comedy and everyone-dies tradegy."

Not to be outdone, Republicans got their licks in too. Ken Legler filed a bill requiring drug testing of recipients of unemployment benefits (H.B. No. 126) and Jodie Laubenberg thinks that persons applying for government financial assistance should be tested (H.B. No 139).

Drug policy reformers here in Texas will have their hands full in the 82nd Legislative session just trying not to lose ground. We don't have a prayer for any progressive drug policy reform bills.

People who would like to see a Prop 19 type of bill passed here in Texas better get active. There is a lot of educating to do before that becomes a possibility.

Dedicated Pot Crusaders Already Licking Their Chops for the Next Opportunity to Legalize

2010-11-04T23:38:00.001-05:00

OAKLAND—California’s pot-legalization initiative went down to defeat last night, but supporters say it came close enough to try again.

The Proposition 19 ballot initiative won 46 percent of the vote. It would have regulated and taxed marijuana under rules similar to those for alcohol, albeit with a lot more dry counties and odd blue laws.

Ironically, the proposal failed to carry the “Emerald Triangle” of Humboldt and Mendocino counties, the state’s most fabled ganja-growing region. Prop 19 got only 47 percent there, according to “semi-official” returns posted on-line by California’s Secretary of State.

Supporters claimed a moral victory and a tactical advance. The vote, they said, was close enough to put marijuana legalization on the national map as an issue to be taken seriously.

Read the rest of Steve Wishnia's Alternet article.

Some election news

2010-11-03T23:37:00.000-05:00

DRUG POLICY REFORM CANDIDATES

Jodi James, a long-time NORML and LEAP activist was the Democratic nomineefor Florida State House of Representatives in the 31st District. She won the primary but she lost with only 37.8 percent yesterday. The Republican incumbent was re-elected.
http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/contestdetails.aspx?con=260310

Jason Ortiz, an SSDP chapter leader at the University of Connecticut, and member of the SSDP national board, ran for the Connecticut State House of Representatives in the 54th District, which included UConn, for an open seat. The former holder of the seat was the Democratic Majority Leader in the State House who was running for Secretary of State in CT. He got on the ballot by petition and was not the candidate of a party. He got 14 percent. The Democratic candidate won handily.
http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/election_results.asp

Lori Albin, the lobbyist for the Maryland public defenders in Annapolis, and an ally, ran for the Maryland House of Delegates 42nd District. She survived the Democratic primary, but for the three seats she came in fourth, about 1400 votes shy - she needed about 18200 to win.
http://elections.baltimoresun.com/2010/results/index.php?id=3

STATE-WIDE INITIATIVES

Prop. 19 in California to legalize marijuana lost, 46 to 54%, gathering 3.2 million votes (more than Meg Whitman, and perhaps more than the successful candidate for AG, depending on the final tally.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/election/la-election-results-california,0,826124.htmlstory#attgen

Initiative 74 in Oregon to expand medical marijuana lost, getting 43% (533,781) No 57% (713732).
http://www.kptv.com/election-results/16334080/detail.html

The South Dakota medical marijuana initiative lost. It got less than 37%.
http://electionresults.sd.gov/applications/st25cers3/

GOOD NEWS

Peter Shumlin, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Vermont, who prominently supported medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization won narrowly. With 89 percent of precincts reporting early today, Shumlin had 49.4 percent of the vote compared to 47.9 percent for Dubie, the Republican candidate, who conceded. This was a lead of about 3000 votes.

In Massachusetts, Mike Cutler reports that the local advisory votes for legalization in various districts at least 17 of the 18 districts won handily.

The Arizona medical marijuana initiative, with 92.5% of precincts reporting was behind by about 7500 votes out of 1.2 million cast.
http://www.azcentral.com/elections/index.php

Roger Goodman, running for a third term in the Washington State House of Representatives in the 45 District, position 1, with 55% of precincts reporting was down about 700 votes 49 % to 51% for his Republican challenger. Roger is Executive Director of the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers and had been named a High Times Freedom Fighter of the Month.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/politics/wastatehouse2.html

In Connecticut, Dan Malloy the Democratic candidate for Governor supported marijuana law reform. With 92% of precincts reporting, he and the Republican are at 49% each, but he is slightly ahead by 1500 votes out of more than a million counted. http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/election_results.asp

The California Attorney General race is tight. With 93% of precincts in, Kamala Harris, the Democrat from San Francisco is ahead of Steve Cooley, the anti-dispensary LA District Attorney, by about 44,000 votes, 46% to 45%.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/election/la-election-results-california,0,826124.htmlstory
MORE OFFICIAL http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/attorney-general/

Prohibition of Pot Has Relied on Fairy Tales of 'Devil Weed'

2010-10-29T21:27:00.002-05:00

Mike Gray in the Sacramento Bee

It was 75 years ago last summer that the war on the Devil Weed was launched by a former railroad cop named Harry Anslinger. If Anslinger had found some other line of work, it's quite possible that marijuana prohibition might never have happened.

A bull-necked tough guy with a talent for organizing, Anslinger rose through the ranks of Treasury agents fighting for a booze-free America in the 1920s. When alcohol Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Anslinger had already landed on his feet as commissioner of the newly created Bureau of Narcotics. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he fell into a crime-fighting competition with his rival J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI.

By 1935, Anslinger had come up with a strategy to vastly increase his turf. A handful of border state sheriffs were complaining about a foreign plague creeping up from the south a weed the Mexicans called "marihuana" that was driving its victims insane. A single toke, it was said, could cause you to chop up your grandmother.

Anslinger initially ridiculed the idea of banning the plant "It grows like dandelions" but he finally saw its value as a symbol. So he upgraded the cannabis plant from a medicinal herb to an evil "as hellish as heroin." And to stoke the flames, he played the race card.

"There are 100,000 total marihuana smokers in the U.S.," he warned the Hearst papers, "and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music jazz and swing result from marihuana use. This marihuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

Most Americans had never heard of the weed, and Congress hadn't either. But in a series of committee hearings, Anslinger managed to horrify the lawmakers with tales of rape, murder and mayhem brought on by the Devil Weed. The principal witness was Commissioner Anslinger, and his evidence consisted largely of newspaper clippings quoting himself. No scientific studies were presented. None of his charges ever was corroborated. The hearings were, as USC law professor Charles Whitebread observed, "near comic examples of dereliction of legislative responsibility."

On June 14, 1937, the bill came to the House floor without debate. In a vote that no one bothered to record, on a matter of little interest, Congress casually passed a bill that would radically transform society. Last year alone we arrested more than 750,000 people for simple possession. In California, we have had to stop building universities in favor of prisons.

The overall price tag is in the hundreds of billions. Surely after such a monumental sacrifice we must have something to show for it?

Sorry. The 100,000 tokers Anslinger warned us about have doubled and redoubled again and again. Last year an estimated 28 million Americans smoked the weed, nearly a hundredfold increase per capita. Children say it's easier to buy than beer.

But now, thanks to the state that so often points us toward the future, Californians have a chance to bring this tragic chapter to a close. Proposition 19 will free us from the bondage of this misbegotten policy and free our lawmen to focus on real rapists, robbers and murderers.

The opponents of Prop. 19 use the same arguments they used in the battle against legalizing medical use. But in the 16 years since we passed Proposition 215, a dozen other states have followed our lead and as everyone can plainly see, the sky has not fallen. If we're willing to lead once again and the sky doesn't fall, others will surely follow.

Mike Gray, author of "Drug Crazy," a history of the war on drugs, is chairman of Common Sense for Drug Policy, based in Los Angeles.

Proposition 19

Spring Breakers without Borders

2010-10-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

Caution, some disturbing scenes in this video.

The Broadus Effect

2010-10-16T16:55:00.002-05:00

LA Weekly Blogs

Of six polls released so far on Prop 19, the November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, three have the yeas winning easily, while three have it losing narrowly.

What gives? As usual, if you have a polling conundrum, Nate Silver is your man. And in this case, his hypothesis is fascinating.

Silver is the stat whiz who first created a formula for predicting -- with astounding accuracy -- the performance of baseball players. Then, under the pseudonym Poblano, he began analyzing polls to forecast the many outcomes of the long Democratic presidential primary campaign. Then he set up shop as fivethirtyeight.com, which has since been bought by The New York Times. He predicted with uncanny accuracy the 2008 election.

Anyway, Silver notes that three polls in which Prop 19 is winning are "robopolls," meaning they're automated -- you push a number on your phone to respond. In the three where Prop 19 is losing, the pollsters are actual humans asking the respondents questions.

Silver notices something else: Huge spreads in the numbers among African-Americans.

In the robopolls, blacks favor Prop 19 by 28 points or more. In the only human poll where they break out demographics, African-Americans are opposed by 12. There are large disparities among Latino voters, too.

The hypothesis: The automated polls give the respondent a more secure feeling of anonymity and no social stigma, so he feels free to voice his true opinion. (Silver also notes that it's possible the automated polls are having trouble getting a representative sample of African-Americans because they have a lower response rate to robopolls.)

But if indeed black voters are more honest with the robopolls, it would amount to a mirror of the Bradley effect.

The Bradley effect was the notion -- broadly speaking -- that people lie to pollsters and say what they think they want to hear. It refers to Tom Bradley losing the 1982 California governor's race even though he was leading in late polls. The idea is that white voters, out of some vague racial guilt, told pollsters they were voting for Bradley but didn't once in the safe confines of the voting booth.

Silver: Nevertheless, it's possible that we're seeing some sort of Bradley effect in reverse, which I've reluctantly dubbed the "Broadus Effect" after the given name of the rapper Snoop Dogg, himself a frequent consumer of cannabinoid-rich products.

So the idea here is that once voters are in the cozy confines of the ballot box and can register their choice in secret, they may feel free to say yea on Prop 19.

And with that, we have delightful new lingo for the Prop 19 battle: The Broadus Effect.

On Marijuana, Californians May Ignore Leaders’ Views

2010-10-15T23:32:00.000-05:00

October 15, 2010 New York Times

by ADAM NAGOURNEY

LOS ANGELES — The Department of Justice says it intends to prosecute marijuana laws in California aggressively even if state voters approve an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize the drug.

The announcement by Eric H. Holder Jr., the attorney general, was the latest reminder of how much of the establishment has lined up against the popular initiative: dozens of editorial boards, candidates for office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other public officials.

Still, despite this opposition — or perhaps, to some extent, because of it — the measure, Proposition 19, appears to have at least a decent chance of winning, so far drawing considerable support in polls from a coalition of Democrats, independents, younger voters and men as Election Day nears. Should that happen, it could cement a cultural shift in California, where medical marijuana has been legal since 1996 and where the drug has been celebrated in popular culture at least since the 1960s.

High Art

2010-10-12T21:54:00.001-05:00

New York Times:

Life Is Art, an art foundation in Santa Rosa, Calif., intends to use the proceeds from the sale of marijuana it grows to support art projects.

Gary Johnson testifies on Colbert

2010-10-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Gary Johnson

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

2010 Election

March to Keep Fear Alive

Thirty percent of Texans polled say legalize marijuana

2010-10-05T22:52:00.007-05:00

Excerpted from The 2010 Texas Lyceum Poll Executive Summary of State Attitudes

From September 22-30, 725 adult Texans responded to a random, scientific statewide telephone sample asking about their attitudes towards the current political and economic environment, the 2010 elections, and issues likely to come up in the 2011 Texas state legislative session.

The sample is representative of the adult population of Texas. It is 50% female and 50% male. About a third of the respondents (32%) are identified as Hispanic, 11% as African American, and 54% as White. Most respondents reside in the metropoles of Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, while 13% live in the state’s rural areas. Close to two thirds are married (59%). Politically, more respondents (46%) identified themselves as Independents than as Republicans (23%) or Democrats (28%). Asked about their political outlook, more consider themselves Conservative (41%) than Moderate (34%) or Liberal(20%).

Looking at other options for tackling the budget deficit, 34% of voters support legalizing gambling and imposing taxes on casinos. 27% support increasing the taxes on alcoholic beverages and 14% support legalizing the use of marijuana and imposing taxes on its purchase. When the respondents "second mentions" were counted, nearly 60% said to increase the taxes on alcoholic beverages, 55% said to legalize gambling, and 30% of those polled said to legalize and tax marijuana.

Marijuana Legalization Gains Momentum in California

2010-09-20T22:40:00.002-05:00

The Nation's Extra Credit Blog

For all the punditry surrounding the Democrats’ impending electoral misfortunes, little attention has been paid to a California ballot initiative which, if successful, may foster greater lasting political implications: Proposition 19, or the legalization of marijuana for personal consumption among adults aged 21 and over.

As detailed in Ari Berman’s Rolling Stone piece earlier this month, an ideologically diverse coalition of advocacy organizations, student groups, academics, and politicians have joined forces to support the November initiative. The California NAACP endorsed Prop 19 in July, calling it a “civil rights issue.” Just this week California’s chapter of the SEIU – the state’s most powerful labor union – also threw its support and formidable campaign apparatus behind the measure.

Interestingly, praise for Prop 19 is not limited to what might be the expected left-leaning constituencies. Yes, there's strong student support for the initiative at UC - Berkeley and UC - Santa Cruz, but there's also Jordan Marks, Executive Director of the Young Americans Foundation – the nation’s largest conservative youth activist organization – who sits on the board of the Just Say Now campaign alongside prominent liberal bloggers Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – a group comprised of former police officers, prosecutors, and judges who oppose current drug policy – have taken to the talk show circuit, assuaging the concerns of those who might assume that only shaggy-haired hippies care strongly about marijuana legalization. Even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, famously fond of the occasional toke during his youth, has cautiously left the door open to backing the measure.

Predictably, the usual suspects have come out in favor of the status quo. Obama Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, joined by five of his predecessors, penned a laughably flawed piece in the Los Angeles Times arguing for the continued criminalization of marijuana. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, long an opponent of drug policy reform, was named chairperson of the anti-Prop 19 campaign. And Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is also not a backer, despite evidence that Prop 19 could actually help California Democrats by driving progressive voter turnout in November.

From decreasing marijuana prohibition-related violence on the Mexican border, to freeing up space in our prisons for actual criminals, to providing much-needed tax revenue for state coffers – there are myriad of reasons to support legalization. Yes on Prop 19 is currently leading in the polls, but California ballot initiatives are notoriously unpredictable. Do your part by getting involved with the Just Say Now campaign and following @taxcannabis on Twitter.

Marijuana Ballot Measure in California Wins Support of Union, Officials Say

2010-09-14T22:42:00.000-05:00

New York Times

LOS ANGELES — A ballot measure to make California the first state to legalize the sale and use of marijuana has won the support of one of the state’s most powerful union, officials said Monday, offering the proposition a shot of mainstream legitimacy as well as a potential financial and organizational lift.

The decision by the executive board of the Service Employees International Union of California will be announced in the next few days, according to officials who have been briefed about it but were not allowed to speak publicly before it was announced.

The measure has faced strong opposition from law enforcement groups, including Sheriff Lee Baca of Los Angeles County, who said he would lead a campaign against it as a threat to public safety.

But the proposal also won support on Monday from some former law enforcement officials, including police officers, judges and prosecutors.

The measure, known as Proposition, 19 would legalize, regulate and tax the sale of marijuana. It has been promoted as a way to raise money for the financially beleaguered state, while dealing a setback to Mexican drug cartels.

The measure is quickly emerging as one of the top — and most contentious — ballot issues in the nation this November. Polls show that it has the support of a slight majority of voters. But political analysts said that this kind of measure, given the social stigma that comes with illicit drug use, could prove difficult to poll.

At the very least, the support by the S.E.I.U., which claims over 700,000 members in the state, could make it easier for other groups to rally around the measure. More practically, it means access to the union’s considerable campaign apparatus, which could finance mailings, telephone calls and leaflets.

Medical marijuana for ADD and it's good for kids!

2010-08-31T23:20:00.002-05:00

Medical Marijuana Advocates Try Again With Limited Bill

2010-08-08T16:04:00.003-05:00

From The Texas Tribune

Stephen Betzen’s life changed the morning he found a gift from a stranger on the steps of his house. At the time, his wife, Rachel was reeling from a combination of Lyme disease and injuries from a car wreck. If the opiates prescribed by her doctors eased her pain, they left her nearly comatose, Betzen says. If they didn’t, he awoke to her screams.

The gift was a bag of marijuana.

“We had hit rock bottom, and here is this medicine on our porch — and we were actually having to think about [using] it,” he says. The next day, he says. he heard the most beautiful sound: “The sound of silence when my wife wasn’t in tears.”

Betzen is now the executive director of Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care, a Dallas-based nonprofit that, alongside Texas NORML and Medcan University, is lobbying legislators in hopes of reforming Texas’ marijuana laws. The organizations don't agree on strategy, however, with the TCCC pushing only for a limited law allowing medical use as a defense against criminal charges, and the others seeking broader legalization that would include permitting and regulating sales outlets.

If past is prologue, their battles will be anything but downhill. Legislators already are fighting to ban a substance called K2, which is said to be similar to marijuana and is legal — for now. State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, has said she intends to seek a ban on K2. "You can get it ... in gas stations, hooka lounges, tobacco stores. They're selling it everywhere," she told Fox News.

Other politicians continue to see any legalization effort as poisonous. The recently elected chair of the Republican Party of Texas, Steve Munisteri, recently “liked” the TCCC on Facebook but promptly “unliked” it when a reporter called to ask whether he supported medical marijuana. (He never responded.) State Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, a doctor, also removed his Facebook association with the group; an aide says it was all a mistake.

Advocates can count on the Texas Medical Association, however. In 2005, the organization adopted the position that doctors should be able to consider prescribing marijuana for their patients without fear of regulatory or criminal action and to freely study its medical effectiveness.

Betzen believes the proposal he favors could pass next session because it's more conservative than previously rejected legislation. He’s pushing an “affirmative defense” bill that would neither legalize nor decriminalize marijuana and would not sanction the kind of dope dispensaries that have cropped up all over California or official ID cards for approved users. In fact, Betzen says, his limited law wouldn’t affect current penalties for possession at all. It would only allow a judge or jury to hear that a defendant used marijuana on a doctor’s recommendation.

“If we are not going to get all the protection that we absolutely need, then we are going to take the protections that they are willing to give,” he says. “It’s a compromise to get protections on the table to patients as soon as possible.”

Compromise may not be enough. State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, who plans to file an affirmative defense bill next session, has tried before and failed. Dorothy Browne, Naishtat's chief of staff, says the bill failed even to get a hearing in committee in 2009. The same thing happened in 2007. In 2001, former state Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, the former Travis County sheriff, filed a similar bill, which languished in committee. In 2005, the bill received a hearing and was left pending.

Those previous efforts failed, Betzen believes, because they lacked clarity. His proposal specifies limits on the amounts users could possess and better details the requirements of legal use.

“When everybody knows how to comply with the law, it makes everybody in the process safer,” he says. “You have to understand the process."

Different strokes

Texas NORML — the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws — doesn't oppose TCCC’s approach but isn't particularly excited about the compromise, either. The same goes for Medcan University, says Dante Picazo, its chief executive officer. Medcan lobbies for loosening restrictions on marijuana and runs a company that teaches classes to potential cultivators and retailers on how to profit from legal pot.

Picazo and Josh Schimberg, the executive director of Texas NORML, believe an affirmative defense doesn’t go far enough because it doesn’t prevent arrests for medical marijuana use. “What we’d like to see here in Texas is something along the lines of what New Mexico has, where patients who have a doctor’s recommendation can get registered with the state department of health and have an ID card,” Schimberg says. Additionally, he says, growers and distributors should be registered and regulated by the state and identified as the only possible source for registered patients. That would ease lawmakers’ worries about the legislation enriching criminal elements, he says.

“One of the first questions that always comes up is, ‘How are you going to ensure that patients aren’t going to the black market to get product from drug gangs?’” he says.

Such a law would also generate billions for the state, says Picazo, who has drafted a bill called the Texas State Medical Use of Marijuana Act. He envisions a system governed by an agency similar to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

“If we are talking about a drug, then I compare it to alcohol. Why don’t we patrol it and police it and regulate it the way we do our nightclubs in the state of Texas?” Picazo asks. “If it’s medication, then it’s a totally different set of values and a totally different story. Then it should be in the hands of CVS, Walgreens or medical dispensaries so that it’s totally and legitimately done as an enterprise.”

Pot for PTSD

Like Schimberg, Betzen points to New Mexico to bolster his argument for legalization. There, he says, about a quarter of medical marijuana users suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. “Roughly 25 percent of the patients in New Mexico are on the program for PTSD, and I would be willing to bet that most of those patients are veterans coming home from war,” he says. “This definitely represents a large constituency.”

Last month the Veterans Administration clarified its position on returning soldiers who test positive for marijuana use. Previously, veterans who tested positive for illegal drugs faced the possibility of being denied their prescription medication. The new directive gave discretion to doctors in such cases. A spokeswoman at the VA's regional office in Dallas says she's unaware of how often or on what schedule veterans in Texas are tested.

That some doctors believe marijuana can help veterans with PTSD or other ailments is one of Betzen’s main selling points. He acknowledges that illegal marijuana fuels violence south of the border, but he doesn’t seem concerned with lawmakers or citizens making a correlation between medicinal use and smuggling. “I think they can see that there is a difference there," he says. "Would they do the same thing if it was morphine crossing the border?”

Though they are pursuing different strategies, Betzen, Picazo and Schimberg have similar goals and have been busily meeting with lawmakers for weeks. They won’t say which lawmakers, however, as some still view any connection to the legalization movement as a political liability. But they cite a poll that found a majority of Texans support legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll conducted in May showed a similar finding, with the majority of Texans favoring one or more methods of legalization: 42 percent of Texans were open to the idea of legalizing marijuana, 28 percent say possession of small amounts should be legal, and 14 percent said any amount should be legal. Twenty-seven percent said it should be legal for medical purposes only, and another 27 percent said it should be illegal under any circumstances.

“If [those numbers] hold even close, then this isn’t really a political liability with the voting public,” Schimberg says. “It’s just a mental block with the representatives and the senators.”

Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care meeting in Austin

2010-08-08T16:01:00.000-05:00

Cannibinoids Offer Novel Treatment for Pain in Sickle Cell Disease, Study Suggests

2010-07-25T13:36:00.002-05:00

"Cannibinoids offer great promise in the treatment of chronic and acute pain, and they're effective in much lower amounts than opioids..." Kalpna Gupta, PhD in research supported by NIH and by the Veterans Health Administration, University of Minn.

Read the article in Science Dailey.

Washington: Legislature Expands Medical Marijuana Law

2010-07-20T22:19:00.002-05:00

Olympia, WA: House and Senate lawmakers approved legislation last week to expand the state's nearly twelve-year- old medical marijuana law.

As approved, Senate Bill 5798 will allow additional health care professionals – including naturopaths, physician's assistants, osteopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians assistants, and advanced registered nurse practitioners – to legally recommend marijuana therapy to their patients. Under present law, only licensed physicians may legally recommend medicinal cannabis.

Washington lawmakers are the first legislators to codify these expanded recommendation rights into state law.

The measure now goes before Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire for final approval. Gregoire is believed to be supportive of the measure.

Ecstasy-Assisted Psychotherapy Relieves PTSD

2010-07-17T00:31:00.002-05:00

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (www.maps.org), together with South Carolina-based psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer, MD and colleagues, conducted a pilot Phase II clinical trial with 20 patients with chronic PTSD persisting for an average of over 19 years. Prior to enrolling in the MDMA study, subjects were required to have received, and failed to obtain relief, from both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology.

Participants treated with a combination of MDMA and psychotherapy saw clinically and statistically significant improvements in their PTSD – over 80% of the trial group no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV-TR) following the trial, compared to only 25% of the placebo group. In addition, all three subjects who reported being unable to work due to PTSD were able to return to work following treatment with MDMA.

Read the entire article here.

Prop 19

2010-06-30T22:53:00.003-05:00

The Control & Tax Cannabis initiative was assigned proposition number 19 by the California Secretary of State.

Ann Lee from Houston fighting the good fight in Cali.

Richard Lee sank $1.4 million of his Oaksterdam business empire's money into putting a marijuana legalization measure on November's ballot, but it wasn't until this week that he rolled out his secret weapon: His 80-year-old, conservative Republican, Texan mom.

Ann Lee arrived in the Bay Area early this week and will remain until Tuesday. At midweek, she was fielding media calls between a video shoot at the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign headquarters in Oakland and an event at a drug and alcohol recovery center in Concord.

"Whatever I can do to help," she said. "I really don't have words to tell you about how excited I am to be doing this."

The Louisiana native said she caught the political bug with her father's mayoral campaign while she was in high school; she later went to the University of Texas in 1946 and met her future husband there, settled in Houston to raise a family and then got back into politics with Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. She was a member of the Harris County Republican Party's executive committee for more than 30 years; she's still a precinct chair.

"I think this is the most exciting, the most meaningful culmination of all my years of political activity," she said Wednesday. "The drug war is so bad, it's the most racist thing we've done since Jim Crow."

That "separate but equal" racial segregation was something she didn't fully understand when growing up, she said, but she came to realize how immoral it was. Now the nation's drug laws have "made felons out of more young blacks that should not be called felons," she said, and she sees her son's ballot measure as a means of "knocking a hole in that horrible drug war" as well as the overall hypocrisy of legalized alcohol but criminalized cannabis.

The Tax Cannabis 2010 measure would let people at least 21 have, grow or transport marijuana for personal use, and would let cities and counties decide whether to regulate and tax commercial production and sale, most likely creating a system of "wet" and "dry" counties as in states with similar alcohol laws. It also would boost the criminal penalty for giving marijuana to a minor, prohibit consumption in public or while minors are present, and maintain existing laws against driving under the influence.

A coalition including the California Police Chiefs Association, the California District Attorneys Association,Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the California Bus Association and anti-drug groups opposes the measure as a threat to public safety through intoxicated driving, and as misleading because it won't solve the state's budget crisis.

But Lee, citing Abraham Lincoln's 1840 statement on alcohol, said prohibition "makes a crime out of things that are not crimes."

She believes she can help the campaign because she's not the stereotypical face of drug-legalization advocacy, given her "conservative Republican heritage of more than 40 years or so."

"There are too many conservative Republicans who have not seen it this way, and I hope to open the eyes of those people, help them think about this issue," she said. "It's not the bugaboo to Republicans that some people feel it is."

She hopes that she and her husband of 59 years — "I think my husband is just as passionate about this as I am, I'm just more apt to show it" — will return to California in August for more campaigning, and she hopes to return in October as well.

Polls show the measure has an uphill battle, but Lee said she's proud of her son's integrity and "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" mentality on pursuing it even when some advocates say the time is not yet right. "I said to him a little while ago, 'It sure is fun being your mom.' "

Marijuana plantation in Uganda convent probed

2010-06-11T23:04:00.001-05:00

BBC News

A regional police chief told the BBC that plants covering one acre had been found and uprooted in the southern Masaka district.

Two nuns and two porters have been questioned.

One of the nuns has been quoted by local media as saying the marijuana was used to treat farm animals, such as pigs.

Southern regional commander Emmanuel Muhuirwe told the BBC News website that only the porters had been arrested - not the nuns.

He said the nuns had been questioned because the garden was part of the convent.

But he said no-one had been charged yet and the porters have been released on bail.

Commander Muhuirwe also dismissed reports in Uganda's New Vision newspaper that the nuns had been angry that the police had entered the convent without permission, pointing out that the garden was separate from the convent building.

Cannabis does not impair driving ability

2010-06-03T20:18:00.003-05:00

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, research shows that stoned drivers have a lower accident rate than completely sober drivers. Several on-road driving studies funded by the U.S.Department of Transportation proved that "The THC-only drivers had an [accident] responsibility rate below that of the drug-free drivers, as was found previously by Williams and colleagues (1986)" and "There was no indication that cannabis by itself was a cause of fatal crashes." (see: Incidence and Role of Drugs in Fatally Injured Drivers K W Terhune, 1992 p. 100, Drugs in fatally injured young male drivers. A F Williams, 1985 -- Drugs in Fatally Injured Young Male Drivers

Drivers in whom alcohol alone was present were more likely to be responsible for their crashes than were drug-free drivers (92 percent versus 71 percent, x2 = 15.75, P < x2 =" 1.47,">0.20).

Fifty-three percent of the 19 drivers in whom marijuana alone was found were estimated to be responsible for their crashes, compared with 71 percent of the 78 drug-free drivers (X2 = 1.47, P > 0.20).

Here are some other articles on the subject:

The Truth About Driving When You're High on Marijuana

Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Latest Scientific Evidence

Developing Science-Based Per Se Limits for Driving under the Influence of Cannabis (DUIC)

Haute Stoner Cuisine

2010-05-20T18:54:00.004-05:00

From The New York Times Dining and Wine Section:

Marijuana Fuels a New Kitchen Culture

To serve slow-cooked quail eggs and caviar, he places them atop plastic film that tightly covers a white porcelain serving bowl. Then he fills the vessel with smoke from grated Japanese cedar packed into the bowl of a fan-driven bong he buys in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. The smoke escapes when the diner lifts a small spoon covering a hole in the plastic.

Saudi woman beats up virtue cop

2010-05-18T23:16:00.003-05:00

Some things just have to be applauded. Power to the Sistahs!

It was a scene Saudi women’s rights activists have dreamt of for years.

When a Saudi religious policeman sauntered about an amusement park in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Al-Mubarraz looking for unmarried couples illegally socializing, he probably wasn’t expecting much opposition.

But when he approached a young, 20-something couple meandering through the park together, he received an unprecedented whooping.

A member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Saudi religious police known locally as the Hai’a, asked the couple to confirm their identities and relationship to one another, as it is a crime in Saudi Arabia for unmarried men and women to mix.

For unknown reasons, the young man collapsed upon being questioned by the cop.

According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the woman then allegedly laid into the religious policeman, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be taken to the hospitalwith bruises across his body and face.

“To see resistance from a woman means a lot,” Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi women’s rights activist, told The Media Line news agency. “People are fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years. This is just the beginning and there will be more resistance.”

“The media and the Internet have given people a lot of power and the freedom to express their anger,” she said. “The Hai’a are like a militia, but now whenever they do something it’s all over the Internet. This gives them a horrible reputation and gives people power to react.”

Read article: Saudi woman beats up virtue cop

Columbia Mo SWAT Raid 2/11/2010. Cops Shoot Pets With Children Present

2010-05-06T21:18:00.004-05:00

I encourage everyone to watch this video, although I should warn you that it’s disturbing. Watch it with the sound on, and watch the whole thing. Sadly, this isn’t an aberration; it’s standard practice for how our country deals with non-violent pot smokers.

There are 100-150 of these raids every day in America, the vast, vast majority like this one, to serve a warrant for a consensual crime.

Texas medical marijuana interview

2010-04-13T23:20:00.002-05:00

Stephen Betzen is the director of Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care. This is a radio interview with him on why we need to be talking about medical marijuana. Steven is a caregiver to his wife who suffers from Lyme's Disease.

Listen:
04/13/10 - Steven Betzen | Drug Truth Network
www.drugtruth.net

Cheech Marin wins on Jeopardy!!

2010-03-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

New Hampshire

2010-03-10T21:59:00.005-06:00

MPP report:

New Hampshire took a major step forward today, passing a bill to decriminalize marijuana in the House by an overwhelming 214-137, thanks in great part to Matt Simon, MPP grant recipient and executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy! Having passed with equally impressive numbers (16-2) in a committee vote earlier this year, the legislation will now move on to the Senate for consideration.

It's not just New Hampshire — and not just decriminalization — that's making waves this year. Several other states are talking about not just decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, but taxing and regulating it as well. Legislators in Washington, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia all also sponsored decriminalization bills this session. In Hawaii, a Senate bill to decriminalize an ounce of marijuana recently passed with an amazing 22-3 margin!

On the tax and regulation front, we've seen a historic committee win in California, where voters will get the chance to vote to tax and regulate marijuana later this year, as well as a New Hampshire House vote to study a proposed tax-and-regulate bill there. Rhode Island has just introduced a tax-and-regulate bill, and Washington state saw a bill earlier this session, as well. This is a sea change of support that MPP, our allies, and you are helping to drive.

Red states, blue states, and every color in between are beginning to realize that ending marijuana prohibition is both fiscally and socially sound.

Please help support the Marijuana Policy Project's efforts by donating.

TCCC on facebook!!

2010-02-17T18:56:00.004-06:00

Texas Medical Marijuana 2010 update!!

2010-02-08T23:04:00.003-06:00

Great news for everyone who wants to see Texas join the growing ranks of states that have passed Medical Marijuana legislation!!

Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care (TCCC) is now organizing for the next legislative session. Due to an e-mail server crash the TCCC has been offline for awhile. But a recent email from Stephen Bentzen states that Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care is back and that meetings will start in north Texas this month.

When: The third Tuesday (Feb. 16th) at 7:00 PM.
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff in 3839 W. Kiest Blvd. Dallas, Texas. Directions

TCCC hopes to set up an online forum to help organize across the state.

Please go to the TCCC Web site to sign up for email updates and action alerts.

Donate to The Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care

Your Credit Card Statement will say Dallas Peace Center

YouTube censors pot questions

2010-02-02T22:05:00.002-06:00

Reposted from Toke of the Town

Yes, questions about marijuana were the most popular in the CitizenTube voting Monday afternoon.

But YouTube, in a gutless move, decided at the last minute not to present the highest ranked questions to the President.

Initial reports that the President had ignored the marijuana questions were inaccurate; YouTube took pot, the top vote getter, out of the running.

President Obama never even got an opportunity to answer the most popular question of all.

Wait, what?

"We'll let you vote, but don't expect it to actually MEAN anything"
If they were going to ignore the questions that got the most votes, then why, exactly, did YouTube ask viewers to go to the trouble of voting? And why did they go through the motions of counting those votes, if they were good for bupkis, nada, zilch?

Here's a more likely scenario:

YouTube blanched when they saw marijuana had once again proved itself to be a popular, mainstream issue by topping the vote.

So they chunked all the votes, and just picked the questions they would have asked anyway.

It seems obvious now that when YouTube said "We've collected the top questions," they didn't mean the questions viewers thought were tops. They mean the questions they picked to be tops.

"It's unfortunate that YouTube would shelter the President from something that's obviously on a lot of people's minds," said Ben Morris of the Marijuana Policy Project.

As pointed out by Morris, marijuana can no longer be safely regarded as a "fringe issue."

With recent national polls showing legalization approaching majority support, the time when politicians could afford laugh off the marijuana issue is coming to a close.

Last year, when marijuana reform questions topped the "Open For Questions" forum sponsored by the White House, the President did answer them.

Unfortunately, he chose to answer them in a dismissive and condescending manner, as in "what that says about the online audience," and never addressed the substance of the questions.

California Judges Overturn Medi-Pot Restriction

2010-01-21T21:47:00.002-06:00

The California Supreme Court concluded today that the legislature cannot set a limit on the amount of marijuana a qualified medi-pot patient may possess under the state's Compassionate Use Act.
At issue was a legislative attempt to add restrictions to the voter-approved 1996 proposition that created the state's medi-mari law, the oldest in the U.S. The 2003 rules included a provision that would limit to eight ounces, and six mature or 12 immature plants, the amount of pot a patient could possess. But the court on Jan. 21 said that the amount of pot a "qualified" medi patient can possess is as much as "reasonably related to meet his or her current medical needs," the court wrote in its 56-page opinion.

This was posted by Jordan Smith in the Austin Chronicle blog.

California Panel Votes To Legalize Marijuana

2010-01-12T19:48:00.001-06:00

A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly this morning, over the dire warnings of police chiefs and prosecutors.

The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve AB 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who said the bill would provide tax revenue to the state and regulation of the drug. The new law includes a requirement that users be at least 21 years old.

The measure next goes to the Health Committee, but proponents worried it would not be acted on by that panel by Friday's deadline, which would require the proposal to be reintroduced to be heard this year by the full Assembly.

"The way it exists now is harming our youth,'' Ammiano said. "Drug dealers do not ask for ID. We need to regulate something that has gone chaotic, has resulted in carnage. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea.''
Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP commander, said the $50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization.

"We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it and then we're going to educate our kids about the harm of drugs. You've got to be kidding me,'' Gilmore said. "What's next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines, cocaine?''

The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime. "The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,'' Cooke told the committee.

It is estimated that the bill would generate $1.3 billion a year in taxes and marijuana cultivation fees.

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

2010-01-11T20:19:00.001-06:00

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

TRENTON — The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.

The measure — which would allow patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries — was passed by the General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it into law before leaving office next Tuesday. Supporters said that within nine months, patients with a prescription for marijuana from their doctors should be able to obtain it at one of six locations.

Read the entire New York Times article.

The Secret to Legal Marijuana? Women

2009-12-05T13:33:00.002-06:00

Why Women Have Signed Onto Marijuana Reform -- and Why They Could Be the Movement's Game-Changers.

In September, ladymag Marieclaire ruffled some feathers when it published a piece about women who smoke weed. But its most interesting effect was not the "marijuana moms" chatter it unleashed, and instead the fact that it brought to the mainstream media a more open discussion of the fact that women can be avid tokers, too.

Public acceptance of pot is at an all-time high, and the fact that women have drastically changed their attitudes may be what is most fascinating about the sea change in public opinion -- and policy -- regarding marijuana. In 2005, only 32 percent of polled women told Gallup they approved legalizing pot, but this year 44 percent of them were for it, compared to 45 percent of men. In effect, women have narrowed what had been a 12-point gender gap.

Women are also smoking more weed. The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that current marijuana use increased from 3.8 to 4.5 percent among women, while there was no significant statistical change for men.

Indeed, it appears the growing acceptance of marijuana is fueled by women having joined the movement for reform.

Women "can reach people's hearts and minds," says Mikki Norris, co-author of Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War, managing editor of the West Coast Leaf, and director of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign. "I think we can really take it from the third-to the first-person, and make it personal."

Norris, who's participated in numerous successful marijuana campaigns, may be onto something. If pro-weed women are a new momentum behind the normalization of marijuana, they may also become the driving force behind game-changing drug reform.

If that's the case, then it's worth examining why some women have signed onto the marijuana reform movement -- because it may soon be why many others will as well.

Read the rest of the story on Alternet.

Legal Drug Deaths Skyrocket

2009-12-01T18:59:00.003-06:00

The number of fatal poisonings involving opioid painkillers more than tripled from 1999 to 2006, from 4,000 to 13,800 in one year, according to a new report from the CDC. These drugs – Vicodin, OxyContin, fentanyl, and their relatives – now account for 37 percent of poisoning deaths, up from 21 percent in 1999. And the Associated Press reports that drug deaths now exceed auto accident fatalities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The drugs that killed nearly 14,000 people in 2006 are, of course, legal medicines. They have been approved for sale by the same federal government that bars medical use of marijuana – for which the count of medically confirmed overdose fatalities remains zero.

This gets even crazier when you consider that – as we’ve pointed out before – there is evidence that use of medical marijuana can help some pain patients reduce their doses of these dangerous and addictive narcotics.

Information provided by the Marijuana Policy Project.

Medical Marijuana in Texas -2009

2009-11-30T20:43:00.002-06:00

I get several hits daily from people who want information about medical marijuana in Texas. I know there is a lot of interest out there. In the past I've directed folks to the Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care site, but that organization doesn't seem to be active anymore.

A long time fighter for medical marijuana in Texas recently told me that efforts to bring out that goal is impossible as long as Rick Perry is Governor. I'm sure it would be the same story for KBH. So I don't know how productive it would be to keep fighting this losing battle with the tactics we've tried before.

If there's as much support for medical marijuana in Texas as there seems to be, then I believe we ought to urge the Democratic gubernatorial candidates to make this a campaign issue. I know that they still consider this political suicide, but if enough people show their support, it might change the landscape.

If anyone has any ideas of what else might be done to capitalize on all this interest, please post them.

Totally easy way to support ending the Drug War

2009-11-23T19:49:00.002-06:00

Email from Daphne B. Kaye; Manager, Partnerships; Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) Educational Fund

EVERYONE NEEDS TO THANK DEB! With her help the Amazon hyperlink was embedded into LEAP's website and we have started earning income as an associate!

I am VERY pleased to report that between 10/20/2009 -11/23/2009 our Amazon Associates Program earned $62.31!

The income earned was the result of TWENTY PEOPLE making purchases through our website. IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD DO IF ALL OF OUR COLLEAGUES, FRIENDS & FAMILY made their purchases for the holidays and school supplies for next term on Amazon by going through our hyperlink! Our earnings percentage increases by the number of people who purchase through our site -SO PLEASE FORWARD THE FOLLOWING HYPERLINK TO PURCHASE ON AMAZON THROUGH LEAP

http://leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=1

Medical Marijuana: No Longer Just for Adults

2009-11-22T20:16:00.002-06:00

By KATHERINE ELLISON

The New York Times

Published: November 21, 2009

From the article:

Several Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for their patients said in recent interviews that their client base had expanded to include teenagers with psychiatric conditions including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

...Dr. Jean Talleyrand, who founded MediCann, a network in Oakland of 20 clinics who authorize patients to use the drug, said his staff members had treated as many as 50 patients ages 14 to 18 who had A.D.H.D.

“It’s safer than aspirin,” Dr. Talleyrand said. He and other marijuana advocates maintain that it is also safer than methylphenidate (Ritalin), the stimulant prescription drug most often used to treat A.D.H.D. That drug has documented potential side effects including insomnia, depression, facial tics and stunted growth.

Counter-intuitive as it may seem, however, patients and doctors have been reporting that marijuana helps alleviate some of the symptoms, particularly the anxiety and anger that so often accompany A.D.H.D. The disorder has been diagnosed in more than 4.5 million children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Marijuana is “a godsend” for some people with A.D.H.D., said Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist who has written several books on the disorder. However, Dr. Hallowell said he discourages his patients from using it, both because it is — mostly — illegal, and because his observations show that “it can lead to a syndrome in which all the person wants to do all day is get stoned, and they do nothing else.”

Dr. Talleyrand and his staff members are not alone in being willing to recommend marijuana for minors. In Berkeley, Dr. Frank Lucido said he was questioned by the medical board but ultimately not disciplined after he authorized marijuana for a 16-year-old boy with A.D.H.D. who had tried Ritalin unsuccessfully and was racking up a record of minor arrests.

Within a year of the new treatment, he said, the boy was getting better grades and was even elected president of his special-education class. “He was telling his mother: ‘My brain works. I can think,’ ” Dr. Lucido said.

“With any medication, you weigh the benefits against the risks,” he added.

WARNING: Excerpts are cherrypicked. Select this link to read the rest of the story.

Report from the International Drug Policy Reform Conference - Day 2

2009-11-16T21:46:00.004-06:00

On Friday I'd planned to attend all the sessions that discussed the use of psychedelics in treatment, but the first one, Psychedelic Research: Neuroscience and Ethnobotanical Roots, was full. Instead, I attended Marijuana Messaging that Works. The panel consisted of pollsters and political consultants. Here a few ideas I picked up from that session:

The hard Z in the word "legalize" seems to turn people off. Polls show that the question "Should marijuana be made legal" results in higher number of positive responses than the question, "Should marijuana be legalized."
We should site the widespread use of marijuana when arguing for ending its prohibition. "How can we justify prohibiting marijuana when so many thousands of people use it?"
It's a waste of effort and money to try and enforce unenforceable laws.

I made sure I got a seat for the next session, The Re-emergence of Psychedelics: Implications for Novel Treatment Paradigms. The first presentation blew me away! Dr. Roland Griffiths, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, reported on his landmark study, which showed that use of psilocybin can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries. The resulting experiences apparently prompt positive changes in behavior and attitude that last several months, at least.

Next, I wanted to hear Dr.Charles Grob speak about his work in treating the anxiety of cancer patients with psychedelics, but had to leave the session to take my turn working the LEAP booth.

It's late now....I'll continue tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's another post about Day 2.

Report from the International Drug Policy Reform Conference - Day 1

2009-11-15T21:40:00.004-06:00

This morning I woke up in Albuquerque, was in Denver at noon, and am now back in Austin.

For the past three days I've been at the Drug Policy Alliance Reform conference and, as usual, it was an indescribable experience.

I landed at the Albuquerque International Sunport about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon and caught a city bus to the Hyatt Regency. After checking in I attended a Law Enforcement Against Prohibition training session.

On Thursday morning I was seated and waiting for the opening session, when I began to feel ill. I ended up in bed all day and missed the presentations for that day. I was feeling well enough at 6:00 to attend the Candlelight Vigil where a group stood in solidarity to end the War on Drugs.

Speakers included:

New Mexico Representative Antonio Maestas
Nubia Legarda, Students for Sensible Drug Policy-El Paso
DPA's Tony Papa
Dorsey Nunn
Ethan Nadelmann
and the always inspiring Reverend Edwin C. Sanders.

After the vigil, I went with friends to a screening of 10 Rules for Dealing with Police, written by Steven Silverman of Flex Your Rights. The new video builds on Steven's 2004 video, BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters, and is designed to reach a more diverse audience.

When we arrived at the video venue, a question and answer session for the previous video was in progress. Hope and Health Hepatitis C and Addiction Treatment in New Mexico, was sponsored by the New Mexico Health Science Center's Project ECHO and the New Mexico Department of Health. I obtained a copy of the video with the intention of passing it on to our own Department of Health staff.

One of the best parts of the conference is always networking and meeting so many amazing people. Here are a couple I met on my first day:

Damien Nichols -Maryland Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, an organization that calls for "medication not incarceration."
Dr. Christopher G. Fichtner, a clinical psychiatrist and former Director of Mental Health for the State of Illinois, Department of Human Services (2003-2005). Dr. Fichtner has written a book called Cannabinomics that, "dissects the failure of American drug policy and charts a bright future for medicinal cannabis." It discusses medical marijuana from a Public Health view. Dr. Fichtner is supposed to send me a preview copy.

Here's a Day 1 report from another conference attendee.

'Pot' may help combat PTSD U. of Haifa study shows

2009-11-07T22:22:00.001-06:00

Nov. 4, 2009
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich , THE JERUSALEM POST

A University of Haifa study on rats has found that giving medical marijuana to those with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can provide significant relief. In addition, a pilot study on 20 Israel Defense Forces veterans and others with PTSD that was recently launched in various psychiatric hospitals is promising, but a full clinical trial has not yet been approved by the Health Ministry, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The use of cannabinoids (marijuana) could help PTSD patients, said the university's Dr. Irit Akirav of the psychology department learning and memory lab. "The results of our research should encourage psychiatric investigation into using cannabinoids" in such patients, she wrote in an article just published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience. The study was carried out by research student Eti Ganon-Elazar under Akirav's supervision.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that may appear after exposure to one or more traumatic events in which the victim was threatened by or suffered significant physical harm. Symptoms include re-experiencing original trauma through flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; and increased arousal such as anger, difficulty falling or staying asleep and hypervigilance. PTSD researchers at the Hadassah University Medical Center have suggested in the past that there is a short "window of opportunity" to treat PTSD with talk therapy and/or drugs soon after the traumatic event and that if it is missed, success rates are significantly lower.

Dr. Yehuda Baruch, director of the state Abarbanel Mental Health Center and delegated by the Health Ministry to be in charge of approvals for medical marijuana, told the Post on Wednesday that so far, 50 PTSD victims over the age of 30 have been chosen for a clinical trial, but it has not yet received official approval. "While it is too early to know the verdict of the pilot study, I think medical marijuana treatment for PTSD is promising," said the psychiatrist.

Dutch among lowest cannabis users in Europe-report

2009-11-06T22:01:00.000-06:00

Thu Nov 5, 2009 6:30am EST AMSTERDAM, Nov 5 (Reuters) -

The Dutch are among the lowest users of marijuana or cannabis in Europe despite the Netherlands' well-known tolerance of the drug, according to a regional study published on Thursday. Among adults in the Netherlands, 5.4 percent used cannabis, compared with the European average of 6.8 percent, according to an annual report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, using latest available figures.

A higher percentage of adults in Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and France took cannabis last year, the EU agency said, with the highest being Italy at 14.6 percent. Usage in Italy used to be among the lowest at below 10 percent a decade ago.

Countries with the lowest usage rates, according to the Lisbon-based agency, were Romania, Malta, Greece and Bulgaria.

Cannabis use in Europe rose steadily during the 90s and earlier this decade, but has recently stabilised and is beginning to show signs of decline, the agency said, owing to several national campaigns to curb and treat use of the drug.

"Data from general population and school surveys point to a stabilising or even decreasing situation," the report said.

The policy on soft drugs in the Netherlands, one of the most liberal in Europe, allows for the sale of marijuana at "coffee shops", which the Dutch have allowed to operate for decades, and possession of less than 5 grams (0.18 oz).

Nearly a fifth of the 228 coffee shops in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, a popular draw for tourists, are scheduled to be shut down because they are too close to schools.

The full report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction is available at r.reuters.com/vef87f (Reporting by Reed Stevenson; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)