Marijuana initiative's passage did not increase consumption

When the prohibitionists tell you that drug use will spike if reasonable legislation is passed or even -- gasp -- legalized altogether, show them this article.

The naysayers in Washington state who worked to defeat the recently passed measure making possession of cannabis the lowest of law enforcement priorities all used the argument that teenagers would start smoking like fiends. It didn't happen.

Although [City Attorney Tom] Carr was concerned that the initiative would encourage increased marijuana use among teenagers, he acknowledged that it hasn't happened. "I'm glad I was wrong," he said. "There is nothing to suggest I-75 has caused widespread use of marijuana in Seattle."

Not only that but Seattle saved a bucket of money in costs to prosecute these penny-ante cases. Carr said, "In the first six months of 2004, the city prosecuted 18 cases of marijuana possession, compared with 70 cases during the same time period last year."

Not to mention that 52 people are still functioning as useful members of society and contributing to the tax base. This could work in your town folks

Plane crashes while hunting plants

Not only are these ridiculous eradication efforts costly, they are dangerous. Thankfully no one was killed here. What's bothersome however, is rather than sensibly weigh the risks against the benefits of simply letting the gardeners grow their plants -- after all, if they are determined to bust these people, they could certainly wait until the harvest actually hits the streets. That is if it ever does and is not just for personal use which is often the case in small grows.

Of even more concern is that rather than use common sense, the prohibition profiteers decided to change their methodology in marijuana-spotting operations to include military-style attack techniques -- and military aircraft.

Since the 1980s, the OBN has used faster, more efficient military choppers -- instead of small planes -- to spot marijuana. Now, OBN agents train like soldiers to find the plants and destroy them.

OBN spokesman Mark Woodward said it used to take days for narcotics agents to find a marijuana patch -- and a miles-long hike to reach it.

"We got with the National Guard and said, 'Look, we want to start doing this a lot quicker,'" Woodward said. "We started using their air-assault techniques."
Now, agents spot the plants, rappel from the helicopter and land inside the drug crop in a matter of minutes.

Anybody still think the war on some drugs is not a war on US citizens? And wouldn't you think they would have better things to do with the National Guards' time -- like maybe, oh, I don't know -- looking for actual terrorists?

Pharmaceutical Press publishes book on MMJ

Here's one I almost missed.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2004--The Pharmaceutical Press, the publications division of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, with offices in London and Chicago, has published the first edition of The Medicinal Uses of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.

Billed as an "authoritative review of the development of cannabis-based medicines and their applications in a wide range of therapeutic areas," the book examines the research, development and clinical trial results of the cannabis-based medicinal extract (CBME) Sativex" and "covers a broad spectrum of subjects including the history of cannabis use, its growth and morphology, the discovery and pharmacology of cannabinoid receptors in mammalian tissues, the development and use of synthetic cannabinoids, and the legal and forensic aspects of cannabis within the international community."

Available for $59.95. For more info check the website.

[Thanks to Michael Kravitz]

Who will empty the trash?

They call this drug amnesty? I call it voluntary confiscation. Concert goers at the V2004 festival at Weston Park have the option to dump their drugs into "special bins" prior to entering the park or face arrest if caught in possession once they are through the gates.

One wonders why they need a separate bin. Do you suppose they will do an inventory for their police report on exactly what was "seized " or just want to make sure the garbage removal service won't fish anything out of the trash?

Ah, in the updated version of the story, it looks a little less voluntary. Police reportedly seized quite an amount of drugs, Almost 500 grams of cannabis, 2.3 grams of cocaine, 1.4 grams of heroin, 198 ecstasy tablets and 8.6 grams of amphetamine as a result of over seventy searches based on the latest CCTV technology.

This technology means car number plates can be checked against police
records for drug users and dealers as soon as vehicles arrive at the concert. Details and pictures of suspects will then be passed back to the officers'
mobile phones for them to make arrests. Talk about fishing expeditions -- the whole scheme stinks like week old garbage. And this is even more disturbing:

A fully-equipped drugs laboratory will also be on site as police plan to use sniffer dogs and forensic technology to find drugs.

In addition to the new technology, about 36,000 black rubbish bags have been printed with the Crimestoppers Safe and Sound logo and phone number to encourage concert-goers to blow the whistle on thieves and drug-takers.

I'm okay with fighting thievery but it seems like US style prohibition profiteering is truly infecting the planet. You have any idea what an operation of this magnitude costs? And why do the police go to these great lengths to arrest 13 people out of a crowd of 70 thousand? The amount of drugs they found may sound like a lot to non-consumers but trust me, the pot was their greatest haul and figuring a gram in every joint, it would not have made a dent in the sobriety of a crowd that size and outside of the ecstasy, the other drugs wouldn't be enough for more than a half a dozen people -- it was all clearly personal stash meant to enhance their own enjoyment of the event, not meant to be sold at the concert.

Go figure -- and just when it looked like the UK was coming to its senses about cannabis by rescheduling the plant.

US style oppression up North

It seems the Bush administration style suppression of political dissent has spread to Canada. The authorities shut down the annual Canabian Day festival for failing to get the necessary permits. Organizers did of course try to get them but were denied on the basis that the event was a pro-pot rally.

Things apparently got ugly when several hundred cannabis proponents decided to assemble peacefully anyway. One demonstrator was reportedly arrested for carrying a sign saying -- Legalize It and Weed My Lips. The angered the protesters, prompting many to light up joints and pass out "chronic candy".

A disturbing development in a country that had, (prior to numerous visits from US prohibition profiteers from the DEA and ONDCP), an enlightened approach about cannabis consumers.

Vote for Jim Pillsbury

Last One Speaks is endorsing our first candidate for office in the Commonwealth of Mass. I've been saying for some time that the surest way to change the system is to start from the local levels and work up to national office holders. For those of you in Pillsbury's Framingham district, here's your chance to elect a state representative with a sensible view on cannabis related issues.

"In the age of terrorism and homeland security, the government is spending money to fly planes over fields to look out for a plant that has been around for centuries," said Pillsbury, "It doesn't make sense."

Amen to that. Wish he was going to be on my ballot.

MMJ licensing leads to surplus in state coffers

Baylen at D'Alliance points us to a story on medical marijuana patients in Oregon and their caregivers. The caregivers grow the cannabis for those unable to grow it themselves. People like Shawn Flury, the director of Independence-based Oregon Green Cross, which provides two ounces of marijuana per month to each of its 35 patients donate their time and risk their safety from federal intervention to provide the herb to the sick and the dying for free. Under the system in Oregon, a caregiver is allowed to cultivate up to seven plants per patient. The caregivers tend to provide for more than one patient at a time as the demand is high and the cost of start-up is prohibitive. It's simply most cost effective to grow more plants.

The registration system provides no protection against federal intervention, it merely furnishes information for the use of law enforcement authorities in determining the legitimacy of any given grow.

Since the state started issuing registration cards, more than 10,000 people have signed up. The goal of the program was to pay for its own administrative costs but the registration fee has now been reduced since the agency found itself with a surplus of $986,000. Part of the surplus will go into the state's general fund. This money was generated just from MMJ patients. Think about the possible revenues if they simply allowed anyone to register as a consumer, with or without a medical reason.

Down by the river

Took the afternoon off to hang out at the little marina down the road and bask in the sun . I was supposed to get there at noon for a boat ride with Chet but it was much too cold then. It was lovely however to sit at the dock and watch the birds fly by when it warmed up a couple of hours later. The eagle didn't show up but I saw a white egret, a black one and a sweet little family of ducks. I also left with a standing invitation to return.

I found myself thinking how lucky it is to live in a lovely downtown Northampton, with all the necessitites of life within walking distance and to also be a three minute drive from a place that looks sort of like this.

Kicking Drugs with Drugs - Taking the Left Hand Path

Author, veritable drug expert and psychonaut Preston Peet has a riveting account of his recent experience with ibogaine posted at Drugwar.com.

Ibogaine is a drug I know almost nothing about although there is much research being done on its effects and its potential use as a aid to overcoming addiction. Derived from the root of an African plant that has been used traditionally for centuries as a vehicle for shamanic journeys by the indigenous people of Africa, early results look promising for this anti-addiction application and as a added benefit it also appears to bring mental clarity and aids emotional resolution in its subjects.

It's therapeutic use is legal in other countries, however, our government and major pharmaceutical companies continue to ignore it's potential benefits, one suspects because they have not figured out to make a profit on it.

Know Your Rights

As the Bush administration continues to hammer away at your civil rights, here's some timely advice even if you don't plan on protesting in New York next week.

If the police question you, including asking your name, you may say nothing and walk away.

If the police prevent you from leaving, ask, “Am I free to go?”

If “YES,” you may say nothing and walk away.

If “NO,” say, “I wish to remain silent. I want to talk to a lawyer,” and wait for the police to arrest or release you."

--Advice from The National Lawyers Guild.

The Guild will also be providing Legal Observers, identified by their distinctive green hats, to monitor any violation of constitutional rights and to document any arrests of protestors during the RNC.
[Thanks to Leigh Meyers]

Marijuana does not cause mental illness

Dutch scientists have stepped up to the plate to counter the new conservative government's contention that marijuana causes schizophrenia, an argument the Dutch prohibitionists are using to attempt to shut down the cannabis coffeeshop industry. The authors of this study contend there is absolutely no scientific proof to back up these allegations.

I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Marijuana does not cause anything. Excess consumption can be a symptom of an underlying condition but it does not create the condition. If anything it more likely alleviates the symptoms of those who would use it to self-medicate.

mycolog.com
Magic mushrooms can help terminally ill

I have to admit that my first reaction when I heard this was "What???", administer hallucinogenic drugs to terminally ill patients? Having had some experience in ingesting these substances, I was trying to imagine tripping out while knowing with certainty I was going to die soon.

On reflection, I can see how it could work. There's something about the psychedelic experience that changes your outlook on life, no matter how many days you have left. It puts your priorities into focus and enables you to see through the pretenses of day to day life and view what at least feels like the core truths of the universe.

Charles Grob, one of the first scientists in 25 years to administer psilocybin to a person in a therapeutic says, "There is great potential. A significant patient population may gain benefits from these treatments." He convinced the US government.

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved, but not funded, a pilot study aiming to see if the euphoria and insight of a mild psychedelic 'trip' can ease the physical and emotional pain experienced by thousands of terminal cancer patients each year.

Anecdotal information from the sixties already supports this theory.

...the 60s, cancer sufferers reported less anxiety, a reduced fear of death, better moods, and surprisingly, even less pain in the weeks after treatment with LSD, which is similar in structure and effect to psilocybin.

Under the current study, small dosages would be administered and the patients would be guided through the "trip" with only minimal clinical interference.

The rationale says it is better to let the drug gently lift the veil, divorce the association between mind and body and let the patient enjoy the full-on experience as they wish, than interfere in a way that may be incompatible with the patient's psyche.

Other studies are currently being conducted including the use of psilocybin to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is nearing completion at the University of Arizona and an MDMA (ecstasy) trial for the counseling of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) victims is finally underway having surmounted bureaucratic obstacles.

The research looks promising already. One expects the greatest obstacle, as with cannabis, will be overcoming the public perception that a substance used recreationally also has great medical benefits.

Which OS are you

I can't help myself. I love these things. This is what I am.



What are you?

And that's a cold shot babe...

I hope the Molson Brewing company appreciates what a gem they have in our local rep here in the Happy Valley. Colin Parker is the youngest and most earnest beer agent I've ever met in all my years of working and hanging around the local bars. He just moved to lovely downtown Northampton and conscientiously makes the rounds to see how his product placement is going and is always looking for a new promo tie-in.

Even more unusual, (at least I've never seen this happen), he was so enthusiastic about his new product, the Cold Shot, a sweet little can of beer currently selling for the low sum of only one dollar, that he bought the entire after-work crowd at Tully O'Reilly's a round the other day.

Cheers kid, and welcome to town.

Quick Notes

The day job is so interfering with my blogging and I have to run. A lot going on in the blogosphere but we'll have to catch up tonight. Meanwhile, the big news in my inbox is, (pay attention here girls), Baylen at D'Alliance is really cute. He's back from Boliva and blogging some great stuff including this interesting post on nicotine addiction and a new trend in bar drinks called nicotinis and an excellent post on MMJ.

And welcome home to Pete at Drug WarRant, who is back posting as well after the successful run of the play based on his Living Canvas series. As always, everything is worth reading.

Marc Emery Sentenced to Jail

A judge in Saskatoon, Canada sentenced Marc Emery to three months in jail for trafficking for passing one joint into the crowd during last summer's smoke out tour. He had ten other marijuana-related convictions, including some for trafficking in connection with his marijuana seed business but until now they had merely fined him. This time the judge reportedly wanted to teach him a lesson. Three months seems a little steep to me and to his lawyer. Unfortunately he will probably serve it out while waiting for his appeal.

Marc meanwhile is prepared to do the time but vows to return to the defense and consumption of the plant upon his release.

LEAP jumps into the legalization fray every day

Peter Christ of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition was in Vermont on a lecture tour when he ran into a state cop convention at his hotel. Witnesses report he had something of a heated debate in the parking lot of the establishment with one of those cops. He won.

Christ understands and even respects the young trooper's anger, and doesn't take it personally. Typically, he says, a cop is retired for a year or more before he or she starts to see "the forest for the trees." And Christ knows that his incendiary message -- that the United States should legalize all Schedule I drugs and regulate their sale and distribution -- flies in the face of law-enforcement training. Nevertheless, Christ believes that, just as alcohol prohibition was repealed in the United States, drug prohibition should be, too.

He and the rest of the LEAP members make compelling arguments.

Legalization of drugs is not intended to be an approach to our drug problem in America," Christ explains during an interview in his hotel room. "Legalization is an approach to our crime and violence problem in America. Once we legalize drugs, then we have to start the really hard work of dealing with our drug problem."

The biggest societal costs associated with illegal drug use are not addiction or even crimes committed while people are using drugs, Christ argues. In fact, 90 percent of illicit drug users in this country are not addicts. They hold down jobs, go to school and do not create a public nuisance. The greatest harm associated with narcotics, he contends, is drug prohibition, a domestic and foreign policy that funnels billions of dollars into an underground economy where deals are brokered and scores are settled through terrorism, extortion and gun violence. But just as the bootleggers and crime-ridden numbers rackets were replaced with liquor stores and state-run lotteries, Christ argues, drug lords could be disarmed with the stroke of a pen..

Christ is not preaching to choir either. He's on the road most of the year speaking to Kiwanis, Rotary Clubs and other hotbeds of conservative thinking. And he's winning converts. 80-year-old Rotarian Dick Shadroui says, "I thought it was very, very useful and very sensible and I agree with him 100 percent," says Shadroui, a piano teacher in Barre. "I don't think prohibition has ever worked, just like he said. I think it should be legalized, just like I think prostitution should be legalized."

Christ tells his audiences that the drug war cannot succeed because it asks police to accomplish an impossible task: to protect people who don't want to be protected from harming themselves. "Prohibition doesn't work because prohibition has never worked in the history of our species," he says. "Anything that smacks of a victimless-crime prohibition is doomed to failure."

If you can't believe a retired cop, who are you going to believe?

Carnival centennial

I missed getting into the Carnival this week and it's such a great theme, doing the Brazilian Rio Carnivale thing. Fringeblog is hosting this week's festivities and even though I didn't get my Stoned Scientists post in there (which I think they might have enjoyed) the other entries are as great as ever. Check it out.

Drug Czar Lies

We reported on this story last week but I'm posting it again from a link at Colombia Week because I want you to look at the list of news sources at the end of the brief that covered the original statement drug czar John Walters made on the failure of Plan Colombia. I really like Colombia Week because it cites all the sources and the sidebar is all breaking news - all the time, if you can read Spanish. I only wish I could reliably translate more of it for you.

The point however, is Walters admitted this policy has failed to stem the flow of cocaine into the US and our US General Accounting Office admits the plan has had no benefit to the Colombia people. A rare instance of these prohibition profiteers telling the truth to the public.

A week later, Walters is telling the English reading press that the plan has been a great success and has greatly reduced the acreage devoted to coca production. Now the second half is true, they have poisoned great tracts of land and the growers have fled further into remote areas and cultivate smaller plots. However, they have also figured out how to increase production and shield the plants from the effects of the herbicides in the interim. Thus the cocaine supply does not diminish, only the arable land available for its cultivation has.

As Pete at Drug WarRant points out, the only news outlet who caught the inconsistency or least who was willing to report it was the BBC News. We agree with Pete that it's long past time for the US press to start demanding some accountability for this sort of misinformation as well.

Everybody smoked pot in the sixties

We first heard of this story on Republican candidate for governor, Mitch Daniels' marijuana conviction back in May. A reader sends in a update with an interesting twist. It seems a press conference called by four prominent local Democrats wanting to bring some attention to Daniels arrest for marijuana use in 1970 backfired and ended up with two of the Democrats having to admit youthful consumption and they ended up outing Governor Joe Kernan for having used it as a young person as well.

Don't get me wrong, I love it but you would think the press would show this kind of investigative acumen when they interview the White House. In any event, I think it really underscores the idiocy of this boneheaded war on some drugs when in truth, many more people experimented with this plant in the 60s and 70s than would ever admit it voluntarily. They didn't turn into drug addicts or murderers or thieves, they became our civic leaders. (Okay some of them may have turned into thieves, I mean they did become politicians).

What effect will this have on either side of the race? One would think that it should have none whatsoever. We're talking about guys who smoked a joint 40 years ago for God's sake however, Margaret Ferguson, a political scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has this to say.

"If we were talking about the rest of the county I would say (the issue) is in the past," she said. "But Indiana is a conservative state."

One hopes the electorate can see through the smoke and simply elect the better candidate based on ability. Knowing substantially nothing about this race, we're not endorsing either side but generally, in any contest, we prefer someone who has consumed cannabis and is open to policy reform. Unfortunately, those kind of candidates are hard to find.

Farewell Phish

Well I never saw them and I wouldn't know their songs if I tripped over them, but I have friends who have been doing the Phish thing for a long time and sent a couple of links to the in-depth coverage of their mighty mud fest. Phish is like NRBQ for me, I've heard of both for as long as I lived here and never got around to seeing either one but I always did love the idea of a local band that inspires this kind of loyalty.

Thanks to Jack for links to a photo essay and a first person account that captures the spirit of the event. Almost makes me wish I was there.

New funtionality

Finally a new feature from Blogger that's easy to figure out. Although I notice, my heading has some kind of error that left that ugly coding at the top, the search feature does indeed work to search this blog. Tres cool.

I've been trying to figure out to install such a thing on the sidebar for weeks without successs so now I guess I don't have to. And if they ever fix the glitch, it will be much more attractive than the Google ad banners that used to be there. Although I have to admit I did sometimes like the curious juxtaposition between the ads and the current content of the blog.

Anyway, now if looking for some subject in particular I've addressed before, you can find it and so can I. Alright!

Wonder what the Mormons think about this?

Well Baylen at D'Allliance beat me to this editorial, but I'm posting a link here anyway because it deserves wide distribution. Baylen notes the same paper in Utah published a piece supporting agricultural hemp last month.

This month the Utah Daily Herald takes on the war on some drugs with this editorial entitled, End the overkill for marijuana. I thought Utah was pretty conservative. Who would think a paper there would be taking such a sensible stance?

You don't swat flies with 16-pound sledge hammers. The hammer might kill the fly, but it will also do a lot of damage to the furniture. The so-called war on drugs involves similar overkill that needlessly, and expensively, puts people in prison for minor marijuana offenses.

It goes on to examine the problems with mandatory sentencing but I think it makes an even more important point about the classification of this herb.

At the root of overkill in drug sentencing is how marijuana is classified. As illicit drugs go, marijuana is innocuous...

Yet the legal classification of marijuana puts it on par with LSD, heroin and mescaline -- Schedule I drugs that are defined by statute as highly addictive and lacking any medicinal value.

But statutory definitions don't always reflect reality, and they certainly don't in the case of marijuana. The classification ignores the positive benefits of marijuana's active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which eases symptoms of glaucoma and enables cancer and AIDS patients to overcome nausea and regain their appetites.

By contrast, methamphetamine, which any Utah law enforcement officer will tell you is far more dangerous and damaging than marijuana -- both in its manufacturing and use -- is a Schedule II drug. Meth is in the same category as Lortab, Oxycontin and PCP, all of which have some medicinal value.

It also looks at unreasonable penalities for use of the plant.

The punishments clearly do not reflect the true effect of marijuana in society. It's just not particularly dangerous. While it has been argued that marijuana is a gateway to other more serious drugs, marijuana in and of itself appears less harmful than alcohol. Unlike the meth lab operator, a marijuana grower doesn't turn his home and yard into a toxic waste dump that requires a hazardous materials team to dismantle and decontaminate..

And unlike cannabis, meth is a truly dangerous and destructive drug. To quote an old anti-use campaign from the 60s when the drug was at least being made with pure industrially standardized precusors and being peddled under a different name - Speed kills.

Just one more illustration of how this war on some drugs is based on politics and prejudice rather than science and reason. Even worse, this exercise in congnitive dissonance is ruining civil society and costing you, the taxpayer, 40 billion dollars a year.

Plant eradication season begins in California

Like the swallows in Capistrano, the agents from the California Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting arrive in Humboldt county in California every year, as they have since 1983, to wage their war against innocent plants. Okay so these grows aren't authorized under Prop 215 but still, these eradication missions are a ridiculous waste of the taxpayers money.
As af Wednesday the weed whacking prohibitionists have seized 122,905 plants statewide. That's really not that many considering the cost of the operations. Once again they conduct their search and destroy missions with the aid of very expensive helicopter surveilliance.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Wayne Hanson said he spends the weeks before CAMP's arrival flying over the county spotting suspected pot gardens from the air. When CAMP arrives, they know exactly where to go. Some gardens are found while Hanson is on his way to a grow that's already been discovered. Tuesday, while flying to one of the confirmed gardens, Hanson spotted another garden a short distance away.

These plots they're eradicating are not huge commercial grows. More likely they are the work of a few horticulturals who prefer to grow their own cannabis for personal use rather than have to participate in dangerous black market transactions.

The growers usually plant in small patches in various locations. In a grow that was eradicated Tuesday off a remote road past Kneeland, seven different gardens were found on one parcel of property. The gardens ranged from about 300 plants to under 10. CAMP agents and deputies also look out for signs of trails leading to patches of sunlight in the woods. One deputy hiked up a small hill off a dirt road, well away from the other gardens, and returned with one plant.

Do you have any idea how much it cost to have that guy eradicate one plant? I don't either but I would bet it's a lot more than it's worth in terms of it's cash value and in terms of public safety it's laughable. Your law enforcement officers must have better ways to spend their time and your tax dollars.

Of course, chasing down murderers, rapists, car thieves and the like is a little harder. You don't get to use your helicopter to find them and unlike the plants that patiently wait in one spot to get caught, real criminals keep moving around and require a lot more effort to find.

MMJ patients sue state over seized marijuana

Over three dozen medical marijuana patients will be filing motions today in various counties of California for the return of around a million dollars worth of wrongfully seized cannabis. It seems although the use of MMJ has been legal under state law since 1996 the local authorities are still routinely seizing the herb and arresting the patients.

According to California-based Americans for Safe Access, the largest national advocacy group working solely on medical marijuana.

“The law protects these patients,” said the group’s legal coordinator, Kris Hermes. “But we’ve uncovered a culture of resistance within law enforcement. Many agencies across the state just don’t comply with the law. Patients are being arrested or having their medicine seized in nearly every police encounter.”

Ths study, involving more than a hundred patients showed violations of their rights in 62% of the counties in the state. Even more interesting is the estimated cost of these violations in terms of your tax dollars.

The report estimates the cost of an arrest is $732; and the expense of prosecuting one person is $9,250.

“The cost … is unnecessary since law enforcement can choose not to arrest medical marijuana patients,” the report states.

The study found that most law-enforcement agencies in California do not have policies for identifying patients legally entitled to have marijuana. The estimated annual cost of compensating patients whose marijuana is seized is more than $4 million statewide.

Ten thousand a pop for prosecuting sick people. That's just to get them through court. If you incarcerate them, the financial cost rises to astronomical levels. You can't even put a price on the social costs. As Kris Hermes, legal director of ASA said, “Losing their medicine is obviously hard on the patients, but it’s also costing taxpayers money. Better law-enforcement policies or any policies at all, can fix this.”

It's time for the taxpayers to insist that they do.

Start all over again

For those of you who never make it over to my politics blog in Detroit, I'm cross posting this because these events still impact the War on Some Drugs in ways that aren't immediately apparent.

Avedon Carol from The Sidestep has sent me to yet another fabulous blog I hadn't read before and instantly liked. MyDD has the news on Chavez in Venezuela and his win in the referendum. DD posted the early news that the opposition's allegations of voter fraud had not been answered. Later reports from Jimmy Carter and the OAS observers have now declared Chavez the bonafide winner.

DD also checks out a couple of NY Times articles, one on Florida stormtroopers "interviewing" elderly black American voters starting with 73 year old Ezzie Thomas, who happens to be president of the Orlando League of Voters. These tactics are reportedly creating an atmospshere of fear and intimidation among the Get out the Vote movement.

And the FBI is still knocking on young people's doors asking them about their travel plans and any intentions to exercise their First Amendment rights. Sometimes I feel like we're fighting the sixties all over again.

As Avedon so aptly put it, "For those of us who've been here before, it's pretty scary stuff."

Cannabis a cure for cancer?

Here's more evidence disputing the prohibition profiteers' contention that this plant has no medicinal value. New research shows that cannabis may provide a method for treating deadly brain tumors by blocking the growth of the blood vessels which feed them. Although the results are still preliminary, they show great promise.

An active component of the street drug has previously been shown to improve brain tumours in rats. But now Manuel Guzmán at Complutense University, Spain, and colleagues have demonstrated how the cannabis extracts block a key chemical needed for tumours to sprout blood vessels – a process called angiogenesis.

And for the first time, the team has shown the cannabinoids impede this chemical in people with the most aggressive form of brain cancer - glioblastoma multiforme.

I have to admit, this stuff kind of goes over my head but it sures sounds hopeful.

The team tested the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in 30 mice. They found the marijuana extract inhibited the expression of several genes related to the production of a chemical called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

VEGF is critical for angiogenesis, which allows tumours to grow a network of blood vessels to supply their growth. The cannabinoid significantly lowered the activity of VEGF in the mice and two human brain cancer patients, the study showed.

The drug did this by increasing the activity of a fat molecule called ceramide, suggests the study, as adding a ceramide inhibitor stifled the ability of the cannabinoid to block VEGF.

For the medical folks that read this blog, you can find the technical information in this Journal: Cancer Research (vol 64, p 5617). One can't help but wonder when the US is going to enable our own scientists to conduct meaningful research as well, instead of spending our tax dollars on trying to prevent its use.

Blog watch

Avedon at The Sideshow points us to a new and interesting blog Scrutiny Hooligans which appears to be a group of young guys who blog together. I 'll definitely be checking back in again after scrolling through the page and reading this excellent post on the drug war. Funk-o-meter is a musician who witnessed 200 people get arrested at a concert by the Alcohol police. Lots of other interesting stuff there by the other Hooligans as well.

Meanwhile, a new site showed up in my referral log. I expect Micchen found me through Avedon. It appears to be a very new blog but promises to be interesting based on the current posts. I'll be keeping an eye on this one as well.

Update: Chavez voting hours extended

Morning Update: Unofficial results show Chavez winning with a repectable plurality.

Bump on this earlier post. The polls won't close for another couple of hours yet at least. V-headline is reporting that they will stay open as long as there are voters waiting to cast ballots. Reports are beginning to filter through from the Narconews bureau as well. Happily there are almost no reports of violence and people are reported to be calm and respectful while they wait patiently for hours to cast a vote.

Even Jimmy Carter expressed amazement at the turnout that all are calling unprecedented. So far all reputable sources are abiding by the government rule not to publicize exit polls but rumors are filtering out accusing the opposition of leaking false results. The smart money however, seems to be betting Chavez will win by 67%. I'll be more interested in what percentage of the population showed up to vote.

Wouldn't it good to see a leader in this country that could inspire this same level of level of participation? Take a good look at Venezuela tonight folks. This is what democracy looks like.

media.mnginteractive.com
Phish says farewell to fans

Phish fans flocking to Vermont to bid adieu to the band at their last concert ended up practically swimming in a sea of mud to get there after enduring waits of up to 23 hours to get off the highway and onto the grounds. Outdoor concert types are hardy souls though, and the local paper reports outside of a few frayed tempers at the entrance gate, no one seemed to mind. They came well equipped to entertain themselves and ironically it appears the hottest commodity in the underground marketplace was cigarettes.

Funny, with the photos so reminiscent of the legendary event, it's right around the anniversary of Woodstock as well.

A mother speaks out

Erin of Parents Ending Prohibition sends in a beautiful story of a MMJ demonstration she and her husband organized at Bush's recent campaign stop in her new home state. Seems they singlehandedly activated a lot of people into holding signs and calling for a end to the war on medical marijuana patients. Not an easy task when the location of Bush's appearance was kept secret until the very last minute. The local press of course were predictably lax, if not downright deceitful in representing the true dimensions and sentiment of the crowd but it sounds like a successful event that can only have done some good to spread the meme. Her account is too long to print here, but until she posts it at her URL, I give you the money quote.

We had 50 signs being held, and still the cameras managed to exclude us. Please help us make sure that the next time, we'll be right up front and in their faces, demanding the simple human dignity of relief from suffering, without facing raids and arrests! My heart aches, everytime I think about what we've given up in this country. Even Orwell wasn't creative enough to envision "Free Speech Zones", and I keep wondering -- isn't America supposed to BE a free speech zone?

Everywhere I go, the one constant I find, is that no one is willing to tell me that they believe their tax dollars would be well spent, by raiding my home and arresting me for using medical marijuana. If we all agree on this, then we must change the laws that demand my arrest, before another precious cent is spent in persecuting me or people like me. Together, we're making a difference.

Erin, a medical marijuana patient, using the herb to control symptoms of the debilitating Crohn's Disease is tiny little woman with great courage and a giant spirit. I have a feeling a movement will soon coalesce around her in the family's new digs and Oregon will never be the same.

Check out their site.

Plan Afghanistan?

Rumsfeld was in Afghanistan recently pledging to start a "Plan Colombia" style drug war in the country going as far as implying the 17,000 troops there right now may be sent on heroin eradication missions of the same sort that failed so miserably to stem the tide of cocaine leaving South America. The US is reportedly disatisfied with British led efforts to stem the burgeoning industry. Needless the say the soldiers, already strained in searching for the ever elusive Al Qaeda operatives and attempting to keep order in the chaos building around voter registration there, are not thrilled at the prospect of pissing off the drug lords.

One US soldier in Kandahar said: "We start taking out drug guys, and they will start taking out our guys." Many of the roadside bombs and sporadic guerrilla attacks on US soldiers in southern Afghanistan are already blamed on criminal gangs seeking to spread chaos as well as Taliban insurgents.

And there's not much hope of support from local authorities.

The drugs business is widely believed to have corrupted officials up to cabinet level, and many Afghans fear that they may have exchanged Taliban fundamentalism for rule by narco-mafias in the future.

The US is already late in addressing the problem.

After ignoring the opium trade for two years, the US has been forced to take it seriouslyby growing fears that the Taliban and other terrorist groups are financing their activities from the drugs trade on a large scale for the first time.

I doubt if this is the first time the Taliban has been financing their activities with heroin money, it's just the first time the US was willing to acknowledge it. But that aside, there is one small ray of hope in what is sure to become another failed prohibition attempt, at least the Afghanis are smart enough to avoid the biggest pitfall of Plan Colombia.

Using helicopters to spray poppy fields with chemicals is not likely, however, because of fears that wrecking the livelihoods of farmers could provoke violent rural rebellions against the American-backed Kabul government - a problem the Taliban encountered when it outlawed poppy farming.

And US General Eric Olsen seems to have a realistic handle on the situation.

"Poppy eradication may not be the best way to address the drug issue, there may be better ways to interdict the drug trade," he said.

Whatever that means, at least they won't be bombing the indigineous with herbicides.

Getting out the Vote

Following up on my previous post, the warlords are currently fighting among themselves in Afghanistan in the run-up to their elections. There seems to be a lot of remaining resistance to relinquish control to Herat's US backed central government.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela the long disputed recall referendum is going on right now with thousands reported to be lined up at the polls before they opened at 6:00am. To read the mainstream US press reports, you would think the opposition party is the voice of the people and will prevail. However, these are the "ruling class" types that robbed the country blind and were defeated at the polls the first time Chavez was democratically elected. They failed to unseat Chavez with a failed coup and now rail that he's a leftist who is ruining the country because he instituted some badly needed economic reforms giving the 80% of the nation that lives in poverty a chance at making a decent living.

Fortunately, NarcoNews is on the story and Al Giordano promises up to the minute coverage from the barrios and the polls where some of the narconews swarm are supposed to be counting votes. According to Al, he has good buzz that Chavez will be easily returned to office and has proof that NY Times hacker Juan Forero agrees with him.

Meanwhile, futures traders, betting that the country (which is a major supplier of oil to the US) will erupt in chaos, have driven up the price of crude to over $46 a barrel. It appears no matter who wins, the consumers are about to lose at the gas pump.

Sunday Reading

Baylen from D'Alliance is still blogging from Boliva and should be checking in soon with details of his trip to the coca growing region of Yungas. He also points us to an excellent article by Ted Galen Carpenter in the National Review on the continuing failure of Plan Colombia.

Meanwhile, his co-blogger Alan Heymann, who is manning the fort here at home posts on a new scheme concocted by law enforcement authorities in Utah. Apparently, having failed to discover and eradicate enough cannabis on their own, the State Bureau of Investigation is encouraging the general public to do their work for them. They are reportedly paying up to $1,000 to citizens willing to rat out their local growers as part of their new Spot Pot, Get a Lot program.

One could think of a thousands better ways to spend the taxpayer's money.

Across the water

Welcome to the Sideshow readers. What a lovely surprise to have visitors from the UK. I discovered Avedon Carol not only left a comment, which rarely happens but also kindly linked to me, sending some unexpected but welcome company.

It cheered me up so much, I spent some time reworking the sidebar in their honor. Still a work in progress but I think it's looking better and will be more useful this way. But feel free to send feedback.

archangelarts.com
Norm and the Hand of God

So I have this "fan" of sorts over at the Detroit News comment section. Norm Kinzel of Cocoa Beach, wouldn't know a punctuation mark if it bit him and he's never found the shift key but he reads me regularly and I've become rather fond of him. I worry he's going to stroke out on me some day though. I tend to upset him.

My hurricane post below just about sent him over the edge this morning. By the time I turned on the computer he had already left three sputtering comments. You may have to scroll if you come in late. They don't permalink so I'll paste in one.

i can t let this drop i don t like liberals politically i believe they are bad for the country but i don t hate them as people you hate people you have no business writing a political piece because all you do is hate no rational person would agree with you on the florida huricane people who agree with you politically need to tell you stop the hate people died down here for christ sake grow up

He's always saying stuff like that to me but to tell you the truth, I don't think he really means it. Even though he would never admit it, in his heart he knows I'm a good person. I usually ignore it but I have to admit when I got up this morning, the images of the devastation were so disturbing that I was concerned my remarks would be misconstrued as merely facile by more than just Norm. It's easy to forget when you're blogging that an offhand remark can travel a long way on the internet.

In the end it forced me to justify my thinking and remind myself that I had no more right to glibly speak to God's intention than Bush does. I have to admit when I posted last night, I went to bed thinking the storm would much less severe.

If you're still with me at this point, you can read the subsequent post at DetNews here.

UPDATE: Having heard from my fellow blogger Steve Couch on the matter and also taking into account the final effects of the storm which although gratefully included less fatalities but caused such tremendous property damage, I decided to apologize after all for being so, however unintentionally, facile. If you're interested, you can read it here.

Eye of the Hurricane

Meanwhile, two hurricanes are going to make landfall on the state of Florida, (governed by Jeb Bush) tonight. The first one - Bonnie, has cut a narrow but destructive swath of damage. The next one, Charlie, is right now bearing down on Disney World and early reports make it look like it's going to be a record breaking landfall.

I follow weather folks and this is an extraordinarily rare juxtaposition of celestial energy. I don't know, but with the Bush family claiming a mandate from God and with due respect to the innocent people who will suffer from this storm, doesn't it look to you like the Big Guy might be sending a message that Michael Moore was right?

Coming Home

Of course I was already feeling a little teary this evening, even before I heard about Fay Wray, because the first victim of unwarranted federal intervention in state sovereignty under CA Prop 215, medical marijuana patient Bryan Epis, was reunited with his 11 year old daughter Ashley today. She hasn't seen him in two years while he was waiting for the courts to decide whether he should be locked up for 10 years for growing a medicinal plant. Thanks to the humanity of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, this happened only hours ago.

Unfortunately while this heartbreaking homecoming was unfolding, two more equally situated defendants were facing equally incomprehensibly unwarranted sentences for the same alleged "crimes". How much longer can civil society survive if we continue to let our government make gardening a federal offense?

You Tarzan, Me Jane

Thanks to Cox and Forkham for the beautiful memorial to King Kong and Fay Wray. I've loved that movie all my life as well and also every remake right up to Mighty Joe Young. I always cried at the end of the original version and I have tears in my eyes right now thinking of an era that feels somehow ended with this news. I think she was the last one left from the jungle genre of film-making I grew up with.

Fay and I had a lot in common.

'Each time I arrive in New York,' she wrote in her biography 'and (I) see the skyline and the exquisite beauty of the Empire State Building, my heart beats a little faster. I like that feeling. I really like it!'

I always feel the same way every time I cross a bridge into Manhattan and I'm glad they honored her like this.

New York City paid tribute to the legendary movie star Tuesday night by dimming the lights of the Empire State Building for fifteen minutes.

Rest in Peace.

More on hemp

While I'm on the subject of this amazing plant, Bonnie Bucqueroux is making a movie about this War on Some Drugs and has a a trailer up for viewing. On her main website related to the production of the film, she also has rare archived footage of the original Hemp For Victory short our government made during the war to encourage ordinary citizens to grow the crop.

It makes you wonder how our government can now justify the ban on the cultivation of hemp when in the 40s it was making claims on the absolute necessity of providing it for our armed forces. The statistics roll off the screen in torrents. It took 60 tons of hemp rope to rig the battleship Old Ironsides. In 1942, our country grew 36,000 tons of hemp on 14,000 acres of land. By 1943, with the blessing and encouragement of the government, production increased to 50,000 tons with an ultimate goal of devoting 300,000 to cultivation. Kind of gives some weight to Stephen Young's remarks in the post below, on the theory that the criminalization of this natural fiber was simply a plot to suppress hemp in favor of promoting the use of the DuPont's (at the time new product) nylon.

Anyway, stop by Bonnie's site and while you're there, check out her weblog on the production of the movie. She doesn't have a lot of posts there yet, (one expects she has little free time) but it's an interesting look at the production process that's sure to continue growing. And while you're there, take the poll. I was voter number four, (it's only up to five) and the results are somewhat mixed so far but unsurprisingly no one has voted to maintain the status quo.

hempmuseum.org
Robert MacDonald had a farm...

And on that farm he grew some hemp, e-i-e-i-o. He used that hemp to print a newspaper. e-i-e-i-o.

Stephen Young has me singing this morning. He kindly sent over a link to his article, The Colonel's Weed tracing the history of the Chicago Tribune's foray into farming in the 1930s.

Becker's report showed up in a regular Tribune feature called "Day by Day Story of the Experimental Farms." This space kept readers up-to-date on two farms in the western suburbs that had been started (and publicized) by the Tribune in hopes of bringing innovation to the desperate farming industry..

A year later, then drug czar Harry Anslinger declared war on the "killer weed", marijuana. No matter that hemp and marijuana are two completely different flora, the imminently useful hemp plant was demonized right along with the smokeable variety and the Tribune came under a federal investigation.

Young develops the story right through the present day looking at the political skullduggery that contributed to making this nonsensical ban a reality.

But Herer goes further, suggesting that the 1937 federal marijuana law was specifically designed to stifle a resurgent domestic hemp industry. Herer identifies two central players: supernarc Anslinger and newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. Anslinger wrote outrageous stories about the allegedly deadly effects of marijuana, and Hearst ran them in his newspapers. Anslinger had ties to the Du Pont family, which was revolutionizing the fiber market with petrochemical-based synthetics like nylon. Hearst controlled vast timber reserves that would have lost much of their value, Herer suggests, if a cheap and renewable source of paper had become available.

McCormick bravely persisted and although his efforts came to naught, the benefits of hemp are still apparent today.

Hemp is being used for textiles, food, and building materials. A car that runs on hemp oil has been developed. And hemp is of great interest to environmentalists because it's a crop that requires little or no pesticide. Hemp products continue to sell in the U.S., even though the hemp itself is always imported.

Ironically, the descendants of this industrial workhorse of a weed continue to fuel today's war on some drugs with billions being spent on a futile attempt to eradicate a plant whose cultivation was once encouraged during WWII's Hemp for Victory campaign.

It's a long article, but well worth reading in full. For more on this story and hemp in general, check out the Vice Squad's coverage as well.

Good Old Days

This is kind of funny. I was trying to figure out what to order for dinner and I discovered that my picture is on the Union Station site on the Deck bar page . This was taken the first day they opened. I think I was the second patron to show up. That was the first time I met Tom O'Connell, who was sitting next to me. He did the sound system for them and had arrived only moments before me. Jamie, my dear friend and the best next door neighbor I ever had was tending bar. It was his first day on the job. The pictures were later used in the print ads as well.

It was only about four or five years ago but it feels like another lifetime. It's funny to see those shots now and remember how warm the sun felt on my hair and to see how much longer it was then. If you look closely you can see my red jacket on the stool next to me. It was lovely that first afternoon, with just a few of us at the bar. It was nice to be reminded of it.

Only the potheads will survive

Here's a funny little sidebar to the recent news of the Israeli military treating its soldiers with cannabis for stress. It appears that our own government conducted studies proving that cannabis is also the best available protection against nerve gas attack.

In U.S. Army tests, rats injected with Dexanabinol, a chemical substitute for hashish, were more than 70 percent less likely to suffer epileptic seizures or brain damage after exposure to sarin and other nerve gases, according to results published in the Israeli press Thursday.

The drug was developed by an Israeli pharmaceutical firm, Pharmos, to treat head injuries and strokes, but now it looks likely to become part of the standard chemical warfare kit carried by NATO troops after the results of the tests were announced at a conference in Maryland last month.

These U.S. tests conducted in 1998, suggest the active ingredients in the plant are effective as an antidote and as a preventative measure.

Further studies conducted by Roddy Heading at NIDA indicated cannabis is also useful in the treatment and prevention of stroke, heart attacks, and neurodegenerative diseases and subsequent studies of synthetic cannabis in Israel showed no serious side effects when administered to healthy volunteers.

Researchers are investigating how cannabidiol and other antioxidants can reduce the severity of damage from "ischaemic strokes", in which blood vessels in the brain become blocked.

The researchers seek to avoid the psychoactive "mellowing" effects of the plant by producing the synthetics, however both work equally well in these applications. As Dana Larsen notes:

Of course, the obvious corollary to this is that if synthetic Dexanabinol can prevent brain damage, then organic marijuana does so as well. So the next time grandpa has a stroke, try and get him to take a few bong-hits before the ambulance arrives. Better yet, give him a hash brownie each evening before he has that stroke. You might just save his life.

Check out the whole thread. There's a lot of links at the end worth exploring.

Stoned Scientists

Cannabis Culture has a great piece up right now on some of the world's greatest scientific minds and how the use of mind altering substances inspired their best work. From Harvard Professor Stephen Jay Gould who lived 20 years longer than expected thanks to the use of cannabis to control his cancer to Carl Sagan who credits the herb for his ability to think outside the box, many of the last century's greatest minds used drugs responsibly.

Further debunking the theory that drugs damage your thinking, Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman used LSD, as did Nobel prize winning chemist Kary Mullis and leading mathematician Ralph Abraham. Freud used cocaine and the well known naturopath Andrew Weil admits to having used every drug known to man at one point or another.

Weil claims that there's an innate need for humans to alter consciousness, and that there is no such thing as good drugs and bad drugs, merely that some individuals have good or bad relationships with these substances.

Oddly, the man most associated with LSD, Timothy Leary, accomplished the least academically however, he went on to live an extraordinary life, inspiring a whole generation of young people to expand their consciousness as well.

It's worth reading in full.

Those poppies again

This one almost got lost in the shuffle here. Ben Masel sends in a link to a PINR report on Afghanistan that was reprinted in the Asia Times. You remember Afghanistan, the other war we're still fighting that no one really talks about.

Unsurprisingly the transition to self-government is going badly and it looks unlikely that elections slated for October will go forward or have any effect on the stability of the country if they do. The article offers an excellent overview of the obstacles to a western style democracy being installed in the country, where traditionally, only uneasy and mutable alliances of convenience keep the various ethnic factions from engaging in endless civil war. It's worth reading just for the explanation of the quam system of government.

Meanwhile of course, contributing greatly to the current state of flux is the burgeoning poppy trade that currently finances the resurging Taliban.

The Taliban have regrouped as guerrilla forces determined to impede the formation of a stable Afghan government. The primary condition for centralized state control - the disbanding of local and regional militias - has not been realized: Approximately 40,000-50,000 fighters are still under the control of the warlords, dwarfing the fledgling Afghan army.

Unfortunately for the indigenous Afghanis who are still struggling to recover from our "liberation" of their country, it appears that change is not on the horizon. In fact, since the only interest the US has in the country is to prevent them from becoming a staging ground for Islamic dissidents and they have no other natural resources the west can exploit, there's little need for major intervention. Barring the discovery of untapped oil fields, it seems unlikely this will change soon or ever.

Carnival 99

SmallestMinority graciously hosts this week's carnival with well, a carnival theme. Great graphics, and as always a lot of interesting posts. I was a little scared to enter today -- he doesn't have much use for liberals -- but he had some kind words about my entry.

Although we don't agree on everything, his blog is actually very interesting and has a lot of interesting things to say about Second Amendment issues. And although he comes across as kind of gruff in the blog, I have this feeling that if you know him, he really is a sweetie.

Check it out.

Gee, Thanks

I'm hopelessly overdue to thank Avedon Carol for linking to me on her blog The Sideshow last month. I was on the road and -- well what's the point of excuses. I'm remiss for a number of reasons, some good, some not so good. In any event I totally admire her work; I'm in awe of her stamina and her knowledge of all things Tolkien. It was very cool to have her link to me and if any of her readers are still coming by on their own, welcome in. I encourage the rest of you folks to check her out.

Meanwhile, I just discovered The Broadroom put my link on their blogroll. It's a site for women, by women and it's so rich in content you can get lost over there for hours. I feel honored to be included in both.

I love Girl power.

Central planning and the eradication of ditch weed

Michael at Vice Squad has an interesting post up on the theme of over-valuation of eradicated cannabis plants. His hometown paper reports Indiana authorities uprooted 21 million plants. The trouble is only just over 31 thousand were of cultivated quality. The other 20 million plus were rope-quality ditchweed that grows wild all over the mid-west having escaped from the great hemp fields that used to provide fiber for ropemaking. Let me remind you that ditchweed will not get you high and the prohibition profiteers only eradicate it to create a facade of success with inflated and meaningless numbers of "busted" plants.

Here's the money quote:

Indiana's program, of course, represents only a relatively small part of the nationwide DEA efforts to eradicate marijuana. According to the same article, the cost of the federal program was $13.5 billion in 2002 alone. That resulted in the seizure of about 300 million plants, 98% of which grow wild and are very low grade.

That's a lot of your tax dollars devoted to sending in law enforcement officers to eradicate essentially useless weeds. Somehow I think they could have sent in a regular highway maintenance crew with a weed whacker for a lot less.

Drug Truth Network updates

The irrepressible Dean Becker of Cultural Baggage checks in with news of new feature at his site. He will begin to offer transcripts of his radio interviews. The first one available is of Dr. Mitch Earleywine and Bruce Mirken.

He also has posted a most amusing email exchange with the ONDCP from when he tried to get John Walters to come onto to his program to defend the war on some drugs. Unsurprisingly, Walters declined the invite, one assumes since there is no defense for this insanity.

Dear Mr. Becker:

Thank you for the information and for your interest in having an ONDCP official on your show. It certainly appears as though you have had some interesting guests on your show. While we will be unable to accommodate your request, we wish well in your future endeavors.

Best, Jennifer de Vallance, Press Secretary,
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, 202-395-6618

Wonder what Walters really said when he heard about the request.

Walter Cronkite Speaks

If one of this country's most beloved and respected journalists has come out for our cause, how long can it be before we actually see some badly needed reform? Walter Cronkite's syndicated column calling for drug policy reform has just begun to surface and will no doubt be published across the country in the next few days. Cronkite obviously been talking to Ethan Nadelmann. He cites the Drug Policy Alliance's work in his piece and brings up many of the usual talking points on prison overcrowding and mandatory sentencing.

You have to admit, the man has a way with words. I've heard these statistics so many times I can recite them in my sleep but somehow they sound better when he says them. I mean, who can accuse Cronkite of having a legalization axe to grind and his closing remarks are as politically astute as ever.

We can expect no federal action during the congressional hiatus in activity ahead of the November elections, but it would be of considerable help if, across the country, campaigning politicians put this high on their promises of legislative action, much sooner than later.

From his mouth to our politician's ears. Read the whole thing.

goodworksonearth.org
Ashcroft wins internet snooping fight

The Justice Department has been trying to sneak this unwarranted invasion of privacy through for the last two years. It appears they are poised to succeed in their quest as US regulators tentatively ruled in favor of a proposal that would compel Internet broadband and VoIP providers to open their networks up to easy surveillance by law enforcement agencies.

They do not need this provision and the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which mandates surveillance backdoors in U.S. telephone networks, allowing the FBI to start listening in on a target's phone calls within minutes of receiving court approval, already gives them enough power to spy on US citizens.

The Act clearly states it should not apply to the internet in the first place and the technology required to enable them to eavesdrop in this venue will also leave you vulnerable to exploitation by hackers and other cyber-criminal types. The EFF, ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Democracy and Technology all filed comments opposing the plan, and an ACLU letter-drive generated hundreds of mailings from citizens against the proposal, all to no avail apparently.

It's still possible to make comments to the FCC on this before it's actually enacted. Make no mistake about it folks, they are selling this proposal as a anti-terrorism tool but just as with every other terrorism-related legislation, it's a matter of time until they will be using this against political dissenters and substance consumers as well. Don't let it pass unremarked.

UPDATE: Declan McCullagh has more on this story at CNET with talking points to bring up with the FCC including this very important point relative to its intended use.

You've been saying that terrorists may use VoIP services to "evade lawful electronic surveillance." But the only detailed court statistics available show that 77 percent of wiretap applications were for drug crimes, and terrorism-related offenses were so few they didn't even make the chart. Is terrorism the real reason behind your wiretap push?

From this boneheaded proposal to the Patriot Act and beyond, in practical terms, the bigger question is of course whether anything this administration has done in the name of homeland security has had anything to do with terrorism.

Walters calls War on Drugs a failure

Well you won't see this in the US media, but your favorite drug czar and mine, John Walters publicly admitted the war on some drugs has failed at a press conference in Mexico City.

Mr Walters said in Mexico that billions of dollars of investment over many years have failed to dent the flow of Latin American cocaine onto US streets.
"We have not yet seen in all these efforts what we're hoping for on the supply side, which is a reduction in availability," he said.

He of course claims all that is going to change this year, for sure.
Just back from touring the world's third-largest recipient of US military aid, Colombia, he also found the need to defend the failed Plan Colombia under which the money for military aid is being funnelled in the guise of funding coca eradication programs.

"We have a history in the United States of not following through on programmes like this," he said.

Could that be because they simply don't work? Walters says he hopes the supply of cocaine will be diminished this year. We suggest he does not start holding his breath.

Correspondents point out that whenever the US has been able to cut coca production anywhere in Latin America, the shortfall has been made up by increases elsewhere in the region. Production has notably risen in Peru, the world's next biggest producer of cocaine after Colombia.

Walters further admits, "anti-narcotics raids had been successful in removing a number of important cartel leaders but had not led to any shortage." As if it ever has. They know they can't stop supply and they found out they can't incarcerate away the demand. Yet he still insists on continuing the status quo.

What does he care? He's making a good living at being drug czar and it's your tax dollars he's spending on this abomination.

gogomag.com
Ricky Williams - poster boy for the marijuana debate?

Well Vig said it first but I lifted the title of this post from Bill O'Reilly's column on Ricky Williams. Bill O' approaches the issue in his usual semi-hysterical manner and starts right out of the gate by misquoting Williams. Ricky said he smoked regularly, not constantly. There's a big difference.

Bill goes on to make a long-winded wacky analysis blaming the increase in reported use of the plant on the Vietnam war protests, rock and roll musicians and a complacent press. He further deems hip-hop to have seduced the minority populations into succumbing to the herb. It would be laughable except so many people believe his tripe.

Putting aside his suspect statistics however, which even if accurate are meaningless out of context, Bill O' outdoes himself in arrogance and deceit when he gets here.

The bigger picture is that marijuana use is now largely accepted by American society even in the case of young people. This is a disaster for kids. Awash in drugs and alcohol, we are now a culture where children are exposed to intoxicating agents practically from the time they reach the age of reason (7 years). And any child who becomes involved with mind altering substances loses their childhood instantly. They are never the same.

I'm not saying there are no instances of children this young using marijuana, however, the far greater problem is the forced medication of children that age who are deemed to have "behavioral disorders" when they refuse to conform. Ritalin is the main drug being abused in every public elementary school in the country. He is right about one thing though. These children are never the same.

And then there's this hypocrisy.

Think about all the good Williams could have done with the money he was earning. Life in the National Football League is no easy venture, but athletic ability is a gift that should not be discarded lightly.

One has to ask how Bill O' (self-anointed man of the people) is spending his millions? You punch "Bill O'Reilly donates" into google and you get one hit where he donated anything but vitriolic commentary and that was in response to a challenge by a call-in viewer who made a generous donation on-air that he then offered to match. Hardly qualifies Mr O' for philanthropist of the year.

And what's with this holier-than-thou prattle?

Ricky Williams should be the poster boy for the marijuana debate. The man obviously is seeking emotional comfort, and the price of that comfort is somewhere around $15 million dollars. You can't get much higher than that.

O'Reilly should give up amateur sociology and mind his own business. Poor old Bill is obviously seeking credibility as a social critic by shamelessly exploiting current events for his own profit with total disregard for the truth or the public good. And you can't get much lower than that.

More on Ricky Williams

This is the second time I've seen a great column by Gwen Knapp. Here, she weighs in on Ricky Williams' retirement and pulls no punches on the stupidity of the NFL's drug testing policies. She asks if it's a joke.

The real comedy, though, doesn't lie in Williams' chemical end-around the tests. It's that marijuana is prohibited in the sports world at all. In Olympic competition, it shares space on the banned list with steroids.

...Screening for pot is worse than a waste of time. It confuses the already murky issue of performance- enhancing drugs.

Pinning down what appears to be the real motive,

Years ago, an NFL assistant coach told me that management didn't particularly care if players took steroids because usage made the game faster and more exciting. Marijuana and cocaine were problems because they made players hard to control.

She notes that she is not laughing.

Williams said he retired for a number of reasons, and anyone who criticizes him for wanting out should be willing to take a hit from an All-Pro linebacker. The outrageous violence of the game is a turnoff for anyone who savors the idea of walking upright at 45.

More aggressive screening for steroids might make the game safer. Nature couldn't possibly have produced so many freakishly large men who run like locomotives. Trying to eliminate pot use won't change a thing. It's irrelevant damage control, and a joke that isn't all that funny.

Spot on. I'm not laughing either.

Pangasinan Provincial Jail thwarts drug delivery

It took me a minute to realize this was not a prison story from the US but rather from the Philippines. They caught a guy trying to smuggle some marijuana into the prison in his shoes and underwear. He was acting nervous so the authorities decided to strip search him. When asked if there were witnesses, the acting jail warden told the press there were five guards, two did the body search while the other watched and also some detainees witnessed it so if, "they would be asked to testify, they will testify." (There's a silent "or else" there I believe).

Meanwhile under the last warden, there was a thriving meth business going on within the walls, "wherein drug users from the outside posed as visitors to buy shabu from the detained drug personalities." The new warden has some ideas on how to prevent this sort of thing in the future.

"To prevent the recurrence of that incident, all visitors, if female, she should be body searched inside the office where there is female jail employee who would do it, and if male, it would be the jail guards," he said.

Paglingayen also said that when he talked with inmates with drug cases, they vowed not to engage anymore in the illegal drug activities and would cooperate with his administration.

Did he expect anyone to vow to continue illegal activities. With marijuana cultivation a capital crime on the islands, one has to wonder what the subtext on that remark means...

9th Circuit Rules Right Again

Well this is truly good news. Apparently, the fourth time is a charm, and in a ruling issued yesterday on a fourth motion, Bryan Epis will be released on bail pending his appeal to the 9th Circuit Court, who are in turn awaiting a US Supreme Court decision in Raich v. Ashcroft. Congratulations to Bryan and his attorney Brenda Grantland for surmounting some huge obstacles in obtaining this modicum of justice for him. The Court had ruled to remand his case back to the lower court last month but he had remained in jail until now.

Epis has been serving a 10-year term at the federal prison at Terminal Island outside Los Angeles since his 2002 conviction on federal marijuana conspiracy charges. Damrell instructed jurors to disregard evidence of medical use sanctioned by California's medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215.

Bryan and his 10 year old daughter (who has not seen her daddy in two years) are reported to be ecstatic about the decision. I'm pretty happy for them myself.

Celebrate Compassion

If you live near Santa Cruz, CA the WAMMfest is less than a month away. It's being held on Sunday Sept 5th from 10-5pm at San Lorenzo Park Benchlands. Looks like a great event and it's for a worthy cause.

If you can't make the event, you can still enter their raffle to win a champagne brunch for two in WAMM's secret medical marijuana garden on Sept. 12th. You can enter on-line.

Politics as usual

I know I've been neglecting this blog lately because I've been posting so much at the Detroit News, but bear with me friends. It's only a few weeks away from the election and every word counts. It's all part of the long term plan.

I know a lot of you don't think it makes a difference but I'm convinced we won't have a prayer to end this stupid war on some drugs if we allow Bush to get elected this time. I know Kerry is not great for our cause either, but at least we have a fighting chance if we can get the Dems into power in this cycle. As far as I can see Bush and the entire Republican party (with a few exceptions) are totally a lost cause.

Anyway, I promise to try and make it up to you this weekend.

Former UK cop advocates for MMJ

It's unfortunate that medicinal marijuana keeps gaining converts from the ranks of the prohibitionists this way, but if you can't believe a former cop, who can you believe? Kate Bradley, one of the leaders in the campaign to legalize the herb for such use in the UK, formerly worked as an undercover officer for the West Midlands police. Now suffering from the crippling agonies of multiple sclerosis,
the degenerative disease which has put her in a wheelchair, Bradley now hits the streets once a month to procure her medicine of choice, namely cannabis.

She [said]: 'I've tried everything, even morphine, but cannabis is the only thing that helps. For me it's not a recreational drug - it's a lifesaver. When I have an attack the pain is everywhere. It goes from the soles of my feet right up through my legs, my torso into my eyes and even into my mouth. I feel like I'm being stung by millions of bees all at the same time all over my body. Then I end up feeling like I'm on fire, it's as if there's a blowtorch against my skin. And at the same time, there are tight metal bands around my legs and arms, so tight they make me want to chop them off.'

It wasn't an easy choice for her.

'I first heard about cannabis when I was with a group of friends who also suffered from MS. One of the women there suggested I try cannabis. I shrank back right away. I thought to myself, "I am an ex-police officer. I used to arrest drug dealers, how can I possibly start using them?" I had to fight with my conscience but the fight didn't last very long. The pain was getting worse and worse, it was getting so I just couldn't live with it any more. I didn't want to be around if I was going to suffer like that.

She had to overcome her fear of the plant besides.

'The first time I took it I was terrified because I really didn't know what the effects were going to be. But when I did I just couldn't believe it. Within half an hour the pain had started to fade for the first time in years. I just couldn't grasp the fact that there was something so much more effective than all the conventional medicine I had tried, yet it was not available on prescription. It didn't make any sense.

Now she's an advocate and takes her government to task for dragging their feet on the issue.

'The government seems to be blase about our fate. I cannot believe the research is taking so long and anyway I do not need any research because I know exactly what works for me. All that I and hundreds of other MS sufferers want is some compassion.'

The prohibition profiteers like to tell you that medical marijuana supporters have a hidden agenda to legalize the plant altogether. Not true. What is true is that the drug policy reformers like myself who forthrightly admit our goal is to eventually legalize all use completely also support the chronically ill in their quest to find relief now.

Israel to treat soldiers with medicinal marijuana

This one has been making the rounds but I'm posting it here to make sure no one misses this landmark in the use of our plant. Israeli soldiers are reportedly (and unsurprisingly) coming back from their mandatory tours of duty in the Palestinian territories suffering from combat stress. The military is about to start treating the malady with cannabis.

The mental health department of the Medical Corps is set to begin tests in the next few days on volunteers who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after reserve duty, the paper said.

A scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team which discovered that cannabis helped mice which had suffered physical stress and even reduced the risk of stroke.

With hundreds of their soldiers being treated for this condition after returning from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israelis see potential for their people to find natural relief. We await the findings of this research great interest.

AP photo
The Ganga League

This guy at ESPN thought he was being pretty clever with this snarky little piece on all the NFL players that have been fined or arrested for cannabis use. I guess it's mildly amusing if you know the players, (I don't), but the real point is just how many of the best players in the country functioned perfectly well under the influence of the plant and also illustrates how the punishment for ingesting a natural substance was worse than the actual use of the herb.

Gallo remarks, "And considering that long-term marijuana might lead to motivational problems, impaired judgment and loss of ambition, it's no wonder Williams thought it wise to give up the millions of dollars remaining on his contract for a life of joblessness and bong hits."

This sort of holier-than-thou judgments really bug me and goes to show just how mindlessly greedy this society has become. Why do they blame a plant for "motivational problems" when it's more likely that Williams simply didn't want to continue enduring the indignity of peeing in a cup and having his personal life dictated by the NFL's Big Brother is Watching You program.

So what if he gave up millions. He's already made millions. No doubt he has enough money to live a simple and comfortable life already. He doesn't need more money, what he needed was the freedom to make his own choices and live his life in peace.

Sure, cannabis smokers sometimes lack motivation but that's not the fault of the plant, that arises from deeper psychological causes. Marijuana abuse can be a symptom but it is not the cause. More often, cannabis helps one put things into perspective. Coming to the realization that peace of mind is more valuable than receiving millions for giving up personal sovereignty and risking potential permanent physical injuries seems to be a wise and thoughtful choice to me.