Is Death the Price of Inaction?
By the time state governments have resolved their differences over medical marijuana with the federal government, Timothy Garon will be dead, if he isn't already.
Mr. Garon, lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band in Seattle, was reported Sunday by The Associated Press to be dying from Hepatitis C, which has destroyed his liver. He needs a new one.
He would be on an organ transplant list to have at least a crack at a new liver, if it weren't for one thing: He used medical marijuana, under the authorization of a Seattle physician, as allowed by Washington state law. Dr. Brad Roter recommended the marijuana for Mr. Garon's nausea, abdominal pain and to increase his appetite.
Little did they know that at several U.S. hospitals, people who use illegal substances -- even medical marijuana where it is legal -- are not eligible for a transplant. The University of Washington Medical Center has strict rules about transplant candidates' drug use, but reconsidered Mr. Garon's case when his attorney pressed the issue. Still, the university denied Mr. Garon a shot at a new liver. AP reported that UCLA Medical Center allows patients a chance to reapply for a transplant list if they stay off marijuana for six months.
The Star understands that with a shortage of organs for transplant, available organs should go to those most likely to take care of them. That is why patients who drink heavily or use illegal drugs are often excluded from transplant lists. However, it is inconceivable that a sick person a doctor has deemed a candidate for medical marijuana is lumped in the same category as a drug abuser.
It is inconceivable that in 2008, marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it is deemed to have no medical use in the U.S.
That is despite a 1999 yearlong study by the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science, which concluded marijuana may be effective in easing chronic pain, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, poor appetite, wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer, and muscular spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.
That is despite the fact that California and 11 other states have passed laws allowing medical marijuana to be recommended by doctors.
And that is despite the fact that, just this year, the American College of Physicians -- 124,000 doctors of internal medicine -- formally called on the federal government to ease its ban on medical marijuana.
The U.S. government has gone to such ridiculous lengths to prohibit medical marijuana that, from 1997 to 2003, it threatened to revoke doctors' federal licenses to prescribe medicine if they even discussed the benefit of medical marijuana with their patients.
Californians and residents of 11 other states that allow medical marijuana are victims of the clash of state and federal laws that has been unresolved for too long. The U.S. Supreme Court recommended in 2005 that Congress resolve the issue.
But, earlier this year, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers can fire workers who use marijuana recommended by a physician.
And, today, Mr. Garon, if he isn't dead already, doesn't have a prayer.
So, be warned, medical marijuana -- legal for the last 12 years in California with a doctor's authorization -- could cost you your job. And if you need an organ transplant, it could cost you your life.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n445/a01.html
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2008
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Copyright: 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact: letters@venturacountystar.com
Website: http://www.venturacountystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/479
Referenced: The AP report "Patients Using Medical Marijuana Can Be
Denied Transplants" http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n438/a02.html
Referenced: The American College of Physicians policy statement
http://drugsense.org/url/RTJp0V7l
Cited: The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science
study http://www.drugsense.org/iom_report/
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
NYC: A Little Stop-and-Frisk May Turn Up a Little Pot
By Christine Hauser
The number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York
City has increased tenfold in the past decade, with most of the arrests
occurring after the police either searched suspects or pressured them into
emptying their bags or pockets and displaying the drug during a
stop-and-frisk, a report (
http://www.nyclu.org/files/MARIJUANA-ARREST-CRUSADE_Final.pdf) said on
Tuesday.
The report, released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, was based on
government statistics, interviews with lawyers, people who were arrested,
and former and current law enforcement officials. The civil liberties group
also took into account observations in criminal court. A Police Department
spokesman criticized the findings as flawed.
The report said the stop-and-frisk policy allows the police to make
misdemeanor arrests, which produce higher crime-fighting statistics, rather
than simply write them up as violations, which carry penalties similar to
traffic infractions.
"The penalty for having seven-eighths of an ounce of marijuana or less in
your pocket is the same as that for riding a bicycle on the sidewalk," said
an author of the report, Prof. Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens
College.
"It's $100," he said.
But in fact, instead of a $100 fine and a violation charge, police are
coaxing people to bring the marijuana into public view by requesting that
they hand over anything they are "not supposed to have," the report says. It
then becomes "burning or open to public view" and therefore a misdemeanor,
according to the New York State criminal code wording.
"Approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of those arrested for marijuana
possession were not smoking and most were not displaying the marijuana," the
report says.
Misdemeanor arrests also allow the police to funnel new information into
their databases from suspects, like fingerprints, photographs and DNA
samples, the report said.
The report says that the arrests are racially skewed. In 1997 through 2006,
there were 353,600 people arrested on misdemeanor marijuana possession
charges and fingerprinted in New York City, the study said, quoting
statistics from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The
misdemeanor marijuana arrests during the previous decade, 1987 through 1996,
were 30,100, the study said.
More than half of those arrested from 1997 through 2006 were black, who
accounted for 26 percent of the city's population, while Hispanics made up
31 percent of the arrests and 27 percent of the population. Whites accounted
for 53,000 arrests in the decade, while the report quoted federal studies as
saying that they used marijuana more often.
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, has denied that the city's police
officers are using racial profiling in conducting street stops.
The department's chief spokesman, Paul. J. Browne, said on Tuesday that the
report was flawed. He said there were 8,770 marijuana-related violations
from 1997 to 2006. In a statement, Mr. Browne said:
The N.Y.C.L.U. has used an advocate for marijuana legalization to mislead
the public with absurdly inflated numbers and false claims about bias. (Note
that the report was underwritten by the Marijuana Policy Project, a
pro-legalization organization). If the N.Y.C..L.U. is for legalization it
should just say so without resorting to smears. It has repackaged virtually
the same flawed presentation Harry Levine made to the marijuana legalization
lobby group NORML in Los Angeles last year. The report erroneously claims
that most of the over 300,000 persons arrested between 1997 and 2006 were
not smoking marijuana in public and that they possessed only small amounts
of marijuana; in other words, the infractions were violations. But the
actual violations total for 1997-2006 was 8,770; not the 350,000. Between
2002 and 2006, the total was 3,449. Here's the breakout by year:
1997: 1062
1998: 987
1999: 810
2000: 1394
2001: 1068
2002: 758
2003: 701
2004: 663
2005: 623
2006: 704 (It was 683 in 2007)
The higher misdemeanor number was for individuals smoking marijuana in
public and /or in possession of between 25 grams to 8 ounces of marijuana,
not the "few grams" that Levine described when he first presented his
findings to NORML.
Overall marijuana arrests decreased between 2003 and 2006 by 25%, compared
to the previous four-year period - a point missing from the report.
Another point missing is the fact the attention to marijuana and lower level
crime in general has helped drive crime down. There were 6.4 million crimes
committed in New York City between 1977 and 1986; there were 6.0 million
crimes committed between 1987 and 1996; and there were 2.6 million crimes
committed between 1997-2006.
To claim bias, the report compared a national survey of individuals
volunteering information, with no way of confirming truthfulness, to actual
street arrests in New York. That's what Darrell Huff, in his classic "How to
Lie with Statistics," called "changing the subject" or an example of
"ecological fallacy," generalizing from aggregate statistics to individual
behaviors.
The N.Y.C.L.U. rebutted (this could go back and forth endlessly):
Nothing that Paul Browne says disputes the key facts presented in the
report: that more than 350,000 misdemeanor marijuana arrests have taken
place over the past decade, that the number of misdemeanor marijuana arrests
increased 10-fold over previous decades, and that there are stark racial and
gender disparities in who gets arrested for misdemeanor marijuana
possession. What he does dispute is the anecdotal report that the NYPD often
overcharges people who are in possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Defense lawyers, current and retired police officers, current and retired
prosecutors, and current and retired judges corroborate the researchers'
findings.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/a-little-stop-and-frisk-may-turn-up-a-little-pot/?hp
--
Brett Stone
Legal Assistant
KROGER LAW GROUP
8888 Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Office- 323-655-5700
Fax- 818-509-9041
brett@laattorney.com
http://www.420attorney.com
http://www.laattorney.com
The number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York
City has increased tenfold in the past decade, with most of the arrests
occurring after the police either searched suspects or pressured them into
emptying their bags or pockets and displaying the drug during a
stop-and-frisk, a report (
http://www.nyclu.org/files/MARIJUANA-ARREST-CRUSADE_Final.pdf) said on
Tuesday.
The report, released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, was based on
government statistics, interviews with lawyers, people who were arrested,
and former and current law enforcement officials. The civil liberties group
also took into account observations in criminal court. A Police Department
spokesman criticized the findings as flawed.
The report said the stop-and-frisk policy allows the police to make
misdemeanor arrests, which produce higher crime-fighting statistics, rather
than simply write them up as violations, which carry penalties similar to
traffic infractions.
"The penalty for having seven-eighths of an ounce of marijuana or less in
your pocket is the same as that for riding a bicycle on the sidewalk," said
an author of the report, Prof. Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens
College.
"It's $100," he said.
But in fact, instead of a $100 fine and a violation charge, police are
coaxing people to bring the marijuana into public view by requesting that
they hand over anything they are "not supposed to have," the report says. It
then becomes "burning or open to public view" and therefore a misdemeanor,
according to the New York State criminal code wording.
"Approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of those arrested for marijuana
possession were not smoking and most were not displaying the marijuana," the
report says.
Misdemeanor arrests also allow the police to funnel new information into
their databases from suspects, like fingerprints, photographs and DNA
samples, the report said.
The report says that the arrests are racially skewed. In 1997 through 2006,
there were 353,600 people arrested on misdemeanor marijuana possession
charges and fingerprinted in New York City, the study said, quoting
statistics from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The
misdemeanor marijuana arrests during the previous decade, 1987 through 1996,
were 30,100, the study said.
More than half of those arrested from 1997 through 2006 were black, who
accounted for 26 percent of the city's population, while Hispanics made up
31 percent of the arrests and 27 percent of the population. Whites accounted
for 53,000 arrests in the decade, while the report quoted federal studies as
saying that they used marijuana more often.
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, has denied that the city's police
officers are using racial profiling in conducting street stops.
The department's chief spokesman, Paul. J. Browne, said on Tuesday that the
report was flawed. He said there were 8,770 marijuana-related violations
from 1997 to 2006. In a statement, Mr. Browne said:
The N.Y.C.L.U. has used an advocate for marijuana legalization to mislead
the public with absurdly inflated numbers and false claims about bias. (Note
that the report was underwritten by the Marijuana Policy Project, a
pro-legalization organization). If the N.Y.C..L.U. is for legalization it
should just say so without resorting to smears. It has repackaged virtually
the same flawed presentation Harry Levine made to the marijuana legalization
lobby group NORML in Los Angeles last year. The report erroneously claims
that most of the over 300,000 persons arrested between 1997 and 2006 were
not smoking marijuana in public and that they possessed only small amounts
of marijuana; in other words, the infractions were violations. But the
actual violations total for 1997-2006 was 8,770; not the 350,000. Between
2002 and 2006, the total was 3,449. Here's the breakout by year:
1997: 1062
1998: 987
1999: 810
2000: 1394
2001: 1068
2002: 758
2003: 701
2004: 663
2005: 623
2006: 704 (It was 683 in 2007)
The higher misdemeanor number was for individuals smoking marijuana in
public and /or in possession of between 25 grams to 8 ounces of marijuana,
not the "few grams" that Levine described when he first presented his
findings to NORML.
Overall marijuana arrests decreased between 2003 and 2006 by 25%, compared
to the previous four-year period - a point missing from the report.
Another point missing is the fact the attention to marijuana and lower level
crime in general has helped drive crime down. There were 6.4 million crimes
committed in New York City between 1977 and 1986; there were 6.0 million
crimes committed between 1987 and 1996; and there were 2.6 million crimes
committed between 1997-2006.
To claim bias, the report compared a national survey of individuals
volunteering information, with no way of confirming truthfulness, to actual
street arrests in New York. That's what Darrell Huff, in his classic "How to
Lie with Statistics," called "changing the subject" or an example of
"ecological fallacy," generalizing from aggregate statistics to individual
behaviors.
The N.Y.C.L.U. rebutted (this could go back and forth endlessly):
Nothing that Paul Browne says disputes the key facts presented in the
report: that more than 350,000 misdemeanor marijuana arrests have taken
place over the past decade, that the number of misdemeanor marijuana arrests
increased 10-fold over previous decades, and that there are stark racial and
gender disparities in who gets arrested for misdemeanor marijuana
possession. What he does dispute is the anecdotal report that the NYPD often
overcharges people who are in possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Defense lawyers, current and retired police officers, current and retired
prosecutors, and current and retired judges corroborate the researchers'
findings.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/a-little-stop-and-frisk-may-turn-up-a-little-pot/?hp
--
Brett Stone
Legal Assistant
KROGER LAW GROUP
8888 Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Office- 323-655-5700
Fax- 818-509-9041
brett@laattorney.com
http://www.420attorney.com
http://www.laattorney.com
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
MARIJUANA: DOPE OR MEDICINE?
Mich. to Vote on Legalizing Pot for Medical Use
Rochelle Lampkin is a 49-year-old grandmother of 10 who used to picket in front of dope houses in her Detroit neighborhood, chanting "this is wrong, shut it down."
Today, she knowingly breaks the law by using marijuana to ease searing eye pain -- a side-effect of the multiple sclerosis that struck her more than 20 years ago. She must use a cane or walker to get around.
Lampkin is among the enthusiastic supporters of a proposal that will be on Michigan's fall ballot to legalize marijuana use by the terminally and seriously ill.
If voters approve it, Michigan would become the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana for the treatment of a host of health problems such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C and Alzheimer's disease. Sponsors say as many as 50,000 Michigan residents, including Lampkin, would qualify for the medical pot.
"Years ago, I was at an MS group meeting and someone suggested I try marijuana because it can help with the pain and the eye problems," Lampkin recalled. "I said: 'I'm not doing that. It's dope.'"
But the flare-ups of optic neuritis convinced her to change her mind about four years ago.
"You have enough pain, you'll try anything," she said. "Somebody gave me a marijuana cigarette and I puffed on it a couple times and got relief from the pain behind my eyes. I was shocked that it worked."
But she didn't like the smell or the coughing that came from smoking a joint. So today, she uses illegally obtained marijuana to make a tea that brings her relief.
Pot Still Illegal in Feds' Eyes
Michigan, with its scheduled Nov. 4 vote, is at the forefront of the national debate that has percolated since 1996, when California voters approved medical marijuana.
U.S. law classifies marijuana, like heroin and LSD, as a Schedule I controlled substance. That means it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regards medical marijuana users, even in states that have approved its use, as lawbreakers. And in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws approving medical marijuana don't bring with them immunity from federal prosecution.
But as a practical matter the experience in other states shows that medical marijuana users who follow the state law are not legally hassled, according to the spokeswoman for the Michigan group backing the ballot proposal.
"Ninety-nine percent of drug laws are enforced by state law enforcement agencies. And in states with medical marijuana laws, as long as the person is conforming with state law ( such as limiting the amount of marijuana a person can possess ), there are virtually no arrests," said Dianne Byrum of Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, which collected a half-million petition signatures.
"It's been highly successful in those states. The sky is not falling."
Michigan's law enforcement community overwhelmingly opposes the ballot proposal.
"It's not a good idea and most practicing physicians who work in pain management know there are better and more effective medicines to deal with the issue rather than using marijuana," said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
He said he believes the true agenda of those backing the Michigan ballot proposal is to legalize marijuana for everyone.
"This is the only nose under the tent that has resonance with citizens because everyone wants to help relieve the pain and suffering of individuals, including those of us in law enforcement," he said. "But this is a guise to advance the process of legalization."
A poll of 600 voters in mid-March, conducted by Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group, found that two-thirds favored it.
2 Doctors Take Different Sides
The medical establishment isn't of a single mind on the effectiveness of marijuana as medicine.
Dr. George Wagoner, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist from Manistee, is a believer.
Beverly, his wife of 51 years, died in July of ovarian cancer. She developed intense nausea from chemotherapy, and anti-nausea drugs didn't help much.
"One drug cost $46.20 a pill and didn't help," he said. "Another made her hallucinate so she refused to take it."
Wagoner told some friends that he knew marijuana could help, but he didn't know where to get it. A short time later one gave him a half-ounce of marijuana.
"She took two puffs and said, 'It's gone. My nausea is gone,'" he said.
Wagoner is angry he had to break the law to comfort his wife.
"It's legal to dispense drugs like morphine and Demerol but it's not legal to dispense marijuana, which has such a beneficial effect for some people who are desperate and in terrible trouble. I think that's outrageous," he said.
Dr. Thomas George takes a different view. He's a state senator who spent five years as medical director for Hospice of Greater Kalamazoo, which provides care for terminally ill people.
"The ballot proposal is unnecessary because we already have legal medical marijuana in pill form," he said
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does allow the use of two pills that are derivatives of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and it is considering approval of a spray.
George said smoked marijuana carries too many health risks and its effects don't last long enough.
"Take glaucoma as an example," he said. "If you have elevated pressure in the eyeballs, you need medicine that lasts 24 hours, and smoking a joint once in a while doesn't work."
Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston man who is a hemophiliac and contracted HIV/AIDS through blood work, said the pills don't live up to their billing.
"I have pain, lack of appetite and weight loss -- those are my three biggies," said Allen, a married father of two. He is confined to a wheelchair and can't work because he lacks stamina.
"I'm going through $600 worth of Marinol each month and it has real drawbacks, including that it can take hours to kick in," he said.
Allen says he hasn't used marijuana since his college days but would be eager to try it again if the ballot proposal succeeds.
"I think the referendum is an opportunity for people to help others who are in very desperate straits, people with cancer and very debilitating illnesses," he said.
The Michigan State Medical Society has a longstanding policy of opposition to medical marijuana, although it does support further research to determine its medicinal value.
But it has not yet taken an official position on the November ballot proposal.
David Fox, spokesman for the 15,000-member doctors' group, said physicians will decide whether to endorse or oppose the initiative at the annual meeting of the 400-member House of Delegates on May 4 in Dearborn.
Backers of medical marijuana got a big boost in February when the American College of Physicians, which represents 124,000 internal medicine specialists, issued a position paper that calls for expanded research into the potential therapeutic role of marijuana, noting that various medical "reports suggest numerous potential medical uses for marijuana."
The prominent group recommended marijuana be reclassified by the federal government to make that research possible, and said doctors who prescribe it and patients who use it shouldn't be subject to federal prosecution in states that where it is legal.
5 Mich. Cities OK Medical Pot
A campaign financial report shows the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care spent more than $1.1 million through March.
Virtually all of the money came from the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., the nation's largest marijuana reform organization with 21,000 members. It has successfully championed medical marijuana measures in other states and in general favors decriminalizing its use.
Byrum, a former state legislator, noted that since 2004, five Michigan cities have passed largely symbolic ordinances to allow medical marijuana: Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, Flint and Traverse City.
"We believe it's good public policy and studies show that in states that have this law it's basically been a non-issue for law enforcement and has no impact on teen drug use," she said.
[front page sidebar]
WHERE IT'S LEGAL
About 62 million people live in the 12 states that have adopted laws since 1996 to allow seriously ill people to use marijuana to lessen their suffering.
1996: California and Washington
1998: Oregon
1999: Alaska and Maine
2000: Colorado, Hawaii and Nevada
2004: Montana and Vermont
2006: Rhode Island
2007: New Mexico
Source: Marijuana Policy Project
[front page sidebar]
CYBERSURVEY
Should marijuana be legally available to the seriously ill, to everyone, or to no one? Vote and comment at detnews.com/cybersurveys.
detnews.com
[page 5A sidebars]
PROPOSAL AT A GLANCE
Some highlights of the ballot initiative that Michigan voters will decide in November:
* Terminally and seriously ill patients would be able to use marijuana if a doctor certified that the drug could ease their pain and suffering.
* A doctor who recommended marijuana to a patient would not be subject to arrest, prosecution or any professional penalties.
* Patients would be issued state ID cards so law enforcement personnel could easily see they are legal medical marijuana users.
* An individual covered by the proposed law could legally possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana or cultivate up to 12 plants in an enclosed, locked facility.
* Patients would be prohibited from using marijuana in public or to operate a car or machinery under the influence of the drug.
* Michigan's ballot proposal is silent about where a patient would obtain marijuana, but the state would not play a role. More than 200 dispensaries distribute marijuana in California, where federal agents have raided dozens that it says are fronts for illegal drug sales.
* If approved by voters, patients who use medical marijuana would still be guilty of breaking the law in the eyes of federal law enforcement agencies.
WHAT QUALIFIES
The proposal on Michigan's fall ballot would permit the use of marijuana by people with "debilitating" medical conditions including cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, and chronic diseases or their treatments that produce wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe muscle spasms such as those caused by multiple sclerosis.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n442/a08.html
Newshawk: Opposition's Lying Ad http://stoparrestingpatients.org/video.html
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/g97KLsL9
Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Page: Front Page, Top Half of Page
Copyright: 2008, The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Charlie Cain, Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Note: The photos shown at the Webpage were printed
Cited: Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
Rochelle Lampkin is a 49-year-old grandmother of 10 who used to picket in front of dope houses in her Detroit neighborhood, chanting "this is wrong, shut it down."
Today, she knowingly breaks the law by using marijuana to ease searing eye pain -- a side-effect of the multiple sclerosis that struck her more than 20 years ago. She must use a cane or walker to get around.
Lampkin is among the enthusiastic supporters of a proposal that will be on Michigan's fall ballot to legalize marijuana use by the terminally and seriously ill.
If voters approve it, Michigan would become the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana for the treatment of a host of health problems such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C and Alzheimer's disease. Sponsors say as many as 50,000 Michigan residents, including Lampkin, would qualify for the medical pot.
"Years ago, I was at an MS group meeting and someone suggested I try marijuana because it can help with the pain and the eye problems," Lampkin recalled. "I said: 'I'm not doing that. It's dope.'"
But the flare-ups of optic neuritis convinced her to change her mind about four years ago.
"You have enough pain, you'll try anything," she said. "Somebody gave me a marijuana cigarette and I puffed on it a couple times and got relief from the pain behind my eyes. I was shocked that it worked."
But she didn't like the smell or the coughing that came from smoking a joint. So today, she uses illegally obtained marijuana to make a tea that brings her relief.
Pot Still Illegal in Feds' Eyes
Michigan, with its scheduled Nov. 4 vote, is at the forefront of the national debate that has percolated since 1996, when California voters approved medical marijuana.
U.S. law classifies marijuana, like heroin and LSD, as a Schedule I controlled substance. That means it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regards medical marijuana users, even in states that have approved its use, as lawbreakers. And in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws approving medical marijuana don't bring with them immunity from federal prosecution.
But as a practical matter the experience in other states shows that medical marijuana users who follow the state law are not legally hassled, according to the spokeswoman for the Michigan group backing the ballot proposal.
"Ninety-nine percent of drug laws are enforced by state law enforcement agencies. And in states with medical marijuana laws, as long as the person is conforming with state law ( such as limiting the amount of marijuana a person can possess ), there are virtually no arrests," said Dianne Byrum of Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, which collected a half-million petition signatures.
"It's been highly successful in those states. The sky is not falling."
Michigan's law enforcement community overwhelmingly opposes the ballot proposal.
"It's not a good idea and most practicing physicians who work in pain management know there are better and more effective medicines to deal with the issue rather than using marijuana," said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
He said he believes the true agenda of those backing the Michigan ballot proposal is to legalize marijuana for everyone.
"This is the only nose under the tent that has resonance with citizens because everyone wants to help relieve the pain and suffering of individuals, including those of us in law enforcement," he said. "But this is a guise to advance the process of legalization."
A poll of 600 voters in mid-March, conducted by Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group, found that two-thirds favored it.
2 Doctors Take Different Sides
The medical establishment isn't of a single mind on the effectiveness of marijuana as medicine.
Dr. George Wagoner, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist from Manistee, is a believer.
Beverly, his wife of 51 years, died in July of ovarian cancer. She developed intense nausea from chemotherapy, and anti-nausea drugs didn't help much.
"One drug cost $46.20 a pill and didn't help," he said. "Another made her hallucinate so she refused to take it."
Wagoner told some friends that he knew marijuana could help, but he didn't know where to get it. A short time later one gave him a half-ounce of marijuana.
"She took two puffs and said, 'It's gone. My nausea is gone,'" he said.
Wagoner is angry he had to break the law to comfort his wife.
"It's legal to dispense drugs like morphine and Demerol but it's not legal to dispense marijuana, which has such a beneficial effect for some people who are desperate and in terrible trouble. I think that's outrageous," he said.
Dr. Thomas George takes a different view. He's a state senator who spent five years as medical director for Hospice of Greater Kalamazoo, which provides care for terminally ill people.
"The ballot proposal is unnecessary because we already have legal medical marijuana in pill form," he said
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does allow the use of two pills that are derivatives of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and it is considering approval of a spray.
George said smoked marijuana carries too many health risks and its effects don't last long enough.
"Take glaucoma as an example," he said. "If you have elevated pressure in the eyeballs, you need medicine that lasts 24 hours, and smoking a joint once in a while doesn't work."
Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston man who is a hemophiliac and contracted HIV/AIDS through blood work, said the pills don't live up to their billing.
"I have pain, lack of appetite and weight loss -- those are my three biggies," said Allen, a married father of two. He is confined to a wheelchair and can't work because he lacks stamina.
"I'm going through $600 worth of Marinol each month and it has real drawbacks, including that it can take hours to kick in," he said.
Allen says he hasn't used marijuana since his college days but would be eager to try it again if the ballot proposal succeeds.
"I think the referendum is an opportunity for people to help others who are in very desperate straits, people with cancer and very debilitating illnesses," he said.
The Michigan State Medical Society has a longstanding policy of opposition to medical marijuana, although it does support further research to determine its medicinal value.
But it has not yet taken an official position on the November ballot proposal.
David Fox, spokesman for the 15,000-member doctors' group, said physicians will decide whether to endorse or oppose the initiative at the annual meeting of the 400-member House of Delegates on May 4 in Dearborn.
Backers of medical marijuana got a big boost in February when the American College of Physicians, which represents 124,000 internal medicine specialists, issued a position paper that calls for expanded research into the potential therapeutic role of marijuana, noting that various medical "reports suggest numerous potential medical uses for marijuana."
The prominent group recommended marijuana be reclassified by the federal government to make that research possible, and said doctors who prescribe it and patients who use it shouldn't be subject to federal prosecution in states that where it is legal.
5 Mich. Cities OK Medical Pot
A campaign financial report shows the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care spent more than $1.1 million through March.
Virtually all of the money came from the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., the nation's largest marijuana reform organization with 21,000 members. It has successfully championed medical marijuana measures in other states and in general favors decriminalizing its use.
Byrum, a former state legislator, noted that since 2004, five Michigan cities have passed largely symbolic ordinances to allow medical marijuana: Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, Flint and Traverse City.
"We believe it's good public policy and studies show that in states that have this law it's basically been a non-issue for law enforcement and has no impact on teen drug use," she said.
[front page sidebar]
WHERE IT'S LEGAL
About 62 million people live in the 12 states that have adopted laws since 1996 to allow seriously ill people to use marijuana to lessen their suffering.
1996: California and Washington
1998: Oregon
1999: Alaska and Maine
2000: Colorado, Hawaii and Nevada
2004: Montana and Vermont
2006: Rhode Island
2007: New Mexico
Source: Marijuana Policy Project
[front page sidebar]
CYBERSURVEY
Should marijuana be legally available to the seriously ill, to everyone, or to no one? Vote and comment at detnews.com/cybersurveys.
detnews.com
[page 5A sidebars]
PROPOSAL AT A GLANCE
Some highlights of the ballot initiative that Michigan voters will decide in November:
* Terminally and seriously ill patients would be able to use marijuana if a doctor certified that the drug could ease their pain and suffering.
* A doctor who recommended marijuana to a patient would not be subject to arrest, prosecution or any professional penalties.
* Patients would be issued state ID cards so law enforcement personnel could easily see they are legal medical marijuana users.
* An individual covered by the proposed law could legally possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana or cultivate up to 12 plants in an enclosed, locked facility.
* Patients would be prohibited from using marijuana in public or to operate a car or machinery under the influence of the drug.
* Michigan's ballot proposal is silent about where a patient would obtain marijuana, but the state would not play a role. More than 200 dispensaries distribute marijuana in California, where federal agents have raided dozens that it says are fronts for illegal drug sales.
* If approved by voters, patients who use medical marijuana would still be guilty of breaking the law in the eyes of federal law enforcement agencies.
WHAT QUALIFIES
The proposal on Michigan's fall ballot would permit the use of marijuana by people with "debilitating" medical conditions including cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, and chronic diseases or their treatments that produce wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe muscle spasms such as those caused by multiple sclerosis.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n442/a08.html
Newshawk: Opposition's Lying Ad http://stoparrestingpatients.org/video.html
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/g97KLsL9
Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Page: Front Page, Top Half of Page
Copyright: 2008, The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Charlie Cain, Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Note: The photos shown at the Webpage were printed
Cited: Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
MICHIGAN TO VOTE ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USE
Rochelle Lampkin is a 49-year-old grandmother of 10 who used to
picket in front of dope houses in her Detroit neighborhood, chanting
"this is wrong, shut it down."
Today, she knowingly breaks the law by using marijuana to ease
searing eye pain -- a side-effect of the multiple sclerosis that
struck her more than 20 years ago. She must use a cane or walker to get around.
Lampkin is among the enthusiastic supporters of a proposal that will
be on Michigan's fall ballot to legalize marijuana use by the
terminally and seriously ill.
If voters approve it, Michigan would become the 13th state to
legalize medical marijuana for the treatment of a host of health
problems such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C and Alzheimer's
disease. Sponsors say as many as 50,000 Michigan residents, including
Lampkin, would qualify for the medical pot.
"Years ago, I was at an MS group meeting and someone suggested I try
marijuana because it can help with the pain and the eye problems,"
Lampkin recalled. "I said: 'I'm not doing that. It's dope.'"
But the flare-ups of optic neuritis convinced her to change her mind
about four years ago.
"You have enough pain, you'll try anything," she said. "Somebody gave
me a marijuana cigarette and I puffed on it a couple times and got
relief from the pain behind my eyes. I was shocked that it worked."
But she didn't like the smell or the coughing that came from smoking
a joint. So today, she uses illegally obtained marijuana to make a
tea that brings her relief.
Pot Still Illegal in Feds' Eyes
Michigan, with its scheduled Nov. 4 vote, is at the forefront of the
national debate that has percolated since 1996, when California
voters approved medical marijuana.
U.S. law classifies marijuana, like heroin and LSD, as a Schedule I
controlled substance. That means it has a high potential for abuse
and no accepted medical use.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regards medical marijuana
users, even in states that have approved its use, as lawbreakers. And
in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws approving
medical marijuana don't bring with them immunity from federal prosecution.
But as a practical matter the experience in other states shows that
medical marijuana users who follow the state law are not legally
hassled, according to the spokeswoman for the Michigan group backing
the ballot proposal.
"Ninety-nine percent of drug laws are enforced by state law
enforcement agencies. And in states with medical marijuana laws, as
long as the person is conforming with state law (such as limiting the
amount of marijuana a person can possess), there are virtually no
arrests," said Dianne Byrum of Michigan Coalition for Compassionate
Care, which collected a half-million petition signatures.
"It's been highly successful in those states. The sky is not falling."
Michigan's law enforcement community overwhelmingly opposes the
ballot proposal.
"It's not a good idea and most practicing physicians who work in pain
management know there are better and more effective medicines to deal
with the issue rather than using marijuana," said Oakland County
Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
He said he believes the true agenda of those backing the Michigan
ballot proposal is to legalize marijuana for everyone.
"This is the only nose under the tent that has resonance with
citizens because everyone wants to help relieve the pain and
suffering of individuals, including those of us in law enforcement,"
he said. "But this is a guise to advance the process of legalization."
A poll of 600 voters in mid-March, conducted by Lansing-based
Marketing Resource Group, found that two-thirds favored it.
2 Doctors Take Different Sides
The medical establishment isn't of a single mind on the effectiveness
of marijuana as medicine.
Dr. George Wagoner, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist from
Manistee, is a believer.
Beverly, his wife of 51 years, died in July of ovarian cancer. She
developed intense nausea from chemotherapy, and anti-nausea drugs
didn't help much.
"One drug cost $46.20 a pill and didn't help," he said. "Another made
her hallucinate so she refused to take it."
Wagoner told some friends that he knew marijuana could help, but he
didn't know where to get it. A short time later one gave him a
half-ounce of marijuana.
"She took two puffs and said, 'It's gone. My nausea is gone,'" he said.
Wagoner is angry he had to break the law to comfort his wife.
"It's legal to dispense drugs like morphine and Demerol but it's not
legal to dispense marijuana, which has such a beneficial effect for
some people who are desperate and in terrible trouble. I think that's
outrageous," he said.
Dr. Thomas George takes a different view. He's a state senator who
spent five years as medical director for Hospice of Greater
Kalamazoo, which provides care for terminally ill people.
"The ballot proposal is unnecessary because we already have legal
medical marijuana in pill form," he said
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does allow the use of two pills
that are derivatives of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana, and it is considering approval of a spray.
George said smoked marijuana carries too many health risks and its
effects don't last long enough.
"Take glaucoma as an example," he said. "If you have elevated
pressure in the eyeballs, you need medicine that lasts 24 hours, and
smoking a joint once in a while doesn't work."
Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston man who is a hemophiliac and
contracted HIV/AIDS through blood work, said the pills don't live up
to their billing.
"I have pain, lack of appetite and weight loss -- those are my three
biggies," said Allen, a married father of two. He is confined to a
wheelchair and can't work because he lacks stamina.
"I'm going through $600 worth of Marinol each month and it has real
drawbacks, including that it can take hours to kick in," he said.
Allen says he hasn't used marijuana since his college days but would
be eager to try it again if the ballot proposal succeeds.
"I think the referendum is an opportunity for people to help others
who are in very desperate straits, people with cancer and very
debilitating illnesses," he said.
The Michigan State Medical Society has a longstanding policy of
opposition to medical marijuana, although it does support further
research to determine its medicinal value.
But it has not yet taken an official position on the November ballot proposal.
David Fox, spokesman for the 15,000-member doctors' group, said
physicians will decide whether to endorse or oppose the initiative at
the annual meeting of the 400-member House of Delegates on May 4 in Dearborn.
Backers of medical marijuana got a big boost in February when the
American College of Physicians, which represents 124,000 internal
medicine specialists, issued a position paper that calls for expanded
research into the potential therapeutic role of marijuana, noting
that various medical "reports suggest numerous potential medical uses
for marijuana."
The prominent group recommended marijuana be reclassified by the
federal government to make that research possible, and said doctors
who prescribe it and patients who use it shouldn't be subject to
federal prosecution in states that where it is legal.
5 Mich. Cities OK Medical Pot
A campaign financial report shows the Michigan Coalition for
Compassionate Care spent more than $1.1 million through March.
Virtually all of the money came from the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C., the nation's largest marijuana reform organization
with 21,000 members. It has successfully championed medical marijuana
measures in other states and in general favors decriminalizing its use.
Byrum, a former state legislator, noted that since 2004, five
Michigan cities have passed largely symbolic ordinances to allow
medical marijuana: Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, Flint and Traverse City.
"We believe it's good public policy and studies show that in states
that have this law it's basically been a non-issue for law
enforcement and has no impact on teen drug use," she said.
Newshawk: Opposition's Lying Ad http://stoparrestingpatients.org/video.html
Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/g97KLsL9
Copyright: 2008, The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Charlie Cain, Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Cited: Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care
http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
picket in front of dope houses in her Detroit neighborhood, chanting
"this is wrong, shut it down."
Today, she knowingly breaks the law by using marijuana to ease
searing eye pain -- a side-effect of the multiple sclerosis that
struck her more than 20 years ago. She must use a cane or walker to get around.
Lampkin is among the enthusiastic supporters of a proposal that will
be on Michigan's fall ballot to legalize marijuana use by the
terminally and seriously ill.
If voters approve it, Michigan would become the 13th state to
legalize medical marijuana for the treatment of a host of health
problems such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C and Alzheimer's
disease. Sponsors say as many as 50,000 Michigan residents, including
Lampkin, would qualify for the medical pot.
"Years ago, I was at an MS group meeting and someone suggested I try
marijuana because it can help with the pain and the eye problems,"
Lampkin recalled. "I said: 'I'm not doing that. It's dope.'"
But the flare-ups of optic neuritis convinced her to change her mind
about four years ago.
"You have enough pain, you'll try anything," she said. "Somebody gave
me a marijuana cigarette and I puffed on it a couple times and got
relief from the pain behind my eyes. I was shocked that it worked."
But she didn't like the smell or the coughing that came from smoking
a joint. So today, she uses illegally obtained marijuana to make a
tea that brings her relief.
Pot Still Illegal in Feds' Eyes
Michigan, with its scheduled Nov. 4 vote, is at the forefront of the
national debate that has percolated since 1996, when California
voters approved medical marijuana.
U.S. law classifies marijuana, like heroin and LSD, as a Schedule I
controlled substance. That means it has a high potential for abuse
and no accepted medical use.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regards medical marijuana
users, even in states that have approved its use, as lawbreakers. And
in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws approving
medical marijuana don't bring with them immunity from federal prosecution.
But as a practical matter the experience in other states shows that
medical marijuana users who follow the state law are not legally
hassled, according to the spokeswoman for the Michigan group backing
the ballot proposal.
"Ninety-nine percent of drug laws are enforced by state law
enforcement agencies. And in states with medical marijuana laws, as
long as the person is conforming with state law (such as limiting the
amount of marijuana a person can possess), there are virtually no
arrests," said Dianne Byrum of Michigan Coalition for Compassionate
Care, which collected a half-million petition signatures.
"It's been highly successful in those states. The sky is not falling."
Michigan's law enforcement community overwhelmingly opposes the
ballot proposal.
"It's not a good idea and most practicing physicians who work in pain
management know there are better and more effective medicines to deal
with the issue rather than using marijuana," said Oakland County
Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
He said he believes the true agenda of those backing the Michigan
ballot proposal is to legalize marijuana for everyone.
"This is the only nose under the tent that has resonance with
citizens because everyone wants to help relieve the pain and
suffering of individuals, including those of us in law enforcement,"
he said. "But this is a guise to advance the process of legalization."
A poll of 600 voters in mid-March, conducted by Lansing-based
Marketing Resource Group, found that two-thirds favored it.
2 Doctors Take Different Sides
The medical establishment isn't of a single mind on the effectiveness
of marijuana as medicine.
Dr. George Wagoner, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist from
Manistee, is a believer.
Beverly, his wife of 51 years, died in July of ovarian cancer. She
developed intense nausea from chemotherapy, and anti-nausea drugs
didn't help much.
"One drug cost $46.20 a pill and didn't help," he said. "Another made
her hallucinate so she refused to take it."
Wagoner told some friends that he knew marijuana could help, but he
didn't know where to get it. A short time later one gave him a
half-ounce of marijuana.
"She took two puffs and said, 'It's gone. My nausea is gone,'" he said.
Wagoner is angry he had to break the law to comfort his wife.
"It's legal to dispense drugs like morphine and Demerol but it's not
legal to dispense marijuana, which has such a beneficial effect for
some people who are desperate and in terrible trouble. I think that's
outrageous," he said.
Dr. Thomas George takes a different view. He's a state senator who
spent five years as medical director for Hospice of Greater
Kalamazoo, which provides care for terminally ill people.
"The ballot proposal is unnecessary because we already have legal
medical marijuana in pill form," he said
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does allow the use of two pills
that are derivatives of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana, and it is considering approval of a spray.
George said smoked marijuana carries too many health risks and its
effects don't last long enough.
"Take glaucoma as an example," he said. "If you have elevated
pressure in the eyeballs, you need medicine that lasts 24 hours, and
smoking a joint once in a while doesn't work."
Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston man who is a hemophiliac and
contracted HIV/AIDS through blood work, said the pills don't live up
to their billing.
"I have pain, lack of appetite and weight loss -- those are my three
biggies," said Allen, a married father of two. He is confined to a
wheelchair and can't work because he lacks stamina.
"I'm going through $600 worth of Marinol each month and it has real
drawbacks, including that it can take hours to kick in," he said.
Allen says he hasn't used marijuana since his college days but would
be eager to try it again if the ballot proposal succeeds.
"I think the referendum is an opportunity for people to help others
who are in very desperate straits, people with cancer and very
debilitating illnesses," he said.
The Michigan State Medical Society has a longstanding policy of
opposition to medical marijuana, although it does support further
research to determine its medicinal value.
But it has not yet taken an official position on the November ballot proposal.
David Fox, spokesman for the 15,000-member doctors' group, said
physicians will decide whether to endorse or oppose the initiative at
the annual meeting of the 400-member House of Delegates on May 4 in Dearborn.
Backers of medical marijuana got a big boost in February when the
American College of Physicians, which represents 124,000 internal
medicine specialists, issued a position paper that calls for expanded
research into the potential therapeutic role of marijuana, noting
that various medical "reports suggest numerous potential medical uses
for marijuana."
The prominent group recommended marijuana be reclassified by the
federal government to make that research possible, and said doctors
who prescribe it and patients who use it shouldn't be subject to
federal prosecution in states that where it is legal.
5 Mich. Cities OK Medical Pot
A campaign financial report shows the Michigan Coalition for
Compassionate Care spent more than $1.1 million through March.
Virtually all of the money came from the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C., the nation's largest marijuana reform organization
with 21,000 members. It has successfully championed medical marijuana
measures in other states and in general favors decriminalizing its use.
Byrum, a former state legislator, noted that since 2004, five
Michigan cities have passed largely symbolic ordinances to allow
medical marijuana: Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, Flint and Traverse City.
"We believe it's good public policy and studies show that in states
that have this law it's basically been a non-issue for law
enforcement and has no impact on teen drug use," she said.
Newshawk: Opposition's Lying Ad http://stoparrestingpatients.org/video.html
Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/g97KLsL9
Copyright: 2008, The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Charlie Cain, Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Cited: Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care
http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
Monday, April 28, 2008
STATE LANGUAGE on JURY NULLIFICATION
(I should first say that I got this as an attachment from an online forum I don't know who wrote it but it's a great piece on Jury Nullification)
STATE LANGUAGE on JURY NULLIFICATION
The Washington Post published a front page story entitled, "In Jury Rooms, a Form of Civil Protest Grows", last year. According to the article, jurors are not always following judges' instructions to the letter.
The article recounted that sometimes in jury trials, when those facts which the judge chooses to allow into evidence indicate that the defendant broke the law, jurors look at the facts quite differently from the way the judge instructed them to. The jurors do not say "On the basis of these facts the defendant is guilty."
Instead, the jurors say, "On the basis of these facts, the law is wrong," and they vote to acquit. Or, they may vote to acquit because they believe the law is being unjustly applied, or because some government conduct in the case has been so egregious they cannot reward it with a conviction.
In short, a passion for justice invades the jury room. The jurors begin judging the law and the government, as well as the facts, and they render their verdict according to conscience. This is called jury nullification. There is no doubt that jury nullification was one of the rights and powers that the people were exercising in 1791 when the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
The constitutions of Maryland, Indiana, Oregon, and Georgia have provisions guaranteeing the right of jurors to "judge" or "determine" the law in "all criminal cases".In addition, 40 state constitutions declare that "All political power is inherent in the people", or words to that effect.
A single nullification verdict against a particular law may or may not alter or reform the government, but thousands of such verdicts certainly do. Witness the decisive role of jury nullification in establishing freedom of speech and press in the American Colonies, defeating the Fugitive Slave Act, and ending alcohol prohibition. The people have all power, and have at all times a right to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they think proper, therefore they have the right to jury nullification, which is tantamount to altering or reforming their government when they come together on juries to decide cases. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind. If the people have the ultimate right of revolution to protect their liberties, then they certainly also have the lesser included and more gentle right of jury nullification to protect their liberties.
Jury nullification is one of the "rights.. retained by the people" in the Ninth Amendment, and it is one of the "powers.. reserved.. to the people" in the Tenth Amendment. Jury nullification is decentralization of political power; it is the people's most important veto in our system. The jury vote is the only time people ever vote on the application of real law in real life.
STATE LANGUAGE on JURY NULLIFICATION
The Washington Post published a front page story entitled, "In Jury Rooms, a Form of Civil Protest Grows", last year. According to the article, jurors are not always following judges' instructions to the letter.
The article recounted that sometimes in jury trials, when those facts which the judge chooses to allow into evidence indicate that the defendant broke the law, jurors look at the facts quite differently from the way the judge instructed them to. The jurors do not say "On the basis of these facts the defendant is guilty."
Instead, the jurors say, "On the basis of these facts, the law is wrong," and they vote to acquit. Or, they may vote to acquit because they believe the law is being unjustly applied, or because some government conduct in the case has been so egregious they cannot reward it with a conviction.
In short, a passion for justice invades the jury room. The jurors begin judging the law and the government, as well as the facts, and they render their verdict according to conscience. This is called jury nullification. There is no doubt that jury nullification was one of the rights and powers that the people were exercising in 1791 when the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
The constitutions of Maryland, Indiana, Oregon, and Georgia have provisions guaranteeing the right of jurors to "judge" or "determine" the law in "all criminal cases".In addition, 40 state constitutions declare that "All political power is inherent in the people", or words to that effect.
A single nullification verdict against a particular law may or may not alter or reform the government, but thousands of such verdicts certainly do. Witness the decisive role of jury nullification in establishing freedom of speech and press in the American Colonies, defeating the Fugitive Slave Act, and ending alcohol prohibition. The people have all power, and have at all times a right to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they think proper, therefore they have the right to jury nullification, which is tantamount to altering or reforming their government when they come together on juries to decide cases. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind. If the people have the ultimate right of revolution to protect their liberties, then they certainly also have the lesser included and more gentle right of jury nullification to protect their liberties.
Jury nullification is one of the "rights.. retained by the people" in the Ninth Amendment, and it is one of the "powers.. reserved.. to the people" in the Tenth Amendment. Jury nullification is decentralization of political power; it is the people's most important veto in our system. The jury vote is the only time people ever vote on the application of real law in real life.
DARE OFFICER CHARGED IN DRUG CASE AT SCHOOL: LA
A Pineville Police DARE officer and Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office corrections officer were arrested after the DARE officer reportedly made a drug deal with a police informant while on duty Wednesday afternoon at Lessie Moore Elementary School in Pineville, officials said today.
The correction officer's connection to the deal and operation wasn't released as the investigation is ongoing.
Much of the undercover drug deal involving the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office Metro Narcotics Division was somehow broadcast over the police scanner, although sheriff's officials still aren't sure how.
"That could be an extremely serious problem," Sheriff's Assistant Chief Herman Walters said, referring to officer safety with the information going out over the scanner. "We need to sit down and talk with the ( officers ) involved and see if they did anything differently to try to determine what happened."
Pineville Police Patrolman First Class Raymond Eli Smith, 37, of 110 Wildwood Drive, Pineville, and Sheriff's Deputy Marcus Taylor, 35, of 1425 Jeannie St., Pineville, were charged with conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine, authorities reported. Smith was also charged with malfeasance in office, officials said.
Sheriff Charles F. "Chuck" Wagner and Walters said they doesn't know of any other instances in the past where undercover operations have been broadcast over the police scanner and that it is something that is seriously being examined.
According to a law enforcement official, anyone with that frequency programmed into his or her scanner could have picked up the broadcast traffic.
In addition to being heard by Town Talk employees, the communication was heard by at least the Alexandria Police Department and another media agency.
Talk of a trip to Detroit and the sale of "bricks" or "kilos" was heard during the deal. During the broadcast, the men talked about ensuring that they didn't speed and had no problems with their vehicle for the trip to Detroit since there would be drugs in it.
According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, Smith met with the informant around 2 p.m. Wednesday in the elementary school's parking lot and conspired to obtain and distribute one kilogram of powder cocaine with a street value of about $25,000. The cocaine, Walters said, was in the informant's possession and was Sheriff's Office evidence cocaine.
At one point during the conversation, the informant was heard to say, "Hey, I've got a partner that was in a buy, and he bought him a kilo, he bought him a key right ... and I don't know how to get rid of it for him. I mean it's a good brick. ... Yeah ... I need to get rid of it. How can I get rid of it?"
Acting Pineville Police Chief Terral Paul said Smith has worked for Pineville Police for about nine years and has been a DARE officer for more than a year. Smith was placed on administrative leave with pay pending a civil service investigation immediately after his arrest, Paul said.
Wagner said Taylor had worked at the Sheriff's Office for about seven years and was currently a corrections officer at Detention Center III. Taylor, who was arrested today, has been placed on administrative suspension without pay pending further investigation, Wagner said.
Taylor is also employed by local NBC television station KALB as a part-time photographer, according to station president and general manager Les Golmon.
"The Pineville Police Department is going to continue to do what we do and deliver service to our citizens in a professional and respectful manner," Paul said in light of Smith's arrest. "It goes without saying that we will not tolerate actions such as this. This situation will be dealt with swiftly and severely according to the rules of the Pineville Police Department's Civil Service Board."
Smith was released from the Rapides Parish Jail on $12,500 bond soon after his Wednesday arrest. He was arrested after being called to the Police Department by Paul, who had been told of the investigation, Paul said.
Wagner said U.S. Marshals have assisted in the investigation and that other out-of-state agencies may get involved. At this time there is no indication that any other law enforcement officers were involved in this investigation.
A portion of the undercover operation that was broadcast across the scanner was recorded by The Town Talk and is posted uncensored and unedited on our Web site.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n438/a03.html
Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca http://cannabislink.ca/
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/je6HoAJz
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2008
Source: Town Talk, The (Alexandria, LA)
Copyright: 2008 The Town Talk
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HTJCyxim
Website: http://www.thetowntalk.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1027
Author: Abbey Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
The correction officer's connection to the deal and operation wasn't released as the investigation is ongoing.
Much of the undercover drug deal involving the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office Metro Narcotics Division was somehow broadcast over the police scanner, although sheriff's officials still aren't sure how.
"That could be an extremely serious problem," Sheriff's Assistant Chief Herman Walters said, referring to officer safety with the information going out over the scanner. "We need to sit down and talk with the ( officers ) involved and see if they did anything differently to try to determine what happened."
Pineville Police Patrolman First Class Raymond Eli Smith, 37, of 110 Wildwood Drive, Pineville, and Sheriff's Deputy Marcus Taylor, 35, of 1425 Jeannie St., Pineville, were charged with conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine, authorities reported. Smith was also charged with malfeasance in office, officials said.
Sheriff Charles F. "Chuck" Wagner and Walters said they doesn't know of any other instances in the past where undercover operations have been broadcast over the police scanner and that it is something that is seriously being examined.
According to a law enforcement official, anyone with that frequency programmed into his or her scanner could have picked up the broadcast traffic.
In addition to being heard by Town Talk employees, the communication was heard by at least the Alexandria Police Department and another media agency.
Talk of a trip to Detroit and the sale of "bricks" or "kilos" was heard during the deal. During the broadcast, the men talked about ensuring that they didn't speed and had no problems with their vehicle for the trip to Detroit since there would be drugs in it.
According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, Smith met with the informant around 2 p.m. Wednesday in the elementary school's parking lot and conspired to obtain and distribute one kilogram of powder cocaine with a street value of about $25,000. The cocaine, Walters said, was in the informant's possession and was Sheriff's Office evidence cocaine.
At one point during the conversation, the informant was heard to say, "Hey, I've got a partner that was in a buy, and he bought him a kilo, he bought him a key right ... and I don't know how to get rid of it for him. I mean it's a good brick. ... Yeah ... I need to get rid of it. How can I get rid of it?"
Acting Pineville Police Chief Terral Paul said Smith has worked for Pineville Police for about nine years and has been a DARE officer for more than a year. Smith was placed on administrative leave with pay pending a civil service investigation immediately after his arrest, Paul said.
Wagner said Taylor had worked at the Sheriff's Office for about seven years and was currently a corrections officer at Detention Center III. Taylor, who was arrested today, has been placed on administrative suspension without pay pending further investigation, Wagner said.
Taylor is also employed by local NBC television station KALB as a part-time photographer, according to station president and general manager Les Golmon.
"The Pineville Police Department is going to continue to do what we do and deliver service to our citizens in a professional and respectful manner," Paul said in light of Smith's arrest. "It goes without saying that we will not tolerate actions such as this. This situation will be dealt with swiftly and severely according to the rules of the Pineville Police Department's Civil Service Board."
Smith was released from the Rapides Parish Jail on $12,500 bond soon after his Wednesday arrest. He was arrested after being called to the Police Department by Paul, who had been told of the investigation, Paul said.
Wagner said U.S. Marshals have assisted in the investigation and that other out-of-state agencies may get involved. At this time there is no indication that any other law enforcement officers were involved in this investigation.
A portion of the undercover operation that was broadcast across the scanner was recorded by The Town Talk and is posted uncensored and unedited on our Web site.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n438/a03.html
Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca http://cannabislink.ca/
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/je6HoAJz
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2008
Source: Town Talk, The (Alexandria, LA)
Copyright: 2008 The Town Talk
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HTJCyxim
Website: http://www.thetowntalk.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1027
Author: Abbey Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Clearing the Haze
Government-funded research at UCSD investigates marijuana's effects to
better understand how the drug can both help and hurt its users.
By Justin Gutierrez
Staff Writer
Sunday, Apr. 27, 2008
Labs at UCSD and around San Diego are investigating the medicinal value and
addictive qualities of cannabis, the drug that, according to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is used by approximately 162 million
people each year.
Like many other recreational drugs, marijuana binds to the brain's
receptors. Receptors are similar to keyholes, which release an effect
throughout the body when the correct link is made. However, unlike many of
the body's other compounds, the brain has receptors that respond
specifically to chemicals found in marijuana, called cannabinoid receptors.
These receptors trigger physical rewards in the body during exercise, in
what UCSD School of Medicine professor of anesthesiology Dr. Mark Wallace
likens to "the runner's high."
The most common cannabinoid in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
According to Wallace, there are over 450 compounds within the plant that
contribute to marijuana's effects.
Wallace's most recent study on cannabinoids involved 15 healthy individuals
who inhaled marijuana and endured pain from a forearm injection of
capsaicin, the compound that produces the spicy sensation in chili peppers.
Wallace found that if capsaicin was injected 45 minutes after a subject
smoked marijuana, there was a significant decrease in pain. However, if
capsaicin was administered five minutes after the subject smoked, there was
no significant decrease in pain. In addition, Wallace found that task
performance and motor skills in his study were not significantly impaired
with a dose of 4 percent THC marijuana.
"This study was conducted to put the debated pain-relieving quality of
cannabis to the test," Wallace said. "We were shown that there is a
potential benefit in using cannabis moderately to treat patients with
chronic pain."
Wallace's study was funded by SB 847, a bill signed into effect by former
Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. The legislation allowed the University of
California to establish a California Medical Marijuana Research Program.
With this bill, as well as the 1996 State Proposition 215, the Center for
Medical Cannabis Research was established. Based in San Diego and affiliated
with UCSD, the center gathers researchers to answer the ultimate question
involving marijuana — is it genuinely therapeutic and effective enough for
medicinal use?
"The ultimate goal for the CMCR is to test the safety and efficacy of using
cannabis and its compounds in medical treatment," CMCR representative
Heather Bentley said. "This goal holds particularly true in situations where
there are no other solutions for patients who suffer from chronic pain and
or illness."
Bentley said cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes,
multiple-sclerosis and depression have all been medically treated with the
use of marijuana with some success.
While UCSD heads many cannabis experiments, it receives all research
marijuana from one government-funded source — the University of Mississippi
— which is governed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the sole
American contractor that has been growing legal marijuana since 1974.
At the Scripps Research Institute, NIDA is supplying another project with
drastically different goals. SRI Professor Barbara Mason is heading a study
that will look at addiction as a reason for constant marijuana relapses.
Participants in Mason's study are required to be regular marijuana users and
are paid to not smoke. They are given a medication which abruptly blocks
cannabinoid receptors, creating a full-scale withdrawal from marijuana for
day. This allows Mason and her colleagues to study marijuana withdrawal
within a short period of time, whereas natural withdrawal usually lasts for
months.
"Our study focuses on abuse and dependence on cannabis and how it affects
higher cognitive functioning, like reasoning, decision making and problem
solving," Mason said. "We are trying to characterize marijuana withdrawal."
Mason said one of the most prevalent symptoms of marijuana withdrawal is
sleep disturbances, characterized by strange dreams and interruptions that
can last months after a user quits smoking. Other symptoms include "violent
outbursts," such as aggressive behavior, anxiety attacks and difficulty
concentrating.
UCSD assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Susan Tapert will create magnetic
resonance images of the brains of participants involved once the study moves
past its initial stages. The participants include some of UCSD's own
students.
Tapert is particularly interested in how cannabis use affects long-term
development of the brain in adolescents and young adults.
"This matter is important to me because marijuana is so widely used," Tapert
said. "About 5 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana daily.
It is import to understand its neurological effects, so that young adults
are rightfully informed about the effects of marijuana use."
According to Mason, despite marijuana's widespread use, its effects on the
body and mind are hardly understood. Because marijuana's long-term effects
are still unknown, researchers like Tapert are focusing their attention on
teens and young adults, like undergraduates, whose learning abilities could
be affected by the substance.
"Like with any substance, overuse can bring undesired results," Wallace
said. "In the future, marijuana's place in medicine will hopefully be
understood, as well its adverse effects on the mind and body."
Readers can contact Justin Gutierrez at j3gutier@ucsd.eduThis e-mail address
is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
http://ucsdguardian.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9974&Itemid=4
--
Brett Stone
Legal Assistant
KROGER LAW GROUP
8888 Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Office- 323-655-5700
Fax- 818-509-9041
brett@laattorney.com
better understand how the drug can both help and hurt its users.
By Justin Gutierrez
Staff Writer
Sunday, Apr. 27, 2008
Labs at UCSD and around San Diego are investigating the medicinal value and
addictive qualities of cannabis, the drug that, according to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is used by approximately 162 million
people each year.
Like many other recreational drugs, marijuana binds to the brain's
receptors. Receptors are similar to keyholes, which release an effect
throughout the body when the correct link is made. However, unlike many of
the body's other compounds, the brain has receptors that respond
specifically to chemicals found in marijuana, called cannabinoid receptors.
These receptors trigger physical rewards in the body during exercise, in
what UCSD School of Medicine professor of anesthesiology Dr. Mark Wallace
likens to "the runner's high."
The most common cannabinoid in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
According to Wallace, there are over 450 compounds within the plant that
contribute to marijuana's effects.
Wallace's most recent study on cannabinoids involved 15 healthy individuals
who inhaled marijuana and endured pain from a forearm injection of
capsaicin, the compound that produces the spicy sensation in chili peppers.
Wallace found that if capsaicin was injected 45 minutes after a subject
smoked marijuana, there was a significant decrease in pain. However, if
capsaicin was administered five minutes after the subject smoked, there was
no significant decrease in pain. In addition, Wallace found that task
performance and motor skills in his study were not significantly impaired
with a dose of 4 percent THC marijuana.
"This study was conducted to put the debated pain-relieving quality of
cannabis to the test," Wallace said. "We were shown that there is a
potential benefit in using cannabis moderately to treat patients with
chronic pain."
Wallace's study was funded by SB 847, a bill signed into effect by former
Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. The legislation allowed the University of
California to establish a California Medical Marijuana Research Program.
With this bill, as well as the 1996 State Proposition 215, the Center for
Medical Cannabis Research was established. Based in San Diego and affiliated
with UCSD, the center gathers researchers to answer the ultimate question
involving marijuana — is it genuinely therapeutic and effective enough for
medicinal use?
"The ultimate goal for the CMCR is to test the safety and efficacy of using
cannabis and its compounds in medical treatment," CMCR representative
Heather Bentley said. "This goal holds particularly true in situations where
there are no other solutions for patients who suffer from chronic pain and
or illness."
Bentley said cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes,
multiple-sclerosis and depression have all been medically treated with the
use of marijuana with some success.
While UCSD heads many cannabis experiments, it receives all research
marijuana from one government-funded source — the University of Mississippi
— which is governed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the sole
American contractor that has been growing legal marijuana since 1974.
At the Scripps Research Institute, NIDA is supplying another project with
drastically different goals. SRI Professor Barbara Mason is heading a study
that will look at addiction as a reason for constant marijuana relapses.
Participants in Mason's study are required to be regular marijuana users and
are paid to not smoke. They are given a medication which abruptly blocks
cannabinoid receptors, creating a full-scale withdrawal from marijuana for
day. This allows Mason and her colleagues to study marijuana withdrawal
within a short period of time, whereas natural withdrawal usually lasts for
months.
"Our study focuses on abuse and dependence on cannabis and how it affects
higher cognitive functioning, like reasoning, decision making and problem
solving," Mason said. "We are trying to characterize marijuana withdrawal."
Mason said one of the most prevalent symptoms of marijuana withdrawal is
sleep disturbances, characterized by strange dreams and interruptions that
can last months after a user quits smoking. Other symptoms include "violent
outbursts," such as aggressive behavior, anxiety attacks and difficulty
concentrating.
UCSD assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Susan Tapert will create magnetic
resonance images of the brains of participants involved once the study moves
past its initial stages. The participants include some of UCSD's own
students.
Tapert is particularly interested in how cannabis use affects long-term
development of the brain in adolescents and young adults.
"This matter is important to me because marijuana is so widely used," Tapert
said. "About 5 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana daily.
It is import to understand its neurological effects, so that young adults
are rightfully informed about the effects of marijuana use."
According to Mason, despite marijuana's widespread use, its effects on the
body and mind are hardly understood. Because marijuana's long-term effects
are still unknown, researchers like Tapert are focusing their attention on
teens and young adults, like undergraduates, whose learning abilities could
be affected by the substance.
"Like with any substance, overuse can bring undesired results," Wallace
said. "In the future, marijuana's place in medicine will hopefully be
understood, as well its adverse effects on the mind and body."
Readers can contact Justin Gutierrez at j3gutier@ucsd.eduThis e-mail address
is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
http://ucsdguardian.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9974&Itemid=4
--
Brett Stone
Legal Assistant
KROGER LAW GROUP
8888 Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Office- 323-655-5700
Fax- 818-509-9041
brett@laattorney.com
Sunday, April 27, 2008
NEW MARIJUANA ISSUE PASSED: SSDP Ohio
NEW MARIJUANA ISSUE PASSED
"Good news!" an excited student announced to a gathering of about 20 students: Issue 5 passed.
Zach Germaniuk, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Ohio State, had just arrived at a meeting sponsored by the group Sunday night at Stillman Hall. The news pleased Germaniuk, a senior in English, who announced the results with zest at the meeting. Although the meeting was to begin with a viewing of "Reefer Madness" and fundraising for the upcoming Hempfest, the Issue 5 news stole the show.
According to the Undergraduate Student Government's Web site, the passage of Issue 5 will make university penalties for possession of marijuana or paraphernalia on campus no greater than the penalties currently given by the university for possession of alcohol on campus.
SSDP tried unsuccessfully to get the initiative passed on the USG ballot for four years, Germaniuk said. The issue passed with 60.87 percent of the votes, a margin of 2,895 to 1,861 votes.
The next goal for SSDP is to enact similar measures citywide, as Denver did several years ago, he said.
The effect of Issue 5 might be more symbolic than practical, however, as the issue states that:
"This referendum shall in no way interfere with the duties of local and state law enforcement agents."
This means, similar to Denver, that state law remains and city police still have authority. Also adding uncertainty to the importance of the issue's passage is that Student Judicial Affairs currently treats many marijuana disciplinary problems similar to alcohol problems.
After the announcement, Germaniuk played the 1936 film "Reefer Madness" for the gathering consisting of SSDP members and supporters.
"Reefer Madness" is a film that comically shows a paranoid 1930s perspective of marijuana with outcomes that can lead to madness, rape and suicide. It is popular among contemporary marijuana users as a "comedy of sorts," Germaniuk said.
He chose the movie because it is a "cultural document of how the establishment looks at marijuana through this really distorted lens.
"That to the 1930s was like Ken Burns 'Civil War' to us," he said, comparing the film to the respected documentary.
"It's a comedy of errors ... It's interesting to note that those opinions shaped in part by this movie are what formed the basis of our drug policy," he said.
Showing the movie highlights the misconceptions of some towards marijuana.
After the film, the remainder of the meeting involved raising money for the upcoming SSDP-sponsored event Hempfest by raffling tickets for a $100 gift certificate to the smoke shop Import House.
Hempfest is May 17 on the South Oval and the only campus event by a student group that receives no special help from the Ohio Union Activities Board or the university, he said, making fundraising for the event especially important.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n433/a04.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Apr 2008
Source: Lantern, The (OH Edu)
Copyright: 2008 The Lantern
Contact: lantern@osu.edu
Website: http://www.thelantern.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1214
Author: Tom Knox
Cited: Hempfest http://www.ohiohempfest.com/
"Good news!" an excited student announced to a gathering of about 20 students: Issue 5 passed.
Zach Germaniuk, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Ohio State, had just arrived at a meeting sponsored by the group Sunday night at Stillman Hall. The news pleased Germaniuk, a senior in English, who announced the results with zest at the meeting. Although the meeting was to begin with a viewing of "Reefer Madness" and fundraising for the upcoming Hempfest, the Issue 5 news stole the show.
According to the Undergraduate Student Government's Web site, the passage of Issue 5 will make university penalties for possession of marijuana or paraphernalia on campus no greater than the penalties currently given by the university for possession of alcohol on campus.
SSDP tried unsuccessfully to get the initiative passed on the USG ballot for four years, Germaniuk said. The issue passed with 60.87 percent of the votes, a margin of 2,895 to 1,861 votes.
The next goal for SSDP is to enact similar measures citywide, as Denver did several years ago, he said.
The effect of Issue 5 might be more symbolic than practical, however, as the issue states that:
"This referendum shall in no way interfere with the duties of local and state law enforcement agents."
This means, similar to Denver, that state law remains and city police still have authority. Also adding uncertainty to the importance of the issue's passage is that Student Judicial Affairs currently treats many marijuana disciplinary problems similar to alcohol problems.
After the announcement, Germaniuk played the 1936 film "Reefer Madness" for the gathering consisting of SSDP members and supporters.
"Reefer Madness" is a film that comically shows a paranoid 1930s perspective of marijuana with outcomes that can lead to madness, rape and suicide. It is popular among contemporary marijuana users as a "comedy of sorts," Germaniuk said.
He chose the movie because it is a "cultural document of how the establishment looks at marijuana through this really distorted lens.
"That to the 1930s was like Ken Burns 'Civil War' to us," he said, comparing the film to the respected documentary.
"It's a comedy of errors ... It's interesting to note that those opinions shaped in part by this movie are what formed the basis of our drug policy," he said.
Showing the movie highlights the misconceptions of some towards marijuana.
After the film, the remainder of the meeting involved raising money for the upcoming SSDP-sponsored event Hempfest by raffling tickets for a $100 gift certificate to the smoke shop Import House.
Hempfest is May 17 on the South Oval and the only campus event by a student group that receives no special help from the Ohio Union Activities Board or the university, he said, making fundraising for the event especially important.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n433/a04.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Apr 2008
Source: Lantern, The (OH Edu)
Copyright: 2008 The Lantern
Contact: lantern@osu.edu
Website: http://www.thelantern.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1214
Author: Tom Knox
Cited: Hempfest http://www.ohiohempfest.com/
Friday, April 25, 2008
POLICE RIGHT TO SEARCH, SEIZE EVIDENCE AFFIRMED
It's OK Even If Arrest Violated State Law, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law.
The unanimous decision comes in a case from Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a traffic ticket.
David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving with a suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons and let the driver go.
Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and prosecutors say that drugs taken from him in a subsequent search can be used against him as evidence.
"We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have signaled for half a century," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote.
Scalia said that when officers have probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime in their presence, the Fourth Amendment permits them to arrest and search the suspect to safeguard evidence and ensure their own safety.
Moore was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that police should have released Moore and could not lawfully search him.
State law, said the Virginia Supreme Court, restricted officers to issuing a ticket in exchange for a promise to appear later in court. Virginia courts dismissed the indictment against Moore.
Moore argued that the Fourth Amendment permits a search only following a lawful state arrest.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she finds more support for Moore's position in previous court cases than the rest of the court does. But she said she agrees that the arrest and search of Moore was constitutional, even though it violated Virginia law.
The Bush administration and attorneys general from 18 states lined up in support of Virginia prosecutors.
The federal government said Moore's case had the potential to greatly increase the class of unconstitutional arrests, resulting in evidence seized during searches being excluded with increasing frequency.
Looking to state laws to provide the basis for searches would introduce uncertainty into the legal system, the 18 states said in court papers.
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n424/a01.html
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/hKKoMPqC
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 6
Copyright: 2008 The Associated Press
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Pete Yost, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law.
The unanimous decision comes in a case from Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a traffic ticket.
David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving with a suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons and let the driver go.
Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and prosecutors say that drugs taken from him in a subsequent search can be used against him as evidence.
"We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have signaled for half a century," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote.
Scalia said that when officers have probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime in their presence, the Fourth Amendment permits them to arrest and search the suspect to safeguard evidence and ensure their own safety.
Moore was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that police should have released Moore and could not lawfully search him.
State law, said the Virginia Supreme Court, restricted officers to issuing a ticket in exchange for a promise to appear later in court. Virginia courts dismissed the indictment against Moore.
Moore argued that the Fourth Amendment permits a search only following a lawful state arrest.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she finds more support for Moore's position in previous court cases than the rest of the court does. But she said she agrees that the arrest and search of Moore was constitutional, even though it violated Virginia law.
The Bush administration and attorneys general from 18 states lined up in support of Virginia prosecutors.
The federal government said Moore's case had the potential to greatly increase the class of unconstitutional arrests, resulting in evidence seized during searches being excluded with increasing frequency.
Looking to state laws to provide the basis for searches would introduce uncertainty into the legal system, the 18 states said in court papers.
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n424/a01.html
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/hKKoMPqC
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 6
Copyright: 2008 The Associated Press
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Pete Yost, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
DRUG CARTELS IN MEXICO PUT UP 'HELP WANTED' AD
Fliers, Banners Urge Soldiers to Defect for Good Pay, Free Cars, Better Food
MEXICO CITY -- One of Mexico's biggest drug cartels has launched a brazen recruiting campaign, putting up fliers and banners promising good pay, free cars and better food to army soldiers who join the cartel's elite band of hit men.
"We don't feed you Maruchan soups," said one banner in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, referring to a brand of ramen noodles.
The recruiting by the Gulf Cartel reflects how Mexico's fight against traffickers increasingly resembles a real war, nearly 17 months after President Felipe Calderon ordered the army into drug hot spots.
"Army and police-force conflicts with heavily armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat," the U.S. Embassy said last week in a travel warning to Americans.
Fliers urging soldiers to defect began appearing earlier this month in the border city of Reynosa. They were pasted on telephone poles over government posters that offered rewards to drug informants.
"Former soldiers sought to form armed group; good pay, 500 dollars," the fliers read.
And a 10-foot-long banner appeared on a pedestrian bridge over Nuevo Laredo's Reforma Avenue, coaxing soldiers to join the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel's hit squad.
"Operative group 'the Zetas' wants you, soldier or ex-soldier," the banner said. "We offer you a good salary, food and attention for your family. "
It listed a cellphone number, which was disconnected a few days later. The banner was taken down a few hours after it was spotted.
Last week, another banner in the city of Tampico asked soldiers and federal agents to defect.
"Join the ranks of the Gulf Cartel," it said. "We offer benefits, life insurance, a house for your family and children. Stop living in the slums and riding the bus. A new car or truck, your choice."
Authorities said the signs, rather than a serious recruiting effort, were probably an attempt to demoralize the soldiers and police.
"They do these things in public places to create confusion among the authorities themselves," said Ruben Salinas, commander of the Reynosa police department's second division.
Military analysts said the recruiting campaign, whether genuine or a ruse to sow discontent, shows increasing sophistication of the cartels.
"This is combat between two forces, one regular and one irregular," said Jorge Luis Sierra, a military specialist and author of a book about the Mexican special forces.
In recent months:
. Federal police discovered a 50-foot-long target range, complete with soundproofing foam, a ventilation system for gun smoke and buckets for spent cartridges, hidden under a house in Tijuana in January. The house also had a machine shop for assembling and repairing weapons.
. Soldiers seized a Jeep Grand Cherokee in March outfitted with a smoke-screen generator, bulletproofing and a device for spraying spikes onto the road. The vehicle was abandoned by gunmen after a shootout with the army in the northern state of Tamaulipas.
. Federal police arrested 16 men in Oaxaca state last week on charges of belonging to the Zetas, including three soldiers who deserted in the 1990s.
. Prosecutors last week formally charged five municipal police officers with being Zetas in the northern state of Coahuila.
. Former Mexican soldier Daniel "Cheeks" Perez Rojas was captured in Guatemala on April 8 in connection with a shootout there that killed 11 people in March. The Mexican Justice Department said Perez Rojas is a deserter from the Mexican army's special forces who became a Zetas leader.
The shootout in Guatemala, about 900 miles from the Gulf Cartel's home turf, showed the international reach of the hit squad, the Mexican Justice Department said. Much of the cocaine smuggled by the Mexican cartels moves first through Central America.
Many of the Zetas are former members of the Mexican army's special forces, the U.S. Justice Department has said.
Some, like Perez Rojas, came from commando units that received U.S. training and surplus American "Huey" helicopters in the 1990s. Most of the Vietnam War-era helicopters were eventually returned to the United States because of chronic mechanical problems, leaving the commandos frustrated and with slim chances to advance. A few switched sides, Sierra said.
The Mexican military has long had a problem with desertion. From January to September last year, 4,956 soldiers deserted, about 2.5% of the force, according to the National Defense Secretariat.
Soldiers are facing more incentive to switch sides because of Calderon's decision to use troops against the drug traffickers, said Arturo Alvarado, a sociologist who studies criminal-justice issues at the College of Mexico.
Thousands of soldiers have spent months away from their families, patrolling border cities. An army private earns an average of $533 a month, the National Defense Secretariat said.
"I don't see why these supposed recruiting ( signs ) should be a particular worry to the government because the recruiting occurs in other ways," Alvarado said.
"But what's true is that there is enormous desertion in the Mexican army and police force," he said. "They should be worried about that and take action to offer better working conditions."
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n423/a02.html
Newshawk: Help for LTE writers www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/5cUXHCDc
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2008
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 8A
Copyright: 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico (Mexico)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon
MEXICO CITY -- One of Mexico's biggest drug cartels has launched a brazen recruiting campaign, putting up fliers and banners promising good pay, free cars and better food to army soldiers who join the cartel's elite band of hit men.
"We don't feed you Maruchan soups," said one banner in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, referring to a brand of ramen noodles.
The recruiting by the Gulf Cartel reflects how Mexico's fight against traffickers increasingly resembles a real war, nearly 17 months after President Felipe Calderon ordered the army into drug hot spots.
"Army and police-force conflicts with heavily armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat," the U.S. Embassy said last week in a travel warning to Americans.
Fliers urging soldiers to defect began appearing earlier this month in the border city of Reynosa. They were pasted on telephone poles over government posters that offered rewards to drug informants.
"Former soldiers sought to form armed group; good pay, 500 dollars," the fliers read.
And a 10-foot-long banner appeared on a pedestrian bridge over Nuevo Laredo's Reforma Avenue, coaxing soldiers to join the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel's hit squad.
"Operative group 'the Zetas' wants you, soldier or ex-soldier," the banner said. "We offer you a good salary, food and attention for your family. "
It listed a cellphone number, which was disconnected a few days later. The banner was taken down a few hours after it was spotted.
Last week, another banner in the city of Tampico asked soldiers and federal agents to defect.
"Join the ranks of the Gulf Cartel," it said. "We offer benefits, life insurance, a house for your family and children. Stop living in the slums and riding the bus. A new car or truck, your choice."
Authorities said the signs, rather than a serious recruiting effort, were probably an attempt to demoralize the soldiers and police.
"They do these things in public places to create confusion among the authorities themselves," said Ruben Salinas, commander of the Reynosa police department's second division.
Military analysts said the recruiting campaign, whether genuine or a ruse to sow discontent, shows increasing sophistication of the cartels.
"This is combat between two forces, one regular and one irregular," said Jorge Luis Sierra, a military specialist and author of a book about the Mexican special forces.
In recent months:
. Federal police discovered a 50-foot-long target range, complete with soundproofing foam, a ventilation system for gun smoke and buckets for spent cartridges, hidden under a house in Tijuana in January. The house also had a machine shop for assembling and repairing weapons.
. Soldiers seized a Jeep Grand Cherokee in March outfitted with a smoke-screen generator, bulletproofing and a device for spraying spikes onto the road. The vehicle was abandoned by gunmen after a shootout with the army in the northern state of Tamaulipas.
. Federal police arrested 16 men in Oaxaca state last week on charges of belonging to the Zetas, including three soldiers who deserted in the 1990s.
. Prosecutors last week formally charged five municipal police officers with being Zetas in the northern state of Coahuila.
. Former Mexican soldier Daniel "Cheeks" Perez Rojas was captured in Guatemala on April 8 in connection with a shootout there that killed 11 people in March. The Mexican Justice Department said Perez Rojas is a deserter from the Mexican army's special forces who became a Zetas leader.
The shootout in Guatemala, about 900 miles from the Gulf Cartel's home turf, showed the international reach of the hit squad, the Mexican Justice Department said. Much of the cocaine smuggled by the Mexican cartels moves first through Central America.
Many of the Zetas are former members of the Mexican army's special forces, the U.S. Justice Department has said.
Some, like Perez Rojas, came from commando units that received U.S. training and surplus American "Huey" helicopters in the 1990s. Most of the Vietnam War-era helicopters were eventually returned to the United States because of chronic mechanical problems, leaving the commandos frustrated and with slim chances to advance. A few switched sides, Sierra said.
The Mexican military has long had a problem with desertion. From January to September last year, 4,956 soldiers deserted, about 2.5% of the force, according to the National Defense Secretariat.
Soldiers are facing more incentive to switch sides because of Calderon's decision to use troops against the drug traffickers, said Arturo Alvarado, a sociologist who studies criminal-justice issues at the College of Mexico.
Thousands of soldiers have spent months away from their families, patrolling border cities. An army private earns an average of $533 a month, the National Defense Secretariat said.
"I don't see why these supposed recruiting ( signs ) should be a particular worry to the government because the recruiting occurs in other ways," Alvarado said.
"But what's true is that there is enormous desertion in the Mexican army and police force," he said. "They should be worried about that and take action to offer better working conditions."
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n423/a02.html
Newshawk: Help for LTE writers www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Rate this article Votes: 0
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/5cUXHCDc
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2008
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 8A
Copyright: 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico (Mexico)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon
Thursday, April 24, 2008
BLOOD WEED: Would softening drug laws alleviate or worsen drug violence in the U.S. and Mexico?
BLOOD WEED
Would softening drug laws alleviate or worsen drug violence in the
U.S. and Mexico? Charles "Cully" Stimson and Jacob Sullum debate.
Today, Stimson and Sullum address the relationship between drug laws
and violence. Previously, they compared drug legalization and
decriminalization, debated the federal government's authority to raid
local marijuana dispensaries, and discussed past substance use by
successful politicians. Tomorrow, they'll present their ideal drug
policies for the U.S.
---------------------------
LEGAL OR NOT, DRUGS CAUSE VIOLENCE
By Charles "Cully" Stimson
Legalizing all drugs would not "alleviate" drug violence. But it may
change the nature of the violence -- likely for the worse.
As the argument goes, if you legalize drugs, you take the risk out of
transporting drugs from Mexico to the United States. That may or may
not prove to be completely true in reality. And yes, there may be a
grain of truth to the theory that because legalizing drugs would
result in fewer turf battles between gangs, the exact types of
violence we see daily on the streets of every major city may decrease
slightly. But that theory goes only so far.
Let's consider some basic economic facts and put your drug
decriminalization theory to the test, Jacob. It's true that the price
of heroin, meth, coke, marijuana and other illegal drugs would come
down because suppliers would no longer have to add in a risk premium.
No doubt, Jacob, you will say that legalizing dangerous drugs would
alleviate drug violence in both countries and that, like alcohol,
drugs should be regulated and taxed.
Here's the rub, though: If you impose high taxes, a gray market will
inevitably be created, and along with it will come violence. If you
impose no taxes, and thus the price remains low, there will be
rampant consumption and the predictable, attendant violence and
social dislocation that go hand in hand with consumption.
There are myriad examples of gray markets for legal products where,
not surprisingly, violence is necessary to secure financial gain. The
criminal cartels of Eastern Europe built their fortunes on, among
other things, the cigarette trade. Cigarettes are legal. Move a bit
north (Russia), and there's a thriving criminal trade in luxury
automobiles. Cars are legal. Terrorist groups in the Middle East
pocket money from selling bootleg DVDs. DVDs are legal.
These products are all taxed and regulated, yet there's a violent and
vibrant gray market for them. Criminals always find ways to make
money to finance their enterprises. They will do exactly the same
thing with "legalized" drugs. The violence will continue even if you
legalize drugs; the players will just be different.
Any policy that makes consumption of heroin, coke, meth, LSD and
marijuana go up dramatically in the population will, without a doubt,
increase violence and create massive social dislocation.
Take Amsterdam, where there is easy access to drugs. Amsterdam is one
of the most violent cities in Europe. When the supply of heroin
increased there, the price dropped and the number of hard-core
addicts grew substantially.
So while there will be some people who, as they do now, smoke
marijuana a few times a week and hold down productive jobs, there
will be many more who consume more of these dangerous drugs because
there will be no threat of criminal sanction hanging over their
heads. Crime and violence will increase exponentially. It would be
like adding gasoline to a fire.
---------------------------
Charles "Cully" Stimson was a local, state and federal prosecutor, a
military prosecutor and defense attorney, and a deputy assistant
secretary of Defense. Currently, he is a senior legal fellow at the
Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).
---------------------------
PROHIBITION-RELATED VIOLENCE
By Jacob Sullum
On Feb. 14, 1929, five men working for Al Capone, disguised as police
officers, lined up six members of a rival gang run by George Moran,
plus a bystander, against the back wall of a garage on Chicago's
North Side. Moran's men died in a barrage of machine-gun fire and
shotgun blasts.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was, in a sense, "alcohol-related,"
but not because the hit men were drunk. Capone and Moran were
competitors in the black market created by alcohol prohibition, and
in a black market, this is how competitors settle their differences.
The same phenomenon can be observed today. A 1989 study reported in
the journal Contemporary Drug Problems looked at New York City
homicides identified as "crack-related" and found that 85% grew out
of black-market disputes, while about 7% occurred during crimes
committed to support a crack habit. Only one homicide out of 118
involved a perpetrator who was high on crack. The most common motive
for the black-market homicides was "territorial dispute."
This sort of thing simply does not happen in the current alcohol
market, where disputes are resolved legally and competition is
peaceful. Coors and Anheuser-Busch may fight vigorously for
customers, but the fighting never escalates into gunfire. To the
extent that other markets in psychoactive substances are
characterized by violence, the blame lies with prohibition, not with
the particular drugs being sold.
Prohibition persists, by the way, in Amsterdam, where the retail sale
of marijuana is tolerated but large-scale distributors of cannabis
and all sellers of "hard" drugs remain subject to arrest and
prosecution. While it's true that Amsterdam has a relatively high
homicide rate compared with other European cities, I don't think you
can plausibly attribute that fact to all the pot-smoking, which at
any rate is more common in the U.S. than it is in the Netherlands.
The U.S., which has a decidedly stricter drug policy, has a much
higher homicide rate as well.
Cully, your examples of violent "gray markets" in untaxed cigarettes,
bootleg DVDs and what I assume are either stolen or untaxed cars
reinforce my point about the cause of such violence: All of these
products are contraband, meaning the trade in them operates outside
of the law. Governments are well-advised to avoid taxing any product,
including tobacco, alcohol and the currently illegal intoxicants, at
such a high rate that a substantial gray market emerges.
You say, Cully, that failing to impose such heavy taxes also will
result in violence because it will encourage more drug consumption.
You seem to assume that drug consumption causes violence. That
certainly was the impression created by press coverage of the "crack
epidemic," but the truth turned out to be quite different. "The media
and public fears of a direct causal relation between crack and other
crimes do not seem to be confirmed by empirical data," the U.S.
Sentencing Commission noted in 1995. "Studies report that neither
powder nor crack cocaine excite users to commit criminal acts and
that the stereotype of a drug-crazed addict committing heinous crimes
is not true for either form of cocaine."
The relationship between drug use and violence is complex and not
necessarily causal. But the drug most strongly associated with
violence -- more strongly than crack, PCP or methamphetamine -- is
alcohol, which nevertheless remains legal, and in my view, rightly
so. Prohibition did not make drinkers any more peaceful, and it made
the people who supplied them a lot more violent.
---------------------------
Jacob Sullum, a senior editor at Reason magazine and a nationally
syndicated columnist, is the author of "Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use."
Newshawk: Help for LTE writers www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2008
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Section: A
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/IwgWbbHE
Copyright: 2008 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Authors: Jacob Sullum and Charles Stimson
Referenced: Monday's DUST UP http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n414/a05.html
Referenced: Tuesday's DUST UP http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n415/a09.html
Referenced: Wednesday's DUST UP
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n418/a05.html
Would softening drug laws alleviate or worsen drug violence in the
U.S. and Mexico? Charles "Cully" Stimson and Jacob Sullum debate.
Today, Stimson and Sullum address the relationship between drug laws
and violence. Previously, they compared drug legalization and
decriminalization, debated the federal government's authority to raid
local marijuana dispensaries, and discussed past substance use by
successful politicians. Tomorrow, they'll present their ideal drug
policies for the U.S.
---------------------------
LEGAL OR NOT, DRUGS CAUSE VIOLENCE
By Charles "Cully" Stimson
Legalizing all drugs would not "alleviate" drug violence. But it may
change the nature of the violence -- likely for the worse.
As the argument goes, if you legalize drugs, you take the risk out of
transporting drugs from Mexico to the United States. That may or may
not prove to be completely true in reality. And yes, there may be a
grain of truth to the theory that because legalizing drugs would
result in fewer turf battles between gangs, the exact types of
violence we see daily on the streets of every major city may decrease
slightly. But that theory goes only so far.
Let's consider some basic economic facts and put your drug
decriminalization theory to the test, Jacob. It's true that the price
of heroin, meth, coke, marijuana and other illegal drugs would come
down because suppliers would no longer have to add in a risk premium.
No doubt, Jacob, you will say that legalizing dangerous drugs would
alleviate drug violence in both countries and that, like alcohol,
drugs should be regulated and taxed.
Here's the rub, though: If you impose high taxes, a gray market will
inevitably be created, and along with it will come violence. If you
impose no taxes, and thus the price remains low, there will be
rampant consumption and the predictable, attendant violence and
social dislocation that go hand in hand with consumption.
There are myriad examples of gray markets for legal products where,
not surprisingly, violence is necessary to secure financial gain. The
criminal cartels of Eastern Europe built their fortunes on, among
other things, the cigarette trade. Cigarettes are legal. Move a bit
north (Russia), and there's a thriving criminal trade in luxury
automobiles. Cars are legal. Terrorist groups in the Middle East
pocket money from selling bootleg DVDs. DVDs are legal.
These products are all taxed and regulated, yet there's a violent and
vibrant gray market for them. Criminals always find ways to make
money to finance their enterprises. They will do exactly the same
thing with "legalized" drugs. The violence will continue even if you
legalize drugs; the players will just be different.
Any policy that makes consumption of heroin, coke, meth, LSD and
marijuana go up dramatically in the population will, without a doubt,
increase violence and create massive social dislocation.
Take Amsterdam, where there is easy access to drugs. Amsterdam is one
of the most violent cities in Europe. When the supply of heroin
increased there, the price dropped and the number of hard-core
addicts grew substantially.
So while there will be some people who, as they do now, smoke
marijuana a few times a week and hold down productive jobs, there
will be many more who consume more of these dangerous drugs because
there will be no threat of criminal sanction hanging over their
heads. Crime and violence will increase exponentially. It would be
like adding gasoline to a fire.
---------------------------
Charles "Cully" Stimson was a local, state and federal prosecutor, a
military prosecutor and defense attorney, and a deputy assistant
secretary of Defense. Currently, he is a senior legal fellow at the
Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).
---------------------------
PROHIBITION-RELATED VIOLENCE
By Jacob Sullum
On Feb. 14, 1929, five men working for Al Capone, disguised as police
officers, lined up six members of a rival gang run by George Moran,
plus a bystander, against the back wall of a garage on Chicago's
North Side. Moran's men died in a barrage of machine-gun fire and
shotgun blasts.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was, in a sense, "alcohol-related,"
but not because the hit men were drunk. Capone and Moran were
competitors in the black market created by alcohol prohibition, and
in a black market, this is how competitors settle their differences.
The same phenomenon can be observed today. A 1989 study reported in
the journal Contemporary Drug Problems looked at New York City
homicides identified as "crack-related" and found that 85% grew out
of black-market disputes, while about 7% occurred during crimes
committed to support a crack habit. Only one homicide out of 118
involved a perpetrator who was high on crack. The most common motive
for the black-market homicides was "territorial dispute."
This sort of thing simply does not happen in the current alcohol
market, where disputes are resolved legally and competition is
peaceful. Coors and Anheuser-Busch may fight vigorously for
customers, but the fighting never escalates into gunfire. To the
extent that other markets in psychoactive substances are
characterized by violence, the blame lies with prohibition, not with
the particular drugs being sold.
Prohibition persists, by the way, in Amsterdam, where the retail sale
of marijuana is tolerated but large-scale distributors of cannabis
and all sellers of "hard" drugs remain subject to arrest and
prosecution. While it's true that Amsterdam has a relatively high
homicide rate compared with other European cities, I don't think you
can plausibly attribute that fact to all the pot-smoking, which at
any rate is more common in the U.S. than it is in the Netherlands.
The U.S., which has a decidedly stricter drug policy, has a much
higher homicide rate as well.
Cully, your examples of violent "gray markets" in untaxed cigarettes,
bootleg DVDs and what I assume are either stolen or untaxed cars
reinforce my point about the cause of such violence: All of these
products are contraband, meaning the trade in them operates outside
of the law. Governments are well-advised to avoid taxing any product,
including tobacco, alcohol and the currently illegal intoxicants, at
such a high rate that a substantial gray market emerges.
You say, Cully, that failing to impose such heavy taxes also will
result in violence because it will encourage more drug consumption.
You seem to assume that drug consumption causes violence. That
certainly was the impression created by press coverage of the "crack
epidemic," but the truth turned out to be quite different. "The media
and public fears of a direct causal relation between crack and other
crimes do not seem to be confirmed by empirical data," the U.S.
Sentencing Commission noted in 1995. "Studies report that neither
powder nor crack cocaine excite users to commit criminal acts and
that the stereotype of a drug-crazed addict committing heinous crimes
is not true for either form of cocaine."
The relationship between drug use and violence is complex and not
necessarily causal. But the drug most strongly associated with
violence -- more strongly than crack, PCP or methamphetamine -- is
alcohol, which nevertheless remains legal, and in my view, rightly
so. Prohibition did not make drinkers any more peaceful, and it made
the people who supplied them a lot more violent.
---------------------------
Jacob Sullum, a senior editor at Reason magazine and a nationally
syndicated columnist, is the author of "Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use."
Newshawk: Help for LTE writers www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2008
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Section: A
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/IwgWbbHE
Copyright: 2008 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Authors: Jacob Sullum and Charles Stimson
Referenced: Monday's DUST UP http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n414/a05.html
Referenced: Tuesday's DUST UP http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n415/a09.html
Referenced: Wednesday's DUST UP
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n418/a05.html
ATTACK DRUG ABUSE TO REDUCE CRIME
As legislators wrestle with strategies to solve Florida's budget crisis, it is prudent that the state's limited resources be spent wisely. One of the smart investments the state has supported is community-based drug treatment for offenders on the verge of a prison admission and drug treatment in prison for inmates on their way back into the community.
According to the Department of Corrections, 65 percent of the 100,000 inmates in prison and 59.7 percent of the 153,000 offenders on probation have a substance-abuse problem and need treatment. The state has contracted with community substance-abuse providers for 14 years with positive results, the data clearly showing that prisoners who received institutional treatment returned to prison at a lower rate than those who didn't receive treatment. The success rate is even greater for probationers who received community-based treatment outside of prison.
Drug treatment is not a soft-on-crime approach, but rather a smart-on-crime approach. There is significant research showing that offender drug treatment works and is one of a variety of strategies that have been used across the nation to flatten the intake of new inmates. Data from the Florida Department of Corrections validate that drug treatment is a cost effective intervention for offenders as it reduces prison admissions and recidivism.
Another smart approach is the cost-saving benefit of substance-abuse treatment. Already, this potential savings was compromised when in November, 309 community substance-abuse offender beds and 525 institutional drug treatment slots were eliminated. For $9,400 a probationer with a substance-abuse problem was provided drug treatment, random urinalysis, job placement and supervision. By cutting the beds, the same offender who now goes to prison will cost taxpayers $45,000. These numbers demonstrate that substance-abuse treatment, either community-based or within an institution, is a smart, long-term investment for the state of Florida.
Next year alone, the state of Florida has committed $715 million dollars for the construction of new prisons and to open beds that are already constructed.
Legislators will decide whether to eliminate or continue these treatment programs, which amounts to only 1.4 percent of the total Department of Corrections budget. Lawmakers have the duty to spend state resources wisely. As funds diminish, strategic business thinking demands new and innovative approaches to investing.
Drug treatment for offenders is one approach to long-term savings in the midst of a year in budget crisis. Not only will it save money, it also has the additional benefit of saving lives.
[ Mark P. Fontaine is executive director of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association. ]
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n418/a02.html
Newshawk: http://www.novembercoalition.org
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2008
Source: Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL)
Copyright: 2008 The Ledger
Contact: voice@theledger.com
Website: http://www.theledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795
Author: Mark Fontaine
Mark P. Fontaine is executive director of the Florida Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Associat.
According to the Department of Corrections, 65 percent of the 100,000 inmates in prison and 59.7 percent of the 153,000 offenders on probation have a substance-abuse problem and need treatment. The state has contracted with community substance-abuse providers for 14 years with positive results, the data clearly showing that prisoners who received institutional treatment returned to prison at a lower rate than those who didn't receive treatment. The success rate is even greater for probationers who received community-based treatment outside of prison.
Drug treatment is not a soft-on-crime approach, but rather a smart-on-crime approach. There is significant research showing that offender drug treatment works and is one of a variety of strategies that have been used across the nation to flatten the intake of new inmates. Data from the Florida Department of Corrections validate that drug treatment is a cost effective intervention for offenders as it reduces prison admissions and recidivism.
Another smart approach is the cost-saving benefit of substance-abuse treatment. Already, this potential savings was compromised when in November, 309 community substance-abuse offender beds and 525 institutional drug treatment slots were eliminated. For $9,400 a probationer with a substance-abuse problem was provided drug treatment, random urinalysis, job placement and supervision. By cutting the beds, the same offender who now goes to prison will cost taxpayers $45,000. These numbers demonstrate that substance-abuse treatment, either community-based or within an institution, is a smart, long-term investment for the state of Florida.
Next year alone, the state of Florida has committed $715 million dollars for the construction of new prisons and to open beds that are already constructed.
Legislators will decide whether to eliminate or continue these treatment programs, which amounts to only 1.4 percent of the total Department of Corrections budget. Lawmakers have the duty to spend state resources wisely. As funds diminish, strategic business thinking demands new and innovative approaches to investing.
Drug treatment for offenders is one approach to long-term savings in the midst of a year in budget crisis. Not only will it save money, it also has the additional benefit of saving lives.
[ Mark P. Fontaine is executive director of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association. ]
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n418/a02.html
Newshawk: http://www.novembercoalition.org
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2008
Source: Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL)
Copyright: 2008 The Ledger
Contact: voice@theledger.com
Website: http://www.theledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795
Author: Mark Fontaine
Mark P. Fontaine is executive director of the Florida Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Associat.
DEA Raids in Seattle: Cannabis
SEATTLE -- Police and federal agents launched a series of raids Wednesday on indoor marijuana growing operations at houses in the Seattle area. The U.S. attorney's office says 14 people and two companies have been indicted, and at least 20 search warrants are being served. Drug Enforcement Agency officials said that in just one of the homes raided, agents seized more than 300 marijuana plants and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Hundreds of law enforcement officers are involved in the sweep, and several people have been arrested. Federal agents and police called a 1 p.m. Wednesday news conference at the federal building in Seattle to discuss the raids and the investigation they call "Operation Green Reaper.
http://www. komotv. com/news/18046834. html
http://www. komotv. com/news/18046834. html
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Patients' Employment Rights Bill Moves to Assembly Floor for a Vote!!!!
***Urge Your State Assembly Member to Support AB 2279!***
Dear ASA Supporter,
Last week, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the state legislature moved
another step further towards securing employment rights for California medical
marijuana patients. The Assembly Labor Committee passed AB 2279 on a 6-2 vote.
AB 2279, authored by Assemblymember Mark Leno and sponsored by ASA, now moves
to the assembly floor and we need you to urge your assembly member to support
medical cannabis patients' rights!
The California Supreme Court ruled in Ross v. RagingWire that an employee using
medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation may be fired solely because of
his/her status as a medical cannabis patient. Now, it's up to the legislature
to pass AB 2279 to protect California patients' right to work.
After passing both the Assembly Judiciary and Labor Committees, AB 2279 could
reach the California Assembly floor as soon as next week!
ASA staff, working with other organizations, unions, and advocates, will be
working hard over the next several days to educate state legislators about this
important bill. We need your help today to ensure passage! Here are three
things you can do to secure California patients' right to work:
1. Contact your assembly member at
to urge him/her to vote
yes on AB 2279. The only way this bill will pass is if the legislators hear
from their constituents (you!)
2. Forward this email to every California medical cannabis supporter you know
and ask them to take action.
3. Visit to donate to ASA to
support our efforts in Sacramento.
Thank you for supporting ASA and our efforts to secure the rights of California
medical marijuana patients.
Sincerely,
Don Duncan
California Director
Americans for Safe Access
Americans for Safe Access is the nation's largest organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and
legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Dear ASA Supporter,
Last week, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the state legislature moved
another step further towards securing employment rights for California medical
marijuana patients. The Assembly Labor Committee passed AB 2279 on a 6-2 vote.
AB 2279, authored by Assemblymember Mark Leno and sponsored by ASA, now moves
to the assembly floor and we need you to urge your assembly member to support
medical cannabis patients' rights!
The California Supreme Court ruled in Ross v. RagingWire that an employee using
medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation may be fired solely because of
his/her status as a medical cannabis patient. Now, it's up to the legislature
to pass AB 2279 to protect California patients' right to work.
After passing both the Assembly Judiciary and Labor Committees, AB 2279 could
reach the California Assembly floor as soon as next week!
ASA staff, working with other organizations, unions, and advocates, will be
working hard over the next several days to educate state legislators about this
important bill. We need your help today to ensure passage! Here are three
things you can do to secure California patients' right to work:
1. Contact your assembly member at
yes on AB 2279. The only way this bill will pass is if the legislators hear
from their constituents (you!)
2. Forward this email to every California medical cannabis supporter you know
and ask them to take action.
3. Visit
support our efforts in Sacramento.
Thank you for supporting ASA and our efforts to secure the rights of California
medical marijuana patients.
Sincerely,
Don Duncan
California Director
Americans for Safe Access
Americans for Safe Access is the nation's largest organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and
legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Supreme Court says police may search even if arrest invalid
By PETE YOST - Associated Press Writer
Published 9:05 am PDT Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have
the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even
when done during an arrest that turns out to have
violated state law.
The unanimous decision comes in a case from
Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack
cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a
traffic ticket offense.
David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving on a
suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in
Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons
and let the driver go.
Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and
prosecutors say that drugs taken from him in a
subsequent search can be used against him as evidence.
"We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have
signaled for half a century," Justice Antonin Scalia
wrote.
Scalia said that when officers have probable cause to
believe a person has committed a crime in their
presence, the Fourth Amendment permits them to make an
arrest and to search the suspect in order to safeguard
evidence and ensure their own safety.
Moore was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to
3 1/2 years in prison.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that police should
have released Moore and could not lawfully conduct a
search.
State law, said the Virginia Supreme Court, restricted
officers to issuing a ticket in exchange for a promise
to appear later in court. Virginia courts dismissed
the indictment against Moore.
Moore argued that the Fourth Amendment permits a
search only following a lawful state arrest.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
said she finds more support for Moore's position in
previous court cases than the rest of the court does.
But she said she agrees that the arrest and search of
Moore was constitutional, even though it violated
Virginia law.
The Bush administration and attorneys general from 18
states lined up in support of Virginia prosecutors.
The federal government said Moore's case had the
potential to greatly increase the class of
unconstitutional arrests, resulting in evidence seized
during searches being excluded with increasing
frequency.
Looking to state laws to provide the basis for
searches would introduce uncertainty into the legal
system, the 18 states said in court papers.
This article is protected by copyright and should not
be printed or distributed for anything except personal
use.
The Sacramento Bee, 2100 Q St., P.O. Box 15779,
Sacramento, CA 95852
Phone: (916) 321-1000
Published 9:05 am PDT Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have
the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even
when done during an arrest that turns out to have
violated state law.
The unanimous decision comes in a case from
Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack
cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a
traffic ticket offense.
David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving on a
suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in
Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons
and let the driver go.
Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and
prosecutors say that drugs taken from him in a
subsequent search can be used against him as evidence.
"We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have
signaled for half a century," Justice Antonin Scalia
wrote.
Scalia said that when officers have probable cause to
believe a person has committed a crime in their
presence, the Fourth Amendment permits them to make an
arrest and to search the suspect in order to safeguard
evidence and ensure their own safety.
Moore was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to
3 1/2 years in prison.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that police should
have released Moore and could not lawfully conduct a
search.
State law, said the Virginia Supreme Court, restricted
officers to issuing a ticket in exchange for a promise
to appear later in court. Virginia courts dismissed
the indictment against Moore.
Moore argued that the Fourth Amendment permits a
search only following a lawful state arrest.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
said she finds more support for Moore's position in
previous court cases than the rest of the court does.
But she said she agrees that the arrest and search of
Moore was constitutional, even though it violated
Virginia law.
The Bush administration and attorneys general from 18
states lined up in support of Virginia prosecutors.
The federal government said Moore's case had the
potential to greatly increase the class of
unconstitutional arrests, resulting in evidence seized
during searches being excluded with increasing
frequency.
Looking to state laws to provide the basis for
searches would introduce uncertainty into the legal
system, the 18 states said in court papers.
This article is protected by copyright and should not
be printed or distributed for anything except personal
use.
The Sacramento Bee, 2100 Q St., P.O. Box 15779,
Sacramento, CA 95852
Phone: (916) 321-1000
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Cannabis policies and user practices: Market separation, price, potency and accessibility in Amsterdam and San Francisco
This is from the international Journal of Drug Policy and this study compares Cannabis policies and practices in Amsterdam and San Francsico. It's filled with great sound bites like "Amsterdam respondents preferred milder cannabis whilst San Francisco respondants preferred stronger..."
http://drugsense.org/temp/08XReinarmanXCannabisXpolicyXpracticeXAdamXSFXINtXJXdrugXPolivy.pdf
http://drugsense.org/temp/08XReinarmanXCannabisXpolicyXpracticeXAdamXSFXINtXJXdrugXPolivy.pdf
420
If it was up to our Federal Government Cannabis would be an extinct species.......... Thank you for supporting Cannabis reform. One day these bad laws will end and we will see the Man behind the curtain is just as mortal as we are.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Australia: Sowing The Seeds For Hemp's Future
The age of hemp is here - or at least returning to its rightful place as one of the most useful plants known to man.
But it's not the much-maligned, recreational variety of hemp or cannabis which Nimbin is world famous for, but the high-fibre industrial hemp ( low in the psycho-active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC ) which many farmers in NSW have been waiting years to be allowed to grow.
That time has now come, with the state government last week announcing it would introduce a new licensing scheme for the commercial growing of hemp, bringing NSW into line with other Australian states now developing an industrial hemp industry.
The fast-growing and durable hemp had, until the 1930s, been used for thousands of years for rope-making, paper production including bank notes, food, building materials, sail cloth and myriad other uses.
It is very environmentally friendly as hemp crops do not require herbicides or pesticides.
The announcement has been welcomed by two pioneers of Australian hemp production, Dr Keith Bolton, director of Ecotechnology Australia ( EA ) and Klara Marosszeky, director of Morrowby Futures. This year, they again operated a trial hemp plot for research, on a rural property in the Lismore area.
EA, which designs and constructs on-site sewage treatment systems using wetland technology, helped establish the successful 'mop-crop' technology ( irrigating crops with effluent ), also using hemp, at the West Byron Sewage Treatment Plant.
Dr Bolton, an environmental engineer, is passionate about industrial hemp and re-establishing it as one of the most useful plants known to man, especially with the ever-increasing threat of global warming and the large-scale clearing of land and forests around the world contributing to it.
In fact, hemp is seen by many as a natural replacement for timber as a building material and paper made from wood pulp - both damaging to the environment.
"This is the news we've been waiting for - the industrial hemp industry is now set to go ballistic and the first farmers to get in will make big bucks," Dr Bolton, a former Southern Cross University researcher, told The Echo. "Around two to three farmers a day have been contacting me wanting to know more about growing hemp, saying 'I want to get into it, my granddad used to grow it for rope'."
"Our main aim this year is to multiply the very precious small amount of seed available in Australia for industrial hemp to cater for the rapidly growing hemp industry," he said. "Previously you could only get a licence to grow it for scientific research purposes and not for commercial use. This decision reverses that so now farmers can consider not just research but will be able to grow and sell hemp they produce.
Dr Bolton said hemp-processing infrastructure now needed to be established. For example, Klara is developing hemp masonry ( see The Echo, March 6 ) and hemp needs to be chopped or hammer-milled to a specific grade to turn it into hemp product such as masonry, paper, or chipboard.
"Hundreds of homes in Europe are built from hemp masonry, which is much more environmentally friendly than cement products. It locks up carbon retained in masonry, it's half the weight and it doesn't require kiln baking," Dr Bolton said. "In fact the first big industry likely to emerge here is hemp-masonry products, so you can literally 'grow your own house'."
Dr Bolton said Australia was "behind the eight ball" in regard to hemp legislation and is one of the few countries where hemp food is still prohibited.
"It is one of the best quality foods on the planet. I'm serious, anything that can be made out of soya bean can be made from hemp such as hemp tofu, hemp sprouts, hemp bread, ice cream, flour and even pop-hemp. In China instead of pop-corn at the movie theatres you get pop-hemp," Dr Bolton said. "The great thing about it is it contains highly digestible proteins, an abundant source of omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids ( the good oils ) in perfect ratio and that's the key.
"Hemp seed has been eaten by humans for millenia and hemp has been used by humans for at least 10,000 years with archaeological evidence of its cultivation.
"But for the last 70 years humans have tried to eradicate the genus cannabis from the face of the planet, and not just by prohibition - but I believe this will be just a blip in history as we have good leadership allowing us to establish a positive relationship with this remarkable plant."
Dr Bolton encouraged farmers wanting to grow hemp to stay closely tuned to NSW DPI ( Department of Primary Industries ), which should soon be releasing all the necessary information for farmers such as cultivation techniques and applying for licenses.
"We envisage the industry here on the north coast to be developed by co-operatives of farmers who work together to produce seed products, including seed for further production, and I see the north coast producing fibre for the housing industry," he said.
In announcing impending changes to state laws to smooth the way for commercial hemp growing, NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said "environmentally-friendly hemp could soon be used in everything from dog food to biofuel".
"Industrial hemp fibre produced here in NSW could pave the way for the establishment of a new viable industry that creates and sells textiles, cloth and building products made from locally-grown industrial hemp," Mr Macdonald said.
"Hemp seed oil can also be used as a base for skin care products and paints - there is growing support from the agricultural sector for the development of such a new industry this is a direct result of the environmentally-friendly nature of industrial hemp and a perceived interest for hemp products in the market."
Industrial hemp was low in THC compared to other varieties and could not be used as a drug, he said.
"Those seeking to run trials for industrial hemp will no longer have to seek approval from the Department of Health once the new measures were in place," he said. "Irrigation trial yields from Yamba and the state's central west are now reporting 10 to 12 tonnes of dry stem per hectare... which are competitive with those reported in northern Europe and Tasmania.
Ms Marosszeky said that hopefully the minister would include provision for a hemp-food industry in the Industrial Hemp Bill.
"Just as low-THC or industrial hemp fibre is an incredibly versatile resource with many applications, low-THC hemp seed can be made into a wide variety of food products. It is a highly nutritious food source for which there is already an extensive global demand," she said. "There is a precedent for this provision in the WA Industrial Hemp Bill introduced in 2003. It does not give WA farmers the right yet to sell hemp foods they produce in Australia but it pre-empts the moment when the Australian Food Authority will authorise this.
Researchers in Australia have developed a wide variety of hemp food products and there is no doubt with the emerging world food crisis that hemp will move into the spotlight.
"Unfortunately information in Australia about hemp markets has largely been kept behind closed doors. Food Standards Australia New Zealand released a fact sheet in 2001 as a result of pressure from potential Australian hemp food producers and consumers wanting access to the nutritional benefits of hemp foods.
"Food authority ANZFA established maximum limits of THC for hemp seed and hemp-seed oil, such that even a high consumer of hemp-based foods cannot exceed the safe level of intake of THC.
"The American domestic market for hemp-based food products in 2004 was over $12 million. The retail health care market, including lotions and oils, is estimated to sell over $30 million worth of hemp products in the United States annually. To give you some idea of the expansion of this industry, Canada's production of hemp increased from 4,000 acres in 2002 to over 24,000 acres in 2005," Ms Marosszeky said.
For information packages, contact Sandra Maybury at the DPI office in Wagga on 6938 1999.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n398/a09.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 17 Apr 2008
Source: Northern River Echo, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2008 TAOW P/L
Contact: editor@echonews.com
Website: http://www.echonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4736
Author: Luis Feliu
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)
But it's not the much-maligned, recreational variety of hemp or cannabis which Nimbin is world famous for, but the high-fibre industrial hemp ( low in the psycho-active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC ) which many farmers in NSW have been waiting years to be allowed to grow.
That time has now come, with the state government last week announcing it would introduce a new licensing scheme for the commercial growing of hemp, bringing NSW into line with other Australian states now developing an industrial hemp industry.
The fast-growing and durable hemp had, until the 1930s, been used for thousands of years for rope-making, paper production including bank notes, food, building materials, sail cloth and myriad other uses.
It is very environmentally friendly as hemp crops do not require herbicides or pesticides.
The announcement has been welcomed by two pioneers of Australian hemp production, Dr Keith Bolton, director of Ecotechnology Australia ( EA ) and Klara Marosszeky, director of Morrowby Futures. This year, they again operated a trial hemp plot for research, on a rural property in the Lismore area.
EA, which designs and constructs on-site sewage treatment systems using wetland technology, helped establish the successful 'mop-crop' technology ( irrigating crops with effluent ), also using hemp, at the West Byron Sewage Treatment Plant.
Dr Bolton, an environmental engineer, is passionate about industrial hemp and re-establishing it as one of the most useful plants known to man, especially with the ever-increasing threat of global warming and the large-scale clearing of land and forests around the world contributing to it.
In fact, hemp is seen by many as a natural replacement for timber as a building material and paper made from wood pulp - both damaging to the environment.
"This is the news we've been waiting for - the industrial hemp industry is now set to go ballistic and the first farmers to get in will make big bucks," Dr Bolton, a former Southern Cross University researcher, told The Echo. "Around two to three farmers a day have been contacting me wanting to know more about growing hemp, saying 'I want to get into it, my granddad used to grow it for rope'."
"Our main aim this year is to multiply the very precious small amount of seed available in Australia for industrial hemp to cater for the rapidly growing hemp industry," he said. "Previously you could only get a licence to grow it for scientific research purposes and not for commercial use. This decision reverses that so now farmers can consider not just research but will be able to grow and sell hemp they produce.
Dr Bolton said hemp-processing infrastructure now needed to be established. For example, Klara is developing hemp masonry ( see The Echo, March 6 ) and hemp needs to be chopped or hammer-milled to a specific grade to turn it into hemp product such as masonry, paper, or chipboard.
"Hundreds of homes in Europe are built from hemp masonry, which is much more environmentally friendly than cement products. It locks up carbon retained in masonry, it's half the weight and it doesn't require kiln baking," Dr Bolton said. "In fact the first big industry likely to emerge here is hemp-masonry products, so you can literally 'grow your own house'."
Dr Bolton said Australia was "behind the eight ball" in regard to hemp legislation and is one of the few countries where hemp food is still prohibited.
"It is one of the best quality foods on the planet. I'm serious, anything that can be made out of soya bean can be made from hemp such as hemp tofu, hemp sprouts, hemp bread, ice cream, flour and even pop-hemp. In China instead of pop-corn at the movie theatres you get pop-hemp," Dr Bolton said. "The great thing about it is it contains highly digestible proteins, an abundant source of omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids ( the good oils ) in perfect ratio and that's the key.
"Hemp seed has been eaten by humans for millenia and hemp has been used by humans for at least 10,000 years with archaeological evidence of its cultivation.
"But for the last 70 years humans have tried to eradicate the genus cannabis from the face of the planet, and not just by prohibition - but I believe this will be just a blip in history as we have good leadership allowing us to establish a positive relationship with this remarkable plant."
Dr Bolton encouraged farmers wanting to grow hemp to stay closely tuned to NSW DPI ( Department of Primary Industries ), which should soon be releasing all the necessary information for farmers such as cultivation techniques and applying for licenses.
"We envisage the industry here on the north coast to be developed by co-operatives of farmers who work together to produce seed products, including seed for further production, and I see the north coast producing fibre for the housing industry," he said.
In announcing impending changes to state laws to smooth the way for commercial hemp growing, NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said "environmentally-friendly hemp could soon be used in everything from dog food to biofuel".
"Industrial hemp fibre produced here in NSW could pave the way for the establishment of a new viable industry that creates and sells textiles, cloth and building products made from locally-grown industrial hemp," Mr Macdonald said.
"Hemp seed oil can also be used as a base for skin care products and paints - there is growing support from the agricultural sector for the development of such a new industry this is a direct result of the environmentally-friendly nature of industrial hemp and a perceived interest for hemp products in the market."
Industrial hemp was low in THC compared to other varieties and could not be used as a drug, he said.
"Those seeking to run trials for industrial hemp will no longer have to seek approval from the Department of Health once the new measures were in place," he said. "Irrigation trial yields from Yamba and the state's central west are now reporting 10 to 12 tonnes of dry stem per hectare... which are competitive with those reported in northern Europe and Tasmania.
Ms Marosszeky said that hopefully the minister would include provision for a hemp-food industry in the Industrial Hemp Bill.
"Just as low-THC or industrial hemp fibre is an incredibly versatile resource with many applications, low-THC hemp seed can be made into a wide variety of food products. It is a highly nutritious food source for which there is already an extensive global demand," she said. "There is a precedent for this provision in the WA Industrial Hemp Bill introduced in 2003. It does not give WA farmers the right yet to sell hemp foods they produce in Australia but it pre-empts the moment when the Australian Food Authority will authorise this.
Researchers in Australia have developed a wide variety of hemp food products and there is no doubt with the emerging world food crisis that hemp will move into the spotlight.
"Unfortunately information in Australia about hemp markets has largely been kept behind closed doors. Food Standards Australia New Zealand released a fact sheet in 2001 as a result of pressure from potential Australian hemp food producers and consumers wanting access to the nutritional benefits of hemp foods.
"Food authority ANZFA established maximum limits of THC for hemp seed and hemp-seed oil, such that even a high consumer of hemp-based foods cannot exceed the safe level of intake of THC.
"The American domestic market for hemp-based food products in 2004 was over $12 million. The retail health care market, including lotions and oils, is estimated to sell over $30 million worth of hemp products in the United States annually. To give you some idea of the expansion of this industry, Canada's production of hemp increased from 4,000 acres in 2002 to over 24,000 acres in 2005," Ms Marosszeky said.
For information packages, contact Sandra Maybury at the DPI office in Wagga on 6938 1999.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n398/a09.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 17 Apr 2008
Source: Northern River Echo, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2008 TAOW P/L
Contact: editor@echonews.com
Website: http://www.echonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4736
Author: Luis Feliu
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)
Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act Introduced Yesterday in Congress
*PRESS RELEASE
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release:* April 18, 2008
*Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act Introduced Yesterday in Congress
*/HR 5842 would reschedule marijuana for medical use, end federal
interference in state laws/
*Washington, D.C. *-- Congressional Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)
introduced the "Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," HR 5842,
yesterday, a bill co-sponsored by Representatives Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY), Sam Farr (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Ron Paul (R-TX).
The act would change federal policy on medical marijuana in a number of
ways. Specifically, HR 5842 would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I
drug, which cannot be prescribed, to a Schedule II drug, which would
recognize the medical value of marijuana and create a regulatory
framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana.
The act would also prevent interference by the federal government in any
local or state run medical marijuana program.
Similar versions of HR 5842 have been introduced in prior Congressional
terms, but have never made it out of committee. "It's time that the
federal government take this issue seriously," said Caren Woodson,
Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a
nationwide medical marijuana advocacy group working with Mr. Frank and
other Members of Congress to change federal policy. "By disregarding
marijuana's medical efficacy, and undermining efforts to implement state
laws, the federal government is willfully placing hundreds of thousands
of sick Americans in harms way."
In addition to rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances
Act (CSA), HR 5842 would provide protection from the CSA and the federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) for qualified patients and
caregivers in states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana.
Specifically, the act prevents the CSA and FDCA from prohibiting or
restricting: (1) a physician from prescribing or recommending marijuana
for medical use, (2) an individual from obtaining, possessing,
transporting within their state, manufacturing, or using marijuana in
accordance with their state law, (3) an individual authorized under
State law from obtaining, possessing, transporting within their state,
or manufacturing marijuana on behalf of an authorized patient, or (4) an
entity authorized under local or State law to distribute medical
marijuana to authorized patients from obtaining, possessing, or
distributing marijuana to such authorized patients.
In December, U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers stated publicly his
concern about the tactics being used by the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and promised oversight hearings. Since then,
several California mayors have written to Conyers expressing their
support for hearings, including the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland,
West Hollywood, and Santa Cruz. Opposition to federal interference in
state medical marijuana laws has also come from multiple city councils,
members of the California Board of Equalization and the state
legislature, as well as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
Further information:
Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, HR 5842:
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/HR5842.pdf
ASA Fact Sheet on the Escalation of Harmful DEA Tactics:
http://americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/dea_escalation.pdf
December 2007 Statement by House Judiciary Chair John Conyers:
http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=889
Letter from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to Conyers:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/Newsom_Letter_to_Conyers.pdf
Letter from NM Governor Richardson to President GW Bush:
http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/richardson_letter.pdf
# # #
With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of
patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens
promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating
policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and
researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots
actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.
--
Kris Hermes
Media Specialist
Americans for Safe Access
www.SafeAccessNow.org
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856 x307
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email: kris@SafeAccessNow.org
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest
national member-based organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned
citizens promoting safe and legal access to
cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release:* April 18, 2008
*Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act Introduced Yesterday in Congress
*/HR 5842 would reschedule marijuana for medical use, end federal
interference in state laws/
*Washington, D.C. *-- Congressional Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)
introduced the "Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," HR 5842,
yesterday, a bill co-sponsored by Representatives Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY), Sam Farr (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Ron Paul (R-TX).
The act would change federal policy on medical marijuana in a number of
ways. Specifically, HR 5842 would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I
drug, which cannot be prescribed, to a Schedule II drug, which would
recognize the medical value of marijuana and create a regulatory
framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana.
The act would also prevent interference by the federal government in any
local or state run medical marijuana program.
Similar versions of HR 5842 have been introduced in prior Congressional
terms, but have never made it out of committee. "It's time that the
federal government take this issue seriously," said Caren Woodson,
Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a
nationwide medical marijuana advocacy group working with Mr. Frank and
other Members of Congress to change federal policy. "By disregarding
marijuana's medical efficacy, and undermining efforts to implement state
laws, the federal government is willfully placing hundreds of thousands
of sick Americans in harms way."
In addition to rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances
Act (CSA), HR 5842 would provide protection from the CSA and the federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) for qualified patients and
caregivers in states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana.
Specifically, the act prevents the CSA and FDCA from prohibiting or
restricting: (1) a physician from prescribing or recommending marijuana
for medical use, (2) an individual from obtaining, possessing,
transporting within their state, manufacturing, or using marijuana in
accordance with their state law, (3) an individual authorized under
State law from obtaining, possessing, transporting within their state,
or manufacturing marijuana on behalf of an authorized patient, or (4) an
entity authorized under local or State law to distribute medical
marijuana to authorized patients from obtaining, possessing, or
distributing marijuana to such authorized patients.
In December, U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers stated publicly his
concern about the tactics being used by the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and promised oversight hearings. Since then,
several California mayors have written to Conyers expressing their
support for hearings, including the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland,
West Hollywood, and Santa Cruz. Opposition to federal interference in
state medical marijuana laws has also come from multiple city councils,
members of the California Board of Equalization and the state
legislature, as well as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
Further information:
Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, HR 5842:
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/HR5842.pdf
ASA Fact Sheet on the Escalation of Harmful DEA Tactics:
http://americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/dea_escalation.pdf
December 2007 Statement by House Judiciary Chair John Conyers:
http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=889
Letter from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to Conyers:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/Newsom_Letter_to_Conyers.pdf
Letter from NM Governor Richardson to President GW Bush:
http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/richardson_letter.pdf
# # #
With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of
patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens
promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating
policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and
researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots
actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.
--
Kris Hermes
Media Specialist
Americans for Safe Access
www.SafeAccessNow.org
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856 x307
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email: kris@SafeAccessNow.org
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest
national member-based organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned
citizens promoting safe and legal access to
cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
HEMP NUTRITION HOLDS VALUE-ADDED POTENTIAL
The strength and durability of hemp fibre is well known, leading to a number of textile applications. Hemp oil has features that make it a very attractive ingredient in the cosmetics industry, as well.
Now, thanks to a growing body of research, the nutritional value of hemp seeds is also being proven, adding yet another dimension to the crop's tremendous value-added potential.
The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance ( CHTA ) is spearheading a comprehensive research and market development program, the goal of which is to sustain the industry's current rapid growth by establishing and disseminating science-based information about the crop's dietary attributes.
"We're tracking retail sales of hemp products and, overall, the markets here and in the United States have been growing consistently by about 30 per cent per year since 2001," said Gero Leson, an environmental scientist and consultant.
The CHTA received some help in its efforts through the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture's Agriculture Development Fund ( ADF ), which provided funding towards one of the organization's research initiatives looking at the nutritional characteristics of hemp seeds.
Leson served as a principal investigator for the project.
"The ADF project focused on the fatty acid composition of hemp oil, as well as select micronutrients, mainly the relevant minerals and vitamins.
There were a couple of minor compounds we looked at, too, such as flavonoids and phytosterols," he said.
The research analyzed a number of samples, covering the four commercially relevant hemp varieties grown in Canada and one emerging variety.
"The first finding was that hemp oil offers a highly balanced fatty acid spectrum, particularly its content of omega-3 fatty acids. It's the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 that makes hemp oil unique and particularly attractive compared to other crops," he said.
"It's also the presence of two 'higher' omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids not commonly present in other natural oilseeds that adds another good quality."
Also found was that hemp seeds offer a veritable bonanza of the nutrients which are often lacking in the common North American diet. The product is a very good source of phosphorous, magnesium, manganese and iron, and a good source of potassium and zinc. Hemp seeds are also good sources of vitamin B1 and folic acid, as well as several phytosterols.
Companion studies coordinated by the CHTA have likewise found that hemp protein is very balanced and easily digestible, further enhancing its nutritional characteristics, and, because of these qualities, Leson says hemp stacks up quite well in comparative studies with other nuts and oilseeds.
"Hemp is just a little more of a powerhouse," he stated. "It's higher in most of the relevant nutrients, and its protein quality is higher in general."
Given what he has seen from the crop, Leson feels hemp offers excellent value-added opportunity for the agricultural community.
"I really believe there is great potential in foods because the nutritional composition is just so much in line with a couple of the major trends in nutritional science," he said.
"The one concern would be that competition for acreage with other crops, and rising hemp seed prices may put a little dent into those prospects, but I guess that's the same for a number of other commodities.
Overall, I think our work is showing that there is very nice potential for the crop to grow."
The fact that commercial hemp farming remains illegal in the United States gives Canada a real leg up to cash in on that.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n394/a02.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 14 Apr 2008
Source: World-Spectator, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The World-Spectator.
Contact: world_spectator@sasktel.net
Website: http://www.world-spectator.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2914
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)
Now, thanks to a growing body of research, the nutritional value of hemp seeds is also being proven, adding yet another dimension to the crop's tremendous value-added potential.
The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance ( CHTA ) is spearheading a comprehensive research and market development program, the goal of which is to sustain the industry's current rapid growth by establishing and disseminating science-based information about the crop's dietary attributes.
"We're tracking retail sales of hemp products and, overall, the markets here and in the United States have been growing consistently by about 30 per cent per year since 2001," said Gero Leson, an environmental scientist and consultant.
The CHTA received some help in its efforts through the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture's Agriculture Development Fund ( ADF ), which provided funding towards one of the organization's research initiatives looking at the nutritional characteristics of hemp seeds.
Leson served as a principal investigator for the project.
"The ADF project focused on the fatty acid composition of hemp oil, as well as select micronutrients, mainly the relevant minerals and vitamins.
There were a couple of minor compounds we looked at, too, such as flavonoids and phytosterols," he said.
The research analyzed a number of samples, covering the four commercially relevant hemp varieties grown in Canada and one emerging variety.
"The first finding was that hemp oil offers a highly balanced fatty acid spectrum, particularly its content of omega-3 fatty acids. It's the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 that makes hemp oil unique and particularly attractive compared to other crops," he said.
"It's also the presence of two 'higher' omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids not commonly present in other natural oilseeds that adds another good quality."
Also found was that hemp seeds offer a veritable bonanza of the nutrients which are often lacking in the common North American diet. The product is a very good source of phosphorous, magnesium, manganese and iron, and a good source of potassium and zinc. Hemp seeds are also good sources of vitamin B1 and folic acid, as well as several phytosterols.
Companion studies coordinated by the CHTA have likewise found that hemp protein is very balanced and easily digestible, further enhancing its nutritional characteristics, and, because of these qualities, Leson says hemp stacks up quite well in comparative studies with other nuts and oilseeds.
"Hemp is just a little more of a powerhouse," he stated. "It's higher in most of the relevant nutrients, and its protein quality is higher in general."
Given what he has seen from the crop, Leson feels hemp offers excellent value-added opportunity for the agricultural community.
"I really believe there is great potential in foods because the nutritional composition is just so much in line with a couple of the major trends in nutritional science," he said.
"The one concern would be that competition for acreage with other crops, and rising hemp seed prices may put a little dent into those prospects, but I guess that's the same for a number of other commodities.
Overall, I think our work is showing that there is very nice potential for the crop to grow."
The fact that commercial hemp farming remains illegal in the United States gives Canada a real leg up to cash in on that.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n394/a02.html
Newshawk: Support the BC3: http://www.NoExtradition.net
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 14 Apr 2008
Source: World-Spectator, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The World-Spectator.
Contact: world_spectator@sasktel.net
Website: http://www.world-spectator.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2914
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)
Medical Marijuana Employment Rights Bill Passes Two State Assembly Committees
*PRESS RELEASE
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release:* April 17, 2008
*/Anti-discrimination bill AB2279 has broad support including state SEIU
and AFSCME/
*Sacramento, CA* -- A state medical marijuana employment rights bill,
which has the support of statewide SEIU and AFSCME and the nearly 1
million workers they represent in California, was approved today by the
Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on a 6-2 vote. AB2279, which
protects the rights of hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana
patients in California from employment discrimination, was introduced in
February by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and co-authored by
Assemblymembers Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) and
Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego). The bill, which heads to the Assembly floor
next, reverses a January California Supreme Court decision in /Ross v.
RagingWire/. National medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) argued the case before the court and is now a sponsor
of the bill.
"We're grateful for the support of the state legislature in preserving
the rights of patients to work and be productive members of society,"
said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford. "With the jobs of thousands of sick
Californians hanging in the balance, we are hopeful that the full
Assembly will act in similar fashion to the Labor and Judiciary
Committees." The bill, which also has the support of the National Lawyer
Guild, was passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 8, on
a 6-3 vote. Other supporters of AB2279 include the West Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of People With AIDS, AIDS
Institute, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.
The bill leaves intact existing state law prohibiting medical marijuana
consumption at the workplace and protects employers from liability by
carving out an exception for safety-sensitive positions. "The California
Supreme Court decision said that an employer may fire someone solely
because they use medical marijuana outside the workplace," Mr. Leno said
in a previous statement. "Long ago, the legislature prohibited patient
use of medical cannabis in the workplace or during working hours,"
continued Leno. "AB 2279 is merely an affirmation of the intent of the
voters and the legislature that medical marijuana patents need not be
unemployed to benefit from their medicine."
On January 24, in a 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld a
lower court's ruling that denied qualified patients a remedy from
employment discrimination, based either on their status as a patient or
a positive test for marijuana. The plaintiff in the case, Gary Ross, is
a 46-year old disabled veteran who was a systems engineer living
Carmichael, California, when he was fired from his job in 2001 at
RagingWire Telecommunications for testing positive for marijuana. "It's
important that we not allow employment discrimination in California,"
said former plaintiff Gary Ross. "If the court is going to ignore the
need for protection, then it's up to the legislature to ensure that
productive workers like me are free from discrimination."
The decision in /Ross v. RagingWire/ dealt a harsh blow to patients in
the courts, shifting the debate to the state legislature. But, before
the court made its final decision, Ross enjoyed the support of ten state
and national medical organizations, all of the original co-authors of
the Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB 420), and disability rights
groups. Since it began recording instances of employment discrimination
in 2005, ASA has received hundreds of such reports from all across
California.
Further information:
Employment rights legislation AB2279:
http://americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/AB2279.pdf
ASA page on AB2279, including Fact Sheet and Letters of Support:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/AB2279
Legal briefs and rulings in the /Ross v. RagingWire/ case:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/Ross
# # #
With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of
patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens
promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating
policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and
researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots
actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.
--
Kris Hermes
Media Specialist
Americans for Safe Access
www.SafeAccessNow.org
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856 x307
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email: kris@SafeAccessNow.org
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest
national member-based organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned
citizens promoting safe and legal access to
cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release:* April 17, 2008
*/Anti-discrimination bill AB2279 has broad support including state SEIU
and AFSCME/
*Sacramento, CA* -- A state medical marijuana employment rights bill,
which has the support of statewide SEIU and AFSCME and the nearly 1
million workers they represent in California, was approved today by the
Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on a 6-2 vote. AB2279, which
protects the rights of hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana
patients in California from employment discrimination, was introduced in
February by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and co-authored by
Assemblymembers Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) and
Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego). The bill, which heads to the Assembly floor
next, reverses a January California Supreme Court decision in /Ross v.
RagingWire/. National medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) argued the case before the court and is now a sponsor
of the bill.
"We're grateful for the support of the state legislature in preserving
the rights of patients to work and be productive members of society,"
said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford. "With the jobs of thousands of sick
Californians hanging in the balance, we are hopeful that the full
Assembly will act in similar fashion to the Labor and Judiciary
Committees." The bill, which also has the support of the National Lawyer
Guild, was passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 8, on
a 6-3 vote. Other supporters of AB2279 include the West Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of People With AIDS, AIDS
Institute, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.
The bill leaves intact existing state law prohibiting medical marijuana
consumption at the workplace and protects employers from liability by
carving out an exception for safety-sensitive positions. "The California
Supreme Court decision said that an employer may fire someone solely
because they use medical marijuana outside the workplace," Mr. Leno said
in a previous statement. "Long ago, the legislature prohibited patient
use of medical cannabis in the workplace or during working hours,"
continued Leno. "AB 2279 is merely an affirmation of the intent of the
voters and the legislature that medical marijuana patents need not be
unemployed to benefit from their medicine."
On January 24, in a 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld a
lower court's ruling that denied qualified patients a remedy from
employment discrimination, based either on their status as a patient or
a positive test for marijuana. The plaintiff in the case, Gary Ross, is
a 46-year old disabled veteran who was a systems engineer living
Carmichael, California, when he was fired from his job in 2001 at
RagingWire Telecommunications for testing positive for marijuana. "It's
important that we not allow employment discrimination in California,"
said former plaintiff Gary Ross. "If the court is going to ignore the
need for protection, then it's up to the legislature to ensure that
productive workers like me are free from discrimination."
The decision in /Ross v. RagingWire/ dealt a harsh blow to patients in
the courts, shifting the debate to the state legislature. But, before
the court made its final decision, Ross enjoyed the support of ten state
and national medical organizations, all of the original co-authors of
the Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB 420), and disability rights
groups. Since it began recording instances of employment discrimination
in 2005, ASA has received hundreds of such reports from all across
California.
Further information:
Employment rights legislation AB2279:
http://americansforsafeaccessnow.org/downloads/AB2279.pdf
ASA page on AB2279, including Fact Sheet and Letters of Support:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/AB2279
Legal briefs and rulings in the /Ross v. RagingWire/ case:
http://www.americansforsafeaccessnow.org/Ross
# # #
With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for
Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of
patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens
promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating
policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and
researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots
actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.
--
Kris Hermes
Media Specialist
Americans for Safe Access
www.SafeAccessNow.org
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856 x307
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email: kris@SafeAccessNow.org
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest
national member-based organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned
citizens promoting safe and legal access to
cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
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