The Daily Cannabinoid

2008-11-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

RECORD YEAR FOR POT SEIZURES

Sheriff Reports Marijuana Haul Worth $14 Billion

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials announced Monday the department seized an estimated $14 billion in marijuana this season, which they believe is the largest one-year haul ever.

Found largely in outdoor pot farms in the forest, the plants are primarily grown by Mexican cartels, officials said.

"I believe this is probably the highest season in ... history," said Lt. Joe Nu ez of the sheriff's Narcotics Bureau.

This year also saw the largest single seizure of pot in United States history, according to sheriff's officials.

The Marijuana Enforcement Team team in August found a 116,000-plant farm in mountains of the Angeles National Forest above San Dimas.

It took 40 people two days to chop down the crop, bundle it and fly it out by helicopter.

The pot was estimated to be worth nearly $500 million, officials said, and shattered the previous record of about 85,000 plants seized in a single bust by the MET team in 2007.

"I believe this is the largest marijuana grow in the United States," Sheriff Lee Baca said of the bust.

Pot was seized in the forest above San Dimas several times this year, and officials return annually to find new outdoor marijuana grows, Lt. Phil Abner of the sheriff's Narcotics Bureau said.

In all, this year saw a 30percent increase in the amount of marijuana seized by the Sheriff's Department compared to last year, officials said.

Officials also noted that large-scale marijuana cultivation has steadily increased in recent years.

"The vast majority of these grows are being operated by the Mexican cartels," sheriff's Capt. Dennis Werner said.

In addition to the illegal drug activity, forest pot farms pose both environmental risks and safety risks to those using the forest legally, Baca said.

"( The growers ) also leave behind mounds of trash and human waste," the sheriff said.

Chemicals such as insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers are often carelessly discarded and pose a risk of contaminating the forest, Baca said.

Furthermore, the marijuana groves are often guarded by armed gardeners, posing a serious threat to any hiker, biker or hunter who may wander into a grow site, sheriff's officials said.

In addition to the 360,000 marijuana plants seized this year by the MET team, officials made five arrests, confiscated 15 guns and removed tons of trash and chemicals from the forest, Baca said.

In recent decades, marijuana has become significantly more potent that it used to be, Baca said.

A single marijuana plant can yield from $4,000 to $7,000 worth of marijuana, Abner said.

California's Compassionate Use Act, which permits marijuana use for medical reasons, may also be contributing to an increase in pot farms, Abner said.

The marijuana dispensaries that have sprung up since provide an additional marker for pot growers, who may sell their crops to the dispensaries, he said.

A MET deputy who identified himself only as "Bob" for security reasons said the outdoor marijuana busts, which are carried out in the heat of summer, are tough work.

"It's very hot. There's rattlesnakes out there, and all kinds of insects," the MET deputy said. "It's very physically demanding."

But keeping drugs off the street and making the forest safe is rewarding, he said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Parks Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the California State Parks Service and the California Department of Justice all participated in the marijuana seizures, officials said.

MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n1022/a08.html
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 11 Nov 2008
Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2008 San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Contact: http://www.sgvtribune.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.sgvtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3725
Author: Brian Day
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

S.F. LEADS WAY ON PATIENT-FRIENDLY POT CLUBS

2008-10-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency
broke down the door of a South of Market medical pot club and raided
the premises. It looked like the first skirmish between federal
agents and the city, which passed liberal pot laws in 1996.

Instead, the city took the crackdown as a wake-up call.

Quietly, with little fanfare, San Francisco is on the way to becoming
a model for medical marijuana clubs done the right way. Exploitive,
profit-hungry drug clubs are being forced out and community-based,
patient-friendly ones are becoming the norm. Neighbors have shut down
dispensaries in school zones, and patient services have been increased.

Beginning in 2005, when Mayor Gavin Newsom worried aloud about "a
path that would allow for a club on every street corner," the city
has made a series of small steps that have improved a situation that
was nearly out of control. A moratorium on new clubs was enacted, and
Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Michela Alioto-Pier pushed for
restrictive legislation. Among other things, all pot clubs were
required to get an operating permit from the Planning Commission.
Neighborhood input, proximity to schools, and criminal and employment
background checks were all included in the consideration for a permit.

Since then, almost half of the clubs have closed.

And here's an indication of just how well the regulations have
worked. When state Attorney General Jerry Brown proposed strict state
guidelines for marijuana dispensaries in August, and Newsom's office
drafted similar regulations a month later, advocates responded
immediately - they said they were wholeheartedly in favor.

"We went through 10 years of an unregulated cannabis environment,"
said Kevin Reed, president of Green Cross dispensary, which delivers
medical marijuana to patients. "Now they are going to try something
completely different, and to see it run correctly is a wonderful thing."

Nothing speaks to the spirit of cooperation like the recent fuss
kicked up about a proposal by Newsom to require clubs to record the
names and addresses of patients. That requirement is stricter than
Brown's proposal that the clubs keep some sort of general "membership
records. "

Pot advocates are concerned about patients' confidentiality rights
and fear it may be a step toward bringing criminal charges against pot users.

But the mayor's office promises to continue working with the
responsible club owners and that any other suspicions about their
intentions are just paranoid fantasy.

"We understand the concern," said Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard.
"And we are happy to work with them on that. If there's a way to
protect patient confidentiality, we'd be interested in making the
changes so that could be accomplished."

That's the spirit of cooperation that has generally typified the pot
club issue in the last three to four years. The concern about
confidentiality demonstrates that there is still a certain amount of
suspicion between marijuana advocates and the city, but in general
they've been on the same page. When it became clear that some
unscrupulous dealers were in to make a quick buck, legitimate pot
club operators spoke up against them.

"This was never meant to be a moneymaking scheme," said the Rev.
Randi Webster, the former executive director of the San Francisco
Patients Cooperative. "A lot of those places were just money, money, money."

Shona Gochenaur, executive director of Axis of Love pot advocacy
group, said that in the last two years, fly-by-night dealers have
moved from city to city as officials strengthen the regulations.

"They knew they were only staying here until the gray areas were
defined," she said. "They made as much money as they could, but now
that we are setting guidelines, they are moving on."

Reed said that three to four years ago, the city had 42 clubs. Now it
is down to 25, and he thinks more will close soon, in part because of
how hard it is to get a final operating permit. Dispensaries have
until January to meet requirements to get a permit, which requires,
among other things, that the clubs get separate approval from a
number of city agencies and do background checks of employees.

"What is happening now will actually weed out a lot of the (clubs),"
Gochenaur said. "What we are saying is that excessive profit is not
OK. Not having direct patient services is not OK. These people are
going to say, 'This is not my entrepreneurial dream' and they are not
going to want to do it."

This is not only interesting because of how it is playing out in the
city, but there are also national ramifications. Gochenaur says as
many as 12 states are keeping an eye on how things play out in pot
clubs California, and San Francisco is leading the way in the state.

She thinks they will look to the city as a model of how to regulate
the clubs. God knows, the city has made plenty of mistakes along the
way. At one point a pot club was housed in the ground floor of a Care
Not Cash hotel that housed many recovering addicts. Those are the
kind of missteps that had to be corrected.

But Gochenaur thinks we're almost there.

"We've come a long, huge way from 2005 when neighbors were lining the
halls of City Hall to say they were concerned," she said.

There are still some neighborhood complaints, but today local pot
clubs are surprisingly dull and uncontroversial places. If you had
predicted that three years ago, critics would have likely had just
one question.

What have you been smoking?

Newshawk: http://www.canorml.org/news/2008electionroundup.html
Pubdate: Tue, 14 Oct 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: B - 1
Webpage: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/14/BAS313G9VL.DTL
Copyright: 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: C. W. Nevius, Chronicle Columnist
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

The McCain-Palin Mob

2008-10-09T16:29:00.001-07:00

Please support your local public schools.

Global Cannabis Commission: “No Justification For Incarcerating an Individual"

2008-10-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

Monday, October 06, 2008

Global Cannabis Commission: “No Justification For Incarcerating an Individual"

On October 2, the Global Cannabis Commission, a group of top scientists commissioned by the Beckley Foundation, issued its groundbreaking report, "Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate." Your faithful correspondent was able to attend the daylong seminar in which the report was discussed, held in the distinctly imposing Moses Room of the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster.

This is a highly condensed summary of the 175-page report. I wrote a lengthier summary here, and the full document can be downloaded here.

The report was written by five leading marijuana and drug policy researchers: Benedikt Fischer of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland, and three Australians: Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland, Simon Lenton of the National Drug Research Institute at the Curtin University of Technology, and Robin Room of the University of Melbourne. A number of other important researchers joined the discussion (and contributed advice and research to the report).

Some highlights:

RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MARIJUANA USE:

Marijuana is not harmless. Intoxication "increases the risk of motor vehicle crashes 2-3 times" — not trivial, but "far more modest than that of alcohol." There is clearly an increased risk of bronchitis among heavy marijuana smokers, but no evidence of increased rates of emphysema, while the evidence regarding lung cancer is mixed.

Marijuana almost certainly exacerbates symptoms of schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals, but epidemiologic evidence argues against it causing psychosis in healthy people. As for worries about increased potency, more research is needed. If users adjust their intake in relation to potency, dangers are minimal. Perhaps most important, "All of these trends [toward increased potency] have been encouraged by prohibition, which favors the production of more concentrated forms."

Overall, the report finds the risks of marijuana use are "modest" compared with those of legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco.

POLICY AND REFORM:

While causing obvious harm to those arrested and convicted, criminalization of marijuana possession has not succeeded in preventing marijuana from being widely available. Contrary to wild claims being made in Massachusetts right now, decriminalization measures have not increased use rates. "If a nation chooses to use the criminal law for controlling cannabis use, there is no justification for incarcerating an individual for a cannabis possession or use offense, nor for creating a criminal conviction," the report concludes.

While not firmly advocating one policy alternative, the report lays out many advantages to a system of legal regulation like that used for alcohol. As report co-author Prof. Robin Room noted succinctly, "If something is not legal, you can't regulate it very effectively."

Cops-Kid keeps calling the cop Popi

2008-10-06T13:59:00.001-07:00

Either way your paying for this. And don't forget not concentrating on the violent crimes and people who really want to harm us.

college kids smoking weed get busted by one cop

2008-10-06T13:52:00.001-07:00

Mexico seeks to legalize smalltime pot, cocaine use

2008-10-03T14:42:00.001-07:00

02 Oct 2008 20:46:45 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon,
locked in a high-stakes battle with drug cartels, wants to legalize
the possession of small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, a plan that
will likely irk Washington.

Calderon, a conservative in power for nearly two years, sent a
proposal to Congress that would also scrap penalties on carrying
small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine and opium for personal use.

Reviving a similar push by his predecessor, Calderon's bill aims to
free up police to hunt for narcotics dealers and smugglers, but it
could meet opposition in largely conservative Mexico as well as in
the neighboring United States.

"What we are seeking is to not treat an addict as a criminal, but
rather as a sick person and give them psychological and medical
treatment," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez, head of the Senate's
justice committee.

Former president Vicente Fox tried to pass a similar bill in 2006 but
ditched it after Washington objected and critics both sides of the
border said laxer laws could lure "drug tourists" from north of the
border.

Calderon's bill would mean people carrying up to 2 grams (0.07
ounces) of marijuana or opium, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams
of heroin or 40 milligrams of methamphetamine would not face criminal
charges.

It would also give Mexican states the power to try drug dealers in
local courts, rather than at a federal level.

Drug use is much less common among young people in Mexico than in the
United States or Europe, but consumption is creeping up with the
growth of the middle class and as tighter border controls mean more
cocaine is kept back in the country.

Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to clamp down on the drug
gangs that shuttle Colombian cocaine up and over Mexico's northern
border.

But cartel violence has soared as a result, killing some 3,000 people
this year, including eight that died in a grenade attack, the first
major strike on the public by drug hitmen. (Reporting by Miguel Angel
Gutierrez)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment: http://drugsense.org/temp/6ARukpVY4Asz.html

ASA Fights On, Despite Veto of Job Rights Bill

2008-10-01T13:46:00.001-07:00

ASA Fights On, Despite Veto of Job Rights Bill

Dear ASA Supporter,
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s veto of AB 2279, a bill to ensure job rights for California’s medical cannabis patients, is a setback for fairness and non-discrimination, but Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will fight on in the courts and the Capitol to protect and expand patients’ rights. AB 2279 would have stopped workplace discrimination against hundreds of thousands of legal patients, whose right to work was compromised by a California Supreme Court decision earlier this year. The governor’s veto means that California employers can still fire patients who follow state law – even those who only use medical cannabis in the privacy of their homes.

The veto certainly represents a failure of common sense for California’s embattled governor, but medical cannabis patients are also caught with other constituencies in the crossfire between Gov. Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers over the state’s budget. The governor vetoed a record number of bills this year, including some that passed both houses unanimously and had no registered opposition, in apparent retaliation for the legislature’s reluctance to adopt his controversial budget.

But ASA has been heartened by the number of people who helped fight for patients’ rights during this campaign – so many that it would be impossible to name them all here. ASA members and allies generated an avalanche or emails, calls, letters, and district office visits in support of the bill. Grassroots supporters deserve the lion’s share of the credit for pushing AB 2279 so far this year. The staff at Assemblymember Mark Leno’s office worked tirelessly on this bill, and also helped ASA staff members navigate the intricacies of legislative politics in Sacramento. While ASA staffers Joe Elford, Kris Hermes, Noah Mamber, and Rebecca Saltzman worked tirelessly on this bill, none of it would have been possible without the amazing support and energy of our coalition members, including the Service Workers International Union (SEIU), the Americans Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and several prominent HIV/AIDS advocacy groups.

This was a tough year for medical cannabis in the Legislature. Two other bills and a joint resolution never made it as far as AB 2279. The governor’s veto is disappointing, but we have seen that persistent and strategic work by ASA – supported by our robust grassroots effort – can get results. I am confident that in a different political climate, we would have succeeded this year. I know that we have the know-how and support to do it next year.

It is important that Governor Schwarzenegger and his staff understand that Californians strongly disagree with this decision. This is not the last time the Governor will be asked to sign legislation to protect patients’ rights. ASA is asking supporters to call Governor Schwarzenegger at (916) 445-2841 to tell him you disagree with his decision to veto AB 2279. Please contact the Governor this week and tell him:

“I am a medical cannabis patient/supporter who is very disappointed in your decision to veto AB 2279, a bill that would have stopped workplace discrimination against legal medical cannabis patients. This veto leaves hundreds of thousands of law abiding Californians in jeopardy. I expect the Governor to work with lawmakers to protect legal medical cannabis patients from discrimination next year.”
Thanks to everyone who helped out. Do not be discouraged by this delay. The fight for patients’ rights is still on, and we are going to win!

Sincerely,

Don Duncan
California Director
Americans for Safe Access

P.S. We need your continued support to keep fighting to protect and expand patients’ rights. Please make a contribution to support ASA today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Smoking Weed

2008-10-01T13:43:00.001-07:00

It's this kind of governing that makes it difficult for me to trust the people who are supposably keeping me safe.

Schwarzenegger is a hypocrite!!!!

2008-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Sacramento, Sep 30th. Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed Assemblyman Mark
Leno's bill to protect workers' right to use medical marijuana. The
bill, AB 2279, would have made it illegal for employers to
discriminate against workers in non-safety-sensitive jobs for using
marijuana as medicine. In his veto message, the governor said "I am
concerned with interference in employment decisions as they relate to
marijuana use. Employment protection was not a goal of the
initiative as passed by voters in 1996."
http://www.gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/AB2279_Leno_Veto_Message.pdf
Prop. 215 sponsors disagree disagree. "The intent of 215 was to
treat marijuana like other legal pharmaceutical druga," says Prop 215
co-author Dale Gieringer of California NORML.
AB 2279 was intended to overturn a Cal. Supreme Court ruling,
Ross v RagingWire, that found that 215 did not protect workers
against arbitrary discrimination by drug urine testing. Employers
failed to present any evidence that off-the-job marijuana use
presented any safety risks.
Gov. Schwarzenegger, a former recreational pot smoker, has
vetoed every marijuana reform bill that has come to desk.
Release by Dale Gieringer.

2008 Ballot Watch: Proposition 5: Nonviolent offenders

2008-10-01T13:33:00.001-07:00

By Andy Furillo - afurillo@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Lower-level criminals with major drug problems would be in line for more
treatment and less prison time if voters approve the Nonviolent Offender and
Rehabilitation Act of 2008.

HISTORY

Proposition 5 seeks to build on the Proposition 36 drug treatment initiative
California voters passed in 2000, the success of which is subject to debate.

The 8-year-old measure was designed to divert lower-level drug criminals out
of the criminal justice system. Only a third of offenders who enter
Proposition 36 programs complete them, a UCLA study found last year.

But the same study also found that the measure saves taxpayers $2.50 for
every $1 spent and $4 for every offender who completes the program.

Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros, who has backed drug
decriminalization measures in other states, provided the financial backing
to get Proposition 5 on the ballot.

WHAT IT DOES

Proposition 5 sets aside $150 million in state spending this year and $460
million next year, with cost of living and population adjustments
thereafter, for expanded prison and parolee drug programs.

Expands diversion programs to get more addicts out of prison and into
treatment.

Earmarks 15 percent of funding for juvenile offenders.

Splits off parole and rehabilitation operations from the state corrections
agency under a new secretary, with a new 23-member commission to oversee
programs.

Keeps technical parole violators out of prison. Serious and violent
offenders would be placed on parole supervision for longer stretches.

Reduces some inmates' prison terms through good-time credits.

Makes marijuana possession an infraction rather than a misdemeanor.

Expands the Board of Parole Hearings from 17 to 29 members. Senate
confirmation would no longer be required.

WHAT IT COSTS

The Legislative Analyst's Office says the program could cost taxpayers $1
billion a year, but save $1 billion in reduced prison and parole
expenditures. It also could save $2.5 billion in future prison construction
costs.

MONEY WATCH

Supporters had raised approximately $4.5 million as of Sept. 24, including
$1.4 million from New York financier George Soros, $1.4 million from retired
New York businessman and philanthropist Bob Wilson, $700,000 from Goldman
Sachs senior partner Jacob D. Greenfield of New York and $500,000 from
University of Phoenix founder John G. Sperling of Phoenix.

Opponents had reported about $288,000 in contributions as of Sept. 24,
including $175,000 from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and $60,000
from the California Narcotics Officers Association.

SUPPORTERS

New York financier George Soros

Drug Policy Alliance Network

California Public Defenders Association

WHAT THEY SAY:

â€¢ Proposition 5 would ease California's prison overcrowding crisis by
treating drug addiction as an illness.

â€¢ The initiative would provide $65 million in funding for youth drug
treatment programs that don't exist now.

â€¢ It would save money over time in reduced prison construction and operation
costs.

OPPONENTS

California District Attorneys Association

California Association of Drug Court Professionals

California Chamber of Commerce

WHAT THEY SAY:

â€¢ Proposition 5 in effect would decriminalize drugs and spark increases in
crime by diverting offenders out of the criminal justice system.

â€¢ The initiative would undermine the inmate rehabilitation and re-entry
components contained in last year's Assembly Bill 900.

â€¢ It would create new bureaucracies with no accountability and add costs
through higher crime rates.

MULTIMEDIA

Read previous installments in 2008 Ballot Watch: sacbee.com/ballotwatch

See supporters' Web site: www.NORAyes.com

See opponents' Web site: www.noonproposition5.com

Sarah Palin- Miss South Carolina for VP?

2008-09-29T12:24:00.001-07:00

MASSACHUSETTS: UP IN SMOKE

2008-09-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

UP IN SMOKE

Pot, Politics and the Public. The Move to Decriminalize Marijuana.

Shelley doesn't want her real name used.

She's 40 years old, the mother of four, a full-time professional in a Worcester office. And a pot smoker.

Eleven years ago, she was going through a painful divorce and taking Zoloft to help her cope.

"It was awful. I didn't feel good, I didn't feel depressed, I didn't feel anything. My physician at the time said, 'Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there is something that could help you.'"

He didn't "prescribe" marijuana, she says, but suggested there might be some benefits. Shelley came off the Zoloft and began smoking several nights a week out by the fire pit in her backyard, usually after 9 p.m. If it rained, she retreated to the garage.

The pot relaxes her, helps her sleep. She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder dating back to childhood, and the weed "re-sets me." She continues the ritual of a few nightly tokes, which she equates to the glass of wine someone else might drink after a long day.

There is one significant difference.

"I would lose everything if I got caught," she says, shaking her head. "For what? For smoking an herb that comes out of the earth."

Shelley has been writing checks to the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy ( CSMP ), the group promoting the passage of Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot. Question 2 would decriminalize the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by replacing arrest and judicial processing with a system of civil penalties. That baggie of grass, so long as its weight stays beneath the magic number, would net the holder a $100 fine, and no permanent criminal record.

Whether or not marijuana should be legalized is a debate that has been waged in fits and starts since pot became the drug of choice for a new generation. Currently, 12 states have decriminalized marijuana at some level ( see sidebar ). Nevada was the most recent to decriminalize, in 2001.

Now it's Massachusetts' turn to wrestle with the question of whether the full force of the criminal justice system should be brought to bear on low-level marijuana offenses. Question 2 made it to the ballot in large part because of the financial backing of billionaire George Soros, who in 2007 contributed $400,000 to the ballot campaign. In 2000 Soros contributed heavily to a failed ballot question that would have softened penalties for manufacturing or distributing controlled substances.

Despite the heat generated between proponents and detractors, Question 2 has largely flown below the radar, subsumed by a highly charged presidential campaign, Wall Street woes and beetle invasions. It's not even the most controversial question on the Nov. 4 ballot: that title goes to Question 1, the repeal of the state income tax.

Still, while national leadership and pocketbook issues dominate the airwaves, both sides on the pot decriminalization issue are ramping up efforts to convince the public this is either the best or worst idea to come down the Mass Pike in a long time.

$29.5 Million.

That's the amount CSMP pegs as the potential savings if the one-ounce law is passed. The figure comes from a 2002 study by Jeffrey A. Miron, Senior Lecturer on Economics at Harvard University ( updated to reflect 2008 values ), who with several studies on the topic under his belt has become something of a pied piper on decriminalizing marijuana.

Miron contends that tens of millions of dollars are being spent in law enforcement, judicial and corrections resources in connection with marijuana-related incidents. Resources, he says, that could be better deployed.

"This is a modest proposal," says CSMP spokesperson Whitney Taylor. "We're saying that $29.5 million should stay in public coffers to fight serious or violent crimes. Jeff's economic model shows that once a cop puts the cuffs on somebody, he's [the police officer] off the street. He gets paid to go to court ... there are a lot of law enforcement costs. We just think the money could be put to better use."

Taylor says the proposed law also means that someone arrested for a marijuana offense will not have his or her name listed permanently as part of CORI ( Criminal Offender Record Information ), as is presently the case. A CORI check reveals if a person has been arrested, even if the charges are dismissed. Such an arrest, Taylor insists, can be a lifelong barrier to employment, housing, coaching youth sports, becoming a foster or adoptive parent, or obtaining professional licensure.

"With Question 2, the penalty would fit the crime," Taylor says. "Those lifelong barriers would not be there.

"We don't promote or condone marijuana use," she adds. "This is a criminal justice issue to us." In the case of youthful offenders, Taylor says, the CSMP proposal brings parents or guardians into the loop immediately, since the citation is delivered directly to them. The offender is then required to complete a drug awareness course and community service.

"You put a kid in an orange jumpsuit picking up trash as his friends go by, that's an effective punishment," she says.

"A dopey smokescreen" is William Breault's favorite description of Question 2 ( his favorite term for Soros: "Sugar daddy of drug legalization" ). It pops up in the packet of anti-legalization literature he's been passing out. It crops up in conversation. It's the rallying cry he's using in his Sherman's March from the Berkshires to New Bedford to torch the arguments of his opponents. For months the director of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety has been visiting police chiefs, mayors and public officials of every grade to spread the message that decriminalizing possession of even small amounts of marijuana is a bad idea.

"If you lower the bar on use, then abuse will rise. If this passes, getting caught with an ounce will be like getting a speeding ticket," he says, noting that an ounce is the equivalent of about 40 joints.

Breault bristles at the suggestion that marijuana is not a gateway drug to harder stuff.

"I've seen it," he says. "I've lived with it. Through the years I've seen people [with drug problems] who started smoking a joint at age 12, and the fact is if they don't smoke that joint they have a 70 percent better chance of not moving on to harder drugs."

He cites a report by the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association that, in turn, pulls together studies done by organizations like the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, that shows marijuana use has declined significantly among teenagers since 2001. Decriminalizing the drug, they insist, could reverse that downward trend.

One thing both sides seem to agree on -- although they don't acknowledge that they agree -- is that few people actually do prison time for possession of marijuana. Representatives from each side say it's not true that thousands are languishing in jails for pot possession while murderers and rapists roam free.

"Nobody goes to jail for simple possession," says Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., who has joined the other 10 D.A.s throughout the state to oppose Question 2. Early says possession is typically not a stand-alone charge, and is often clumped with other offenses like assault and battery or operating under the influence.

The D.A. touts his Diversion Program, which allows offenders ages 17 to 23 to do eight hours of community service, take a substance abuse counseling class online, and stay clean ( testing is done ), after which possession charges are dismissed. Early stresses that all this is done pre-arraignment, which keeps the charge off the offender's permanent record.

The catch: you only get one bite of the apple. Subsequent arrests are handled in standard fashion. Still, he notes, possession of an ounce or less results in a continued-without-finding for six months, and if there are no violations in that time, the person's record is sealed.

"We've got to look at it and say, 'Why are we doing this?'" Early says of Question 2. As a matter of public safety, it's a no-brainer, he believes, citing the incidence of motor vehicle and workplace accidents due to marijuana use.

Early and Breault note that the pot being smoked circa 2008 is a far cry from the stuff the baby boomers inhaled during the Summer of Love. Breault points to a study by the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project that found levels of THC -- the main psychoactive substance in cannabis -- in samples the university tested are more than double what they were in 1983 thanks to advanced growing methods. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy also recently released a report that using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, and that teenagers who use are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers.

Taylor says opponents are throwing up red herrings to refute CSMP's arguments, especially regarding the amount of prison time, or lack of, for offenders.

"We've never said the prisons are full of people arrested for possession of marijuana. We know that's not true," she says. "If you look at the other states that have decriminalized marijuana, an ounce is about the median amount. This is a pragmatic course of action."

She contests the assertions of Breault and others that marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs.

"That's like saying every person who rides a bicycle is going to ride a motorcycle," Taylor says.

Not all local government officials oppose the relaxing of weed laws.

State Rep. Jim O'Day ( D-Worcester ) supports Question 2, and says the key is to educate voters that the measure is not a blanket attempt to legalize marijuana.

"If it was, I'd vote against it," he says. Until the CORI system can be reformed, a pot arrest "haunts someone for a long time. If you can keep them off of CORI and there is a fine associated with an offense, there is still a consequence to negative behavior."

O'Day, a former bar owner, says "alcohol is the true gateway drug."

"I've seen behavior in people drinking that would boggle your mind," he says. "I can't remember ever seeing the violence and rage in people who smoke marijuana that I've seen in people when they're drinking."

State Sen. Harriette Chandler ( D-Worcester ) offers the prevailing legislative view that the laws are working. The "current law is satisfactory," she says. "The district attorney and the police know how to implement them. The laws are there and I see no reason to change them."

For now, Shelley, will continue to quietly write checks in support of Question 2.

"Just saying pot is bad isn't enough," she says. "Saying I can't use it responsibly is not enough. I'm sorry, but people don't go from being potheads to being cokeheads because they like what pot does and they want more. They go from pot to coke, or something else, because they don't like the buzz they get from pot.

"Look, I'm involved in the community, I pay my taxes, my kids aren't troublemakers. I don't drive when I'm high. If this passes, I wouldn't change the precautions I take when it comes to smoking pot. It's still a pretty intimate act."

[sidebar]

WHAT IT MEANS

If Question 2 passes, the new law would replace the criminal penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana with civil penalties, to be enforced by issuing citations, and would exclude information regarding this civil offense from the state's criminal record information system. Offenders age 18 or older would be fined $100; those under 18 would also pay a fine of $100 and be required to complete a drug awareness program within one year of the offense. The program would include 10 hours of community service and at least four hours of instruction or group discussion about the use and abuse of marijuana and other drugs.

If the underage offenders don't complete the program, the fine could be increased to as much as $1,000, unless the offender showed an inability to pay, or an inability to participate in such a program. The offender's parents could also be held liable for the increased penalty. Anyone under 17 who fails to complete the program could be subject to a delinquency proceeding.

Under the proposed law, possessing an ounce or less of marijuana could not be grounds for state or local government entities imposing any other penalty, sanction or disqualifications, such as denying student financial aid, public housing, public financial assistance including unemployment benefits, the right to operate a motor vehicle, or the opportunity to serve as a foster or adoptive parent. The proposed law would allow local ordinances or bylaws that prohibit the public use of marijuana, and would not affect existing laws, practices, or policies concerning operating a motor vehicle or taking other actions while under the influence of marijuana, unlawful possession of prescription forms of marijuana, or selling, manufacturing, or trafficking in marijuana.

The money received from the new civil penalties would go to the city or town where the offense occurred.

. Summary from the Attorney General's Office

[sidebar By Andy Sullivan]

RALLY GOERS: IT'S HIGH TIME FOR CHANGE

"Vote yes" on Question 2, the Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Initiative Policy, was the cry for thousands of supporters on Boston Common for the 19th annual Freedom Rally Sept. 20. With a mix of activists, supporters and hippies of all ages, the field was littered with acoustic guitars, games of hacky sack and a hazy cloud of smoke. It was a relatively peaceful gathering filled with live music and vendors. Worcester-area residents made the trip to Boston and found the event a unique experience.

"It's a positive environment," said Sean LeVoir, 20, of Worcester. "There's a lot of love going on around here.

"It's definitely not what I was expecting," he said. "I thought it would be some crazy festival and everyone would be smoking pot. There's really not that much weed-smoking going around. It's more for the cause, I think."

The event was co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition ( MassCann ) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Some felt the benefit of the rally was the chance to share their opinions about marijuana use in an open forum.

"If people get together, it'd be nice to see some changes," said John Jacobs, 17, of Holden. "I don't think it's bad for anyone, as long as you are responsible enough to control it."

LeVoir thinks Massachusetts could benefit from a change.

"Massachusetts tends to be a state that tries to impose laws on freedoms and keep people from doing what they want," said LeVoir. "People should be able to smoke weed if they want. There are a bunch of things that are much more addicting. Nicotine is at the top of the list, and you can buy that."

Police patrolled the area all afternoon; Six arrests were made. Steven Epstein, a MassCann founder, said he hopes people don't fall into the trap of perceiving the rally as a haven for slackers and troublemakers, but rather as a call for reform.

With Question 2 appearing on the ballot, this year's event took on more significance, Epstein said.

"If you take away the criminal aspect of [marijuana] and the forbidden fruit, kids have become less interested," he said.

The rally seemed to have the kind of impact Epstein was anticipating. Rally goers who were interviewed said they plan to make Question 2 a priority when they cast their vote. The new policy would be a $100 fine, without any further disciplinary action for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.

"It's been passed in 11 other states," said Courtney Caramillo of Worcester. "Why couldn't it be successful here?"

[sidebar]

WHAT OTHER STATES DO

Currently, 12 states have decriminalized marijuana at some level -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon.

A sampling of the penalties:

New York issues a civil citation for the first two offenses of possessing 25 grams or less, and fines of $100 and $200 respectively. A third offense is a misdemeanor, which can result in five days incarceration and/or a fine of $250.

In Colorado, possession of less than 100 grams is considered a "minor misdemeanor," which does not create a public record.

Nebraska issues a civil citation and fine of $300 for a first offense of 1 ounce or less. There is also the possibility the offender may have to take a drug education course.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n899/a07.html
Newshawk: http://www.MassCann.org/
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Sep 2008
Source: Worcester Magazine (MA)
Page: Cover Feature - Image www.mapinc.org/images/UpinSmoke.jpg
Copyright: 2008 Worcester Publishing Ltd
Contact: editorial@worcestermag.com
Website: http://www.worcestermag.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2124
Author: Jim Keogh
Cited: Question 2 http://sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Committee+for+Sensible+Marijuana+Policy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?161 (Marijuana - Regulation)

POLL: MICHIGAN VOTERS LEAN TOWARD APPROVAL OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA, STEM CELL RESEARCH

2008-09-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

A majority of Michiganians is inclined to legalize marijuana for sick
people, but a second statewide ballot proposal to relax restrictions
on stem cell research in Michigan is a closer contest -- and the
advertising blitz has just begun on that measure.

The latest Detroit News-WXYZ Action News poll found that the voters,
by a 59-37 margin, favor the ballot proposal to allow terminally and
seriously ill people to legally use marijuana if a doctor certified
the drug could ease their suffering.

The statewide poll was conducted for The News, WXYZ and three
outstate television stations from Saturday to Monday by Lansing's
EPIC-MRA. It showed that the biggest backers were women (63 percent
support), Metro Detroiters (60 percent) and Democrats (68 percent).
Among men, the proposal garnered 51 percent support and 49 percent of
Republicans favored it.

If Proposal 1 is approved by voters in November, Michigan would
become the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. Supporters
estimate that as many as 50,000 Michigan residents would legally
qualify for medical marijuana to treat a host of "debilitating"
medical problems such as cancer, HIV /AIDS, hepatitis C, Alzheimer's
disease, Crohn's disease and chronic diseases or their treatments
that produce wasting syndrome, severe pain, sever nausea, seizures or
muscle spasms, such as those caused by multiple sclerosis.

"I'm all for it," said poll participant Jeff Bergel, a 52-year-old
wholesale representative and father of two from Walled Lake.

"I lost a brother-in-law to brain cancer last year and I think
marijuana could have helped make his more comfortable. My dad has
glaucoma and I understand it could help him as well."

On the controversial issue of stem cells, poll respondents, by a
50-32 margin, favor amending the state Constitution to allow
scientists to derive embryonic stem cells from human embryos for
medical research. Support among women is 57 percent compared to 42
percent among men. Support is 56 percent in Metro Detroit, but 45
percent among voters in the rest of the state.

Michigan has one of the nation's most restrictive laws on stem cell
research; a scientist here who uses new human embryos for stem cell
research can face a $10 million fine and up to 10 years in prison.

Supporters of embryonic stem cell research say research could lead to
better therapies and possible cures for a host of diseases and
injuries such as cancer, Parkinson's, juvenile diabetes and spinal
cord injuries. Opponents -- including political heavy hitters Right
to Life of Michigan and the Michigan Catholic Conference -- say
research on human embryos is morally wrong because it destroys life.
Critics of the measure also say its adoption could lead to human
cloning, although the proposal doesn't seek to change state law that
already bans cloning.

"I've thought about it a lot and I think stem cell research would be
all right," said Regina Gerling, a grandmother from Muskegon who took
part in the poll.

"I'm a diabetic, so I wish they would find new cures." Law
enforcement groups are near unanimous in their opposition to medical
marijuana, saying it's part of a broader agenda to legalize marijuana
for everyone. But there doesn't appear to be any group ready to spend
money on an ad campaign to defeat the measure.

Michael Opland, a 64-year-old father of three from Harrison Township,
said he supports medical marijuana, although he believes a lot of
people would get the marijuana even though their medical conditions
wouldn't warrant it.

"A certain number of people would probably take advantage of the
law," he said. "But it's worth it to get marijuana to people who
really need it."

The stem cell campaign is likely to get red-hot in the coming weeks.
Opponents of the proposal started running TV commercials this week,
suggesting that Michigan taxpayers would shell out hundreds of
millions of dollars for the research. The opposition group, Michigan
Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation, filed a
financial statement with the state on Thursday, showing it has rose
about $595,000 -- including $500,000 from the Catholic Conference --
and had $233,000 on hand as of Sept. 18.

Supporters of stem cell research have not yet launched an ad
campaign, although they are expected to shortly. They say the ballot
proposal doesn't direct a dime of state money to research. The group,
CureMichigan, filed its financial statement on Thursday, showing it
had raised $2.27 million and had $257,000 on hand. It also has loans
and obligations of more than $1.5 million, including more than $1
million in loans from the A. Alfred Taubman Trust of Bloomfield Hills.

Judith Maser, a retired clothing buyer from Novi, was originally
opposed to stem cell research.

"Now I believe stem cell research could help a lot of people," she
said. "I think medicine has gotten so advanced that this is the
future for our young people

Newshawk: Updated Website: YES on 1 http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Sep 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/UjWp9S8j
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
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

Ron Paul on Fox Business News

2008-09-25T15:46:00.001-07:00

Congressman Ron Paul Schools Bernanke on the Bailout Plan

2008-09-25T15:21:00.001-07:00

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S NEW POT RULES NOT ENOUGH

2008-09-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

Medical Marijuana Laws Must Be Changed Federally to Have Any Impact

California Attorney General Jerry Brown's new attempt to settle the
nerves of medical marijuana dispensers and patients is a weak attempt
to make proposition 215 stronger.

Attorney General Brown has introduced an eleven-page directive aimed
at clearing up some issues between state and federal governments. He
believes his new guidelines will minimize legal worries and ease
patient worries.

In 1996 when proposition 215 was passed by an overwhelming vote,
medical marijuana dispensaries started popping up like Trader Joes
all over the state. People started getting prescriptions for their
"back pain" and everyone was happy.

At the same time, federally, this was all very illegal.

Twelve years has gone by and dozens of dispensaries have been opened,
been raided, and been reopened just to be raided again. Hundreds of
millions of dollars have been made from the profits and millions have
been spent on trying to fight the legislation.

Brown's eleven-page directive now gives police the ability to
distinguish between criminals and legitimate marijuana sellers. It
also protects patients from getting arrested unlawfully. Brown's plan
also will change dispensaries into non-profit or cooperatives, to cut
out big money operations that exploit the medical label and sell to
just about anyone.

One other step Brown wants to take is to change the amount of pot on
the market, making it so only a patient, caregiver or dispensary
could grow the small amount of medical marijuana needed. Brown's plan
has just cleaned up the legislation at the state level. It will not
stop the DEA from raiding dispensaries or harassing patients.

The police should already be able to distinguish criminals from
legitimate marijuana sellers. Don't the legitimate guys usually sell
during the day at a place with a sign that says medical marijuana in
neon green?

As for turning these dispensaries into non-profits, they probably
only report a quarter of their earnings as it is so this will be no
big hurdle for them to get around. I am sure there are millions of
tax-free dollars going through legitimate dispensaries.

The amount of pot on the market will not change by only allowing
patients or dispensaries to grow the plants. The law now says a
patient is allowed to grow up to six plants and a dispensary is
allowed to grow six plants per patient it serves. There is no way a
dispensary knows how many patients it has from week to week or even
day to day. If they have 65 regular patients they must 65 people that
try and go to a different dispensary every week. Does that mean they
have 130 patients and are allowed to grow 780 plants?

Making all these changes at the state level is continuing to get the
medical marijuana laws nowhere. The changes need to be made federally
and only then will the dispensers be able to run their business with
out fear from the DEA.

Newshawk: Just Say Know: http://www.efsdp.org
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Sep 2008
Source: Sonoma State Star (Sonoma State U, Edu)
Copyright: 2008 Sonoma State Star
Contact: http://www.sonomastatestar.com/home/lettertotheeditor/
Website: http://www.sonomastatestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4862
Author: Benjamin Browning
Referenced: The Attorney General's guidelines http://drugsense.org/url/kKMJR2lu
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jerry+Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

California sees nearly 75,000 marijuana arrests in 2007

2008-09-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Donna Tam/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 09/23/2008 01:29:06 AM PDT

The nearly 75,000 marijuana-related arrests in California last year are
prompting marijuana law reform activists to say that laws aren't stopping
people from getting what they want, while local law enforcement responds
that the increased number of arrests is simply the result of tighter
enforcement.

"This has been going on for close to a century now and they're clearly not
eradicating or stopping anything. It just continues," said Dale Gieringer, a
spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

According to the state Department of Justice's Criminal Justice Statistics
Center, 74,119 felony and misdemeanor marijuana arrests were made in 2007, a
jump of nearly 10,000 arrests from 2006, which saw 65,386.

Between 2001 and 2006, the differences from year to year were much smaller.

In Humboldt County alone, more people are getting arrested, and more of
those arrested are getting charged with serious crimes.

The number of marijuana-related arrests in Humboldt nearly doubled between
2006 and 2007, jumping from 564 to 971. In 2006, 138 people were charged
with marijuana felonies, while in 2007 that number ballooned to 550.
Meanwhile, the number of marijuana misdemeanors between the two years has
stayed roughly the same.

Gieringer said the statewide numbers are the highest since 1990, which he
says is a sign that these arrests are only wasting taxpayer money.

Marijuana should be legalized and taxed like alcohol, he said.

Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos said while there may be some
legitimate reasons to legalize marijuana, increased arrests is not one of
them.

"I don't think the increased arrest is any indication that this needs to be
legalized," he said. "It's no more than if murder went up that we should
legalize murder."

Gallegos said there could be more marijuana in the streets, but more arrests
could also mean an increase in the amount of resources dedicated to
intercepting the drug, as demonstrated by recent federal activity.

"There's been an increase of federal presence, and there's going to be more
increases of fed presence," he said. "What they're seeing is law enforcement
saying, enough is enough."

The main source of the jump in numbers from 2006 to 2007 is felony arrests,
the Criminal Justice Statistics Center numbers show. In 2006, there were
13,548 felony arrests made while 16,124 felony arrests were made in 2007.

The state Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or
CAMP, has also been eradicating more marijuana plants.

Last year the agency pulled 271,000 plants in Humboldt County, up from just
59,000 in 2006.

But Humboldt County Sheriff's Department Spokeswoman Brenda Godsey said the
destruction of those plants probably doesn't add much to the state's arrest
numbers. The Sheriff's Department works closely with CAMP to target
large-scale commercial grows.

"In Humboldt County our efforts are particularly in outdoor grows and
because they can be so dangerous we make a deliberate effort to be
conspicuous and noisy when we enter," she said, adding that their goal is to
eradicate the marijuana.

Regardless of the numbers, Gallegos said the threat of illegal marijuana is
a very real one, citing the abuse of 215 cards.

"They're putting a law that was enacted to alleviate the suffering of ill
people at risk," he said.

BOX:

The 2007 Numbers:

74,119 arrests statewide

16,124 felony

57,995 misdemeanor

971 arrests in Humboldt County

550 felony

421 misdemeanor

The 2006 Numbers:

65,386 arrests statewide

13,548 felony

51,838 misdemeanor

564 arrests in Humboldt County

138 felony

426 misdemeanor

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_10536275?source=rss

CO: STUDENT FIGHTS CU OVER HAZY MARIJUANA LAW

2008-09-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

STUDENT FIGHTS CU OVER HAZY MARIJUANA LAW

"I Was Never Really Worried About The Court Case Because I Was Following The State Law."

A University of Colorado at Boulder student who has a medical-marijuana card will be given his pot back by campus police Monday.

CU officials relented when threatened with a lawsuit after campus police confiscated less than 2 ounces of pot from Edward Nicholson's dorm room, and officials threatened him with suspension.

Nicholson, 20, said he was holding the drug for his 23-year-old brother, a chronic-pain sufferer.

State law allows doctor-recommended marijuana use for those "suffering from debilitating medical conditions." Caregivers of patients must carry state-issued medical-marijuana cards.

Nicholson is the cardholder because he says pot is easier to buy in Boulder than in Aurora, where his family lives.

The ordeal started last winter when an officer smelled pot in Nicholson's dorm lockbox during a room walk-through on winter break. When Nicholson brandished his registry card, that officer didn't cite him.

But in February and March, Nicholson said he was awakened several nights in a row by CU-Boulder police officers who said they could smell pot coming from his room. Nicholson said he doesn't smoke pot and called the late-night door knocks obnoxious.

"They were on an unbelievable power trip," he said.

CU officials couldn't talk about the case, citing student privacy laws.

In May, campus authorities threatened to suspend him for a semester, to commit him to community service and drug and alcohol testing, and make him write a paper about the harmful effects of the drug on his schooling.

After Nicholson hired lawyer Robert Corry, who threatened a lawsuit, CU officials threw the case out.

"They didn't do any harm to me, but they sure tried," said Nicholson, who is now in his second year at CU and living off-campus. "I was never really worried about the court case because I was following the state law."

CU officials revised their policies this fall to accommodate the 8-year-old medical-marijuana law.

CU students - even medical-pot cardholders - are not allowed to store the drug in dorms. But officials say they'll release first-year students from the on-campus residency requirement if they are cardholders "at their prerogative," said CU lawyer Jeremy Hueth, who worked on Nicholson's case.

"If they ( medical-marijuana cardholders ) would rather move off campus . . . we're not going to penalize them for it," he said.

There are 1,955 cardholders in Colorado, according to last year's statistics from the state health department.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said in a statement responding to the CU case Friday that the medical-marijuana law has become a "front for widespread marijuana distribution."

"The proponents of these laws make them intentionally ambiguous, causing significant problems for law enforcement in Colorado and elsewhere," he said

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n884/a08.html
Newshawk: Just Say Know: http://www.efsdp.org
Votes: 0
Webpage: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_10519236
Pubdate: Sat, 20 Sep 2008
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2008 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Allison Sherry
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

IMPRISONMENT NOT ANSWER TO DRUG WAR

2008-09-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

George Jung, played by Johnny Depp in the movie "Blow," made me and millions of Americans question the logic of our nation's drug laws. In the movie, Jung is sentenced to prison for possession of marijuana. After Jung is released, he said, "Danbury wasn't a prison, it was a crime school. I went in with a bachelor of marijuana, came out with a doctorate of cocaine."

Our country has one of the largest per-capita prison populations in the world, and taxpayers spend over $450 billion per year to enforce laws against consensual crimes, which is more than five times what we spend on education each year. We found out pretty quickly during prohibition how well those laws work. At least that time Congress passed a constitutional amendment.

The idea that we should lock up drug addicts began in the U.S. and quickly spread to the rest of the developed world. Recently, some countries are beginning to question why we are spending so much money punishing rather than rehabilitating drug addicts. Mexico, Switzerland and Portugal are among the countries that have decided to funnel often-scarce police and correctional funding into combating violent criminals and those who endanger others with their drug use, instead of locking up nonviolent offenders found with only small amounts of illegal drugs.

In 2001, Portugal's drug czar Vitalino Canas told England's The Guardian, "America has spent billions on enforcement but it has got nowhere. We view drug users as people who need help and care."

Canas says the change is not meant to completely legalize drug use, but instead of jail time, drug users are still subject to fines and community service in addition to probation and court-ordered detox treatment, to the discretion of the judge.

In 2006, Mexican President Vicente Fox signed a bill into law that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of controlled substances, a controversial decision that has given Mexico more resources to fight drug cartels and violence.

The "war on drugs" began in the early 1970's, when President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration. Can we even call the war on drugs an actual war? After all, wars end. Since then, our prison population has more than quadrupled, and more than one out of every 100 adults is in jail or prison. In the 1980s, several laws were put into place that were supposed to help us deal with the drug problem. One of these was a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for crack cocaine possession. Only recently has the logic of this law been questioned by Congress. As research shows, it tended to unfairly target minorities, and it was disproportional to the penalty for possessing powder cocaine.

Perhaps we should begin to think about the drug problem as a public health problem, not as a crime problem. If we spent as much money rehabilitating our nation's drug users as we do locking them up, we would be able to provide addiction treatment, vocational training, and extended probation programs to keep people off drugs without throwing them into our prison system, where non-violent offenders are subjected to violent crime, infectious disease, and overcrowding. Nearly 60 percent of prisoners are drug felons and over 65 percent of those released from prison commit a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of their release. This pattern turns nonviolent offenders into violent and repeat criminals instead of treating the underlying drug addiction and providing a path back into society.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n864/a10.html
Newshawk: Just Say Know: http://www.efsdp.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 11 Sep 2008
Source: TCU Daily Skiff (Texas Christian University, TX Edu)
Copyright: 2008 TCU Daily Skiff
Contact: http://www.tcudailyskiff.com/home/lettertotheeditor/ url
Website: http://www.tcudailyskiff.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1289
Author: Matthew Rosson
Note: Matthew Rosson is a sophomore prebusiness major from Lincoln, Neb.

2008-09-15T12:47:00.001-07:00

TAXPAYERS TO DECIDE WHETHER MARIJUANA SHOULD BE 'LOW PRIORITY'

The group Sensible Fayetteville has gathered enough signatures to put a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that will make a misdemeanor possession of marijuana the lowest priority for law enforcement.

Many have mixed feelings about the effect this ordinance could have on the city: Jacob Holloway, field organizer for Sensible Fayetteville, said an initiative like this sends "a message that we will no longer accept inaction," while City Attorney Kit Williams said the ordinance essentially would have "no effect" on Fayetteville residents.

What actually should bring the issue of decriminalizing marijuana to full focus, then, is the overcrowding of jails and the spending of taxpayers' money to house those charged with misdemeanors.

About 400 marijuana-related arrests were made in 2005 in Fayetteville, and the state of Arkansas spends about $30 million a year making arrests for marijuana use, said Ryan Denham, campaign director for Sensible Fayetteville.

"We have more serious fish to fry than going after someone with a small amount of marijuana," Mayor Dan Coody said.

We agree. But legalizing marijuana - or keeping it illegal - is not the issue.

The fact this measure simply is being placed on the November ballot is a significant step forward for all Fayetteville citizens. Who better to decide whether marijuana possession should be criminalized and how tax money should be spent than the Fayetteville taxpayers themselves?

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n861/a06.html
Newshawk: Just Say Know: http://www.efsdp.org
Votes: 1
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Sep 2008
Source: Arkansas Traveler, The (AR Edu)
Copyright: 2008 The Arkansas Traveler
Contact: traveler@uark.edu
Website: http://thetraveleronline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2717
Cited: Sensible Fayetteville http://www.sensiblefayetteville.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

CO: Marijuana a growing battle

2008-09-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Medical Marijuana Can Be Used, Distributed, but Cultivators Face Jail

HUERFANO COUNTY - Mike Stetler is proud of his garden. It took him
months to get the lush jungle just right.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said.

A decade ago, the labor of planting would have been impossible for
Stetler. Strung out on Demerol, OxyContin, morphine and oxycodone,
the pain-addled Navy veteran was, he says, "a slobbering zombie,
stupid and living in la-la land."

Since 2002, though, when he started growing and smoking the medicinal
marijuana he now tends so carefully, he hasn't touched a pill.

"The pain isn't all the way gone, but I can live again. I can get out
of bed. The sun is shining on me again," he said. "See what God does?
He gives us something beautiful to use. This healing herb. And what happens?"

What happened is sheriff's deputies landed a helicopter on his land,
broke open two padlocked gates and ransacked his trailer, ripping a
gaping hole in the roof. They seized 44 marijuana plants and more
than eight state-issued medical-marijuana cards that indicate other
medical-marijuana patients have told the state he is their designated
caregiver. They left a search warrant hanging over Stetler's
medical-marijuana sign.

Almost eight years after Colorado voters approved Amendment 20,
engraving in the Colorado Constitution the lawful use of
doctor-recommended medical marijuana for those "suffering from
debilitating medical conditions," police and prosecutors zealously
pursue medical-marijuana growers like Stetler, citing everything from
the fact that they just don't like the law to concerns about public
safety and confusion over what the law allows.

The law is "overly broad," "a work in progress," "vague" and "a
mistake," according to cops and prosecutors along the Front Range,
home to more than three-quarters of the state's 3,302 residents
enrolled in the Colorado medical-marijuana registry program. There
are 12 states in the U.S. that have medical-marijuana laws. Of the 10
with marijuana card systems, Colorado is the only state that does not
issue caregivers like Stetler licenses that specifically allow for cultivation.

"Marijuana cultivation is a violation of federal and state law. Just
because someone says 'medical marijuana' doesn't mean we
automatically back off and we don't enforce the law," said Larry
Abrahamson, district attorney for Larimer County, where more than 45
percent of felony marijuana cases in the past decade have involved
growers, many with state-issued cards. "Just because we have
Amendment 20 does not mean we have free marijuana for everyone."

Raid, but No Charges

Tucked into a lonely corner of 7,755- resident Huerfano County,
Stetler has nursed 33 new marijuana plants from the sandy soil. Good
medicine, he says, squeezing sticky, stinky and crystallized buds
atop listing 7-foot stalks.

His plants are growing on private land miles from a paved road in two
sheds posted with 13 state-issued medical-marijuana certificates that
designate Stetler is now a licensed care giver for 13 patients. His
doctor has advised he needs 15 plants to alleviate his constant pain
stemming from a 1990 car accident.

Since the raid more than a year ago, Huerfano County Sheriff Bruce
Newman has not filed any charges or returned Stetler's plants. No
visits from police. Not even a ticket or a letter. Newman said he's waiting.

"We want to see what happens with some of these other cases," said
Newman, who suspects not all of Stetler's 44 plants were legal and
has destroyed them. "There's a lot of legal stuff up in the air, and
it's going to take judges making decisions to figure it out."

The amendment seems to be functioning for people who use and
distribute medical marijuana. Eleven storefront dispensaries operate
openly in Colorado, some distributing medical marijuana to as many as
600 patients who need as much as an ounce of the weed a week. More
than 500 doctors have recommended marijuana, and the number of
patients on the state's registry has almost doubled since January.

"I'd have to say it is working," said Denver attorney Warren Edson,
who represents half of the state's dispensaries. "But the
dispensaries are not cultivating, and there's a huge need. The
cultivation side is problematic." Lawyer Sean T. McAllister of
Breckenridge. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Indeed, for the green-thumbed suppliers of the statewide demand for
thousands of pounds of medical marijuana, life is not good. While
Amendment 20 outlines a host of protections for medical-marijuana
patients and allows them to designate a caregiver, the law does
nothing to address growers.

So though many medical-marijuana patients designate growers as
caregivers, the marijuana farmers are subject to arrest-first,
ask-if-it's-medical-later SWAT raids. They face lengthy and costly
legal battles, which, regardless of an acquittal, dismissal or
conviction, end with dead marijuana plants.

"The police are supposed to be protecting me from thieves and such,
but they are the thieves," said Stetler, who is one of three
designated caregivers in Colorado preparing a civil lawsuit demanding
compensation for plants destroyed by police.

"It's not right. They are making up their own laws and mocking the
state's laws they are supposed to be protecting. They are mocking the
voters they serve."

"Where do they think all the medical marijuana for more than 3,000
patients comes from?" said marijuana farmer Chris Crumbliss, who has
been raided twice in Larimer County despite possessing dozens of
state-issued medical-marijuana cards from patients listing him as
their primary caregiver. "Do they want one person growing for 50
people, or do they want 50 people growing on their own?"

Law Rubs Wrong Way

For police, Amendment 20 conflicts with federal laws and long-held
state laws prohibiting cultivation of marijuana.

Even worse, say police, Amendment 20's requirement that all property
and plants seized in a medical-marijuana investigation "shall not be
harmed, neglected, injured, or destroyed" is unworkable. (If a cop
waters a marijuana plant, is she breaking the law?)

And the notion that marijuana - which the federal government
considers a "Schedule I" substance alongside PCP and methamphetamine
- can be legal at all dismisses decades of law enforcement culture
and ingrained drug war doctrine.

Larimer County's Jim Alderden is a folksy sheriff who refers to
Amendment 20 as an "ill-conceived law" and aggressively pursues
marijuana growers. They may call themselves licensed caregivers, but
he calls them "dope dealers."

"Wholesale drug dealers are hiding under the umbrella afforded them
by the statute," he says. "These people are nothing more than dope
dealers, and they are hiding under this thing, and we are not going
to back off. These people who say they are caregivers providing for
60 to 70 people are running the same sort of scam you see on the West
Coast where people see a physician who is willing to prostitute
themselves for money and say 'here's the dope.' "

Scott Carr, the regional director for Colorado's THC Clinic in Wheat
Ridge, disagrees with Alderden's assessment of doctors who recommend
marijuana. Carr says the doctors in his clinic care for their
patients and advise the best treatment for their ailments.

"We do a pretty extensive screening of medical history. We get charts
and copies of doctor notes," Carr said.

Jeff Sweetin, head of Denver's branch of the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration, regularly hears growers pleading their product is
medical marijuana. When the operations "reach into hundreds of plants
and millions of dollars, that argument that they are immune because
of state medical-marijuana laws is absurd," Sweetin said.

"I think it was a mistake. It's bad public policy, and it put cops in
a terrible spot," Sweetin said of Amendment 20. "The very term
'medical marijuana' doesn't hold much water. I mean really, what kind
of medicine do you smoke?"

Sweetin fields calls "all the time" from Colorado cops begging his
help when a court orders the return of marijuana or growing equipment.

"Ninety-nine times out of 100, our answer is, 'This is not our
problem to fix.' I feel for these guys and they are my friends and
they are partners, but it is not the position of the DEA to rescue
everybody from their state's legislation."

A Need for Clarity

If there's one thing cops, prosecutors, attorneys and growers agree
on, it's that more work is needed to lift the fog surrounding
Amendment 20 and its implementation. How it's going to get done is
the big question.

Last month, Crumbliss stood trembling with his arms held high in his
front yard at 4 a.m., his boxers pulled to his ankles, his head and
face wrapped in a T-shirt, a laser-scoped assault rifle trained on
his chest and his dogs howling from a shower of tear gas. He kept
saying one thing over and over: "I have a license to grow medical marijuana."

The armored men behind the guns were Larimer and Boulder county
sheriff's deputies in a multi-jurisdictional, predawn SWAT-team raid
of three of Crumbliss' homes. After months of investigation - which
included no-subpoena-needed access to Poudre Valley Rural Electric
Association electrical usage reports from Crumbliss' and neighbors'
homes - the raid netted 200 marijuana plants and 25 pounds of
cannabis. Crumbliss and his wife, Tiffany, were arrested and charged
with a host of felonies that could land them in prison for almost a
decade. It was the second time in two years Larimer County cops have
raided the Crumblisses, who have never hidden their predilection
toward medical marijuana.

"I thought I was going to be executed," said Crumbliss, a father of
two and a perpetually grinning marijuana farmer who holds more than
40 state medical-marijuana licenses from patients who list him as
their primary caregiver. "I've never had a felony in my life. I
preach love and compassion. I really believe what I'm doing is legal
and I am following the letter of the law. And it's an honor and a
privilege to stand up for sick people who can't stand up for
themselves. It might earn me a spot in jail, and it might earn me a
place in heaven."

Sean McAllister, the attorney who represented Crumbliss against his
previous and still-pending marijuana cultivation charges from 2007,
called Larimer County's "smash and grab" tactics "the worst abuse
I've ever seen by police of the medical-marijuana law because they
are arresting first and determining if it's medical later."

McAllister, the founder of Sensible Colorado, a nonprofit advocating
for drug policy reform, said the writers of Amendment 20 made too
many compromises and growers like Crumbliss are left in the law's "gray areas."

"You can smoke it. You can dispense it. But how are they supposed to
grow it?" said McAllister, a Breckenridge attorney who specializes in
medical-marijuana cases. "Unfortunately the Crumblisses are the
guinea pigs who are going to have to test the legal status of
Colorado's medical-marijuana laws."

Prosecutions Increase

Larimer County, which medical-marijuana attorney Rob Corry calls "the
worst" in its pursuit of medical-marijuana caregivers, is not alone
in its hunt for marijuana farmers. Across the state, prosecutors in
recent years have pursued more cases than ever against growers who
argue they are within the bounds of Amendment 20. Last year,
prosecutors in El Paso, Jefferson, Denver and Larimer counties - home
to nearly half the state's medical-marijuana patients - tried 72
felony cultivation cases, up from nine cases in 2000.

Part of the issue is public safety, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman
for Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey. She explained a litany
of potential hazards involving the unregulated business of marijuana
growing operations: fire danger from high electrical use and indoor
grow lamps, price gouging, the safety of the product and the
potential dangers facing future residents of a house where marijuana was grown.

"There is no mandate in our office to go out and aggressively
prosecute caregivers or growers, but we are not going to look the
other way," Kimbrough said. "I think (district attorneys) would
welcome some more attention to this because there is a sense that
there is some work that still needs to be done to clarify the process
and perhaps regulate the business aspect and ensure the safety of the
people for whom this law was meant to help."

[sidebar]

COURTS OFFER SOME SKETCHY GUIDANCE ON AMENDMENT'S GRAY AREAS

Attorneys for law enforcement and the medical-marijuana community are
staying busy. Tweaking an amendment to the state constitution is much
more difficult than tinkering with legislation, so guidance is found
in court decisions. In recent years, Colorado's courtrooms have
hosted a few explorations of Amendment 20's gray areas:

Q. To how many patients can one licensed caregiver provide marijuana?

A. Denver District Judge Larry Naves in July 2007 tossed out the
former state mandate of five, ruling the limit set by the state's
department of health lacked public input and "does not appear to be
based on any medical or scientific evidence." So the question is: How
many patients can a caregiver have? The answer, apparently, is more than five.

Q. How many plants can a caregiver tend for each patient?

A. The amendment allows for six plants but also notes that patients
and caregivers can argue that "greater amounts were medically
necessary to address the patient's debilitating medical condition."
That "greater amount" part has been tested in Arapahoe County, where
the district attorney has declined to prosecute a 2004 case involving
one licensed patient growing 12 plants and a 2007 case involving 71 plants.

Q. Do you even need a medical-marijuana license?

A. Maybe just a doctor's note or recommendation is enough, according
to a Gunnison jury in 2006 that acquitted a man of felony charges
leveled by police who found four marijuana plants growing in his
garage. Ryan Margenau did not have a card from the state's registry
program, but he did have a doctor's verbal recommendation to use
marijuana to ease the pain of the 14 herniated discs he suffered in a
car wreck. The jury, in what was Colorado's first medical-marijuana
jury trial, said the doctor's advice was enough.

Q. If police destroy marijuana involved with a medical-marijuana
investigation, do they have to compensate the patient or caregiver?

A. Police in Jefferson County, Aurora, Craig and Fort Collins
reluctantly have returned marijuana-growing equipment and desiccated
plants. The possibility of reimbursement -- at the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration's estimated value of $5,200 per plant --
will be tested in a trio of lawsuits. The not-yet-filed lawsuits in
Huerfano County, Fort Collins and Aurora would demand police pay for
plants seized and destroyed in investigations that ended without prosecution.

Newshawk: Please Write a LTE www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Sep 2008
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://www.denverpost.com/previous2/home/ci_10452384
Copyright: 2008 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Amendment+20
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

September 12, 2008: "SWAT Team Abuse in Berwyn Heights" featuring Cheye Calvo.

2008-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=726

Here's an MP3 from the Cato Institute with Cheye Calvo (Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland) describing how police conducted a baseless no-knock marijuana raid on his home, killing his two labrador retrievers. It's chilling.

The good news is that Calvo and his family adopted a new labrador from a shelter and are working to restore some order back into their life.

Rethinking the government's War on Drugs

2008-09-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2008 by Bob Barr

As both a U.S. Attorney and Member of Congress, I defended drug prohibition.
But it has become increasingly clear to me, after much study, that our
current strategy has not worked and will not work. The other candidates for
president prefer not to address this issue, but ignoring the failure of
existing policy exhibits both a poverty of thought and an absence of
political courage. The federal government must turn the decision on drug
policy back to the states and the citizens themselves.

My change in perspective might shock some people, but leadership requires a
willingness to assess evidence and recognize when a strategy is not working.
We are paying far too high a price for today's failed policy to continue it
simply because it has always been done that way.

It is obvious that, like Prohibition's effort to eradicate alcohol usage,
drug prohibition has not succeeded. Despite enormous law enforcement efforts
â€” including the dedicated service of many thousands of professional men and
women â€” the government has not halted drug use. Indeed, the problem is worse
today than in 1972, when Richard Nixon first coined the phrase "War on
Drugs."

Whether we like it or not, tens of millions of Americans have used and will
continue to use drugs. Yet in 2005 we spent more than $12 billion on federal
drug enforcement efforts. Another $30 billion went to incarcerate
non-violent drug offenders.

These people must live forever with the scarlet letter P for prison. Only
luck saved even presidents and candidates for president from bearing the
same mark, which would have disqualified them from not only high political
office, but also many more commonplace jobs.

The federal drug laws affect even those who have never smoked (or inhaled!)
a marijuana cigarette. One of the lessons I learned while serving in
Congress is how power tends to concentrate in Washington, and how that
concentration of power begets more power and threatens individual liberty.
The ever-expanding drug war is a perfect illustration of this principle.

We simply must bring our system back into balance. First, the federal
government should get out of the "drug war" and allow states to determine
their own drug policies. Rather than continuing to arrest and imprison
people for offenses that do not directly harm other people, we should focus
federal law enforcement on crimes involving serious fraud or violence, with
identifiable victims. Even then, only where there is a clear and specific
federal interest, should the federal government be involved.

As president, I would also begin dismantling the vast bureaucracies that
have grown up as part of the drug war. My drug "czar" would diminish rather
than expand the office. Importantly, the vast power of the federal
government would no longer be employed to override the decision of the
citizens of the states to reform their drug laws.

I also would review my presidential pardon and commutation powers as a
possible means to reduce the number of people in federal prison for
non-violent drug offenses. We can no longer afford the human and economic
costs of imprisoning so many thousands of people for drug possession. This
is the most destructive impact of drug prohibition.

With regard to the medicinal use of marijuana, it appears that politics,
rather than true science, led to the government's classification of
marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, preventing its medical use,
and has blocked attempts to reconsider that classification. As president, I
would direct the DEA to initiate, for the first time, a truly open, fair,
and objective process to test and evaluate the medical potential of
marijuana. Based on the studies that I have consulted, I believe the result
would be reclassification of the drug.

Regardless of federal policy, the federal government should accept the
decisions of the citizens of the states if they choose to allow the medical
use of marijuana. As president, I would ensure that no executive branch
official interfered in a state initiative or referendum campaign. I also
would direct the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Agency to
respect state law. Crimes of violence, whether involving drugs or not, must
continue to be investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate law
enforcement agencies.

None of this means that I believe drug use to be harmless, or appropriate
for minors. For that reason I would encourage people and institutions
throughout America, from churches to social agencies to sports leagues, to
work together to address drug abuse. One of our nation's greatest strengths
is the willingness of people to organize outside of government to solve
human problems.

But treating what is, at base, a moral, spiritual, and health problem as a
matter of federal criminal law has solved nothing. The next president must
put politics aside and take a long, hard look at the failure of the federal
war on drugs. We must reestablish the primacy of individual choice and
state's rights in deciding these issues. This always has been the greatest
strength of America, and should be again.

http://www.smallgovtimes.com/2008/09/rethinking-the-governments-war-on-drugs/

Did McCain Tamper with the Drug Enforcement Agency to Protect His

2008-09-11T15:47:00.001-07:00

by: Matt Stoller
Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 02:06

A whistleblower is coming forth against John and Cindy McCain, and
the picture he is painting is not a pretty one. You've probably
heard about Cindy McCain stealing prescription drugs from her charity
in the 1990s. Today, Tom Gosinski, her former employee and a close
friend of the McCain's, came out on the record about the entire
sordid episode. And it appears that McCain used his Senate staff and
resources to cover up Cindy's drug use, and potentially to prevent
the Drug Enforcement Agency from investigating his wife's theft of
illegal prescription drugs. John McCain certainly used his political
connections to begin a campaign of intimidation against Gosinski,
because at the time - this was after the Keating 5 scandal - another
major scandal would have derailed his career. Gosinski stayed quiet
out of fear until today; a recent fight with cancer has strengthened
his resolve. As he told me today, if he can beat cancer, he can go
on the record regarding how the McCain's do business.

Gosinski was an employee of Cindy McCain who helped her run her
charity, the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) in the early to
mid-1990s. At the time Gosinski worked for her, Cindy McCain was
addicted to prescription painkillers, taking between 30-50 pills a
day of Vicatem and/or Percocet. She had doctors writing out
prescriptions in other peoples' names, including Gosinski. When
Gosinski found one of the prescription slips, he got angry, and Cindy
had him fired. This part of the story is just kind of sad, but not
damning; Cindy McCain was a lonely and bored wife who turned to drugs
in place of what was a loveless marriage full of fundraisers and in
all likelihood, various infidelities (or so were the rumors Gosinski
heard at the time).

Now, it begins to get dangerous and vicious after Gosinksi was
fired. At first the McCain's said they'd help him find a job, but it
became clear to Gosinksi that McCain was using his political
connections to blackball him from another job in Republican politics
in Arizona. So he sued the McCain's for wrongful termination, and
went to the Drug Enforcement Agency to find out the legal
repercussions of having prescriptions for painkillers written in his
name. To retaliate, McCain then had his political ally, Rick Romley,
open an extortion investigation against Gosinksi. In the course of
that investigation, it was revealed that the DEA was circling around
Cindy McCain and her charity. It's not clear what they were
investigating her for, but it is clear she was bringing illegal
prescription drugs around the world on a diplomatic passport secured
for her by McCain's Senate office.

McCain's Senate staff and Senate resources were intimately involved
in Cindy's work with the charity. John McCain procured her a
diplomatic passport, which meant that her bags were not searched by
customs, and Mark Salter and Torie Clarke were both coordinating with
Gosinski on logistics for the trips abroad. Here's Gosinski on the
coordination with McCain's Senate staff.

The charity was supposed to conduct medical missions abroad, but
Cindy was also stealing from the charity's supply of drugs for her
own personal use. In August of 1994, the story was going to come
out, and so John McCain came out with his side of the story. He
claimed he didn't know that Cindy McCain was using drugs until 1994,
a clear lie. Cindy McCain overdosed in 1991, and John McCain went to
the hospital in Sedona and told the hospital staff not to make the
information about Cindy public. Gosinski heard about the overdose in
1992, after he began work for Cindy McCain.

There are lots of unanswered questions, but the basic contours of the
story are clear. John McCain used his position as a Senator to help
his wife abuse illegal drugs and avoid being searched by customs, and
somehow his wife managed to avoid any charges by the DEA or the state
(which has mandatory minimums in cases like this) on drug charges
despite ample evidence. Did the DEA or the state not file charges
against her because of political pressure? Did they keep this on the
Federal level to avoid mandatory minimums for Cindy McCain because of
political pressure from McCain? Did John McCain and/or his Senate
staff tamper with a criminal investigation of his wife and her
conspiracy to fraudulently obtain illegal drugs?

Whether illegal or not, and an investigation by Congress should
happen, this is clearly a massive and overreaching case of both
corruption on a personal sordid level and an abuse of power. And you
might be seeing Gosinski on mainstream media soon.

We need an investigation into what happened here. What did McCain
know about the investigation of his wife and did he use his power as
a Senator to help her abuse drugs or avoid prosecution? When he was
one of a hundred Senators, it was of minor importance. And now?
Well it would be nice to know if the next President is engaged in
behavior more characteristic of an influence peddling mob boss than
an upright politician.

Eat it up

2008-09-10T15:41:00.001-07:00

FOUR HELD IN THEFT OF MARIJUANA PLANTS

2008-09-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Four men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of taking 23 marijuana
plants from a backyard garden off Valley West Drive in west Santa Rosa.

The homeowner had a permit to grow the plants legally for medicinal use.

Witnesses in the neighborhood said they saw several men climbing a
fence around the Jose Avenue home just before 1 p.m., then hauling
the freshly cut plants to a car parked nearby.

Residents in the home said they had seen the men before.

"We had been seeing people circle the neighborhood for about a week,"
said one of the residents who asked not to be named. "Either they
sniffed it out or had seen it."

The four suspects were taken into custody after police interrupted
the theft, said Sgt. Steve Fraga.

Greg Cibrian, 20; Victor Raul Marin Coria, 19; Lloyd Melvin Fouche,
20; and Hector Said Magana, 22, all of Santa Rosa, were arrested on
suspicion of grand theft, conspiracy and possession of marijuana.

All four of the men are known gang members, Fraga said.

A fifth suspect dropped several pounds of freshly harvested marijuana
at the corner of Jose Avenue and Josefa Street and fled. Police
searched the area, but did not find him, Fraga said.

The stolen plants were found in the trunk of a 1994 Cadillac sedan,
as were gardening shears used to cut the plants, Fraga said.

Residents said the 4-foot-tall plants were four to six weeks away
from harvest and were being grown to assist a family member suffering
from knee and back pain after several operations.

Newshawk: Richard Lake
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Sep 2008
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Laura Norton, The Press Democrat
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

LUNATIC DRUG WARRIORS STILL IGNORE POWERFUL POT SCIENCE

2008-09-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, on Sept. 6, 1988, the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration's chief administrative law judge issued a landmark
ruling, but don't expect any celebrations or commemorations in
Washington, D.C. Our government has ignored this historic decision
since the day it was issued, inflicting needless misery on millions.

Indeed, most Americans don't know it ever happened.

In response to a petition asking that marijuana be moved from
Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act, which bars
medical use, to a lower schedule that would permit physician
prescriptions, Judge Francis Young held extensive hearings that began
in the summer of 1986. He heard from an impressive array of expert
witnesses, resulting in thousands of pages of documentation.

Young laid out his findings in a detailed, 69-page ruling, walking
readers through the scientific evidence. He concluded that the law
didn't just permit moving marijuana to Schedule II, but required it.

"Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically
active substances known to man," he wrote. "By any measure of
rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised
routine of medical care. ... The evidence in this record clearly
shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the
distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with
safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary
and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers
and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."

Remember, this was no pot-addled "legalizer" writing. It was the
chief administrative law judge within the top federal agency
responsible for enforcing our drug laws. Unfortunately, the ruling
had no legal force. In legal terms, it was a recommendation, not an
order that had to be followed.

And the DEA chose not to follow it. Six years after top DEA officials
rejected Young's recommendation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. circuit ruled that the agency did have the right to ignore its
own administrative law judge.

Because the federal government chose to disregard the results of its
own investigation, the medical marijuana controversy continues to
rage today. Losing patience with the feds, 12 states have acted to
permit medical use of marijuana under their state laws. If Michigan
passes the medical marijuana initiative on its November ballot, that
number will increase to 13, comprising roughly 1 in 4 Americans.

But while those state laws provide considerable protection for
medical marijuana patients, states cannot provide an exemption from
federal law. Even in the 12 states that have medical marijuana laws,
patients and caregivers have been arrested, terrorized and even had
their children taken away.

Meanwhile, the medical evidence continues to mount. Another federally
commissioned study, this time by the Institute of Medicine, confirmed
in 1999 that marijuana has legitimate medical uses.

More recently, newly published clinical trials have found that
marijuana effectively relieves certain types of hard-to-treat pain,
including the nerve pain that often accompanies multiple sclerosis,
HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Other research suggests that by
relieving the nausea and vomiting often caused by the harsh drugs
used to treat hepatitis C and HIV, medical marijuana can help
patients stick to these challenging drug regimens -- and live.

Because our government has ignored science, needless suffering has
been inflicted on millions of Americans who have benefited or could
benefit from medical marijuana. In 2009, we will have a new president
and a new Congress, and they should move quickly to end this sorry
record of federal stonewalling.

Newshawk: Medical Marijuana www.drugwarfacts.org/medicalm.htm
Pubdate: Mon, 8 Sep 2008
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2008 Independent Media Institute
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Author: Rob Kampia
Note: Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

CA Patient Employment Rights Bill AB 2279 Passes Senate

2008-09-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

Please urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign!
NORML is pleased to announce that the California Senate has approved Assembly Bill 2279, which would declare it “unlawful for an employer to discriminate against” persons who use medical cannabis.

Under a recent California Supreme Court ruling, state-authorized medical marijuana patients may be fired for their off-the-job marijuana use. Passage of AB 2279 would correct this injustice.

Employees who possess a physician's approval to use medicinal cannabis should possess similar workplace protections, as do those workers prescribed other prescription drugs -- many of which are far more impairing than marijuana.

Please take a moment and write the Governor of California today and urge him to sign AB 2279. For your convenience, a prewritten letter will be sent to Governor Schwarzenegger.

Thank you for your support of NORML and our efforts to enact marijuana law reform in California.

Federal Court Rules U.S. Government May Not Deliberately Subvert California’s Medical Marijuana Law

2008-09-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

SAN JOSE, CA - In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal court today held that the U.S. Constitution bars deliberate subversion by the federal government of state medical marijuana laws.
"Utilizing selective arrests and prosecutions, the federal government has sought to sabotage California’s reasoned approach to medical marijuana use," said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "For the first time, a court has recognized that a calculated plan by the federal government to undercut state medical marijuana laws is patently unconstitutional. Today’s decision forecasts an end to any organized federal effort to sabotage state medical marijuana laws."

While previous high-profile cases affirmed the federal government’s power to enforce federal drug laws against individual medical marijuana patients and providers on a case-by-case basis, today’s ruling clearly recognizes that a calculated pattern of federal enforcement can render state medical marijuana laws effectively inoperable, which would violate the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"It is obvious to anyone paying attention that federal officials have gone to great lengths to sabotage state efforts to allow for appropriate medical marijuana use," said Boyd. "The court made clear that this deliberate interference - once proved - would be unequivocally unconstitutional."

The case, County of Santa Cruz v. Mukasey, originated in 2003 when Bingham McCutchen LLP and the Drug Policy Alliance, along with private attorneys Gerald F. Uelmen and Benjamin Rice, sued the federal government for raiding a Santa Cruz-area medical marijuana cooperative, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The ACLU and others argued, and the court agreed, that the U.S. Constitution permits states to determine for themselves what is legal and what is illegal under state law, and that the federal government may not deliberately undermine this process.

"The federal government has purposely set out to systematically subvert California’s medical marijuana program," said Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "Let us hope that this ruling leads to the merciful end of the federal government’s cruel war on sick and dying medical marijuana patients."

In today’s ruling, which rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, relied on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski’s opinion in Conant v. Walters, which stated, in part, "Applied to our situation, this means that, much as the federal government may prefer that California keep medical marijuana illegal, it cannot force the state to do so."

In addition to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the lawsuit names as defendants U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents involved in the raid of WAMM, and administrators of the DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The court’s ruling is available online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/36494lgl20080820.html

SENSIBLE FAYETTEVILLE COLLECTS 900 MORE SIGNATURES

2008-08-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Sensible Fayetteville will submit its second round of signatures
today in hopes of giving local voters the choice on election day to
make adult marijuana possession the lowest priority for police.

"We needed about 300 additional signatures, and so far, we've
collected upwards of 900,"Ryan Denham, campaign director, said."We've
almost tripled what we needed, and we're still going. We'll turn them
in at the end of [today ]."

Sensible Fayetteville is a local coalition made up of the OMNI Center
for Peace, Justice & Ecology, the Green Party of Washington County,
the University of Arkansas student branch of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Alliance for
Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas Inc.

Initiative sponsors turned in a total of 5, 522 signatures Aug. 6. On
Aug. 19, City Clerk Sondra Smith and staff verified 3, 385 valid
signatures. Based on the number of votes cast in the city's last
mayoral election, a total of 3, 686 signatures are required to
qualify the petition.

"We compared the signatures on the petition to a list of registered
voters,"Smith said."Several people that signed the petition didn't
live in the city limits of Fayetteville, and since this is a city
issue, they have to reside in the city. Some people also signed more
than once."

In a last-minute effort to gather the remaining signatures, Denham
and fellow coalition members launched various public campaigns in the
Fayetteville Square and at Wilson Park. Additionally, all registered
voters who signed the petition dur ing the campaign will be entered
in a drawing. The winner will receive a Water Buddy Travel Filter.
This product retails for $ 59. 95.

"We've been working on this since last November,"Denham said."We've
been at the post office, the [University of Arkansas ] and we've been
going door-todoor. This is a local campaign, but it's a national
issue and we hope people understand that."

If approved, the amendment would be similar to the one approved in
Eureka Springs and would make"investigations, citations, arrests,
property seizures and prosecutions for adult marijuana and marijuana
parapher nalia offenses, where the marijuana was intended for adult
personal use, the city of Fayetteville's lowest law enforcement and
prosecutorial priority."

Denham said the focus is on adults who would fall under misdemeanor
offenses, which is possession of 1 ounce or less. He said enforcement
of the law, as written, only serves to increase law enforcement
expenditures and overcrowd jails.

Similar laws have been passed by communities in Missouri, Montana,
Washington, California and Colorado.

"A number of cities are starting to recognize what a waste the
current policy is,"he said."Marijuana arrests are clogging the system
and wasting our resources. We'd rather not have an adult arrested for
possessing 1 ounce of marijuana. We'd rather see them cited."

In addition to making marijuana possession the lowest priority for
police, the measure requires the city clerk to submit letters to
state and federal legislators, the governor and the president
stating"The citizens of Fayetteville have passed an initiative to
deprioritize adult marijuana offenses where the marijuana is intended
for personal use and request that the federal and Arkansas state
governments take immediate steps to enact similar laws."The letter
would be submitted annually until state and federal laws are changed
accordingly.

"This affects everyone in the United States,"Denham said."We've had a
record number of marijuana arrests. This year alone, about 829, 000
people were arrested on marijuana charges."

Smith said she doesn't know how long it will take to determine the
final sum of petition signatures.

"It depends on how legible the signatures are,"she said."Last time,
we had a lot that weren't legible. I had three people working on it
for almost 10 days. It was very time consuming. We hope to have them
counted up in about three days. Then we have to compare them to the
signatures we've already received to make sure there are no
duplications and make sure they're registered."

In Arkansas, Denham said, citizens have the right to petition local,
county and state government for changes in law.

Residents have until today to sign the petition by visiting Ozark
Glassworks on Huntsville Road or Sidney's Emporium on Dickson Street.

To view the full text of the proposed ordinance, visit
www.sensiblefayetteville.com

Newshawk: Citizen Efforts www.drugsense.org/caip
Pubdate: Fri, 29 Aug 2008
Source: Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR)
Copyright: 2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Contact: http://nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68570/letter/
Website: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/828
Author: Kate Ward, Northwest Arkansas Times
Cited: Sensible Fayetteville http://www.sensiblefayetteville.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

CANNABIS CLUB CRACKDOWN

2008-08-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

California Attorney General Jerry Brown issued restrictive guidelines
this week for medical-marijuana sellers, bolstering his
tough-on-crime credentials as he looks ahead to a possible
gubernatorial bid in 2010.

Mr. Brown's guidelines say medical-marijuana dispensaries -- which
operate in a legal gray area -- should operate as small nonprofits.
The guidelines instruct state law-enforcement officials that
"excessive amounts of marijuana" and "excessive amounts of cash" may
indicate a dispensary is operating unlawfully. "There's no blank
check to sell marijuana in California," Mr. Brown said in an
interview, adding that he believes many marijuana sellers are
"shadowy enterprises."

Medical marijuana has been a sticky law-enforcement issue in
California since voters passed an initiative in 1996 saying doctors
could recommend marijuana to patients. The state legislature passed
measures in 2003 to clarify the law. But store-front marijuana clubs
have sprung up that law-enforcement officials say serve a much
broader clientele than the law intended. And marijuana remains
illegal under federal law, so federal authorities in California
continue to crack down on marijuana sales.

Mr. Brown's guidelines help solidify the legal status of smaller,
nonprofit operations. They also align him with law-enforcement
officials in counties like San Diego, which has shut down storefront
operations over the past few years, accusing them of being illegal
drug cartels. "It kind of validates what we've been saying, that
these storefronts that are for profit, that really have no
relationship with medical-marijuana users, are really not within the
law," said Damon Mosler, the narcotics chief for the San Diego
District Attorney's office.

The guidelines are part of a broader effort by Mr. Brown to focus
attention on his opposition to illegal marijuana sales. Earlier this
month, his office issued a press release, headlined "Attorney General
Brown Shuts Down Illegal Marijuana Operation," announcing a raid on a
dispensary in Los Angeles by the state's Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement. A California Justice Department spokeswoman said that
when it comes to medical marijuana, Mr. Brown has taken a different
approach than his predecessor, Bill Lockyer.

"I think it's part of an overall strategy to run for governor in
2010," said Jaime Regalado, director of California State University's
Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs (which is named after Mr.
Brown's father, a former California governor). Mr. Regalado said Mr.
Brown has spent the past few years trying to shed the "Governor
Moonbeam" moniker he earned as governor from 1975 to 1983. That
included Mr. Brown's taking aggressive policing stances in Oakland,
Calif., while he was mayor there through 2006.

Mr. Brown has said he is considering another gubernatorial run. But
he said the new medical-marijuana guidelines are a response to pleas
from state law-enforcement officials, not a bid to win support. "This
has nothing to do with politics," he said. "I am just doing my job."

While medical-marijuana advocates don't like the prospect of
tightened restrictions, some said the new guidelines should help them
to comply with the law. "It reduces the subjectivity of law
enforcement," said Joe Elford, who is chief counsel with the
marijuana-advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. He said the
majority of marijuana clubs in the state are small operations that
already comply with the guidelines.

Kevin Reed, the owner of a medical-marijuana provider named Green
Cross, said the guidelines are "a really positive thing" because they
clarify state policy. Mr. Reed, who has a permit from the City of San
Francisco, said income that's not used for expenses and staff salary
goes into lowering the cost of marijuana for clients. But, he added,
there are some dispensary owners in Northern California who "feel
like they should operate like any other business."

Mr. Brown said that by eliminating larger, cartel-type operations,
the guidelines should reduce the attention that federal authorities
pay to legitimate distributors. San Francisco U.S. Attorney Joseph
Russoniello said he supports that notion: "The people that the
attorney general identifies as legitimate medical-marijuana operators
are the people we view as flying below our radar."

Mr. Russoniello said the guidelines don't change the fact that
marijuana remains illegal under federal law. And he disagreed with
suggestions that most sellers comply with California law. He
estimated that 95% of medical-marijuana distributors are for-profit operations.

Allison Margolin, a criminal defense attorney who represents
marijuana dispensaries, said the new guidelines don't explain the
difference between for-profit and non-profit organizations. "Law
enforcement will use this vagueness to continue to prosecute people," she said.

Newshawk: Americans for Safe Access www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Pubdate: Fri, 29 Aug 2008
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A4
Copyright: 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Justin Scheck and Rhonda L. Rundle
Referenced: The guidelines http://drugsense.org/url/kKMJR2lu
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jerry+Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Americans+for+Safe+Access

Nadelmann

2008-08-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm writing to you from Denver where I'm attending the Democratic
> >National Convention (look for an email from me next week about the
> >Republican National Convention). I thought you might be wondering
> >how my colleagues and I feel about Sen. Barack Obama's selection of
> >Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate. Sen. Biden is unquestionably one
> >of the chief architects of the modern war on drugs but also an
> >unlikely ally in some of our most important fights. He has been at
> >the center of many of our national campaigns -- perhaps more so than
> >any other senator.
> >
> >In the 1980s, Sen. Biden played a major role in enacting the
> >draconian mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that have filled
> >our prisons with nonviolent drug law violators. And he sponsored the
> >law creating the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) --
> >he actually coined the term "drug czar," giving Bill Bennett and
> >other drug war extremists a national stage and increased funding and
> >power. In 2003, he passed the RAVE Act, which makes it easier for
> >the government to prosecute bar and nightclub owners for the drug
> >law offenses of their customers.
> >
> >On the other hand, Sen. Biden has been a strong supporter of
> >treatment and prevention. For instance, he was one of only five
> >senators to vote against confirming President Bush's drug czar, John
> >Walters, who has a history of short-changing treatment. And he
> >helped write the Drug Addiction Treatment Act, which makes it easier
> >for family doctors to prescribe buprenorphine and other replacement
> >therapy medications from their offices, taking the pressure off
> >special treatment clinics.
> >
> >Earlier this year, Sen. Biden surprised many by introducing
> >legislation to completely eliminate the 100-to-1 crack/powder
> >cocaine sentencing disparity, leapfrogging more modest reforms put
> >forth by Sens. Kennedy, Hatch, Sessions and others. Like many senior
> >members of Congress, Biden had voted for the legislation in the
> >1980s that created the disparity. Unlike most though, he has the
> >guts and humility to admit he was wrong.
> >
> >Sen. Biden's groundbreaking bill has seven co-sponsors, including
> >Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. It is a sign of how
> >politically popular drug policy reform has become among voters that
> >a major presidential candidate not only co-sponsors a reform bill
> >but nominates the bill's sponsor as his running mate. That Sen.
> >Biden is willing to be on the same ticket with Sen. Obama, who has
> >indicated he understands the war on drugs isn't working and called
> >for a new paradigm, may be evidence that his own views on drug
> >policy are shifting.
> >
> >The Drug Policy Alliance and Drug Policy Alliance Network's
> >relationship with Sen. Biden has certainly been rocky. We strongly
> >opposed the RAVE Act, dubbing him the "Footloose senator" and
> >leading a national grassroots campaign that forced him to change key
> >elements of his bill. Now we're working with him to eliminate the
> >crack/powder disparity.
> >
> >No matter who wins the White House in November or what positions
> >they take, we'll keep fighting for drug policies that are grounded
> >in science, compassion, health and human rights. We'll thank
> >policymakers when they're right and criticize them when they're
> >wrong. We're glad you're with us.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Executive Director
> >Drug Policy Alliance Network

Media Fails to Grasp Significance of California’s New Attorney General Guidelines

2008-08-27T13:34:00.001-07:00

August 26th, 2008
Posted by Kris Hermes

When news came out about the medical marijuana guidelines issued yesterday by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the headlines largely read, “AG: Some medi-pot dispensers may be illegal.” Specifically, the Associated Press painted a bleak picture pointing to a misperceived likelihood of local law enforcement joining the feds in raiding for-profit dispensaries.

However, it would not be an understatement to claim the guidelines as a huge victory. It is not only a victory for dispensaries, a medical marijuana distribution system that has flourished and benefited hundreds of thousands of patients over the last 10 years. But it is also a victory for patients who are still in danger of defiant and recalcitrant police.

The truth of the matter is that never before has the California Attorney General (AG) directed law enforcement in a clearer way to avoid unnecessary harassment of patients and providers. Even though Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has been working with the AG for several years and urging both Bill Lockyer and Jerry Brown to issue an official position, it was a case being litigated by ASA that finally compelled that office to act. The appellate court decision in Garden Grove v. Superior Court (Kha), a case that is now binding law for the entire state, made clear that state law was not preempted by federal law and that local police have an obligation to abide by the state’s medical marijuana law.

In the Kha case, the court ruled that if medical marijuana is wrongfully confiscated, police are required to return it to the patient or caregiver from whom it was seized. The AG took this decision and crafted a “road map” for police to establish sensible policies that take into account this new legal terrain. Although certain localities have followed in the footsteps of the California Highway Patrol policy, established as a result of ASA’s litigation, many jurisdictions continue to ignore state law. In addition to reviewing the guileines, cities and counties across the state would do well to review the CHP policy as well as more recent policies such as those established by the County of Merced.

When the AG was finally quoted by the Los Angeles Times, it was to say he hopes “the feds will back off.” Ever since the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Raich, the federal DEA has been determined to undermine California’s medical marijuana laws by raiding dispensaries and threatening dispensary landlords with asset forfeiture and criminal prosecution. The AG guidelines send a clear message to the federal government that we are staying our course in California and that dispensaries, at least most of them, are law-abiding entities and should be protected by state law. Whether or not that results in less enforcement against these facilities remains to be seen. ASA flatly opposes raids on dispensaries whether by federal agents or local police, but if raids are going to occur, prosecuting cases in state court is infinitely better than prosecuting them in federal court where medical evidence is prohibited.

We at ASA believe that, after the dust settles, these guidelines will represent the final chapter in the implementation of California’s medical marijuana laws. Sure, there will be further court battles and renegade cops running afoul of the law, but finally we have official word from the top law enforcement officer in California directing local police on how to better enforce the law. That should be something to celebrate!

Dispensary guidelines applauded

2008-08-27T13:31:00.001-07:00

By Brandon Lowrey, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/25/2008 10:21:21 PM PDT

NORTHRIDGE - As California Attorney General Jerry Brown rolled out
medical-marijuana guidelines Monday, state agents wrapped up a rare
dispensary bust in which the owner of a Northridge pot shop and an associate
were arrested.

The guidelines say marijuana dispensaries shouldn't operate for profit and
ought to keep detailed and accurate records on patients.

The news was hailed by medical-marijuana advocates, who saw it as an
acknowledgment that dispensaries can be legal under California's vaguely
worded pot laws and hoped for fewer federal raids, as long as they're not
operating for profit.

"The top law enforcement officer in the state is saying these entities are
legal in state law, and that sends a message to the federal government that
they ought to back off," said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for
Safe Access. "Really, this is like the final chapter of California's
implementation of its medical-marijuana law."

The guidelines aimed to clarify the state's medical-marijuana laws, which
have caused varied and confused responses from local law enforcement, but
have led to an aggressive federal crackdown on the dispensaries.

Federal law makes marijuana illegal in all circumstances. The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled in 2005 that the state law doesn't shield California users,
sellers and growers from federal prosecution.

Brown's announcement came just days after state drug agents raided Today's
Health Care in Northridge and shut down five related "grow houses" in Los
Angeles neighborhoods over the weekend.

On Friday, agents arrested Nathan Holtz, 37, and Today's Health Care owner
Louis Godman, 40. Officials believe Holtz is a middleman between Northern
California growers and Godman's dispensary.

At the time of the arrest, the two had six pounds of marijuana and $9,000 in
cash on them. Each has been charged with two felony counts of possessing and
selling marijuana, said Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the Attorney
General's Office.

In the grow houses, agents seized 1,100 high-grade marijuana plants with a
street value of $6.6 million.

The store was not the target of the investigation, said Sarah Simpson, an
agent with the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. Rather, it was
sparked by a tip from a confidential source, who said Holtz was making a lot
of money through his dealings with growers.

Today's Health Care, which sits in a strip mall near Lindley Avenue and
Parthenia Street, was closed Monday. A sign stuck on the door said it
wouldn't reopen until Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

brandon.lowrey@dailynews.com 818-713-3699

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_10302150

2008-08-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

News Release
August 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christine Gasparac (916) 324-5500

Enforcement and Patients

Atty. General Brown Issues Medical Marijuana Guidelines for Law
Enforcement and Patients

SACRAMENTO--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today
released guidelines that, for the first time since California's
Proposition 215 was passed in 1996, clarify the state's laws
governing medical marijuana and provide clear guidelines for patients
and law enforcement to ensure that medical marijuana is not diverted
to illicit markets.

"California voters approved an initiative legalizing medical
marijuana, not street drugs. Marijuana intended for medicinal use
should not be sold to non-patients or on illicit markets," Attorney
General Brown said. "These guidelines will help law enforcement
agencies perform their duties in accordance with California law and
help patients understand their rights under Proposition 215."

This landmark document marks the first attempt by a state agency to
define the types of organizations that are legally permitted to
dispense marijuana. Brown's guidelines affirm the legality of medical
marijuana collectives and cooperatives, but make clear that such
entities cannot be operated for profit, may not purchase marijuana
from unlawful sources and must have a defined organizational
structure that includes detailed records proving that users are
legitimate patients.

"We welcome the Attorney General's leadership and expect that
compliance with these guidelines will result in fewer unnecessary
arrests, citations and seizures of medicine from qualified patients
and their primary caregivers," said Americans for Safe Access
Attorney Joe Elford. "No one benefits from confusion over the law.
These guidelines will help patients and law enforcement better
understand California's medical marijuana laws."

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, an initiative
that exempted patients and their primary caregivers from criminal
liability under state law for the possession and cultivation of
marijuana. In addition, The Medical Marijuana Program Act (MMA),
enacted by the Legislature in 2004, intended to further clarify
lawful medical marijuana practices by establishing a voluntary
statewide identification card system, specific limits on the amount
of medical marijuana each cardholder could possess, and rules for the
cultivation of medical marijuana by collectives and cooperatives.
According to Americans for Safe Access, California has more than
200,000 doctor-qualified medial cannabis users.

Several law enforcement agencies have requested that the Attorney
General issue guidelines regarding the lawful possession, sale and
cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. These law
enforcement agencies believe that individuals and cartels, under the
cover of Proposition 215, have expanded illegal cultivation and sales
of marijuana, which has led to an increase in drug-related violent
crime. Most researchers agree that the U.S. marijuana crop has seen a
sharp increase in the past decade. A report, "Marijuana Production in
the United States" by drug-policy researcher Jon Gettman, estimated
that in 2006, more than 21 million pot plants were grown in
California at a street value of up to $14 billion.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, President of the California Police
Chiefs Association, praised Brown for establishing these guidelines.
"Since Proposition 215 was passed, the laws surrounding the use,
possession and distribution of medical marijuana became confusing at
best. These newly established guidelines are an essential tool for
law enforcement and provide the parameters needed for consistent
statewide regulation and enforcement."

The guidelines encourage patients to participate in the California
Department of Public Health's registration program to obtain a
medical marijuana identification card. The identification card
protects the holder from arrest for marijuana possession and is one
of the best ways to ensure the non-diversion of medical marijuana.
Collectives and cooperatives are advised to keep files on their
patients with documented verification of their qualified status.

A copy of the Guidelines is attached.

http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1601_medicalmarijuanaguidelines.pdf

Blast Magazine: MJ & ADD - The New Stoner

2008-08-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Sitting up against a mound of pillows legs
stretched over a deep blue comforter Mike and his
girlfriend are like any other couple studying on
a Sunday afternoon. She is frustrated that she
hasn't mastered her Italian flash cards and keeps
repeating verb conjugations. Their feet are
flirtatiously entangled while Mike stares
intently into a large history notebook.

With a slam of a flash card she gives Mike a
frustrated look and he intuitively reaches for a
blue box that's sitting on the nightstand. He
pulls out a blue and green swirled pipe followed
by a bag of marijuana. A smile crosses Mike's
face as he fills the pipe and passes it to his
girlfriend. She lights it, breaths in deeply and
the room fills with a thin fog of smoke.

Mike then lights the pipe, breaths in, chuckles
and said, "I smoke every day and I make dean's
list. Smoking quiets everything in my mind so I
can concentrate."

The days of the "stoners" lying on the grass in
hippie attire, munching on snacks and going
nowhere with their lives has disappeared. The
typical "stoner" has been replaced with a
well-dressed, put-together college student who
does well in school and blends in seamlessly with
the rest of the student body. The magical
marijuana that allowed the cast of the movie "How
High" to ace their Harvard entrance exam may be
closer to the reality then once believed.
Students are smoking cannabis while studying,
writing papers and taking tests and doing
extremely well while they're at school.

Scientist and doctors have been searching for
data to back up this phenomenon, but have only
come to a few contradicting theories. There is
evidence to back up the hypothesis that marijuana
has no negative long-term memory effects on a
smoker, even a long-term user. Yet, there is
little tangible evidence to the short-term
effects of cannabis smoking.

"I have seen this claim made," said Dr. Lester
Grinspoon author of several books on the subject
including Marihuana Reconsidered and retired
faculty member at Harvard Medical School. "I have
come across it in anecdotal literature but there
is little hard science."

The stereotype that intellectual cannabis smokers
are diverging from can be seen in Kevin Smith's
infamous stoner characters Jay and Silent Bob,
who hang out in front of a convenient store all
day only moving to smoke a joint around back.

The "stoner" label can also be seen in the movie
"Dazed and Confused" as the main character
decides to throw away his chances with the
football team, joint in hand.

"I think there is a stereotype that people who
smoke pot are stoners, and I don't consider
myself a stoner," said Mike. "With the whole
stoner connotation comes the idea that you are
not able to do well in school when you're high
and I do very well in school."

***

Acclaimed as a gateway drug marijuana is the most
common used illegal drug in the United States
according to the National Institute of Drug
Abuse. Marijuana, which attracted 2.6 million new
users in 2002 alone, has no long-term effects or
addiction.

"There is no physical dependency so you can stop
smoking whenever," said James Scorzelli a
psychology professor at Northeastern University
who specializes in drug addiction.

Marijuana is an unusual drug because there is no
withdrawal associated with quitting smoking
marijuana. It also is an abnormal drug because
there are no long-term effects other than the
respiratory ramifications that go along with
smoking anything.

"Marijuana does not have any permanent toxicity
to the brain. It returns to the same as someone's
who does not smoke," said Harrison Pope, a
professor of psychiatry at Harvard University,
who has studied the residual effects, the effects
of marijuana after you stop smoking, at McLean
Hospital.

The general effects of marijuana can be harmful,
but not everyone experiences the same negative or
positive effects when smoking.

"In terms of the effects of marijuana there is an
increase in blood pressure and heart rate, loss
of precision skills, short term memory loss,
paranoia, relaxation, calmness, a heightening of
emotion," said Scorzelli. "If your happy then you
become more happy if you are stressed then you
become more stressed. Other effects are
sleepiness, poor coordination, and increase in
apatite."

***

There is no explanation for the increased
concentration some associate with smoking
marijuana.

Scientist have come across little consistency in
their findings because the drug effects people in
different ways. Some believe that marijuana works
like Ritalin or Adderall and allows students who
have attention deficit disorder to clear their
minds and concentrate on their work. Others
connect the ability to study while under the
influence and then recall the information during
an exam to a psychological learning theory called
state dependent learning.

"State dependent learning is that if a person
studies under a condition and takes a test some
suggest that they would be able to remember that
information while in that state," said Dr. Ethan
Russo founder of Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics.

State dependent learning is a psychological
theory that can be applied to studying
information in any state whether under a chemical
influence such as marijuana or an emotional state
for example depression. The theory also states
that if you learn information while under the
influence of a drug then you might not be able to
recall it again until you are under the influence
again.

Some believe that this theory can be incorporated
with the Q theory, another psychology term, in
order to explain the effects of marijuana on
learning.

"States of drug intake can be Q's and the Q's
guide certain behavior," said James Stellar, dean
of Northeastern University's college of arts and
sciences and psychology professor.

"If you do a certain drug with someone you begin
to associate the drug with the person. Almost to
the level that if person X always gives you a
drug when you smell their cologne you can revert
to the behavior of the drug."

Therefore it can be inferred that the state of
mind you achieve through smoking along with the
smell and feelings that relate to the experience
could work as a Q to remembering the information
studied.

"For some people it is useful, for example a
student who has hyperactive ADD syndrome," said
Grinspoon. "I have several patients who suffer
from the syndrome who have trouble organizing
their thoughts."

Dr. Grinspoon has worked with many patients who
suffer from this syndrome. The problem that
people who have ADD face while studying is the
inability to concentrate or focus on the task at
hand.

"There is one case with a student who used
marijuana and then was willing to not use
marijuana for a few weeks. It is true, we took it
away and it did impact his success in a negative
way."

The science behind the intellectually beneficial
effects of smoking marijuana may remain a mystery
simply because the areas of the brain it is
associated with, one being the endocrine system
are newly discovered and are not fully understood.

"There are lots of very bright people who use
marijuana and they have the impression this is
useful to them," said Grinspoon."I find it
difficult to say yah or nay on the whole, it can
be less than useful for many youthŠ there is
certainly not a dispute that some people have
used it in a constructive way with their school
work."

***

The main evidence behind the idea that students
are able to study, take tests and write papers
high on marijuana is based in the anecdotal
testimony given by people who regularly follow
this practice.

"When I was in college I started interning at
high times, I went to classes high and took a lot
of tests high and I did very well," said Bobby
Black writer for High Times, a magazine based on
marijuana culture. "One class I took was logic,
mathematical and philosophical, and the teacher
loved my input."

Black contributes some of his success in the
class, scoring A's on both his midterm and final,
with the increase in concentration and efficiency
he gained when smoking marijuana.

"Being high can help you even more because when
your brain gets an idea, on an idea, it really
runs with it, it can help you focus like you
forget about everything else," said Black. He
also point out that this practice does not work
for everyone, "If your not used to smoking all
the time then you can't function, but if you do
it everyday its your regular phase, it's like a
switch."

While some students study, take tests and write
papers purposely under the influence of marijuana
others have experienced the intellectual effects
purely because of circumstance.

"It's not something that I do on purpose. I know
it helps some people focus, for me it's I have to
study and I am high," said Sarah, a junior
political science major.

Sarah is an example of someone who is able to
learn and recall information while under the
influence of marijuana. This ability can be
accredited to the state dependent learning
theory. Smoking is not an essential factor in her
studying, which can be the case for someone who
suffers from ADD who uses marijuana to clear the
head.

"Sometime I can relate to the material more,
sometimes I have been procrastinating for a while
and I just happen to be high. It's sort of
something I can do, not something I have to do to
concentrate," said Sarah. "It is easier for me to
write papers, the thoughts flow better."

Sean, a sophomore political science major, who
does not directly attribute his academic success
to smoking marijuana, has seen a decline in his
grades since he was forced to quit for his
co-op's drug test.

"Its been six weeks since I quite smoking and my
grades are lower, I don't know if it is because I
quit or my classes just got harder," said Sean.
"My personal opinion is that it has no bearing on
how well you do or how well you study. I don't
think it has an effect, negative or positive."

Though there is some ambiguity on their reliance
of smoking marijuana while doing school work, all
agree that smoking does help them clear their
minds, focus on their work, and organize their
thoughts.

"Don't let anyone tell you that people who smoke
all the time aren't logical," said Black. "I work
high all the time and I get everything done."

***

The legalization of marijuana is a debate across
the country, drawing opinions from regular
smokers, government officials, medical experts
and the general public. Many organizations have
formed for the sole purpose of legalizing
marijuana.

"We support the decriminalization of marijuana
for consenting adults," said Jessica Goshor,
director or member service for The National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws called
NORML. "We participate in lobbying on a state
national and local level."

The future of marijuana, the people who use it
and the ability to obtain it is unknown. Some
people believe that the legalization of marijuana
is imminent based on the lack of dependency and
its popularity. Others believe the day when you
can buy a joint at the corner store will never
come.

"I think that it has the potential to help a lot
of people," said Megan, a junior criminal justice
major. "I also understand that there are a lot of
other drugs that have been proved to be the same
if not less harmful as marijuana that are still
illegal. Like some of the studies that proved
ecstasy is harmful have been disproved, so if you
legalize marijuana you would have to legalize
that too."

The decriminalization of marijuana means that
first-time offenders found with a small amount of
marijuana intended for personal use will not
receive fines, prison time or a record. In
Massachusetts where possession of marijuana is
considered a misdemeanor the same offender can
receive six months in jail and a fine of $500.

"12 states in the U.S. including states as close
as Maine have already decriminalized 1 ounce or
less of marijuana," said Bill Downing Director of
the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition Inc.
"They comprise almost half of the population of
America, so half of the people in the US live in
states that have decriminalized marijuana."

Downing explains that many first- time offenders
in Massachusetts do not receive the maximum
punishment. "Most people's cases have been
continued without finding for a period of time,
usually 6 months, then it is usually dropped and
the person will only have to pay court fees which
is from $60- $100."

Where a person lives can determine the charges
they will be faced with. Those in who live in a
city are at a greater risk because of the close
proximity to schools, elderly housing and public
housing. This puts students in an urban school
setting, like Northeastern at a greater risk for
being charged with the crime of possession with
intent to distribute.

"I think legalizing it is a good idea for a
number of reasons," said Sarah. "It could be
better regulated and taxed, so it could benefit
the government; in some ways it's like alcohol,
lifting the prohibition helped. I think it will
never happen because of the federal government
and the Christian Evangelists who are running the
show."

The new college "stoner" that has broken the mold
could soon be able to smoke legally. The
potential national legalization of marijuana may
not be imminent, but there are many states that
are working toward or have successfully
decriminalized possession of marijuana.

"I think that it adds to my quality of life and
my educational experience," said Megan, who
regularly does her school work while under the
influence of marijuana. "There are a lot of
people who feel the same way and I think that
will lead to the legalization."

Samantha Porter is a Blast Magazine staff writer

http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/features/2007/05/the-new-stoneryou/

The
new stonerŠyou
By Samantha Porter

Editor's note: The names of some interview
subjects have been changed for their comfort and
protection.

This is a Blast Magazine Enterprise piece.

POT POWER PLAY

2008-08-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Should State or Federal Law Prevail on Medical Marijuana?

Just because a majority of Californians voted to make marijuana
available for medical purposes does not mean it is legal. Charles
Lynch, the owner of a Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary, learned
this lesson the hard way on Aug. 5 when he was convicted of violating
the federal Controlled Substances Act. His lawyers defended him in
part by saying his business had the blessing of elected officials in
Morro County. But the jury convicted him under federal drug laws; in
October, he will be sentenced to a period of five to 85 years in
prison, though he has vowed to appeal.

Federal and state laws with respect to medical marijuana have been in
tension for years. Under the federal Controlled Substances Act of
1970, the distribution or possession of marijuana is a crime, with no
exceptions for medical use. Under California's Compassionate Use Act
of 1996, however, individuals who meet certain criteria may
distribute or use marijuana for medical purposes without running
afoul of state law. In 2003, the Legislature further bolstered the
medical marijuana movement with a law requiring counties to provide
patients with an identification card that protects them from state prosecution.

This places dispensers of medical marijuana, such as Lynch, in an
untenable position. From the perspective of the federal government,
they are no different from common drug dealers, susceptible to Drug
Enforcement Administration busts and substantial prison sentences.
From the perspective of the state government, they are running
legitimate businesses that pay taxes and otherwise comply with California law.

The courts have yet to resolve this controversy. Under the supremacy
clause of the U.S. Constitution, federal law supersedes state law
when the two conflict. But it is not as obvious as it might seem that
they do. Language in the federal Controlled Substances Act specifies
that it only preempts state laws that create a "positive conflict"
with it. A court could find that because California law does not
expressly prevent the federal government from enforcing its own drug
law, the two sets of laws are consistent.

Indeed, on July 31, the state's 4th District Court of Appeal took a
step in that direction. It held that the Controlled Substances Act
does not preempt California's requirement that counties give medical
marijuana users identification cards. The court expressly declined to
go any further, but proponents of medical marijuana rightly viewed
the ruling to be a significant win. If the decision withstands
appeals, it will ensure that federal law will not completely wash out
the state program.

But it seems unlikely that courtrooms are where this legal dissonance
will be resolved. This is especially true since 2005, when the U.S.
Supreme Court heard a federal constitutional challenge to the
Controlled Substances Act. In that case, Californians sought to
protect the use of medical marijuana by stating that it is a purely
intrastate matter, and thus beyond Congress' reach. The high court
rejected that argument, ruling that, as a whole, the drug law was a
proper exercise of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.

After that decision, the legislative and executive branches of
government are best equipped to make federal and state law
consistent. The remaining question is which side -- federal or state
-- should give way in this standoff.

In this instance, the federal government should cede. Under our
federal system, the states are supposed to serve as laboratories of
experimentation (to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis)
that permit a variety of policy approaches that suit local mores.
Moreover, the areas implicated by medical marijuana -- crime and
health -- have traditionally been areas of state sovereignty. This
perhaps explains why -- flying in the face of the Controlled
Substances Act -- 13 states have passed some form of medical marijuana law.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is grouped with heroin
and mescaline in the set of drugs subject to the most stringent
regulation. Congress or the U.S. attorney general has the power to
reclassify marijuana so it can be dispensed by a physician.
Alternatively, the U.S. Department of Justice could use its
discretion and stop prosecuting medical dispensation and use in
states that have legalized it. California's Legislature has supported
both alternatives, and Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, has expressed support for the latter. John
McCain was equivocal early in the Republican primaries, but the
candidate has since said he would not end the federal raids on
medical marijuana dispensaries.

State medical marijuana laws should not be seen as an attempt to
flout the authority of the federal government. These laws are a
proper exercise of a state prerogative to which the federal
government should defer.

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Aug 2008
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2008 Los Angeles Times
Author: Kenji Yoshino

Jack Herer explains why hemp is the #1 Natural resource

2008-08-15T21:25:00.001-07:00

LEAP

2008-08-15T14:17:00.001-07:00

DRUG MONEY

2008-08-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

KOMO Television Takes Pot Activists' Cash, Refuses to Air Pot Activists' Infomercial

A local television station claims an infomercial hosted by travel writer Rick Steves promotes the use of marijuana and is consequently refusing to air it. But Fisher Communications, which owns KOMO television, collected thousands of dollars without airing the show.

"It supported that people smoke marijuana," says Jim Clayton, KOMO's vice president and general manager, about the drug-policy-reform infomercial. "Smoking marijuana is illegal and we don't promote things that are illegal on our television station," he says. "We don't tell people to go rob banks, either."

Clayton went on to claim that he rejected the program, Marijuana: It's Time for a Conversation, because the station is "federally licensed, and we have to protect the license at all costs." Under Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) rules, he says, the station can't air shows that advise breaking the law. But when repeatedly pressed for an example of how the show advocated marijuana use, Clayton said, "I don't know. I watched it a few weeks ago, and I don't remember anything specific." ( You can watch it online at MarijuanaConversation.org. )

Rick Steves, well-known PBS travel guide and the host of the talk-show-formatted program, says, "There is no way anybody can watch that show and think it advocates smoking marijuana. Nobody on the panel even hinted that they enjoyed marijuana." The script does not advise viewers to smoke marijuana, nor does the screen ever flash an image of pot. "They were talking about the legal, social, economic, and civil rights ramifications of a misguided law," says Steves.

In addition to KOMO ( the local ABC affiliate ), KIRO ( CBS ) rejected the 30-minute show outright and refused to explain its decision to the show's producers. KING ( along with its sister station KONG, both with NBC ) would only allow the program to air after 1:00 a.m.

KOMO's decision not to air the program came as a shock to the ACLU of Washington, which spent more than $100,000 producing the program, including thousands of dollars that went to KOMO to use its staff and studios at Fisher Plaza.

"We're trying to provide information that's not tainted by either the hysteria of reefer madness, nor by the giggle factor of Cheech and Chong," says Alison Holcomb, director of the ACLU of Washington's Marijuana Education Project, who adds that she provided advance copies of the script to KOMO executives before the program was shot. The script was provided to KOMO in advance, Holcomb says, because she wanted to be sure that the program would air before spending thousands of dollars to rent KOMO's studios and pay KOMO's crews.

"We never heard any objection," says Holcomb. "But once we filmed it and handed it to them, they wouldn't sell us any time slots."

Clayton says he had initially supported airing the program on KOMO because he thought it was about medical marijuana. But he changed his mind after viewing the tape and meeting with ACLU of Washington director Kathleen Taylor on August 4.

The distinction KOMO is trying to make between recreational and medical marijuana use--again, the program advocates for neither--is without merit. If KOMO were actually afraid of losing its federal license because "smoking marijuana is illegal," it would be irrelevant if the show focused on medical marijuana; the federal government doesn't distinguish between recreational and medical pot. All marijuana use is equally illegal in the eyes of the federal government.

"If it is constitutionally protected speech then they can put it on the air," says FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin, indicating the program's content--even as submitted--was permissible by federal standards.

Nonetheless, Clayton suggests that if the ACLU wants his station to discuss marijuana laws, the group should run a ballot initiative, which would spark a public debate. But KOMO and the other local stations already run commercials that take one side of the public debate on marijuana use: hysterical antidrug campaigns run by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

And KOMO runs programs that depict--even celebrate--recreational pot use.

For example, YouTube clips show that ABC's nationally syndicated Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which broadcasts locally via KOMO, has aired segments about a stoned cop, a stoned firefighter, and a dramatization of an entire office's staff smoking pot, laughing, and having a good time at work.

"The two shows aren't comparable in the least," Clayton said, when I called back to ask about the double standard. There have been no complaints from KOMO viewers about Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but Clayton points out that he doesn't control what the network airs.

"I have to make determinations based on what is best for KOMO," he says. "For 35 years I have run TV stations across the country. I consider myself an enormously experienced broadcast executive and I can make the best decisions for television stations."

Rick Steves would disagree. "We have a law on the books that is as stupid as the prohibition of alcohol, and we can't even talk about it on television because people are afraid," he says. "It is symptomatic of a very serious problem." recommended

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n787/a07.html
Newshawk: Citizen Advocacy www.mapinc.org/resource/#activism
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2008
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2008 The Stranger
Contact: editor@thestranger.com
Website: http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Dominic Holden
Cited: KOMO Television http://www.komonews.com/
Cited: ACLU of Washington Marijuana Education Project
http://www.aclu-wa.org/issues/subissue.cfm?&issuesubissue_id=47
Referenced: Marijuana: It's Time for a Conversation
http://www.marijuanaconversation.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rick+Steves

MASSACHUSETTS LOOKS TO TURN OVER NEW LEAF ON POT

2008-08-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

An overwhelming number of Bay Staters replying to a Suffolk University/WHDH Ch. 7 poll say the state's marijuana laws should go up in smoke.

The poll regarding questions set to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot shows that 72 percent of Greater Boston residents favor snuffing out criminal penalties for suspects carrying less than an ounce of pot, and replacing them with civil fines. Under the measure, a person stopped with marijuana would be given a $100 ticket and forced to forfeit the drug

"The public may be signaling that pursuing small-time marijuana users is a waste of taxpayer resources," said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Bureau at Suffolk University. "This issue suggests there is a libertarian streak in the thinking of the Massachusetts voter."

The poll also found lingering resentment toward former Gov. Mitt Romney. State residents would reject likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain more heartily if he chose his former rival Romney as his running mate. The poll shows that 41 percent would be less likely to vote for a McCain/Romney ticket, while 24 percent were unswayed.

Bay Staters were also icy toward a ballot measure aimed at abolishing the income tax, with 50 percent opposed to eliminating income tax, and 15 percent undecided.

The pollsters gathered the data from 400 state residents who were contacted between July 31 and Aug. 3.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n787/a06.html
Newshawk: Please Support Question 2 http://sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2008
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2008 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com
Website: http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: O'ryan Johnson
Referenced: The poll http://www.suffolk.edu/research/30201.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

BERWYN HEIGHTS RAID PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON POLICE TACTICS

2008-08-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Maryland - The violent raid on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo last week prompted an investigation into whether police were justified in breaking down his door and fatally shooting the family's two dogs.

But civil liberties advocates in Maryland insist that the raid was merely a high-profile example of a common concern.

Police targeted Calvo after he unknowingly received a package of marijuana from a mail-delivery drug operation.

They did not have a "no-knock" warrant, but forcefully entered the premises when they heard Calvo's mother-in-law scream - a possible sign that evidence was being destroyed, police officials said.

Several defense attorneys in Maryland said they often hear about similar questionable police searches, but the cases rarely make it to court because it is difficult to quantify damages when only your privacy has been violated.

"You can make some noise, but unless you're the mayor of some town, the newspapers don't pay attention," said Marc Peitersen, a lawyer in Catonsville, Md.

State's attorney spokesman Ramon Korionoff said "no-knock" warrants are often issued when the suspect has history of violence or has committed a violent crime. He added that even with regular warrants, "if there is a threat of violence that requires [police] to use force, then certainly that is an option they may pursue."

David Rocah, a staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said people often send them letters about police smashing doors and forcefully entering property, but the damages are too low to make it worthwhile to spend the time in court.

"The truth is that we don't even discuss it in our legal meetings anymore because we know that these aren't cases that can be litigated," Rocah said. He added that a 2006 Supreme Court decision made it easier for police to enter evidence into trial despite overstepping the bounds of their warrant.

On his blog, Silver Spring lawyer Jon Katz said police often leave "searched homes looking like tornadoes hit them, with drawers and trash cans removed and dumped out."

"Since the vast majority of criminal defendants plead guilty, the issue of a search warrant never sees the light of day," Katz said.

The Prince George's County Sheriff's Office and Police Department declined to comment for this story.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n781/a01.html
Newshawk: Educate to Liberate: http://www.efsdp.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sun, 10 Aug 2008
Source: Baltimore Examiner (MD)
Copyright: 2008 Baltimore Examiner
Contact: http://www.examiner.com/Submit_Your_Letter.html
Website: http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4211
Author: Eric Roper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Cheye+Calvo (Cheye Calvo)

CA: POT SWEEP COSTS DOJ $347,000

2008-08-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

The California Department of Justice spent at least $347,000 in its
role in the weeklong drug raid dubbed Operation Southern Sweep in June.

The operation brought about 450 federal, state and local law
enforcement personnel together to bust an alleged commercial
marijuana grow operation connected to a single group in Humboldt
County between June 24 and 28.

According to a public records request by The Eureka Reporter for the
costs incurred in Operation Southern Sweep, the DOJ allocated
$347,202 toward the operation.

Of that, an estimated $131,574 was spent on personnel, $183,894 on
overtime, $26,283 in expenses, such as travel and lodging, and $5,451
on equipment, the request response stated.

Salary costs are based on the total hours worked by sworn officers at
the Special Agent top pay grade ($7,341 a month) and the middle pay
grade for non-sworn personnel.

The salary costs do not include any incurred by management personnel
because the time spent on specific projects is not maintained for
these employees, though the costs are estimated to be nominal, the
request response stated.

The Eureka Reporter also sent out Freedom of Information Act requests
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Service, Drug
Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Service -- all agencies
involved in the operation.

The IRS denied the request, as the records could not be found.

Even if found, the IRS stated in a response letter that the
information would be exempt from public disclosure on a number of
grounds, including a claim that disclosure would "reveal law
enforcement techniques, procedures and guidelines protected" by the
Freedom of Information Act.

The Eureka Reporter plans to appeal the decision as allowed under the
Freedom of Information Act.

The FBI denied an initial request for information, stating that any
request of this nature should be directed to a field office.

Another request sent to the FBI San Francisco Field Office has
garnered no response.

The FBI couldn't be reached for comment.

Requests to the U.S. Postal Service and DEA are still pending.

Agents raided 23 locations across the county during the sweep,
including two large chunks of property.

The raids mainly occurred in Southern Humboldt, in areas including
Redway, Whitethorn and Garberville.

Agents also raided one alleged grow house in Arcata.

The operation was the result of a two-year investigation by the DOJ,
and netted about 16,000 marijuana plants, $200,000 in cash and 53
firearms, which included assault rifles.

No arrests have been made as of yet, but officials said in past
interviews that it could take months before anyone behind the
commercial grows is brought before a judge.

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Aug 2008
Source: Eureka Reporter, The (CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Eureka Reporter
Contact: editor@eurekareporter.com
Website: http://www.eurekareporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3289
Author: John C. Osborn
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

DR. KUSH How Medical Marijuana Is Transforming the Pot Industry.

2008-07-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

California now has more than two hundred thousand physician-sanctioned pot users and hundreds of dispensaries.

The Tibetan prayer flags suspended on a string over the sleeping body of Captain Blue rose and fell in fluttering counterpoint to the wheezy rhythm of his breath. Lifted by a gentle breeze off the Pacific Ocean, each swatch of red, white, yellow, or green cotton bore a paragraph of Asian script. Every time a flag flaps in the breeze, it is thought, a prayer flies off to Heaven. Blue's mother says that when her son was an infant he used to sleep until noon, which is still the time that he wakes up most days, on his platform bed in a one-bedroom apartment overlooking Venice Beach, a neighborhood of Los Angeles.

It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, and Captain Blue was dozing after a copious inhalation of purified marijuana vapor. ( His nickname is an homage to his favorite variety of bud. ) His hair was black and greasy, and was spread across his pillow. On the front of his purple T-shirt, which had slid up to expose his round belly, were the words "Big Daddy." With his arm wrapped around a three-foot-long green bong, he resembled a large, contented baby who has fallen asleep with his milk bottle.

Captain Blue is a pot broker. More precisely, he helps connect growers of high-grade marijuana upstate to the retail dispensaries that sell marijuana legally to Californians on a doctor's recommendation. Since 1996, when a referendum known as Proposition 215 was approved by California voters, it has been legal, under California state law, for authorized patients to possess or cultivate the drug. The proposition also allowed a grower to cultivate marijuana for a patient, as long as he had been designated a "primary caregiver" by that patient. Although much of the public discussion centered on the needs of patients with cancer, AIDS, and other diseases that are synonymous with extraordinary suffering, the language of the proposition was intentionally broad, covering any medical condition for which a licensed physician might judge marijuana to be an appropriate remedy--insomnia, say, or attention-deficit disorder.

The inside of Blue's apartment, where he spends most of his time, measures less than four hundred square feet. It opens onto a huge wraparound terrace that offers mind-bending views of the ocean and the Hollywood Hills. The apartment, which is in the vicinity of Washington Boulevard, used to be occupied by another pot dealer, who moved out a few years ago, leaving Blue with his crash pad and a list of about a hundred patients. The building is near Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the commercial drag in Venice that, in recent years, has been transformed from a low-rent strip of bars and secondhand-clothing stores into a destination for well-heeled shoppers and restaurant-goers. The building retains a funky seventies vibe, with white wood floors, murky brown walls, and faded Morrison Hotel-style carpets. The sounds of "Tom and Jerry" episodes blare through locked doors in the middle of the day.

I recently spent six months, off and on, with Blue--at his apartment, in private homes, on farms, in pot grow rooms, and in other places where "medical marijuana" is produced, traded, sold, and consumed in California. During that time, I saw thousands of Tibetan prayer flags. The flags identify their owners with serenity and the conscious path, rather than with the sinister world of urban dope dealers, who flaunt muscles and guns, and charge exorbitant prices for mediocre product. For Blue and tens of thousands of like-minded individuals, Proposition 215 presented an opportunity to participate in a legally sanctioned experiment in altered living. The people I met in the high-end ganja business had an affinity for higher modes of thinking and being, including vegetarianism and eating organic food, practicing yoga, avoiding prescription drugs in favor of holistic healing methods, travelling to Indonesia and Thailand, fasting, and experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs. Many were also financially savvy, working long hours and making six-figure incomes.

Blue and I have known each other for almost two decades. Our fathers were both professors of political science, and, starting in the mid-eighties, we both attended Ivy League colleges in the Northeast, where we shared a fondness for illegal drugs. After graduation, Blue spun records and taught nursery school in Manhattan. He left for California in 1998, not long after the state banned cigarette smoking in workplaces--Blue is highly allergic to cigarette smoke--and passed Proposition 215. After working for a while as a bouncer, he began selling pot full time.

In 2003, the California State Legislature passed Senate Bill 420. The law was intended to clear up some of the confusion caused by Proposition 215, which had failed to specify how patients who could not grow their own pot were expected to obtain the drug, and how much pot could be cultivated for medical purposes. The law permitted any Californian with a doctor's note to own up to six mature marijuana plants, or to possess up to half a pound of processed weed, which could be obtained from a patients' collective or cooeperative--terms that were not precisely defined in the statute. It also permitted a primary caregiver to be paid "reasonable compensation" for services provided to a qualified patient "to enable that person to use marijuana."

The counties of California were allowed to amend the state guidelines, and the result was a patchwork of rules and regulations. Upstate in Humboldt County, the heartland of high-grade marijuana farming in California, the district attorney, Paul Gallegos, decided that a resident could grow up to ninety-nine plants at a time, in a space of a hundred square feet or less, on behalf of a qualified patient. The limited legal protections afforded to pot growers and dispensary owners have turned marijuana cultivation and distribution in California into a classic "gray area" business, like gambling or strip clubs, which are tolerated or not, to varying degrees, depending on where you live and on how aggressive your local sheriff is feeling that afternoon. This summer, Jerry Brown, the state's attorney general, plans to release a more consistent set of regulations on medical marijuana, but it is not clear that California's judges will uphold his effort. In May, the state Court of Appeal, in Los Angeles, ruled that Senate Bill 420's cap on the amount of marijuana a patient could possess was unconstitutional, because voters had not approved the limits.

Most researchers agree that the value of the U.S. marijuana crop has increased sharply since the mid-nineties, as California and twelve other states have passed medical-marijuana laws. A drug-policy analyst named Jon Gettman recently estimated that in 2006 Californians grew more than twenty million pot plants. He reckoned that between 1981 and 2006 domestic marijuana production increased tenfold, making pot the leading cash crop in America, displacing corn. A 2005 State Department report put the country's marijuana crop at twenty-two million pounds. The street value of California's crop alone may be as high as fourteen billion dollars.

According to Americans for Safe Access, which lobbies for medical marijuana, there are now more than two hundred thousand physician-sanctioned pot users in California. They acquire their medication from hundreds of dispensaries, collectives that are kept alive by the financial contributions of their patients, who pay cash for each quarter or eighth of an ounce of pot. The dispensaries also buy marijuana from their members, and sometimes directly from growers, whose crops can also be considered legal, depending on the size of the crop, the town where the plants are grown, and the disposition of the judge who hears the case.

California's encouragement of a licit market for pot has set off a low-level civil war with the federal government. Growing, selling, and smoking marijuana remain strictly illegal under federal law. The Drug Enforcement Administration, which maintains that marijuana poses a danger to users on a par with heroin and PCP, has kept up an energetic presence in the state, busting pot growers and dispensary owners with the cooeperation of some local police departments.

In the past five years, an unwritten set of rules has emerged to govern Californians participating in the medical-marijuana trade. Federal authorities do not generally bother arresting patients or doctors who write prescriptions. Instead, the D.E.A. pressures landlords to evict dispensaries and stages periodic raids on them, either shutting them down or seizing their money and marijuana. Dispensary owners are rarely arrested, and patient records are usually left alone. Through trial and error, dispensary owners have learned how to avoid trouble: Don't advertise in newspapers, on billboards, or on flyers distributed door to door. Don't sell to minors or cops. Don't open more than two stores. Any Californian who is reasonably prudent can live a life centered on the cultivation, sale, and consumption of marijuana with little fear of being fined or going to jail.

Captain Blue displays his pot on a shelf by his bed, next to two new laptop computers and an assemblage of high-end stereo equipment. The weed is kept in silver Ziploc bags. All the pot that Blue sells is grown in accordance with California state law, he says, and is provided only to dispensaries of which Blue is a member, and to patients for whom he is the primary caregiver.

Blue has a photo I.D. card from the City of Los Angeles confirming that he is a bona-fide medical-marijuana patient. His malady is anxiety. On a side table by his bed, he keeps a Volcano, a German-made vaporizer that resembles a stainless-steel coffeemaker. The Volcano, which costs five hundred dollars, warms dried marijuana, releasing vapor into a plastic bag and leaving behind a toasted brown chaff that smells oddly like popcorn. When Blue uses the Volcano, he inhales the contents of the plastic bag through a bong, which purifies the vapor.

While Blue napped, I wandered around his apartment, and counted nearly a dozen images and carvings of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. The proliferation of Ganesha dates back to a well-publicized federal bust in January, 2007, when the D.E.A. seized the medicine and cash of eleven pot dispensaries in Los Angeles. The only major dispensary that wasn't busted had a Ganesha in its window. Now it is hard to find a karmically inclined ganja dealer in Los Angeles who doesn't own a herd of lucky figurines.

Blue's cell phone rang several times in succession, rousing him. His phone rings, on average, once every two and a half minutes between noon and 2 A.M., and I soon developed a Pavlovian aversion to his ringtone, a swirling, Middle Eastern-inflected electronica tune called "Lebanese Blonde." Blue switches phone numbers every six months or so. Although it is unlikely that the D.E.A. would tap his phone, he told me, it doesn't hurt to take simple precautions, if only to reassure his more paranoid clients.

Blue answered the phone, rubbed his eyes, and began rattling off numbers. "Three hundred fifty? Three-fifty? Three-twenty-five? We could do three-twenty-five," he said, quoting a final price per ounce. Assuming a sitting position on his bed, he punched numbers into a calculator and suggested some designer strains that his patient might enjoy.

"Try Sour Diesel," he told the client. "Take that and the Bubba Kush." In addition to Sour Diesel and Bubba Kush, which are grown indoors, he also had AK Mist, an outdoor strain; Jedi, which is brown and fuzzy; Purple Urkel, whose hue is suggested by its name; O.G. Kush and L.A. Confidential, two particularly potent strains; and Lavender, a fragrant purple grown up North. Modern Kush plants are derived from a strain that is said to have originated in the Hindu Kush mountains, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and, according to stoner lore, was imported to Southern California by some hippie surfers in the seventies, and then popularized in the late nineties by the Los Angeles rap group Cypress Hill. Stronger, better-tasting varieties of pot can sell for more than five thousand dollars per pound, more than double the price of average weed. The premium paid for designer pot creates a big incentive for growers and dealers to name their product for whatever strains happen to be fashionable that year. The variety of buds being sold as Kush has proliferated to the point where even the most catholic-minded botanist would be hard pressed to identify a common plant ancestor.

Only a small percentage of consumer marijuana sales in California occur within the medical-marijuana market. Even so, the dispensaries, by serving as a gold standard for producers and consumers, have fuelled the popularity of high-end strains in much the same way that the popularity of the Whole Foods grocery chain has brought heirloom lettuce to ordinary supermarkets. To serve these sophisticated new consumers, growers in California and elsewhere are producing hundreds of exotic new strains, whose effects are more varied, subtle, and powerful than the street-level pot available to tokers in the nineteen-seventies and eighties.

"Does Terrence have paperwork with him?" Blue asked the customer.
From the living room, I could hear the hum of the Volcano and the
crinkle of the expanding plastic bag. The vapor in the bag was Gush, a robust mixture of Goo--a lighter, giddier high--and Kush.

Blue's business consists mainly of selling a few pounds a week to various dispensaries; occasionally, though, a single outlet will buy five or more pounds at a time. In the course of a month, Blue is typically in debt to half a dozen people, and in turn holds markers for twenty to thirty thousand dollars that he is owed by distributors around town. Because Blue works only with people he trusts, he usually gets his money back, although it can take as long as two or three years for some debtors to make good. Understanding the abstractions of ganja credit and debt is important in the pot business, where financial success is determined largely by the velocity of your cash transactions. A practiced flipper like Blue can make twenty to thirty dollars on an eighth of an ounce of high-grade pot, which retails for anywhere between fifty and seventy-five dollars. Last year, Blue made roughly a hundred thousand dollars, and paid some ten thousand in taxes.

Later in the afternoon, a friend of Blue's, who calls herself Lily, showed up with a duffelbag. She unzipped the bag and placed on Blue's kitchen table three black trash bags filled with ganja. Lily is a courier; she transports pot to Los Angeles from the growing regions upstate. A witchy Japanese-American girl with a dolphin tattoo on her right shoulder, she wore large gold hoop earrings, a Lucite cross necklace, and sunglasses perched on top of her hair. She said that she got into the business because she suffers from chronic back and neck pain from a spinal injury, and found that smoking weed helped her with symptoms such as nausea and a loss of appetite.

Captain Blue encourages the growers he deals with to stay within legal cultivation limits, and makes sure that the dispensaries he joins keep the doctor's recommendations of members on file. The only participants in Blue's transactions whose activities are not strictly covered by prevailing interpretations of state law are couriers, or mules, who usually transport marijuana in airtight containers in the trunk, seats, or tires of a car. Neither Proposition 215 nor Senate Bill 420 spelled out how medical marijuana should be transported from rural growers to urban patients, leaving the mules as the least protected link in the distribution chain. Once the mules reach Los Angeles, they make the rounds of middlemen like Blue, who can legally broker their product to dispensaries where they are members. Mules receive a cut that ranges from five to sixteen per cent of the purchase price.

Being a courier was risky, Lily said, but the pay was good enough to let her not work for half the year. Her methods of transporting the pot from Northern California to Blue's apartment were time-tested and low-tech. You get the largest garbage bags you can find, some food bags, and a vacuum sealer. Then you double- or triple-bag the pot, seal it, pack it in garbage bags, put the bags inside some old newspapers, and stuff the bags into some cheap knapsacks, and then put three knapsacks each into duffelbags, along with a few hockey gloves or soccer balls. Then you pack the duffelbags in the back of the trunk and throw an old blanket over them, and toss on top a few folding chairs, along with some grocery bags full of fresh organic apples, to mask the scent of pot.

Blue, having assessed Lily's stash, made his offer for a portion. "Six thousand," he said.

One day, Blue and I went for a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, in his blue hybrid S.U.V. I watched him make more than a thousand dollars in under an hour, dealing on the phone. "I've got some tasty L.A. Confidential," he told a customer, motioning me to extract a disk of trance music from a pile of stale laundry in the back seat. "It's like O.G. Kush. A pound? I think I can do that." Blue said that he sells pot solely for medical purposes, although he conceded the possibility that some clients might break their purchases down into smaller amounts for the street trade. Asking questions about what buyers intend to do with their pot is not friendly behavior, Blue explained with a smile.

We were headed up to Topanga Canyon, in the mountains near Malibu, to meet a broker who supplies Blue with some of the best weed in the state. I'll call him Guthrie. A lifelong resident of Humboldt County, he funds a number of growing operations, ranging from a large underground bunker to smaller outdoor plots of fewer than a hundred plants. He also uses a fat bankroll to buy product from other producers, which he takes to Los Angeles two or three times a month. The house in Topanga, an old hippie enclave, belonged to a friend who let Guthrie sleep outside in a blue-and-green tent that resembled one of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes. I ducked to avoid a string of Tibetan prayer flags that hung over the entrance.

Guthrie was a lean, healthy-looking, brown-eyed man in his mid-thirties. "We have a list of all the pot growers in Humboldt County," he said, repeating an old Northern joke for my benefit. "It's called the Yellow Pages." He reached beneath a table and handed Blue a large black trash bag. Blue untied the bag and stuck his head inside, as the rich aroma of Purple Kush filled the interior of the tent.

"Mmm," Blue said, inhaling. Purple Kush smells like a mixture of cardamom and cloves, with a darker, earthier undertone of dried peat moss, and an acidic top note evoking freshly ground coffee. The two men agreed on a figure of forty-four hundred dollars a pound; the price had eased somewhat since its peak, in 2005. A large number of new growers entering the market had nudged prices down.

Guthrie's parents had been hippies. Growing up in Humboldt, he and his siblings got used to fleeing their house in the middle of the night when D.E.A. helicopters raided his family's growing patch. Perhaps a quarter of the kids in his class had parents involved in the marijuana trade. "You'd say, 'My dad, he fixes our house a lot,'" Guthrie recalled with a laugh, as he offered me a loaded pipe. By the end of the summer, the family was usually broke. In October, the harvest would come, and the family would sell their crop and have a great Christmas; by the next summer, they'd be back in a jam.

Guthrie stayed out of the family business until he was twenty-seven. Then he obtained a trucker's license and began hauling propane. Since truckers who transport hazardous materials are professional drivers who must go through background checks, the police generally leave them alone once they show their license, whether they are driving a truck or not. Guthrie's trucker's license gave his family a free pass through the "gantlet"--a stretch of Highway 101 between Humboldt and Santa Rosa where state police routinely search cars for pot.

Guthrie said that the quasi-legal status of smaller growing arrangements, combined with consumers' preference for potent, high-maintenance weed, has shifted the balance of the pot business away from large-scale farms. "There's a lot more people doing little scenes," he said. The welter of laws pertaining to medical marijuana in California has offered careful operators like Guthrie the best of both worlds: prosecution for growing and selling has become much less likely, while federal busts and seizures keep prices high. Guthrie sells about ten per cent of his product to dispensaries and collectives. Starting up a sophisticated indoor farming operation costs about three hundred thousand dollars, he said, including the cost of making a building airtight--to lock in the humidity, and to keep passersby from smelling the pot and calling the cops--and fitting it with thousand-watt grow lights.

Guthrie grows his plants in octagons, a hydroponic arrangement that allows producers to maximize the number of plants in a confined space. The cost of a piece of property upstate can run an additional three hundred thousand to one and a half million dollars, he said. After a few years, if you know what you are doing, you can make your investment back, and then you can pay a sharecropper to run your operation and spend your time travelling. Guthrie told Blue that he would soon be heading to Indonesia. "It's amazing over there," he said. The last time he was in Java, he recalled, he stayed in a Muslim village near the beach, and found the people generally relaxed and welcoming, if somewhat hostile to the Western habit of lying in the sun without clothing.

Life was good, he said; the only problem was that too many other people wanted the same life. Most people who moved up North to become pot entrepreneurs fucked it up, he said. Their failures, however, did nothing to diminish the potency of the dream.

One of Captain Blue's regular marijuana customers was a dispensary in Venice Beach. The store, which has cement floors, a glass display case, and a couch the color of aluminum, looks like a cross between a photographer's loft and a Kiehl's boutique. When I last visited, large Mason jars in the display case were filled with designer strains of weed selected by the owner, Cindy 99, whose nickname refers to a variety of designer pot. In a refrigerator, and marked "For medicinal use only," were treats such as marijuana granola and marijuana milk chocolate with crispy wafers. Above the counter hung a notice: "To our valued patients: in accordance with California law, we are required to add 8.25% sales tax."

Cindy 99's employees included a receptionist, a full-time counter girl, a part-time counter girl, and a bonded security guard--a former Green Beret--who is licensed to carry a weapon. Dr. Dean, a local physician, saw aspiring patients at the dispensary once a week. As long as they had a California state I.D., those who received recommendations for marijuana could buy some immediately from the dispensary's stock. Cindy told me that when she opened her shop, in 2007, she needed the same licenses that she would have needed to open a newsstand on the Santa Monica Pier: a commercial lease, a seller's permit, a federal tax I.D. number, and a tobacco license ( for selling rolling papers and pipes ). She estimated that forty per cent of her clients suffer from serious illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy, and M.S. The rest have ailments like anxiety, sleeplessness, A.D.D., and assorted pains.

Like many other dispensary owners I spoke with, Cindy derives particular satisfaction from providing medication to people who suffer from chronic diseases. Although she suspects that there is nothing seriously wrong with many of the young men who come in to buy an eighth of L.A. Confidential, she doesn't regard marijuana as a harmful drug when compared with Xanax, Valium, Prozac, and other pills that are commonly prescribed by physicians to treat vague complaints of anxiety or dysphoria. It was easy to see why the dispensary was so popular with young men: there was good pot, and Cindy 99, who is in her thirties, looks like an adolescent boy's fantasy of his best friend's hot older sister. The day I was there, she wore a tight sleeveless blue T-shirt with a gilt-winged emblem of a flying horse.

The first customer of the day was a Hispanic guy with three tattoos, the biggest one of which read "Angeles del Inferno." He had a doctor's note on file. After a short discussion, Cindy recommended two strains, which cost sixty-five dollars for an eighth. "These two have sativa in them," she said. "They're really good for daytime use." All strains of pot sold in the United States are derived from two varieties of the plant--indica and sativa--which have discernibly different effects on the user. Indica is a heavier, numbing drug; sativa is better for doing creative work or listening to music. Cindy refers to a popular book called "The Big Book of Buds" to determine the precise balance of indica and sativa in the strains she sells. Purple Urkel, Cindy explained, was mostly indica, making it better for alleviating pain. "The percentages are arbitrary, because of all the cross-breeding," Cindy admitted to me. "You take a Blueberry and you cross it with a Kush and you go back into Trainwreck, and how do you get a percentage from that?"

A young white man, barely out of his teens, with lace-up black boots, a nubby backpack, and a goatee, came in and bought an eighth of Trainwreck. He selected a chocolate turtle from the edibles case while gazing shyly at Cindy. "Don't eat it all at once if you have anything to do," she warned him.

Cindy has been in the ganja business for seventeen years, her entire adult life. Both of her parents grow pot. She began selling weed in high school, in British Columbia, where enforcement of anti-marijuana laws was famously lax. One day, a friend asked her if she would help distribute what his mom had grown. Within six weeks, they had doubled their money. "We started bringing it from Canada down to California," she recalled. "And then we moved to snowmobiles and then hollow-panelled speedboats on trailers, and then semis and shadow-planes. A plane would go up in the States and another plane would go up in Canada, and they'd fly around as if they were sightseeing, and you're allowed to switch airspace as long as you don't land. And then they would land in each other's countries looking like each other, same serial number, same everything."

A patio in back of the shop had been set up with a white plastic table with a batik tablecloth and two plastic chairs, in preparation for Dr. Dean's weekly visit. Each prospective patient pays the Doctor a hundred and fifty dollars, in cash, for a diagnostic interview. Dr. Dean's full name is Dr. Dean Hillel Weiss. Forty years old, he is one of a few dozen doctors in Los Angeles who regularly write medical-marijuana recommendations. In the past few years, he said, he had written several thousand such letters, none of which had been successfully challenged in court.

I told Dean that I wanted a doctor's recommendation that would allow me to legally smoke pot. He began a fifteen-minute interview, asking me about my reasons for wanting the drug. "How long have you been under the care of a psychiatrist?" he asked me, writing down the answer on a notepad. I provided him with a bill from my psychiatrist in New York, along with proof that I was currently living in California. He then quizzed me about my brief and unsatisfactory experiences with prescription medications for anxiety and depression, and my history of illegal drug use. Deciding that I was a suitable candidate for a medical marijuana recommendation, Dr. Dean took my money and provided me with a quick tutorial on strains of pot--indica offered a "body high," whereas sativa was "more heady and abstract"--along with a signed letter certifying that I was a patient under his care. The letter was good for a year, after which I could renew it, for a hundred dollars.

So far that day, Dr. Dean had seen seven patients, including a former doorman at a Manhattan night club, a musician working on a Bob Marley tribute album, and a young woman named Cassandra who was in the publishing business and came armed with a purse full of prescription medications for anxiety and depression. The vast majority of his referrals, he said, were by word of mouth. Though he was always careful to observe the letter of California state law, he said, "My personal belief is that marijuana is a useful and relatively harmless substance and that adults should be free to choose whether they want to use it or not."

Dean graduated from Columbia University and SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and began an orthopedics residency in his home town of Detroit before moving to Los Angeles, in 1998, and becoming an emergency-room doctor at Martin Luther King, Jr./Drew Medical Center--known to locals as Killer King. By 2005, he was burned out. One day, a friend invited him over to his house to sample some marijuana that he had obtained from his fiancee's boss, who had a recommendation for pot. "My friend said, 'I've got six strains you've got to try. I've got lollipops, I've got brownies,' " Dr. Dean recalled. "I went over. It was like being in Amsterdam. At the end of the night, he turned to me and said, 'You know, you hate working in the emergency room. Maybe you should look into this.' "

Cassandra, the publishing employee, was interviewed by Dr. Dean after I was. Emerging from the patio, she said, "That was amazing! That was fantastic!" She went over to the display case.

"What's the best in terms of social life, having other people around?" she asked. As Cindy discussed the relative merits of the various sativa strains, Cassandra noticed some small hash pipes in the glass case.

"It's a great little travel device that you can take to the beach," Cindy explained.

"No way! Cool! I love it!" Cassandra said. She bought one.

As Cindy weighed out Cassandra's marijuana purchases, which totalled a hundred and ten dollars, she commiserated with her new customer about the unattractive names of some popular strains. "Cat Piss?" she said. "Dog Shit? If it's going to be legal, the stoners can't still be making up the names."

The Farmacy, which has outlets in West Hollywood, Venice, and Westwood, made Cindy 99's dispensary look like a mom-and-pop operation. Famous for the "Very Open" neon sign in the window of the West Hollywood location, the Farmacy has the carefully art-designed "natural" aesthetic of an Aveda boutique. The reigning concept is that pot is simply another benign medicinal herb, like echinacea or ginkgo biloba. The Farmacy is the brainchild of Michael, an elusive hippie who doesn't give out his last name and whose defiant nature and marketing prowess have made him a celebrity on the medical-marijuana scene. His success has begun to irritate the authorities: the D.E.A. recently forced the Farmacy's landlord to close a fourth outlet, in Santa Monica.

I met Michael one afternoon at the Venice store, a large retail space on Abbot Kinney. In the front of the shop, Asian handicrafts are for sale. Saint-John's-wort and various Chinese herbs are stocked in jars behind the main counter; a forty-two-inch plasma TV screen displays Tao symbols and other karmic imagery. An extensive selection of organic soaps and shampoos is available in the back of the store, near a children's-medicine section. The main sign that the Farmacy is not, in fact, a Body Shop is a large color portrait on the wall of Bob Marley, smiling broadly while toking on a fat spliff.

Customers with a valid doctor's letter may request one of the bamboo-bound menus kept behind the counter, which list available strains of pot, some of them requiring a "donation" of seventy-five dollars per gram. There is also a gelato bar, which offers a variety of flavors laced with marijuana and other herbs.

Michael, a sixty-year-old man with a gray ponytail, was wearing jeans, a faded navy T-shirt, a yellow flannel shirt, and a battered fleece vest. Shifting impatiently from one foot to the other, he read from a poster on the wall stating that words and phrases like "weed," "dope," and "getting stoned" were used to "devalue, disempower, and criminalize people who choose to use medical cannabis." Recently, he noted, characters on "Desperate Housewives" had used the words "medicine" and "medicating" while referring to cannabis consumption. The culture was changing. "We see cannabis as a gateway herb," he said.

Upstairs, he showed me a light-filled waiting room with a grand piano and handcrafted wood chairs and couches. Someday soon, he said, the room would be filled with patients waiting to meet with therapists practicing massage, acupuncture, and other healing arts. Licensed professionals would be available to consult about medication, diet, and exercise. The waiting room was even equipped with children's toys, so that mothers could bring their kids to appointments. As we spoke, he trimmed some long-stemmed flowers that were in a vase on top of the piano. He then sat down and played a passage of Brahms.

Michael had trouble sitting in one place for any length of time, a legacy, in part, of five and a half years he says he spent in San Quentin for various pot-related offenses. ( Spending years in a small, cramped prison cell had made him antsy, he said. ) Michael has been involved in the marijuana business since he was eighteen years old. His first big deal, with an Arab partner, was smuggling into California two hundred pounds of hash from Lebanon. In the early seventies, he attended a pot-legalization rally in Washington, D.C. While in the city, he did some research on cannabis at the Library of Congress. He found a trove of cannabis studies from the early twentieth century; botanists at the time had studied the plant extensively. According to a paper from 1903, the internal clock that tells a marijuana plant whether to flower or not could be turned on or off by varying its exposure to light. By lengthening the "day" to sixteen or eighteen hours, growers could speed up the initial growth of the plants; later in the growing cycle, they could cut back on light exposure, causing female plants to flower. The useless male plants, which produce pollen rather than smokable buds, could then be thrown away.

By speeding up the growing cycle and getting rid of the males, you could produce three or four times the amount of pot indoors. In the winter of 1973, Michael, who was living in Mendocino County, put together a slide show for upstate growers based on what he had learned about manipulating the growing cycle. "Nobody ever grew males again," he boasted.

Michael said that he served two stints in San Quentin. After he was discharged the second time, in 1999, he grew tomatoes for Whole Foods and worked for a seed bank. After the passage of Senate Bill 420, a friend told him about the dispensary scene and loaned him a 1987 BMW. Michael placed an ad in the newspaper saying that he would deliver cannabis right to a customer's door. He opened the first Farmacy in 2005.

I asked Michael if being involved in the dispensary business was a wise choice for a two-time drug offender. "I've got two strikes around my neck, and, yes, I've been anxious," he said. He noted that he had ten children from various wives and girlfriends, all of whom were supported by the income from his stores. He declined to reveal how much money he made.

Michael jumped off the couch and bounded downstairs to take care of some business, leaving me with JoAnna LaForce, who helps run the business side of the Farmacy. A cheerful woman in her fifties, she believes that she is the only pharmacist in the United States who actively participates in a medical-cannabis dispensary. Though doctors are protected under California state law, she explained, pharmacists are not, which means that she is theoretically subject to arrest, although the D.E.A. generally avoids entanglements with medical professionals.

LaForce told me that she had once been married to Michael; they did not have children. "I met him in San Diego in February, 1993, through a mutual friend," she said. "At the time, he was on the lam. We were together for a year before the feds took him away." When he got out of prison, they were together for two more years, and then he went to Mexico, to live on the beach and surf. When Michael decided to open the Farmacy, she was happy to help.

LaForce spent fifteen years working in a hospice with dying patients. "I saw the value of alternative medicine, particularly cannabis, in helping with appetite, pain management, and anxiety," she said. "I found that I could use cannabis to decrease the pain medication, which in turn made patients able to spend their last days talking to their friends, spouses, to share good times." The upcoming pot harvest, she said, was set to be the largest in the state's history, adding, "There is a gold rush going on with cannabis in the state of California."

The dispensary owners of Los Angeles hold a meeting once a month in an anonymous office building in the shadow of Cedars-Sinai hospital. At a recent gathering, a sign on the wall said "Stop Arresting Medical Marijuana Patients." The shades were drawn. There were twenty-five people in attendance, and most of them were either in their mid-twenties or in their mid-forties. A few--such as a muscular man in biker gear and a woman in glittery flip-flops and not much else--looked like refugees from the porn industry.

The meeting began with a "raid update," delivered by Chris Fusco, a young field cooerdinator for Americans for Safe Access. In the past month alone, ten dispensaries had been raided in Los Angeles by the D.E.A. "Raids suck," Fusco said.

"I think things will get worse before they get better," said Don Duncan, the owner of the California Patients Group, a large dispensary that was raided by the D.E.A., and then shut down, in the summer of 2007. He owns another dispensary, the Los Angeles Caregivers and Patients Group, which was raided a few months later but has subsequently reopened, despite the rumored seizure of close to a million dollars in marijuana. ( Duncan puts the figure at thirteen thousand dollars' worth of cannabis-based products. )

Several of the top dispensary owners had recently attended meetings with the city planning department, the city attorney, and the L.A.P.D. The meetings were intended to help draft a set of legal guidelines to govern the conduct of the dispensaries. Despite the dispensary owners' willingness to cooperate with the city, Duncan said, everyone who attended the meetings had either had his dispensary raided by the D.E.A. or received a letter from his landlord asking him to give up his lease, owing to threats from federal authorities that the property would be seized.

"What is the information that the D.E.A. wants from the people they detain in these raids?" a man asked.

"They want to know who is in charge and where the medicine comes from," Duncan answered. "They want growers." Patient records were untouched. "They left all the concentrates," he added, describing the aftermath of the raid on the Los Angeles Caregivers and Patients Group. "That's how we reopened the vapor bar."

"Did they take computers?" another person asked.

"They planted some tracking software that records user names and passwords which was transmitting to an I.P. address in Virginia," Duncan said. "Our computer guy found it right away."

After the meeting, I paid a visit to Allison Margolin, who calls herself "L.A.'s dopest attorney." Her trade is a sort of family business--her father, the lawyer Bruce Margolin, is the author of the Margolin Guide, which enumerates the legal penalties for the sale and possession of pot in each of the fifty states. She works in a black-glass office tower on Wilshire Boulevard owned by Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler. On the walls in her office, a Harvard Law School degree is juxtaposed with a pictorial layout from the magazine Skunk, featuring her in a low-cut leopard-print dress. Margolin's sexpot image is an advantage with clients, who, more often than not, are socially isolated men. Margolin has a reputation for getting cases dismissed, and for retrieving marijuana plants that have been seized by the police.

"The truth is, it's very rare to get plants back," Margolin said. Her long auburn hair was in a tidy French bun, but a few strands had been allowed to slip loose. Like many of her clients, she adopted a tone of adolescent vulnerability and outraged innocence when talking about the mean grownups who don't like pot. "People are talking about how it's being over-recommended and abused," she said. "I mean, big fucking deal. It's not toxic!" I asked her if she had a doctor's letter, and she nodded vigorously, explaining that she suffers from an anxiety disorder.

She said that courts are sometimes sympathetic to her arguments about the relative safety of pot, but most judges and prosecutors seem to have only a glancing acquaintance with the case law since the passage of Proposition 215. "I've gone to court, like, several times where the judge has read only the first half of the case, which talks about how dispensaries are not legal according to Proposition 215," she said. "I think it's just intellectual and physical laziness."

A patient whose plants Margolin had recovered, Matt Farrell--known in the community as Medical Matt--stopped by for some counsel. Medical Matt was hardly an advertisement for the curative wonders of medical marijuana, or for the idea that all medical-marijuana patients are enjoying themselves by gaming the system. His cheeks and chin were covered in a three-day growth of dark stubble, and his red-rimmed eyes got wet as he spoke.

"I've always suffered from mental problems," Farrell said, reciting a long list of prescription drugs that he had taken, including Paxil, Wellbutrin, Risperdal, and Prozac. He had obtained his first doctor's letter for pot in late 2001 or early 2002--his memory wasn't clear. He began growing pot to support his habit, which costs him between sixty and a hundred dollars a day.

In December, 2005, he said, police officers ransacked his house--seizing about a hundred and twenty plants and nine grow lights--even though he showed his doctor's letter, and contended that the plants were for his own use and the use of the members of the collective to which he belonged. He was accused of unlawfully cultivating marijuana; the charge was dismissed in 2006. The police came back to his house in 2007, he said, once again trashing the premises and charging him with the unlawful cultivation of marijuana and the possession of marijuana for sale. They froze his bank account, which, he said, destroyed his credit rating. The second case against him is still pending.

Although the police behavior he described may seem excessive, it is usually forgiven by judges who try to balance the competing demands of state and federal law. By routinely looking the other way when law-enforcement officers make "mistakes," the courts have allowed police departments that don't like current state law to work around it, and put pressure on people like Farrell.

In the wake of the seizures and the property damage, Farrell said, he was borrowing money from his parents, and his house was going into foreclosure. "It's either a joke or I'm delirious," he said, starting to cry. "I mean, I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I sure as hell can read something pretty simple and understand it. If the state, county, city council, and everybody else is saying you can, how the hell does the L.A.P.D. come in to say you can't?" Spokesmen and officers of the D.E.A. and the L.A.P.D. told me, off the record, that the federal laws regulating the possession and distribution of marijuana took precedence over the laws of the State of California, and that, until federal law changed, the D.E.A. and the L.A.P.D. would continue to work together in their fight against the drug trade.

Sitting beneath a willow tree on a breezy day in Sonoma County, you can see why the idea of leaving the city behind and growing your own weed exerts such a pull on the holistic health nuts, masseurs, d.j.s, art-school dropouts, and New Age types who populate the medical-marijuana scene in Los Angeles. Farming a crop of twenty-five or thirty plants of killer weed is an updated ( and highly profitable ) version of the age-old California dream of an orange tree in every back yard. For those who can't afford to pay for a prime plot of land in Humboldt, there is the possibility of renting a small split-level house in Sonoma or Mendocino and converting the master bedroom into a grow room, where you can turn around an indoor crop every sixty days.

Captain Blue and I took a five-day excursion to the growing fields up North. Our guide was an old friend of his, a woman who called herself the Kid. She had been minding a grow house in Sonoma since being laid up with a half-dozen broken ribs after a bad motorcycle accident. The Kid had large eyes, a big nose, and long hair, and a squat, powerful body covered in black-ink tattoos, which ran across her chest and arms and up the back of her neck. "There's a lot of women in the bud scene that are just looking to be with some guy that has some property and some plants, so that they can sit on their ass and do nothing," she said, as we sat outside on her porch and watched horses graze. "There is a large percentage of really fabulous beauties. And then there's the hard, serious worker girls that dig holes all day."

Blue wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his loose plaid shirt. He wasn't used to being outside. He asked for a glass of water and drank it in a single gulp. Then he wrapped his arms around his friend and gave her a hug, taking care not to put pressure on her ribs. They made for a weird, medieval-looking couple; both had long hair, round bodies, and shoulders strong enough to chop wood. Both had spent years smoking pot and consuming staggering quantities of mushrooms, cactus powders, LSD, and other mind-altering substances.

The Kid made her bed by the picture window in the living room, next to a plaster Buddha and a shelf of books about plants, including "Marijuana Horticulture," by Jorge Cervantes. The dining room was occupied by a pool table. If you are selling your own product, she explained, you can clear as much as seventy-five thousand dollars, after expenses, on a duffelbag filled with thirty pounds of pot. The easiest way to make this kind of small indoor scene work is to live in someone else's house and nurture the plants in exchange for a third or half the profits, and that is how the Kid would be spending her time for the next two months.

The Kid's plants, all Sour Diesels, were being raised on a mixture of nutrients which changed every three to five days, in accordance with a detailed regimen that had been laid out, in black Magic Marker, in a battered spiral-bound notebook. The notebook had been bequeathed to the Kid by a longtime friend. The cost of the nutrients was approximately six hundred dollars a week.

We entered the darkened bedroom, and were confronted by the fetid smell of plant life. Without the ventilation system that the Kid had installed, the temperature would have been about a hundred and ten degrees in the dark, largely from the stored-up heat of the lights--seven of them, a thousand watts each. There was a tank of carbon dioxide in the corner. "The more CO2, the thicker the bud," the Kid explained.

It was a relatively small operation: the lights and their installation had cost about fifteen thousand dollars, and power and nutrients had cost an additional twelve thousand or so. The array of nutrients along the walls included specialized growing products such as Bud Blood ( "promotes larger, heavier & denser flowers and fruit" ) and Rizotonic ( a powerful root stimulant ). "Voodoo Juice is going to go in here, and Scorpion, and it goes on and on," the Kid said. Every three or four days, she ran purified water through her hydroponic growing medium for a full day, in order to give the plants a break. After the full, eight-week growth cycle, the Kid planned to harvest her crop and clear out.

Up North, the marijuana harvest is known as "trimming season." In Humboldt and Mendocino, she said, October is a month-long sleepover, with all the free ganja, beer, and organic food you want. A really good trimmer can trim two pounds of pot a day, at a rate of two hundred and fifty dollars per pound, while sitting around a table with three or four friends. Kids from San Francisco or even Australia hear about the harvest from friends of friends and show up for the pot and the cash. The D.E.A. routinely busts a few big scenes each year, and the local police have been known to stop cars and check the passengers for telltale scratches on their arms or sticky resin under their fingernails.

None of this intimidated the Kid. "It's a fucking blast," she said. "This is crop No. 6 for me this year." After a month of being cooped up, she was eager to get on the road. I agreed to drive, because her license had been suspended since the motorcycle accident. Along the way, she recounted a transformative experience that she had had at the age of nineteen with the psychedelic drug DMT. While tripping, she had a vision of herself lying down on a forest floor. She heard a growling sound and saw a twenty-foot-tall woman guarded by a gigantic dog. "She was enormous, and definitely not attractive, and I recognized the look in her eye," the Kid remembered. "I said, 'Oh, my God, that's me.' And she said, 'Yep, I am you. But I'm very old. My energy is very big.' I was kind of in shock, but I didn't feel threatened." The old woman explained that the Kid didn't need to worry about death anymore. There was no such thing as death, in fact. Energy returned to its source and then took another form.

The Kid fell silent for a moment. "I only saw her that one time," she said. Afterward, she recalled, she felt a bit woozy, and a friend sat her in front of the television and let her watch cartoons.

The Kid, Blue, and I arrived in Arcata, a small, well-kept Northern town, around dusk. After dinner, we drove to a farm owned by a couple whom I'll call Nick and Danielle. Nick, who had long brown hair and Mediterranean features, and Danielle, a yoga-toned blonde, had both worked as massage therapists in Malibu. One day, a massage client of Nick's asked him about dispensaries, and he took her to one. "She saw people spending two thousand dollars at the counter," Nick said, with a laugh. "She said, 'What kind of business is this?' " Her next reaction was to suggest that Nick and Danielle could run a dispensary, and that she could front them the fifty thousand dollars they would need to get started. They soon opened one, and, after the business took off, they bought the property up North.

Nick and Danielle's farm was at the end of a long, well-protected valley surrounded by high mountains. The turnoff was a dirt path barred by a classic old wooden ranch gate featuring the longest string of Tibetan prayer flags I saw during my stay in California.

Arriving at the house, we dumped our bags on a wooden deck. Nick, who was dressed in jeans and a sweaty T-shirt, showed us around the property. He was already a skilled grower: last year, he told me, he won second place in the Los Angeles Cannabis Cup, an annual competition, for a particularly potent strain of marijuana that he had grown from seeds he ordered through the mail from Amsterdam. But he did not consider pot his life's calling. He spoke of one day starting up a healing center on Mt. Shasta, where people could clean out their systems and go hiking.

The property lacked sufficient water for pot growing, Nick said, but their neighbor up the mountain helped them out. "He's a great bro," he said. "Every few days, he drops two thousand gallons down a pipe." In exchange, Nick paid the neighbor a minimal fee. "He's an older guy, he's been up here for forty years. He knows how hard it can be when you first move somewhere." Nick had about three hundred plants in the ground on a hill behind his house. On another plot of land, a few hills over, he had two hundred and fifty plants, as insurance against a targeted raid on his property.

A perfect half-moon was shining brightly in the twilight. The North Star was already visible. Nick, Danielle, and some friends had gathered in the living room, whose focal point was a large homemade altar, for meditation, surrounded by burning tea candles. At the kitchen table, a friend of Nick's, Charlie, packed a large water pipe with the smoke of the day. Next to Charlie was Nick's friend Dylan Fenster, from Venice, who was spending a few months up North to help with the harvest. He said that he smoked marijuana primarily to deal with the pain from a degenerative spinal condition; he carried his doctor's letter in his back pocket. "Twice in the last six months, I've been cited for smoking in public," he told me. "Both times I got the weed back, and both times the judge admonished the cops, 'You know, this is legal.' "

On the fridge, someone had posted a handwritten sign with the motto "Today is the day we manifest heaven on earth and godly bliss." Water pipes were passed around, and everyone got high. After four hits on Nick's bong, the slogans on the refrigerator started to vibrate with uncommon significance. I looked over at Blue and saw that he was dozing off again, this time with a homemade bong resting on his chest.

"I always wanted to heal the world or find the cure for cancer," Nick told me, with a faith-healer stare. "I have massaged over ten thousand people, and I hope to massage ten thousand more, and to heal the world with good medicine that I can grow here and provide on a compassionate basis to the people who need it."

Danielle started talking with the Kid about her wedding. "It was three days," she said. The wedding was held in a clearing in a forest, and a cigar box was passed around containing two hundred hand-rolled joints of Kush.

I headed out to a swinging bench on the porch and gazed intently at dozens of bright stars, and thousands of lesser stars. Nick came outside and offered another hit. "I love it here," he said. "I love the earth and the sounds and the smells and the sounds at night." The farm's location at the tip of the valley was particularly sweet. "There are no cars driving by and no planes flying over and no sirens going off or any kind of negative frequencies," he said. "It almost feels like it must have felt for the original pioneers who were first exploring California."

Every morning, Nick said, he woke up at seven, had a smoothie, and got in tune with nature. "Then I'll head out to the garden and I'll do some watering," Nick continued. "Depending on the day of the week, I'll maybe feed the plants, check in with them. Double-check for damage from the deer and whatever else has been creeping in through the cracks. Make sure the praying mantises are on duty." Growing marijuana outdoors, he felt, emphasized the holistic qualities of the plant rather than its psychotropic function. Someday, he said, he wanted to plant cherry trees, and peaches, plums, and apricots.

Nick said that he hoped to have kids, and he liked the idea of raising children on a farm. When I asked him whether he worried about the atmosphere of danger and illegality that came with operating a gray-area business, he shook his head. "I really feel like my karma's good," he said. "I'm not doing anything wrong." He owned the dispensary for which his crop was intended. He had never been arrested or done time in jail. "We've got a good lawyer, and we pay state sales tax," he said.

Nick's income from the dispensary last year, he said, was only around fifty thousand dollars. "That's what I make for all the scary shit I do," he said, looking up at the constellations. "I'm not making millions of dollars. I'm a hardworking, compassionate person, and I spend my time helping people. It makes me feel happy to bring smiles to the faces of people that have frequented my collective."

The next morning, I woke up on the floor of Nick and Danielle's living room, a ceiling fan whirring stale air above my head. There were three other people asleep in the room. As my head cleared, I perused a nearby bookshelf, which contained various speculative and esoteric texts, including "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth," "Secrets of Shamanism," and "Crop Circles: Signs of Contact."

I wandered outside. Behind the building were two long greenhouses made of translucent plastic sheeting supported by bent steel ribs, which sheltered smaller plants until they were ready to be put in the ground. I ran into Nick, who was already at work, and he led me on a tour of the slopes at the back of his property. "I planted these at the end of May," he said. "They're three months old." Outdoors, the sativa growth cycle is eleven weeks; the indica cycle is seven to nine. Toward the end of the cycle, the flowering plant loses its lush green leaves and manifests a shrivelled brown bud. "This is Afghooey crossed with Maui Wowie," Nick said, pointing to a six-foot plant with half its leaves missing. So far, he said with equanimity, he had lost about a quarter of his crop--more than a hundred thousand dollars' worth--to nibbling deer.

The three hundred or so plants on this part of the mountain were arranged in a V shape. The arms of the V ascended the mountain and spread out beneath the shelter of the surrounding forest. Nick admitted that the plants were not particularly well hidden, and said that the planting formation was mainly a respectful tip of the hat to the D.E.A. planes that flew over the valley. "They appreciate it when you're not growing it in rows, like a cornfield," he explained. Small planes had been buzzing overhead lately. Last night, one of Nick's visiting friends had reported that a helicopter had canvassed the property and shone a light down onto the front porch. The friend admitted to having been stoned when he saw the searchlight.

Virtually everyone in the valley made a living from growing pot, Nick said. The signs of their activity were hard to miss. To illustrate his point, he indicated to the top of a mountain across the way. "It's quite expensive to put electrical poles up a mountain," he said. As I followed his gaze, I caught sight of what looked like a sail. "You're looking at greenhouses," he explained.

With so much pot on the market in California, it paid to differentiate your crop. Later that day, Nick and Danielle's investor from Malibu arrived with a lawyer, who was there to inspect the farm's organic-farming methods. If the farm passed, the pot would be certified as an organic product. The lawyer was a tall, fit-looking middle-aged man from San Francisco who wore a gray suit and a white starched shirt with no tie. He declined to be interviewed about his business.

Captain Blue spent the day outside, roaming the property and taking photographs with a digital S.L.R. camera. He took pictures of Nick's friends working the pot fields and tending to the mature mother plants. And he took closeups of the enormous brown buds on a fifteen-foot-high pot plant. The physical exertion was hard for Blue. Beads of sweat collected on his forehead, and his shirt was soon soaking wet.

Blue handed me his camera, and I clicked through his photographs. I had told Blue many times that if he were slightly more motivated he could probably have a career as a photographer. My motherly attempts to lure Blue away from a life centered on pot had created a certain degree of tension in our friendship, even though he claimed not to mind. The truth was that Blue's life had never been better. He was making money. People depended on him. He was a respected member of his community. He treated the people in his life--growers, suppliers, patients, customers--in a considerate fashion. He had even figured out a way to keep his marijuana business within the letter of California state law.

But it is hard to argue that what Blue does for a living is the kind of activity that California's medical-marijuana laws were designed to protect. Though he is not a dangerous criminal, he is not exactly a hospice worker, either. He is a gray-area entrepreneur, working the seams of a hidden economy, populated by tens of thousands of people whose lives and minds and bank accounts it has altered forever, even as the rest of the country is only beginning to realize that it exists.

After leaving Nick's farm, Blue, the Kid, and I stopped at a diner in Redway to get a slice of blackberry pie. While we ate, I watched a long-haired teen-ager guide her stoned father to their car. His hair was gray, and longer than hers, and when he stepped off the curb and started to amble toward a black BMW she grabbed his arm. "Dad, this is not your car," she said sweetly. "Your car is over there."

Humboldt's economy is so heavily dependent on cannabis cultivation that you can drive for miles on well-kept highways and back roads without discovering a single legitimate source of income, aside from honey stands. Heading north, we eventually entered a maze of logging roads on a private reserve. A bunch of hippies grew pot in the forest, and the local cops stayed away.

Our destination was a house occupied by a woman who identified herself as Emily. A wiry marijuana sharecropper who also works as an environmental activist, she was busy watering her plants. There were twenty-five plants in all, surrounded by a fence on which hung a laminated patient's letter, signed by Ken Miller, M.D., stating that the marijuana was intended for medical purposes. Because marijuana is a fungible commodity, like soybeans or rice, there is no way to tell the difference between marijuana that winds up going to patients and marijuana that winds up on the street. The doctor's letter was, therefore, halfway between a legal document and a good-luck charm. Tibetan prayer flags fluttered along the length of the fence.

Emily was thin, with curly hair, and had a solitary, independent air; she'd been living alone for five months. She wore a gray T-shirt advertising a club called the Boom-Boom Room, in Cambodia. Her hands were covered with homemade tattoos of the kind that skater kids draw on each other.

The Kid and Emily were old friends, and they quickly launched into the technical details of Emily's growing regimen. "It's a three-day flip with Penetrator and a carbo load," Emily said, and then I lost them.

After Emily finished her watering, we hiked over the mountain to a patch of twenty plants, where she went through the same routine. We sat on a couch that someone had carried up the mountain, and looked down on the verdant valley below as Emily described her growing arrangements. The house where we first met was owned by a man in his fifties, Emily said, who lived on the peak of the next mountain over. In addition to the two parcels of land that Emily tended, her host had half a dozen other plots in and around the reserve, which were worked by other sharecroppers. By taking care to stay under the local limit of ninety-nine plants on each of his properties, Emily's host had averted most of the risk inherent in his profession while enjoying an income large enough to finance a laid-back life of self-exploration. He also donated considerable funds to environmentally friendly social-action projects in Central America and South America.

Emily had come to Humboldt ten years ago as a young activist, working to save old-growth redwoods. She first encountered marijuana plants after she picked some edible mushrooms on a friend's land, cooked them up in marijuana-laced butter, and ate a good meal with some wine. That evening, her friend went outside briefly and returned with three huge plants over his shoulder. He taught Emily and some other activists how to trim the plants, separating the buds from the leaves over a framed screen with a sheet of glass underneath, to catch loose trichomes.

Emily decided to stay in the mountains. She loved the odd mixture of people who lived in a place with no apparent cash economy: the old lesbian couples who made jam and grew pot, the acupuncturists with connections to the San Francisco drag-queen scene, the old hippie ladies whose grower husbands had left them years ago and who toughed it out on the land they got in the divorce. Gazing at the setting sun, Emily said, "I think a lot of those people were drawn up here for intuitive reasons--soul reasons, or whatever." The problem with growing pot back then, she said, was that it was illegal, and that changed you. "You had to carry a gun and be scared of people, and you lost track of the reason you came up here."

Before the legalization of medical marijuana, she said, the wholesale price of good weed was forty-eight hundred dollars a pound. Now it was between twenty-two and twenty-six hundred. That was still profitable, though, and there were fewer stories in the newspapers about people being bound and gagged by cash-hungry gangsters.

The one thing that hadn't changed was the Humboldt Slide. "You start at this really great percentage, and you're buddy-buddy and everything's great," Emily said. As the harvest approaches, growers inevitably begin to run out of money and get greedy, and the sharecroppers lose whatever leverage they had earlier in the growing cycle, when their daily attention was necessary for the young plants to survive. Emily's wage the previous year was initially set at a third of the value of the plants that she harvested. Later, her boss "slid" her percentage to a sixth, meaning that she owned only a dozen of the eighty plants that she grew that season. Emily's philosophical approach to her losses is psychologically necessary for surviving in a gray-area business, where there are no signed contracts and recourse to the police or the courts is impossible, even in Humboldt. ( "Officer, this man had me growing marijuana on his land for five months, and now he's only giving me twelve plants!" )

Providing that the weather and the authorities cooperated, Emily expected to end up with approximately twenty pounds of pot. She would dispose of it in whatever manner brought her the most money; she thought it could fetch as much as fifty thousand dollars.

"There's a bunny!" she cried out as a tiny brown rabbit scampered through her marijuana plants. "Oh, he's cute!" Being around plants made her happy, she said. She'd be even more excited to grow something else, if it paid decently. Growing pot required a careful rhythm between periods of benign neglect and periods of close, loving attention. She noted that all her marijuana plants were females. "They're ladies, right?" she joked. "So how do ladies like to be treated? They like to be given lots of attention and then left the fuck alone for a few days to revel in it. If you hang on to them all the time, they're not going to do anything for you."

That morning, Emily said, she had spent four hours on eight plants, plucking the thickest leaves in order to channel more energy to the buds. She had fertilized the soil with a mixture of bat and seabird guano. ( Humboldt supermarkets sell the blend for nineteen dollars a gallon. ) Her arms had become dark and sinewy from her labor.

Back at Emily's borrowed house, we got high on her private stash and settled in for the night. The living room was decorated with save-the-rain-forest posters and a fake-leather gray couch. On the table was a boom box, a Mason jar of marijuana, and a Mac PowerBook. There was no television set; the radio was tuned to NPR. Emily was reading William Morris and working on a half-finished jigsaw puzzle of a Brazil nut, which she had bought at the thrift store for a dollar. Puzzles were popular during growing season, she said. That's what being a grower in Humboldt County is like, she said. You do jigsaw puzzles at night, get high, and shit in the woods.

For Emily, that was enough. "It's fuuun! It's super-fun," she said the next morning, lazily sunning herself on top of the mountain and smoking a spliff. "We're gonna smoke it to the Man, you know?" Twenty years ago, people like Emily would have been too soft for the pot business in Humboldt County. The statewide legalization of medical marijuana has allowed for the illusion that farming pot can provide opportunities for travel and cool art projects and personal growth without any corresponding commitment to the perils of a life of crime. Medical marijuana has made it easy for people like Emily, the Kid, and Captain Blue to see growing pot as a casual life-style choice. By going into the pot business, Emily had made the kind of compromise with reality that idealistic people often make when they get older and lose faith in their ability to effect wholesale change, and when they need the money.

Growing ganja lets you feel that you're still living on the edge, especially when you've become a little complacent politically. Emily nodded, and took another puff. "The forest is still getting cut down or whatever," she said, watching the fragrant smoke swirl in the breeze. "But you're still working out here. You're still subverting the Man. And you're getting people high."

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n705/a03.html
Newshawk: California NORML http://www.canorml.org/
Votes: 2
Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jul 2008
Source: New Yorker, The (US)
Copyright: 2008 Conde Nast Publications Inc.
Contact: http://www.newyorker.com/contact/letterToEditor
Website: http://www.newyorker.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/847
Author: David Samuels
Audio: The California Dream. In this issue of the magazine, David Samuels writes about medical marijuana and its effect on California's pot industry overall. Here Samuels describes how marijuana is grown and sold, and how he went about reporting the story. http://drugsense.org/url/nCG2TaGZ
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
A Reporter at Large

Pot smell isn't cause to arrest everyone in a car Police need more evidence, state high court says

2008-07-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

By LEVI PULKKINEN
P-I REPORTER

Supporters of marijuana decriminalization celebrated Thursday's decision by
the state Supreme Court restricting police from arresting passengers simply
for being in a car smelling of pot.

Justices were unanimous in the decision to overturn a 29-year-old precedent
allowing officers to search or arrest passengers after smelling marijuana
near a car. They found that simply being in a car smelling of marijuana
isn't enough to outweigh the state constitution's robust privacy
protections.

Advocates for drug-law reform cheered the ruling as a long overdue step in
the right direction.

"As a general statement, it's a step back from the direction that our
government has been going as we're veering into a sort of surveillance
society," said Alison Holcomb of the American Civil Liberties Union's
Washington chapter. "It strikes me as refreshing that the court has
reaffirmed the values that our constitution calls for."

The court's decision will not bar authorities from searching a car because
it smells of drugs, the court said. But justices indicated that a drug smell
might be stronger evidence supporting arrest if there were only one person
in a vehicle.

When it comes to passengers, though, the scent of pot alone doesn't give
probable cause to arrest everyone in the car. Officers need additional
evidence that each individual broke the law.

"Our cases have strongly and rightfully protected our constitution's
protection of individual privacy," Justice Charles Johnson wrote for the
court. "The protections ... do not fade away or disappear within the
confines of an automobile."

The case before the court centered on a 2006 traffic stop in Skagit County.
A state trooper arrested both driver Lacee Hurley and passenger Jeremy
Grande after smelling marijuana coming from the car.

The trooper searched both of them, discovering a pipe and small amount of
pot on Grande. Grande and Hurley were both charged with drug crimes.

In a pretrial hearing for Grande, the district judge found there was not
specific probable cause to justify his arrest, and suppressed the evidence.
But the Skagit County Superior Court overturned that ruling, pointing to a
1979 appellate ruling that said the smell of pot coming from a car was
probable cause to arrest the passengers and driver.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court said subsequent federal case law has
wiped away the legal footing of that 1979 decision.

Grande's attorney, David Zuckerman, said it was "unfortunate" that the
previous state case law on drug-smell arrests stayed on the books for so
long, particularly since the Supreme Court unanimously rejected its legal
reasoning.

"I think it's led to an awful lot of innocent people getting handcuffed by
the side of the road just because they happened to be in a car that smells
of marijuana," Zuckerman said.

Longtime Seattle pot rights supporter Vivian McPeak said the ruling should
help keep innocent individuals from being convicted of drug crimes.

McPeak, founder of Seattle's Hempfest celebration, said it's not uncommon
for people to face jail, the loss of property and the stigma of a criminal
conviction because they were in a car with a marijuana smoker.

"A lot of people have gone down because of these vehicle offenses," he said.
"Being in a car used to be one of those wrong-place, wrong-time kind of
situations."

The decision will also protect friends of medical marijuana users from
unlawful search, McPeak said.

In Grande's case, the Supreme Court ruled the trooper had probable cause to
search the car for more evidence of drug possession. But arresting both
people in the car before doing so was wrong, the court said.

That distinction raises the evidentiary bar for officers, said Holcomb,
director of the ACLU of Washington-sponsored Marijuana Education Project.

Officers will now be required to continue investigating before arresting or
searching passengers, Holcomb said. The court has required that officers
show evidence that each individual is involved in the crime -- simple
association is no longer enough.

"This is a reminder that the Constitution requires more," she said. "It's
not enough to assume that they could be involved in criminal activity."

Law enforcement officials said Thursday's ruling should have a minimal
effect on day-to-day policing in the state.

"This is just going to require a little more investigation on the part of
our officers on the street, to develop some additional probable cause," said
Don Pierce, director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police
Chiefs.

Holcomb disagreed, saying that a number of drug prosecutions have been on
hold as attorneys waited to hear the outcome of the Grande case.

McPeak said he believes Thursday's decision by the elected justices shows
that the political climate with regard to marijuana is changing, at least in
Washington. He said such a decision would have been seen as too politically
risky even a few years ago.

"We all know everything eventually comes down to politics," McPeak said. "I
think that politically there's an environment with more discretion to make
decisions like this than there was 10 years ago."

This report includes information from The Associated Press. P-I reporter
Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com
.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/371288_potsmell18.html

MARIJUANA'S TANGLED ROOTS RUN THROUGH SOCIET

2008-07-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Fireworks glowed in the sky on a beautiful Fourth of July weekend evening at a gathering of friends in the hills and valleys of the Driftless Region.

People sat in lawn chairs talking. Some drank beer or mixed drinks -- some water or soda. There was plenty of food. Children played and roasted marshmallows.

On occasion, a small group of adults, young and old, would move away from others at the campfire and stand in a circle under a tree. A marijuana joint was lit, passed from person-to-person and finished. Then the people went back to the party.

Marijuana Taboo

Marijuana has been an illegal drug in the United States since the "1937 Marihuana Tax Act" was passed, which made possession or transfer of it illegal. In Wisconsin, there are numerous criminal repercussions for anything from simple possession of marijuana to its distribution.

The recent arrest of a Viroqua man on a charge of manufacturing marijuana has led to public discussion regarding the legal status of marijuana. While not commenting on that case, opinions vary widely on how marijuana should be treated in society.

The criminal status, judicial ramifications and social stigma attached to marijuana have been molded over nearly a century of battles between different interests. Although the United States has spent billions of dollars to eradicate marijuana, it is just about as easy to obtain today as it was when President Ronald Reagan launched America's "War on Drugs" in 1982.

An annual study done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the federal government in 2007 found that 31 percent of high school seniors surveyed said they had smoked marijuana. The study has shown that marijuana use is falling, but still, about 80 million Americans have smoked marijuana.

What is Marijuana?

Marijuana, known in slang simply as "pot" or "weed," is a psychoactive product of the plant Cannabis sativa.

The herbal form of the drug consists of dried mature flowers, or "buds," and leaves of female plants.

Marijuana can be smoked or ingested in food or drink. Upon using marijuana, people experience distorted perception/vision, euphoric feelings and other effects. Marijuana use is often called "getting high" or "getting stoned." The University of Massachusetts describes marijuana's peak effect lasting the first two hours of use and fading after about four hours.

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) is the most psychoactive property. THC is found in the plant's resin.

Historic records dating back as to 2737 BC show marijuana was used by people for a number of reasons, according to the 2008 Columbia University Encyclopedia.

Marijuana in Vernon County

In the 1940s and 1950s, there was a field of hemp virtually around every country corner in Vernon County.

Wisconsin farmers were encouraged to grow fields of hemp during World War II to provide raw materials for rope. The practice was promoted by the United States government, which had a movie made titled "Hemp for Victory."

Some of these fields still exist.

"Every once in a while we come across a large field of wild hemp," Vernon County UW-Extension Agent Tim Rehbein said. "It's commonly referred to as 'ditch weed' and it's very low in THC."

In fact, just 15 years ago, the idea of growing hemp in Vernon County was briefly considered as an alternate crop to tobacco. Rehbein said the idea was short-lived as the federal government wouldn't change industrial hemp's definition, keeping it classified the same way as high-yield marijuana, which is a Schedule 1 drug, similar to that of LSD and heroin, according to the Controlled Substances Act.

"The difference is you have to look at industrial hemp as being similar to non-alcoholic beer to the user," Rehbein said. "The THC content is so low in industrial hemp that you can't consume enough of it to get 'high.' It would be like trying to drink non-alcoholic beer, which has just a trace of alcohol, to get intoxicated."

Rehbein said those growing illegal marijuana do not want to grow it near wild hemp, because cross-pollination leads to lower yields of THC.

Vernon County's ridges and valleys provide an almost ideal landscape for growing illegal marijuana, Vernon County Sheriff Gene Cary said.

"Our terrain -- woods, large agricultural operations -- all give someone the ability to grow marijuana easier than if they lived in a more populated area," Cary said. "We have a lot of public area, such as the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and county parks. In the past, people used to grow marijuana in these areas because there was no property owner and no person to trace the marijuana back to."

However, as times changed, so has the manufacture of marijuana and its distribution. Cary said more indoor marijuana growing operations exist than ever before and his department has uncovered some of the most elaborate in the state.

"We've had a lot of seizures of marijuana, have confiscated thousands and thousands of dollars in cash and have confiscated hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and vehicles all related to the drug trade," Cary said. "Today we don't have so many people growing it, but we have people, who know some people, who know some people, from who they can get their nickel or dime bag of marijuana."

Marijuana and Law Enforcement

A car with six people in it was pulled over in Viroqua last Thursday night by an officer of the Viroqua Police Department.

The department's drug-search dog, or K-9 officer, "Lil' Bud," searched the car and indicated the vehicle contained drugs. A further search led an officer to uncover approximately 15 grams, or more than 1/2 ounce, of marijuana.

Viroqua Police Chief Mark Rahr said his department averages about one marijuana arrest per week on any of a litany of charges from possession of marijuana paraphernalia to distribution of marijuana. He said that "Lil' Bud's" presence on the force in the last year has led to an increase in marijuana arrests.

Most of the charges are citations for possession of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia.

"We know there's marijuana use in the community," Rahr said. "It's out there. We have arrested people for driving while intoxicated, tested their blood, and found they were under the influence of THC. Impaired driving is a problem."

Both Rahr and Cary said that it's rare when any suspect openly says that they're under the influence of a drug.

"I can't think of one time when we've had someone definitively say,'Yes, I was high on marijuana when I committed that crime,'" Rahr said.

However, both have seen circumstances when marijuana use has been a factor in crimes. Cary said the Vernon County Jail houses inmates from other counties who were caught in the drug trade dealing or distributing drugs from Chicago to Minneapolis. He said drug use was a factor in getting them incarcerated. Rahr said his department has arrested people under the influence of marijuana during drug-related offenses. He also believes marijuana use may have been a factor in violent crimes, such as armed robbery.

Cary said he's seen many changes in marijuana culture.

In the late 1960s, there was a tremendous surge in the use of the marijuana and it was used more openly. In the next two decades, use became more private, but more of it was planted in public places and distributed locally for sale. In the 1990s to today, supply has become an "underground" operation and sophisticated.

"I don't know if there's been a peak of marijuana use in my career," Cary said. "What we've seen is there has been an increase in the amount of arrests for other drugs, such as cocaine and Ecstasy, which we didn't have before.

Marijuana is a gateway to finding harder drugs, Cary said.

"Everybody who smokes marijuana feels comfortable around other people who smoke dope," Cary said. "They talk to each other and it's a way to get them in touch with getting other drugs."

Cary and Rahr both said it's not their job to debate the legality of marijuana.

"We enforce the law and marijuana is illegal, so we're going to arrest people who grow it and use it," Cary said. "...And as long as the state of Wisconsin says it's that way, that's the way it's going to be."

Cary said that one of the most difficult issues law officers encounter when dealing with enforcing marijuana laws is that people don't consider it harmful.

"What's frustrating is that kids hear there's nothing wrong with smoking marijuana," Cary said. "There is something wrong with smoking marijuana. It's illegal."

Marijuana and the Judicial System

The price of scrap metal is currently at a historic high level. Vernon County District Attorney Tim Gaskell said he's dealing with more theft and burglary cases regarding scrap metal than ever before in his six years as a prosecutor.

"Marijuana specifically plays a bigger role in these cases," Gaskell said, because those stealing the metal are doing it to get money to purchase marijuana and other drugs.

Aside from marijuana driving thefts and burglaries, Gaskell said his office's dealings with marijuana cases have basically remained steady.

Not counting marijuana cases that were handled under local ordinances, such as those for possession of paraphernalia, the Vernon County District Attorney's office prosecuted 10 crimes related to marijuana in 2006 and 14 crimes related to marijuana in 2007.

Gaskell said the amount of work he puts into the average marijuana case isn't excessive, because the cases, by their nature, are usually easy to prosecute.

"We're dealing with good arrests where the defendant was found with paraphernalia on them or they were in possession of marijuana," Gaskell said. "Unless it's a larger investigation where a lot of time went into it, and larger amounts are found, it's not difficult."

Wisconsin state law classifies first-time possession of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia as misdemeanor crimes punishable by county jail time and fines. Subsequent arrests for marijuana possession or any charges related to manufacturing or distributing marijuana are felonies punishable with state prison sentences and fines.

Gaskell said the typical marijuana arrest in Vernon County results in a paraphernalia or possession charge stemming from a traffic stop.

"Then there are the cases where officers go to investigate a domestic ( dispute ) and they go in the house and find paraphernalia," Gaskell said. "That leads to questioning and then they find a bag of dope."

Gaskell said in regard to domestic abuse calls "alcohol plays a much bigger factor" in initiating them.

Vernon County Circuit Court Judge Michael Rosborough said there are fewer cases of marijuana manufacturing in Vernon County than there were when he first took the bench 22 years ago.

"We almost used to gear up in the fall for law enforcement coming in with their investigations and requests for search warrants," Rosborough said. "...That wasn't a huge part of the case load, but ( its decline ) is noteworthy."

Rosborough echoed the comments of those who are in law enforcement, saying marijuana's production today has become more sophisticated. He said that is due to law enforcement agencies effectively finding outdoor marijuana growing operations.

Any use of marijuana should be referred to as "abuse," Rosborough said, because using marijuana is illegal.

Investigations into marijuana growing operations, sometimes lasting months or years, don't always end with those on the top tier of the operation being prosecuted, Rosborough said. Instead, those involved in distribution may be the bulk of those prosecuted.

Rosborough said forming an opinion on how marijuana abuse itself leads to other criminal activity is difficult.

"Are there a substantial number of cases where marijuana use is a factor in someone's criminality? I don't think so," Rosborough said. "I think it's a symptom of other things going on in the lives of people."

Marijuana Incarceration and Costs

As of last Friday, Wisconsin had 22,829 adults in state prisons, John Dipko, of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections said. The cost to house an inmate was $27,300 per year in 2007, according to the DOC.

Not all inmates in the prison population today will be there for the entire span of any given year. With that understood, incarcerating all of the adults currently in prison for an entire year would cost $623 million.

The state doesn't exactly have information readily available saying how many of its adult prisoners are incarcerated on marijuana charges. This is because the inmate might have other charges in addition to marijuana charges, Dipko said.

According to the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission's semi-annual report from March 2007 titled "Sentencing in Wisconsin: Drug Trafficking," there were more than 2,200 Class I ( less than 200 grams of marijuana ) and 465 Class H ( between 200-1,000 grams of marijuana ) felony convictions between January 2003 and October of 2006. It's difficult to pin down how many more severe felony convictions ( Class E-G ) during that time were made for marijuana. That's because the report compiles those cases with felony cases related to other drugs in the same felony class. The total number of drug related cases for those convicted of felonies in Classes E-G in the time period considered in the report was 5,170.

On a national level, in 2005, Jon Gettman, leader of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, estimated that national criminal justice expenditures for enforcing marijuana laws is $7.6 billion per year. That's broken down into $3.7 billion being allocated to police, $853 million to the courts, and $3.1 billion to corrections. Gettman's estimates were included in a study done for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( NORML ).

A report commissioned by Taxpayers for Common Sense and written by visiting Harvard University economist Dr. Jeffrey Miron found that efforts to reduce marijuana use and supply cost federal taxpayers more than $3.67 billion in in 2004.

A Marijuana User's Story

"Jack," a 42-year-old professional with master's degree, has been a daily marijuana user for the past 20 years.

He has lived a good deal of his adult life in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, but now lives in a nearby metropolitan area. He's in a long-term relationship, but has no children.

"I don't think ( marijuana ) has had an affect on my life," he said speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The biggest crime you hear about is people who smoke pot are lazy or unmotivated. I don't consider myself either of those things.

"I've killed a lot of hours just hanging out with people smoking, but that's the nature of the beast," he said. "It's a social phenomenon. I've found that most smokers are outgoing people who enjoy the company of others."

Jack said he didn't start smoking marijuana until his sophomore year at a small Wisconsin college. He smoked with friends living in the dorms. Since starting he's never gone more than two months without marijuana.

Only once did he have a brush with the law due to marijuana. In the mid-1990s, he drove a man to Madison to buy some marijuana and they were pulled over for speeding. The officer could smell marijuana in the car. Jack was driving. His friend had two 1/4-ounce bags of marijuana and was arrested and later fined. Jack was told not to drive, but was free to go.

Jack has lived in a number of different places and worked in a number of different jobs.

"You put me in any position and in two months I'll know who smokes and where I can buy some safely," he said. "People may have the impression that marijuana is only used by those on the bottom rung of society. I'm telling you that there are users everywhere -- bank administrators, teachers, business people, doctors -- everywhere."

Jack spends about $300 each month on marijuana. He said marijuana is more readily available to him now than ever before. He said he believes his dealer supplies marijuana to eight people or less.

Jack said the only thing that's made him contemplate quitting is the escalating price of marijuana. He said he purchases marijuana for about $120 per 1/4 ounce and he smokes about a 1/2 ounce a month. He usually smokes it in joint form. He said 12 years ago he could buy 1/4 ounce of marijuana for $45.

"Frankly, I can't believe I've used it as long as I have," he said. "It's been too easy to get."

He said the trend over the past 20 years is that marijuana is more expensive and more potent.

"That's what the War on Drugs has done," Jack said. "It's more expensive probably because it's more difficult to keep hidden, but because its growth is more controlled it's a lot better than when I started smoking it."

Jack said he's experienced paranoia using marijuana, but has had no other side effects. He said when he's contemplative after smoking marijuana, he often thinks about pot's place in society.

"I think its roots go a lot deeper than we'd care to admit," Jack said. "I think about people like Carl Sagan, who was a world-renowned astronomer, who advised NASA and did a lot for explaining astronomy to the common man.

"People didn't know until after he died that he used marijuana all the time," Jack continued. "Here's one of the most brilliant astronomers of our day and he's also one of the biggest pot smokers around. By its nature it lends itself to secrecy, but who else is using it? That's the real story. In a lot of ways people have a double life with it."

Jack said he's glad he waited until he was in college to start smoking marijuana.

"People who aren't adults shouldn't smoke marijuana," he said. "I think that's wrong and I wouldn't want children smoking pot. I don't want be be a hypocrite, but people need to have the wisdom and the knowledge to deal with it."

Jack said the legal use of alcohol presents a greater danger to society than marijuana.

"When I smoke marijuana, the only thing that I present a danger to is that Doritos bag on the table," Jack said with a laugh. "When you look at how out-of-control and violent people get while drinking, pot is harmless by comparison."

Medical Marijuana

Gary Storck, 53, Madison, was born with glaucoma. Smoking marijuana decreased the pressure on his eyes and relieved pain he suffered from other health conditions, he said.

Glaucoma is a disease that slowly destroys the optic nerve and causes a buildup of pressure inside the eye. In 1972, Storck began smoking marijuana and discovered at the doctor's office that the pressure inside his eyes had decreased. He smokes marijuana daily and said it's the only thing that helps him normally function.

"If I had to take conventional drugs to treat my health problems I wouldn't be able to coherently talk to you today," Storck said. "I have serious and chronic health conditions and cannabis allows me to manage the symptoms."

Storck currently is serving as the Director of Madison's chapter of NORML. He also is an advocate for medical marijuana through the group, which he co-founded in 2000, called "Is My Medicine Legal Yet."

Storck said that marijuana's classification as an illegal drug has prevented untold numbers of people from being able to use it as medicine.

A University of Massachusetts report says that marijuana, or cannabis, can create appetite stimulation for AIDS and cancer patients; nausea control for cancer patients; muscle relaxation for multiple sclerosis patients; pain relief; and reduction of fluid pressure in eyes for glaucoma patients.

"The big white elephant in the room when it comes to marijuana being illegal is that it has medical benefits that are proven," Storck said.

As for using marijuana recreationally, Storck said he supports the United States regulating marijuana using the same model practiced in the Netherlands. That country regulates marijuana, taxes it, and allows for the sale of small quantities of it in coffee houses. People can use it at those places or take it home.

He said that the only problem with marijuana in the United States is that there is a strict prohibition of it.

"In my opinion that's hard to defend," Storck said. "Every time you bust somebody for pot, some of that was going to be used medicinally. Some people growing marijuana are simply providing a service.

"The government knows it's not dangerous and its abuse potential is low...," Storck continued. "Cannabis users are law abiding citizens who choose a different way to unwind after work."

The work done in the 12 states that have decriminalized marijuana or allowed medical marijuana's use has led to additional ways it can be administered, including through vaporization without combustion.

Storck said alcohol is a "scourge" on society and alcohol and tobacco are considerably more harmful to the public at large.

Problems With Marijuana

Just last week, Australian researchers released a study saying long-term heavy use of marijuana may cause two important brain structures to shrink.

The study, published in the American Medical Association's journal Archives of General Psychiatry, found that heavy cannabis users, smoking five joints a day for 20 years, earned lower scores than the nonusers in tests trying to recall a list of 15 words.

"These findings challenge the widespread perception of cannabis as having limited or no harmful effects on ( the ) brain and behavior," said Murat Yucel of ORYGEN Research Center and the University of Melbourne, who led the study.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, Marijuana hinders the user's short-term memory and makes some tasks difficult. With the use of more potent varieties of marijuana, even simple tasks can be difficult.

According to the Drug Free America Foundation, marijuana's most dangerous side effect is that its use heightens the probability that the user will try other drugs.

"Long-term studies of students who use drugs show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana," according to the Drug Free American Foundation. "Not everyone who uses marijuana will move on to other drugs, but using marijuana sometimes lowers inhibitions about drug use and exposes users to a culture that encourages experimentation and use of other drugs. Marijuana users are two to five times more likely to go on to use harder drugs."

There is a difficulty in comparing the benefits of marijuana to its negative effects. This is because there is a considerable amount of information available to counter arguments made by those who are for the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana and those who want it to remain illegal.

Marijuana Addiction

There's no question that long-term marijuana abuse can create addiction, a University of Wisconsin, University Health Services report determined in 2005.

The report, co-written by Michael M. Miller, M.D., the Medical Director of the NewStart Alcohol/Drug Treatment Program at Meriter Hospital in Madison, and Brian Glueck of University Health Services, said that marijuana users can build up a tolerance to THC and experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop using it.

"...Withdrawal definitely occurs in some users," according to the report. "The effects of this withdrawal are generally the opposite of the effects of intoxication: anxiety and insomnia instead of relaxation; loss of appetite rather than hunger; excessive salivation instead of dry mouth; and also decreased pulse, irritability, and sometimes tremors."

The report said there is a distinction between marijuana abuse and marijuana addiction.

"Abuse, which involves continued use despite legal, occupational, or academic problems ( e.g., recurrent use after an arrest for impaired driving, or after a drug-related work suspension ) is more common," according to the report. "Despite being considered less severe than addiction, cannabis abuse nevertheless creates distress for loved ones and other interested parties, and by definition involves an observable downturn in the user's performance of some important life task."

Higher THC content in marijuana creates a more significant risk that a regular user will become an addict, according to the report.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n687/a04.html
Newshawk: Madison NORML www.madisonnorml.org
Votes: 1
Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jul 2008
Source: Vernon Broadcaster (Viroqua, WI)
Copyright: 2008 The Vernon Broadcaster
Contact: matt.johnson@lee.net
Website: http://www.vernonbroadcaster.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4818
Author: Matt Johnson

Ireland: IS IT TIME TO LEGALISE DRUGS?

2008-07-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

Statistics on heroin, cocaine and cannabis use here are starker than ever. Is it time to forge a new approach to how we tackle drugs and drug addiction? asks Carol Coulter. EARLIER THIS WEEK we heard that the number of heroin addicts on methadone maintenance programmes has now reached 10,000. The week before we heard that the number of people using cocaine has doubled since 2003, with a four-fold increase in certain parts of the country.

In May a conference was told that a survey of teenagers in the south-east had shown that 41 per cent of them had used cannabis, twice as many as their European counterparts, while almost 50 per cent had used some illegal drug.

None of this comes as a surprise to Dr Paul O'Mahony, who has been examining drugs, crime and prison policy in Ireland for decades. It is yet further evidence, he says, of the failure of the policy of prohibiting drugs, which he believes has actually contributed to the growth in their misuse.

He has just published The Irish War on Drugs: the Seductive Folly of Prohibition, in which he argues for the ending of prohibition, recognising as a human right the right to use drugs, while embracing a policy of reducing drug use and drug abuse through education and social programmes aimed at those most vulnerable to abusing drugs and to their negative effects.

"I am not arguing for drug use," he stressed, "and I am not arguing for doing nothing about drug harm. But the best way to get people to behave responsibly about drugs is to treat them responsibly." He points out that ever since humanity discovered cocoa leaves, or peyote, or the arts of fermentation or distillation, intoxication has been part of the culture of most human societies - as, indeed, it is of ours - provided the intoxication is by alcohol.

Recourse to intoxication by some people in some circumstances is part of what humanity is and, just as alcohol prohibition was futile in the United States in the early years of the last century, so the prohibition of drugs is futile today.

The policy of prohibition, which places the criminal justice system at the heart of drug control and labels all drugs as equally harmful, while accepting the legal sale and consumption of alcohol, nicotine and prescription drugs, cannot work and clearly has not worked, either in Ireland or anywhere else, he says. It alienates young people from adult messages about drugs, which they see as hypocritical, and inhibits a fact-based and rational discussion about drug use.

Prohibition is not only futile, he believes, it makes drug abuse and the attendant harms worse than they would otherwise be.

In his book he looks at the history of drug control policy, largely driven by the US. He distinguishes three strands in the thinking about the problem of growing drug use: the promotion of the idea of a "drug-free world" through prohibition and the use of the criminal law against users and suppliers; the "harm-reduction" model, where the reality of drug use is acknowledged and, by some, tolerated, while the emphasis is on reducing the harm caused and minimising drug abuse; and the human rights perspective, which believes that the taking of drugs is not wrong, evil or harmful in itself, and that the individual has a fundamental right to privacy and bodily integrity, including the taking of mood-altering substances, provided that this does not impact on the welfare or rights of others.

The book describes the combination of a prohibitionist with a harm-reduction strategy which has dominated Irish policy on drugs since 1997, and which initially led to a significant reduction in drug-related crime and an improvement in services for addicts, especially through methadone maintenance programmes. But it has failed to halt the growth in drug use, he says, or risky activity like sharing needles.

"Perhaps the worst thing that prohibition has done is create criminal gangs. That has led to a cheapening of life, more violence, and affected the quality of life for everyone," he says.

Drug users, and particularly addicts, were driven to crime to feed their habit, leading to a huge increase in the prison population, much of it addicted. That, in turn, led to the prison system itself playing a major role in the spread of drugs, hepatitis and HIV/Aids.

"The prohibition regime itself plays a significant role, both as a direct cause of specific avoidable risks and, more broadly, because it promotes a climate in which rash, unsafe behaviours and negative outcomes are far more likely," he says.

He points out that leaving the importation, production and sale of drugs in criminal hands ensures that there is no control over their contents, and they are often contaminated by toxic substances, which can lead to the injury - or death - of users.

They are consumed in a furtive environment, where no information is provided on the dangers of sharing needles, leading to the spread of HIV/Aids among drug users. Nor, he says, is any information given to users about the rise in tolerance levels to certain drugs and the dangers of addiction until it is too late.

TAKING DRUGS OUT of this environment would permit an honest discussion of drugs and truthful education about them, he says. It would distinguish between the use of drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy, consumed by millions of people without disastrous effects for most of them on the one hand, and more dangerous and addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin on the other.

Ending prohibition would probably lead to a reduction in drug use overall, he says, pointing to the example of the Netherlands, which introduced a policy of permitting the legal use of cannabis in 1972.

The numbers of young people using cannabis went down, and the number of people going on to hard drug use also went down. Teenagers in the Netherlands are less likely than many in Europe - and much less likely than Irish teenagers - to use cannabis.

"They made cannabis boring, it was something people in their late 20s and 30s did to waste their afternoons. It had no glamour for teenagers. Prohibition is an engine of counter-productivity and attracts young people into drugs. They are curious, they want to experiment."

He acknowledges that it is very difficult for one country, be it the Netherlands or Ireland, to embrace a legalisation stance in isolation, and that the Netherlands has become a magnet, not only for cannabis users, but for drug criminals. But he points out that the liberal policy towards cannabis does not prevent the Dutch police from being very tough on drug criminals.

The only realistic response must therefore be an international one, steering international law away from the rhetoric of the "war on drugs" and towards a policy of placing drug use within the same legal and human rights framework as applies to the use of alcohol. But, surely, there is no realistic prospect of such a policy being adopted? O'Mahony accepts that, at the moment, the political consensus is very much against it, but he adds: "Beneath the surface there is huge turmoil. A lot of people are arguing against prohibition."

He cites economist Milton Friedman, the Economist magazine and the US National Academy of Sciences, who have all offered trenchant critiques of the prohibitionist policy.

However, he acknowledges that the US National Academy of Sciences then went on to recommend no change in the policy, on the basis of a "fear of the unknown".

An issue not dealt with in the book, though he agrees that it is significant, is that there are many vested interests involved in prohibition. The "war against drugs" is a multibillion dollar industry, involving not only law enforcement agencies working in the US and around the globe, but a prison industry in the US which props up many local economies. The alcohol industry is also unlikely to welcome the legalisation of a major competitor.

But O'Mahony insists that public opinion can change. "There is a huge silent minority here who feel that taking drugs is their right. They haven't articulated it, they just do it," he says. He points to the example of homosexuality, which was treated as a crime punishable by death for centuries, whereas now the right to express one's sexuality is seen as a fundamental human right.

He stresses that acknowledging a right to use drugs does not include the right to drive while under the influence of drugs; nor does it mean that a person is not responsible for any criminal or harmful acts undertaken while under such influence.

It would mean that drugs could be sold within a legal regime that would ensure they did not fall into the hands of children, that quality was assured, that all users had accurate information on the negative aspects and dangers of drug use, and that resources could be diverted away from the drug enforcement part of the criminal justice system into tackling the causes of drug abuse and its effects.

He rejects the argument that it would lead to an increase in drug use and points to evidence that it would lead to a reduction. "People have loads of good reasons for not using drugs. But these are personal reasons, not because they're illegal.

"We are diverting huge energy, huge money, huge resources, from tackling the problem. We have created a monster."

This is likely to get worse, he warns.

"There is huge technical development happening in drugs. We are only just around the corner from memory-enhancing drugs. Middle-class parents will be looking for them to dope up their children to enhance their points. We are also close to safe euphorants and drug users won't be reliant on peasant farmers.

"The future is much more dangerous than the present. Prohibition can't handle the present. It certainly won't be able to handle the future."

The Irish War on Drugs: The Seductive Folly of Prohibition, is published by Manchester University Press, UKP 55 hardback, UKP 16.99 paperback

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n682/a03.html
Newshawk: JimmyG
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2008
Source: Irish Times, The (Ireland)
Copyright: 2008 The Irish Times
Contact: lettersed@irish-times.ie
Website: http://www.ireland.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/214
Author: Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Editor

STATE ISSUES APOLOGY TO POT PATIENTS

2008-07-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Newspaper Sought Summary But Got List Of Medical Users

The state Department of Public Safety has sent a letter of apology to all medical marijuana patients in regarding the release of their names to the Tribune-Herald.

The accidental release generated a flurry of calls to both the newspaper and DPS officials by concerned patients, following a June 27 news article on medical marijuana.

The article contained this sentence: "Of those 4,200 people ( with marijuana licenses ), 2,640 of them live on the Big Island, according to a database that the Department of Public Safety provided to the Tribune-Herald on Thursday that lists the name of each patient, the location of their marijuana plants, license information and the names of their physicians."

The article did not name any of the patients, but many of them called the Tribune-Herald to ask if the above statement was true.

Public Safety Director Clayton Frank addressed the concerns in the July 7 letter to all 4,200 patients statewide:

"On June 24, 2008, medical marijuana registration information ... was mistakenly forwarded by e-mail to a news reporter by one of our department employees. The employee believed he was sending a different document," the letter states. "The information sent included the names and addresses of medical marijuana prescription holders, the names of the prescribing doctors and the medical marijuana certificate numbers issued to each prescription holder. Your name and corresponding information was included in this list," the letter states.

At the request of DPS, the Tribune-Herald has tracked down all electronic copies of this database and purged it from its system. No hard copies were made and it was never leaked to any outside party.

Frank's letter continues:

"Steps are also being taken internally within my department so that this does not happen again. Our information technology personnel have isolated the medical marijuana registry so that it cannot be mistakenly forwarded in the future. Further protocol is also being activated, putting additional internal controls into place.

"The end result of this incident is that we have confirmed as much as possible that none of the disseminated information remains in anyone's control other than at this department. We write to inform you of this confidentiality breach, however, because of the sensitive nature of the information and so that you can take any precautions you deem appropriate to protect yourself against possible misuse of this information. Neither social security ( sic ) numbers nor dates of birth were included in the information shared," Frank wrote.

Jim Propotnick, the DPS deputy director for law enforcement, said that such a release of information would not recur.

"We've taken the necessary steps to make sure that can't happen again," he said.

Asked about any repercussions for the employee who released the data, Propotnick said that "it's under investigation as to exactly what happened."

The Tribune-Herald had e-mailed DPS, asking for the number of medical marijuana patients in Hawaii, broken down by island or county. A DPS employee responded, but sent the detailed list of patients rather than a summary.

The DPS Web site has a list of frequently asked questions for patients, including the question of whether a patient's confidentiality is protected.

"Yes," it says. "However, upon an inquiry by a law enforcement agency, the Department of Public Safety will verify whether a particular qualifying patient has registered with the Department and may provide reasonable access to the registry information for official law enforcement purposes."

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n669/a06.html
Newshawk: Herb
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jul 2008
Source: Hawaii Tribune Herald (Hilo, HI)
Copyright: 2008 Hawaii Tribune Herald
Contact: letters@hawaiitribune-herald.com
Website: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/185
Author: Peter Sur
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

RULING UPHELD IN CASE OF POT-LIKE PLANT

2008-07-13T19:15:00.001-07:00

GULFPORT --The seizure of 500 plants that looked like marijuana in Harrison County in 2003 did not violate the land-user's civil rights, the 5th Court of Appeals has ruled.

The decision upholds a federal judge's dismissal of Marion "Bucky" Waltman's civil lawsuit against former Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. The ruling was filed Thursday.

The crop was kenaf planted as deer food on land leased by the Boarhog Hunting Club. Waltman planted the crop based on research at Mississippi State University. The research concluded that kenaf, used to make paper, could also attract deer and provide larger hunting trophies.

Waltman sued for $225,000. He accused the sheriff and his agents of negligence, trespassing, invasion of privacy and defamation.

"We have believed that the District Court's decision was correct as a matter of law," said Cy Faneca, the attorney who represented Payne and now represents Sheriff Melvin Brisolara.

Waltman, 57, of Pass Christian, told the Sun Herald he is upset by the ruling.

"Who wouldn't be? I didn't do anything wrong," Waltman said.

Waltman was watching a TV news show Sept. 8, 2003, when he saw an inmate work crew chopping down plants as high as 15 feet. He heard Payne say they were suspected of being marijuana. Area narcotics officials later said it was the first time they had heard of kenaf.

Waltman paid $2,000 for a ton of seeds and planted two types of kenaf - - Everglade 41 and T-2. The T-2 variety more closely resembles marijuana.

The raid came after a narcotics agent received a tip that marijuana was growing off Herman Ladner Road in an open field between power lines.

Sheriff's officials circled the area by helicopter and a sample from one plant was tested. It tested negative for THC, the illegal compound in marijuana. Agents said a sample from a fresh-cut plant could show a false result, so Payne decided to seize the plants and allow samples to dry for more reliable tests.

Payne later said he had received reports children had been going into the field to pick the plants. Payne said he was concerned the helicopter's presence and media coverage could encourage them to return and help themselves.

Payne could not be reached for comment Friday.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. dismissed the lawsuit in 2005. His decision also squelched Waltman's request to seek compensation in state court, noting the proper procedures were not followed.

The 5th Circuit ruling agreed Payne had qualified immunity for a legal search in an open field and found he did not act with deliberate indifference. The ruling stated Waltman has the right to sue in state court.

Waltman's attorney, Chet Nicholson, said he will review the ruling and consider whether he will pursue a lawsuit at the state level.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n670/a06.html
Newshawk: Herb
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2008
Source: Sun Herald (MS)
Copyright: 2008, The Sun Herald
Contact: letters@sunherald.com
Website: http://www.sunherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/432
Author: Robin Fitzgerald

35 YEARS OF DRUG WAR FAILURE

2008-07-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

Belated birthday greetings to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA, which Richard Nixon created in 1973 and charged with the impossible but politically useful mission of winning the "all-out global war on the drug menace," turned 35 on July 1.

So, how's its track record after 35 years of difficult, often dangerous drug-war-making? If the DEA were a heroin addict, it would have overdosed on its own incompetence by age 6.

Despite its failures and the harm it's done to American society, however, the DEA has done more than merely survive. It's become a typically bloated, self-preserving federal bureaucracy whose power, budget and continuing existence bear no relation to its performance.

In 1974 the DEA had 1,470 special agents, a budget of less than $75 million ( $346 million in 2007 money ) and 43 offices in 31 countries. Today, it has 5,235 special agents, a $2.3 billion budget and 87 offices in 63 countries.

If you consider locking up mostly pot smokers and other perpetrators of victimless crimes a valid measure of success in the war on drugs, the DEA and its fellow state and local drug warriors deserve high praise.

Annual drug arrests have tripled in the last 25 years to 1.8 million in 2005 ( when 43 percent of all drug arrests were for marijuana offenses ). And we had about 500,000 drug criminals in various federal, state and local slammers in 2005, compared with 41,000 in 1980.

The DEA touts its latest alleged successes in cutting demand for drugs on its Web page ( usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/cngrtest/ct031208_successes08.pdf ). If you can believe the DEA's current statistics or those annual pronouncements of tough-talking White House drug czars, we're winning the drug war -- again and again.

Yet today illegal drugs are as plentiful and cheap as ever. And rates of drug use are essentially the same as they were when the DEA was born, according to Monitoring the Future, which each year since 1975 has studied the behaviors, attitudes and values of 50,000 American high schoolers.

Based on Monitoring the Future's latest study, the DEA's most significant career victory over drugs is that the percentage of 12th-graders who reported using marijuana dropped from 40 percent in 1975 to 31.7 percent in 2007.

Otherwise, despite untold billions blown on the war on drugs, the percentage of kids in 1975 who reported using cocaine ( 5.6 percent ) and heroin ( 1 percent ) has dropped insignificantly to 5.2 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, in 2007.

Meanwhile, a new study of drug use by the World Health Organization casts further doubt on the long-term efficacy of our war on drugs.

Of 17 countries surveyed, China and Japan had the lowest rates of drug use and the United States had the highest rate -- by far.

Obviously, culture, economics and politics play important roles, but WHO's researchers found that there's no relationship between a country's strict anti-drug policies and its levels of drug use.

Maybe it's unfair to dump on the DEA, especially on its birthday. After all, it's only following orders.

It's not the DEA's fault that for 35 years Congress and seven presidents haven't had the brains or the political courage to decriminalize marijuana or at least work to humanize America's drug policy.

So happy birthday, DEA. But not many happy returns.

Bill Steigerwald is the Tribune-Review's associate editor.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n671/a03.html
Newshawk: JimmyG
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jul 2008
Source: Tribune Review (Pittsburgh, PA)
Copyright: 2008 Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Contact: opinion@tribweb.com
Website: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/460
Author: Bill Steigerwald, Tribune-Review's associate editor

Drug war and drug use stats don't connect

2008-07-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2008 - 10:19AM
By SCOTT SHACKFORD, editor

Let's say you lay traps in your house to catch mice. After a year of this
practice you have failed to catch any mice. Would you continue laying traps?
Probably not.

After nearly 40 years of fighting the drug war in the United States (the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration celebrated its 35th birthday last week)
we have failed to have any significant impact on drug use in America. A
recent report by the World Health Organization puts America at the highest
rate of illegal drug use among several First World nations.

Jacob Sullum, senior editor of libertarian Reason Magazine, analyzed the
information and found further that increases and decreases in drug use in
America seem to bear no relationship with government or law enforcement
efforts: "Although marijuana arrests have increased by more than 150 percent
since 1990, marijuana use seems to be just as common today as it was then,
if not more so."

Even more striking, Sullum noticed that drug use in America was
significantly higher than in those European nations with looser drug
enforcement policies. Twice as many Americans have used marijuana as the
Dutch and eight times as many have used cocaine.

If drug policies have such little effect on drug use, why are we continuing
to fight this war? Don't blame it on the violent gangs. The gangs exist
because of the black market caused by laws against drug use, not because of
the drugs themselves. Don't blame it on Mexico or Colombia. Only four
percent of Mexico's and Colombia's residents have used cocaine. All the
violence and drug lords in Latin America exist to serve our citizens'
demands.

So many people have died fighting this war, based on an unwinnable attack on
the fundamentals of economics â€” law enforcement officers, bystanders, even
children. What will be the tipping point to bring this country around to
rethinking this entire strategy?

Is it because of the massive bureaucracy? How many thousands of government
employees rely on the drug war continuing for their livelihoods? To them, we
would ask if the risks and losses are worth it â€” to know that periodically,
one of them would end up dead in a fight that can never be won the way we're
fighting it.

For that matter, just think about what else we could be doing with these
people in this innovative nation if they weren't stuck enforcing harsh drug
policies that do not and will not work.

It's disturbing to think that the entire point of the drug war is to give
people jobs, but what we're doing is the equivalent to paying for somebody
to keep putting out mouse traps that aren't catching mice.

http://www.desertdispatch.com/opinion/drug_3784___article.html/don_let.html

Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2008 makes November ballot

2008-07-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Berkeley leaders approve measures for property tax hike

By Kristin Bender
Oakland Tribune
Article Last Updated: 07/09/2008 05:04:39 PM PDT

BERKELEY â€” Expect to pay about $100 more annually on your property tax bill
if two ballot measures â€” approved by city leaders Tuesday night â€” are passed
by Berkeley voters in the November election.

Yes, it's only July but the deadline for placing city measures and
initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot is July 22. The Berkeley City Council
approved placing six measures on the ballot Tuesday, including two that
would raise taxes.

But proponents of raising taxes to fund city services might have an uphill
battle between now and November.

In 2004, Berkeley voters overwhelmingly shot down $8 million in measures
that sought to raise property taxes and utility bills to pump money into
libraries, police, fire and paramedic services as well as community agencies
that provide such things as after-school arts and sports programs, job
placement and money for weekend street festivals. City leaders in turn had
to make cuts in a variety of areas.

This time around, Berkeley will ask voters to approve a tax measure that
would pump $3.6 million into the city to help pay for overtime to keep fire
stations open, fund advanced life support for first-responder paramedics,
improve disaster preparedness with a better and more unified radio
communication system and beef up emergency medical services and paramedic
services.

Homeowners will pay roughly $78 a year while commercial building owners will
pay about $118 annually, according to a report from City Manager Phil
Kamlarz.

The fire department needs the extra revenue, said Adam Cook with the
Berkeley Fire Fighters union.

"Whether it's a fire in the hills, a large debilitating earthquake or some
other unforeseen disaster, we believe that this Fire Protection and
Emergency Response and Preparedness Tax takes us in the right direction to
make this community, together with its fire department, better ready and
able to take care of itself in the likely event of a disaster," Cook said.

In December 2006, the city temporarily closed fire stations in a cost-saving
move.

City leaders initiated the rotating closures of fire stations after
reviewing the budget and considering the alternative â€” to permanently close
one of Berkeley's seven fire stations.

The temporary closures are triggered when too many firefighters take
vacation or sick leave or cannot work because of jury duty, family leave or
injuries.

The city in recent years has spent an estimated $2 million annually on
firefighters' overtime, and is now trying to rein in the overtime to roughly
$1 million.

The council on Tuesday also gave the green light to put a $26 million
library bond on the November ballot.

"Berkeley Public Library's Branch Libraries have not been renovated in over
35 years, and they urgently need upgrading in order to be seismically safe,
accessible and truly functional," said Donna Corbeil, director of library
services. "Our well-used branch libraries are vital to Berkeley's
neighborhoods as the places for users of all ages to get valuable
information and recreational resources and to connect with their friends and
neighbors."

Money from the bond would go to renovating the city's four branch libraries.
Libraries would be expanded, made earthquake safe and given better disabled
access. All branch libraries will be expanded if the measure passes.

Also on the ballot will be the Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of
2008. It would eliminate limits on the amount of medical marijuana that
could be legally possessed by patients or caregivers, establish peer review
for medical marijuana collectives to police themselves and allow medical
marijuana dispensaries to locate where permitted without a public hearing.
The initiative originally called Measure R in 2004, failed by 191 votes, or
less than half a percent of the ballots cast.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge nullified the results due to
mishandling of a recount by Alameda County election officials, and ordered
the citizen-sponsored medical marijuana initiative back on the ballot for a
re-vote in 2008.

The Berkeley City Council also voted to add a citizen-initiative to the
November ballot that would require a public vote for any high-occupancy
vehicle lanes or transit-only traffic lanes in Berkeley in the future.

Voters will also consider two other measures, one related to redistricting
and one related to a city ceiling on spending for parks maintenance,
libraries and emergency services for severely disabled people. Those
measures would not raise taxes.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9831295

Also on the ballot will be the Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of
2008. It would eliminate limits on the amount of medical marijuana that
could be legally possessed by patients or caregivers, establish peer review
for medical marijuana collectives to police themselves and allow medical
marijuana dispensaries to locate where permitted without a public hearing.
The initiative originally called Measure R in 2004, failed by 191 votes, or
less than half a percent of the ballots cast.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge nullified the results due to
mishandling of a recount by Alameda County election officials, and ordered
the citizen-sponsored medical marijuana initiative back on the ballot for a
re-vote in 2008.

New Law Would Legalize Marijuana in Oregon

2008-07-10T23:19:00.001-07:00

Tim King Salem-News.com

PHOTO: http://www.salem-news.com/stimg/july092008/marijuana_farmer350.jpg

The law that began landing American farmers in jail for the first time in
1937, was lifted during WWII so American farmers could help support the war
effort, by growing Hemp for Victory and they even produced a film by that
name in 1942. Courtesy: NORML

Can an antiquated law from 1937 called the "Marihuana Tax Act" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana_Tax_Act) finally be turned around?
Those guiding the passage of this new Oregon law will put the credibility
and effectiveness of the 1937 legislation to the test.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A proposed law for Oregon would radically alter the
availability of marijuana for adults, by allowing the herb to be purchased
in liquor stores. The Oregonians For Cannabis Reform 2010, say the Oregonian
Cannabis Tax Act would make cannabis products legal and available in a
retail environment. Proponents say it will mean millions and millions of
dollars for Oregon's state coffers and many predict that the move would
literally salvage the state's unstable economy.

Backers of this Initiative say their plan would send 90 percent of the
proceeds from the state's sale of marijuana to Oregon's General Fund, which
could lower the state tax burden significantly. Portions of the revenue
would be used to fund drug abuse education and treatment programs.

But right now, the people bringing this opportunity for Oregon voters
forward, says their effort needs money, equipment, and, most of all,
volunteers.

But they say the payoff will be enormous, as the Cannabis Tax Act (CTA) will
take the lucrative marijuana market out of the black market, where children
and substance abusers often control it today, and place it in state liquor
stores, where the age limit of 21 and older is strictly enforced.

Advocates also say it will be like a rebirth of the Oregon farmer. Farmers
will be licensed to cultivate cannabis for both medicinal and adult private
use. Farmers will be able to grow industrial hemp without a license, for
paper, fabric, protein and oil, under the new proposed law.

Medical Marijuana

While the overall law as it is proposed addresses all marijuana use for
adults, there are specific allowances to aid the ongoing battle for the
rights of medical marijuana users. The CTA will allow doctors to prescribe
untaxed cannabis through pharmacies, so patients won't have to grow their
own or buy medicine illegally.

The law would modify Oregon's program and ultimately, see it appear more
similar to California, where dispensaries are already available for people
using marijuana legally.

They say that while accomplishing so many things, the law would also raise
millions of dollars in new public revenue, lowering the tax burden on all
and saving taxpayers money by taking the profit out of crime.

More than marijuana, the CTA will restore industrial hemp, the most
productive agricultural source of fiber protein and oil, and a huge aspect
of American heritage. Hemp seed oil is diesel fuel. The first cordage, cloth
and paper were invented from hemp fiber.

Advocates say the laws would virtually wipe out the black-market. "The CTA
allows police and the courts to concentrate on real criminals that hurt
others, not arrest, prosecute and jail harmless, productive adult cannabis
users. Stop our government from tearing families apart. Let's show real
family values and end cannabis prohibition."

The OCTA will wage its campaign to help stop the War on Cannabis by
challenging the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act- it's credibility and effectiveness.
This is the law that was precededd by mass hype and hysteria fed to the
American public by Harry Anslinger, (see: Harry Anslinger page on Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger) a dubious U.S. politician
who worked with Dow Chemicals and Dupont in the 1920's and 30's, to demonize
marijuana and place it in an illegal category, in order to get their new
"synthetic rope" on the market. In truth, the natural hemp fiber is to this
day, superior in strength, quality and durability.

It would appear that Anslinger was a conservative who truly believed
marijuana to be a threat to the future of American civilization, yet his
biographer maintained that he was an astute government bureaucrat who viewed
the marijuana issue as a means for elevating himself to national prominence.

Paul Stanford of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, told KATU that the measure
would also put a dent in illegal dealing of the weed.

"We want to take marijuana out of the hands of children and substance
abusers, who control the market today, and put it in the hands of the
state's liquor control commission and the age limit of 21 will be strictly
enforced," Stanford said.

Others say it is simply the time to do this, and the next presidential
administration will almost certainly live up to statements that they will be
supportive of state's legal rights to pass marijuana laws, and redirect
federal agents and protocols. This clears the path for very large steps as
medical marijuana tests and research continues to yield one new medical
application after another.

Dr. Phillip Leveque of Molalla, Oregon, first became familiar with the
positive health-related aspects of marijuana in the early 1950's, while
studying at the Oregon Medical School in Corvallis. That was a bottle of
marijuana cough medicine from before Harry Anslinger's time. Leveque is a
WWII combat veteran. As a physician, toxicologist and pharmacologist, Dr
Leveque offers sound reasoning. "I would be far more surprised to see
someone come up with something it is not helpful for, as a medical
property." He says little time is passing now between large developments
that show marijuana's potential role in society as a legal product.

Supporters have two years to collect nearly 83,000 signatures to get the
measure on the November ballot in 2010. They say you can learn more about
this proposed new law for Oregon, by visiting this page:
CannabisTaxAct.org/oregon/

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july092008/new_po-t_law_7-9-08.php

India: THE DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE

2008-07-09T20:01:00.001-07:00

We observed 26th june as the day against drugs. We must know drug addiction is associated with the development of psychiatric disorders

Drug use in recent few decades particularly in young productive and fertile age has shown an alarming increase and has penetrated all segments of society. It has far reaching health, social, economic and political repercussions making it mandatory for psychiatry, education, social work and law endorsement agencies to work in collaboration. There is high risk of development of psychiatric disorders in patients who have been using these drugs of addiction over prolonged period of time. Patients suffering from drug abuse and psychiatric disorders simultaneously have variable impact on general condition and functioning and in fact are very difficult to treat.

18-35 yrs Age group was mostly involved ( 70-80% )

Males were more effected than females

All segments of society were involved equally.

Single ( unmarried, divorced, widowers ) were affected more than the married population.

Illiterates as much involved as literates

Most important and alarming to note here was involvement of our

Student community, chemists, tourism/ transport trade,
professionals in addition to the unemployed were involved

Rural equally effected as urban

Availability is the root cause in addition to following precipitants:

Stress, prevailing disturbed conditions, Maladjustment

Unemployment

Peer group/ curiosity 50%

Failure in exams / family dispute

Drugs commonly used by these dually diagnosed patients

Cannabis( locally known as charas ) + some other addictive drug 40%

Opioids ( capsule/syrup/injection form ) 30%

Multiple substances used together

glues, polishes, paints, erasers etc

Alcohol to a lesser extent because it's not approved socially over here.

In addition Research work carried on the patients abusing drugs by Dr. Maajid, Registrar psychiatry, Govt medical college Srinagar, showed that more than half of these patients had a coexisting psychiatric disorders in the form of depression, Bipolar affective disorders, Anxiety disorders, Schizophrenia, Adjustment disorders, suicides etc. In addition this study revealed few of the following very important observations.

This research work was presented in an international conference on Bipolar Disorders organized by University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, Pennsylvania, USA from June 7-9th. This research was appreciated by researchers of international repute and has been accepted for publication in International journal of neurosciences and psychiatry.

Keeping in view these alarming observations, we need to upgrade our psychiatric facilities including establishment of state of art drug deaddiction centre in this part of world to cope up with increasing rush of these patients, rather than opting for short cuts like training the field doctors for short periods, which obviously instead of helping to diagnose and treat this ailing community will prove deleterious as making a psychiatrist needs 3 years of post graduate training. So these short term trainings will only add to misery of psychiatric patients as they will be at the helm of these pseudo psychiatrists ( 'neem hakims' ). In addition setting up general hospital psychiatric units as directed by Honorable Supreme court of India and as a part of national mental health Programme, psychiatric facilities ( under the supervision of psychiatric specialist ) should be started at least in District hospitals.

( Dr. Maajid is a noted Psychiatrist of the valley )

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n657/a01.html
Newshawk: Herb
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 07 Jul 2008
Source: Greater Kashmir (India)
Copyright: 2008 GreaterKashmir.com GK Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Contact: editor@greaterkashmir.com
Website: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3731
Author: Dr. Maajid

The body's own 'cannabis (marijuana)' is good for the skin

2008-07-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

A chemical in marijuana, beta-caryophyllene, has
been proven effective to treat pain,
inflammation, atherosclerosis, and osteoporosis.
Jurg Gertsch, of ETH Zurich, and his
collaborators from three other universities
learned that the natural molecule can activate a
protein called cannabinoid receptor type 2. When
that biological button is pushed, it soothes the
immune system, increases bone mass, and blocks
pain signals -- without causing euphoria or
interfering with the central nervous system. The
chemical has not yet been proven to be safe and
effective in humans.

>
>

>
>New study in the FASEB Journal shows how
>substances similar to THC are necessary for
>healthy skin and may lead to new skin disease
>treatments.
>
>
>Scientists from Hungary, Germany and the U.K.
>have discovered that our own body not only makes
>chemical compounds similar to the active
>ingredient in marijuana (THC), but these play an
>important part in maintaining healthy skin.
>
>This finding on "endocannabinoids" just
>published online in, and scheduled for the
>October 2008 print issue of, The FASEB Journal
>could lead to new drugs that treat skin
>conditions ranging from acne to dry skin, and
>even skin-related tumors.
>
>"Our preclinical data encourage one to explore
>whether endocannabinoid system-acting agents can
>be exploited in the management of common skin
>disorders," said Tamás Biró, MD, PhD, a senior
>scientist involved
>in the research. "It is also suggested that
>these agents can be efficiently applied locally
>to the skin in the form of a cream."
>
>Biró and colleagues came to this conclusion by
>treating cell cultures from human sebaceous
>glands (the glands that make the oil on our
>skin) with various concentrations of
>endocannabinoids (substances produced by
>the body that are similar to the active
>ingredient in marijuana). Then they measured the
>production of lipids (fat cells, such as those
>in skin oil), cell survival and death, and
>changes in gene expression and compared these
>outcomes to those in an untreated control group.
>
>"This research shows that we may have something
>in common with the marijuana plant," said Gerald
>Weissmann, MD. "Just as THC is believed to
>protect the marijuana plants from pathogens, our
>own cannabinoids may be
>necessary for us to maintain healthy skin and to protect us from pathogens ."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702160944.htm

Source: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/proof-that-mari.html

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.07-104877v1)
>

TAX AND REGULATE CANNABIS

2008-07-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

"As fire rages, the law protects us from marijuana,"
July 1:
Kudos to Peter Schrag's common-sense call to tax and regulate cannabis.
Despite the millions of tax dollars spent during last week's
"Operation Southern Sweep," not one arrest was made by law
enforcement, and the availability of marijuana in Northern California
remains as plentiful as ever.

Let's acknowledge reality. The criminal classification of cannabis is
disproportionate to its relative harmlessness to the user and to the
well-acknowledged harmfulness of other substances - particularly
alcohol and tobacco.

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that nearly 100
million Americans have tried cannabis, and relatively few have
suffered deleterious health effects because of their use.
Criminalizing these millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens is
expensive, engenders disrespect for the law and alienates large
numbers of the population - particularly young people.

A wiser national policy would regulate cannabis in a manner similar
to alcohol - with the drug's sale and use restricted to specific
markets and consumers. While such an alternative may not entirely
eliminate the black market demand for pot, it would certainly be
preferable to today's impotent criminal prohibition and would
eliminate the need for more federal boondoggles like "Operation
Southern Sweep."

Paul Armentano, Vallejo

Deputy Director, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Tue, 8 Jul 2008
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n635/a01.html
Author: Paul Armentano

By Ellen Ratner

2008-07-08T20:00:00.001-07:00

Last week, the United Nation's World Health Organization released a study
showing the drug and tobacco habits of citizens in 17 countries. Over 50,000
people were interviewed for the study. Some interesting data emerged from
the study â€“ some good news and some really bad news. First, the good news:
While Americans had the highest population percentage of people who had used
tobacco, (a whooping 74 percent), only 21 percent were still using tobacco.

Now the bad news: The United States topped the other 16 countries in usage
of marijuana and cocaine. Despite the interdiction efforts of the United
States government, which seized 41 metric tons of cocaine in 2007, it
remains a drug that is widely used. Sixteen percent of Americans have tried
it. The data on marijuana is staggering, with 42.2 percent of Americans
having tried it. There are also estimates that the citizens of the United
States spend $142 billion on illegal drugs.

We also have over 2 million people in jail or prison in our county, and a
quarter of them are there on a drug charge. Many more are there on other
charges, but many of those crimes had addiction to drugs as a strong factor
in their commission. Without taking into account the societal costs, such as
single parents raising children while one parent is incarcerated, as well as
the medical care costs of treating people in prisons, the costs of bed and
board for people charged with a drug offense is about $2 billion a year.

So, what do we get for all that illegal money being spent for drugs and more
being spent for law enforcement, incarceration and court costs? A lot of
employed lawyers and very little overall benefit. Our great war on drugs
simply does not work. Despite the lobbying and incredible advertising and
other investments by the tobacco companies, the percentage of Americans
smoking has diminished. It has been done without jail time and without tons
of costs. The reason it has diminished is that we have used social pressure
and education. Just like prohibition kept drinking a quiet killer, our drug
laws are taking legitimate points of intervention away from schools, doctors
and family members.

I am not suggesting that cocaine and marijuana be sold behind the drug store
counters to anyone over 21 who asks for it, but neither am I suggesting that
we continue to arrest people who are identified as users. We allow people to
use tobacco and alcohol but punish people who sell to minors. We have strict
laws for those that drink and drive, and we have interventions for people
who get caught drinking and driving As a society we do not want people
lighting up a joint at work or snorting a line of cocaine at their desks. We
would not tolerate someone who drinks alcohol in their coffee cup, nor do we
tolerate someone who smokes a cigarette in the next cubical. Obviously,
social pressure and good work rules have had an effect, so why not use those
exact same methods with what are now illegal drugs?

The only effective way to reduce drug usage is to clean out our jails and
prisons of users and decriminalize the use of many drugs. With the money
saved there could be a heck of an education and intervention campaign. It
might not work, but what we are doing now doesn't either. Why not give drug
decriminalization a chance? We can always go back to the courts and back to
jails.

Ellen Ratner is the White House correspondent and bureau chief for the Talk
Radio News service. She is also Washington bureau chief and political editor
for Talkers Magazine. In addition, Ratner is a news analyst at the Fox News
Channel.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68974

DEA to answer queries on med-pot raids locally, statewide

2008-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

By Roger Phelps The Telegraph

A federal lawmaker concerned with medical-marijuana raids in El Dorado,
Sacramento and Placer counties has forced Drug Enforcement Administration
officials to answer questions in writing.

The written response could serve to prevent live Congressional hearings on
the propriety of the raids. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, has fielded numerous complaints and requests for
hearings on the matter, according to Conyers' April 29 letter to the DEA.

DEA spokesman Randy Payne said acting Director Michele Leonhart will answer
Conyers' questions, which generally ask for a cost-benefit analysis on the
California raids.

"We will respond to the congressman's request -- it is imminent," Payne
said.

Payne said he could not provide details until Conyers has the response.

Federal drug convictions have come against a total of five area residents,
and many more statewide, who claimed protection under the California
Compassionate Use Act. The 1996 voter initiative legalized growing marijuana
for use by medical patients. Around the state, a total of around 60
additional raids are also of concern, according to Conyers' letter. Conyers
requested a DEA response by July 1, and will get it, Payne said.

"I am writing to you because I have received a number of letters from
Californians, including mayors and city councils, expressing concerns about
DEA enforcement tactics, and urging me to hold oversight hearings in the
Judiciary Committee," Conyers wrote to Leonhart. "Please provide an
accounting of the costs, in dollars and resources, used to conduct
law-enforcement raids on the attached list of individuals."

He also questioned allocation of DEA resources away from combating the
domestic effects of international drug cartels.

DEA officials have maintained the federal Controlled Substances Act "trumps"
California's voter-passed legalization of medical marijuana. Controversy has
existed since Prop. 215 passed in 1996. A joint California Assembly and
Senate Resolution of Jan. 10 reads in part, "The Legislature respectfully
memorializes the President of the United States and the Congress to enact
legislation to require the Drug Enforcement Agency and all other federal
agencies ad departments to respect the compassionate-use laws of states."

Payne said DEA's general response to such requests is that it is DEA's "job
to enforce laws -- we don't apologize for it."

Elaine Roller, a volunteer at Medical Marijuana Caregivers of El Dorado
County, said she was pleased the DEA will respond to Conyers.

"What he wants is answers -- 'Can you justify this money? For raids? For
court time?'" Roller said. "This congressman has stood up and spoken the
truth."

Conyers' vocal opposition to several policies of the George W. Bush
administration is well publicized. Conyers May 30 said he supported a
nationwide movement for Bush's impeachment.

If Conyers elects to call hearings of the House Judiciary Committee on the
raids, DEA officials could be required to testify.

The DEA's response might or might not work to prevent House committee
hearings, said Jonathan Godfrey, Judiciary Committee spokesman.

"I'm not sure we'll know until we see the response," Godfrey said.

The Telegraph's Roger Phelps can be reached at rogerp@goldcountrymedia.com,
or post a comment at folsomtelegraph.com

http://www.edhtelegraph.com/detail/87804.html

Medical Marijuana Grow Lights Returned to Marlowes

2008-07-01T15:04:00.001-07:00

It takes a while to get into but this isn't California......... its NORTH CAROLINA!

Cowboy cop wants Drug War ended

2008-07-01T14:48:00.001-07:00

United States has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use... and more

2008-06-30T18:33:00.001-07:00

Public Library of Science

United States has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use... and
more

United States has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use

A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies
the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis
use. The study, by Louisa Degenhardt (University of New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia) and colleagues, is based on the World Health Organization's
Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and is published in this
week's PLoS Medicine.

The authors found that 16.2% of people in the United States had used cocaine
in their lifetime, a level much higher than any other country surveyed (the
second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3% of people
reported having used cocaine). Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4%),
followed by New Zealand (41.9%).

In the Americas, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, alcohol had been used by
the vast majority of survey participants, compared to smaller proportions in
the Middle East, Africa, and China.

The survey found differences in both legal and illegal drug use among
different socioeconomic groups. For example, males were more likely than
females to have used all drug types; younger adults were more likely than
older adults to have used all drugs examined; and higher income was related
to drug use of all kinds. Marital status was found to be related to tobacco,
cannabis, and cocaine use, but not alcohol use (the never married and
previously married having higher odds of lifetime cocaine and cannabis use
than the currently married; tobacco use is more likely in people who have
been previously married while less likely among the never married).

Drug use "does not appear to be simply related to drug policy," say the
authors, "since countries with more stringent policies towards illegal drug
use did not have lower levels of such drug use than countries with more
liberal policies." In the Netherlands, for example, which has more liberal
policies than the US, 1.9% of people reported cocaine use and 19.8% reported
cannabis use.

Data on drug use were available from 54,068 survey participants in 17
countries. The 17 countries were determined by the availability of research
collaborators and on funding for the survey. Trained lay interviewers
carried out face-to-face interviews (except in France where the interviews
were done over the telephone) using a standardized, structured diagnostic
interview for psychiatric conditions and drug use. Participants were asked
if they had ever used alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or cocaine.

The study's main limitations are that only 17 countries were surveyed,
within these countries there were different rates of participation, and it
is unclear whether people accurately report their drug use when interviewed.
Nevertheless, the findings present comprehensive data on the patterns of
drug use from national samples representing all regions of the world.

Citation: Degenhardt L, Chiu W-T, Sampson N, Kessler RC, Anthony JC, et al.
(2008) Toward a global view of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and cocaine use:
Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. PLoS Med 5(7): e141.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050141.

IN YOUR ARTICLE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE
PUBLISHED PAPER:
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050141

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE:
http://www.plos.org/press/plme-05-07-degenhardt.pdf

CONTACTS:
Louisa Degenhardt
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
University of New South Wales
Sydney, New South Wales 2052
Australia
+61 2 9385 0230
+61 2 9385 0222 (fax)
l.degenhardt@unsw.edu.au

David Cameron
Associate Director of Public Affairs
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02115
United States of America
+1 671 432 0441
David_cameron@hms.harvard.edu

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/plos-ush062608.php

HBO Documentary Films: Ganja Queen (HBO)

2008-06-30T12:20:00.001-07:00

HBO: Ganja Queen: Please watch this

2008-06-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

GANJA QUEEN

Rated TVMA: Adult Language, Adult Content, Mild Violence

Running Time: 91 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Imagine being on vacation and having ten pounds of marijuana found in
one of your bags. For Schapelle Corby, the nightmare became a reality
when she was accused of drug trafficking while in Bali. Proclaiming
her innocence, Corby becomes locked in a life-and-death courtroom
battle that would decide her fate. This harrowing film from director
Janine Hosking serves as a chilling reminder of the risks travelers
face when visiting countries with vastly different criminal justice
systems and cultural mores.

Director: Janine Hosking

New York Times: Your Brain Lies to You

2008-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

By SAM WANG and SANDRA AAMODT

FALSE beliefs are everywhere. Eighteen percent of
Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one
poll has found. Thus it seems slightly less egregious
that, according to another poll, 10 percent of us
think that Senator Barack Obama, a Christian, is
instead a Muslim. The Obama campaign has created a Web
site to dispel misinformation. But this effort may be
more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way
in which our brains store memories — and mislead us
along the way.

The brain does not simply gather and stockpile
information as a computer’s hard drive does. Facts are
stored first in the hippocampus, a structure deep in
the brain about the size and shape of a fat man’s
curled pinkie finger. But the information does not
rest there. Every time we recall it, our brain writes
it down again, and during this re-storage, it is also
reprocessed. In time, the fact is gradually
transferred to the cerebral cortex and is separated
from the context in which it was originally learned.
For example, you know that the capital of California
is Sacramento, but you probably don’t remember how you
learned it.

This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also
lead people to forget whether a statement is true.
Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people
often later remember it as true.

With time, this misremembering only gets worse. A
false statement from a noncredible source that is at
first not believed can gain credibility during the
months it takes to reprocess memories from short-term
hippocampal storage to longer-term cortical storage.
As the source is forgotten, the message and its
implications gain strength. This could explain why,
during the 2004 presidential campaign, it took some
weeks for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign
against Senator John Kerry to have an effect on his
standing in the polls.

Even if they do not understand the neuroscience behind
source amnesia, campaign strategists can exploit it to
spread misinformation. They know that if their message
is initially memorable, its impression will persist
long after it is debunked. In repeating a falsehood,
someone may back it up with an opening line like “I
think I read somewhere” or even with a reference to a
specific source.

In one study, a group of Stanford students was exposed
repeatedly to an unsubstantiated claim taken from a
Web site that Coca-Cola is an effective paint thinner.
Students who read the statement five times were nearly
one-third more likely than those who read it only
twice to attribute it to Consumer Reports (rather than
The National Enquirer, their other choice), giving it
a gloss of credibility.

Adding to this innate tendency to mold information we
recall is the way our brains fit facts into
established mental frameworks. We tend to remember
news that accords with our worldview, and discount
statements that contradict it.

In another Stanford study, 48 students, half of whom
said they favored capital punishment and half of whom
said they opposed it, were presented with two pieces
of evidence, one supporting and one contradicting the
claim that capital punishment deters crime. Both
groups were more convinced by the evidence that
supported their initial position.

Psychologists have suggested that legends propagate by
striking an emotional chord. In the same way, ideas
can spread by emotional selection, rather than by
their factual merits, encouraging the persistence of
falsehoods about Coke — or about a presidential
candidate.

Journalists and campaign workers may think they are
acting to counter misinformation by pointing out that
it is not true. But by repeating a false rumor, they
may inadvertently make it stronger. In its concerted
effort to “stop the smears,” the Obama campaign may
want to keep this in mind. Rather than emphasize that
Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, for instance, it may be
more effective to stress that he embraced Christianity
as a young man.

Consumers of news, for their part, are prone to
selectively accept and remember statements that
reinforce beliefs they already hold. In a replication
of the study of students’ impressions of evidence
about the death penalty, researchers found that even
when subjects were given a specific instruction to be
objective, they were still inclined to reject evidence
that disagreed with their beliefs.

In the same study, however, when subjects were asked
to imagine their reaction if the evidence had pointed
to the opposite conclusion, they were more open-minded
to information that contradicted their beliefs.
Apparently, it pays for consumers of controversial
news to take a moment and consider that the opposite
interpretation may be true.

In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the Supreme
Court wrote that “the best test of truth is the power
of the thought to get itself accepted in the
competition of the market.” Holmes erroneously assumed
that ideas are more likely to spread if they are
honest. Our brains do not naturally obey this
admirable dictum, but by better understanding the
mechanisms of memory perhaps we can move closer to
Holmes’s ideal.

Sam Wang, an associate professor of molecular biology
and neuroscience at Princeton, and Sandra Aamodt, a
former editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, are the
authors of “Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your
Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other
Puzzles of Everyday Life.”

New York Times
June 27, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Your Brain Lies to You

SECRET RAIDS NOT TOO SECRET

2008-06-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

A trickle of rumors that started on anonymous blogs in recent weeks was mostly discounted as a hoax by many of the hundreds of people who commented on the posts' warning that a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency action was on the way.

Tuesday's raids, which brought a small army of federal agents who said they were here to bust a single organized marijuana-growing operation focused mostly in Southern Humboldt, weren't the swarm of agents rumored to have been planning a crackdown on large-scale medical marijuana grow houses and pot dispensaries in Arcata this week.

But it was close.

Wherever the anonymous information on the Humboldt Herald blog came from, the timing and accuracy of the anonymous tips turned out to be surprisingly accurate -- as the federal official who confirmed the operation Tuesday admitted.

"There was some accuracy to the rumors and the dates were pinned down pretty well," said FBI Special Agent Joseph Schadler Tuesday.

But as the tempo of the rumors picked up pace last week, an in-depth story effort launched by The Eureka Reporter staff to verify the rumors proved difficult, as many local law enforcement agencies didn't respond to calls and comments from federal agencies left more questions than answers.

Calls to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office were directed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in San Francisco.

On Friday, FBI spokesperson Patti Hansen wouldn't confirm or deny that agents would be in Humboldt County this week, although DEA officials told KMUD radio station that the DEA was planning training exercises in northern Mendocino County set for this week, including flyover missions that might cross over into Humboldt County.

"Our DEA is conducting annual training in the area next week," said DEA spokesperson Casey McEnry in an interview Friday. The DEA regularly comes to the area to train with other agencies.

As to what agencies would participate in the training exercises, McEnry said she wasn't sure which ones planned to attend.

When asked whether the DEA planned to investigate or conduct raids on "grow houses" in the area, McEnry said it planned to conduct "aerial observation" training exercises.

"Whatever comes of that, I don't know," she said, adding the agency couldn't disclose that kind of information anyway.

In Arcata -- whose marijuana grow houses have been in the spotlight of recent national media attention -- rumors of an impending drug raid spread throughout the community.

At some of the four known medical marijuana dispensaries within Arcata city limits, employees were reluctant to comment to questions about the rumored raid.

A moratorium on marijuana growing prevents the dispensaries from growing their own plants.

The issue of illegal marijuana grow houses in Arcata came to a head in fall 2007, when several house fires were a direct result of indoor marijuana grow scenes.

In subsequent months, the Arcata City Council and its Planning Commission struggled to find remedies that appeased marijuana advocates and opponents.

+++

Feds in Humboldt County -- There's precedent

This week's operation that brought 450 federal officers to the county wasn't the first time federal law enforcement agents made an impressive showing in Humboldt County to target marijuana with large-scale, coordinated operations.

A surprise, nearly two-week-long marijuana eradication raid in July 1990, called "Operation Green Sweep," by an estimated 200 California National Guard soldiers and Bureau of Land Management agents sealed off approximately 640 acres in the King Range National Conservation Area, according to archived Times-Standard articles.

It was reportedly the first operation of its kind in U.S. history in which the military assisted in marijuana eradication.

It was reported that the raids were part of a national effort by then-President George H.W. Bush to convince Colombian leaders -- skeptical of U.S. troops efforts to eradicate drugs in their country - -- that the U.S. was serious about eradicating drugs at home.

Residents who witnessed the raids reportedly reacted with outrage and anger at the armed soldiers who pointed rifles at residents, which led to a lawsuit by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project that resulted in guidelines for drug eradication in Northern California.

The operation netted 11 arrests and 1,408 marijuana plants worth $4.2 million.

Another visit by the DEA in 2003 as part of "Operation Pipedreams" and "Operation Headhunter" targeted vendors who sold drug paraphernalia across state lines via the Internet, which led to the arrest of three Arcata businessmen who owned 101 North Glass Inc.

+++

Federal laws trump state marijuana laws

Pulling out a 215 card won't protect marijuana growers under the federal government's laws.

When California voters passed Proposition 215 -- also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 -- it allowed medical marijuana patients to use "up to three pounds of marijuana per year" and to grow up to 99 indoor or outdoor plants at one time.

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered setbacks for the state's medical marijuana users in 2001 when it upheld in a ruling that "given the absence of medical usefulness, medical necessity is not a defense to marijuana prosecution" and again in 2005 when it upheld that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana patients regardless of a state's compassionate use laws.

While marijuana is classified federally as a Schedule I substance, which means it is listed as having high potential for abuse and no medicinal value, the county's lead law enforcement official takes a different stance.

"The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office will not prosecute patients whose use and possession of medical marijuana are within these guidelines," the District Attorney's Office's Health and Safety Code prosecution guidelines state.

But the district attorney's policy does warn about potential consequences from other agencies.

"Persons using or considering the use of marijuana, its possession, transportation or recommendation must be aware that the policies of other counties may differ," the document stated. "More significantly, the federal government and other states criminalize marijuana and all activities associated with its possession, cultivation, use, transportation, distribution and sale."

+++

Grower, landlord find common ground

Although they may have different opinions on the enforcement of marijuana laws, a local landlord and a local marijuana grower have at least one thing in common -- both think grow houses are a big problem in Arcata.

For the landlord just outside Arcata's city limits -- LaVina Collenberg -- the possibility of DEA agents raiding grow houses in Arcata might be a good thing.

She said she had never had any issues with marijuana personally until one day she realized she had been duped.

A house she thought she had rented to be a home for a young couple and their baby was not that at all, but was being used exclusively for growing a large amount of marijuana.

That grow operation caused a fire last September, and since the couple's marijuana 215 cards were taped to a wall in the home, local authorities could not pursue any charges against the renters -- leaving an unsuspecting Collenberg with a bill for $55,000 in damages that her house insurance covered.

But if federal agents had discovered the grow operation first, Collenberg said her former renters would not have gotten away with the damage they caused to her property.

"I don't think we can handle it ourselves; it's not being done," Collenberg said. "I'm not against anyone smoking marijuana, but when they do it for profit and hurt people, it's horrible. It's all about greed and money and they don't care who they hurt."

An Arcata marijuana grower -- who wished to remain anonymous for legal reasons -- agreed that grow houses are a problem, but not one that the DEA should stick its nose in.

"The DEA going around busting people for small marijuana grows is not different than the government busting people for making liquor in the 1920s," the grower said. "It's not working; it's making no productive change. It's not the gateway drug to the problems it is proposed to cause."

The grower, who is also a 215 card holder, said she was not worried about being targeted by a raid, since she grows a small number of plants in a 10-by-6-foot room in her home and sells excess plants to a medical marijuana dispensary for approximately $1,000 per month.

"There's nothing about my situation that would cause a person to wonder what's going on," she said of the grow inside her residence. "If I were in a position that the PG&E bill was astronomical, the windows were covered and the neighbors were irritated -- which I know to be the case to many in Arcata -- I think it would lead the DEA to your door."

Ultimately, the grower said she thought the local community could figure out its troubles with marijuana itself and that if marijuana were legal, there would be no need for the DEA to come for a visit in the first place.

"Maybe I'm old fashioned," Collenberg said about her stance on grow houses. "I just don't think it's right."

+++

Burning down the houses

John McFarland, Arcata Fire Protection District chief, poses just one question with regard to the issue: If growing marijuana is so legitimate, why is it done so sneakily?

"Everyone knows if you want a 215 card which doctor you go to," McFarland said. "The issue of medical marijuana is controversial, but we're looking at the safety standpoint of it."

Residential fires in which marijuana grows were contributing factor or were present have been on the rise in the past two to three years, McFarland said.

"We are trying to build realistic statistics," he said. "It's easily half of our structural fires, but our intentions are to come up with realistic numbers instead of wild guesses."

McFarland says he doesn't have an issue with medical marijuana, but when his firefighters' safety is at risk due to the conditions of the home, he's not so easygoing.

In some cases, firefighters' efforts have been obstructed by "severe locks, and even concealed or secret doors," McFarland said. "We've had to take out a window, only to find that six inches behind the drapes is another wall," he said. "The alterations are done behind the scenes and not appropriately -- it's just flat luck that they don't burn the house down the first day."

In two home fires this year, McFarland said propane and butane canisters were present.

"If it was to detonate, it's going to level the structure and severely damage and harm the neighbors' homes," McFarland said. "And it has implications of a fatal outcome for the firefighters -- this is where the fire chief gets concerned."

+++

An 'Eye' on growing marijuana

Like many Humboldt County residents who have watched the blogs, Arcata Eye Publisher and Editor Kevin Hoover said last week he was "waiting for the big bust-olla to happen."

Hoover, who runs Arcata's weekly newspaper, has felt the brunt of some residents' anger recently, as he has given considerable coverage to the pot issues over the past year -- even sending letters to homeowners of suspected illegal grow houses.

"This has put the fear of God into the existing paradigm here," he said.

Since Hoover started sending "Dear Growhouse Owner" letters in mid-May, he's received both praise and death threats. In the past two weeks, four local businesses pulled their advertisements from the paper.

But Hoover, who showed a New York Times reporter a suspected grow house and was interviewed by various national media outlets, said he's simply doing what he loves -- his job.

"I'm just asking questions," he said. "This has predictably been misconstrued and interpreted."

The letter informs the recipient that their house may be a grow house and that neighbors are concerned, Hoover said. "They give me an address, I look up the property owner and I send the property owner a letter," he said. "I simply report a fact -- your neighbors are worried about pot."

Hoover has received mixed reactions, but most homeowners have been thankful, he said. "Three-fourths of the people who own the houses have called me and said thanks," he said. "I've heard from three people who are very unhappy with me."

The national media attention has put him in the spotlight and angered some, but Hoover said he just did what he'd want his sources to do -- talk.

"When I call somebody in my job as a reporter, I'd like them to answer my questions," he said.

As far as pot smoking, Hoover could care less.

"We all just wish it was legalized," he said.

But when marijuana cultivation, under the guise of the 215 law, brings crime into neighborhoods, Hoover's had enough.

"I don't see how protecting this organized crime business protects medical marijuana," Hoover said. "It's corporate now; it's big business."

+++

Politics of marijuana

Arcata City Councilmember Harmony Groves supported Proposition 215 when it appeared on the ballot in 1999 and said she doesn't think the federal government should regulate marijuana grows in Arcata.

But Groves said she recognizes that marijuana cultivation in Arcata is a problem and that she knows of residential neighborhoods where there are no houses available to rent because they are used to grow marijuana.

She said she doesn't think that's a good thing, but she doesn't want the federal government to roll into town and uproot people's lives either.

For her, the pot dispensaries and the grow houses are the responsibility of Arcata and Humboldt County, not the federal government.

"It will be unfortunate if the DEA comes into town," she said.

Arcata City Councilmember Paul Pitino, who said the city is making progress addressing the grow house issue, thinks the number of grow houses being circulated by officials and media is exaggerated.

"A sheet covers a window," he said, "and then you have a grow house."

Councilmember Michael Machi said he doesn't have a problem with 215 patients converting small sections of homes to grow medical marijuana, but he does take issue with houses that are used for growing and selling.

"It ruins the housing market," he said, and takes away housing for students.

Machi agreed the numbers of grow houses in the city may not be accurate, but said he doesn't want to downplay the severity of the situation.

"It's an issue that we can deal with through our zoning regulations," he said. "Even if it's only a few hundred of them -- which is a lot - -- it's going to take awhile to clean up that mess."

Machi said he wants people to come to Arcata for what the city has done for the Arcata Marsh, the community forest or the trail system.

"I don't want Arcata to be famous for supposedly being taken over for marijuana grows," he said.

+++

PG&E not lighting up grow houses for feds

Among the speculations circulating ahead of the raids was that Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which supplies power to the homes suspected of growing marijuana, tipped off the police to which houses held the biggest grows.

A PG&E official said last week that short of a court order, the utility company would not go out of its way to provide information to anyone or to police.

PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris said she was unaware of the Arcata grow house controversy that had attracted national media attention until she received an unusual flurry of Humboldt County media inquiries last week.

Morris said PG&E is not a law enforcement agency and it doesn't investigate a customer's unusual or increased electricity usage, and she was adamant that the company doesn't share its customer information with the public.

"We truly respect our customers' privacy," Morris said. "We take that very seriously."

While it wouldn't volunteer customer usage information to another person or police, Morris said, PG&E is required under state and federal laws to cooperate with law enforcement agencies if the utility company is subpoenaed or a search warrant is served.

Morris said she hadn't heard anything about any such a subpoena related to Arcata's grow houses, but acknowledged that information wouldn't necessarily be known or available for release.

But with the increased focus by the media, and the considerable misinformation propagating on area Internet blogs, Morris said there are concerns at PG&E over the safety of its workers who live in the community and are responsible for walking door to door to read residences' meters.

"Our first concern is our employees," Morris said.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n615/a03.html
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
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Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jun 2008
Source: Eureka Reporter, The (CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Eureka Reporter
Contact: editor@eurekareporter.com
Website: http://www.eurekareporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3289
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FEDS LAUNCH MASSIVE POT STING

2008-06-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

FEDS LAUNCH MASSIVE POT STING

Agents Sweep SoHum Commercial Grows

Motorcades of government SUVs poured through Humboldt County communities Tuesday as hundreds of federal and state agents began their search for commercial marijuana growing operations in a multi-day investigation the FBI has dubbed "Operation Southern Sweep."

The bureau's spokesman Joseph Schadler reported 450 agents with several federal agencies would be serving search warrants and collecting evidence on properties where "corporate marijuana growing operations" were suspected.

On Tuesday morning, at the operation's command center in Fortuna's River Lodge parking lot, Schadler said 27 search warrants would be executed over the course of the day, and two more are expected later this week.

He said he could not discuss what properties agents raided Tuesday, or which they had yet to investigate.

Medical marijuana dispensaries and 215 patients would not be targeted by the investigation, Schadler said. The Humboldt Cooperative, a medical marijuana dispensary in Arcata, said Tuesday evening that federal agents had not interfered with business.

"We're not here to set policy or interfere with California's compassionate use laws," Schadler said. The FBI is investigating "for-profit and corporate grow operations beyond the scope of 215."

Those alleged for-profit growing operations total some 2,000 acres of outdoor cultivation, spread across Southern Humboldt and Northern Mendocino counties, Schadler Advertisement said. Additionally, at least one home in Arcata was raided.

Federal agents on the scene of the stings were tight-lipped about their work and would not answer media questions; however the agents were observed searching properties throughout the county.

Early Tuesday, Arcata police stood ready to assist as federal agents served one search warrant at a house on Virginia Way in Sunny Brae. The federal agents carried grow lights and other equipment, as well as boxes and bags filled with evidence, into the front yard.

In Shelter Cove, at least two homes were broken into by authorities - -- the damaged front doors scarred by police battering rams.

In the front yard of a house outside Whitethorn, a pile of uprooted marijuana plants was stacked next to rows of grow lights, a computer and an assortment of growing equipment. One agent stood in the doorway of the house, holding a clear plastic bag filled with cash, as other agents scoured the house for other evidence.

Schadler said investigators would be taking DNA evidence, seizing weapons and chopping plants as part of their evidence gathering.

Individuals suspected of involvement in the alleged growing operations were not part of Tuesday's sting, as the agencies were focused on collecting evidence and building cases against possible growers, Schadler said. But he anticipates "seeing charges later on down the line."

Although Schadler said agents were not interested in making arrests, one man was taken into police custody after reportedly assaulting an officer. Schadler said he did not know if charges would be filed.

The operation -- a result of a two-year-long investigation instigated by the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement -- started around 7 a.m. Tuesday when convoys of SUVs left the hotel parking lot.

The parking lot was transformed into a make-shift mission control center for the teams. A gray RV-sized vehicle, adorned with a radio tower and satellite, was parked in front of the hotel, and fed information to personnel on laptops and satellite phones inside.

The River Lodge was off-limits to the public, and inside numerous government agents could be seen circulating through the building throughout the day.

Schadler said agents would be in the area for "a couple days," and a hotel clerk reported their rooms have been booked through Friday.

The personnel involved are part of an alphabet soup of government agencies, which include the Bureau of Narcotics, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

Local authorities like California Highway Patrol and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office also aided in the investigation.

Sheriff Lt. George Cavinta said six deputies assisted federal agents, providing logistical information.

"It's a very rural country that they're into," he said. "You're taking a large amount of metropolitan agents and getting them adjusted to the setting in Humboldt County."

The Sheriff's Office reported it was not involved with any of the 29 warrants issued for the operation.

Schadler said he could not discuss what evidence allowed them to attain the search warrants.

In some cases, warrants have been obtained by local law enforcement using Pacific Gas and Electric Co. records to find the houses drawing noticeably more electricity off the grid, which often indicates marijuana grows.

PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris said the company never volunteers records of any customers, but it must cooperate if authorities present search warrants.

Major sting targets commercial grow op

2008-06-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

Times-Standard
Article Launched: 06/24/2008 10:08:38 AM PDT

More than 400 federal and state agents executed search warrants in Southern
Humboldt and Arcata today, part of an investigation into what the FBI
described as a major commercial marijuana operation.

About eight FBI agents serving a search warrant at a house on Virginia Way
just outside Arcata this morning were looking through apparent grow lights,
tubing, boxes and bags. They refused to talk to the media.

Several warrants were also served in Southern Humboldt, including on
Briceland Thorne Road. A checkpoint staffed with assault-rifle toting agents
was reportedly set up at Alderpoint and Harris roads. Convoys of agency
vehicles poured through several communities in Southern Humboldt.

The agencies were staging out of the River Lodge in Fortuna.

FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler said that agents with the FBI and the state
were collecting evidence through 27 federal and two state warrants as part
of a two-year investigation into a major marijuana cultivation and
distribution operation.

"We're looking at a single group of folks," Schadler said.

Schadler said that the operation is not targeting at medical marijuana
grows.

Warrants were being served on both indoor and outdoor growing operations,
Schadler said, and the outdoor operations totaled some 2,000 acres. The U.S.
Postal Service and Internal Revenue Service were also participating. Law
enforcement does not plan to file charges against anyone at this stage, he
said. Agents will continue to search the properties for hours or even days,
he said.

Asked if agents had encountered resistance from the targets of the
investigation, Schadler said he believed "everything went off without a
hitch."

George Carlin on Death - RIP

2008-06-23T15:57:00.001-07:00