• Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    The Beatles Call For The Legalisation Of Marijuana

    9.00am, Monday 24 July 1967 (43 years ago)

    A full-page advertisement appeared in The Times newspaper on this day, signed by 64 of the most prominent members of British society, which called for the legalisation of marijuana. Among the signatories were The Beatles and Brian Epstein.

    The advertisement was instigated as a response to the nine-month prison sentence for possession received on 1 June 1967 by John Hopkins, founder of International Times, the UFO Club and the 24 Hour Technicolour Dream. The following day an emergency meeting was held at the Indica Bookshop, during which Steve Abrams of drug-research organisation SOMA suggested bringing the issue into public debate by running a full-page advertisement.

    Abrams agreed to organise the signatures, but the question of financing the advertisement proved temporarily problematic. None of The Beatles were present at the Indica, but the bookshop’s co-owner Barry Miles telephoned Paul McCartney, who agreed to finance the advertisement.

    On 3 June Miles and Abrams visited McCartney’s house in Cavendish Avenue. McCartney listened to the plans, told Abrams that all The Beatles and Epstein would put their names to it, and told them how to contact the rest of the group for their signatures.

    On 23 July, the day before publication, the ad was mentioned in The Sunday Times’ Atticus column, written by Philip Oates. Behind the scenes, however, The Times’ advertising manager, R Grant Davidson, nervously insisted on checking that all the people had indeed agreed for their names to be associated with the article.

    Davidson also insisted on advance payment. Steve Abrams contacted Peter Brown at Brian Epstein’s office, and shortly afterwards received a personal cheque for £1,800 made out to The Times. At the time the amount was twice the average annual wage.

    Although McCartney had wanted to keep the funding a secret, in fear of negative publicity, it soon proved impossible. The day after the advertisement appeared, the information appeared in the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary.

    Within a week of its appearance, the advertisement led to questions being asked in the House of Commons, and began a public debate which eventually led to liberalisation in the laws against cannabis use in Britain.

    ADVERTISEMENT
    This advertisement is sponsored by SOMA*
    The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net - International

    Comedic Immunity

    A Canadian newspaper chain has taken exception to Cheech and Chong criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his regressive cannabis policies.

    CHEECH AND CHONG, JUST SAY SO LONG

    It’s not an exhaustive list, but here are some things Canada needs, followed by something that this country does not need.

    Canada needs to return to its budding glory as a world leader in aerospace technology. When the Avro Arrow was cancelled in the 1950s, many of our best aerospace engineers and technicians followed the jobs to the U.S. It has not significantly turned around yet.

    [snip]

    Canada also needs a continued sense of self-worth. It has been growing of late, for which we can thank the 2010 Olympics, international success of our athletes, comedians, actors and musicians, financial stability in the midst of a global economic crisis, and worldwide humanitarian aid – again, well out of proportion to our population. There’s more, but here’s something we do not need: Americans offering us unsolicited advice.

    We don’t need Hilary Clinton telling us what our military obligations are in Afghanistan. We made our commitment, we’ve lived up to it, we stated our case and we’re leaving next year.

    [snip]

    And we don’t need a couple of stoners ( Tommy Chong, who is originally from Edmonton, and American Cheech Marin ), addicts or not, holding what can only be described as a “bitchfest” to gripe about Canada’s rules regarding marijuana.

    That anyone would come here and insult our national leader shows a gross lack of respect for a sovereign nation of which he is not a part. Marin was a guest for a comedy show in Montreal but he used the opportunity to insult the entire country. Whether we took offence or not ( and many wouldn’t ) doesn’t change the fact that it was crass and disrespectful.

    Canadians have long been criticized of having low self-esteem.

    Accepting such rudeness indicates the criticism is just.

    What gives them the right?

    It’s a secondary matter whether or not you like Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The office itself demands a certain amount of respect and if Canadians want to breach that standard, that’s our right because we’re citizens and we vote and we live here.

    But for anyone else to insult our leaders, our politics, our laws, our culture, well, that we don’t need.

    Here’s a map. Go home.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n573/a06.html

    Of course, it is not as though Canadian comedians who have gained international success have not cashed in on making fun of U.S. leaders, politics, laws and culture. See for example Rick Mercer talking to Americans.

    Or Canadian talk show hosts prank calling Sarah Palin.

    When did political leaders become immune from critics, comedians and satirists from other countries?

    Of course, Canadians do not like being bullied by Americans, but Cheech and Chong are comedians, and they did not insult Canadians or Canadian culture. American Cheech Marin called Harper a “douchebag” for trying to import U.S. drug policies, while Canadian Tommy Chong implied that Harper is a G.W. Bush wannabe, and they are right. When it comes to drug policy, Harper is an international embarrassment, and Canadians deserve to be reminded of that, especially by Americans.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - International

    When did Canada go from laid-back to straight-laced on marijuana policy?

    by Marc-Boris St.-Maurice Founder, Bloc Pot and the Marijuana Party of Canada.

    I can totally understand why legendary stoner comedians Cheech and Chong might be tempted to take a shot at Harper. OK, I think calling the prime minister a “douchebag” is overly harsh language – I always thought you could catch more flies with honey – but as actors they can get away with it.

    Of course, the real irony here is that they are not “acting” one bit. However crass the comment, it could not have been more sincere. In 2003, Chong and his son were arrested for the interstate distribution of drug paraphernalia – their company “Chong Glass” had been selling pipes and bongs with the icon’s image on them. Chong pleaded guilty and served nine months in jail to save his son from prosecution.

    Prior to the arrest, Tommy was somewhat vocal about legalization, but since his stint in the joint, he has become a full-blown activist. His show has gone from comedy classics to political theatre. Adversity breeds activism, and going to jail certainly qualifies as adverse.

    But when did Canada go from laid-back-ganja-cool to button-down-straight-laced?

  • Cannabis & Hemp - What You Can Do

    Stop Michele Leonhart

    The DEA has raided five medical marijuana providers in the past few weeks. DEA acting administrator Michele Leonhart is out of control, and it’s time to demand a response from President Obama. Tell the president that he needs to find a DEA administrator who respects patients’ rights and local sovereignty.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    The Link Between Marijuana and Schizophrenia

    By Maia Szalavitz

    Since the days of Reefer Madness, scientists have sought to understand the complex connection between marijuana and psychosis. Cannabis can cause short-term psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations and paranoia, even in healthy people, but researchers have also long noted a link between marijuana use and the chronic psychotic disorder, schizophrenia.

    Repeatedly, studies have found that people with schizophrenia are about twice as likely to smoke pot as those who are unaffected. Conversely, data suggest that those who smoke cannabis are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as nonsmokers. One widely publicized 2007 review of the research even concluded that trying marijuana just once was associated with a 40% increase in risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    Hemp History

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 7-17-10

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 7-17-10. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2982

    Question of the Week: What is hemp’s history in United States?

    A 2000 report from the United States Department of Agriculture recounted,

    “The first records of hemp cultivation and use are from China, where the species most likely originated. Migrating peoples likely brought hemp to Europe where, by the 16th century, it was widely distributed, cultivated for fiber, and the seed cooked with barley or other grains and eaten.”

    “The Puritans brought hemp to New England in 1645 as a fiber source for household spinning and weaving … Cultivation spread to Virginia and, in 1775, to Kentucky, where the crop grew so well a commercial cordage industry developed. The hemp industry flourished in Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois between 1840 and 1860 because of strong demand for sailcloth and cordage by the U.S. Navy.”

    For her article in the 2009 UCLA Law Review, Christine Kolosov, reported,

    “So important was hemp to the earliest settlers that in 1619, the Jamestown colony passed a law making it illegal not to grow the crop. Colonies in Massachusetts and Connecticut passed similar laws in 1631 and 1632. The first drafts of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were both penned on hemp paper, and hemp cultivation continued well into the twentieth century as patriotic farmers responded to the government’s call by drastically increasing production during World War I and World War II.”

    But according to the USDA,

    “Production peaked in 1943 and 1944. After the war, production rapidly declined as imports resumed and legal restrictions were reimposed. A small hemp fiber industry continued in Wisconsin until 1958.”

    These facts and others like them can be found in the Hemp chapter of Drug War Facts.org.

    Questions concerning these or other facts concerning drug policy can be e-mailed to [email protected].

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US CA: OPED: Decriminalize Marijuana: It’s Far Less Harmful

    Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
    Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jul 2010
    Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
    Webpage: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_15525522
    Copyright: 2010 San Jose Mercury News
    Contact: [email protected]
    Author: Larry A. Bedard, MD
    Note: Larry A. Bedard, MD, is past president of the American College
    of Emergency Medicine and is a California Medical Association
    delegate. He wrote this article for this newspaper.
    Cited: Proposition 19 http://www.taxcannabis.org/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+19

    DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA: IT’S FAR LESS HARMFUL THAN ALCOHOL

    The California Medical Association in October declared the
    criminalization of marijuana to be a failed public health policy. Its
    assessment is appropriate.

    Marijuana prohibition is a classic case of the so-called cure
    (criminalization) being worse than the disease (the private
    recreational use of marijuana).

    Consider the questionable efficacy of our present policy. Forty-three
    percent of Americans over the age of 12 admit to having used
    marijuana, and nearly one in 10 Californians use it now. At an
    estimated $15 billion, marijuana is California’s largest cash crop.

    Now let’s consider the costs of prohibition. In the Golden State,
    taxpayers spend $300 million annually to arrest and prosecute 60,000
    people — largely Latinos and African-Americans — for possessing
    minor, recreational amounts of marijuana. Prohibition is also
    empowering drug cartels, particularly criminal enterprises in Mexico,
    which now reap between 60 percent and 70 percent of their total
    revenue from the exportation of marijuana to America and threaten to
    turn Mexico into a “narco” state.

    [snip]

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n561.a06.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy

    US OR: Crime, Medical Marijuana Initiatives Qualify for Ballot

    Pubdate: Sat, 17 Jul 2010
    Source: Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/YNoZGytL
    Copyright: 2010 Statesman Journal
    Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/QEzJupzz
    Author: Peter Wong, Statesman Journal
    Cited: http://www.coalitionforpatientsrights2010.com/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

    CRIME, MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVES QUALIFY FOR BALLOT

    Both Receive Enough Signatures for Voters’consideration Nov. 2

    Oregonians will vote Nov. 2 on mandatory prison time for repeat
    felony sex offenders and drunken drivers, and state licensing of
    dispensaries for purchases of medical marijuana.

    Secretary of State Kate Brown announced Friday that both had obtained
    more than the 82,769 signatures required to qualify them for the ballot.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n560.a04.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    Column: Legalized Pot? Like Getting Bonged in the Head

    Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jul 2010
    Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/H11qQ2tj
    Copyright: 2010 PG Publishing Co., Inc.
    Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/pm4R4dI4
    Author: Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Cited: Proposition 19 http://www.taxcannabis.org/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+19
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis – United States)
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

    LEGALIZED POT? LIKE GETTING BONGED IN THE HEAD

    In November, Californians will have the opportunity to vote on a
    ballot initiative legalizing all marijuana use, whether medicinal or not.

    According to the latest poll of likely California voters, Proposition
    19 will pass. This will put the Obama administration in an awkward position.

    The federal government is already suing Arizona for its recently
    enacted immigration law. What will the Obama Justice Department do
    when a state goes rogue by establishing its own rules when it comes
    to licensing and taxing the sale of weed?

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0441.html