Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2010
Subject: #450 Proposition 19 Could End Mexico’s Drug War

PROPOSITION 19 COULD END MEXICO’S DRUG WAR

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #450 – Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Today the Washington Post printed the OPED below which provides a view
of Proposition 19 from south of the border.

Your letters to the editor will let the newspaper know you appreciate
the newspaper’s providing readers with this viewpoint.

Proposition 19 news clippings may be found at http://mapinc.org/find?272

The Proposition 19 website is at http://yeson19.com/

Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010
Subject: #449 Just Say No To The Drug Czars

JUST SAY NO TO THE DRUG CZARS

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #449 – Wednesday, August 25nd, 2010

Today the Los Angeles Times printed the opinion of drug czars, past
and present.

As drug czars are required to do by law they selected their “facts”
for their propaganda effect.

Your letters to the editor will let the newspaper know that there are
other valid views.

Proposition 19 news clippings may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+19

Please note the new Proposition 19 website at http://yeson19.com/ –
and please do whatever you can to support the effort.

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Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)

Page: A17

Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times

Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/bc7El3Yo

Authors: Gil Kerlikowske, John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown,
Bob Martinez, William Bennett

Note: This commentary was written by Gil Kerlikowske, John Walters,
Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez and William Bennett,
directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the
administrations of Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and
George H.W. Bush.

CALIFORNIA SHOULD JUST SAY NO

Legalizing Marijuana Through Prop. 19 Would Only Add to the State’s
Problems.

Californians will face an important decision in November when they
vote on whether to legalize marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 19,
the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, rely on two main
arguments: that legalizing and taxing marijuana would generate
much-needed revenue, and that legalization would allow law enforcement
to focus on other crimes. As experts in the field of drug policy,
policing, prevention, education and treatment, we can report that
neither of these claims withstand scrutiny.

No country in the world has legalized marijuana to the extent
envisioned by Proposition 19, so it is impossible to predict precisely
the consequences of wholesale legalization. We can say with near
certainty, however, that marijuana use would increase if it were
legal, because some people now abstain simply because it is illegal.

We also know that increased use brings increased social
costs.

Proponents of marijuana legalization often point to Amsterdam’s
“coffee shop” marijuana sales, rarely mentioning that the Dutch have
dramatically reduced what at one time were thousands of shops to only
a few hundred — after being inundated with “drug tourists,”
drug-related organized crime involvement and public nuisance problems.
During the period of marijuana commercialization and expansion, there
was a tripling of lifetime use rates and a more than doubling of
past-month use among 18- to 20-year-olds, according to independent
research.

Closer to home, in a nationally representative roadside survey, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 8% of
nighttime weekend drivers tested positive for marijuana. The vast
majority were tested using an oral swab procedure that makes it highly
unlikely that the use occurred more than four hours prior.

A 2004 meta-analysis published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review
of studies conducted in several localities showed that between 4% and
14% of drivers who sustained injuries or died in traffic accidents
tested positive for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana. Because marijuana negatively affects drivers’
judgment, motor skills and reaction time, it stands to reason that
legalizing marijuana would lead to more accidents and fatalities
involving drivers under its influence.

Regarding the supposed economic benefits of taxing marijuana, some
comparison with two drugs that are already regulated and taxed —
alcohol and tobacco — is worth considering. People don’t typically
grow their own tobacco or distill their own spirits, so consumers
accept high taxes on them as retail products. Marijuana, though, is
easy and cheap to cultivate, indoors or out, and Proposition 19 would
allow individuals to grow as much as 25 square feet of marijuana for
“personal consumption.”

Why would people volunteer to pay high taxes on marijuana if it were
legalized? The answer is that many would not, and the underground
market, adapting to undercut any new taxes, would barely diminish at
all.

The current healthcare and criminal justice costs associated with
alcohol and tobacco far surpass the tax revenue they generate, and
very little of the taxes collected on these substances is contributed
to offsetting their substantial social and health costs. For every
dollar society collects in taxes on alcohol, for example, we end up
spending eight more in social costs. That is hardly a recipe for
fiscal health.

A recent Rand Corp. report, “Altered State,” found that it is
difficult to predict estimated revenue from marijuana taxes, and that
legalization would increase consumption but could also lead to
widespread tax evasion and a “race to the bottom” in terms of local
tax rates.

Another pro-legalization argument is that it would free up law
enforcement resources to concentrate on “real” crimes. Two of us are
former police chiefs, who in our combined careers protected five of
America’s largest cities, including New York, Houston and Seattle, and
served as elected heads of the nation’s largest professional police
associations. We interacted with tens of thousands of officers, and it
is our experience that an overwhelming majority of police
professionals does not support legalizing marijuana.

Law enforcement officers do not currently focus much effort on
arresting adults whose only crime is possessing small amounts of
marijuana. This proposition would burden them with new and complicated
enforcement duties. The proposition would require officers to enforce
laws against “ingesting or smoking marijuana while minors are
present.” Would this apply in a private home? And is a minor “present”
if they are 15 feet away, or 20? Perhaps California law enforcement
officers will be required to carry tape measures next to their handcuffs.

As should be evident, despite the millions spent on marketing the
idea, legalized marijuana can’t solve California’s budget crisis or
reduce criminal justice costs. Our combined opposition to this
ill-considered scheme spans four different administrations and
represents the collective wisdom of a former secretary of Education, a
governor, a mayor and teacher, an Army general, a drug policy
researcher and two police chiefs. Our opposition to legalizing
marijuana is grounded not in ideology but in facts and experience.

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Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

For the latest facts about marijuana please see http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53

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Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist
www.mapinc.org

=.

Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010
Subject: #448 California’s Proposition 19

CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 19

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #448 – Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Today the San Francisco Chronicle printed two OPEDs.

The first ‘Californians Must Look at Science of Marijuana’
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n677/a08.html is interesting for
what is not disclosed. It is by an addiction therapist. The
therapeutic community has a vested interest in continuing the current
system. About half of all users in therapy are there because of their
marijuana use. Of those, over 40% are there from court referrals —
they take therapy as a preferred alternative to jail whether they need
it or not. Many of the others are there because their parents’ health
insurance will buy therapy as an alternative to being expelled from
school or referred to the juvenile justice system.

The second ‘Legalizing Marijuana Is Bad For California’
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n679.a06.html is by Susan
Manheimer, the president of the California Police Chiefs Association.
There is more spin and propaganda in the OPED than we can count.

Your letters to the editor about either or both are invited.

Opinion items are always good letter targets. They are MAP archived
at http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm

The same applies to Proposition 19 items which may be found at
http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+19

Please check out the new Proposition 19 website at http://yeson19.com/
– and please do whatever you can to support the effort.

We have started a list of who appears to be for and against
Proposition 19 based on MAP’s news clippings.

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FOR

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union

The National Black Police Association

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union

The California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

The Drug Policy Alliance Network

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

The American Civil Liberties Union

The Courage Campaign

Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former United States Surgeon General

The Cannabis Consumers Campaign

DRCNet

DrugSense

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Marijuana Policy Project

Citizens Opposing Prohibition

The California Black Chamber of Commerce

Retired Orange County Judge James Gray

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AGAINST

The California Chamber of Commerce

The California Police Chiefs Association

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

Mexican Marijuana Trafficking Organizations

The California Narcotics Officer’s Association

Gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer

The California League of Cities

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Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

For the latest facts about marijuana please see
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53

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Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010
Subject: #447 Who’s The Dope?

WHO’S THE DOPE?

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #447 – Thursday, August 19th, 2010

The cities of Denver and Seattle as well as a number of smaller cities
have made use or possession of small amounts of marijuana their lowest
law enforcement priority.

This November the second largest city in the heartland may make a
similar decision as the result of the efforts of the Coalition for a
Safer Detroit http://www.saferdetroit.net/

Detroit’s alternative newspaper discusses the current status of that
effort below.

The statement “And that federal law trumps any state law.” is not
accurate. States are not required to have or enforce laws which match
federal law. If it were otherwise Michigan would not be a medicinal
marijuana state.

Since May of 1975 it has been legal for the citizens of Alaska to have
small amounts of marijuana in their own home. The feds have not and
can not do anything about it. See http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/legal/l1970/ravin.htm

The court hearing on the Detroit ballot initiative is scheduled for
August 26 at 2:30 p.m. in the Court Room of Judge Michael Sapala in
the Coleman Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave, Detroit 48226.

Please bookmark this link which will display Michigan’s marijuana
press articles as they are archived by MAP http://www.mapinc.org/find?275

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Pubdate: Wed, 19 Aug 2010

Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

Copyright: 2010 Metro Times, Inc

Contact: [email protected]

Note: By News Hits staff. News Hits is edited by Curt Guyette.

Who’s The Dope?

DETROIT ELECTION COMMISSION SPIKES VOTE ON RECREATIONAL POT REFERENDUM

Attention Detroit voters: You must be idiots.

Granted, that may be a harsh analysis. But, in the light of recent
events, it is a conclusion News Hits has been forced to arrive at.

First, the Detroit City Council decides not to place a measure on the
ballot that would let the city’s voters decide whether to place
control of their public schools in the hands of the mayor.

Not that we think having Mayor Bingo directing education is a
particularly good idea. He has his hands full as it is. But what we
think really isn’t all that important. What should matter is what a
majority of the city’s residents want.

It’s a concept known in some circles as democracy. We hear it worked
for the Greeks back in the day.

But no, the people elected by the people of this city apparently have
a fairly dim view of the judgment possessed by those who put them in
office (no small amount of irony in that, eh?) and want to keep them
from making important decisions.

Such as whether the mayor should control the public school system. Or,
more recently, whether consenting adults should be able to enjoy a
little marijuana in the privacy of their own homes.

In the case of the latter, though, it wasn’t the City Council, but
rather the three-member Detroit Election Commission that decided you
the people couldn’t be trusted to make the sort of informed decision
Californians will be making come November.

You might not have heard, but, earlier this year, a group called the
Coalition for a Safer Detroit collected more than 6,000 signatures
from voters who supported placing a measure on the ballot that would
allow people 21 and older to possess no more than an ounce of pot,
which they could enjoy as long as they didn’t use it in public. Those
signatures were submitted to City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who determined
that more than enough of them were valid, qualifying the measure to
appear on the ballot.

The final step required the approval of the Election Commission, a
relatively obscure group that includes the very high profile Charles
Pugh, president of the City Council, as one of its members.

Last week, the commission voted unanimously to keep the measure off
the ballot. The reason for doing so, they said, was because the
initiative, if passed, would conflict with state law. No less than the
City of Detroit Law Department arrived at that conclusion, and
conveyed its opinion to the commission.

News Hits, as you might have guessed, never even came close to getting
into law school, including some of the shadier ones operating in the
Caribbean. But we did watch a lot of Perry Mason in our youth, and,
based on that rock-solid foundation, we feel more than qualified to at
least ask what we believe to be this very pertinent question:

What the hell are these people smoking?

The commission’s reasoning, if you can call it that, appears to the
laymen here at the Hits to be patently ridiculous. If you are looking
for precedent (which, as we learned at the Perry Mason School of Law,
is a bona fide legal term) you need search no further than the medical
marijuana ballot measure overwhelmingly approved by the state’s voters
in 2008.

According to federal law, any use of the evil cannabis is strictly
prohibited and eminently punishable. And that federal law trumps any
state law. Even so, voters in this state, as well as 13 others, were
able to tell local and state authorities to keep their handcuffs off
people who received the requisite doctor’s authorization to use nurse
Mary Jane whenever the need arose.

Of course, the feds could still bust you. (Although, in a fit of
sanity, the Obama administration ordered the DEA to lay off locking up
people in states where medical marijuana has been legalized.)

So, if the state can say it is going to pass a measure that
contradicts federal law, why is it the city can’t do the same thing
and say marijuana is legal even though the state still prohibits it?

The answer, according to attorney Matt Abel (who, as far as we know,
did actually graduate from a law school and didn’t have to go to the
Caribbean to do it), is that there’s no good reason.

Sure, state cops could still bust dope smokers if they wanted to.
Hell, even Detroit cops could under the authority of state law.

“The practical effect,” explains Abel, one of the area’s premier
attorneys when it comes to weedy issues, “is that it would be an
advisory measure.”

In other words, a way for the people of Detroit to tell the city’s
cops to spend their time pursuing murderers, rapists and home invaders
instead of joint rollers.

Abel and his partner in attempted legalization, Tim Beck, both tell
News Hits that they were pretty astonished by the Detroit Election
Commission’s decision.

Even more surprising, they say, is the vehemence with which Council
president Pugh vilified the proposed initiative.

“He went ballistic,” is the way Abel describes Pugh’s reaction. Beck
says Pugh justified his opposition by claiming the measure would be a
“bad law.”

Maybe we missed that part of his resume, but, to the best of our
knowledge, Pugh, like the crew here at News Hits, never quite made it
to law school. We did try to get his side of the story, but a phone
call and e-mail seeking comment were not returned.

In the end though, his opinion isn’t going to matter any more than
ours. Immediately after the commission issued its opinion, Abel and
Beck began drafting a legal challenge. As a result, the city must now
go to court and attempt to justify the commission’s actions.

It would have been easier – and much less costly – to simply put the
question in front of voters and let them decide in the first place.

Perhaps we’re mistaken, and the judge will decide that the commission
acted properly in voting to keep this initiative off the ballot. But
we’re willing to bet an ounce of primo purple kush that, when the
gavel drops, you the people are going to get to decide for yourselves
whether Detroiters should be able to light up without fear of getting
busted by the local cops.

And that’s as it should be.

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Taking the Initiative – A Reformer’s Guide to Direct Democracy by Tim
Beck is an excellent guide http://www.drugsense.org/caip#take

For the latest facts about marijuana please see http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53

Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

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Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist
www.mapinc.org

=.

Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010
Subject: #446 Michigan Medical Marijuana In The News

MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN THE NEWS

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #446 – Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Almost every day we read articles in the press which show the efforts
going on in Michigan to oppose the will of the voters.

The editorial below states that “Municipalities throughout the state
have been struggling with just how to regulate the distribution of the
drug to those who can legally use it.”

The state’s law is clear as you may read at http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
It was passed by two-thirds of the voters. Even the state
legislature can not change the law without a three-fourths vote in
each house.

But by a simple majority vote some municipalities are attempting to
take away rights of Michigan’s legal caregivers and patients. This
effort is being spearheaded by the Michigan Municipal League
http://mapinc.org/url/1P1nVl8N and some members of the law enforcement
community.

Taking the lead in opposition to these efforts is the American Civil
Liberties Union of Michigan. Please read their latest press release
at http://www.aclumich.org/issues/drug-policy/2010-07/1460

Your letters to the editor in support of the will of the people are
important.

Please bookmark this link which will display Michigan’s marijuana
press articles as they are archived by MAP http://www.mapinc.org/find?275

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Pubdate: Wed, 11 Aug 2010

Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)

Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/px6eGJuE

Copyright: 2010 The Daily Tribune

Contact: [email protected]

Website: http://www.dailytribune.com/

SILVERDOME POT FEST SHOULD BE CANCELED

Much to the chagrin of city officials, plans have been set for a
cannabis convention in the Silverdome for Oct. 29-31.

Bruce Perlowin, the CEO of Medical Marijuana Inc., is behind the event
and bristles at referring to it as a “pot party.” He calls it the
International Holistic Health Cannabis Convention Halloween Harmony &
Harvest Festival, and says it’s a trade show.

No matter how it is termed, city officials are justified in being
concerned. Medical marijuana may be legal in Michigan but the
controversial drug shouldn’t and isn’t something that can be purchased
over the counter at your local pharmacy.

Municipalities throughout the state have been struggling with just how
to regulate the distribution of the drug to those who can legally use
it. Many communities have placed moratoriums on ordinances addressing
the distribution to make sure the process is appropriately covered and
that the drug doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

In fact, local officials would be shirking their duties if they did
not scrutinize the law and establish sound regulatory laws.

Voters approved the proposition with their hearts, but local community
leaders need to control it with their heads.

Medical marijuana is not the panacea that its supporters say it is,
and there are numerous peripheral or collateral problems associated
with its legal distribution and use. Most doctors are reluctant to say
it won’t help a suffering patient but likewise, only a few are strong
proponents.

Also, making sure the drug doesn’t find its way into the hands of
those not authorized to use it will cost communities money because of
the law enforcement requirements.

Medical Marijuana Inc. advertises itself as providing tools to manage
a medical marijuana business in full compliance of laws and
regulations regarding cannabis.

This is one very good reason why the Silverdome festival should not be
conducted. Too many communities are still not certain about how to
regulate marijuana, which is the reason for the moratoriums.
Consequently, if all of the laws are not in place, how can festival
organizers provide accurate guidance on complying with the
regulations?

In addition, Pontiac Police Chief Val Gross has expressed concern
about public safety and illegal drug use in connection with the
festival. We’re not going to second-guess Perlowin as to why he wants
to conduct the dome festival. It certainly seems premature at the very
least, considering how new the law is.

Some people will undoubtedly make thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands of dollars, thanks to the new law. It’s not unreasonable to
give local communities time to institute regulations that will make
sure all of the transactions are legal.

Complicating the situation is the fact marijuana use may be allowable
for some people under state law, but it’s still illegal on the federal
level.

Medical Marijuana Inc. is a California-based company. That state was
one of the first in the nation to legalize medical marijuana and since
then, it still is struggling with regulations over how the drug should
be distributed.

While Michigan would like to become the new “Hollywood” through
increased filmmaking here, we don’t need to bring in the California
drug culture.

So caution is obviously called for and common sense says that the
festival should be canceled.

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Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

For facts about medicinal marijuana please see http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54

A new medicinal cannabis flyer is available at http://mapinc.org/url/Rr2BR72F

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Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist
www.mapinc.org

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