• Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Is Eric Holder Serious About Enforcing the Marijuana Laws?

    When the majority says marijuana should not be a crime the law loses its legitimacy.

    By Kevin Zeese

    It is hard to imagine that Eric Holder’s letter threatening to “vigorously enforce” federal law if California votes for legalization of marijuana is serious. It seems timed to manipulate voters in California, but in this year when political elites are hated it is likely to backfire and lead Californians to vote to end the failed marijuana war.

    During one of the greatest failed experiments in American history, alcohol prohibition, a turning point was when New York told the federal government it would no longer enforce laws against alcohol. That left it to the federal government to enforce the law. Already “the feds” as they were derogatorily known were hated in rural areas where alcohol was often produced and the feds came in and disrupted their commerce. Then, the biggest urban area refused to enforce the law. The result, alcohol prohibition ended a few years later.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Focus Alerts

    #461 Debunking False Fears About Proposition 19

    DEBUNKING FALSE FEARS ABOUT PROP. 19

    **********************************************************************

    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #461 – Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

    If you have been following the news at http://mapinc.org/find?272
    about Proposition 19 it should be clear that the campaign rhetoric is
    heating up.

    Below is an editorial that debunks myths being spread about the initiative.

    Ways You May Support Prop. 19 Now –
    http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0460.html provides suggestions for how
    you may help during the remaining weeks until the election.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy

    Re: Hard Drugs Are The Source Of B.C.’S Notoriety

    To the editor,

    Congratulations to Ethan Baron for recognizing that cannabis should be legally regulated, however, he needs to do his homework on illicit drugs and drug policy. ("Hard drugs are the source of B.C.’s notoriety," Oct 15.)

    The “hard drugs” Baron mentions; heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine, are also orders of magnitude less harmful than tobacco and alcohol when used as directed in a legally regulated environment.

    Meth is available by prescription, ecstasy (MDMA) is being clinically reconsidered for psychotherapy, pharmaceutical heroin, used as directed, in no worse than any other opiate, and coca tea is healthier
    than coffee and other caffeinated energy drinks.

    Most of the crime and violence we associate with hard drugs is made worse by, if not caused by, criminal prohibition. The three evidence-based pillars of our drug control regime; prevention, treatment and harm reduction, are fettered and grossly outspent by the fourth, drug law enforcement.

    The vast majority of drug users are not low-income, nor disadvantaged, nor under-educated, and consume drugs moderately and non-problematically. Most who become addicted are self-medicating
    preexisting psychological problems that cops, courts and criminalization exacerbate.

    The more harmful the substance, the less it makes sense to abdicate control of it to unaccountable criminals who sell drugs of unknown potency, purity and provenance, on commission, to anyone, of any age, any time, anywhere, no questions asked. We have more control over cat food than we do the so-called “controlled drugs and substances.”

    Matthew M. Elrod

  • Letter of the Week

    Letter Of The Week

    IT’S TIME TO STOP THE WAR ON DRUGS

    Editor:

    Regarding “Prop. 203 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing”: Calling someone,
    or something, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” implies dishonesty, an
    attempt to deceive. But the pro-freedom lobby has never tried to hide
    the fact that they see medical marijuana as a stepping-stone to true
    legalization. Their motives are quite clear.

    What’s not so clear are the motives of people who refuse to legalize,
    even for medical use, the one drug that has never killed anyone. The
    people who say they want to reduce drug use by continuing the policies
    and procedures that have failed, for 30 years, to reduce drug use. The
    people who say they want to protect us from our own choices by leaving
    in place laws that do only harm. If you’re going to question motives,
    question the motives of those who stand against freedom, not those who
    are trying to restore it.

    The war on drugs is a forever war. It can’t be won; it can only be
    stopped. And the time to stop it is now. Not another 30 years; not
    another trillion dollars from now. Not another million prisoners in
    the U.S. from now. And not another 28,000 dead in Mexico from now.
    Now.

    Lora Lee Nye believes that Big Brother should hold dominion over how
    you live and how you die. Those she calls “wolves” believe that you
    are competent and entitled to make your own choices. What say you?

    Rita Stricker

    Chino Valley

    Pubdate: Thu, 7 Oct 2010

    Source: Daily Courier (Prescott, AZ)

    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n768/a08.html

  • Announcements - Focus Alerts

    #460 Ways You May Support Prop. 19 Now

    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #460 – Thursday, October 14th, 2010

    Here are some ways you may support Proposition 19 between now and election day:

    Volunteer for Online Phone Bank Training. Watch this video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxr0Pu6SoNk then go to
    http://yeson19.com/user/register and signed up. It is an easy
    process. You may call from any state.

    Donate https://secure.yeson19.com/page/contribute

    Distribute Proposition 19 endorsements http://yeson19.com/endorsements

    Your letters in response to the newspaper articles and opinions are
    an important part of educating the voters. Newspaper clippings about
    Proposition 19 are posted at http://www.mapinc.org/find?272

    Common Sense for Drug Policy has produced a special edition of Drug
    War Facts for Proposition 19. It is called “Marijuana Facts on Drug
    War Facts” and can be found online in the Drug War Facts Marijuana
    chapter at http://www.DrugWarFacts.org/cms/Marijuana

    DrugSense has endorsed Proposition 19, writing “DrugSense/MAP has
    decided that winning Prop 19 is so crucial that we should take the
    extraordinary step of endorsing it. DrugSense has never endorsed a
    candidate or initiative before. We enjoy our position as being the
    repository of drug policy information and strive to present it in a
    totally non-biased way. We let the facts speak for themselves and
    encourage voters decide their positions based on these facts. But
    upon research and discussion, we agree that Prop 19 is a must win for
    reform; we can’t sit out this election on the sidelines.”

    It’s not what others do – it’s what YOU do.

  • What You Can Do

    Call Out Leonhart and Kerlikowske

    To: ONDCP, DEA

    Drug Truth Network, a radio syndicate of more than 90 broadcast affiliates in the US and Canada has been on the airwaves for more than 9 years. The sole subject of these radio programs is the “unvarnished truth” about the prohibition of drugs.

    Drug Truth Network has repeatedly attempted over these 9 years to garner an interview with all previous administrators of the DEA and all prior directors of the ONDCP, to no avail.

    Therefore we the undersigned request that Michelle Leonhart, the current Administrator of the DEA and Gil Kerlikowske, the current Director of the ONDCP make themselves immediately available as guests on the Drug Truth Network radio programs to clarify the need for an eternal war on plant products.

    Sincerely,

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US OH: Up in Smoke

    Newshawk: Medical Marijuana www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54
    Pubdate: Wed, 1 Sep 2010
    Source: Columbus Monthly (OH)
    Pages: 81 and 82
    Author: Jo Ingles

    UP IN SMOKE

    The Truth Is Medical Marijuana Is a Dead Issue in Ohio. But a Band of
    Dedicated Supporters – Including Two Legislators – Refuse to Give Up
    on the Idea.

    Brandy Zink, who grew up in Westerville, says she was 12 years old
    when she took a drag off her first joint at, of all places, a church
    camp. She liked it. So she’s kept smoking the stuff, pretty steadily,
    since she was 14. But it wasn’t all about getting high (although she
    acknowledges that was part of the appeal when she was young). It’s
    also because it helps combat the effects of her epilepsy, which she’s
    struggled with since birth. Over the years, she’s found that it has
    eased muscle pain, reduced stuttering and prevented seizures. “I
    notice that when I have access to cannabis, I don’t have seizures,
    but when I don’t, I do,” she says. It’s been so effective, she’s
    ditched her other medicine.

    She used to obtain marijuana through the black market and people she
    calls compassionate caregivers. Zink knew, however, that using pot in
    Ohio made her a criminal. “Can you imagine living with a debilitating
    medical condition and then on top of it, being worried about being
    arrested?” she says.

    After years of choosing between being in pain or fearing that she’d
    get caught using marijuana to alleviate the discomfort, Zink, 33,
    decided to leave her Ohio home. She now lives and works in Michigan,
    where she possesses a card that allows her to smoke dope legally.

    [continues] http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n000/a052.html