Other stuff that happened this week

“bullet” Lynn Zimmer, co-author of the outstanding Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts: A Review Of The Scientific Evidence, died on Sunday at the age of 59.
“bullet” Drug policy reformer and political candidate Ben Masel was pepper-sprayed and arrested by University of Wisconsin-Madison police as he collected signatures for his senatorial campaign. He plans to sue. (He’s already suing police in Kansas City for a different case.) Go get ’em, Ben!
“bullet” Also from the Drug War Chronicle, Australian Democrat MP Sandra Kanck attended a rave and said she felt safer there than at a hotel bar.

“These people using ecstasy and whatever they’re using, they are not aggressive, they’re not shouting, they’re not fighting, you don’t get people puking all over the place, it’s a far, far better environment,” Ms Kanck told ABC local radio.
“If I had a choice between being at a rave party and a hotel bar, I’d go to the rave party every time.”

“bullet” DEA raids medical marijuana dispensaries in California, and also targets doctors. Now this was a joint effort with state and local, and the DA says that they were not targeting the sick, but only those who were abusing the medical marijuana system. The problem, though, by bringing in the feds, they have forfeited any ability to make the raids appear legitimate (whether they were or not), because the feds don’t care about medical use. It’s additionally, suspect coming so soon after the Hinchey amendment vote in Congress.
Within the current system in California, there will always be some controversy over whether medical marijuana dispensaries are “getting around” the medical marijuana rules, or whether doctors are prescribing too easily. But there’s an easy solution. Legalize marijuana.