Still fighting. Two years after its introduction, Good Samaritan still stirs passions among students, officials. Seeing the passion, intelligence and determination shown by young SSDP members often makes me think that there’s hope for the future.
Brian Doherty on Medical Marijuana Supporters Against Legalization. Which reminds me: It’s Time for Unity in the Marijuana Reform Movement
Has the Future Gone To Pot? Has CBS’ Harry Smith run out of interesting things to say? Harry, your pot puns are old, and, quite frankly, annoying.
New Poll Results on Prop 19. Of course, the only poll results that really mean anything are the ones at the voting booth.
Just Say Now has a new Store
This is an open thread.
Australian surgeon campaigns to prohibit cigarettes on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141180549236910
I like what ezrydn said about this place being “Central Command.â€
Attack!
Blue Dream, White Widow, Granddaddy Green, Hawaiian Indica, O.G. Kush, Country Time (Lemon Squeezy), G-13, Pineapple Express, Purple Durple, Espresso Red Snowflake. I love you Mary Jane!!
It is time for unity.
Looking forward to the one liners of “pot humor” will be
replaced by “I can’t believe we took our governments word on marijuana for over 70 years!”
It really boils down a lot on the young voters,and it should,they have the longest time to correct and change the laws as needed in the years ahead.
I believe Prop 19 is a huge step in taking control of marijuana away from the criminals and our government,but my real problem is I keep getting them mixed up.
I hate to say it, but I believe Prop 19 will fail… just barely. It sucks, but there it is. If it fails, how long until they can try again?
Over at talkingpointsmemo.com they have conclusively linked the Republicans to witchcraft. The writer also references ‘marijuana-worship’ but it doesn’t seem like he’s accusing the Republicans of that. A quick search of the website finds no mention of ‘marijuana worship’. I do mean not a one, not even the article linked below.
http://tinyurl.com/2f99wfc
I happened to stumble across the text of Prop 19, and thought it good for kicks and giggles. The guy in the opposed part actually states “I repeat: A study of 5,000 heroin addicts showed that 95% started drug abuse with marijuana.” I guess it really is true that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/dll/1972calmjprop.htm
So here’s another person getting convicted of DUIm despite not being high at the time:
“Patrol: Driver smoked pot heavily day before crash
SALT LAKE CITY — Investigators say the driver of a tour bus that careened off a Utah highway had been smoking marijuana heavily for days before the deadly accident but wasn’t legally impaired while driving.”
http://tinyurl.com/2e868z6
Ooops, sorry I thought I mentioned in the post above that it was the 1972 Prop 19 that I found and linked.
Have not smelled herb in a month. Its like am alone in this city of 450,000 zombies. Have to hide to have a cigarette, or they begin shrieking and pointing, bizarro world. Keep the torch lit, gals n guys, the forecast is more storms.
Grassley: Feds should help stop spread of synthetic marijuana
http://tinyurl.com/29jy3o4
I’ll bet the synthetic cannabis distributors have had a record year from all the free advertising the lawmakers are providing. So many people who were unaware of it discovered it because of the media blitz. Then there’s people like me who had concluded that it was just a rip off novelty that didn’t get you high. I didn’t go buy some because my days of experimenting with ways to get high are long gone. But if this had happened to the 20 year old me I’m sure I would have bought a boatload.
I think it would be highly amusing if the Prop 19 vote was a dead heat.
Does California have a provision of what happens if the initiative vote totals are the same? No, not likely but I recall a number of years back when the Dow Jones index finished unchanged. That is probably more unlikely because the DJI has so many moving parts. Prop 19 only has 2.
If prop 19 does fail (keep thinking positive…) are there any stirrings in other states that might keep the torch lit and in the public mind? I know it’s a long shot anywhere else and California is quite special. But would it be possible in Oregon? Utah? Or is California the only state where such a proposition could get this far with so much support?
Maria –
MPP is working on a similar bill here in Nevada for 2012
http://www.sensiblemarijuanalaws.org/home/content/home
And Washington state is going to try again in 2012. And of course,there is a group writing up another for CA,if 19 doesn’t make it. There is of course the bill in Ca trying to legalize it through the legislature,but I don’t think that we can buy enough votes in any legislature to win.
Maria, Washington State had an initiative, but they started too late and didn’t employ paid signature gatherers. The new initaitive petition started circulating officially at HempFest this year and we’re well on our way. No fear, Maria, dear, for the time to legalize Hemp is here! (sorry, my students are rhyming everything today, it’s really quite annoying, as well as contagious)
Ah, Clay, ya beat me to it.
Ahh duncan i under stand your sentiments on the synthetic pot. I was sceptical but tried it couldn’t belive it when i realized i was high as a kite from just 4 hits. The stuff works but price per gram is way high for the buzz. Oh well my state already passed legislation against it so no more fun for me. Mississippi is such a back assward state and i hear our govenor is thinking about running for president. Ugh.
The local birdcage lining paper had something about a town Chump Junction or some other banning an herb alternative called spice. Have never heard of this it must be like a salvia.
Source: NEMS360.com
OXFORD – Lafayette County supervisors voted 5-0 in principle Monday to follow several Mississippi cities in outlawing the marijuana-like substance known as Spice.
Board attorney David O’Donnell will offer a completed ordinance at next month’s meeting for final approval. Assuming no reservations on the part of board members, it would take effect immediately.
Spice is commonly sold at convenience stores, usually labeled as incense with an assertion that it is not for human consumption. District 5 Supervisor Ray Sockwell said, however, that people buy it to get high.
“It looks like marijuana, it smells like marijuana and it’s a depressant like marijuana,†said Sockwell, who was a captain with the Oxford Police Department until he took on his present office.
Board President Lloyd Oliphant noted he had bought a tiny jar of “spice†at a store on his way to the courthouse Monday and was openly advised at the store which varieties have the most mind-altering effects.
Keith Davis, who heads Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, confirmed that despite its legality and its innocent appearance, Spice has reportedly resulted in at least three overdoses in the state.
Lafayette would be the third county in the state to ban Spice, after Jackson and Pearl River counties. Cities that have enacted prohibitions include Tupelo, Southaven, Horn Lake and Olive Branch.
The Oxford Board of Aldermen is expected to consider such a ban at its meeting tonight.
“‘It looks like marijuana, it smells like marijuana and it’s a depressant like marijuana,’ said Sockwell, who was a captain with the Oxford Police Department until he took on his present office.”
As someone who uses cannabis to combat crippling depression, this just makes me smile. God, can cops say anything about cannabis that’s actually true?
John, I’ve yet to find a negative statement about Marijuana that is true. Scratch that, a statement on the lines of “I don’t like it personally”, single person sentiment is likely true. But if you want to talk about the dangers of Marijuana, you have to invent them.
Hope any of you that have HBO watched Boardwalk Empire because it was fucking awesome.
Cool. Good to see there’s future initiatives. Gotta keep the drum beat going.
Btw boardwalk empire is on right now. Repeat. It is as good as you’d think.
Another reason to vote Yes.
While all the advocate sites proclaim the state revenue gains with legalization,and opponent sites disclaim any tax revenue gains,no one,pro or con mentions what the estimated billions of dollars being spent in California,on American grown marijuana,by licensed dealers,instead of being taken out of the country untaxed.
It will stimulate the economy more than any of our governments bailouts for the rich have.
All that money spent on American grown marijuana pays American wages,and that could only help,in this time of our country searching for work.
Some say the big corps won’t hire the help necessary to tend crops properly,well,their are plenty of people looking for work to pick from.
darkcycle and clay, the new initiative in WA State (for which signature gathering began at Hempfest 2010) will be on the ballot in 2011, and it seems from previous polling that it will pass even tho 2011 is not a presidential election year. So whether Prop 19 passes or fails in CA this year, next year it will be depenalized for anyone of the age of 18 and older, no taxes, no regulation, just no more penalties (no arrests, no jail terms, not even fines) for growing, possessing, transferring, transporting, selling or using. This will stand as passed for two full years before the legislature can tinker with it. After those two years, who knows what might happen, since WA is heavily into taxing its citizens, I expect the legislature will at least put a tax on it, tho I hope not — no other medication is taxed in WA, and how can it be taxed for rec use if it is not taxed for med use? I would hope taht two years of unrestricted availability will show voters that no regulation will be necessary.
Make that “voters and legislators”.
Snuff out the L.A. Times
http://tinyurl.com/3329274
L.A. Times and all newspapers=birdcage lining, emergency toilet paper, obsolete.
If used for TP you might absorb that nonsense into your system so I wouldn’t do it
Here is a nice little gem from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/24/bennett.drug.abuse/index.html?hpt=C2
The closer to the vote the more of these articles we will see.
Meanwhile, back at the Reagan ranch, a frumforum piece rips the Republican Party’s website, America Speaking Out. According to frumforum, “Marijuana legalization or decriminalization is extremely popular on the website’s ‘Open Mic’ section, as is the release of all non-violent drug crime offenders.â€
As anyone might expect, whoever pulls the strings at America Speaking Out doesn’t want anyone to know that their two top Open Mic questions include Republicans supporting the legalization of marijuana. The Republican powers that be quashed the recent survey results. The other question had to do with outsourcing jobs to other countries. The Republicans quashed the jobs question big time.
Rachel Maddow’s September 23 show, toward the end of the first video segment, does a number on the Republicans who cower in the corner over their cannabis conundrum paranoia regarding Prop 19.
@bobreaze
Reading that… made my temples throb. It’s the same regurgitation, the same dog piling of random ingredients dumped into the scare ’em straight cooking pot.
Where once television shows actively promoted the dangers of drug use, several of our more popular shows, from ‘Weeds’ to ‘Entourage’ to ‘Mad Men,’ make drug use a laugh line.”
Yeah… oh to be back in the golden days when ‘Reefer Madness’ or after school specials where taken seriously.
Lied to and dismissed. Adults treated as idiot children or collateral damage, decade after decade. Jesus, for more than half a century. Now the poor warriors are wondering why so many sobs are no longer taking anything they say seriously?
The shitty thing is that substance abuse, addiction, and treatment are serious social issues and they need to be spoken about honestly and openly. But no. They stick to their jammed guns and obsolete weaponry. So many people get hurt by this BS. Please fade away you old guard. Fade away, please. Have some decency.
ugh. where = were
Well I just found some support for medical cannabis. John Walters even approves of them!
http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/CMCR_REPORT_FEB17.pdf
“The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research is currently conducting scientific studies to determine the efficacy of marijuana in treating various ailments. Until that research is concluded, however, most of what the public
hears from marijuana activists is little more than a compilation of anecdotes.â€
~ John Walters, Former Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2002
(said by me) Boy I’ll betcha Mr. Walters wishes he could take that one back. Hey Johnny boy, are you enjoying the taste of your shoe?
Some other promoters of the CMCR say:
“Research should continue into the physiological effects of synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids and the natural function of cannabinoids found
in the body.â€
~ Institute of Medicine, 1999
“The question of whether marijuana has any legitimate medical purpose should be determined by sound science and medicine.â€
~ Asa Hutchinson, Former DEA Administrator, 2001
“The scientific community, the medical community in particular, is divided on the real therapeutic effectiveness of marijuana. Some are quick to say
that opening the door to medical marijuana would be a step toward outright legalization of the substance. But none of that should matter to physicians or scientists. It is not a question of defending general public policy on marijuana or even all illegal drugs. It is not a question of sending a symbolic message about “drugsâ€. It is not a question of being afraid that young people
will use marijuana if it is approved as a medicine. The question, and the only question, for physicians as professionals is whether, to what extent and in
what circumstances, marijuana serves a therapeutic purpose.â€
~ Canadian Senate Special Committee On Illegal Drugs. Cannabis: Summary Report, 2002.
“Although the indications for some conditions (e.g., HIV wasting and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting) have been well documented, less information is available about other potential medical uses. Additional
research is needed to clarify marijuana’s therapeutic properties and determine standard and optimal doses and routes of delivery.â€
~ American College of Physicians, 2008
Said by me: The CMCR is operated by the University of California, and was created in response to the passage of Prop 215, probably for the purpose of proving that cannabis isn’t good medicine, but that strategy has backfired every time the know nothings have tried it. The CMCR continues this more than a century long tradition of confounding the simple minded know nothings and finding the opposite of what the know nothings think will be found. When will the know nothings wise up at least enough to quit thinking that such blue ribbon panels will support their conclusions?
Now why the puck have I never heard of the CMCR until yesterday? They’ve been around since 1999, embarrassing the know nothing prohibitionists. Here’s one of the findings from the linked report:
More shoe for Johnny boy. It must be one of his favorite foods.
How about the statement that the price is too high? 🙂
Ex-drug czar strikes again:
“We ignore rise in drug abuse among kids”
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/24/bennett.drug.abuse/index.html?hpt=C2#
And I agree 100% with the title,the ONDCP does ignore the increase in use,by kids or adults,except as grounds to ask for more money.
Excerpts:
“Here’s the takeaway: Illicit drug abuse is seriously affecting our children, our schools, our workplaces and our society. And it is on the rise. In 2009, nearly 22 million Americans were regularly abusing illicit drugs: a rise of 1.5 million abusers of marijuana from 2008 and a rise of 2.3 million users from 2007, a rise of 205,000 abusers of Ecstasy from 2008, a rise of 188,000 abusers of methamphetamine from 2008 and a rise of 800,000 abusers of prescription drugs from 2008.”
Translation: One trillion dollars and this is the results.
“Then there’s the death toll. Nearly 40,000 Americans are killed each year by drug overdoses — not drug-related car accidents, not drug-related gang violence or homicide; those are an entirely different and eye-popping set of numbers. By overdose alone, we lose the equivalent of more than one 9/11 a month and almost eight times as many Americans as have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 (deaths the national media reports on weekly, if not daily).”
Translation: Since no one has died of marijuana overdose,we will throw this in to refer danger.
“There are more people dying from drug overdose in America than people dying from gun violence. In several states, drug overdose deaths outnumber deaths caused by car crashes. But these drug-death statistics receive almost no media attention.”
Translation: We prohibit the drugs and make put them in the control of criminals instead of allowing quality manufacturing and controlled distribution(dosage),which is why there are so many overdoses in the first place.
“As for the popular culture, the message has been even more damaging. Where once television shows actively promoted the dangers of drug use, several of our more popular shows, from “Weeds” to “Entourage” to “Mad Men,” make drug use a laugh line.”
Translation: Since the government doesn’t have complete control of any information the population receives,don’t blame our policies for failing.
“With all this, it should be no real surprise the drug numbers are on the increase. Our national leaders are silent, our culture makes laugh lines of drug use and serious numbers of serious people are advocating further legalization.”
Translation:People are starting to see through our lies and failures so we are playing the card that has always worked before.while wringing your hands,moan in a very loud voice “WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN??? OOPS,it isn’t working.
“This is our plea to the country’s national and cultural leaders: Address it, talk to our youth about it, make a campaign of it and, as for Hollywood and the rest of California: Stop with the drug use and legalization “chic.” Such a national campaign worked before, it can work again.”
Suggestion:Dig up Harry Anslinger,put him on stage and have Chris Rock mouth the same racial slurs and fear mongering rhetoric that brought prohibition into being. It worked before.
You might have missed that the California Board of Equalization reported that in 2009 California pocketed between $50 million and $100 million from sales tax on medical cannabis purchases. The exact figure is unknown because the CBOE allows medical cannabis vendors to sign up using generalized categories to avoid Federal prosecution. shttp://www.canorml.org/news/100mil.html
But frankly California is probably the state that sends the least money to the criminal syndicates due to medical cannabis being legal under state law. When referring to cannabis the word ‘Mexican’ is a denigration in California.
One of the most frustrating things about the know nothings is they seem to think that the cartels are supplying the dispensaries, that if re-legalized the cartels will simply become legal vendors and continue they’re criminal ways. No explanation how becoming a licensed vendor is consistent with being a criminal syndicate.
Recently a know nothing has picked up the strategy of using boilerplate in various comments sections similar to what Malcolm and I do. (Yes, I got the idea from Malcolm). But this know nothing is running from medium to medium posting the absurd idea that Mexico should re-legalize production and distribution, but not possession, and start making money supplying cannabis to the US. It’s likely pointless to point out the number of dollars that are sent out of the country to cartels because the know nothings believe that won’t change after re-legalization. It’s amazing that people that stupid are still alive. Where is Mr. Darwin when you need him?
Banned Books Week starts September 25 and runs through October 2.
Read a banned book; anything on drug legalization will qualify.
And you, ‘Betting Benny’, have chosen to ignore the situation in Holland. A place where, for the last 3 decades, marijuana has been legally available to adults.
Here are some facts concerning the situation there: …
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/24/bennett.drug.abuse/index.html?hpt=C2
The Absurdity is continuing to build, just as I expected. And it’ll go way overboard before it’s all over. Yet, the Prohib Talking Heads have found Reformers to be a force to be contended with. In Nam, I was taught that when you’re ambushed, you charge the enemy. And we have to do the same here. They, then and now, don’t expect it.
I expect that in another week, their “Tet Offensive” will move into full swing, with only 4 weeks left. I’ll be hooking up with Howard and Misty in about 12 days now. I’ll get a bag of carrots for Misty, from all of us.
the governator throws in his hypocritical 2cents in the LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schwarzenegger-marijuana-pensio20100924,0,30919.story
…and the carnage continues….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100924/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico
Thx EZ.
Wow, Google has a new subsection on its news search page called “Final Days of the War on Drugs”
http://tinyurl.com/29sfw74
Wow, who’d a thunk it?
I thought maybe Google was about to “get it.” However, after seeing the stories they listed, it’s evident they haven’t quite got there yet. LOL
The really unbelievable propaganda against Arizona’s medical marijuana law
Hmm, that didn’t seem to work. Try this:
http://www.azdailysun.com/news/opinion/columnists/article_9256bb77-4eae-5752-9200-b7cf6cfe52d3.html
That was good. Short and Gogek Attended Kremlin U by the looks of it. Yours truly was hitchiking Germany and smoking the best hash at 14. Flying gliders over the Schwarzwald, T33 ride at 15. Pilots lic 594 hours. Developed my own wind tunnel, the Concorde and SR71 look great in formation with an F16 slicing thru their wake did’ya know… First class work on over 5,000 homes. Last accident was getting rear-ended.
Yup, tokers are a real hazard…
Those two were campaigning against Oregon’s referendum to authorize dispensaries in Oregon as well.
And here is a how-to guide on anti medical marijuana propaganda…
Hmm, sounds like they’re getting organized. But why is this on a police website? Surely they just enforce the law and have no political role, no? [/sarcasm]
Don’t bother trying to post responses on the Arizona Daily Sun’s website. They pulled every one of my posts. There were multiple posts because of the incredibly small 500 character limit. Probably happened because I mentioned in several that Ms. Short is a bald faced liar which I documented. I thought truth was allowed. My bad.
Craig Spadafora, Republican candidate for state Senate, said this week he would vote to legalize the sale of marijuana, during a debate with Democratic opponent Katherine Clark.
Clark, meanwhile, took a hard stance against legalizing the substance — but said that drug sentencing should be re-evaluated in the state.
http://tinyurl.com/3yo73k7