Smoking Marijuana for 50 Years, and Turning Out Just Fine
Not the kind of person that prohibitionists like to admit even exists.
Awkward joke by the author about marijuana being a gateway to writing a book, but otherwise, nice little article.
New Mexico: Governor Signs Bill on Civil Forfeiture
Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill Friday virtually ending the practice of civil forfeiture, making the state a leader in sharply restricting a contentious policy that critics say deprives citizens of due process and gives law enforcement a profit motive. “This is landmark legislation to protect people’s property and due process rights,†said Lee McGrath, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian civil rights group that has long campaigned against the practice. The law preserves criminal forfeiture, in which assets tied to crime can be taken if the owner is convicted.
Human Rights Watch Sues DEA over Bulk Collection of Americans’ Telephone Records
Los Angeles — Human Rights Watch, a nonpartisan organization that fights human rights abuses across the globe, filed suit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration late Tuesday for illegally collecting records of its telephone calls to certain foreign countries as part of yet another government bulk surveillance program. The group is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has launched a series of legal challenges against unconstitutional government surveillance.
“The DEA’s program of untargeted and suspicionless surveillance of Americans’ international telephone call records—information about the numbers people call, and the time, date, and duration of those calls—affects millions of innocent people, yet the DEA operated the program in secret for years,’’ said EFF Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo. “Both the First and Fourth Amendment protect Americans from this kind of overreaching surveillance. This lawsuit aims to vindicate HRW’s rights, and the rights of all Americans, to make calls overseas without being subject to government surveillance.â€
Where Do Presidential Candidates Stand on Marijuana?
Nice run-down by Tom Angell.
In Mexico, new demand for ‘the good stuff’ grown in U.S.
Hmmm… will this change border dynamics?
I think Mexico is bringing their growers online with farming techniques and tuning their production too meet market demands and when the hammer of legalization falls they will be a world contender in any international marijuana market that develops,,including hemp seed and fiber markets.
I base that on buying quarter pounds of brick with less than a dozen seeds in them and a few OZ’s with none,,less stalks and stems and a little more THC content coming across now.
Screw suing the DEA,,it would be better if the World Court went after them for killing people all over the world while fighting drugs/protecting drug markets and banks profits.
Asset forfeiture needs to either be gone or put back as it was passed for what it was passed,,seizing assets of large drug trafficking organizations,including the banks that moved the money.
She beat me by 2 years but I bet I got more THC in my hair and soul than she does.
Asset forfeiture should NEVER occur until AFTER CONVICTION! No matter who is the accused, individual or organization.
Well, seeing as they tend to charge the money/inanimate objects themselves… They do often “convict” something.
…but it’s a bullshit loophole no matter how you phrase it. It reminds me of the American Dad episode where Stan puts his gun on the table and says, “Go ahead gun! Kill someone! Don’t be shy, go on…”
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I know from personal experience that they can grow quality cannabis in Mexico. I never did see much Acapulco Gold back in the late 1970s but I did have the pleasure of enjoying a couple of very large piles of Oaxacan. I just figured that the propaganda lost something in the translation and the cartels thought pot was supposed to be 20x less potent than in the 1970s and that’s why they started exporting bricked bunk weed.
Our growers love their work,,most farmers work for a living,,it makes a difference and it shows in the end product.
Medical marijuana is making life easier for Kali, an elderly dog. A series of businesses catering to marijuana pet treats for ailing animals are proving to be successful startups. Nevada is considering changing its laws to allow veterinarians to prescribe marijuana for pets.
The animal treatment trend should put an end to NIDA propaganda claiming any evidence marijuana is therapeutic is anecdotal. It’s fitting our animal friends should have the last bark on this issue. Everyone knows border collies are smarter than NIDA scientists.
Yeah, I’ve been looking into cannabinoid treatments for my cat, who recently got sick with IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome), possibly lymphoma. Even though I want to drop-kick him sometimes with his constant urge to nurse on me several times a day, he’s my cat, you know? . . . I’m gonna do what I can for him, fuck any bullshit laws. I don’t want to see him in the “owie pose,” guts all jacked or trying not to dry heave or vomit. His cries sometimes aren’t about reliving kitten memories, but are cries to his daddy to make the pain stop. I’m going to try.
I made a tincture, but the herb used and the results that followed were weak sauce, and dispensaries haven’t come online in Nevada yet. Even if I found decent herb, it’d probably be more geared toward THC instead of CBD and other cannabinoids effective against inflammation. I haven’t found a reputable source for CBD oil online that I’d trust. I’m gonna look into some of these products listed in the recent “pot for pets” articles, find out what dispensaries they’re at in Colorado, and take a weekend road trip–only eight hours away, one-way.
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Arizona law offers reciprocity. I have no clue of how much effort it would take to get an AZ dispensary to accept you as a customer.
Thanks, Duncan. I’ll look into it.
On a previous posting darkcycle posted a comment about the new medical marijuana law passed by the WA legislature. Here’s a link to an article explaining the new law (which hasn’t been fully passed yet, House passed amendments require it to go back to the Senate for confirmation before it goes to the Gov’s office for signature or veto):
http://goo.gl/gPAcqQ
FTA:
Kind of shows those who think republicans are the only thing holding cannabis illegal that some republicans in power DO support medicinal cannabis being available to those who need it in sufficient variety, amounts, and methods of use. You should already be fully aware that many democrats in power do not (top of the list VP Biden, there are far too many on that list).
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New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez is a Republican.
But his opinion is about as useless as a dissenting vote by a Supreme Court Justice or two,,just words on paper.
Exactly the question you’ll never get a straight answer to from our buddy kLieman. I tried for years and the closest I got was something about potential for negatively affecting a student’s academic career, which I guess he figured was enough to justify his ridiculous Chicken Little routine.
Yup, and there’s the answer to kLieman’s constant whine that “self-reported” survey results show that soooooo maaaaaany people (millions and millions) “meet the diagnostic criteria” for cannabis dependency. I tried to make the caffeine point dozens of times at the Self-Serving Propaganda Based Community before the censorship days, and couldn’t get anyone there to take it seriously. Yeah, let’s prohibit caffeine, vigorously enforce it (at least in minority communities) and then produce a government survey to see how many people “meet the diagnostic criteria” for caffeine dependency, shall we?
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I’d rather they figure out a much more accurate definition of the fiction of merrywanna addiction. Their entire case is built on the presumption that anyone who chooses to and does enjoy cannabis from time to time is an addict. It’s hogwash. Go find a real 12 step meeting and ask them if they think that addicts enjoy their addiction. The truth is that being a practicing addict just plain sucks. If you’re happy, you aren’t an addict. The two are mutually exclusive.
Official 12 Step platitude #139:
We simply can’t allow people to be happy in ways a parasitic minority doesn’t approve of.
Here’s a good article:
http://www.420magazine.com/forums/international-cannabis-news/244374-stoned-muscle-blunt-take-fitness.html#post2464671
Stoned Muscle: A Blunt Take On Fitness
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Well not only did this fellow, for the sake of brevity let’s call him Arnold, win the title of Mr. Universe while simultaneously choosing to enjoy cannabis, he quit enjoying cannabis later on in life in favor of being a Republican. Here’s our man Arnold before and after quitting cannabis (caution, anti-nausea protocols advised): Aaack!
Now remember to be fair. We can’t say for sure that his physical decline wasn’t caused by his change in party affiliation. I’ve never seen any other Republican politicians so close to naked but neither do I want to see that. Heck, I wouldn’t have searched for his famous joint smoking picture if I had known that I was going to see that picture. I suspect there may be a reason why the Republican Party has never released a “beefcake” calendar of various prominent Republicans showing off their bodies. But I’ll just take that on faith thanks very much.
His body looks good compared too Rocky’s..the steroid damage weighs
heavy with that one.
http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/13/rand-paul-assures-evangelicals-that-he-d
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Can we please have a moment of silence to celebrate the memory of Jack Herer and his efforts in moving this thing of ours along before he passed away 5 years ago today? You know, if I were the kind of man that believed in an after life I could sure make a compelling argument that he hasn’t quit pulling these strings. Hey, it’s one of the best explanations which I can offer for the sudden, 180 degree change in public sentiment.
This one is from the “WTF? Doesn’t that website cater to foaming at the mouth Republicans?” category:
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I bought my copy of The Emperor Wears No Clothes from Mr. Herer in the late ’80’s sometime at a little store he had on Van Nuys Blvd in the Valley if I remember correctly. A very nice man, and it was an honor and pleasure to meet and talk with him for a few minutes.
I wouldn’t be even slightly surprised if he was still helping us all along.
The RNC is pushing the ONDCP rehab instead of incarceration policy change announced over half a decade ago and still nobody is investing in the rehab centers required to do a federal policy change,,and the feds cannot afford to open them.
That is why the ONDCP/DEA are attempting to get funds to give grants too states when their legislatures enact subsidies for rehab start-ups,,it is probably funded in that NDAA budget,,if you can find it.
In an article about how to quickly remedy food poisoning was this tasty bit:
Nation gears up for 4/20 celebrations
420 (cannabis culture)
2015 Global Marijuana March and 420 map
Top 420 Events For 2015
Colorado
Oregon
Washington
Southern California – via Culture
Bay Area, California – via Culture
CANADA – via Cannabis Culture
The Ultimate 4/20 Event Guide
This year April 20 – the stoner national holiday – falls on a Monday. Most of the events listed here take place over the 4/20 weekend.
“In another episode, Walker admitted carrying a heavy safe full of drug money down 17 flights of stairs to avoid being seen on the elevator security camera. And he described another heist when he stuffed so much bundled cash into his police vest that he had to wear Liciardello’s vest over his to cover the bulge when he left the house.”
http://tinyurl.com/kp2anxu
DEA chief Michele Leonhart should step down according to House oversight committee chair.
Oh, the heads, how they roll.
I caught some of Leonhart on CSpan yesterday. She looked like a worried fox at the end of the hunt. But I haven’t noticed her, or any, head roll yet. The Corporation may soon reabsorb her and inject another DEA chief into the host.
DOJ IG: Handling of Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Allegations
Due to a lack of cooperation from the DEA and FBI, the DOJ OIG also noted that relevant information was difficult to obtain during their investigation.
Michele M. Leonhart (Lying Heart)
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1652
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCr_6TEUUAEKE8p.jpg:large
NIDA’s Nutty Nora’s Tax Paid Gossip ecp
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1878
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCsA5E1UEAE7U_b.jpg:large
…because of the sex parties
…you know, the important stuff she mendaciously described
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This has been a particularly nauseating comments column. Now I’m on the edge of hyperemesis because I can’t get the image of Ms. Leonhart in leather whipping Arnold the Governor at the sex orgy out of my mind. christ on a cross, what the heck did I do to deserve that?
Ask and ye shall receive! Leonhart raw and wet! (sweating under the lights)
http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/doj-ig-handling-sexual-harassment-misconduct-allegations/
H/T Reason Magazine
Fire DEA Chief Michele Leonhart
http://dea.action.drugpolicy.org/#primary_form
Extraordinary that the mormon Jason Chaffetz should be the one to break this news. He was the committee head who threatened to jail DC mayor Muriel Bowser if she obeyed DC voters and implemented decriminalization.
Basing Ms. Leonhart’s ouster on a DEA sex scandal she couldn’t possibly have had any control over is absurd. It makes it obvious Rep. Chaffetz’s criticism is religiously biased. Clearly, Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah wants to replace Leonhart with a Mormon—a male Mormon, that is. Plenty of likely candidates work at the DEA. Probably each are as capable as Michele when it comes to destroying the DEA’s justification for existing.
Here’s US News’ take on this Leonhart situation:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/15/deas-leonhart-doomed-committee-declares-no-confidence-amid-sex-party-scandal
Like the old Scottish saying went, “Once you touch the Devil, you can’t let go” You can’t touch the Devil of prohibition without being stuck to its corruption.
Some things never change; google Arnold Rothstein Levi Nutt scandal and anyone would see that, literally from the beginning, the anti-drug bureaucracies were rife with the above-mentioned corruption. Right from the get-go.
You’d also see how ol’ Harry J. Anslinger got his job. Marrying a daughter of the Mellon banking house didn’t hurt, either.
‘Drugs’ are politically ‘icky’ and liable to stain an up-and-coming political career, so most pols avoid the subject, leaving it to the political equivalent of garbagemen and dog-catchers to take care of the mess.
So long as things are kept quiet, so long as only the ‘right’ people (minorities, the poor, etc.) are the only ones hurt, the garbagemen and dog-catchers get to do what they want to…until they go too far, and the trash starts to pile up and the higher-political-caste neighbors start to complain that their lawns are being crapped on and their kids are getting bit by loose dogs.
And so we have spectacles like ‘La Leonhart goes to Congress’ to give a stunning example of the Peter Principle in operation. Not once, not twice, but three times, now.
I’ll bet President Choom wishes he’d sacked her after her insubordinate remarks to those LE people a year back. Now he has to defend her. That, or look like he’s knuckling under to Republicans.
Hear that ‘tink, tink, tink’ sound? That’s a rock hitting the hard place. That’s where Michele the Mouth has put ol’ Barry’s Administration…while Dems are gearing up for 2016, where cannabis re-legalization is an issue no pol will be able to dodge this time.
If ever there was a case of ‘bad timing’ this is it. Drug prohibition in toto, not just cannabis but all drugs, could become the kind of issue that will totally upset the political apple cart. And by failing to take decisive action on this issue in its first term, this Administration has reaped the whirlwind in its second.
My old VN War military instructors were right: What comes around, does, indeed, go around. Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah.
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We really can’t blame Mr. Mellon for getting Harry J a job. He only did it because without a job Harry J would have never moved out of the house. I can just imagine the horrors of being in the same house as Harry J. Remember that we’re only familiar with Harry J’s public image. By definition someone’s public image is designed to cast the person in the most favorable light possible. I doubt that any of us can imagine what kind of a man he must have been in his private life.
Murdoch tabloid the Sun scraping the barrel in the cause of prohibition, using disgraced “comic” Jim Davidson. Davidson is an example of the Pat Kennedy school of prohibition; he wants to continue arresting non-problematic cannabis consumers because HE has a problem with drugs.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6412066/Jim-Davidson-blasts-the-campaign-to-legalise-drugs.html
“Davidson has become known for his use of controversial jokes about women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and disabled people, but he denies accusations that he is prejudiced against these groups.” (Wiki) He once had three people in wheelchairs removed from the front of the audience for a show.
He was also arrested twice in connection with the ongoing British pedophile trawl known as Operation Yewtree.
Another article cites the NIDA for finally acknowledging that marijuana constituents “might†have merit as a medical treatment. In it they describe the current status of available supplies of marijuana used in federal research:
Yes, how ironic. It costs the government $78,231 per pound to grow a weed. None in the government dare call it fraud.
The DEA has stockpiles of some of the best MMJ in their possession,,why not test it and use it instead of spending $68 million growing some more that may or may not be as good as what they already have.
I posted that on FB the first article that hit the search on the increase and of course,,reminded them too send me my 10% for saving $68 million tax dollars,,,minus testing costs.
Yet more reasons why all cops should be made to wear body cams at all times when dealing with the public:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/technologically-challenged-cops-assault-teen-and-try-delete-video-they-failed
Check out the ending as the cops try to delete the evidence of their assault on a minor. Why are these officers not in jail?
It is my opinion that in order for any LEO (including all agencies that now have policing powers) to be hired, or to remain on the job, they must ALL be required to carry personal liability insurance with a clause which reads:
“All killings (human or animal) by insured will be investigated by the insurance company as well as a police agency other than the department where s/he is employed. If the insurance company investigation concludes the killing was unjustified the insured will be immediately dropped from coverage and prohibited from obtaining this kind of liability insurance in the future, regardless the conclusion of the LEA investigation.
“Premiums will double after one allegation of abuse upon reasonable suspicion of its validity (which will be investigated by the insurance company, rather than the department which hired him/her), or loss or corruption of body/dash cam video of an arrest/altercation due to ANY kind of “malfunction”, and if the officer shut off the cam that will be probable cause of validity of the allegation. Premium will double again after a second such allegation or loss/corruption of video. After a third such allegation or incident of video loss, coverage will be dropped on this LEO.”
No insurance=no job anywhere in any kind of policing at any level of government or security for any private security firm, not even as a night watchman; this will be a permanent ban! Implement this and all law enforcement will almost immediately become more civilized and polite in their encounters with the rest of society. We make this happen and we are ALL better off, including the LEOs, themselves.
They are NOT heroes, people, most of them are sociopaths who like having power over other people, some of them are full blown psychopaths, and the ONLY time one of them becomes a hero is when s/he risks his/her own life to protect another human or animal from harm. They are not heroes when they die in a car wreck (which is the most frequent reason a cop dies on the job, which wreck is usually the cop’s fault), they are not heroes when some nut job guns them down in a coffee shop or parked car. Stop putting them on a pedestal, and start holding them to a higher standard than you do your neighbor; because we give them the power of arrest (and even life or death) over us, we must not allow them to commit acts we would be arrested and imprisoned for doing. We must demand they treat all of us, even suspects, with some courtesy, instead of the abusive and arrogant attitude they usually show.
They are obviously not suited to police work, so why have they not been fired? Another reason to ban police unions and to have extremely strong civilian oversight of the police.
Bitter defeat!
Those who kept their expectations low made the right choice here. No relief in sight for California.
http://edca.typepad.com/eastern_district_of_calif/
Judge declines to remove marijuana from dangerous drug list http://news.yahoo.com/judge-declines-remove-marijuana-dangerous-drug-list-175609181.html?soc_src=mediacontentsharebuttons&soc_trk=tw via @YahooNews
Chris Christie: ‘I Will Crack Down And Not Permit’ Legal Marijuana As President
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/14/chris-christie-marijuana_n_7066636.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
She claimed that it was Congress’ job, not the courts.
WTF does she think the Federal Court system is FOR??
Exactly. Judicial review means nothing to these people. She was likely influenced by outside forces. Um, duh? I know, but seriously. Think her life was threatened?
I think she woke up next to the horse’s head….
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I’m sure that you’re mistaken Justin. I heard it was the horse’s ass.
Too much at stake here. For Mueller to have pulled a volteface and undermine a century of drug law based upon pseudo-scientific lies, and destroy the gigantic bureaucracy built on the foundation of those lies, and overturn every conviction in America gained as a result of those lies having government imprimatur, would have been explosive to say the least.
And it would have probably been several horse heads, to get the point across.
How marijuana legalizers are winning the battle for hearts and minds
http://tinyurl.com/lqbfove
I want to know how the WAPO can publish Sabet quotes without taking him to task on the lies.
“Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that opposes legalization, says that “people have changed their minds because of the multimillion dollar effort to normalize a drug that stunts normal brain development, contributes to mental illness, and is directly related to car crashes…”
NONE of that is true.
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I don’t know if this is good or bad news. At first glance it struck me as a very good thing. Upon further review I think that it’s very possible that he’s getting into bed with SAM which would make it bad news. But “never borrow sorrow from tomorrow” is my motto. I’ll cry after the bad news is disseminated.
I had no idea abstinence sex education classes combined anti-sex hype with anti-drug propaganda, but apparently they do. Dr. Alice Dreger visited her son’s abstinence sex education class and live tweeted her impressions. Here is a sampling containing her drug comments:
jon krakauer says that 97% of all rapes in the US go unpunished. i wonder how this can be with all the police on the payrolls. maybe anslinger and hoover were comitting treason when they put thought crime and feeling too good at the top of the list for “cracking down” on. http://tinyurl.com/ohn3tqk