Obama grants final 330 commutations to nonviolent drug offenders
Obama didn’t seriously focus on pardons and commutations until 2014, two years into his second term. But, on Thursday, his last full day in office, Obama announced 330 more commutations, bringing his total number of clemencies to 1,715. He has granted commutations to more people than the last 12 presidents combined, more than 500 of them to inmates with life sentences.
“By restoring proportionality to unnecessarily long drug sentences, this administration has made a lasting impact on our criminal justice system,†said Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates. “With 1,715 commutations in total, this undertaking was as enormous as it was unprecedented.â€
I’m one of those who criticized President Obama for his lack of pardons and commutations in his first term, so I must say I’m pleased to be able to report this.
This is an overdue recognition of the injustices that have been served by the drug war.
It’s also only a drop in the bucket.
I’m glad he pardoned Chelsea Manning. Why jail him for following orders: to protect against all foreign and domestic threats. You couldn’t throw a rock without someone from India or Uganda seeing it . . . our bases were flooded with contract workers living in sub-standered conditions working 14-18 hr shifts with maybe one day off every other week. KBR, hallowed be thy name. Try being in charge of people you have no authority over or being in charge of people you couldn’t tell what to do. A lot of military jobs were outsourced to foreign labor on our bases.
Too bad that Obama looks to fail in the descheduling of cannabis department. He is being a typical political hypocrite by leaving cannabis a Schedule I drug, when he himself used it with no harm. What a disappointment.
I’m glad he pardoned all the people he did, but it is a drop in the bucket. There are thousands more that he could have commuted or pardoned.
Overall, I give Obama a failing grade because he had the opportunity to end the racist War on Drugs and he didn’t.
Commuting even many sentences for non crimes is nothing to write History books about. Unless he commutes Ganja from the CSA his accomplishments and legacy will be aligned with the other fascist regimes the last 45 years since Nixon. Not that it was any better before that but it seems before hippies and civil rights protests the general public didn’t take much interest in opposing government wars. Now Lynch has given Trump a brand new rod and reel for his upcoming fishing expeditions. Lipstick on a Pig.
☛ Attorney General Loretta Lynch and a parting shot at personal freedom
On Jan. 3, outgoing Attorney General Loretta Lynch secretly signed an order directing the National Security Agency — America’s 60,000-person-strong domestic spying apparatus — to make available raw spying data to all other federal intelligence agencies, which then can pass it on to their counterparts in foreign countries and in the 50 states upon request. She did so, she claimed, for administrative convenience. Yet in doing this, she violated basic constitutional principles that were erected centuries ago to prevent just what she did.
☛ Manning is Free News
https://www.chelseamanning.org/
☛ Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence
☛ The Guantánamo files
Guantánamo leaks lift lid on world’s most controversial prison. Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts • Children, elderly and mentally ill among those wrongfully held • 172 prisoners remain, some with no prospect of trial or release. More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantánamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of America’s controversial prison camp in Cuba.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., called Obama’s decision “outrageous.” “Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets,” Like Bush Cheney relied heavily on information obtained from a small number of detainees under torture. They continued to maintain this testimony was reliable even after admitting that the prisoners who provided it had been mistreated. Or Among Manning’s leaks was video footage that went viral and came to be known as “Collateral Murder.”
Let it be said here in earnest,
with good heart: Thanks, Obama.
— Edward Snowden
January 17, 2017 (@Snowden)
https://t.co/IeumTasRNN
☛ Free Leonard Peltier
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/374
Chris Hedges looks back on President Barack Obama’s legacy with Glen Ford, Executive Editor of the Black Agenda Report. They examine Obama’s role in boosting the war industry, serving corporate interests, and depleting the privacy rights…
☛ President Obama’s legacy with Glen Ford
☛ chris hedges rt.com/oncontact
https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/
☛ The Obama Legacy: Glen Ford on Wed, 01/18/2017
A Temporary Deformity of Black Minds on War and Peace
An Ever-Smaller Circle of Billionaires Controls the Planet’s Wealth
As the Democrats Press for War, the Left Must Demand Peace and Social Transformation
☛ Black Agenda Report
http://www.blackagendareport.com/
News, information and analysis from the black left.
☛ An Ever-Smaller Circle of Billionaires
Controls the Planet’s Wealth
As humanity by the hundreds of millions is forced into a Race to the Bottom, the super-rich expand their dominance of the Earth’s wealth. Eight individuals now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the planetary population. “How can a society call itself civilized, when half the value of all of humanity’s labor — which is what those fortunes actually represent — is at the disposal of eight men?â€
Not to cast a shadow on his release of over 1300 federal drug war prisoners but during his 8 years in office approximately 6 million American citizens were arrested for cannabis crimes.
Our prisons are still full with courts backlogging cases and no relief in sight.
It doesn’t do any good to pour out a cup from the bucket if you don’t turn off the spigot.
“It’s also only a drop in the bucket.” Indeed.
Now Obama is gone. And so are the hopes and dreams of drug policy reform ‘leaders’ that told us Obama was our friend, and that better days were ahead. Obama’s commutations and pardons and Cole memo are but cold comfort to the 4 million families with sons and daughters arrested for pot possession under his rule and ridicule.
Ethan Nadelmann should be embarrassed, if not ashamed, and resign. Obama, and especially Soros, played him like a cheap violin.
It is time for new leadership.
“… we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people”
– Donald Trump’s Inauguration speech
“Support for Legal Marijuana Use Up to 60% in U.S.”
http://tinyurl.com/z4547mv
Time to stop the drug war that has been waged upon the citizens of the US, and to remove marijuana from the controlled substances act.
Mr President, give the safest drug in America back to the American people where it belongs. That’s leadership. That’s giving power back to the people from the swamps of Washington.
Daniel Williams I think you are all wet. We’ll see. To the new leadership:
– Here is your time to shine, Donald Trump.
https://youtu.be/RtvlBS4PMF0
Umm…think more clearly. I was talking about new drug policy leadership.
Sorry to misconstrue what you were talking about.
Can’t say I agree with you or your anger tho.
Its the most progress toward solid change that I have seen in my lifetime. The spigot is just still open.
New drug policy leadership?
☛ Fact-Checking Donald Trump’s Dystopian Inauguration Speech
True to form, Trump’s first address as president was rife with misinformation.
Crime in America
Trump: “ . . . And the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.â€
Fact-check: The U.S. crime rate is near a 20-year low, and while the use of some drugs is increasing, drug use among American teens dropped to an all-time low in 2016.
☛ In his inaugural address,
Trump groups public schools with
gangs, drugs and rusted-out factories
An education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
Doh!
Deprived of all knowledge…
but have unrealized potential?
☛ The Assassins of Youth: DARE †FRCn PDFA
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/505
An education system…
of crime and the gangs and the drugs?
☛ How an ‘abuse-deterrent’ drug created the heroin epidemic
Robbed our country of young and beautiful students.
Student theft is rising. Creating a black market of stolen students Frump vows to Invest-igate. Tuck Frump!
On the bright-side…
☛ Local Police Worry Trump Will Punish Sanctuary Cities
By Cutting Drug War Funding 2016-12-09
Trump threatened to cut off federal funding for sanctuary cities that defied federal immigration enforcement efforts. There are over three hundred such cities around the country.
Think more clearly? Umm!
“ . . . And the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.‒
With those words he announced his new, stepped-up, racist drug war. Daniel and Thinking Clearly: We need a change for sure but in promoting Trump as the agent of that change you’re going to have a rude awakening under this new regime. I’m sure we’ll be having this discussion again in the coming months.
One last time: When I wrote of a need for new leadership, I was talking about new drug policy reform leadership – not a new president.
Daniel, why not be more specific to clarify whatever point you’re trying to make? Aside from the vague reference that Nadelmann was played “like a cheap violin”, what about the current “drug policy reform leadership” do you find lacking? (And I assume you’re not referring to Nadelmann alone.) What change of direction or specific characteristics would you like to see from any new drug policy reform leader(s)?
Hey Will: I called for new leadership in my last sentence. It came right after stating that Ethan Nadelmann should resign. Not sure how more specific I could be.
What I find lacking is how Ethan Nadelmann et. al chose medical marijuana users; the smallest subset of consumers, to be their primary if not sole focus.
A good argument can made that, had we focused on the repeal of drug prohibition in its entirety, we’d be considerably farther along in the process. Attacking the whole of drug prohibition would have given us greater negotiating room, leading to a better outcome.
As it stands, choosing the smallest subset of users; medical patients (and I’m all for cannabis as a medicine), took all our other cards off the table, allowing drug prohibitionists to focus solely on stopping cannabis reform. Had we demanded an end to all drug prohibition (which LEAP called for before caving to Nadelamnn and Soros, because…money), a good bet could be made that we’d have done better at the negotiating table.
My argument has been all along that focusing solely on medical cannabis – and a lesser and belated focus on recreational cannabis – and succeeding, would have given prohibitionists the ability to shout “Shut up and sit down! We gave you marijuana!” when we took reform to the next logical step: removing prohibitions on other drugs, which Ethan et. al said was their ultimate goal.
Except Ethan said (to my face) that the American public wasn’t ready to have that conversation. But I believe Ethan was incapable of making it, either out of inability or restraints placed on him by Soros – or both.
And as that is their (often stated) ultimate goal, it will be interesting to see how that debate goes should cannabis prohibition end nationally. What class of drugs will be their new focus? LSD? Cocaine? MDMA? Or will they simply declare victory and go write a book or something, leaving the true heavy lifting to others?
Drug policy reform ‘leaders’ were playing checkers, while the prohibitionists were playing chess – and always a move or two ahead of us.
I think your analysis is fair.
Some research into 1996’s Prop 215 which gave California MMJ reveals that the Soros-Nadelmann connection which SAVED the signature-gathering effort, ALSO was responsible for turning MMJ patients into Law Enforcement Targets.
How so? There were TWO ballot statements provided to the state of California for Prop 215, one came from Dennis Peron’s people (which created a BAR to prosecution) and one came from a Santa Monica dude hired by Nadelmann. The Nadlemann-people-created ballot statement created an “affirmative” defense against prosecution. That’s the one that was chosen by a Republican State Senator, rather than the original statement and intent to protect patients.
In other words, thanks to DPA genius, we got a MMJ law that allowed law enforcement to treat patients like the old saying in war, “kill em all and let god sort em out.”
Well, an affirmative defense is like what California’s law enforcement was allowed to do, i.e., “ARREST THEM ALL AND LET THE COURTS SORT IT OUT.”
Good thing California loves its weed. A lot of people went to jail because the original spirit of Prop 215 got hijacked by Nadelmann and/or his people.
I saw Ethan give a Ted-Talk and thought he was a fucking genius. California MMJ patients got screwed by the DPA vision.
I do think you give the American so-called Left, too hard a time though. We’re Empire dude, and that’s a whole nuther set of circumstances to deal with. We get little traction because we’re a mosquito trying to bite Empire’s ass.
NO self-respecting elite who have won the lottery of Empire are gonna want to kiss the war on society good-bye. The DEA is just too valuable an asset for getting into other countries’ bidness. And Empire is all about getting up into other people’s shit.
Thanks! But you damn near gave me a stroke… Not used to having my point of view supported here on the couch.
I’m not sure what you mean NCM? That reformers or Nadelman did anything to tweak 215. I collected sigs in the rain and it never changed. It was Pete Wilson and Lungren who didn’t enforce 215 and let Peter McWilliams die. After it passed SB420 suggested limits and zoning laws kept people hindered and dispensaries were raided until the Cole memo. But 215 wasn’t the fault and as far as i know Nadelman had nothing to do with it. Peron and Dr Tod (Mikuriya) wrote it as a keep out of jail free card. To stop giving a reason to arrest people. Not strictly medicinal use, although that was the primary intent to protect sick people. No one thought they would be hassled until WAMM was raided in the early 90s. We passed Measure A right after SFs Measure B in 93 and determined only organic Ganja. Now Browne and the Sacramentally Ill tweaked the latest implementation rules 20 years after 215 and even more stripped with P64. That I will agree that the reform groups and greed factor was involved.
Note. Compassionate Use Act not the MMJ Act
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1578/
Daniel, okay now you’ve made it clear why you are calling out Nadelmann specifically. Among other things, this goes to the general criticism of cannabis being emphasized disproportionally with respect to the overall war on drugs. You are also pointing out the love/hate relationship with incrementalism, also much discussed on Pete’s blog and other venues. While many have embraced the ‘medical first/recreational later’ strategy regarding cannabis legalization, many — myself included — have felt that this was being entirely too deferential to prohibitionists.
Back to the Drug Policy Alliance and their strategy. I have often wondered why that organization did not shift their focus more to laws related to other drugs and leave cannabis reform to the myriad of organizations solely devoted to cannabis. I suspect this has to do with the ‘gang up’ strategy, i.e, “Look, the cannabis wall is seriously teetering, lets ALL go over there and make sure it goes over for good”. Also, the bright and shiny lights are pointed at the cannabis plant. That’s where a massive amount of attention and coverage is located. The problem is, and the question is — how many cannabis reform activists are going to work on other problematic drug laws once cannabis reform has fully succeeded? My guess is very few indeed (unfortunately).
At the same time, when I talk to people (outside of drug law reform interests) about cannabis being made legal, there’s an increasing — albeit begrudging — realization that cannabis legalization is the right thing to do. But, I must admit, this attitude is far greater weighted toward the medical side of the equation. Now, when I bring up the rational to legalize all drugs, the conversation abruptly ends with the person I’d been talking to looking at me like I have an ear growing out of my forehead. While the notion of “responsible” cannabis use is increasingly believable to most people, the idea of responsible heroin, cocaine, PCP or LSD use is simply too bizarre to fathom. Nor is there a ready acceptance to the idea that drug laws and their consequences are actually worse than consuming the drugs themselves. This is where the really difficult work lies and where the Drug Policy Alliance’s emphasis should be. Maybe once cannabis is fully legalized and Mr. Nadelmann retires, whomever takes over will point DPA’s strategy more forcefully in that direction. But, as has been stated many times before, TIME IS GOING BY.
I believe that the DPAs emphasis on cannabis is due to Soros not wanting to offend his pal and puppet Obama. And I also believe Ethan Nadelmann stayed focused on cannabis because he sought to protect his job, one paying him $250K (plus expenses) per year – not entirely a bad bit of self-interest, though it placed the interests of others in jeopardy (and jail).
Had the focus and argument for the past 40+ years been on eliminating the whole of drug prohibition, perhaps the public would not be so repelled by it – somewhat the opposite of familiarity breeding contempt.
Over the years, I made a point of talking prohibition repeal to those outside the converted (Rotary Clubs, church groups, and the like). And I had more than limited success, mainly by focusing on the history of prohibited drugs. You’d be surprised at the number of educated and reasonable folks totally unaware that heroin was once available from the Sears, Roebuck catalog – and the lack of crime and cartels and overdoses during that era.
Of course, there were a few times when I walked backwards out the door after giving my remarks. But the times when folks would come up to me and say they were embarrassed at their lack of knowledge, and how I’d given them something to seriously consider, well, those times were priceless.
‘Except Ethan said (to my face) that the American public wasn’t ready to have that conversation.’
Do the American people know that the DEA has first hand funded Lashkar-e-Taiba?
Do they know that the 1961 U.N. Single laws has cost America several trillion dollars just to obey the laws? Are tax payers aware that it is illegal for U.S. soldiers to eradicate opium and cannabis from Afghanistan . . . that there are laws forbidding U.S. soldiers from burning the fields and arresting the growers, while there are laws that also state that it is illegal for soldiers to not burn the fields and arrest the growers? Do Americans even know there was a 2008 recession fueled by an expensive war funded on credit–credit insured by AIG, packaged next to MBS’s and CDO’s, ready to fall like dominoes? That keeping drugs illegal gave Americans access to fight an enemy fully funded so oil can be sold to China and resold to America as plastics i.e. a Leverage against our debt–akin to Goldman Sach offering Greece debt relief for a higher debt in the future? If big money and big government makes our efforts very slow, then all cannabis activists should quit pot for a few years and become cops and soldiers so the U.S. drug laws become boycotted one cop and soldier etc at a time, therefore giving the finger to big money and big government’s slow efforts. Now do you know why you see Afghani soldiers smoking cannabis from soda cans–because the American soldiers taught them to, diluting the drug war laws from the inside, though there are very few of us in the Armed forces fully aware of the whole truth or our power.
Daniel, seems as with Matt, you want credit for rediscovering the wheel. Many on this and other forums including myself have shown incrementalism in the Cannabis reform as a stalling dragged out practice that only provided jobs for the reform movement. We have been saying for 45 years that the CSA is bogus and have written the 3 main reformers. I have some of the tit for tats with others like Radical Russ siding with state initiatives. Baby steps for 45 years?
What I get from you is nothing but whining about liberals. Whining about Obama for the wrong reasons. He did more by doing less and that is indisputable. Sure he wimped out from removing it and used the lame excuse of letting a dysfunctional Congress take care of it. No one is doubting that. Certainly not me. I have posted more criticism of democrats on this forum and probably the internet than anyone I know. Starting in the 90s against Clinton and McCaffrey online. Against Thalidomide as an alternative to Ganja for the munchies and wasting syndrom. When stoners were chastised by Act Up as being the reason the fascist won’t let gays use pot, that stoners probably got them.
Until the profits made on prohibition and the competition kept off of the trade market shelves is addressed. It probably will continue as a philsophical red herring that it has been since Nixon. Until people wake up that a worldwide Neocon fascism and not two political parties of the past are writing the script. Incrementalism will survive. Simple truth that Ganja doesn’t fit as a schedule#1 controlled substance is not rocket surgery. Reformers who can type a sentence have the ability to figure that out. Politics with fascist never ends well. Who ya gonna call?
For those with alobama short term memory loss… smoke better pot.
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1709
The Obama Admin’s Anti-Marijuana Manifesto 03/15/10
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1614
This is the Brain of Incremental Retardation…
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/741
Ending D.E.A.th & Pillage Incrementally
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/573
I was wondering? 09/21/00
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1214
Cannabis, is it or is it not medicine.
Is it competition out of the way under prohibition?
“If we keep together we shall be safe, and when error is so apparent as to become visible to the majority, they will correct it.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
You say I do nothing but whine about liberals, yet state that you’ve posted more anti-Democrat rhetoric than just about anyone. Tough to square that circle…
But at least you referred to me with my given name, and not your old standby, Denial. Progress, I guess.
DdC, Fred Gardner at O’Shaughnessy’s is my source on the Prop 215 info. Noodle around their archives, they’ve got a lot of great info/history on Prop 215.
There were 40 people who voted on what to put on the ballot measure, Valerie Corral, INSISTED on the home cultivation, and Jack Herer was the LONE dissent vote.
Jack didn’t like the fact Prop 215 didn’t do anything for or about HEMP.
Fred Gardner and his sidekick Martin A. Lee, at Project CBD, are the reason my father was able to use a cannabis oil featuring CBD for his cancer.
Nevertheless Daniel, you have on numerous occasions stated your support for Trump as an agent of change in the drug war. I see exactly the opposite regarding the coming regime and clearly, by appointing prohibitionists like Sessions and Gingrich (and Obama did the same with Biden) Trump indicates his true stance on drug reform.
More fundamental is that I support the idea of drug policy reform being a better ideological fit with Republicans than it is with Democrats.
But yes, I have supported Trump as a potential agent of change. And still do. Of course no one knows for sure if it will come to fruition, certainly not me. But not to beat a dead horse, Obama really didn’t do shit. And Holder wasn’t much of an anti-prohibitionist either.
So there’s that metric. We can use it to measure Trump’s actions. Talk, as we painfully learned from Obama, means next to nothing.
He may be more of a whore than (not) acting on any deeply held beliefs. He’s been hired by California to keep Tr*mp’s crap as far away as possible and that includes defending legalization.
“Obama’s commutations and pardons and Cole memo are but cold comfort to the 4 million families with sons and daughters arrested for pot possession under his rule and ridicule.”
Although there has been much debate and hand wringing regarding Obama’s failure to legalize cannabis, I have always been baffled by those who expected anything meaningful from his administration in that area. I think the peak moment of my cynicism came after a lively conversation with a friend of mine not long after the 2008 election. We talked about a lot of stuff as we often do and at one point we touched on possibility of drug law reform — specifically cannabis legalization — during Obama’s presidency. Midway through our conversation my thoroughly acerbic friend asked, “Wait, do you really think the first black president is going to legalize marijuana?!”. Following a brief pause he started laughing very loudly. I got what he meant and still do.
Probably the oddest misconception regarding a presidential administration of either party ending federal enforcement of a controlled substance is that that substance automatically becomes legal across the country. It clearly does NOT. As stated in an article about the continuation of alcohol prohibition (yes, continuation) from a couple of years ago;
—————–
Alcohol Prohibition in America Is Not Over Yet:http://tinyurl.com/jytl32c%5D
Contrary to popular understanding, the 21st Amendment did not legalize alcohol nationwide. It merely repealed the national prohibition on its sale, kicking the question back to states.[emphasis added]
—————–
Again, to expect a president of the so-called BIG government/nanny state party to unshackle the chains of cannabis prohibition is laughable at best. The scorn of continuing the prohibition of any substance at the federal level has always belonged to the so-called small government/states rights party. They are firmly in control now. Any thoughts on what we should expect from them? (I can hear my friend laughing loudly all over again.)
The drug pardons and commutations by Obama are, or were, a government admission of the harms of the drug war. The marijuana related expungements of criminal records in legalization states are another example of a bureaucratic mea culpa.
By voting for legalization of marijuana, voters sent a signal that mandatory minimums and guilt by association are not acceptable norms in a just, democratic society, regardless of the type of drug. If Tsar Trump (the First) really doesn’t want to ‘play any games’ as he’s lately boasted, he will recognize the drug war as the scam it is. He will continue the exonerations. If he doesn’t, then he’s just another scammer, and a game player. We will know Donald by his actions, not his words.
I became the Drug Reform Leadership when I gave up a good scholarship to join the Army and see the war on drugs in Iraq (drug money funded terrorism/insurgencies). I became the leadership when I taught troubled youth to support legalization (which lead to me getting fired without Unemployment Benefits), while also doing exercises with them and even doing pushups with them when they got into trouble (which earns respect with kids in a military school). When I talk about drug legalization at the VFW, then I become drug policy leadership. What are we: A government by the government for the government? Most non-walkers will say “Well, I’ll be the judge of that.”. I say: “I Am the Judge” because taxpayers made me so via not boycotting their taxes like Thoreau did in 1846.
If every eligible Cannabis supporter simply gave up weed for a few years and became a part of the government and local government, then we’d have a smaller hill to push a chain up.
“If every eligible Cannabis supporter simply gave up weed for a few years…”
When good people obey bad law, bad law never changes.
When good people do nothing, evil prevails. If you didn’t believe I was right, then why do you pay me money for my opinion and lifestyle? A do nothing approach does nothing and yet you still pay me money–everyday you hand over money to me, which means you agree with me: “If every eligible Cannabis supporter simply gave up weed for a few years and became a part of the government and local government, then we’d have a smaller hill to push a chain up.â€
Have you ever drowned in a sea of taxpayers funding Rome’s Agenda? I have and it’s not for the faint of heart. Even you claimed I was in the Drug Reform Leadership because you paid your taxes to me and I used my experiences (thanks to your funding) to be physical change inside the machine. How can you say they are bad laws when you are just a tax payer on the outside, funding those very bad laws? I bet you one pound of Kush you have not heard of Eric Snowden or Chelsea Manning. I need some weed, so make the fucking bet and as a value investor, I only bet on that which I’ll earn something from. Even whats his name from Rogue One worked for the Empire so he could destroy it (Star Wars). It just baffles me how you cannot know I’m right. Did you not learn anything from those of us who graduated High School in 2001, witnessing 9/11 and tax payers championing a war? If I’m going to boycott my dreams for the greater good of the people, then I’m not going to be wrong and your insistence to keep paying taxes is the fuel I need to know I’m right. Who buys–pays for a brand new Ford Mustang and decides they won’t use it at all? A do nothing–that is who. You can never fully be counter culture until you know the culture you are trying to counter. I have dressed the emperor myself and I can tell you with full tax funded authority that he is wearing no clothes.
Sincerely, Son of Sam Walton who keeps his vow to protect my nation against all foreign and DOMESTIC threats. “I AM the Government for the People by the People and I have postponed my white middle class inheritance and entitlements to help all who have suffered under Uncle Sam Walton.
I’ll give up my weed when they pry my cold dead fingers from the doobie!
You owe me a pound of Kush. But since you have no weed, I guess I’ll not collect. (And I believe you meant Edward Snowden, right?)
How do we win when talk leads to no walk. Dilute the System from the Inside. DdC: I’d give up pot for a few years if it made it easier for the other to not go to jail. Damn cannabis arrest of 2003, keeping me in the army but not eligible to be a cop. So I tell all: quit pot for a season and serve your country and dismantle the Evil Empire. Voting is useless and protesting is mute.
How do we win when talk leads to no walk? Apples and Wheel barrows Mouth. Besides quitting would take a cash kow from the Neocons, if everyone quit. They would fill the bottomline on something else. Schools, childcare, roads. The only thing making it impossible to arrest people is to remove it as a controlled substance. Removing the lies they wallow in called the CSA.
Democrats problem is leaning too far right and a rubber backbone always compromising. By your remedy. All the Jews had to do was give up their religion for a while. All the Screen Actors Guild had to do was look more Christian and denounce FDR and all the Blacks had to do was stop being so uppity. I guess thats one way of looking at it but don’t hide behind some noble deed like its razing prisons or freeing victimless crime prisoners.
If you quit it wouldn’t stop anything. If you want to quit, quit. Don’t try some lame guilt trip as if its our fault the truth makes it hard for them to keep pushing lies. Geeesh man. If everyone quit the banksters would still have to make ends meet. That is if any of it had anything to do with who gets arrested. There is no logic to how your stopping would stop the drug war. If they eradicated all Ganja they would outlaw tobacco. Or start another cold war. It feeds the black budget.
The Ganjawar is 100% political and has no bearing on everyday reality. Here is the only way to get noticed and I didn’t see many with legalize signs even though Cannabis is the alternative Liberals are looking for to oppose Wall St multinationalists behind prohibition. That they shun. Can’t save everybody dude. If they toss the lifesaver back then they will drown. Not your fault or worth suicide over. Act Up had a similar attitude that somehow everyone should quit because the really sick needed it and the NeoCongress led by future Libertarian Bob Barr, was blocking the vote. Can’t compromise on insanity and expect anything sane to come of it.
Power to the People.
☛ DC, Chicago Women’s Marches So Big There Were No Marches
With half-a-million protesters a definite possibility, the march portion of Women’s March on Washington is proving an impossibility, the AP reports. A DC official says the entire planned march route to the White House is already packed full of demonstrators.
☛ Thousands of protesters swarm downtown Santa Cruz
Dude, dude… have you learned nothing. Your Government is the Fucking Evil Empire. What else would you call something that has terrorized its citizens for 50 years, Actually 75 or so, 100 in some places. Have you not read the agenda? Is The DEA Legalizing THC? Do you honestly believe anyone cares if you stop or not? Or if it matters? Or that true evil is that the Untied States of Anemica you probably feel like standing in allegiance for
Knew Cannabis Shrinks Tumors since 1974, then censored the information and banned any future research funding. Or read about Peter McWilliams or Tom and Rolly or Ed Rosenthal or Eddie Lepp. Its a prohibition business and we the people are consumers keeping them in power. What you buy does more to put innocents in jail than what you don’t buy. Grow your own or buy it from a dispensary or a grower you know. I haven’t seen anything Mexican worthy of smoking since the 70’s. Mostly homeless dirt weed compressed into tight bricks with the musky smell. Stop white powders would be more logical than taking jobs from American’s in the Ganja business.
I predicted after the election that Trump wouldn’t make it to the inauguration. That Pence and the religionist reich would step in to take over. That was the only way they could get someone in office without being voted for. We’ll see, maybe take a year or so but it looks like they are giving him enough rope to hang himself. I don’t think Pence would be a better alternative. I’m sure they would try to make this a Christian nation first chance they got. Since Trump is in the spotlight he will be the target while the most draconian cabinet ever is in place with a religions crusader in charge. Careful what we wish for, it may be granted.
This psa brought to you by a nice Sativa rich blend of Headband and Monkey Balls.
I’m very curious why you don’t tell younger activists the kind of work you did as a police officer DdC . . . ever heard of LEAP? Have you ever heard of Oliver Stone–he served his country. So did Ray Manzerick. William S Burroughs tried to join WWII.
You old hippies made my generation aware, but you are wrong now. Did it ever occur to you that I became right because of the old hippy and realized that our movement needs people to join the rank and file and reduce the harms of the Evil Empire you so love paying taxes to. Can you explain how my former LA Sheriff In-Laws were able to get the Former Undersheriff of LA to send my wife and I a wedding present (a beautiful wooden clock that cost well over $250) . . . Explain how I’m able to shake the hands of a Walton (Wal-Mart) mega-millionaire on a normal day . . . or how my home county’s biggest meth dealer (a family brand) was the best man at my wedding, with the DA of our county attending the wedding, along with a few judges? Because I’ve been absorbed into the System a small bit . . . because I am all work and no play and I have afforded myself a bit of leverage (small, but bigger than the young stoner who only knows video games and signing petitions). How many black kids did you stop from going to jail for weed or crack? How many cop friends have you preached to, respecting you because you wear a hat or a badge?
And I never said quit pot . . . maybe Law Enforcement doesn’t piss test, but I know the military gave me quite a bit of drug tests (and I’ve smoked good Mexican on the back roads of a military instillation out in the woods, thankful for no MPs, but ended up quitting for over 3yrs because having failed a drug test would not have landed me on the couch, nor witnessing the CIA, the Drug War in Iraq and ISIS recruits from Camp ####### in Baghdad). I don’t believe putting up signs and going to meetings and getting petitions does anything. Proof: then why did Scott Pruitt change the rules at the last minute–again and again when putting medical cannabis on the ballot. Most cannabis users who don’t get busted and are legally healthy don’t do anything but smoke weed, go to college or to Taco Bell. If you are not going to dilute the system, then boycott your taxes because it hurts when you throw rocks at me and it has killed little ones in Iraq, while sending dark skinned kids to jail.
You old hippies have taught us the way now the Millinials need to get off their Twitter/FB accounts and serve their communities for lasting change on the inside. Every tax you pay and every post you make confirms my theory: I am right. I acted like a Virus on the inside of the beast my own small way and now I’m one with the Borg, but as a small virus, preaching to others who were in my combat boots and to others who I hope will put down the joint and join the Police Force, boycotting from time to time when they can, the drug laws.
And I never said quit weed. I said: pass a drug test so they can get a real job that forces change onto the system. And didn’t you know DdC that the Holocaust was very small: all the good Germans joined the ranks and reduced the damage Hitler made . . . on second thought, that never happened because too many good Germans did nothing but pay taxes and live their day to day lives at the cost of others.
Sorry, but your posts only confirm what I’ve believed for many years: dilute the system from the inside. And I never said quit smoking weed, just pass a drug test so one can make whatever amount of change they can. I lost my job making change, are you afraid of losing your job, benefits, 401K and freedom for the cause. Activists need to quit acting like victims and grab the laws by the pussy as best as they can reach.
From the line in Star Wars: You were the teacher, but now I am the master. If you don’t believe I’m right about quitting cannabis for a few years and becoming a cop or soldier (since they drug test . . . I never said quit cannabis, just pass a drug test on the spot) and diluting the system from the inside, then explain all your lectures on your YUKU page. I’ve read a lot on your page and it tells me that my approach is the right one because it is one citizen/tax payer at a time, making–keeping America in the dark. We are to be lights for the path of humanity with our illuminating knowledge . . . aren’t you getting tired of others stubbing their toes in the dark–sometimes even causing them to fall on you? How about this: quit paying your taxes man . . . have you not learned anything . . . your taxes are being fired like buckshot. Enough preaching and more walking. You are the Teacher, but I am the master now and I say: Dilute the System from the inside. Don’t you love a good cold or flu . . . isn’t it grand when someone sneezes in your face, making you sick. I’m a Virus–though small and I’m making the system sick from the inside. If you don’t believe I’m right, then why are you paying me money via your taxes. If you hate the brand new Ford Mustang you bought, then why did you buy it?
This is what we have to do to defeat Evil: Kill the bad parts of the system from the inside. What doctor prescribes Viagra for a chest wound? How can you become a cop etc with a dirty pee-pee test?
Dude, if you’re in the military, get out. Unless your rants are some deep satirical mindfuck, you’re too squirrelly for the military. And I’m a vet.
I’m also one of those old hippies you want put out to pasture. But if you are any indication of what’s next, I believe I’ll hang around a bit more.
I’ve been physically out since 2008 and officially out since 2010. What year were you in? I was over there right during the recession and worked in a prison camp that housed more than the ordinary POW: terrorist/ insurgent. Some of our prisoners were bankers laundering money. Others were members of the Italian Mafia or Russian Mafia . . . some were Latin American drug traffickers. They say drug money can be used to buy AK-47s and that mafia money can be used to buy drugs and drugs are really good for financing various groups.
I want young cannabis activists/supporters to be able to pass a piss test so they can become cops etc and boycott as best they can, the drug laws from inside the system. Right out of the Army, I worked at a state funded Military Academy for troubled youth who needed a bit of understanding and guidance. I told them to support ending the drug war and I suspect that’s how I was fired without any unemployment benefits. And when some teen under my care did something they shouldn’t and I ordered them to do push ups, I was down on the ground with them, letting them know I was on their side/that I had their backs and forgave them of their infraction (not all the time, that’s a lot of push ups for individual trouble makers). Are you telling me Mr. Daniel Williams that I should have told those kids: become cops and rid the streets of drugs? I thought you supported ending the war on drugs, not prolonging it.
If you have a quarter ounce of Sour Diesel on you and in your pocket (strong obvious odor) and a cop pulls you over, but refuses to search you for drugs and doesn’t believe in the drug war, is he then going to arrest you though he chose not to arrest you? That’s a tricky question to answer. How many of us have you seen in the ranks of police officer? I’ve encountered none, because our side (young activists mind you) are too busy with other things, though I’ve known more than one weed supporter who could become a cop if they wanted to. I didn’t have any older weed supporters in 2003 telling me why I should quit and now it’s too late: I cannot become a cop and refuse obeying drug laws. You probably assume every marijuana user has been arrested. I don’t believe that.
I guess you expect all soldiers/former soldiers to act the same: you’re too squirrelly for the military yourself. I bet you’ve never heard of Hunter S Thompson: a former airman who ran for sheriff of Aspen, using his ‘inside’ experience for our cause. If you were really in the Military Daniel, then you represent a small fraction of citizens who served their nation and wanting to end the drug war, yet there are tens of thousands of young cannabis supporters who are just not willing to make a difference from the inside.
When have you ever heard me try to farm the old hippies out to pasture? Not once. Without the old hippies, I wouldn’t have decided that ‘young’ cannabis supporters need to join the system, reducing the power of the bad laws one cop/soldier/fire fighter/park ranger etc at a time . . . young cannabis supporters deciding to fill the ranks of civic jobs and government jobs before it is too late and they get too old or too arrested to make a deep impact on the infrastructure.
It seems like I’m more of a hippy than you are: after all, I grew up listening to the Dead, the Doors, reading Hunter Thompson, wearing Dead and Doors shirts and smoking cannabis in the 8th grade and diluting the system from the inside once fully aware and old enough. Maybe I’m trying hard to keep their legacy alive: Thesis, Antithesis and synthases–Hegel
Cheech and Chong, Snoop Dog, Half Baked, Easy Rider, Dazed and Confused, Bone Thugs etc only taught me to support ending the War on Drugs and why, but never how to end the war on drugs itself. The old records from the 1960’s I loved to listen to told me how not to act when seeking peace and freedom from corrupt laws, but not how to act when seeking peace and freedom from corrupt laws.
Maybe we are fighting for the illusion of hope and that is all it is: an illusion that it will change. But the hippies have taught me that you have to reach deep inside for the change . . . pulling the plug up and draining the water of bad laws.
I never meant to offend any old hippies or vets, but I don’t foresee my millennials working hard or fast enough. Once we win the war on drugs (when?) will our generation’s lack of physical involvement mean we let an new war on (insert) create victims because we refused to dilute the System from the Inside. If I was lucky enough to be a celebrity activist, I’d scream all day long for youngens to make a difference from inside the machine we call the government.
Hippy=thesis; government=antithesis; hippy joining the government=synthesis. Or change is just an illusion we keep trying to reach for. The last I checked: Trump is president and that is not good. I thought they tried to legalize pot in the 1970’s . . . I hope this isn’t a repeat or some permanent compromise cutting our victory by 1/3 of its possibilities. Enough is enough: fuck the war on drugs.
Mouth: “…and smoking cannabis in the 8th grade…”
Bingo.
We didn’t play ‘Bingo’ very much back then. Now ‘Where in the World is Carmen San Diego’ is a much better game than trying to mark down numbers on a sheet . . . what the hell does Bingo teach kids anyway: luck? Now Carmen San Diego is all skill and memory. I lusted after maps and atlases the way the kids did to Playboy and Penthouse. And competing in two State Geography Bees foreshadowed the places I’d go to, witnessing the drug war’s strong violent reach, like Iraq, Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and Paris France (Dec, 2008 Printemps terrorist threat from militants claiming to be from Afghanistan) and seeing how the same damn U.N. law affected Holland, Belgium, the Bahamas, Kuwait and Spain. Smoking weed as a kid and just spending hours fantasizing over Rand McNally, gliding my fingers over her longitudes and latitudes, sucking on her Naples, fondling her Vaduz and twirling her Harare and sometimes with both hands firmly on her Asuncion. Even my lady’s Antarctica has been negatively affected by the drug war: trees chopped down in Cambodia for MDMA precursors, crop sprays diluted into the water and taken up into the clouds . . . money going to drug dogs in 8th grade classrooms and not added lab equipment for a student who holds one of a thousand answers on reducing global warming etc. Every country on my maps and globes have been affected by the drug war.
Great perspectives and histories from all. I have nothing as special to add, but I will add a couple of OT things that are specific to moi:
For Nevadans, specifically in the Las Vegas metro area:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/columns/vegas-vice/questions-abound-after-legalization-recreational-marijuana-nevada
I tried to contact a few people about homegrow until rec. dispensaries came online, but I hadn’t gotten any good answers so far. Assuming the po-po are sincere (and I think they are), looks like homegrow ain’t gonna be a big thing to worry about.
I got an email from the Roger Waters mail list, which just said, “The resistance beings today,” with an image of Roger performing linking to this vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWLBtMz5OuY
I’ll admit, I’m no Trump fan, but I really hope he proves me wrong. I put this up not to tweak Trump supporters, but because I’m a Pink Floyd/Waters fan. Yes, I did like the way Waters poked the pig of Trump, but as I said, this is about Floyd.
I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan, have been since the late 60s.
One of the best concerts of my life was seeing Floyd perform in Cleveland, 1976. Some of the shit they pulled before even coming onstage had the crowd going crazy. It was awesome.
I struggle with some of the political rhetoric coming from my favorite bands; it tends to dilute my enthusiasm. I pay them to entertain me, not to pontificate on politics. Waters, in particular, with his anti-Israel rants, bothers me the most. And Springsteen ain’t too far behind.
But I am able to let it go when I’m listening to the stereo. Lots and lots of pot helps, of course. That and cranking up the volume too…
Now you’ve really stepped over the line: 1976 was the first year since they’d been together that Pink Floyd didn’t play a single show anywhere. No tour, no one-offs, nothing. You must be thinking of 1977.
It’s OK to disagree about drug policy, but don’t screw up the important stuff.
That aside, at the risk of piling on, I have to agree with those who say that Americans (and probably most of the world, for that matter) really aren’t ready to hear “Legalize it all!” I know enough about the history to know that you’re right and I think it’s incredibly important information to get out there, but I know damned few people who can wrap their minds around it.
I’m sorry that we’ll never know what would have happened had the truth been consistently, loudly, repeatedly uttered in the decades since California first tried to legalize cannabis. But cannabis was and remains the lowest-hanging fruit of all and likely will be for some time to come.
More positively, it seems like there’s been a lot of coverage of the benefits of psilocybin, LSD and MDMA lately, though again entirely in a medical (in this case, mental health) context. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see progress made there next. For better or worse, psychedelics might be an easier sell because so much of the benefit that’s being reported is relates to either dying people or PTSD, which is far more likely to elicit sympathy than mind expansion.
But at 57, I expect to be a rotting corpse before significant numbers of people (well, Americans, anyway) can wrap their heads around the availability of heroin on demand as being a net positive. We grew up being told utterly outrageous crap and most of us have probably never been around casual heroin users who didn’t have problems. (Well, that we know about, of course.) I “learned” in the fifth grade in 1969 or 1970 that a single dose of heroin was immediately and universally addictive. Even as someone who was ALWAYS opposed to prohibition, I believed that crap well into my twenties and only understood I’d been lied to when a friend casually mentioned having used it a few times. As far as I can tell, I’m pretty typical, sadly.
Yes, we can and should point to Portugal. But too damned many Americans will immediately write off anything that happened elsewhere as irrelevant or not true or proof of the inferiority of Those People or a million other excuses.
If what’s been happening over the last few months (and today in particular) is any indication at all, we’re entering an even darker period where made-up “minds” are going to be completely and utterly immune to objectively verifiable facts.
1977 – I stand corrected, and yes, need to keep my priorities straight.
I’m a bit older – 66 – and believe I’ll see more drugs legalized before I cross over. Especially if I live to be a hundred, a desire I’ve had since almost forever. And trust that if I do, I’ll be as spry and cognoscente as Albert Hofmann was when he turned 100. (The wife and I hung out with him at his home back in 2003 – he was 97 then. Got me drunk. Had some great stories. Very sweet man, with a lovely wife. And we accepted his invitation to attend his 100th birthday party, in Basel. Which was an absolute blast.)
Be optimistic about the future. Just be careful with that axe…
Yesterday was a fascinating example of duelling reasons to hope and despair.
Speaking of Eugene, I don’t know how severe your case of Floyd nerddom is, so I’ll just mention that my first-ever real rock concert was Oakland, May 9, 1977 and leave it at that for now.
Fairly severe. Appears I’m clairvoyant too…
Very good analysis. I wish there had been more emphasis on liberties and recreational use, but goddamn, many of my countrymen are effing closed-minded or stupid. The emphasis on MMJ has produced results–was it a better route? I’m not one of the better minds to know.
As far as Roger Waters, I understand where he comes from, with the way Israel has treated Palestinians–it just seems too much like South African apartheid–but I can also understand the goal of survival the Israeli state has. The rhetoric from Palestinian resistance, Iran, and other sectors doesn’t help. There are good people all around. I just wish there were less of a authoritarian, hawkish mindset from the current Israeli leaders, but it is not my place to overly criticize.
Can’t we all just get a bong?
The movement to end the drug war, the movement to legalize marijuana. They succeed to the degree that people are made aware of the propaganda and outright lies that have been propagated to keep the war in place. ‘
Outrageous lies. It’s most obvious iterations have been using marijuana. The lies have been so blown out of all sense of reality – the reality being that cannabis in its natural form is probably the safest drug on earth.
As TRUTH has marched forward through blogging and social media and the press, public opinion has changed. Dissolution of the lies by the dissemination of the truth has been the most powerful weapon in fighting the war on drugs and moving cannabis toward legalization in multiple states.
The paid celebrities of the legalization movements are not worth arguing over. It is our efforts to disseminate the truth in the face of the outrageous government lies and propaganda disguised as “science” that have moved the polls and changed the statistics.
It is the governments power and greed, and lust for more and more that have bankrupt the US. It is scrutiny by the public that has finally begun to end years of human rights abuses and constitutional corruption in name of the war on drugs.
It’s not over, and none of us has done enough yet. There sure is a lot more daylight than there was 8 years ago. Keep pounding out the truth and exposing the lies.
The drug war and all its governmental agencies are like a house of cards built on a foundation of deception and lies.
The real fun is ahead of us as more lies crumble and give way to the truth. The real cockroaches can never stand the light.
Huah!
Let’s pretend there are only 500,000 marijuana supporters in the U.S. under the age of 33 who have not yet been arrested. 60,000 are physically and mentally eligible to become cops and make incremental change from the inside of the beast. 15,000 of those marijuana users decide to not use for 20-30 years, thus rising in the ranks of LE and eventually becoming sheriffs, Lawyers, City Council etc . . . but this whole time, refusing to enforce certain laws as best they could, while preaching the truth and all too willing to lose their careers. It sucks to lose a good paying job with good benefits and a 401K because one preached drug legalization to youth at a military academy for troubled kids, drop outs, abused kids, drug using kids or kids just wanting an edge up on joining the military etc.
Viruses are awesome: they weaken the system from the inside. You can always pretend to be BORG. The best Marine Sniper looks like the area he’s hiding in and can speak the language–laying still for even days at a time, pooping and pissing their pants just to get that important shot without being exposed to death themselves.
LEAP and they say there are more than one million marijuana users in America, but too few are willing to join the system or preach to others the importance of joining the system before they are busted or too old.
HuffPost Report: Trump to Legalize Marijuana. Too many in government like Fire Fighters, Park Rangers, Cops and Soldiers are resisting drug laws and preaching to members not belonging to the choir. Huff Post says that since the 1960’s more and more hippies and marijuana activists have gone to work for the Fed and state and local communities. He’ll be legalizing Marijuana in February. A lot of Republicans agree because they earned their ranks in Congress by at one time being a marijuana activist who joined the system and diluted it.
We are so Fucked under Trump. Too many millinials (I’m one of them) don’t know how to legalize cannabis and end the drug war and they are not willing to lay down their dreams for a decade just to make a small difference one cannabis supporter at a time. I’m lucky being a Veteran has given me a bit of leverage for our movement, but too many young folk do nothing. I literally have to jack the TV as loud as it goes because protestors are too silent. Too bad I’m no longer legally eligible to become a cop so I can boycott the drug laws as best as I can from the inside. That is why it is important for the youth to pass drug tests and hop inside the beast and act as a Virus.
The decimation of the democrat party under Obama’s watch is his greatest achievement.
Have you noticed that the amount of democrat controlled states is now down to five.
Better double down on calling everyone racist who has a different opinion so you can keep winning elections.
Those redneck racist rube crackers in the Heartland just love the message.
They realize they aren’t nearly as smart and urbane as the open minded tolerant superior beings who label themselves democrat but they can’t help it.
If you don’t think racism is still a problem in the USA, I’d suggest you start following Tr*mp fans on Twitter.
Trump is legalizing cannabis. Huffington Post says that ever since the 1960’s counter culture movement, too many hippies (championed by pro-cannabis celebrities) and their younger followers throughout the decades since WoodStock are choosing to become cops, soldiers, fire fighters, park ranges etc for a few years or decades–risking their government job and boycotting as best they can, the War on Drugs and using their influence to turn as many of the ‘others’ to our side. Millions of marijuana supporters who could became cops and soldiers etc, thus becoming a virus to the system, weakening the immune system of the Drug War. Activists have chosen to suspend their dream life/jobs/schools for a few years just to make a difference from the inside. And those who are not eligible for city/government jobs because of health issues or an arrest record are shouting as loud as they can to the young ones the benefits of diluting the system from the inside.
Divided We Stand: use your Iraq/Afghanistan or police officer years to preach to those not belonging to the choir the truths and while in uniform, do your best to disrupt the Evil Empire. Are we just going to stand here and play the role of victim or are we going to get pro-active and destroy the system from the inside. This is My America–Make America Great Again and I’ve given up fine years of my life and a future PhD to join the rank and file for it’s leverage and the respect it earns with my peers and civilian counterparts. If simple activism, voting, petitions, signs in the yard, protesting, Norml meetings etc really works, then explain why Scott Pruitt keeps on changing the rules at the last minute for ballot requirements . . . too many of us are not taking over there jobs and reducing their role/power as best we can.
Eazy Riden, Clay, Kapt’n, Jose and Allan have all served their country either by choice or by draft, but they’ve earned leverage and learned the culture they are trying to counter. We need more of us to join the government and weakening the bad parts of it. Facts from websites, studies, papers and blogs are useless when kept up on a shelf, instead of unleashed into the system. Just because cannabis is good for cancer patients hasn’t brought about its legality and many of us still live in places where too many of the ‘other’ team: drug warriors, are in total control because far too few cannabis supporters have not joined them–standing next to them and sneezing in their face with a bad cold/flu.
The DEA says: don’t quit pot for a few years or longer to join the police force or military etc . . . keep smoking and get the laws changed through the old ways of petitions, meetings, signs in the yard/bumper sticker etc and don’t forget to pay your taxes to the Evil Empire.
It’s a bit late, but Germany just recognized marijuana as medicine. And German health insurance providers will pick up the tab:
Marijuana cop blown up by marijuana crop:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/how-not-dispose-marijuana-crop-just-busted
last weeks Planet Green trees radio show on DEA and Hemp grows.
http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/51368-pgt-334-we-have-commandeered-the-craft/
Three crimes seem to have been committed in Camp Crame, now nicknamed by many as Camp Crime.
There is something wrong when there is no more distinction between police operatives and criminals in prosecuting their “jobsâ€; when police authorities perform their mandate in utter disregard of the rights of the very people whom they are supposed to serve. There is something seriously wrong when salvaging and extra-judicial killings become part of the so-called legitimate police operations. There is something wrong when police and criminals alike take advantage of the war on drugs to cover their tracks or perpetrate their evil agenda. There is something wrong when due process of law is ignored to punish or enforce laws, or state policy. Finally, there is everything wrong when the sacrosanct principles of justice, respect for the rule of law and accountability are swept under the rug by the state to in furtherance of dubious state policies.
http://thestandard.com.ph/opinion/columns/eagle-eyes-by-tony-la-vina/227476/three-crimes-in-crame.html
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More on Obama’s pardons and commutations;
Guidelines Give More Clemency for Crack than Cannabis
http://tinyurl.com/hsalnaa
The Utah Medical Association is lobbying lawmakers in the state to reject any classification of marijuana as “medical†in future laws, claiming there is little scientific research backing up the label. Legislators in Utah came close to approving the use of marijuana extracts for treatment of certain debilitating conditions. Media outlets in the state are now endorsing the statement from the UMA and urge lawmakers to rely on research, not “subjective†testimony from people using marijuana for their conditions, reports Deseret News.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/23/health-group-undermines-future-use-of-medical-marijuana-in-utah/
Will marijuana medicine replace the Utah medical profession? No, just some of Big Pharma’s profits, and its bribes to doctors. It’s the money, honey, and it ain’t funny:
Badfinger — Magic Christian Music Song Lyrics — Come & Get It – 1970 – (for Utah Doctors):
Badfinger — Rock of All Ages Lyrics — (for Utah patients)
Hornchurch flat explosion: Stunned neighbour claims CANNABIS FACTORY caused massive blast that tore homes apart
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hornchurch-flat-explosion-stunned-neighbour-9680024
Ye, I read that story today. At the moment the cause of the explosion is not know but of course the Brit tabloid press will use even the vaguest clue to pin it on cannabis… if it convinces the rubes of the dangers of weed it has to have legs after all…
New research demonstrates the potential medicinal qualities and effects of poisonous “Death Cap†and “Destroying Angel†mushrooms that grow in certain parts of the United States:
If good medicine can emerge from lethal Death Caps and Destroying Angel mushrooms, shouldn’t the government give marijuana a break and finally admit that good medicine can come from non-toxic cannabis compounds as well?
In the peer reviewed, multidisciplinary Journal of Medicinal Food, a study cites edible mushrooms as offering neuroprotective and cognitive benefits:
Servetus: please bear in mind that Death Cap and Destroying Angel mushrooms are already legal and completely unscheduled, while cannabis plants and psilocybin mushrooms are prohibited and listed under DEA Schedule One, i.e., incomparably worse.
It’s one of those Tautology things.
Prohibitionists who fear all those scary chemicals in marijuana need something more to fear: all those scary chemicals in coffee.
The caffeine in coffee alone is enough to send Mormons scurrying to their bomb shelters, but what about those thousands of other known substances that make up a brew? Has enough research been done to make certain none of these chemicals are harmful? Or should the DEA step in and do their thing?
Our friends at the American Chemical Society have a new video out on the chemistry of coffee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xANGsTqxdUw&feature=youtu.be