Notice I said was.
Archive for the 'marijuana' Category
07
Nov
Congratulations, Denver
Once again, your citizens have exhibited a desire for more rational marijuana laws. I sincerely hope that more American cities will follow your lead.
More than half of Denver voters favored an initiative making marijuana the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.
With just a handful of ballots left to count, the measure had captured 55 percent of the vote. The result means the mayor must appoint a panel to monitor how marijuana cases are handled by the police and city prosecutors and issue a report.
I’ll let you write your own Mile High city jokes.
Image via Flickr user goldenratio
Another major newspaper comes out with a damning article on the drug war.
From The Washington Post:
Thirty-six years and hundreds of billions of dollars after President Richard M. Nixon launched the war on drugs, consumers worldwide are taking more narcotics and criminals are making fatter profits than ever before. The syndicates that control narcotics production and distribution reap the profits from an annual turnover of $400 billion to $500 billion. And terrorist organizations such as the Taliban are using this money to expand their operations and buy ever more sophisticated weapons, threatening Western security.Another major newspaper comes out with a damning piece on the drug war.
Also, in the newest edition of Foreign Policy magazine, Ethan Nadelmann makes the case for legalization.
A “drugfree world,” which the United Nations describes as a realistic goal, is no more attainable than an “alcoholfree world”—and no one has talked about that with a straight face since the repeal of Prohibition in the United States in 1933. Yet futile rhetoric about winning a “war on drugs” persists, despite mountains of evidence documenting its moral and ideological bankruptcy.
In 2000, Alex White Plume and his family had a great idea. After attempts to raise alfalfa, barley and corn on the tough soil of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation, they decided to give industrial hemp a try.
Hemp is not marijuana.
Hemp has less than 1% THC, has over 25,000 uses, and is a hearty and relatively easy crop to grow. Buying hemp products in the US is totally and completely legal. Growing hemp, however, is not.
The White Plumes figured that, since their reservation is sovereign land, they would be able to grow hemp without the intrusion of the government. The DEA had other ideas.
Read more about their struggle in this NY Times article, and check out the website for the PBS series P.O.V, and the filmmakers own site.
Bonus hilarious video. Bush tries, in vain, to define sovereignty. What an idiot.
18
Jun
Incarcerex
Brought to you by the folks over at the Drug Policy Alliance.
Following in the footsteps of Connecticut’s Legislature, New York State lawmakers are expected to approve legislation allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The NY Sun has more.
21
May
I blame hip-hop.
- Over 2,200 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since Mos Def stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and declared that major combat operations had ended.
- Three 6 Mafia has been pressured by their conservative Christian base to give less and less money to groups that distribute condoms in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Jay-Z disenfranchised thousands of black voters in Florida in 2000, and again in Ohio in 2004.
- MF Doom wears a mask because he’s the one kidnapping all these little white girls.
- Talib Kweli failed to take action to protect the citizens of New Orleans even though he had been warned “of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property.”
- Kanye West arrested 800,000 people in 2005 on charges related to marijuana, a substance proven to be significantly less harmful to society than both alcohol and tobacco.
- During the first three years of the Diddy administration, the unemployment rate increased by one-third, 2.2 million jobs were lost, and the country went from a $281 billion surplus to a $521 billion deficit.
- Just Say No was Biz Markie’s idea.
- Little Brother brought about mad cow disease and a previously unseen strain of E. coli by feeding corn and the remains of other animals to cows.
- Bow Wow is the reason the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world.
- Thanks to Lil’ Wayne, the United States has 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.
- Speech from Arrested Development canceled Arrested Development.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times
Two police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. A third officer still faces charges.
Namely, alcohol and tobacco are worse for society than some illegal drugs.
I say we declare a war on alcohol! Wait, we already tried that. Prohibition was a horrible failure. Sounds familiar.
New “landmark” research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study.
In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain’s Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.
Looks like it’s time to send another note to my good friends D-Fein, Boxy and Wax Man.
23
Feb
Doing my civic duty.
Me and Senator Feinstein have had a few back and forths on this issue. (Rather, me and the intern who responds to her e-mails.) I’m curious to see what my other representatives have to say about the issue.
I wanted to bring a few news stories to your attention. To any thinking person, these have to serve as further evidence that our country needs to radically change its laws regarding marijuana.
In order for there to be a nation-wide dialogue about this issue—which is long overdue—we need esteemed national leaders like you to have the courage to tell people the truth.
Thanks for your time.
Nick Adams
http://alternet.org/drugreporter/47815/
American taxpayers are now spending more than a billion dollars per year to incarcerate its citizens for pot. That’s according to statistics recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
http://alternet.org/drugreporter/48322/
A new study, just published in the journal Neurology…found marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering to HIV/AIDS patients.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/ap_on_he_me/medical_marijuana
Armed with a new study showing the drug can ease pain in some HIV patients, medical-marijuana advocates sued the federal government Wednesday over its claim that pot has no accepted medical uses.
