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Press Release: New Bill Allowing Industrial Hemp Farming Expected to be Introduced this Week
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Event
12 Day Ayahuasca Intensive Healing and Spiritual Development Workshop
We are pleased to present the next Bená Caia Ainbobo (A New Feminine Spirit) workshop at the Temple of the Way of Light.
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Blog
Obama Doesn't Know What to Say About Marijuana
Pete Guither points to yet another prominent example of the Obama administration's glaring inability to explain the president's position on legalizing marijuana:
When asked why Obama opposes legalization, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs literally said this:
It's a comical and precious moment, like when the teacher calls on that half-asleep kid who never has a clue. Except, as Paul Armentano points out, they knew perfectly well that this was a hot issue in their online forum and that the press would likely be asking about it. Clearly, they are badly boxed in, simultaneously reluctant to embrace reform, while equally hesitant to offend marijuana reform advocates with the typical anti-pot propaganda you'd expect from a guy who just said he opposes legalization.
The result is a ridiculous and failed effort to laugh the issue off, even as everyone stares at them expectantly. They're still working from the old rules which state that drug legalization questions are best handled by chuckling and mockery, followed by a quick pivot towards a more "serious" issue. That advice is no longer very good.
When asked why Obama opposes legalization, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs literally said this:
"Uh, he, he does not think that, uh, uh, that that is uh, uh, [pause] he opposes it, he doesn't think that that's the, the right plan for America."
It's a comical and precious moment, like when the teacher calls on that half-asleep kid who never has a clue. Except, as Paul Armentano points out, they knew perfectly well that this was a hot issue in their online forum and that the press would likely be asking about it. Clearly, they are badly boxed in, simultaneously reluctant to embrace reform, while equally hesitant to offend marijuana reform advocates with the typical anti-pot propaganda you'd expect from a guy who just said he opposes legalization.
The result is a ridiculous and failed effort to laugh the issue off, even as everyone stares at them expectantly. They're still working from the old rules which state that drug legalization questions are best handled by chuckling and mockery, followed by a quick pivot towards a more "serious" issue. That advice is no longer very good.
Blog
Obama Compares Drug War to Alcohol Prohibition
Via NORML's Russ Belville, CBS's Bob Schieffer asked President Obama about the drug war violence in Mexico and got this surprising response:
I honestly cannot believe the president is looking towards alcohol prohibition for a little perspective on our present predicament. Everyone knows that story. Elliot Ness didn't defeat those cartels. Legalization defeated them.
President Obama:Â Well, whatâs happened is that President Calderon I think has been very bold and rightly has decided that itâs gotten carried away. The drug cartels have too much power, are undermining and corrupting huge segments of Mexican society. And so he has taken them on in the same way that when, you know, Elliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition, oftentimes that causes even more violence. And weâre seeing that flare up.
I honestly cannot believe the president is looking towards alcohol prohibition for a little perspective on our present predicament. Everyone knows that story. Elliot Ness didn't defeat those cartels. Legalization defeated them.
Blog
Q: How Dangerous is Drug Law Enforcement for Police? A: Apparently Not Very
Law enforcement likes to argue that it needs to resort to heavy-handed tactics such as SWAT-style raids and no-knock warrants because drug law enforcement is just so darned dangerous. You know the spiel: "We're outgunned and up against crazed drug dealers, so we need to come on like gangbusters for our own safety."
But I'm in the process of reviewing police deaths in the drug war since the beginning of 2008 for a Chronicle article that will appear Friday, and so far, I've only found two officers who were killed in drug raids during this time. I'm using the Officer Down Memorial Page and the National Law Enforcement Memorial data bases and I still have to dig a little deeper into the numbers and the discrepancies between the two, but so far, it doesn't appear that enforcing the nation's drug laws is that dangerous for police.
For civilians, it is perhaps a different story. Nobody's keeping a data base of citizens killed by the police, let alone those killed by police enforcing the drug laws, although I have a few ideas on where to come up with some figures, or at least some especially horrendous cases. I'll be looking into that, as well.
I'll be talking to as many cops, criminologists, and other interested parties as I can, but at this point, it seems that it is going to be hard to justify the overwhelming use of force typical of police drug raids. As much as they would like to think they are, cops are not US military Special Forces units, and drug law violators are not terrorist fugitives. Look for the story on Friday.
Chronicle
Latinoamérica: Perú exportará cerveza a base de hoja de coca
¿Cansado de los mismos viejos productos a base de coca? ¡Ahora se puede probar la cerveza a base de coca! Pronto cerca de usted⦠pero solamente si vive en Perú, China, Sudáfrica, Argentina o Venezuela.
Chronicle
Latinoamérica: Violencia de la prohibición en México capta atención de Washington y nuevas iniciativas se encuentran en trámite
El Congreso de EE.UU. quiere que el gobierno Obama âhaga algoâ respecto de la violencia relacionada con la prohibición que devasta a México. Pero parece que ese âalgoâ es más lucha contra la droga.
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Chronicle
Marihuana medicinal: Fiscal general de EE.UU. manda otra señal â No habrá incautaciones de la DEA a menos que se infrinja legislación estatal
Por segunda vez en tres semanas, Eric Holder, fiscal general de EE.UU., ha dicho que ya no habrá redadas de la DEA contra dispensarios de marihuana medicinal en estados en que ella es legal â con tal de que sigan funcionando con arreglo a la legislación estatal. Pero eso todavÃa deja algo de espacio de maniobra.
In The Trenches
Press Release: Medical Marijuana Implementation Starts April 4, Patients Available for Interviews
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â
MARCH 31, 2009
Medical Marijuana Implementation Starts April 4, Patients Available for Interviews
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205
LANSING, MICHIGAN -- Full implementation of Michigan's medical marijuana law, passed by voters with 63 percent of the vote last November, begins April 4, and Michigan Department of Community Health offices will be open to accept applications on Monday, April 6. Because of great interest in the new law, a number of patients have agreed to make themselves available for media interviews.
    In the period leading up to full implementation, medical marijuana patients have been able to defend themselves against marijuana-related charges, but have not had the protection from arrest that will now be available to those who take advantage of the registration process and obtain a state ID card. Michigan is the 13th state to remove criminal penalties for medical marijuana patients, and medical marijuana bills are presently under consideration in several state legislatures, including Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
    Patients available for interviews include:
    Lynn Allen, Williamston, suffers from AIDS and hepatitis C, contracted from a blood transfusion.
    Stephanie Annis, Oakland County, suffers from severe nausea resulting from 10 abdominal surgeries.
    Jon Dunbar, Kalamazoo, suffers severe, chronic pain due to spinal problems.
    For further information on the new law or to arrange interviews with any of these patients (or others who may become available as the implementation date approaches), please contact MPP director of communications Bruce Mirken at 415-585-6404 (office) or 202-215-4205(cell).
    With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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In The Trenches
Press Release: Historic Reforms of New York's Draconian Drug Sentencing Scheme Imminent
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2009
CONTACT: Jennifer Carnig, 212.607.3363 / [email protected]
NYCLU: Historic Reforms of New Yorkâs Draconian Drug Sentencing Scheme Imminent
March 31, 2008 â In anticipation of the passage of the budget within the next 24 hours, the New York Civil Liberties Union today applauded the State Legislature for making significant reforms to New York Stateâs notoriously harsh and ineffective mandatory minimum drug sentencing scheme.
âNew York State is on the verge of a historic moment,â said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. âThis bill does not eliminate the Rockefeller Drug Laws but it does provide for a new approach to substance abuse. Substance abuse is a public health issue and today, after 36 long years, New York is finally poised to treat it that way.â
Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Though intended to target drug kingpins, most sentenced under the laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses. Most of the nearly 12,000 New Yorkers serving time for drug offenses have substance abuse problems; many others turned to drugs because of problems related to homelessness, mental illness or unemployment.
For decades, the NYCLU, criminal justice advocates and medical experts have fought to untie the hands of judges and allow addiction to be treated as a public health matter. As noted in the New York State Sentencing Commissionâs recent report, sentencing non-violent drug offenders to prison is ineffective and counterproductive, and has resulted in unconscionable racial disparities: Blacks and Hispanics comprise more than 90 percent of those currently incarcerated for drug felonies, though most people using illegal drugs are white.
The budget bill embraces two fundamental principles of reform: elimination of mandatory minimum sentences, and a significant restoration of the ability for judges to order treatment and rehabilitation rather than incarceration.
âThe proposed reform, if adopted, will not eliminate irrationality and injustice from the drug sentencing laws, but it shifts New Yorkâs failed drug policy away from mass incarceration and toward a public health model,â said Robert Perry, NYCLU legislative director.
The bill:
⢠Restores the authority of a judge to send individuals charged with drug offenses into substance abuse treatment rather than prison;
⢠Expands in-prison treatment and re-entry services so that people who want and need help can access it; and
⢠Allows for approximately 1,500 people serving excessive sentences for low-level nonviolent drug offenses to apply for resentencing.
The NYCLU took pains, however, to make clear that while the bill represents an important step in overhauling the drug laws, it does not fully realize the reform principles on which the legislation is based. Significant remnants of the Rockefeller Drug Law scheme remain in place.
The NYCLU noted, for example, that the bill:
⢠Leaves in place a sentencing scheme that permits unreasonably harsh maximum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenses;
⢠Disqualifies from eligibility for treatment and rehabilitation individuals who may be most in need of such programs; and
⢠Retains a weight-based sentencing scheme, which will lead to a long mandatory prison sentence for someone who has a few grams more of a substance than someone who is eligible for treatment.
âTo hear the protests of the district attorneyâs lobby, one would think that the legislature is proposing radical reform,â Lieberman said. âIt is not. The bill restores an important measure of common sense and rationality to our drug laws. But there is more work to be done to restore fundamental justice and fairness.â
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