Your one stop shop for all of your preparedness needs and proud sponsor of Truth FrequencyOn state ballots: Has pro-marijuana camp found way to win over middle America?
By Chris Geo on Oct 18, 2012 with Comments
By The Christian Science Monitor
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 8:03 EDT
The failure of Prop. 19 – a California legalization measure – two years ago was widely seen as a stunning defeat for high-flying pro-marijuana forces.
Yet judging by three new pot legalization proposals now on ballots in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, the lessons of Prop. 19 were hardly lost.
Instead, pro-legalization groups including the ACLU studied exit polling, conducted their own focus group research, found moderate spokesmen, and tweaked proposals to try to build “trust” with a middle America that has grown steadily more accepting of pot use, yet, as Prop. 19 showed, remains wary of the impact of making the drug legal.
Three weeks ahead of Election Day, it now appears that at least one of those initiatives – Initiative 105 in Washington State – is heading toward passage, with some 57 percent of likely voters now backing the measure, according to a Survey USA poll taken in September. If that happens, it would be the first time a government has lifted pot prohibition, setting up a potential Constitutional showdown with a federal government that still prohibits growing, selling, and using marijuana.
But more critically, a successful legalization campaign in Washington would give the strongest evidence yet of how pro-marijuana groups can spin a winning message to the American center, even against entrenched and deputized opposition. How closely the promise of that message dovetails with the reality of legalization, however, will be the real test for broader adoption.
“I think these campaigns did learn a lot from the Prop. 19 experience,” says Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Corporation’s Drug Policy Research Center.
“There were a lot of meetings after the fact and there’s some serious money [involved], all of which makes it easier to tease out potential liabilities and run a campaign where you’re doing focus groups and you have lots of televised advertisements.”
The initiatives in the three states differ slightly, but all have managed to cobble together ideologically diverse coalitions. They’ve also managed to balance societal safeguards with the promise of sizable tax revenues. Where Prop. 19 left it to municipalities to license growers and retailers, the new measures impose state regulation on the pot trade. And proponents have also picked a presidential election that’s likely to draw lots of younger voters and stuck to libertarian-leaning Western states to make their case.
In Washington State, Initiative 105 combines a 25 percent excise tax that could raise nearly $2 billion over the next five years with a ban on pot smoking in public, an intoxication limit of 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood, and an exception that would allow employers to fire workers for smoking on the job.
That “not-in-your-face” tack is proving powerful enough that some of America’s biggest drug warriors are challenging US Attorney General Eric Holder to do something to help sway attitudes away from Initiative 105.
On a conference call Monday, several former senior DEA officials and directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy said Washington should make it clear to voters that even if states pass the initiatives, pot smokers in those states would still be violating federal law.
The Christian Science MonitorTop court rules mom wasn’t obligated to report pot-growing son to cops
10:24 am, October 17th, 2012
BRIGITTE PELLERIN | QMI AGENCY
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the acquittal of a Quebec woman who didn’t call police when she found out her son was using her property to grow marijuana.
The 6-1 decision was delivered from the bench on the same day as the hearing, which is rare. The court will provide its reasons for the ruling by Thursday.
The case goes back to 2006, after an anonymous source informed police about a marijuana grow-up at an 87-acre property in La Macaza, near Mt. Tremblant, QC. The property belonged to Nicole Rochon, but had been entrusted to her son while she lived in northeastern Quebec with her daughter.
Rochon testified she found evidence there was marijuana grown on her property, and asked her son to get rid of it. She said she didn’t call police because she wanted to avoid getting her son, or herself, in trouble with the law. She is a longtime marijuana user.
She was found guilty of production of marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking in 2008 because she had failed to report her son to police. The judge agreed with the Crown that Rochon knew about the grow-op, and even that she helped with the harvest. Her conviction was later overturned when the appeal judges ruled that in order to be found guilty by omission there has to be a clear legal obligation to act and that in this case, the duty to act is merely implied.
The Supreme Court agreed and upheld Rochon’s acquittal.
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki: Drug war fuels industrialized mass incarceration
By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 20:58 EDT
Appearing Tuesday night on The Daily Show, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki explained how the “failed” war on drugs was fueled by corporate-interests.
“It has to do with business,” he told Jon Stewart. “This country is finding, everywhere we look, we are seeing places where the extraordinary power of corporations in this country, and the unholy alliance they have with those in Congress, is destroying everything… There are private prisons all over this country that rely for their own survival on the incarceration of our fellow human beings.”
But Jarecki said even public detention facilities were part of the commercialization of prisons. “I went to prison-industrial trade shows where I saw people who literally make their entire life’s work out of selling you the better stun gun,” he explained.
Jarecki’s latest documentary, The House I Live In, explores America’s war on drugs and the resulting mass incarceration. The United States imprisons more of its citizens than any country in the world, he noted.
“This has been such a disaster,” he said. “Forty-years, a trillion dollars spent, 45 million arrests, and yet drugs are cheaper, purer, more available today than ever before.”
Watch video, courtesy of Comedy Central, below:
Raw Story In Colorado Marijuana has More Projected Votes than Obama and Romney
By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com
October 16, 2012
The debates may still be on every television channel and the artificially generated hype may be just as heavy as every other election year, but more and more people are starting to see the two major political parties as being just two heads on the same beast.
Just this week Time‘s Mark Halperin published a copy of the 21-page agreement that the Obama and Romney campaigns negotiated establishing the rules for this month’s debates, further exposing the fraud of the electoral system.
People are beginning to understand that fundamental changes need to take place in society for any kind of peace or freedom to be achieved, and that those changes are not going to come from the top down, they can only come from the bottom up.
However, there are some states where people have the ability to vote to repeal certain oppressive laws in regards to the drug war, and these measures are actually becoming more popular than the candidates themselves.
In colorado for example, an amendment to legalize marijuana has more support than both Obama and Romney.
A University of Denver poll from last week found that 50 percent of likely voters plan to back the marijuana legalization initiative, with 47 percent planning to vote for Obama and 43 percent for Romney.
In states where voting for legalization has become an option people seem more interested in that than the presidential elections, because they know that if they can actually get a prohibition repealed that will actually have a positive impact on their lives and their communities.
With either presidential candidate people know that they are just going to get more war, more government control and an expanded police state, so it is easy to see why the battle for head slave master has taken a back seat in some of these states where legalization is an option.
In reality, a prohibition of any kind is a scam, and the drug war is a racket of many prohibitions.
What the drug war actually accomplishes is the establishment of black markets and gangs, the erosion of personal liberties, the expansion of the prison system and prison population as well as a constant excuse for frivolous government spending.
This hypothesis has been tested time and time again, anytime throughout history where a ruling power has prohibited the consumption or possession of any item whatsoever.
This process was made quite clear during the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s and 1930s.
As we saw with alcohol prohibition, making a substance illegal does nothing to stifle its use, but simply creates outlaws out of nonviolent people and foments a culture of violence that the rest of society is forced to deal with, even if they have no interest at all in the banned substance.
Prohibitions of any kind should be opposed, for the reasons i have laid out in the past. However marijuana is of a specific immediate importance though, because of its ability to heal sick people and create more environmentally friendly industrial products. It is also one of the safest drugs known to our species.
This week the U.S. Court of Appeals will finally address a ten-year-old lawsuit, brought by Americans for Safe Access, in which experts will present scientific evidence on marijuana’s therapeutic properties, challenging the official DEA position that it is a dangerous drug with no medical value.
This will be the first time in nearly 20 years that the drugs schedual 1 status has been up for review, and highlights a growing resistance to the drug war, and specifically marijuana prohibition.
J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance and host of a show called Voluntary Hippie Radio.
He is also an artist with an established record label and event promotion company that hosts politically charged electronic dance music events. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com .
Decriminalize Drug Use, Say Experts After Six-year Study
Alan Travis
Guardian.co.uk
October 15, 2012
(Photo by JosephAdams, via Flickr)A six-year study of Britain’s drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation.
The report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer be a criminal offence and concludes the move will not lead to a significant increase in use.
The experts say the criminal sanctions imposed on the 42,000 people sentenced each year for possession of all drugs – and the 160,000 given cannabis warnings – should be replaced with simple civil penalties such as a fine, attendance at a drug awareness session or a referral to a drug treatment programme.
Another State “Undecided” (but shouldn’t be) on Marijuana Legalization – Here’s the Scoop
Elizabeth Renter
NaturalSociety
October 14, 2012
Three states—Colorado, Washington, and Oregon—have the potential to change history in a few weeks as the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use. And while Washington and Colorado are seeing overwhelming support for their measures (57% and 51% respectively), Oregon voters aren’t so sure. As late as last month, 40% were opposed to legalization, 40% were in support, and a game-changing 20% were undecided.
So, why are Oregon voters undecided and what makes this bill different from the other two states?
There are several reasons the people of Oregon might still be swaying back and forth. Part of it is that the campaign to legalize hasn’t had as much funding in Oregon. This is partially because the man who wrote the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act has a shady past — one investors might want to steer clear of— and partially because the bill is so unique.
The Oregon bill is dramatically different than those in Washington and Colorado, for several different reasons.
Oregon’s Unique Marijuana Bill
The law is written to go all the way to the Supreme Court. If and when any legalization efforts are passed, you can bet the federal government (and their money-making and spending Drug War) will feel threatened and challenge it in court. Under President Obama, medical marijuana dispensaries have seen hundreds of federal raids, and legalization would surely bring an ever tougher crack down. The language of the Oregon bill addresses several concerns that would be used to bolster the case before the Supreme Court, but this means the wording of the bill is unusual and not as straight-forward.
Also, the Oregon legalization effort would create a whole new board for the regulation of pot. The Oregon Cannabis Commission (OCC), would be made up of seven people appointed by the Governor, each having one-year terms. Bill author Paul Stanford says this isn’t without cause—that he believed the people of Oregon would support a new board rather than the Liquor Board (for instance) taking over the oversight.
The Oregon bill, unlike others, would also set the stage for a slew of useful research on the plant – the effects, risks, and benefits of marijuana. It is written to run like a “science experiment”. This is a great aspect of the law as it will design studies to law to rest concerns about the plant and how it affects the body.
Finally, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would legalize all forms of hemp, allowing the people of the state to grow the multi-beneficial plant for use in textiles, oil, or fuel. It would be a license-free cash crop and you would be able to grow it as you would grow tomatoes in your back yard. Of course, this wouldn’t apply to the flowers and buds (for smoking) and would only be for low-THC plants, but it could bring back to life what was once one of the largest and most diverse crops in the United States.
So, what’s left to decide? This legislation wouldn’t create a state of pot heads, it would merely make marijuana available for consenting adults. Sort of like alcohol—scratch that—nothing like alcohol. Because unlike alcohol (which is perfectly legal and regulated by the state), marijuana won’t make you vomit, get into a drunken fight, or permanently damage your liver.
Additional Sources:
42 Reasons to Legalize Marijuana
After 20 Years, Federal Court to Review Evidence on Therapeutic Value of Marijuana
Lisa Garber
Activist Post
Americans for Safe Access, a group of doctors, medical professionals, and patients, will defend scientific evidence of marijuana’s therapeutic value next week in the US court of appeals in Washington, DC. This will be the first time in 20 years that a federal court will review marijuana’s classification as a schedule I drug—dangerous with no medical benefits, in the same arena as LSD and heroin.
“This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana’s medical efficacy,” says Joe Elford, chief counsel to Americans for Safe Access (ASA). “[They] are finally getting their day in court.”
DEA Stalled 10 Years, Denied Scientific Evidence
Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) dismissed the marijuana policy reformers’ request to reconsider the drug’s classification, citing a five-year-old report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (The reformers initially petitioned the DEA nearly ten years ago, a process the ASA describes as stalling.)
In reply to the DEA’s denial, the ASA recently filed a lawsuit. The ASA claims that, among other things, the DEA “acted arbitrarily and capriciously, and without substantial evidence, in concluding that marijuana does not have a ‘currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.’” The DEA fell short in a number of other areas, too. As declared on the ASA reply brief:
- The DEA erred in failing to find that marijuana’s chemistry is known and reproducible
- The DEA and HHS erroneously failed o compare marijuana to other scheduled substances
- Qualified experts recognize that marijuana has medical use
And while a re-classification of the drug is completely denied, people everywhere are concerned why the plant is even fully legal. Given the research showing the benefits of marijuana, it’s more than acceptable to wonder why marijuana is really illegal.
THC more Effective, Less Harmful than Chemotherapy
Not only has marijuana been attributed to curing a 3-year-old boy’s brain cancer, it has a strong backing in the medical community as therapy for patients of lung, breast, and other types of cancer. THC actually induces apoptosis (cell death) in cancerous cells without harming noncancerous ones—more than can be said of harmful chemotherapy.
The reformers now have the support of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the Federation of American Scientists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians to help them push for either medical cannabis access or its reclassification. The Court of Appeals will hear their case on October 16.
Additional Sources:
Americans for Safe Access
Wall Street Journal
The Huffington Post
Study: Pot Arrests Cost State $300 Million in Past 25 years
By Jonathan Martin
The Seattle Times
October 11, 2012
A new study found that 241,000 people in Washington were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession since 1986, costing $306 million in law-enforcement costs.
A new crime-data analysis has found that 241,000 people in Washington were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession over the last quarter-century, adding fuel to a campaign seeking to make this state the first to legalize recreational marijuana sales.
The analysis estimates those arrests translated to nearly $306 million in police and court costs — $194 million of it the past decade.
African Americans were arrested twice as often as whites for possession in Washington in the past 25 years, even though whites use marijuana more.
California Dispensary Owner Faces Retrial After One Informed Juror Saves Him From Prison
By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com
October 11, 2012
It was almost jury nullification, but not quite. Jason Andrews is a California Medical Marijuana dispensary owner who provides free cannabis to terminally ill patients, and for the past two years he has been facing state charges on Sales and Trafficking of Marijuana, in a state where medical marijuana is legal.
Andrews even has all of the required government licensing, and complies with all of the regulations, his operation is 100% legal.
Earlier this year his case was to be decided in court, and things really weren’t looking good for him.
Luckily, there was one juror who was informed about the power of jury nullification, and tried his best to convince the jury to rule in favor of the defense, seeing that the charges against Andrews were not only unjust, but also illegal, even according the state.
The other jurors would not comply, but juror 101 stood his ground and refused to allow the rest of the jury to put Andrews away.
Ultimately, the deliberation came to a stalemate and a hung jury resulted in a mistrial for Jason Andrews.
When Juror 101 got home from court he blogged about his experience, saying “always do your jury duty, you might have a chance to save a fellow citizen from a faulty charge and a lazy, zombie jury…. I did!! ayayayayayyayeeeeeee!”
At first Andrews was relieved, until his lawyer asked for more money and informed him that the court had scheduled a retrial in which he would be forced to face his charges all over again.
At first glance it would seem that this second trial is a violation of the double jeopardy law, which prevents courts from charging people for the same crime twice.
However, Andrews was informed that the double jeopardy law does not apply to hung jury mistrials in the state of California. For him to be cleared of the charges, it would have to be a not guilty verdict or a case of full jury nullification, with all jurors in agreement.
Since that was not the case in Jason Andrews trial, he can be sent up to court up to 3 times for this same offense if other mistrials occur.
He is scheduled to appear again in court on October 28th for a pretrial, and he is reaching out to the alternative press to gather support for his battle against the state of California and these faulty charges.
Jason’s complications began On October 12, 2010 when he was followed by police when leaving a dispensary that he worked with.
This week I had a chance to ask him some questions about his run in with police and he was able to explain the events that led up to his charges.
JGV: Can you explain more about your free delivery service and what exactly happened the night you had your run in with police?
JA: The Collective I left that night was a Dispensary store front. They offered Medical Marijuana to Patients and I have a small Collective Delivery Service that I provide Free Medication to the terminally ill.
When we have extra Medicine we provided it to this Collective Store Front, who took it on consignment , then took donations from there other patients for the Medicine. When they had gotten rid of it they would call me and reimburse us for it.
This Collective was being watched as well as a few others in Lake Forest California by the Orange County Sheriffs because they had been fighting the City and won a recent appeal.
JGV: Can you share some details about what police found on you and what happened after they found it?
JA: I had a pound of Medical Marijuana on me, Two strains in two 8 Oz bags as well as $5800 in cash in the Bag and $420 in my wallet.. I had received a car settlement two weeks earlier and had some cash.. They took all of this as well as other property..
A signed Copy of Jack Herer Book The Emperor Wears No Clothes and a phone which had the last picture of my older brother who died one month prior to this.. Those are important to me.. There were also letters from Congressman and Women and Senator on issues I wrote to them about..
I was held in the car for what seemed like a few hours and then I was told that I was free to go. I was not given a Ticket or anything other than a warning for speeding and a receipt for my money, I was released and told have a good night.
So for a month or so I called the Sheriff’s Department and Internal Affairs Congressmen and Senators, I called everyone and anyone. No one would help.
So after calling the Cops who pulled me over several times Officers Sawyer told me “If I didn’t quit calling them and talking to him that way he would file charges” the following Monday I had to Felony arrest warrants. ( Crazy thing I found out was that there are allot of Sheriffs with Dr.s Recs for Medical Marijuana.. They never did any investigation into me other then look at my website..Pro215.com
JGV: Wow, insane…They steal your property, let you go and then press charges against you when you try to pursue them about it. That is horrible, I thought that medical marijuana was totally fine in the state of California.
JA: California has really failed it’s Patients and Caregivers, which is why I am refusing to take any kind of deal and fighting this to the end. People who do this kind of work are not criminals and they should not be treated like they are.
JGV: Of course, you aren’t hurting anyone or violating anyone’s property, but natural law aside, everything you do is fully legal according to the state of California?
JA: Yes, I am a State Patient and had a Recommendation from a Dr. that said I can grow or possess 52 oz.. I only had sixteen. My passenger who is also a Patient I am a caregiver for had her Rec that said she could grow or Possess 27 Oz.. We were well within our rights..
She had the State I.D. card and I had the State I.D. card 1 of less than 10000 in the State and I also had the State Caregiver Card 1 of less than 250 in the State of California.. Yet to this day after two years, a Trial and $25000 dollars later no one from the Judge to the officers to the D.A. has ever checked to see if my information was valid.
JGV: You mentioned that you’re also a legalization activist for proposition 215, do you think that your involvement with this group or the movement as a whole had anything to do with you being targeted? Is this situation a show of force against local growers and dispensary workers?
JA: Yes I think it is a show of Force on Behalf of the City of Lake Forest for Loosing in their Court battle and also on the Side of the Orange County Sheriffs, D.A.’s and Judges who say “The Law doesn’t matter in our Opinion Marijuana is a Drug and you are a Drug Dealer” So we are going to prosecute all these cases and make them take a deal”… Well the Law does matter.. I followed it why aren’t they?
JGV: You’re absolutely right, it’s out of control. I’m sorry this situation has happened to you, and I wish you the best of luck in your next trail. Is there anything the readers can do to support you in this difficult time?
JA: Well, Any attention that the activist community or the alternative press could bring to this issue would be greatly appreciated. If anyone wants to help with Court Fee’s I have a Website Pro215.com where you can contact me and we do accept donations to help with a Legal defense fund.
Also consider writing your State Senators and demand that they legalize Medical Marijuana so that Patients and Caregivers can be safe from the Cartels and Law enforcement!!
Jason Andrews’s story is unfortunate, but not unique, growers and dispensary owners all over the state of California are being targeted and harassed by police for providing a service which is completely legal in their communities.
In most cases where growers and dispensary owners are persecuted, it is the result of federal agents bypassing state law to set up some sort of raid or sting operation.
However, as we can see through Jason’s situation, many state cops are also ignoring state law and using the quasi legal status of medical marijuana as an excuse to intimidate people and steal from them.
It is highly possible that this harassment is motivated by the police unions, and their underlying desire to keep the drug war alive, for the sake of their protection racket.
Marijuana arrests are the bread and butter of any police department’s budget, and without the drug war this cash crop of human beings would disappear and create significant financial problems for the prison industrial complex.
In just a few weeks on October 28th, Jason returns to court to fight his battle all over again, but hopefully this time he is able to gather enough support and have better luck that he did earlier this year.
If you have any questions or disagreements feel free to email me at jgvibes@aotmr.com
J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance and host of a show called Voluntary Hippie Radio.
He is also an artist with an established record label and event promotion company that hosts politically charged electronic dance music events. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com .
Filed Under: DRUG WAR
About the Author:
