Broadway Books is happy to celebrate its new publication and anyone who pre-orders a copy of Heart of Dankness before April 3rd. – via ANY retailer – will receive a Goodie Bag with rolling papers, a signed bookplate, and an entry to win a copy of Jason King’s amazing Cannabible boxed set. It's Contest-y Goodness!
Pic courtesy of http://heartofdankness.tumblr.com/
"In Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup author Mark Haskell Smith guides us through the fascinating world (and underworld) of high-end cannabis. While reporting on the Super Bowl/Mardi Gras of the marijuana world, the international competition held annually in Amsterdam known as the Cannabis Cup for the Los Angeles Times, Smith sampled some rare high-grade weed in an Amsterdam coffee-shop, which left him relaxed, happy, lucid, and energetic—anything but stoned. He realized this weed had a superior smell, taste, and high, the “dankness” so sought after by true pot connoisseurs. This intrigued him so much that he set off on a quest for what brings about these qualities.
"If drug gangs in Mexico are successful enhancing the quality of their product, they can sell the improved marijuana for up to five times the normal price. The going rate for top quality U.S. marijuana is around $2,500 per pound, while Mexican types sell for under $500, U.S. law enforcement officials say." ~ Mexico marijuana growers learn new tricks from US
My response:
"They say its used for pain management, but drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels would have the same effect,"
Yes, but the difference is that the bottle of Jack Daniel's can kill you, while the Cannabis can't. That is, unless you can ingest approximately 1500 pounds of it within 15 minutes.
Like fine wine, people will pay good money for quality cannabis. The Mexican cartels have recognized this truth and are upping their game to compete in the black market opposite "Primo" California bud."
C'mon, we can't be surprised by this - we all know that Cannabis is worth more because it's illegal. The best solution to stop the drug war violence is re-legalization and regulation, a controlled production, quality tested, sales industry much like what already exists for the previously banned alcohol. The bonus will be tax revenue, legitimate jobs in an already booming, established market, and taxpayer savings through lower legal, court, incarceration and probation costs. Plus, Industrial Hemp is a plant mine eagerly waiting to prosper, so the environment also wins.
Have you seen this, for lack of a better word and a chance of sounding crass, BS? Oppose Legalizing Marijuana (Prop. 19)
From marijuanaharmsfamilies.com:
"Marijuana bosses are moving beyond "medicinal marijuana" and now want to usher in a FULL-BLOWN marijuana culture to forever change California (Prop. 19). They want the next generation to think it's "normal" to "get high"!"
"Studies show marijuana is a gateway drug to cocaine and meth. Teens and young adults are especially at risk from today's potent, mind-altering marijuana, which can permanently damage their developing brains and young lungs. If pot is legalized, your health and auto insurance will likely cost more because increased addictions, accidents, and drug rehab will burden all Californians. “Drugged driving” will become commonplace. It will be a new "right" to get high on marijuana at work, even in transportation jobs. Marijuana legalization means cities and counties can OK selling pot in grocery stores and permit marijuana operatives to buy thousands of acres of farmland. " -
"Marijuana Operatives!" "Marijuana bosses?" "Gateway to Crystal Meth!?" Please!
As we head towards November 2nd. and the vote for Prop 19 initiative to legalize cannabis for adults on the California ballot, please take heed of the rampant propaganda running amok. While there's so much ignorance and misinformation in this video that it would take me quite awhile to break it all down, I'd like to point out this particular thorn: the main reason for the high numbers of young people in rehab for cannabis is because once busted for pot possession they are often presented with two choices: Go to Rehab or go to Prison. Which one would you choose? Also noted is that the ability to rate and comment features have been disabled for this video. Convenient eh.
So, being irked I decided to do a little googling about the group marijuanaharmsfamilies.com and came upon SaveCalifornia, an arm of SaveAmerica and the Campaign for Children and Families, responsible for posting the video.
"SaveCalifornia.com is your pro-family organization dedicated to defending and representing the values of parents, grandparents and concerned citizens who believe in family, faith and freedom. Based on the Left Coast, SaveCalifornia.com, along with our national arm, SaveAmerica.com, works, leads and fights in the media, culture and government on behalf of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and real education for children."
Along with fighting Prop 19, the Savers also supported Prop 8 and release statements like:
"This is just the beginning of this new, blatant and perverse indoctrination of children via Harvey Milk Gay Day. “Milk Day” is designed to teach children they may be homosexual, bisexual or transsexual, and that they should support political activism to destroy marriage and family and religious opposition to the harmful “LGBTQ” agenda. It will increase even more next year, and then Harvey Milk’s indoctrination will manifest in many more government schools in 2012 when May 22 finally falls on a school day, Monday. Parents and grandparents, I plead with you to rescue your children and grandchildren from immoral education and awful peer pressure. Harvey Milk Gay Day is just one of 6 school sexual indoctrination measures passes in the last several years. And there’s a raft of other pressing reasons to save children from government-run schools."
Randy Thomasson of the Savers and the Campaign for Children and Families once compared county clerks who offer marriage licenses to same-sex couples to "Nazi officers during WWII [who] had been ordered to gas the Jews."
Really.
Thomasson blames the acceptance of cannabis, gay rights, and a womans right to choose on "dumbed down" voters and government (Public) schools:
"DUMBED-DOWN VOTERS - Elections used to be about what kind of government we would get. Now I think elections are more about what kind of people we are. Hear me on this. Most voters went to government schools where knowledge of the written United States and California Constitutions are NOT taught. Nor are the historical Christian convictions of our founding fathers and the Judeo-Christian foundation of the U.S. Constitution. Instead, most government school graduates are taught that God should be kept in the closet, that evolution is fact, and that feelings are as important, as or even more important, than hard facts (which is why some school districts don’t even give A-F grades anymore). Ignorance makes people easy prey."
Californian voters, he says "are not as virtuous or morally principled as they used to be."
"Today, the main influence upon the minds and hearts of children is government schools, with dumbed-down academics, political correctness, anti-God and anti-morality sentiments, negative peer pressure and now even hints of socialistic teaching. Public schools these days don’t teach the Christian foundation of our government, which is why many voters today support immorality and socialism. The best thing parents and grandparents can do for their children and grandchildren is to permanently remove them from the government school system so they can develop good character, critical thinking and learn to stand for truth."
"FACT: California laws have changed so radically in the last few years, your child WILL be sexually indoctrinated and subjected to very negative influences if left in the government school system. Take action. Rescue your child now, before it's too late." ~ rescueyourchilddotcom, a project of SaveCalifornia
The Savers want you to:
"Target the culture: Work to change the culture at the same time you work to reform the government. Encourage more parents to home-school. Invite union workers to resign from the anti-family unions so they don’t fund anti-family, anti-life political candidates or campaigns. Promote sexual abstinence among church children and all schoolchildren, and sexual purity in general. Work to clean pornography out of your community. Visit employers to encourage them to promote man-woman marriage in their businesses for the benefit of their product/service as well as their employees." as highlighted in their missive 10 WAYS TO BUILD A PRO-FAMILY ARMY.
"Hold regular meetings" they say.
"Consider a bi-weekly movie night where you show a patriotic or spiritual message or "classic film with a message" (*Reefer Madness, perhaps?) movie in a large house or church hall. Bring the DVD and popcorn, and provide a brief introduction and lead a discussion afterward to educate and provide examples from the movie. This is where you sign up more people to join your army. Sign up teenagers too and make sure you have them join your email list, mailing list, Facebook and Twitter pages, if you have them."
They highlight videos from single mothers, one with 7 kids who says marijuana addiction(!) destroyed her life. (Even though she was doing crank and meth and continuing to have kids - but yeah, it was all the fault of the "evil gateway drug" marijuana.) She herself stated she made bad choices.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Cannabis doesn't make you try harder drugs, never once have I ever puffed on a joint and thought "Hey! Now I gotta try me some heroin!". Her own decisions and choices led to her addiction of hard drugs - not cannabis, it's like blaming Twinkies and KFC Double Downs for that extra 10 pounds you gained, not the fact that you chose to shove them down yer piehole.
Even though I'm an Atheist I'm not anti-religion in the sense that if people want to believe in a god that's their perogative and who am I to say what you should believe or who you may believe in. Some of my very best friends in the whole world are very religious, one is even married to a pastor and teaches Sunday School, the difference between them though and the Randy Thomasson's of the world is that they aren't condemning everyone who does not think like them as deviant sinners. Judgy Judgersons belonging to any religious brigade who profess diatribes like "It's our way or way or the highway, veer away from our conservative status quo and yer evil and trying to bring society down!" just seems so... blasphemous** to me....
I'm also not "anti-family", I'm a married mother with 5 wonderful sons and promote strength in the family unit - however that unit is made up. I am for personal autonomy and freedom. People have the right to love who they love right along with what substances they ingest. I don't need a zealot like Randy Thomasson inciting hatred in the name of a god and telling me how to vote, and certainly not how to raise my children!
I teach my kids love, compassion, tolerance, respect, responsibility and acceptance - they know not everbody is the same and being different is what makes all of us special in our own way. Now that's a part of building a strong family unit. And wouldn't you know it, I came up with those values all on my own, because that's just a part of being a good parent, and a good person, regardless of religion.
So. Voting, Gay, Atheist, Pro-Choice, Cannabis Consumers With Kids Attending Public Schools in California and the People Who Love You for Who You Are - you are officially SaveAmerica''s #1 Enemy. Take that info with you into the voting booth on November 2nd. Just Say Now and be the generation who ends destructive Cannabis Prohibition!
C'mon now, Mama said.
*****
"So many things in life come down to people making personal decisions for themselves. We don't always make the best choices, but such is life, and each experience - great or small, right or wrong, happy or sad - shapes the person we become. Everyone has regrets and can question their actions (did I really wear that top to that party back in grade 11? What was I thinking??!!??) and hindsight is 20/20. But that is the beauty of life, it's a journey, sometimes it's bumpy and sometimes it's smooth sailing and in the end each of us owns the road we've travelled down. There are different views of "The Meaning of Life", and no two people have the exact same philosophies and I think that's wonderful, otherwise this would be one really boring existence. What would be the point of a life with no individuality and no personal autonomy? The geek in me rejoyces that we are not living in Hives of The "Borg" - I subscribe to a more "Browncoat/Independent/Resist The Alliance" way o' life."
The Borg is a collective, meaning that they—or it—possess a single mind. That Borg mind has the single intent of “assimilating” all organic species into the collective. The Borg are utterly without mercy or compassion. In a collective society only the needs of the group as a whole are considered, and in this utilitarian calculation the needs of the unrivaled number of Borg will nearly always override any other considerations.
The Alliance (from Firefly/Serenity)
A scene at an Alliance school, where a teacher sadly muses that it's hard to understand why the benighted Independents, the secessionists, have resisted the attempt to bring them the gifts of civilization. Young River Tam knows:
"We meddle... people don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads, and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome." ~ River Tam
~MaryJane Cannabian, from my post Science Trumps Ideology
*****
*(Reefer Madness, perhaps?) - My suggestion, mwahahahaha.
**the Latin Vulgate employs the word blasphemare to designate abusive language directed either against a people at large (2 Samuel 21:21; 1 Chronicles 20:7) or against individuals (1 Corinthians 10:30; Titus 3:2).
Cannabis As Living Medicine (CALM) is a Compassion Club and has been operating out in the open in Toronto for 14 years now. It serves Medical Cannabis Patients who are sick, in pain and those with terminal illnesses. Their website states ~
C.A.L.M. is committed to:
Providing access and education on all aspects of cannabis to those with verifiable medical need
Ensure members receive access to safe, clean cannabis products, information, peer counseling and research
Empirically monitor the reliability and quality of the strains of cannabis being administered to clients
Use proven methodologies to convert basic cannabis into alternative medicinal compounds
Helping members achieve self-sustainability and independence by providing young plants
On March 31st. 2010, right before the Easter long weekend Metropolititan Toronto Police decided to raid the club, along with handing out a concussion to the unfortunate soul by the door when the plainclothes police officers stormed in. Read the story in the Toronto Star: Nine charged after Queen St. pot compassion club raided
I am so saddened by this, words cannot express how this makes me feel. Again I say, this is not a "War On Drugs" but a "War on People Who Use Certain Drugs".
Here you go, taxpayers, this is your money at work, MTPD arresting and charging sick people (who are licensed to use cannabis by Health Canada) for using a natural plant, receiving quality medication from a place that is safe from dealers on the street, a place that actually has the word/mandate COMPASSION. Find full length videos from the raid on the CALMToronto YouTube Channel.
"The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.
We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community." ~ The Charter for Compassion
You can also let your voice be heard to the police responsible for the raid, much like Jennifer Pixie has in a Note posted on Facebook:
To the Officers of 51 Division, Toronto Police Services
Det. Jim Brons at 51 Division 416-808-5100
I would like to make a complaint against this division in protest of the March 31st raid on Cannabis As Living Medicine. CALM is medicinal resource & support centre – well respected in the community for helping to meet the needs of thousands of chronically & terminally ill Canadians. I was appalled to learn that officers used deceit & force to enter an institution that has repeatedly invited law enforcement with open arms to discuss their situation in the current legal grey area. Through this action the Toronto Police have forced many seriously ill people to actually rely on the criminal elements – purchasing questionable medicine from even more dubious sources. Or even worse – go without their meds.
Health Canada’s MMAR program is under persistent scrutiny from all across the country – due to its failure to meet constitutional requirements – which is why organizations like CALM need to exist and have operated for more than a decade to provide relief from the suffering caused by chronic illness
I am disappointed that time and money went into an investigation that does not in any way benefit the communities you are sworn to serve & protect, especially in an area so plagued by crack-cocaine, prostitution & violence.
You have not been truthful or open nor have you acted with integrity or respect as your ‘core values’ dictate. I also feel that by not identifying themselves immediately the officers put all those present at greater risk. The officers involved in this incident acted disproportionately - and were rude and belligerent towards club members.
Persecuting sick people is wrong and as a taxpayer, I am very disappointed in the Toronto Police and do not condone the action taken against CALM.
As a medical marijuana patient I feel that my rights have been violated and the judicial system is putting my health in jeopardy.
“As a public service organization, it is imperative for the Toronto Police Service to effectively communicate with the community we serve, especially in relation to providing information that could be useful to victims of crime and others wishing to engage our services.” - Toronto Police Service Website
Protest the RAID by 51 DIVISION against CALM Medical Cannabis Club
At approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday March 31st, twelve 51 Division officers raided a medical cannabis resource and support centre. C.A.L.M. has provided support for patients with debilitating illnesses that range from AIDS,cancer, glaucoma and MS for years. The police arrested 9 individuals found on site and confiscated their medication. The Queen St. location was targeted despite the fact that all individuals in question had federal licenses to possess, store and/or cultivate medical cannabis. ~
Please join in the peaceful protest, whether you are a member of the club or not, showing support for this wonderful organization is a blessing to the Medical Cannabis community. On the Event page someone has also posted on the wall: Anyone living in Guelph, Cambridge, or Kitchener, the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph is renting a bus that is free to anyone that needs a ride to the protest. Please read it for more info.
Please read what CALM Members have posted on their message board to the question "How Has This Raid Affected YOU?" and I pose this question to the police who conducted the raid and all politicians who support Prohibition... "Are we safer now?"
"When I came into this office this morning, I was met with several team members complaining that facebook.com and several other websites were blocked from access. I started my computer and sure enough, Facebook had indeed been blocked." Read the whole post: Facebook: Marijuana of the Internet
I wanna tell y’all a little bit about a plant I know that can save the world. It grows long and tall and has flowers that can make your mind swirl. It’s a sacred plant with a fiber that is resistant to rain and mold. It’s the strongest plant fiber known to man, the best rope you’ll ever hold.
Now the pioneers covered up their wagon train with a canvas made of hemp Washington and Jefferson grew it on their farms and said to make the most of it. The first stars and stripes were made on hemp the first constitution too. Its used around the world for fuel fiber oil medicine and food.
If you press its seeds you wont have no need for any other oil, You can make paints and inks or run your car, grow it back next season it’ll fix the soil. The most nutritious seed you can put in your mouth with Omega 6 and 3 We can feed the world with the tree of life and live sustainably.
Chorus: If we cut down all the trees, then we won’t have no air to breath, Grow a field of hemp instead, you can make your paper, build your house from it. The Goddess plant growing wild and free, livin’ the way we oughta be, gone leave my children a better world than my ancestors left me.
The flowers of the female hemp plant make the best medicines on Earth, Helps cancer and AIDS patients eat their food, helps those with depression overcome the blues, Glaucoma, Epilepsy, Nausia, Insomnia, Stress, Neurosis, Psychosis, Pain PMS All the studies have been done all the doctors agree, but the corporations can’t make money off this plant you see, because its free, it grows from a seed, wild and free like we oughta be. The future is growin in our backyards.
Chorus
In this modern world we seem to lack a little spirituality, This one plant can bring us back 10.000 years in history. To the Shiva Parahanas, The Jesus The Christ, to Buddah, The Pagans, The Goddess, The Light. To commune with all the animals, commune with all the trees, to realize the god I seek is inside me. Yeah the futures in our hands, we’ve gotta take care of the Earth. Because the Earth is the mother that gives life birth. We can end all our pollution with a single green plant and we can start right now, start right now.
Chorus
So you see in this modern day and age, living in the lap of luxury, There is really only one plant we need to harvest for almost everything. We can run our cars on clean hempseed oil, run our generators too. Stop! Wow I can’t believe hemp has so many uses! I say three cheers for Hemp: Hemp hemp Hooray! Hemp Hemp Hooray! Hemp Hemp hooray!
Chorus
From The Human Revolution website:
"Based on the rocky Mendocino Coast of Northern California, The Human Revolution performs all original music in a style they call “mystic country rock,” their live performances with the full band feature rocking guitars, funky fiddle playing, a solid rhythm section, and reality-based lyrics with a message. The band travels on E-85 ethanol, biodiesel or SVO (straight-veggie oil) whenever possible, and their CDs and merchandise are manufactured as ecologically as is commercially available.
The core of The Human Revolution’s sound is Human, the energetic, singer-songwriter and front man weaned in the Appalachian region of the U.S. on lead vocals, harmonica and rhythm guitar."
Check out The Human Revolution where you can listen to more of their music, find out where they are playing and order their CD's, including their newest release: "The Love Revolution".
To find out more about Hemp, our Tree of Life, please visit Jack Herer's website - learn from the best!
Canada has finally re-legalized Hemp as of March 1, 1998, wherein farmers can officially apply for licenses to grow and process Hemp. Alas, there is still much work to be done - Hemp needs to be utilized and embraced the world over - for the sake of our environment, and the long term survival of The Human Race.
A very important video that everyone should watch. Pass it on and share with others.
**********
"I, as a responsible adult human being, will never concede the power to anyone to regulate my choice of what I put into my body, or where I go with my mind. From the skin inwards is my jurisdiction, is it not? I choose what may or may not cross that border. Here I am the Customs Agent. I am the Coast guard. I am the sole legal and spiritual government of this territory, and only the laws I choose to enact within myself are applicable" ~ Alexander Shulgin PhD, Chemist and author, at the DPF Conference, November 1996
"International Day against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking being marked around the globe, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says one drug taker dies every hour in the world.
UNODC reports say approximately two hundred million people around the world are taking illicit drugs, with the number growing every year. This year the International Space Station crew have joined the anti-drug campaign and delivered a special message to the world."
"People of the Earth!
June 26 is International Anti-drug Effort and Illegal Drug Traffic Crusade Day.
Our planet looks so fragile from space, but a person who is killing himself by drugs is even more fragile. When a person takes narcotics and other drugs, inwardly, he thinks he can control the habit. However, sooner or later addiction takes over and destroys free will. This is seen over and over again, with the tragic loss of tens of thousands of lives. Narcotic drunkenness does not bring real freedom, or inspiration, nor does it expand the mind’s horizon. Drugs kill people and their loved ones. We, the cosmonauts and astronauts onboard the ISS, appeal to you: No drug addiction on Earth!"
Well actually Astronauts, it's the Prohibition of drugs and the Drug War that has harmed more people than drugs actually do. And we all know Cannabis is not physically addictive and has never killed anyone - ever. Prohibition on the other hand is directly responsible for too much death.
And I gotta call you out on your statements, because using Cannabis has brought me great inspiration AND expanded my "Mind's Horizon" - expanded it enough for me to realize the Drug War is a War on People and Drug Prohibition is an Epic FAIL.
If the late, great John Lennon was alive today I'm sure he'd say the same. Maybe you should come down from the Space Station and spend a little time in a Yellow Submarine.
And since when did you Cosmonauts get so savvy about International Drug Policy? We had no idea! It just goes to show us all that Propaganda isn't confined or limited to Earth - now it's being spewed from Space too!
The People of Earth aren't fooled... nice try though!
You'll notice on my blog that I have a Cannabis Twitter Feed, which highlights "Tweets" that mention the plant. After double checking that my last post looked fine, I noticed this tweet by @JailedTampa:
Vanessa . 28F: Possession Of Cannabis Less Than 20 Grams, Possession Of Drug Paraphernalia, Child Neglect. http://tinyurl.com/lvoqcw
My curiosity peaked, I clicked on the link. There, for the whole world to see is the mugshot and arrest report of one Vanessa M. She was busted in her own home.
I understand that child neglect is a very serious offense, but I wonder, did using Cannabis bring about the child neglect charge? That charge carries a bond of $7500.00, the possession charges are $500.00 each. . So now she sits in jail, unable to post the $8500.00 bond, her kids are without their mom, and her employer was made public, naming their "criminal" employee.
She obviously doesn't have the money to post bond, and if she gets out - will she get her kids back? Be fired? How will she make money to not only support her kids but to pay her legal bills if she loses her job? Will anyone want to even hire her again because of her arrest?
Now I'd like to bring attention to another case as @TampaJail posts the info of everyone they arrest:
This man ASSAULTED a PREGNANT woman. He was arrested at 16:13, booked at 17:15 and was released, back into society, at 17:23 the next day. The whole thing from arrest, to booking, to release took 24 hours and ten minutes. Vanessa M. on the other hand, was not booked until 22:35, 6 hours and 10 minutes after her arrest at 16:45 and has been sitting in a cell ever since.
So, an unemployed guy beats a woman who is or was most likely his girlfriend or wife and carrying a baby, and gets the same bond amount as a pot smokers 2 possession charges? Does this make sense to you? Do you feel safer now Tampa? Safer with the law putting Cannabis users behind bars and quickly letting women beaters back out on the streets?
And we're supposed to believe the "War on Drugs" is not a war on people.....
An addition to this post: I visited Tampa Bay Online to send them a letter to the editor, when what article do I see? New law gives prisons sensible out
"At a time when state lawmakers are combating massive budget deficits, state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, found a way to squeeze savings and inmates out of Florida's rapidly expanding prison system.
The measure, approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Charlie Crist, gives corrections officials the option of sending prisoners to other states. The law takes effect July 1."
Wow. Florida would rather send people to other states and pay for inmate incarceration instead of being smart and helping many non-violent addicts get treatment. Once again I say "It's the Prohibition!"
The exact people to listen to about ending the Drug War - cops who spent their career's fighting it!
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition LEAP's Mission Statement:
Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of law enforcement who believe the existing drug policies have failed in their intended goals of addressing the problems of crime, drug abuse, addiction, juvenile drug use, stopping the flow of illegal drugs into this country and the internal sale and use of illegal drugs. By fighting a war on drugs the government has increased the problems of society and made them far worse. A system of regulation rather than prohibition is a less harmful, more ethical and a more effective public policy.
The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition.
LEAP's goals are:
1. To educate the public, the media, and policy makers, to the failure of current drug policy by presenting a true picture of the history, causes and effects of drug abuse and the crimes related to drug prohibition and 2. To restore the public's respect for law enforcement, which has been greatly diminished by its involvement in imposing drug prohibition.
LEAP's main strategy for accomplishing these goals is to create a constantly enlarging speakers bureau staffed with knowledgeable and articulate former drug-warriors who describe the impact of current drug policies on: police/community relations; the safety of law enforcement officers and suspects; police corruption and misconduct; and the financial and human costs associated with current drug policies.
Please visit LEAP's Website to find out more, including how to have a LEAP speaker come to your community or school.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Canada believe prevention and treatment should be the main focus when dealing with drug users, according to a poll by Innovative Research Group released by CanWest News Service. 65 per cent of respondents think the consumption of illegal drugs is an illness, while 35 per cent consider it a crime.
Polling Data
Do you think the best approach to drug abuse is...
Treat the use of illegal drugs as an illness and focus on prevention and treatment for addicts - 65%
Treat the use of illegal drugs as a crime and get tough on enforcement of drug laws among addicts - 35%
Stephen Harper and the Conservatives stated during parliamentary debate of Bill C-15 that Canadians "told them" Mandatory Minimum Sentencing is what they want. This poll paints a different picture of majority belief, does it not?
Source: Innovative Research Group / CanWest News Service Methodology: Online interviews with 2,938 Canadian adults, conducted from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15, 2007. Margin of error is 1.8 per cent.
Who makes up the Canadian Bar Association and what is their mission?
"The CBA is dedicated to improvement in the law, the administration of justice, and support for the rule of law. Some 38,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members."
So, what does the Canadian Bar Association think of Bill C-15?
"The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) opposes the passage of Bill C-15, amendments to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, because it would create a complicated system of escalating mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offences that would not be an effective deterrent to crime.
“The CBA suggests that public safety concerns can be met with existing laws,” explains Sarah Inness of Winnipeg, member of the CBA’s National Criminal Justice Section. “The Bill could create unjust and disproportionate sentences and ultimately would not achieve its intended goal of greater public safety.”
“As lawyers in criminal courts across the country every day, we know that major drug offences are treated very seriously by the courts,” notes the CBA submission. “Judges have effective guidance from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Criminal Code to determine a fit sentence for the individual offender given the circumstances of the offence.”
“Crown prosecutors highlight relevant aggravating factors to judges. Judges can give those factors appropriate weight in determining if and when incarceration ought to be imposed, and the length and venue of such a sentence.”
The CBA notes that some offenders are good candidates for rehabilitation. “Minimum mandatory sentences will result in offenders who could have been rehabilitated remaining incarcerated long after their detention acts as either a deterrent, is required for public safety, or promotes rehabilitative goals.”
The Bill would reduce the number of guilty pleas, lead to more trials and more delays, and require additional resources to prosecute and incarcerate more offenders, according to the submission."
This group of professionals who are directly affected by the fallout of Bill C-15 state:
"The CBA has consistently opposed mandatory minimum sentences for the following reasons:
They do not advance the goal of deterrence.
They do not target the most egregious or dangerous offenders.
The have a disproportionate impact on those minority groups who already suffer from poverty and deprivation.
They subvert important aspects of Canada’s sentencing regime, including principles of proportionality and individualization and reliance on judges to impose a just sentence after hearing all the facts in the individual case."
How can the Conservatives and Liberals support a Law when the very people who are going to have to deal with the consequences of Bill C-15, say that Mandatory Minimum Sentencing (for what is no doubt going to affect large numbers on non-violent "offenders") does not work?
Would you like green buds and hash? - No I would not, Mister Stash!
Would you like them in a bong? Would you like them all day long?
- No I would not in a bong! - No I would not all day long! - I do not like green buds and hash. - I do not want them Mister Stash!
Would you like them wrapped in paper? Will you try them now or later?
- I do not want them wrapped in paper. - I don't want them now or later. - I don't want them in a bong, - I do not want them all day long. - I do not like green buds and hash, - I do not want them Mister Stash!
Would you like them in a joint? - No I would not, what's the point?
Perhaps you would prefer a puff? Just have one, that is enough.
- I won't partake, not of a puff, - Nor a hoot, nor hit, nor huff!
Would you try a tiny toke? - No I don't want any smoke!
What if they were vaporized? - I've told you no a thousand times!
Would you, could you, in a cake? Or in cookies I can bake?
- I do not want them in a cake, - Or in cookies you could bake. - I do not want them vaporized, - Or other means you have devised. - I do not wish to try a toke, - Or otherwise inhale smoke. - I won't participate in puffs, - You have asked me quite enough! - I get no joy from juicy joints, - I really do not see the point. - I do not want to use the bong, - I think that buds and hash are wrong.
In a tincture would you take it? I could show you how to make it.
- I do not want them in a tincture - Or in any other mixture! - I do not want green buds and hash, - I do not want them Mister Stash! - Why do you care if I try them? - Will you profit if I buy them?
I offer buds and hash for free, There is no benefit to me. Someone said that that you were sick, green buds and hash might do the trick. If you find you're getting thinner, With no appetite for dinner, Or you suffer from sclerosis, Epilepsy or neuroses, For almost all the ills that ail ya, buds and hash will never fail ya. Have glaucoma? PMS? Green buds and hash have much success. For protection against strokes, Its best to have some potent tokes. If your muscles are not dandy, Try some green bud infused candy. For migraines, spasms, even cancer, Green buds and hash provide the answer. If you are not feeling right, Then have green buds and hash tonight.
- It's true I am not feeling great, - My health's been rather poor of late. - My doctor says that I have ills, - He told me I should take these pills. - I cannot even sleep at night, - I never do feel quite alright. - I will try green buds and hash, - I will try them Mister Stash!
Pfffffffffffffft!
- Hey now I am feeling good! - They worked just like you said they would. - I have never felt this fine! - Green buds and hash are quite divine! - I will bake a green bud brownie, - Whenever I am feeling frowny. - I will try them vaporized, - That technique seems very wise. - I will take them in a tincture, - And in every other mixture. - Perhaps I would prefer to puff, - And stop when I have had enough. - I will roll some massive joints, - And smoke them down to little points. - I will toke upon the bong, - I will do it all day long. - I really like green buds and hash, - I do enjoy them Mister Stash! - Thanks for being so insistent - And for being so persistent. - My mind and body are improved, - My spirit also has been moved. - Though I was told they are a sin, - Green buds and hash are medicine. - I'm sorry that I was so hateful, - Now I know I should be grateful! - Thank you, thank you, Mister Stash, - Thank you for green buds and hash!
"A 19-year-old boy was in hospital Tuesday night after he was found shot in the leg at the Main Street TTC station in the city's east end.....
..... The victim, who police say was under the influence of marijuana and wasn't able to fully co-operate with investigators, is thought to have come into the station on the bus before boarding the streetcar...."
First, lets get one thing straight. *Cannabis can remain in a persons system for approximately around 30 days. Just because he had Cannabis in his system doesn't mean he was high at the time of the shooting. Besides, I'd be eager to find out what Drug Testing Kit the police are using, because we all know how reliable they are, right? (Video at bottom)
Secondly, the police state he "was under the influence of marijuana and wasn't able to fully co-operate with investigators". Of Course he wasn't able to co-operate - he was at the hospital in serious condition as he was just SHOT in the LEG!!!
I actually looked to see if the article was authored by Harry Anslinger. I am very disappointed in the Globe for using these kind of fear tactics regarding Cannabis and wrote a Letter to the Editor telling them so.
I also suspect we're going to see a new onslaught of this fear-based reporting from all media before Bill C-15 goes to the Senate. Just another way the police and media spin it people. Always take a minute to read between the lines.
"Marijuana" or "Marihuana" was the name Federal Beaureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger introduced into the media to describe Cannabis Sativa or Hemp, as a scare tactic directed at white America. "As part of his propaganda campaign he deliberately eschewed the English word hemp, the botanical term cannabis (from which we get canvas) and the users' word: muggles. The word he chose was an obscure Mexican slang term (derived from Maria Juana "Mary Jane", originally a brand of cheap cigarettes) in order to exploit the xenophobia of the public.
Some samples from the San Francisco Examiner:
"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days -- Hashish goads users to bloodlust."
"By the tons it is coming into this country -- the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms.... Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him...."
And other nationwide columns...
"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."
"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."
Want to read more?Check out reefermadnessmuseum.org, which actually investigates - and debunks - Anslinger's "Gore File" stories.
I write to you today with bad news. Bill C-15, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences including marijuana passed the House of Commons 195/54. The bill was pushed through by the Conservative Party with the support of the Liberals. The Conservatives blatantly ignored all evidence and expert testimony and instead relied on talking points and ideology; Karl Rove and George W Bush would be proud, Canadians would be disgusted. The Conservatives were pressed by every party to provide a single piece of evidence in support of C-15, the Conservatives could not provide a singly study. Read more... C-15 has passed the House of Commons | whyprohibition.ca
Mama, Wife, Writer, Political Junkie, Legalizer, Freedom Fighter, Student of Life, Atheist, Lover of Music & Written Word.
#420Friendly #Spoonie
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"I, as a responsible adult human being, will never concede the power to anyone to regulate my choice of what I put into my body, or where I go with my mind. From the skin inwards is my jurisdiction, is it not? I choose what may or may not cross that border. Here I am the Customs Agent. I am the Coast Guard. I am the sole legal and spiritual government of this territory, and only the laws I choose to enact within myself are applicable." ~ Alexander Shulgin PhD, Chemist and author
Pic courtesy of http://heartofdankness.tumblr.com/
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