Like The Borg, SaveCalifornia Thinks You Must Be Assimilated

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).

Post Links: Oppose Legalizing Marijuana (Prop. 19) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7K5oYlqMXw&feature=related
marijuanaharmsfamilies.com - http://www.marijuanaharmsfamilies.com/
Prop 19, Just Say Now by Students for Sensible Drug Policy - http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/
savecalifornia.com on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/savecalifornia ALERT: Defend Prop. 8, rescue schoolchildren, get equipped to vote - http://savecalifornia.com/blog/?p=1126
Why did Californians vote that way? - http://savecalifornia.com/blog/?p=1141 RescueYourChild - http://rescueyourchild.com/
10 WAYS TO BUILD A PRO-FAMILY ARMY - http://savecalifornia.com/images/stories/PDFs/10_ways_to_build_a_profamily_army_032609.pdf
Good As You: Randy Thomasson Roundup - http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/randy_thomasson
Thomasson: School 'Milk' will turn your kids gay - http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2008/08/thomasson-schoo.html
Lei Green, 32, Single-mother of seven - http://www.cadfy.org.php5-13.websitetestlink.com/test/index.php/in-their-own-words
"Mama said" - Moms For Marijuana - http://www.momsformarijuana.com/ Science Trumps Ideology - http://maryjanecannabian.blogspot.com/2009/11/science-trumps-ideology.html

Really?

A recent article headline from the UK paper, The Macclesfield Express exclaimed "Cannabis is blamed for teen's death"

I was so appalled by this, I signed up for their website and left this comment:

"I think the Cheshire Coroner's Office is exploiting the death of this young chef trainee. From what I gathered he was doing well and was clean - NO drugs in his system. This boys parents are grieving for their Son and it is unconscionable that someone decided to use the premature death of this young man to suit their political agenda of continuing (unjust) Prohibition.

This Deputy Coroner should be fired - if he demonstrates this much incompetence to the the public, imagine all of the other mistakes he could be making behind closed lab doors.

How inept and outright ridiculous to declare Cannabis as the Cause of Death when there are so many other factors that probably contributed to his death first. Cocaine? Meth? Amphetamines? Possibly Tobacco and Alcohol? And a previous Heart Attack? Maybe even the fall he took? I'm not a Dr. but it is more than likely that it was one or a combination of those things that were contributors and/or possible causes of his death.

I suggest your paper give the Coroner this American DEA Study to read:

The Young Decision: excerpts from Drug Enforcement Agency Administrative Law Judge Francis Young (it's in regard of Medical Cannabis but this relates directly to the low toxicity of the Cannabis plant)

VIII: Cannabis/Marijuana's Accepted Safety for Use Under Medical Supervision

3. The most obvious concern when dealing with drug safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug cause death?

4. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana (cannabis) is not such a sub-stance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.

5. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on cannabis encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, cannabis is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that 20-million to 50-million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming cannabis has caused a single death.

6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.

7. Drugs in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine cannabis's LD-50 rating in test animal, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough cannabis to induce death.

8. At present it is estimated that cannabis's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 time as much cannabis as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approxi-mately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response.

9. In practical terms, cannabis cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.

10. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio de-fines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose capable of inducing adverse effects.

11. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding.

12. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients use 10 times the recommended dose.

13. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the drugs used in anti-neoplastic therapies, for example, are regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed.

14. By contrast, marijuana's therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high.

15. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death.

16. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis cannabis can be safely used with a supervised routine of medical care.

http://www.fcda.org/judge.young.htm

I hope Coroner Roberts pays special attention to #8 - "A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response." (Impossible to do!) & #6 - "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. (more on the effects of Cannabis here: http://www.fcda.org/tenthings.html

Momentum for re-legalizing Cannabis is gaining steam throughout the world - please be aware that this sort of blatant, deceitful Propaganda will be increasingly spewed by organizations who have a stake in continuing the failed War on Drugs (via the Main Stream Media) at increasingly breakneck speeds. A couple of weeks ago a British study was released that stated "Cannabis damages human DNA". But what wasn't in the press release was that the study wasn't even performed on human DNA, but "Calf Thymus". It was called out here.

IMO, Deputy Coroner Geoff Roberts has some 'splainin' to do. And he better do it quick - before Defense lawyers get a sniff of this story and start appealing the Cheshire Coroners Office findings in their clients (homicide) cases as this one is so obviously flawed and misleading.

Coroner Roberts, in choosing to "Blame Cannabis" before the other obvious contributing factors calls into question his knowledge, and therefore his qualifications and abilities as a Coroner.

I'm sure when his peers in his field read about his inquest "findings" they will laugh him out of his job." ~ MaryJane Cannabian


Not soon after, the UK Telegraph picked up this story also, except their headline was even worse: "Coroner blames death on "Toxic Cannabis""

The original version of this article was even more disgusting, the UK Telegraph committed a blatant act of "cherry-picking".

In the original posting the Telegraph decided to leave out the following information:

No mention of the fact he had NO Cannabis in his system. The Doctor who performed the autopsy listed the official Cause of Death of young Adie as "Inflammation of the Heart" - conveniently leaving out the fact that he also had a history of using Cocaine, Meth, Amphetamines, AND had suffered a Heart Attack on 2007.

I was so incensed I immediately sent a Letter to the Editor:

Re: Your Story on July 1st. "Coroner blames death on "Toxic Cannabis"

Shame on the Telegraph for this outright shameful display of Propaganda and Yellow Journalism! What you have done is called "Cherry Picking" - you have decided to only print some info of this story - while leaving out other very important pieces! First, this young man had a history of using Cocaine, Meth, Amphetamines, AND had suffered a Heart Attack in 2007. You also failed to mention the fact he had NO Cannabis or any other drugs in his system when he died and that the Doctor who performed the autopsy listed the Cause of Death as "Inflammation of the Heart".

This Deputy Coroner, Geoff Roberts should be fired for recklessly lying and misleading the public! If he demonstrates this much incompetence to the general population, imagine all of the other mistakes he could be making behind closed lab doors. How inept and outright ridiculous to declare Cannabis as the cause of death when there are so many other factors that could have contributed to his death first. Cocaine? Meth? Amphetamines? Possibly Tobacco and Alcohol? And a previous Heart Attack? Maybe even the fall he took? I'm not a Dr. but it is more than likely that it was one or a combination of those things that were contributors and/or possible causes of death.

Please familiarize yourself with DEA Judge Dr. Francis Young, who concluded:

"A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death."

I also think the Cheshire Coroners Office office is exploiting the death of this young chef trainee. From what I gathered he was doing well and was clean - NO drugs in his system. This boys parents are grieving for their Son and it is unconscionable that that someone decided to exploit the premature death of this young man to suit their political agenda of unjust Prohibition.

I beg all readers to realize: Momentum for legalizing Cannabis is gaining steam throughout the world - please be aware that this sort of blatant, deceitful Propaganda will be increasingly spewed by organizations who have a stake in continuing the failed War on Drugs (via the Main Stream Media) at increasingly breakneck speeds. Please look at all facts before making conclusions, and educate yourself on the true scientific findings regarding Cannabis.

MaryJane Cannabian
Canada

Editor: The Links for Dr. Young's Study (so you can read for yourself)
http://www.fcda.org/judge.young.htm

http://www.fcda.org/tenthings.html

Link to Macclesfield Express article that blatantly stated the same as the Telegraph, but at least listed the other info about the autopsy and his other Drug use.

I think the Telegraph should release a Correction and do a proper investigation of this story - before you mislead and lie to your readers any further. True Journalists fact-check their stories first! ~

Within a couple of hours of sending my letter, the Telegraph updated the story to include the info that he had also used hard drugs - but still leaves out the fact that he had already suffered a Heart Attack in 2007.

Propaganda at its best people - BEWARE!

UPDATE

More spin out of the UK. The latest headline comes from the Lancashire Telegraph and reads: "Judge issues warning on dangers of cannabis after Hapton teen's case"

"Sentencing Judge Philip Butler said: "Those misguided people who seem to believe the use of cannabis is harmless would do well to read some of the reports before me, because this 19-year-old man, from a good family, has developed psychosis, thanks to the use of cannabis and also ecstasy."

"AND ALSO ECSTASY.... " But the headline lists only cannabis danger?

Not to sound harsh, but it seems to me this young man has a whole host of problems. He was being treated at the time of the attack for psychosis in a hospital, so there is a strong possibility that he was also administered legal prescription drugs. Were they in his system at the time of the attack?

It seems to me, taking a non-medical, educated guess, that this happens to be a case of a young man with psychiatric problems who also happened to use ecstasy and cannabis.

In fact, the whole Cannabis causing schizophrenia and psychosis theory has been debunked, and by the very country this story comes out of no less:

"A team of researchers at the Keele University Medical School have once and for all put the ‘pot-and-mental illness’ claims to the test. Writing in a forthcoming edition of the scientific journal Schizophrenia Research, they compare long-term trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia and/or psychoses in the United Kingdom. And what do they find?

“[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10 year period. This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. … This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence.”

I guess Judge Butler missed this news, but at the very least he chose to send the young man to a hospital for assessment under the Mental Health Act instead of jail. He needs help and doctors are better suited to treat him than prison guards.

I've written a letter to the Lancashire Telegraph informing them about the UK research. Hopefully they have the courage to inform their readers of the truth. If not, chalk another one up to Yellow Journalism.

Propaganda! From! SPAAAACE!!!

The International Space Station crew has addressed the people of Earth on International Anti-Drug Day.

From Russia Today:

"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!


"Yellow Submarine" ~ The Beatles, 1966.

The Prohibition Spin

So, I'm on Twitter and I read a Tweet.

19 yr old Teen found shot at Main station-TTC - Globe & Mail http://tr.im/nZwu #YYZNEWS

So, I click on the link to read the story on the Globe.

It began: Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009 12:42AM EDT

"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.

_________

*Cannabis - I have always always used this term to describe the Cannabis Sativa plant. Here is why:

"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.