It has been painful from the outside looking in to watch President-elect Barack Obama begin to cobble together his cabinet officers and senior staff in regards to what prospects there are for substantive cannabis law reforms in this first term.
There are only a couple of key appointments left that may signal the political tea leafs for cannabis law reforms in Obama 1.0 — head of Drug Enforcement Administration (which serves under the Attorney General at the Department of Justice) and the Drug Czar (see below regarding rumored nominee).
Who among current Obama nominees are giving me some acid burn?
In order of importance:
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
“For us regarding opposing drugs and any reforms, it is: harms criminal justice; children; the pharmaceutical process and the legalization stalking horse.” -R.E., 1997
As a longtime observer of Rahm’s ascendancy into the stratosphere of politics (Chicago Mayor Daley’ staff, President Clinton’s White House, Congress, and now back to the White as Chief of Staff) what has me most concerned about Rahm is that for so long he has been so consistent in opposing drug policy reforms, most especially cannabis law reforms. In the Clinton White House he played a major role in domestic policy making, with a strong nod to matters of criminal justice. He was effectively the White House’s point man with the Drug Czar. In my view, Rahm was not concerned with effective policy-making as much as image making, so as to help inoculate the President (and Democrats) from the historical albatross hanging from their necks during most national elections—fear of being viewed by the Republicans, and more importantly the general public, as being ‘weak on crime’.
To put it bluntly, Bill Clinton and Al Gore lied their way up and down the countryside running for the Oval office in the summer of 1992, promising liberal donors, gay activists and drug policy reformers that if elected, at a minimum, they would expand the federal government’s Compassionate Investigative New Drug Program (a.k.a. IND, run by the Public Health Service), which allowed for a small handful of federally-approved medical patients to receive up to 300 ‘joints’ per/month for a serious medical condition.
When Clinton and Gore took office in 1993, they immediately felt the political pressure from state politicians, major gay donors and activists, notably from California, who’d impressed upon Clinton the need for medical cannabis for AIDS and cancer patients.
However, and disappointingly, rather than expand the important research program, Rahm and Co. moved to dismantle it, and by late July 1994 Clinton had canceled the IND program, grandfathering the group of eight patients in the program a columnist at the Washington Post deemed the Acapulco Eight.
Taking a far more politically pragmatic path than a compassionate one, Rahm chose to ignore the science (and the Constitution I’d hastily add) and conflate the somewhat easy to distinguish and politically popular battle for patients to access medicinal cannabis with the decidedly unpopular ‘War on Some Drugs’.
In the spring of 1997, a writer and author who interviewed Rahm for a major Rolling Stone piece on the ‘Drug War’, after he’d walked the 3 blocks from Rahm’s White House office to NORML’s K St. office, kindly shared with me his three pages of shorthand notes. The writer, who’d spent a few days in DC interviewing all of the major players in drug enforcement and drug policy reform had wanted to get an interview with Rahm, because absent the President, there was likely no other person in the nation at the time who had more sway over which way the Executive branch implemented drug control strategies.
When I asked, “Well, how was the interview, where does Emanuel stand on the issue of marijuana?” The writer looked up from his notes and said, “NORML is so screwed. In Emanuel you have the prototypical liberal drug warrior: More government intervention, more laws, more arrests; less freedom and personal responsibility.”
What do these notes reveal from 1997?
When asked why did the Clinton Administration so actively oppose the 1996 ballot initiatives in California (and Arizona) to legalize medical access to cannabis, Rahm’s replies:
-We opposed the Arizona initiative because it had to with sentencing and harder drugs;
-We opposed the California initiative because it sent the wrong message to children and we believe that there is downward trend in use right now that these laws will hurt; send wrong message.
-This procedure should not be done by initiative. We have procedures whereby drugs are tested and approved. These initiatives don’t follow those procedures.
-We took an unpopular position on this. Our position is based on policy even if polls are going the other way.
When asked ‘what makes Clinton’s drug policy any better than George Bush. Sr.’s?’, Rahm’s replies:
-We have passed anti-meth legislation before meth has taken off nationally. Law enforcement are telling me that we got ahead of it.
-Our four points for control: drug testing, drug treatment, coerced abstinence works and if the states want the money for prisons they have to adopt what is proven successful.
-Some members of Congress want to defund the ONDCP, but General McCaffrey is different, brings energy and focus to the job.
-We [Clinton Administration] shifted resources from borders to domestic, community policing and drug free school efforts.
-There is nowhere near enough treatment space for the demand.
-This is about attitude and putting federal dollars to work.
When asked about medical marijuana community (doctors, patients, AIDS and drug policy reform organizations), Rahm slapped his head with his hand and said…
-“We oppose it [cannabis] because there is no doubt that the funding comes from those who advocate legalization. We thought this was the first of many battles and needed to fight.”
When asked about the high number of annual cannabis arrests in the US, Rahm said:
-“I’ve never heard of a police chief who says they waste their time on small time marijuana arrests. I would be surprised if very many people are being arrested for small marijuana possession.”
Further, “For us regarding opposing drugs and any reforms, it is: harms criminal justice; children; the pharmaceutical process and the legalization stalking horse.”
-“I think there is a sadder side to all of this that McCaffrey has spoken eloquently about how people who have used drugs in the past should not be disqualified or attack for their pasts.”
Regarding “marijuana”:
-“Yes, we believe it is a genuinely dangerous drug when it comes to kids. I’ll show you data after data that kids who go onto to harder drugs started off with marijuana.”
-“Laws signal acceptability or not. In this area we say its unlawful and we think that it helps parents say this is wrong.”
Whew. Well, there you have it, from NORML’s huge archives and directly from the writer’s notebook circa spring 1997. A couple of closing thoughts on Rahm and his views on cannabis…
Tactical and political savvy as Rahm clearly is, history proves the decisions President Clinton and he made regarding medical cannabis (and decriminalization) were demonstrably wrong. Rather than yield any quarter or embrace science, compassion and the Constitution in being so rigid and recalcitrant on the public health/criminal justice conundrum of medicinal cannabis, Rahm actually helped accelerate, not retard, the state-based strategy of reformers. From 1996-2000, the Clinton Administration failed to stop grassroots efforts to pass state initiatives or legislation in eight states that ‘legalized’ medical cannabis (Bush 2.0 and his Drug Czar John Walters have not faired much better opposing state medical marijuana laws, save for prevailing in the US Supreme Court twice, in 2001 and 2005. Though, despite the ‘high’ court’s adverse rulings in these cases, the number of medical cannabis dispensaries, cooperatives and even automated medical cannabis machines have steadily increased. If reformers lost at SCOTUS, functionally, what did we actually lose? My contention is not much as the court’s rulings don’t reflect the current political, public health and economic realities facing the respectable minority of Americans who, regardless of their state’s laws, currently employ cannabis as a therapeutic, often with their physician’s recommendation. Reminds one of prior SCOTUS rulings in our nation’s past regarding race, labor laws, women’s rights, internment of Japanese Americans, gay and lesbian equality and sexual reproduction laws where society (and often technology) is leagues ahead of legislation, and ensuing appellate court action–both of which move at a glacial rate (unless of course there is multi-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded ‘bailout’ to be performed, then federal legislative and court action is performed post haste).
Emanuel’s new boss, and admitted past cannabis consumer President-elect Obama has repeatedly indicated that he does not support the use of federal law enforcement to harass medical cannabis dispensaries in states that have approved medical marijuana laws; Obama historically supported decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis (until the end of the contentious Democratic primaries this spring where Obama ‘flipped-flopped’ on the issue, and now claims to oppose the decriminalization of cannabis) and believes that far too many young people are ensnared in an unwieldy and expensive criminal justice system.
Rahm is politically smart if nothing else, so I hope that he’ll follow his boss’ lead in the area of criminal justice reforms. Also, to his credit, after voting years against the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, in 2007, as member of Congress from Illinois, Rahm voted in favor of holding back federal funding from law enforcement (read DEA) to raid or harass medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries.
Interestingly, and I don’t think a coincidence, from 2005 forward Illinois’ state legislature has held hearings on medical marijuana and prominent (and compelling) cases like medical marijuana patient Brenda Kratovil have been featured all over the major news media in the state. My supposition is that Rahm, in fact a smart, keenly attuned politician, only came to support clipping the DEA’s wings regarding medical marijuana raids on the west coast after paying close political attention to how citizens in his state—along with its editorial boards and prominent columnists—readily support seriously ill, dying or sense threatened medical patients with a physician’s recommendation to access cannabis.
However, I fear that Rahm will continue to advocate for a politically cautious (I’d say paranoid) path regarding cannabis law reforms; is prone to engage in the most oft-trotted out, and easily deflated, myths and canards about cannabis; and will be too centrist and deferential to law enforcement for political expediency sake.
I just hope his boss and can talk him out of it. If not his new boss, maybe he should listen to his old boss, Bill Clinton, who has acknowledged that he was wrong to oppose harm reduction tenets: cannabis decriminalization and needle exchange efforts.
Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder
Much has been written and fretted about in the last few days about Obama’s pick to be the nation’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General nominee Eric Holder.
There are excellent and probing commentary penned regarding what prospects for criminal justice policy reforms the appointment of Holder portends.
My remarks to Reason’s excellent ‘Hit and Run’ Blog:
“NORML has serious concerns about the choice of Eric Holder as the next Attorney General because he has a long history of opposing drug policy reforms, perceiving cannabis smoking by adults as a public nuisance worthy of constant harrassment, promoting violent governmental intervention into the private lives of citizens who consume cannabis, supporting mandatory minimum sentencing and so-called civil forfeiture laws.
His attraction to the myth of ‘fixing broken windows’ and using law enforcement to crack down on petty crimes will swell an already overburdened, bloated, expensive and failed government prohibition against otherwise law-abiding citizens who choose to consume cannabis.”
Vice-President Joe Biden
The pick of Joe Biden to be Obama’s running mate was my first sign of digestive tumult regarding the prospect of ‘CHANGE’ for drug policy reform. Suffice of to say here, because it was already said here, that Biden represents the decade and type of ‘liberal’ politician in the 1980s, who, rather than oppose the Reagan-inspired War on Some Drugs, decided to become an enthusiastic supporter and legislative booster. Biden was at the center of creating the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), mandatory minimum sentencing, civil forfeiture laws, the Rave Act, funding for DARE in public schools and the ad campaigns for the Partnership for a Drug Free America.
When asked in Connecticut this past May of pain management, Biden exhorted that “There’s got to be a better answer than marijuana.”
With Biden (and Emanuel) loyally by his side, from a purely political point of view, Obama (like a fellow Baby Boomer-type Bill Clinton before him) has wisely guarded against right wing attacks that he may be ‘soft on drugs’.
ONDCP Transition Team Director Dr. Don Vereen
As amazingly as it seems to most who come to know that the ONDCP is a cabinet level office (Thanks Joe Biden!), all cabinet level offices need an official transition team. So who is heading up the ONDCP transitional team? One of the principals is Don Vereen, a former ONDCP deputy director from 1998-2001.
Is Vereen a reform-minded health care professional and ready to embrace ‘change’?
Unlikely in my view as Vereen told the Psychiatric News in 1999 that he believed that doctors who prescribe marijuana as irresponsible and actually advocated arresting medical patients caught with marijuana. Yikes!
Vereen, like Emanuel (and so many other selective prohibitionists), has adopted the same rote cited rationalizations why cannabis can’t be legally controlled and taxed like thousands of pharmaceuticals currently: marijuana can’t be thought of as a therapeutic treatment because it’s usually smoked and because dosages are difficult to control.
Also, Vereen was on the losing side this past Election Day in Michigan where, in his capacity as director of Community Based Public Health at Univ. of Michigan, he claimed that a medical marijuana initiative ‘sends the wrong message to children’.
These folks sure do stick to the same talking points….I hope Vereen doesn’t pull a Cheney here and conclude that he is the best person for the job.
Former Congressman James Ramstad for Drug Czar?
As one of my favorite policy writers and commentators Maia Szalavitz aptly points out in her November 21 Huffington Post article regarding Ramstad:
On paper, Jim Ramstad — who is rumored to be Obama’s choice for drug czar — looks like the ideal man for the job . He’s a recovering alcoholic himself and a Congressman who championed legislation recently passed to provide equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses.
Unfortunately, Ramstad may be a drug warrior in recovering person’s clothing. There is one issue that has consistently separated those who put science and saving lives in front of politics. That is needle exchange programs for addicts to prevent the spread of HIV and other blood borne illnesses.
Even President Clinton now says he was “wrong” when he ignored the recommendations of every scientific and medical organization in the world that has examined the question — from the AMA to the World Health Organization — and refused to lift the federal ban on funding.
Needle exchanges have been shown repeatedly to reduce HIV and contrary to the claims of opponents, they help addicts get into treatment.
But Bill Clinton had a drug czar — Barry McCaffrey — who said that needle exchange “sent the wrong message,” and would make him seem soft on drugs. McCaffrey fought against it and Clinton now says he “regrets” caving in to drug war politics.
Ramstad also — again, against the evidence – opposes medical marijuana and supports federal policing and prosecution of providers and patients in the states that have made it legal. These states have not seen the rise in teen drug use that opponents like the Congressman predicted.
The opposite, in fact, happened — as is the case in countries that have decriminalized marijuana like Holland. The UK’s “downgrading” of cannabis offense to a lesser status was also accompanied by a drop in use.
There’s simply no evidence that allowing sick people to get needed medication conflicts with helping addicts. Obama has said he does not support these prosecutions — will Ramstad push him in the wrong direction here, too? In an economic crisis, do we really want to spend federal time and money locking up medical marijuana providers and sick people?
That’s not change, President Obama — that’s more of the same. Don’t make the mistake that Bill Clinton did and install a drug czar who will ignore science and push dogma.
Amen Maia!
Holder’s a done deal. Concentrate fire on Ramstad. I had a chance to chat with Senator Feingold about the prospective nominees Friday evening, he’s going to make an effort to keep Ramstad out.
Way to go America. Way to freaking go. We coulda had Dr. Paul but you just HAD to vote for McCain, who flubbed his way through the economic crisis with a highly inferior veep, and now we have a President who is surrounding himself with the Democrat equivalent of the Bush administration, and countless administrations before him. Oh, we’ll see change. Change that will only cost us more money! Not being in Iraq will save some change, but it’s not like we’re not gonna spend that money on some other backassward program. Way. to freaking. go.
Clearly people overwhelming support Americans freedom of choice when it comes to cannabis. Why does the government refuse to allow individuals to make there own decisions.
The bottom line is this its more then a issue of marijuana we are talking about here its or personal freedoms. I believe this is a serious issue of power its about the government making a statement we run the show!! Doesn’t sound like a government for the people by the people does it!!
Holy Crap we are screwed!
The government IS owned by drug money. Were doomed.
I’m going to be super pissed if there is no change in the marijuana law at the federal level! I demand change, and change in the form of legalization! Spare me any pathetic excuses or explanations. I have already told you that after legalization you are to control the international distribution of Afghan hash, and use the revenue from it to pay for the military protection of Afghanistan. There are plenty of green uses for the parts of the plant other than just the female flowers. I also told you before that nobody else wants to pay taxes except for cannabis consumers, in return for no longer turning otherwise law-abiding people into criminals. When you get your apparatchiks and nomenclatura in place you must modernize the laws.
The Netherlands has just held a summit, and a majority of the local governments that allow coffeeshops also want to legalize the cultivation of cannabis to supply the coffeeshops within their jurisdiction. Some border areas want to eliminate them because of the foreign tourists who make problems, but in the heart of the country the city of Eindhoven wants to increase the number of coffeeshops allowed. Rotterdam has coffeeshops and has schools that drugtest students, as it is still illegal for minors. Amsterdam is closing some 40 shops because they are too close to schools, as they can’t be in the drugfree zones/school zones. They have lower rates of marijuana use than the US, too. Get rid of the international obstacles and objections!
I don’t like having to repeat myself.
Sorry to say it, but somebody has to….
When is obamas target date again? It’s got to be nearing closer and closer… Only a matter of time now…
We all need to harass our representatives the day the get into office and have all our friends, family and neighbors do the same, ABOUT EVERYTHING. We all need to learn ways to come together and bring others together. That will be hard though since everyone is so selfish they only care about “what affects me”, they fail to see the larger picture though which shows overall, it does affect them. Maybe we can prove this to people somehow.
Not only that, we need to constantly keep the pressure on them, they are like children, cannot be trusted and need constant supervision.
What about the industrial hemp issue…is there any chance of progress there? Obama wants to create jobs and find alternative fuels doesn’t he?
I think that challenging Obama to call for a special commission in a very public way might let him know there is a strong voice in favor of “change”.
I’ve heard former NM Gov Gary Johnson is thinking of running in 2012.
Ben Masel
Do you know anything about the possibility of Patrick Kennedy?
I almost wish I had not read this composition (just depressing). The reality is what the reality is though and I like the rest of us have to buck up and band together. Cannabis reformers just are not organized to the extent needed to make themselves heard at the federal government level. I mean that LARG numbers need to be gathered together in dispute. Unfortunately many of us that want to make a difference don’t have the resources or time to implement something beyond a local new blip often showcased as a fringe piece. I don’t want to become a defeatist by giving up on our plight so I will keep trying in different ways to make us heard.
Fuck this i’m moving to holland.
And to think i voted for him too!!!
We The People need to stand with a united front against these jerks who think, and are able to manipulate government policy, reform and money. The legalization and Safe Access of cannabis is top priority in my life. Not because I am a drug addict but because I have Diabetic Neuropathic Gastroparesis i.e. Paralyzed Stomach, which results in chronic nausea and vomiting. I literally surf waves of nausea from mild to severe every hour of everyday. Marijuana is the safest most effective drug in controlling chronic nausea and vomiting. Reglen/Metoclopramide is what is most often prescribed for my condition. However my Dr told me not to take it on a regular basis for it causes Irreversible Parkinson like shakes and tremors. Sorry guys but I choose Marijuana, a non-toxic drug, over Reglen, a very toxic drug everytime, even in the face of imprisonment and forfieture of my rights as an American Citizen.
It doesn’t look like you asked Emanuel, Holder, Biden, Vereen if their position has changed since Obama did say that he’d call off the DEA dogs from harassing medical marijuana users in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.
I gathered that most of your information was from notes you took in 1997. What’s their stand today?
And why no questions about industrial hemp? It’d be a good source for biofuels, foods, fibers plus the millions jobs that would be created were industrial hemp legalized. Wouldn’t all that fit in with Obama’s economic recovery plan?
And why not ask, if Obama calls off the DEA dogs on medical marijuana users, would he show the same consideration to industrial hemp growers, handlers, processors, manufacturers and sellers of industrial hemp products?
By only focusing on marijuana, you come across as a one issue advocate. That’s no much different than being a zealot for zygotes, or opposing gay rights.
Hempsters need to start talking about the whole hemp plant. Sometimes you have to settle for half a loaf to eventually reach your primary objective.
Unfortunately, the industrial hempsters are the biggest stick in the mud on the issue of the whole hemp plant.
I think that it’s funny that people would act as though electing an institution man like Obama were some sort of a revolutionary act. It goes to show how conservative these times truly are. Looks like four to eight more years of $400 ounces and having to “smoke and hide,” as Tosh would say.
And don’t forget: A Time Magazine poll six years ago indicated that four out of five Americans support legalizing medical marijuana. That still it’s not legal nationally, at least for medical uses (when backed largely by the medical community) is not democracy, it’s horseshit.
Although i am begining to regret my vote for obama i cant help to think that McCain would have us off worse.
ChronJohn: dude ron paul did not have a shot. i have been a ron paul supporter for a long time and he wasn’t taken serious. its a shame he doesn’t get more recognition because he does deserve it.
anyway why are politicians so determined to be “tough on crime” when they should be “smart on crime”. in a nation obsessed with “going green” why not go green, go healthy and go free and legalize marijuana use by adults???
marijuana doesn’t ruin lives, marijuana laws do!
As I stated on a previous post on “The Hill”, if Obama and his administration are REALLY focused on saving the economy and sending “the right message” to “the children”, they will decriminalize not only Cannabis but ALL drugs, tax the sale of these drugs to adults 21 and over, put regulation in place similar to Cigarettes and alcohol, and pardon those in prison for non-violent drug offenses.
After all, the REAL message you should send to children is that spending money on something that doesn’t work is foolish and crazy. . .which is exactly what the “War on Horticulture” has turned into (really, if something grows from the earth naturally, wouldn’t one argue that GOD put it there for a reason?)
If a black man can be elected president in our lifetime, surely cannabis and other drugs will also be legalized for responsible consumption in our lifetime as well.
Clinton had it easier to screw up, as it were. When elected there were no medical cannabis states (and on the gay rights subject no states with civil unions or marriage for gays and anti-discrimination laws protecting gays).
Currently there is ever growing scientific, legal and medical consensus regarding cannabis and the many myths used to slander it and its users.
I will be guardedly cautious and certainly do not foresee an overnight change but the trends are clear and unmistakable … cannabis prohibition, like govt support for homophobic bigotry, have only a short life ahead… in 20-30 years I really cannot see either having much political weight.
Ah well…
We’ll have to see how it goes. The Obama campaign said they would not continue to waste scarce law enforcement resources by allowing the DEA to continue harassing Californians over medical marijuana. Now we’ll see if Obama is just like every other politician. Don’t forget that during the 2000 campaign, Bush said that medical marijuana was an issue that should be left up to the states. I supported Obama’s campaign, but if he continues the same “mighty crush the weak” policies of Bush and Clinton, that will be a deal breaker for me. He will turn out to be just another weak politician afraid to do what he knows is the right thing.
they gay people are heard because they protest on the streets and make themselves heard.
about time we do the same.
The Obama Transition has established a website to recieve input from us. http://www.change.gov Now is the time to speak-up for the policy changes that represent the views of Marijuana Voters. If the Transition officials hear from a few of us, we will be ignored. If we speak in large numbers, our voices will be heard. Please take a few minutes to share with President-elect reform ideas about Marijuana issues. I hear from elected officials constantly that voters do not voice concern about Drug Policy Reform. Join me in providing feedback at http://www.change.gov
Welcome to ‘THE OBAMANATION…scarey,isn’t it?……mo’ money,mo money, mo money!!!
Well, in Tom Daschle for Head of Health and Human Services, we have someone who endorsed Bush’s domestic surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency and also published a book about universal health care in February 2008 in addition to serving on the U.S.Senate committee Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry from 1994-98. Bill Richardson, former New Mexico Governor who supported medical marijuana in his home state, is now tapped for the heading the Department of Commerce. I’m not sure how much influence on drug policy Richardson can have in that postion, unless he some say in regulating taxation in states that have legal dispensaries. Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona has vetoed much of the legislation the Republican-controlled AZ State Congress has attempted to pass. Staunch Repulican conservative McCain supporter Secretary of State Jan Brewer will take over as acting Governor of Arizona, if Napoliatano accepts the Homeland Security position in Obama’s cabinet. Brewer for Governor/McCain for Senator will lead the GOP ballot in AZ in 2010. Any ballot initiative for medical marijuana in Arizona may be up against a strong conservative Republican voter turnout at the polls in 2010.
Am very glad that I found this site. If there is anything that I can do,please contact me Am not able to donate moneys. I am a disable vet. so I do have time. I have been smoking since I came back from Nam (thats 5/67) Before I got out of the Army, I had to see a psychiatrist, He ask me to under the influence the next time I saw him.Need-less to you what happen. He wrote in my records I did, BUT
In an early test of their commitment to evidence based policy analysis it is clear that our incoming administration is already off track. What we are apparently going to get rather than change, which would by definition signal a move toward objectivity and rationality in policy making, is more of the same political concern with “message.” Recall that for the past eight years the departing administration was able to remain “on message” remarkably well while transforming us from a prosperous nation at peace to a broke nation at war.
As a social scientist I find cannabis prohibition to be an exemplar of policy sans rationality. As a father of two sons I am deeply worried that decisions they make around marijuana, which are ultimately their own decisions regardless of my preferences, could cost them things like financial aid for higher education and their physical freedom. When we discuss drugs and alcohol together our framing of risk focuses on physiology until it comes to cannabis, when the risks that are directly related to prohibition come to the forefront in our reasoned conversations.
In terms of cannabis prohibition the only change we will get from the Obama administration is short changed.
We will eventually win! Whether through congress, or state by state like MA an MI just did (which it looks to be the latter). The public is slowing learning the truth about marijuana laws and how they “the laws” are more harmful to our society than the substance in itself!
We will vote, state by state, and WIN with OVERWHELMING support to first decriminalize and then LEGALIZE this “less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes” substance!!! WE THE PEOPLE WILL DECIDE!!! PETITION YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, PUT IT ON THE BALLOTS, VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!
I SUFFER FROM TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA, ONE OF THE WORST KNOW ILLNESSES KNOW TO MAN I.E. PAIN.
I’VE BEEN ON EVERY MED AND THE ONLY THING THAT HAS EVER REALLY HELPED IS ALL NATURAL AND HAS KEPT ME FROM SUICIDE. EVERYTHING HAS IT’S PURPOSE LET US NOT BE SO IGNORANT AND POMPOSE. FDA APPROVED MED’S SOMETIMES ARE FAR WORSE FOR YOU DUE TO THE CORRUPT PHARMICUDICAL COMPAINIES WHO GET AWAY WITH PASSING THING’S THROUGH A SYSTEM MORE CONCERNED WITH PROFIT EVEN WHEN IT KILL’S PEOPLE. I COULD NAME MANY…SOMEONE OUGHT TO CHECK OUT THE CYBERONIC’S VAGUS NERVE STIMULATOR FOR BI-POLAR OR DEPRESSION. NO WAY IT SHOULD HAVE PASSED AND CLINICAL STUDIES WERE B.S. THEY KNEW IT AND PASSED IT AND THERE IS STILL QUESTION’S AS TO THE LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF MIND FROM THE MAN WHO PASSED IT WHO SAID HE WOULD NEVER APPROVE IT THEN PASSED IT OVER DISAGREEMENT WITH THE REST OF THE STAFF WORKING IN THE MEDICAL DEVISE DEPT. ANYONE WHO WERE TO INVESTIGATE THIS WOULD BE BLOWN AWAY! TOM FITTON SITE “JUDICIAL WATCH.ORG”, HAS THE LATEST ON OUR SPECIAL NEW COUNSEL. PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT! WE R IN TROUBLE IN MORE WAYS THEN ONE.
THANKS FOR UR EAR!
If Mr. Obama is reading this…
I’m sorry that I voted for you thinking you would really bring change to the Cannibus Culture in America.
I am scared for our country if you turn a blind eye to the revolution.
George Washington said to dedicate one acre of your land to hemp… What was that all about??
If you were wise you would have Ron Paul as one of your cabinet members.
If you say “Yes We Can” for CHANGE… then when it comes to reform of marijuana laws you should say… “YES WE CAN” and really make a Change for your country.
Rahm Emanuel is the DEVIL… do not take his advice.
Listen to your people… we are your people and we want REAL CHANGE FOR CANIBUS CONSUMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think we’ll be any worse off than under Bush, but it’s highly disappointing that we’re not gaining ground.
I have been urging all activists I know to contact Obama’s transition team at http://www.change.gov to express how we feel. Maybe if enough of us do that, we can at least minimize the damage Obama is doing by appointing people like Emanuel and Holder.
I did NOT vote for Obama! Don’t blame me!
Being a Vermonter,
I already knew there was something wrong
with the Democrats
because former Vermont Governor Howard Dean
was against legalizing marijuana.
Vermont Democrat
U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Peter Welch
has NOT signed on to H.R. 5843
to make marijuana legal for adults to use responsibly!
I ran against him,
without any support from NORML,
and received 7,800 votes for U.S. House,
almost 3%,
which is more votes than I ever received in any past election.
I had the entire text of H.R. 5843
printed in the Candidate Information Voter Guide, which under state law is required to be distributed to Vermont voters,
and the Vermont Secretary of State,
Deborah Markowitz,
only distributed it to less than 1/4 the total number of registered voters,
and she distributed it after 20% of the votes were already in
from absentee voters voting early!
It took a Republican Governor,
James Doulgas aka Jim Douglas,
to get a medical marijuana law passed in Vermont;
not that he signed it,
but that he let it pass into law as well as an amendment improving it.
Remember, supposedly,
real Republicans are against unlimited government, supposedly….
So, for all of you who supported Obama,
don’t cry to me!
Please vote for me in 2010,
and please send campaign contriibutions this time!
http://crisericson.com
2010 VOTE CRIS ERICSON & MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL
ps. during most of the campaign, MySpace blocked my MySpace
http://myspace.com/usmarijuanaparty
and to add insult to injury,
they had an advertisement at the top of
http://myspace.com/usmarijuanaparty
for
http://mysoapbox.vpt.org
which promoted three candidates for governor,
while fraudulently concealing that there were
actually 7 candidates,
of which I was one.
I was on the ballot for Governor and for U.S. Representative to Congress.
So, while my URL was blocked,
and while no one could join http://myspace.com/usmarijuanaparty
simultaneously,
they ran an advertisement for my opponents which
was advertised at the top of
http://myspace.com/usmarijuanaparty
for
http://mysoapbox.vpt.org
promoting 3 candidates for governor while fraudulently concealing that there were a toal of 7 candidates.
The Secretary of State of Vermont is listed on
http://mysoapbox.vpt.org
as a COALITION MEMBER
and I allege this is an allegedly illegal and unregistered political action committee,
and I allege
it is totally illegal for the Vermont Secretary of State to join a political action committee that promotes 3 candidates while fraudulently concealing that there are a total of 7 candidates.
http://mysoapbox.vpt.org
Cris Ericson
879 Church Street
Chester, Vermont 05143-9375
http://crisericson.com
2010 VOTE CRIS ERICSON
I told you so.
Even with a liberal win this time around I’m STILL thinking of moving to Canada…or at least, Oregon
p.s. For God’s sake proofread your posts NoFreedom
Too Bad, they just can’t put decriminalization to a vote, by the people, for the people, as in the state of Mass. where they voted it in by a landslide, even with the DEA’s efforts to convince the it’s “Evil, Wicked, Mean, and Nasty! Don’t step on the grass Sam, and it will hook your Sue, and Johnny, don’t be such an Ass Sam, it will ruin our fair county, You’re so full of bull Sam, ..All will pay who disagree with me!!!!” I guess it will never be legal in my lifetime, I thought 35 years ago, it would have been a done deal, long ago. What a shame, as I am an otherwise law abiding citizen, basically a straight person almost! ME
Frankly, I don’t ever expect anything better from the federal government. There are too many conflicting interests in a country that gets bigger and more diverse every day. These conflicts are slowly strangling federal action in many areas (e.g. same-sex marriage, etc.), leaving the states, counties, and municipalities as the arena in which change will have to take place.
In my opinion, the way to fight this is not to concentrate at the federal level. Instead, keep working at the state and lower levels. Eventually, the federal government will appear ‘naked’ (emperor has no clothes) once enough states have pulled the rug out from under them.
I’m a faithful reader and, for the most part, a faithful follower of the NORML group and its teachings but I was a bit distraught with the last blog. It’s almost like you think the only issue our new president is going to face is pot reform. I’m all about legalization for consenting adults but as a consenting ADULT I also realize that there are much more important issues pertaining to the upcoming executive switch and cabinet positions. Regardless of Mr.Obama’s position on weed he has to pick a diverse group of individuals for his cabinet. I think the first step in weed legalization is not putting it on a pedestal. You are the same negative news media you fight against.
PS Thank GOD Ron P. isn’t president!!!
Come on, people! When are you going to wake up and realize that this false left/right paradigm is a sham, a flim-flam? We have one-party corporate rule in America, with rigged elections and the illusion of choice. Go to the dictionary and look up the definitions of both plutocracy and fascism. Then tell me with a strait face that there is not some element of these systems inherent in our own form of “government”.
It’s time to get rid of all the parasites and predators that exist in Washington. Obama is going to bring about the continuation and escalation of the Bush/Cheney war doctrine, and Obama is going to further the shredding of the Constitution and both individual liberty and privacy. Obama=Bush=McCain i.e. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery.
If you want to get even a small idea about the political reality in America, do yourself a favor and go to google video and watch “conspiracy of silence”. These blood-suckers in Washington are more sick and twisted and depraved than you can possibly imagine.
Everybody act surprised now.
Instead of a revolution, we got a “black” pResident. We got change, alright…change of power from one set of criminals to another. They do this to us every time.
An NPR “medical minute” show called “Here’s to Your Health” last week bathered on about how marijuana (or “pot”) causes paranoia, schitzophrenia, and depression…upper respiratory diseases and possibly cancer…and it might also be a “gateway drug”.
You know, like booze and cigarettes.
Last night on the local news there was a segment on marijuana, blurbed as “is it all that bad?” Turns out, according to the report, it could lead to herion use in teenagers. It’s even worse than we thought. Nevermind that legalization would be the quickest way of keeping it out of the hands of teens. Don’t even mention that. I’ll bet their ratings for that segment went up due to the way it was advertised…”is it all that bad?”…sounds like a pro-pot spot.
Maybe some people thought Obama was going to fire up a big fatty and pass it around, but I knew better. There won’t be any change so long as the sheople continue to buy into the two-party paradigm, which I guess will be forever.
O well, keep pluggin’, NORML!
If I can find a silver lining in all of this I would say, “At least we’re used to the this sorta crap.”
Maybe… Hope on a rope?
i believe that there shouldn’t be any plants that are illegal. people who have lost faith in the medicsl system should be able to make their own meds. check out phoenixtearso.ca a cure foe cancer? opposition comes from factions making money from off of the ill when in fact, we could be curing them. gateway drug? I tried other drugs because of being lied to about marijuana. the clincher…I don’t believe that i would have done some things i did do if not for the lie, and the loss of trust in our own government.
Where is the land of the free?
I really wanted to beleive we would see a change with Obama. When he started out he was for marijuana reform! To get his job, I guess he had to be educated to play along – big paharmaceutical, insurance companies and the AMA (all robbing us blind, BTW) don’t want legal marijuana. So much for the home of the brave.
Other than seeing a few more non-white faces on the Network newscasts, it seems like electing this unusal man simply means more of the same old same old. I am so disapointed.
Here we go again. Another politician who will say or do anything to get into office. I hope Mr. Obama realizes that people voted for change. 4 years is not long enough to implement massive change, but he’s out the door in 4 years if people don’t like what he’s doing. So far, I do not like it one bit. Clinton Era 3.0 is here.
…and i thought Barack Obama was smarter than this.
I guess I was wrong,along with a lot of other goobers who voted for him.
We may end up profoundly regretting having voted for Obama.
WOW, I had my suspicions and and misgivings from the beginning of the campaigns! They never let true “change” minded candidates have a “real” shot at ever becoming elected to high offices because they have a foul and bloody death grip on control and power. Poor America! Their poisons (medicines, food, drinks, AIR!”entertainment”) have served to soften and weaken the backbones of all of us. It at times feels like an insurmountable task, the shaking off of the chains of brainwashed submission. I fear for us, but at the same time and somewhat miraculously, I believe in “us” as well. The Revolution is upon us, it has been seeping under doorways and crowding into our awareness slowly but surely for decades and now it looms over us, falling in slivers and chunks into our lives.We must strike! Our greatest weapons are unity, kindness,tolerance, awareness and action. It is our time, it is our destiny and it is our right and responsibility. The Revolution is NOW! Peace & blessings one and all, may Higher Consciousness prevail.
Now the question is, will we se NORML do some big things to try to counter this developing problem? Or will you just talk about it in news releases? How about some bold, in-your-face political action, NORML? Are you activists or reporters?
If you currently look on “Hulu.com” Obama has created a video page called “The Obama Presidency”…Hulu offers a discussion page and currently Marijuana Reform is up there as a top issue…if enough people go there and post,he may make a statement regarding it…
just a thought
Notice how good most state constitutions are “… PPursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. PROHIBITION IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Praise God we have each other. It is looking dismal right now but I am confident we will see some amazing advancements toward legalization during the next four years. I just encourage everyone not to give up, don’t get bitter, don’t go nutty and do something to harm the cause. Remember, with God all things are possible and remember also that “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” 1tim4:4.
I am sincerely disappointed by this news. I didn’t know that Rahm Emmanuel had such a close-minded and politically selfish view of cannabis law reform. I’m also disappointed in Obama (who I voted for and who I still believe wholeheartedly was a far superior choice to McCain) for selecting/considering these politicians. These viewpoints that Emmanuel, Biden, Holder, and Ramstead posses are counterproductive to human development. How can we waste so much money pursuing sick people and small amounts of marijuana when we are in the middle of a major economic crisis? That just makes it worse. I really hope Barack Obama sees through these selfish, misguided politics. Is there anything we can do to prevent Ramstead, at least?
I sent this to change.gov and to Ramstadt’s office. I hope many of you make noise and let them know where we stand.
“The war on marijuana has to end, and the entire war on drugs needs to be abandoned. Ever since the first drug “czar” Harry J Anslinger in the 1930’s to the current “Pinocchio” Walters has the war on marijuana been driven by fear mongering, lies and special interest pandering. The idea of nominating Jim Ramstad is yet another step in the wrong direction. I suggest reading the blog at Huffington Post to that effect. Note the replies, I am not the only one who feels that marijuana must be legalized, controlled and taxed, as that is the only way to keep it from getting to children. Currently it is easier for high school kids to obtain marijuana then it is alcohol or tobacco, as those are regulated. Marijuana is distributed on the black market with no controls or taxation. Prohibition does not work, as is evidenced by the prohibition on alcohol with the 18th amendment to our Constitution, which was rescinded with the 21st.
Marijuana is neither addictive, nor is it a gateway drug to hard drugs, which are addictive as are prescription meds, often seriously abused. Addiction is a medical condition which needs to be treated in a medical setting, not in overcrowded, expensive prisons. You wouldn’t go to a prison to have your appendix removed, now would you?
The current average cost for imprisoning a person comes to roughly $80.00 to $ 100.00 per day. For the roughly 750,000 inmates nation wide for simple non violent marijuana possession that comes to an astounding 21.6 billion dollars to 27 billion dollars per year! Our country is about to go bankrupt with the war in Iraq, and the bail out here at home, coupled with an economy in an amazing down ward spiral. To continue this never ending and un-winnable war on drugs has got to stop, and it better stop now. To continue the ways of the past with the idiotic imprisonment of countless non violent human beings is outright stupidity. The US makes up slightly less than 5% of the world’s population, yet we are home to 25% of the world’s prison population, and over 1/3 of that are non violent drug users. We in the US have more people imprisoned than communist China, which has over four times our population! That is not a record we can be proud of, that is in fact a record we should be ashamed of, because it is testament to us either being a Nation of criminals or a police state. Neither of these is a desirable attribute for any country.
Abandon the war on drugs, legalize, control and tax marijuana and use that tax revenue to treat and help those addicted to real drugs. Marijuana has medical value and it’s psychotropic effects are harmless and benign when compared to alcohol, a legal scourge.
I am not alone and you might want to check these links:
http://blog.thehill.com/2008/11/17/weve-cut-cigarette-smoking-by-
half-and-we-didnt-have-to-arrest-20-million-americans-to-do-it/
(notice the number of responses to this blog and compare the number to responses of other subjects)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/
obama-drug-czar-pick-no-r_b_145461.html
and here are some numbers from the election, namely Michigan and their medical marijuana ballot initiative.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (YES) 3,008,980 votes, 63%
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (NO) 1,792,870 votes, 37%
MICHIGAN COUNTIES WON-
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (YES) = 83 counties (100%)
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (NO) = 0 countiues (0%)
BARACK OBAMA 48 Counties (57%) 2,875,308 votes
JOHN MC CAIN 35 Counties (43%) 2,050,655 votes
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Williams
http://www.busgreg.info
PS.: I voted for Mr. Obama, in hopes that he will bring change to our Nation.”
This is soooo depressing. Change, indeed. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
It doesn’t matter what the administration is. The way cannabis will be legalized is through hemp oil, the legitimate cure for cancer (and a variety of other diseases). Even if Harry Anslinger was President right now, it wouldn’t matter, because people care about their lives more than the law.
One state at a time
So we have a president elect who has admitted he smoked marijuana (without any shame, denial, guilt, or excuse), and yet we as a society (not the many enlightened individuals on this site) still fear how destructive marijuana is. Just seems strange to me. “Don’t smoke weed Billy, or you will ruin your life and can never be…” Well that sentence surely doesn’t end with the words “leader of the free world” or “President.”
You would think that after after Clinton who was found to have smoked, and Obama who has admitted to smoking, there would be an understanding that marijuana is not solely responsible for ruining peoples’ lives. What will it take for people to recognize that after case studies like these, and the research that’s out there, marijuana being illegal amounts to nothing more than A DENIAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to presumed innocence along with an unfounded presumption that it will deter the individual’s ability to be a productive member of society. They make arguments about how marijuana use leads to other crime and people wasting their lives, but nothing supports this.
Aristotle, genius as he was, trumpeted the power of the “Truth,” but in my limited readings of his work it seems that he failed to recognize how weak “Truth” can be in the face or FEAR & IGNORANCE
My God! Anakin Skywalker,I mean Barack Obama backed the wrong politician who could have predicted that?
Enjoy the “Greater Depression” Now that’s change!
I believe that this is an opportune time for NORML and other like-minded organizations to put on an all out blitz on our legislators and politicians. The current economic crisis government spending into focus, and Obama has already alluded to the fact that we are going to have to look at some funding cuts. What better time to raise the issue of how much money federal, state and local governments are spending to punish people who use marijuana. The message should be that not only is marijuana prohibition wrong, but that we can no longer afford to spend money on this futile policy. Better to tax and regulate and turn marijuana into a source of government revenue.
On a somewhat related tangent, NORML should adopt the “Go Green” moniker. From a PR standpoint, I think this would work wonders in light of the current climate. I can envision it now ….
I feel that under the current economic crisis, it would be foolish to continue serious funding for marijuana prohibition. Plus, the health industry is bankrupting the system, so medical marijuana is a great alternative. Sooner or later, the pharma industry is going to lose power. Power is shifting in DC.
On a personal note, I used to work for the Minnesota Congressional Delegation. It blows my mind Obama would pick Mr. Ramstad for Drug Czar. Ramstad was never impressive. Let us hope the Obama Administration learns from the admitted Clinton mistakes.
We have our work cut out for us…
I think its BS that they say that if they look at kids who do hard drugs they started with pot. So what!
Kids die in car wrecks all the time. Lets BAN drivers Ed! Studies show that kids who die in car wrecks started with drivers ed.
Sounds like obama might be another clinton.promise
to make a change on marijuana policies but when
they get to the whitehouse lawn their pockets starts
getting heavier with $$$$$ and their balls get light
as feathers.
I think the nomination of Bill Richardson for Commerce secretary opens the door for the reform we need. I hope.
1. “The US makes up slightly less than 5% of the world’s population, yet we are home to 25% of the world’s prison population, and over 1/3 of that are non violent drug users.” (–Greg Williams, #51)
Where have we seen these numbers before? Yes, the U.S. squanders (“consumes”) over 20% of the oil, and other resources, and to defend its prerogative to do so, has to spend 50% of the world’s armament expenditures (as wealth increases arithmetically, the defensiveness of a society increases geometrically).
2. I am sorry to see that neither Allen nor any respondent mentioned the central issue of tobacco imperialism. Through cigarette tax revenues, BIG TOBACKGO controls U. S. foreign policy and, through it, the “drug war” policy of all other nations (military power; economic sanctions, etc.), a major part of the tobacco-protection strategy being to suppress cannabis at any cost. While the fear that non-taxable grow-it-yourself cannabis might supplant addictive tobacco as smoking material of choice for experimentative youngsters is important, even more central, I believe, is the “danger” that enlightened non-overdose consumption methods– vaporizer, e-cigarette with cannabinol in the cartridge instead of nicotine, screened narrow single-toke utensil (25 mg. serving size)– will supplant the 500-mg. hot-burning joint and with it the 700-mg. hot-burning cigarette on which their industry profit margin is based, along with all other “conventional” overdose packagings of alcohol, junk food, automobile speed etc. on which U.S.-global corporate power is based. (“We have one-party corporate rule in America, with rigged elections and the illusion of choice.” — BJ M—-ck, #38)
3. NORML and all supporters should adopt Rep. Franks’ slogan “Responsible Use” and equate it with the replacement of hot-burning joints with moderate 25-mg. single servings at minimum temperature– i.e. any citizen who shows this degree of good-faith concern for their own health and that of their children earns respect and immunity from prosecution. (Also it’s good handwork industry training for the children to participate in actually manufacturing the new generation of one-hitters.) Let’s see how the new advisors answer this suggestion, tendered to http://www.change.gov as suggested above.
Here’s what Obama said on the medical marijuana issue during the campaign:
Jim Ramstad is from my home state, Minnesota. The sad fact that we have a ‘drug czar’ to continue the state’s propaganda is disheartening. But you know what? The amazing staff at NORML and people like you and me will be there every step of the way to debunk this propaganda and show people that there is more to the story than what you hear coming out of the propaganda machine.
-David Carlson
http://www.davidcarlsonpolitics.com
last person to leave the US, please turn the lights off. When the fascist bastards come to your house, shoot them in the face, before we loose the right to bear arms as well!!! What ever happened to “let freedom ring”? The people that pushed for our freedom from England a few hundred years ago would never think that the country they were founding would ever evolve to eliminate our freedom in such a way. George Washington was an avid smoker (want proof, just google his diary entries where he mentions eliminating the male from the female hemp plants, why else would one do that?) and I don’t think anybody can say it damaged his charachter, made him lazy or influenced his resolve. Perhaps we need another revolution!! see y’all in BC
i have smoked for 40 years and it sure is odd how i havent progressed to the so called harder drugs. what a bunch of crock. am i just one out of millions who can handle this. do i need to go and have test run to see how amazing it is for me not to want crack, meth, coke, prescription drugs, pain killers, downers, uppers and whatever the hell is out there that the lawmakers says that i’ll be going to next. i’m shiverring in my pants. long live personnal choice if we ever get it.
Mr.Obama: What if you would have been arrested back then when you were cosumming pot and charged? In my opinion your whole life and promising future would have been trashed just like the lives of all the pot consumers who endup criminalized.
Did smoking pot made you a danger for the society? Did smoking pot handicaped you for reaching a status of outstanding citizen. Did smoking pot made you a drug addict and a criminal?
Do you think it is fair for people who do the same things you did, to endup with there lives ruined?
Vermonters, please remember that new minor political
parties may be started in odd numbered years, and 2009 is coming soon! Please join the Marijuana Party in Vermont so we can get it legally formed as a new minor political party in 2009!
http://makemarijuanalegal.com
MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL dot com
Also, we all know that Mr. Obama is Black African, but he still has to show how “American” he is, and he may actually have to really show his birth certificate to the Supreme court of the United States, which might hear a request by retired attorney Leo C. Donofrio of New Jersey submitted December 5, 2008 and waiting a response from the Court; still waiting Dec. 6, 2008.
Supreme Court News about President Elect Ombama’s birth certificate, waiting on ruling
Now, what is SOoooooooooo important about a person being born in the U.S.A. a natural born citizen?
It’s all about LOYALTY!
We’ll see how LOYAL Barack Hussein Obama is to the Black AMERICAN PEOPLE who are descendants of slaves and who represent a huge portion of the people in prison in the United States, particularly a HUGE portion of the people in prison for drug and marijuana possession!
WILL PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
IMMEDIATELY UPON TAKING HIS OATH OF OFFICE
PARDON AND
RELEASE
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS,
INCLUDING MILLIONS OF
BLACK AMERICANS
WHO ARE DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES,
FROM PRISON
IN THE U.S.A.
WHO ARE THERE FOR DRUGS
OR MARIJUANA POSSESSION?
Cris Ericson http://makemarijuanalegal.com
MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL dot com
Don’t blame me, I voted for Ralph Nader.
they would like us to think that gonja is indeed the root of all evil but we all know this is garbage. you cannot honestly expect me to believe that it is worse than alcohol or cigarettes. with all of the testing done these days you would think that even feeble minded politicians would acknowledge the fact that it does nothing to you. for me, i believe it to be highly therapeutic. i was incarcerated just the other day on a belief alone that i might have been smoking. thats all it took for them, just to think that i was doing something and low and behold where do i end up, in the slammer over a dyme bag that wasn’t even mine. association is enought to put you away for a term. boy do i feel like a dipshyt. this is a problem for officials of our country because when someone gets caught, thats when they turn to other ways to obtain pain relief their so scared to do it again so they experiment with new legal drugs (i.e. alcohol,cigarettes, pills,) because that is what they consider to be correct and right in our society. this happening to a person that is suffering from high anxiety and stress. with all of the intelligent people in this world today, and i use that term loosely, we can’t even agree on something so small as to the reformation of marijuana laws. yeah, id say we have a long way to go. you can call me stupid, you can call me crazy but the fact of the matter is that someone is pulling some major strings (i.e. pharmaceutical companies and lobbyists who don’t want to loose billions if this were indeed to come to truition) and like always its the American public who has to pay for the outright false accusations of political might because they don’t live their life as the majority does. they want all of us to be like them and to shut up and do what we are told. no injustice shall go unheard and in this case the govt. needs to listen to the majority. majority rules? not in America. i don’t want to be like that i have a very open mind and i will never loose that no matter how many times you may put me away. i will have to say that i quit for the time until i hear more about possible positive talks concerning reform. more like i should just move (:P) im stubborn like that. marijuana carries with it a very negative connotation and it wasn’t i nor many of you who thought this but the so called all knowing all seeing crap of the world. go ahead pop a pill its safer than gonja. no its not. let me ask you all something which is easier to get a big bottle of pills or a sack? i guess it depends on who you are. so does that make it good for younger kids to say no to gonja and yes to pills or other forms of so called acceptable ways of relaxation? i can tell you from a personal experience that pills are worse, having seen a family member die due to over medication. it was one of the saddest days of my life. i have never seen anyone OD on the green. and to think that this as well as many other cases could have been avoided if these bigoted so called professionals could open up their freakin eyes and see that its definately greener on the other side. i mean that in more ways than just one. this is more than just fighting to smoke. this is my life and i will never give up, never. this is about doing so much more not just for those looking for reform but for the overall outlook that is present when discussing this herb. My eyes and ears have shut for the time being but i will continue to find flaws in the way that our society views this incredible asset. this is so much larger than they would like us to believe. we want reform and we want it now! it seems like i ve said this for the last couple years and its not that we don’t care, thats obvious, but that they really don’t want to discuss this topic with us because they know we are right. sorry, but i am just tired of this BS.
IMHO, our whole system is backwards. Our country wants to spend billions of dollars per year on this war on drugs, yet allow someone to lose all of their belongings because they can’t pay for chemo-therapy. We want government money to end hunger in Darfur, yet leave it up to volunteers and the public to supply our own homeless and starving with food. We want to help Iraqis rebuild their homes, yet leave the millions of hurricane victims to fight with FEMA and the insurance companies to get some type of shelter over their head. Our priorities aren’t exactly in the right place. If you want to make an impact on the world, you gotta take care of home FIRST! If you want to make an example, your own people should be prosperous first!
And another thing, how exactly is it that the highest elected official in the land isn’t elected by the people at all? (read up on the electorial college if you don’t get what I’m saying)
On the topic of being heard and taken seriously; I got an idea. Try reading a grammar book, taking some spelling classes, and overall; at least ACT educated! Of course you’re going to be ignored when you say something like “We needs a new pot laws becuz pot donnt’ maked you stoopid” Hah! There’s your proof right there that it does! I know that pot isn’t what makes people dumb, but it sure hurts a cause when everyone speaking out on the subject sounds and looks like a bunch of brain-fried, illiterate hillbillies.
What needs to happen is more than a few bills passing through Congress; more than a handfull of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. No, what we need is another full-on revolution! Our system no longer works. It is out-dated. It is like trying to run Windows 3.1 on a brand new computer. The hardware (the people) are pristine, but the software (government) is highly outdated! What will be our equivalent of the Boston Tea Party? That, my fellow marijuana consumers, is what will bring about the CHANGE we are all searching for!
That’s my two cents. Anything I should add? email me. ericmcdaniel03@gmail.com
Truly disappointing. I was under no illusions that Obama would “legalize” MJ, but at the minimum, I expected him to send a strong message (and favor legislation) that the federal government should not interfere with state’s medical MJ laws. If Obama flip-flops on Medical MJ, let the revolution begin.
I was pretty sure we were screwed before, but now it is almost definite. Is there really a difference between Democrats and Republicans? I believe they disagree just for the hell of it. Americans must hate freedom.
I guess some people assume that there’s no difference between liberal and libertarian. Just because Obama’s a lefty doesn’t mean he’s pro-individual freedom. Ask Uncle Joe S. about that. There are going to be a lot of Obama voters feeling snookered in the next few years.
We are endowed with “inalienable rights” of life liberty and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS”. Marijuana laws violate the 1776 Constitution. No legal logic can alter this nor will the semantics of Drug warriors change this criminal violation of the US Constitution.
Here in California Inland Empire antimarijuana is actively enforced whereas the Clean Water Act enforcement is ignored by The DA when the USDA Forest Service contaminates[lead,copper.ecoli] the Lytle Creek Watershed of 900,000 San Bernardino residents. Oy VEH!
I’ve personally read all 77 comments on the page and feel I should add my piece. If ever there were a time to declare “United we stand” now’s the time. I must be honest to say that I want the best for my kids and don’t want them to be pot smokers, nor do I want them to be crack-heads or heroin users. I must make clear however that as a believer in industrialized hemp as a source of parchment, clothing, bio-fuel, food and many other uses, that to continue on this path is self-destructive. I’ve always heard that the only way to destroy America is from the inside out. It seems to me that those of us who are fighting to make the legalization of Hemp and Marijuana a reality are fighting the good fight for freedom and the pursuit of liberty… Lose not now your resolve, to fight this corrupted system of government. My fellow Americans you are making our fore fathers very proud. Keep your manners and show the misguided peoples of this nation that we are indeed NOT what those few have portrayed us pot smokers to be. This land is my home, my country, my heritage and my pride. I view the national flag with respect and honor. I will march to my death should our president call us to arms. I love my family and friends and try also to love my neighbor as myself. I am an American citizen born with certain inalienable rights. Give us liberty or give us death, that is our motto, let us pray that our congress has not already made up its mind as to our regard. God bless you and keep you all safe in our effort to promote freedom and the pursuit of happiness…We the people…
Obama is the worst choice ever made.
Obama is a communist
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
I must be honest to say that I want the best for my kids and don’t want them to be pot smokers, nor do I want them to be crack-heads or heroin users. I must make clear however that as a believer in industrialized hemp as a source of parchment, clothing, bio-fuel, food and many other uses, that to continue on this path is self-destructive. I’ve always heard that the only way to destroy America is from the inside out. It seems to me that those of us who are fighting to make the legalization of Hemp and Marijuana a reality are fighting the good fight for freedom and the pursuit of liberty… Lose not now your resolve, to fight this corrupted system of government. My fellow Americans you are making our fore fathers very proud. Keep your manners and show the misguided peoples of this nation that we are indeed NOT what those few have portrayed us pot smokers to be. This land is my home, my country, my heritage and my pride.
Sydney
Drug Intervention
i think the goverment are drug dealer they sell drug and if they legalize it they will lose money it just stupid the number 1 quest legalise marijuana dam i vote for ombama but if they dont legalise it ima run for presdent and my campainge is im make weed legal vote for me
its a nice blog and good informative,There are only a couple of key appointments left that may signal the political tea leafs for cannabis law reforms in Obama 1.0 — head of Drug Enforcement Administration (which serves under the Attorney General at the Department of Justice) and the Drug Czar (see below regarding rumored nominee).
——————————————————
Drug Intervention
Regarding comments on marijuana sending a wrong message to kids……..recently i passed the Amhsr. – Busch plant in , Fairfield , California & just past it on left of freeway 80 is a large billboard advertising , Coors beer . Talk about sending a wrong message to
kids !!! Coors & Budweiser owes all parents of kids a sincere apology for promoting alcohol.This sends a worse message to kids .
The drug companies also owe an apolgy for advertising their drugs which like alcohol can kill or cause irreversible harm to the human body . Marijuana does none of these things .marijuana = 0 calories
Hello
buy casodex online order lipitor online best price for cetrizine generic zyrtec buy plavix online levaquin tab 750mg avodart prices premarin price ventolin inhaler buy online discount proscar lamisil cheapest pharmacy purchase norvasc pharmacy online lasix without perscription arava tablet detrol 2mg lamisil pills allegra without prescription breast enhancement canada endep 10 amitriptyline 10 mg buy elimite without a prescription buy cheap ultracet buy now propecia hyzaar cost buy pravachol free shipping online cheapest online zithromax buy claritin reditabs
Obama just hints at legalization of weed to keep us happy but he wont do it… as much as I wish he would 🙂
Well, prop 19 did not pass in California this month, so that sucks. I do however, like the fact that Arnulfo the California Governor lowered the position with cannabis to an infraction
No matter how many bills are passed, these kind of activities keep on happening. Catch the big fish if you really want to solve the problem.
Legalize it !
Seems this is an endless loop that we have to fight for to change, since no one will do it for us.
The way to fight for change is to make change happen.