Testimony regarding the constitutionality of the federal statute designating marijuana as a Schedule I Controlled Substance will be taken on Monday, October 27 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in the case of United States v. Pickard, et. al., No. 2:11-CR-0449-KJM.
Members of Congress initially categorized cannabis as a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive classification available, in 1970. Under this categorization, the plant is defined as possessing “a high potential for abuse, … no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, … [and lacking] accepted safety for … use … under medical supervision.”
Expert witnesses for the defense – including Drs. Carl Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University in New York City, retired physician Phillip Denny, and Greg Carter, Medical Director of St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane, Washington – will testify that the accepted science is inconsistent with the notion that cannabis meets these Schedule I criteria.
“[I]t is my considered opinion that including marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is counter to all the scientific evidence in a society that uses and values empirical evidence,” Dr. Hart declared. “After two decades of intense scientific inquiry in this area, it has become apparent the current scheduling of cannabis has no footing in the realities of science and neurobiology.”
The government intends to call Bertha Madras, Ph.D., Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School and the former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George W. Bush.
Additional evidence has been presented by way of declarations by Marine Sgt. Ryan Begin, a veteran of the Iraq War; Jennie Stormes, the mother of a child suffering from Dravet Syndrome – a pediatric form of epilepsy that has been shown in preliminary trials to respond to specific compounds in the cannabis plant; James Nolan, Ph.D. an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at West Virginia University and a former crime analyst for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Christopher Conrad, noted cannabis author, archivist, and cultivation expert.
This is the first time in recent memory that a federal judge has granted an evidentiary hearing on a motion challenging the statute which classifies cannabis to be one of the most dangerous illicit substances in the nation. Attorneys Zenia Gilg and Heather Burke, both members of the NORML Legal Committee, contend that the federal government’s present policies facilitating the regulated distribution of cannabis in states such as Colorado and Washington can not be reconciled with the insistence that the plant is deserving of its Schedule I status under federal law.
They write: “In effect, the action taken by the Department of Justice is either irrational, or more likely proves the assertions made in Part I (B) of this Brief: marijuana does not fit the criteria of a Schedule I Controlled Substance.”
Speaking recently in a taped interview with journalist Katie Couric, United States Attorney General Eric Holder expressed the need to revisit cannabis’ Schedule I placement under federal law. Holder said, “[T]he question of whether or not they should be in the same category is something that I think we need to ask ourselves, and use science as the basis for making that determination.”
The testimonial part of the evidentiary hearing in United States v. Pickard, et. al., is expected to last three days.
LIGHT IT UP!!!!!!!
Thank you Paul for your excellent reporting on this HISTORIC event in our history. The timing on this is full consequence, not coincidence;
-Attorney Eric Holder’s announcement that he is retiring before making the statement to reschedule!
-The court date is set the week before elections in California to reduce sentencing for minor nonviolent posessions of marijuana, Oregon, D.C. and Alaska are set to legalize and Florida votes on changing their constitution to legalize medicinal marijuana, tipping us well over the half way mark of electoral votes in favor of legalizing marijuana!
-“This is the first time in recent memory that a federal judge has granted an evidentiary hearing on a motion challenging the statute which classifies cannabis to be one of the most dangerous illicit substances in the nation.”
Oh what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall of this hearing!!!
The revolution will not be televised…
Or will it?
Tell them The sick are healed The given to death Live. Ask them Why do you kick against the thorns.
What part of the US Constitution permits government interference or prohibition of the personal use, growth or distribution of a plant especially if the plant has beneficial uses?
Looking forwards to the outcome of this hearing. Thinking positive.
In my opinion marijuana prohibition has been and is a form of severe persecution and a denial of one’s Constitutional Right in one’s personal pursuit of happiness, that could result from mating with the plant as a common interest; finding a job the individual dreams about and has the skills and education for, but is denied for use of this plant; laws that create a hostile environment for one to ingest or use the plant for not only personal and medicinal use, also prohibiting the plant’s use in art, fabrics, oil production, reducing global warming, competition in the free markets as a organic commodity; the list is endless…
Here’s to hoping reality will finally be allowed into a marijuana case… This is very important, as they are finally looking at marijuana and not if the government has the “right” to ban it. (of course they do, but not if they are lying about what it is as clearly that would be a scam). If the Fed’s again side with Prohibition and all its lies, the idea we have access to justice is literally just an illusion.
“In effect, the action taken by the Department of Justice is either irrational, or more likely proves the assertions made in Part I (B) of this Brief: marijuana does not fit the criteria of a Schedule I Controlled Substance.”
If the DOJ’s action is irrational, then it is because of the irrational federal definition of marihuana. That definition is contemptuous of the US Constitution. The States have demonstrated that it does not “fit the criteria” of a Necessary and Proper law. It is a bad law and a failure, and therefore does not deserve to gain any credence by being rescheduled. If rescheduled, that
definition will still be a confusing batch of argle-bargle. It should be replaced by this definition which actually shows respect for our Constitution:
The term “marijuana” means all parts of the smoke produced by the combustion of the plant Cannabis sativa L.
Since this definition declares and describes the scientific repeatability of that substance, the discussions about its
rescheduling can provide a way for the States to use science as the basis for making their own determinations.
This year is a good time to take these actions.
This seems promising 🙂 The answer is quite obvious to most of us. It is completely moronic that cannabis is ranked as a schedule 1 drug.
I wonder if the testimony it will make any difference to the powers that be.
I hope that NORML will keep us posted on the testimony and anything that comes from it. I’m getting to be a bit of a sad old man who no longer has any faith in our Govt so I am not optimistic that a few more people getting the truth out there will prompt any change by our current congress. But I would love to be proven wrong!
i believe (FBI director) Anslinger has killed more people than all wars put together.And president Nixon beef up the lies by starting a war on it.People have been dieing sense 1930s. Because of their desistion to outlaw the most use full plant on earth.Gods gift to mankind.
I don’t think our Bill of Rights refers to “science”. They hadn’t yet invented electricity in the days when it was written. The particulars of freedom though are self-evident, such as redressing grievances (I presume using logic) which is in fact guaranteed in the First Amendment.
Does this mean marijuana could be legal soon nationally? Id like to know NORMLS definition of what all this really means because it sounds to me the government could be changing the schedule of cannabis?
It’s about Godd@mn time.
I actually read the HHS article published in Jan 2001 as a response to a request filed in 1997 (they took a while to respond, huh?) that the Schedule I classification of Marijuana be revisited. They reach more or less the same conclusions that we have since then, which is that marijuana is at most as dangerous as tobacco or alcohol on its own, it is less addictive than either, and any psychological dependencies or symptoms of withdrawal are (I quote) “mild.”
So how come the result of their study came with a note on the first page saying that “…the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recommends that marijuana continue to be subject to control under Schedule I.”?
The prominent guidelines to which they were forced to adhere in their conclusion included whether the drug had “…actual or relative potential for abuse……scientific knowledge about the drug or substance in general, history and current patterns of abuse, the scope and duration and significance of abuse, and whether the substance is a precursor of a substance that is already controlled.” Because marijuana was ALREADY classified as a Schedule I substance any use was considered abuse, so they were forced to concede that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, since historically there are large numbers of people who have used it recreationally frequently for long periods of time. Also because of the current Schedule I classification, marijuana was under tight restrictions regarding medical research, and as such they were not able to find enough research to determine whether or not it had legitimate medical use. As a result, despite the actual wording in the research sections of the article implying that the drug is not dangerous, is not addictive, and has a potential for medical use, they were unable to break out of the Catch 22 and present the research necessary to reclassify the substance.
To me, it’s a classic example of politics overshadowing science. Since the “Reefer Madness” days the government has had the foregone conclusion that marijuana is dangerous and should be illegal, and so they have gone out of their way to make legislation which sets up a Catch 22 — because the substance is illegal, you can’t study it, and because you can’t study it, it’s illegal. Because the substance is illegal, anyone who is using it is breaking the law (and therefore abusing it), and so therefore there are a large number of people “abusing” it. It’s nonsense, and we need someone with a scientific mind and clear sense of ethics in a position of power such that this paleolithic legislation can be overturned and some small sense of order can arise from the chaos that is our current government. If the lawmakers can’t do it, then maybe the courts can.
Good luck to all involved in this case (at least those who are on the correct side). There are a lot of eyes on you.
Which criteria of the three?
What is the constitutional arguement?
Holder’s ignorance of the law is no excuse.
It is not science. it is deprivation of liberty and property without due process of law.
If the plaintiffs prevail, it will be a big SYMBOLIC win. But that’s about it. A federal judge (DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young, 1988) already found marijuana should not be in Schedule 1, and the DEA ignored that decision. The DEA answers to no one, not even a federal judge, and they alone make all scheduling decisions (a power ceded to them by the Attorney General).
A curious set of events has occurred in the timeline of our American Cannnabis Tragedy;
1).Weeks ago, Attorney General Eric Holder announced his retirement.
2). 1 week ago, He was quoted with Katie Curic as demanding that we “reschedule cannabis.”
3).Under the Controlled Substance Act, the Attorney General has exclusive authority to deschedule cannabis.
4). The U.S. Government v. Pickard, et al. is set for the 27th, will last three days, and end before midterm elections set for Nov. 4th.
5). November elections will tip us over the 50% mark of states with pro marijuana policy, including Oregon, Alaska, Washington D.C. legalizing, California decriminalizing, and Florida’s change of constitution to legalize medicinal marijuana.
6). Our Judas in this case, Dr. Bertha Madras, sits before a tsunami of testimony in the U.S. v. Pickard case. Here is some dirt I dug up on her from Wikepedia of all places. Check this out:
“Of over 170 media events and interviews during her term, she gave two interviews on Narcan distribution to heroin addicts and friends. At that time, she strongly supported narcan rescue by trained healthcare personnel, but opposed distribution to heroin users and their friends, of overdose rescue kits of opiate-antidote naloxone (Narcan) in i.v. or nasal spray form. Her opposition was based on discussions with NIDA and SAMHSA and a scientific literature survey by NIDA.”
My friends, there is an argument here between heroin, marijuana and federal distribution that could win this case. Just dig a little deeper and put this bitch on the stand.
Oh I say again… to be a fly on the wall of this court case… please tell me cameras are aloud!!!
Just do what’s right US government. You have the data. Why control something that has health benefits and never hurt people like alcohol and tobacco. Heck even my heart doc says a little indica and yoga good for my heart.
Eric Holder? The guy that quit? Who cares what he thinks. What is going to happen is this Medical BS is going to make marijuana an unobtainable drug without a scrip and you’ll pay around 50 dollars a joint.
you can go to New York and buy cigarettes cheaper! Thanks NORML and California. At least we can still shoot heroine. Its safer according to the government anyway!
This is freakin’ huge!
The only way the government, which does not represent the people when it comes to marijuana, will take it off the schedule, is when big pharma has gained a foot hoold into the industry. The way Canada is now going, awarding three grower licesense out of 12 available nationwide to big pharma.
wow, this could lead to some huge downstream effects in cannabis policy. and in today’s political climate, i can’t imagine the judge siding with the government, given the text of the definition for Schedule 1 drugs. something needs to force congress’s hand on this issue.
DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young decided this question back in 1988, in favor of rescheduling. The DEA ignored that decision. So, if the DEA has set a precedent that it doesn’t have to abide by the decision of a federal judge, why would they suddenly give up their power now? The DEA answers to no one, and will never willingly submit to any authority. Only the president can force the DEA to act (in theory), and that will never happen. This decision will at best be symbolic.
[Paul Armentano responds: To clarify, the DEA ignored the decision of an administrative law judge because ALJ decisions are non-binding. The hearing will be presided by a federal judge.]
so what would it actually mean if they reclassify it on a federal level?
Too bad the US Patent On Cannabis (which voids the Sched 1 designation) is AGAINT being ignored. The testimony would be helped by bringing this fact to the surface. The gov’t can’t have it Schedule 1 AND have a US Patent for the medical value, at the SAME time
It is amazing that NORML is not bringing the issue of the US Patent to the forefront, or advising those who will testify about the contradiction … which the gov’t CAN NOT explain or defend .. this could win your case
It is certainly time that we do not only this but deschedule all drugs. End this arbitrary and capricious categorization as “good drug” or “Bad drug” and the unintended consequences that these failed laws of prohibition have created (while doing nothing to reduce use, demand, or availability). Allow our existing system of Doctor/Pharmacy/Patient to function while physicians and patients are able to select the best possible treatments that work for them, addicts are free to obtain treatments without fear of legal consequences, and medical boards can discipline or suspend physicians who abuse this privilege to the detriment of their patients.
I think pot weed would stop a lot of drama in our world if people could get it when they need it but I country to legal it were people don’t have to move from we’re they lived all there life’s just to be able to smoke weed I smoked it for20 years never got into any trouble and when I quit I went to jail year later for one night and when I smoked it I was always happy and other people happy too and now I have pass out sezieors and take pills for it and I need weed but I want break the law now I’m older and wiser but can’t get it love alone have night mares and stay up all night were I can sleep scared of dark my wife passes with liver cancer 38 no kids 20 years with her and Iray ever night for god to bless USA for legal weed all over for the ones that need it and ones that don’t great but it better then pills there killing people daily weed never killed anyone well just praying hopeing wishing that it legal everywhere this year 2014 2015 God Bless USA
I can only see two options for this hearing –
1) The judge disallows any evidence that suggests cannabis has medical value and it should still be Schedule I substance
or
2) The judge finds that the Schedule I categorisation is no longer (and possibly never has been) valid.
Option 1 seems very unlikely since it is surely open to being further contested unless a legal precedent can be set that no evidence can ever be presented to show the medical usefulness of cannabis.
To take option 2 there only has to be just one piece of evidence (out of all that is presented) that a medical condition has been helped by some form of cannabis. Given the number of medical dispensaries, state laws and patients out there it seems ludicrous (if not criminal) for the judge not to reach this conclusion.
Good Luck guys ! another important step
it appears to me that even the term “substance’ has outlived its meaning and should be revisited. Considering the enormous list of particular products ,features ,chemicals specifically meant and used for nearly endless potential purposes – from hemp fibers ,feed for farm animals , medicine to heal children’s epilepsy , inoperable tumors ,as a natural sleep and relaxation producing agent and so on can not be grouped together and treated as an enemy of State. Does it make my shirt illegal under the law? We could also drop the whole thing and all go home and find ourselves another target for concern like myriad of pharmaceuticals responsible for deadly side effects which kill and maim people.
In New Hampshire they never bothered to construct or publish their controlled drug schedule according to state law, until they clandestinely changed their laws on statutory construction in a vain attempt to cover their tracks.
Of course they don’t want anyone to know this…because well it’s illegal to prosecute people under an incomplete law.
If that happened in one small state, could it have happened else where? Nah, “they” would never do that.
I will be watching for the outcome.
The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 is Nixon’s stinky turd on war protesters and everyone else who opposes his policies. Why snuff your enemies when you can arrest and punish them as drug addicts? It’s easier than arresting them as communist sympathizers.
Mr. Armentano is right; Francis Young was a puppet judge for the DEA. This case is in FEDERAL court, presidedby a FEDERAL judge; a judge who is already given the Testimony of Dr. Nolan for the disproportionate incarcerations and historic racial bias of marijuana prohibition as ADMISSABLE EVIDENCE! That means the Government cant even BRING UP an objection to a blatant constitutional violation in the defendant’s affirmative defense.
The judge is prepared to award the defense. This could go straight to the Supreme Court right after the majority of the U.S. Population will vote Nov. 4th for some form of medical marijuana legislation.
This is the real deal folks. Holder is waiting on this case.
If MJ can actually get rescheduled, and one or two of the states trying to legalize MJ in this upcoming election succeed, that may be a true tipping point.
Is this what brought about the Controlled Substance Act 1970? It follows the time line.
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state/videos/nixon-on-kent-state-tragedy
Valerie, “Too bad the US Patent On Cannabis (which voids the Sched 1 designation) is AGAINT being ignored. The testimony would be helped by bringing this fact to the surface. The gov’t can’t have it Schedule 1 AND have a US Patent for the medical value, at the SAME time.”
Can you explain why not? The folks that applied for the patent do not have the “authority” to reclassify marijuana. And the patent is on components found in the marijuana plant and making drugs out of them. Because as they say, marijuana herb is highly addictive and toxic and a gateway drug (even though that gateway is called a fucking PHARMACY) and will make your balls off and you’ll grow man-boobs and everyone’s going to get herpes. Oh maybe they don’t say that last one… Oh yeah, they say you’ll get raped (or get rapey) from using marijuana!
Those patents are about making pills out marijuana plants and synthetic cannabinoids. They pay lip serve to the false idea marijuana plant is toxic. It half true (cannabinoids are medicaly useful) half fiction (whole marijuana is too toxic for people). The same old tired shit we’ve been hearing for years from idiots that don’t seem to understand pills are much more toxic the whole herb marijuana is.
Of course you can’t consume nightshade, but there is a patent for making medically useful chemicals from it. Just like most poison plants. They are still placing marijuana in the “poison plant” category even as they acknowledge its components are medically useful.
This is just a hearing, and in the Eastern District of California. Is it going nowhere, or is it going somewhere? I’m asking myself if the Eastern District of California nullifies the Schedule I status of cannabis then does that mean cannabis is de fact legal for adult recreational retail within the district’s jurisdiction? I’m sure there will be some local dick law enforcement who will still stand in the way of adult recreational, but what about the ones who don’t. They’ll allow cannabis for adult retail to come out of the closet and into the legal economy. $kaching$! Next I’m asking myself if the Drug Enforcement Administration is going to swoop in with raids. Michele Leonhart herself overseeing the raids from her e-command center in DC? Even if the feds do Not swoop in and mess it up, if adult retail in California comes off without a hitch it portends well for the state’s ballot initiative for legalization. If there are things happening that piss the public off that are not being rectified swiftly we legalizers could lose the ballot initiative. The last thing I want to see. We need the momentum to keep going. Alaska, Oregon, DC and elsewhere 2014, then California in 2016, and hopefully many more states such as Delaware, etc.
I’d like to add that if this hearing leads to a ruling that makes cannabis de facto legal in this district in California, then I’m hoping trading in viable cannabis seeds will also be legal. Most people want the finished product and won’t grow their own. Avid gardeners with sufficient privacy will, and won’t have to settle for either whatever seeds they dig out of their street weed or risking getting ripped off, damaged, lost or confiscated expensive seeds from outfits overseas that CLAIM to deliver worldwide whatever. Legal seeds means the retail cannabis consumer will have public safeguards such as proof that seeds are really New York Diesel or whatever and not just whatever seeds the outfit wants to send you. The cannabis cultivator can count on the seeds being the variety the vendor says it is, and the description the seed producer gives is true and verifiable, you know, like Burpee Seeds and the sort.
Right now seeds are still not legal for retail sales in Colorado or Washington.
There will be no U.S. Marc Emery, a U.S. citizen vending viable cannabis seeds from within the U.S., ahem, unless the feds swoop in and f*(! up things. Who will be the U.S. Marc Emery that got away with it, was the first U.S. person to provide quality seeds at a lower price to the masses and NOT get taken down by the feds? Who the next millionaire? Spread that wealth around a little, and make sure your cops and state officials are on your side by ensuring some of the revenues go toward their pensions and pay, back to the community to this and that, things on your community’s list they didn’t have money to pay for before.
While advocating stateside for this change from Schedule 1, let’s couple that with the equally important worldscene attack on the fraudulent condition that a 1961 “Narcotics” Convention (a quasi-drug-law which the US manipulated the UN to adopt) presumes to apply in any way to cannabis which has for decades never been labeled a narcotic by any scientist or authoritative scientific body.
@ D GRAY: Absolutely! Also, we need to dismantle the entire Drug War apparatus, for example, the way the government pays employers to drug test their employees. Yes, drug testing by private business IS a 4th Amendment Rights issue so long as our tax dollars are being used to subcontract private business to violate those rights. It’s on par with the witch hunters of old billing the family of the suspected witch for her torture…I mean, interrogation. When private business is actually paying out of pocket and accepting the massive lost profits that come with drug testing (which was what happened up to the nineties, private business was paying for their own drug testing and most were dropping it due to its complete and total ineffectiveness, so the government stepped in, paid for the drug testing out of tax dollars, and then paid the employers to have this essentially free service of Uncle Sam), then you can say “private business can do what they like”. Until then, you know where to shove it.
Drugs–all of them, not just marijuana–should NEVER have been made a criminal justice issue. I don’t care how many misinformed or uniformed MJ exceptionalists want to cheerlead for the Drug War just so long as MJ is off the hook, I don’t care what horror stories you want to promote about the dangers and evils of “cokeheads” and the like, the evidence has shown and continues to show that the majority of harms from drugs–ANY drugs, not just MJ–are directly caused by prohibition and the Drug War itself and NOT by the drug. And just because something is dangerous doesn’t mean that it should be outlawed, or didn’t we learn our lesson with Prohibition I against alcohol? Just because you outlaw something doesn’t ensure that it will go away, and it has become clear that a drug-free world is unattainable, esp. through the strongarm tactics and abuses of power used in the Drug War. You know what has been a phenomenal success though? Treating drugs like a public health issue, decriminalizing and even legalizing all drugs, treating users like human beings and not like mangy dogs…basically, a public health/harm reduction/legal and regulated approach brings us far closer to a “drug free society” than the criminal justice/prohibition approach has.
Isn’t it interesting that the approach to drugs that doesn’t seen to eliminate them is more successful at reducing drug use than the approach that makes drug elimination its entire goal? It’s almost as if the prohibitionist approach isn’t even about drugs at all? But what on earth could their true motivation be? cough, racism, cough
Anyone who wants to fight me on this needs to look at the DPA website. That’s DPA with a P, not DEA with an E by the way. And read Dr Carl Hart’s book on his groundbreaking research on the actual addictiveness of cocaine and the actual driver of addiction being social and economic conditions rather than the drug itself, and the fatal flaws of all those studies in the sixties that are the basis of the half-baked assumptions you want to puke up at me. And read “The War On Drugs: A Failed Experiment”, which gives even more background and research into the facts about “hard” drugs as well as marijuana. And spend some time at the LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) website.
Because I’m not really into arguing this with people who can’t even bother to know any of the facts. It’s kind of like all the idiots who want to fight with you over marijuana while knowing absolutely nothing other than the reefer-madness lies and propaganda they’ve been brainwashed with as kids and had reinforced as adults, who can’t be bothered to actually educate themselves on marijuana but think they have a valid opinion. Yeah, if you want to weigh in on this and don’t bother to read the facts and simply rely on the same BS the pot prohibitionists rely on, then you are no different from them.
@val
I share your concern about the apparent absence of U.S. Patent 6630507 from the evidence in U.S. v. Pickard case; however the court case is set for the 27th and the patent could always be brought forth by the defense as surprise testimony. Under California State Law, a plaintiff could have 45 days to reply to a motion to compel the plaintiff, in this case the U.S. Government, to produce documented evidence to deny the defendant’s motion to compel. But this is Federal Court, and there are still 5 days left for the hearing. This would allow the defense to sanction the plaintiff when they fail to produce any supporting evidence in court. The defense’s testimony could then read as follows:
“The same Department of Health and Human Services that owns U.S. Patent 6630507 for cannabinoids as neuroprotectants also takes state custody of children whose parents use medical marijuana for the same neurodegenerative diseases described in the patent itself, and the testimony of Dr. Nolan, the defenses expert witness. This unconstitutional, completely contradictory policy by an agency whose Secretary of Health has shared authority to declassify marijuana, is indicative of the deplorative state of U.S. Marijuana scheduling system and federal marijuana policy under the Controlled Substance Act, and stands as indisputable evidence of the government’s hypocrisy that forms the basis of the affirmative defense pursuant to FRCP 37; Document 3-1020 was issued to the plaintiff without a certified response with adequate evidence to defend the contradictory prosecution. Therefore the defense motions to sanction the plaintiff for failure to comply and moves the court to remove marijuana from the unjust scheduling system of the Controlled Substance Act of 1970.”
Perhaps, in lack of the previously described method of Federal defense, there may be some method to the madness in the existing defense; the federal judge in this case has allowed for testimony based on disproportionate incarceration and racial bias in the governments marijuana policy, which will be easier to win in the Supreme Court than fighting a federal patent case. Patenting, even hypocritical ones owned by the U.S. Government, are protected by a variety of Commerce and patenting laws that could add another layer of difficulty if the aim is to deschedule marijuana. In any case, the defense has already established a case of discrimination and hypocritical policy with allowed evidence, and there may not be enough time to compel the plaintiff at this time.
I believe this case is going to award the defense. As long as the defense doesn’t counterclaim for monetary damages, the Supreme Court will hear the case if the defense remains based solely on Constitutional grounds of the inefficacy of U.S. Marijuana policy. With a win like that in the Supreme Court, and Holder having nothing more to “hold” on to, marijuana will have been effectively rescheduled by our votes November 4th, which will allow the Supreme court to hear the case at all.
We are witnessing the climax of our American Cannabis Tragedy. Grab your medibles, a vaporizer and some good wifi cause things are fixin to get real good…
Hello JohnnyHempSeed, Actually marijuana will be legal in more places very soon, but very soon still means at least a couple more years 🙁
This is about medical marijuana, it is more of a test of whether the police have “the right” to arrest legit medical marijuana users for using marijuana correctly.
pot stock will fly
The people of this country have been lied to long enough..cannabis has alot of uses/ medical use without side affects ,biofuel, rope,paper (stop cutting our trees down)etc. etc.,the reason why we are having so much trouble getting cannabis legal is because tabacco companys alcohol companys perscription drug companys they will loose money ..i read an article that the prisons in oregon are vacant… you see law enforcement dea etc.etc. are loosing money …this country has to much greed in it ..and to big of government controlling the people ,,when will all the corruption stop …let the people decide with a nation wide vote on cannabis …this nation was once controlled by the people// not all these rich people in politics …thanks god for norml keep up the good work,,, we will win …….
I just signed up to drive people to the polls on Election Day. My vote may be small but I sure as hell can do my part to end this Native American, black, and Mexican hating prohibition that offers jail and not education as the only option.
The Gore Files? Really? Based on what science Harry Anslinger? What testing did you do? What long term effects did you study?
Cancer, Dravet syndrome, als, autism, obesity, sclaraderma, even the symptoms of Ebola can be helped with this medicine (or caused by the lack of hemp in our food chain). We need to study this plant like its 2014 not 1937.
We the Republic of stoners agree. Nuke em NORML.
A country that would let the billionaires destroy human lives for the love of money is a real sick people, both sides are really sick. Cannabis will fix one the other being insanely greedy is the tough one. Blessings.michaellr
“This is just a hearing, and in the Eastern District of California. Is it going nowhere, or is it going somewhere? I’m asking myself if the Eastern District of California nullifies the Schedule I status of cannabis then does that mean cannabis is de fact legal for adult recreational retail within the district’s jurisdiction?”
Hello Oracle, no this is about “Medical Marijuana” and I do believe it would apply to any state which has “Medical Marijuana Laws”. This is not about “Recreational Marijuana”. States can still designate marijuana as a schedule one substance on their own.
That is part of “States Rights” everyone has been championing of late.
When really it is a two edged sword!
What I do believe a positive outcome for this case:
It becomes illegal for police, both federal and local to arrest, prosecute and confiscate (steal) the properties of legitimate Medical Marijuana growers and providers of “Medical Marijuana” in States which have legalized “Medical Marijuana” thus voiding its “Schedule One Status”.
Police in States without “medical marijuana laws” will still be allowed to arrest real medical users and their providers.
The “war on drugs” is not a war on drugs, it is a war on people. For the drugs do not get punished. Why do they feel the need to “save” us from ourselves? After all, it is your choice to use, and that choice has no direct affect on another’s life, health or liberty.
I think the people of these United States should finally get a backbone and do something with the government. they’ve been screwing the pooch for way too long now! they work for us! does anyone here on this site go into work until his or her boss what to do? I think not! the entire place needs to quit being a large and gigantic pussy and stand up for peace and love! before it’s too late if it isn’t already!
A federal judge is about to be fired for rocking the boat.
Will they just get another Judge to overrule if it don’t go the prohibitionists way, like they did when Judge Young ruled. Anything other than schedule 1 and the gates are opened!!! Gonna see a lot of changes real soon so hold on tight!!!
People, this is a Federal court case that was only heard because we are about to cross the threshold of +%50 of the U.S. population with pro marijuana legislation allowing this case to be heard by the Supreme Court when it is appealed, as surely the U.S. government will do.
The very premise of the drug scheduling system is in question here, and all the defense has to do is maintain Constitutional grounds and not counterclaim for collateral to get marijuana rescheduled. Well, that, and have an army of awesome lawyers funded by NORML to back this case up in court.
You tube one of our lawyers here, “Zenia Gilg.” She has been eloquently advocating sensible marijuana legislation and treatment over incarceration for a long time. We have real gem on our side.
THANK YOU Zenia for helping everyone who has donated on this blog get that warm fuzzy feeling in our gut. And I’m not just talking about the weed…
A democracy is for the majority, guess what? with 58 percent, we are now the majority. This is why politicians are changing their tune in favor of legalization. Holder’s statement to Couric is the government admitting they are now ready to consider this. Please remember, these are laws requiring change, and every change in law must go through due process. It is never as simple as “Oh, one state legalized medical marijuana, well, the cat’s outta the bag.” Oh, and as for “I think the people of these United States should finally get a backbone and do something with the government…” What do you think we HAVE been doing since 1996 (concerning legalization, that is)?? This is excellent news!!
If you are found with marijuana, you are charged with a felony. No matter how it got there or who it belongs to. That is how Nixon and the DEA wants it. That is how they want to keep it with no change in the law. What a plan!
This should be a slam dunk for patients, in light of the government’s own FDA approval of THC compounds based drugs, such as Marinol, etc.
This will be great for medical patient who will no longer fear the DEA coming after them for using cannabis for debilitating conditions. This will also pave the way for more legalization at state levels. Big marijuana may not be far behind.
If the Schedule I status of cannabis is voided for the federal level then it is illegal for police to enforce laws based on its Schedule I status, regardless of whether for medical or adult recreational purposes. The states can still have cannabis in Schedule I. Medical marijuana states will likely have already removed it from the stats schedule I, and now they can remove it altogether for adult recreational with the federal Schedule I status voided. Until another federal court undoes it. This is something to watch how it plays out.
VOTE for HERB ALTRUISM!
CANNABIS CAUSES CLIMATE CHANGE FOLIAGE
Aloha. This is exciting and timely. We wish them total success.
Coincidentialy, on October 30th the appeal brief from my wife and I is due to be filed in the Ninth Circuit Court. We’re appealing four motions that were denied us in hearings including:
1. mis-classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance
2. wiretaps were unnecessary because we were so open and honest about what we were doing for 10 years in our THC Ministry
3. we were denied a Religious Freedom Restoration Act defense, and
4. the RFRA is “void for vagueness” for Cannabis sacrament as compared to the Controlled substances Act’s total prohibition
We had a hearing on misclassification, but our federal Judge Leslie Kobayashi cut it very short to keep-out most of our planned content from witnesses who made the trip here. What a rip-off and disappointment that hearing was. Here’s to better days …
In 2013 my wife Share and I were ruled to be “sincere” and “legitimate” religious users of Cannabis sacrament, and that “the government substantially burdened our legitimate religious practices”.
Then our judge ruled that the government had a “compelling interest” in arresting us and closing-down our 10 year old THC Ministry, and she ruled that the government used the “least restrictive means” in dealing with us … then she denied our use of a religious defense.
We won a motion for a defense of entrapment by estopple because the judge accepted my declaration that our former U.S. Attorney for Hawai’i Ed Kubo told me twice to my face that I could operate the THC Ministry without federal interference. The D.E.A. Agent in Hilo Jesse Fourmey told me that I could operate the THC Ministry, the local HPD told me that they knew we were legitimate and we could distribute Cannabis to our members; “just keep it private”, etc., etc.
Now we’re in the final few days of writing our appeal brief and looking for last-minute content, exhibits, testimony, etc.
Thanks for publishing this timely and important article.
All the best to everyone,
Roger & Share Christie
http://www.thc-ministry.org
@@@
P.S. We declined to use the defense of entrapment by estopple because our lawyers told us that it was ANOTHER ‘trap’. :-O
We were told that our judge would grant a hearing on the motion, but that she would almost certainly declare all the testimony and evidence to be “inadmissable” in her instructions to the jury.
At that point we would have to go to trial with zero defense, be guaranteed a conviction and sentenced to 12 felonies instead of 1. The “conditional” plea deal we were offered started to look reasonable by comparison and the better way to go.
What a GIANT criminal enterprise the US government has been … with a ‘happy face’ on the front door. Here’s to better days ahead.
God, that’s great! Please show us the blessings in THIS situation … and hurry! We are safe, we are loved and all is well.
Roger
@@@
The people do what the Govt says because the Gov is really rich, having taken our tax dollars, and they control the police and military. They have lots of expensive weapons, prisons, and etc. On top of that, they have written the laws in such a way as to make it almost impossible for us to change it without their help/permission.
We the People have little power compared to them.
it is a harmless plant that benefits the human population. It is also a alternate and viable food source, as hunters and gatherers we used to eat the cannabis leafs and seeds. Our bodies have a cannabinoid processing system and with out the cannabis our body is not whole and healthy. This is why we have the explosion of cancers, diseases, seizures and other autoimmune diseases.
Cannabis shall be removed from CSA “Schedule I”, and placed in “CSA Subchapter I, Part A, §802. Definitions, paragraph (6)”, appended to the list “distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco”, where it will STILL be the least-toxic in the category [by several orders of magnitude].
In other words, EXEMPT from CSA scheduling.
Anything short of THAT is UNACCEPTABLE.
Cannabis shall be removed from CSA “Schedule I”, and placed in “CSA Subchapter I, Part A, §802. Definitions, paragraph (6)”, appended to the list “distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco”, where it will STILL be the least-toxic in the category [by several orders of magnitude].
In other words, EXEMPT from CSA scheduling.
Anything short of THAT is UNACCEPTABLE.
The participants are still arguing the SMOKE SCREENS INSTEAD OF EXPOSING THE TRUTH/OBVIOUS REASONS that the CANNABIS PLANT does not belong ANYWHERE on the Controlled Substance Act.
1). It only got on there because one corrupt man, Harry Anslinger, was a sore loser on his Unconstitutional 1937 Marijuana Tax Act and lost so in 1969 in U.S. vs. Timothy Leary. He turned around and became D.E.A. in 1970 and personally stuck in on Schedule 1.
2). How corrupt/not in good faith this act was is OBVIOUS by the fact that he/the D.E.A. has given pharmaceutical’s the pleasure of having their SYNTHECIZED/PATENTED cannabis (i.e. “Marinol”) on Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act, which admits the cannabis has medicinal value and no risk of addiction.
The fight over control of this plant is, and always has been, because of its VALUE!
It’s SO SIMPLE: We the People are entitled to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The only exceptions to this is if the “common welfare” is at stake. EVERY study and ALL evidence throughout time has supported that cannabis is of great value and of no negative consequence to the common good.
…As the above reader said, Conservative Judge Francis Young conducted an investigation on this in 1988, which concluded that govt. had no business intervening with rights to cannabis. Also, Nixon did his investigation into the same, i.e. done by the Shaffer Commmitte, who ALSO CONCLUDED that this valuable plant is harmless and that govt. therefore has NO BUSINESS intervening with We the People’s rights to be free with this plant…
To the Reader who asks what result a positive outcome of this hearing would be: If the state concludes that it shouldn’t be on Schedule 1, then it will be the LEGAL OBLIGATION OF OUR STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Kamala Harris) to fight for our rights to cannabis under state law.
So if they do rule in favor of eliminating the schedule one status even to say a schedule 2 which we all know it shouldn’t even be scheduled at all. Then what happens? Do we slowly wait for all the states to legalize individually?
I would like to add a suggestion HOW about a volunteer ID card that blocks the identified user from purchacing alcohol per personal request along wth small towns an districts allowed the individual rights to banish alc. from wthin smaller jurisdictions
thus id wull alloweated thence person to deside sobriety in a more appropriation of individual truth an freedoms request in preventative maintenances programs
a unified national vote no 9 prohibition states PER 51 capita works best
(1) Herb Al-tree-ism
(2) Cannabis Contributes to Climate Conservation thru Fair Foliage Reforestation
You guys are way behind on your coverage!
Here is the link to the first day of testimony which began on Friday!
http://www.canorml.org/news/day_one_testimony_in_Federal_marijuana_rescheduling_hearing.html
Update:
Looks like the testimony will drag into Thursday.
Dr. Madras says marijuana is not medicine.
Dr. Phillip Denny says “nonsense.”
The basis of our NORML lawyer’s defense, Dr. Zenia Gilg, is that new evidence of marijuana’s medical efficacy grounds scheduling laws under the Controlled Substance Act as unconstitutional.
This is a Federal criminal case against seven men growing marijuana on national forest land in Trinity and Tehama counties in eastern California.
Attorney Gilg states that the criminal charges pertaining to the use of the crop are irrelevant if the laws that schedule marijuana are unconstitutional.
Judge Mueller, the first female Federal judge appointed in the region by President Obama in 2010, has allowed the evidence from the defense, which will conclude Dr. Denny’s testimony tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. Sounds like the trial may end just before Halloween. Trick or treat!
Correction: “Attorney Zenia Gilg,” not “Dr.” There’s so many doctors on the defense, Zenia may as well be a doctor, in my opinion. 🙂
Even if they decide it’s not schedule 1, it’s still a state law. Indianapolis won’t change it’s law.
Why is attorney Lawrence Hirsch’s federal case, which bore precisely the same level of evidenciary hearing, being overlooked? Mr. Hirsh spent upwards of a half million dollars, flying some two dozen witnesses, to testify in person, before a federal judge, in Philadelphia, just a decade, ago. Why are all of the Law Professors also missing this, when quoted, in the media? Much more important, yet – is to consider, why, it’s neglected, to be entered, in these cases, that the substance of the original document, itself, is “marihuana.” The Declaration of Independence, and, the very oil on canvas paintings in the court’s halls, also, are, “marihuana.” This should bear the potential to preclude the CSA, in its entirety; neverminding mere ‘reclassification’. Is Lawrence Hirsh, Esq., having a bird, or, what? I’d expect him to be calling NORML, and, all of the Professors, media, etc – his case proves these professionals, wrong, when it’s their job to reference such previous cases.
http://norml.org/news/1999/03/11/federal-judge-allows-medical-marijuana-class-action-suit-to-proceed-questions-why-government-supplies-medical-marijuana-to-some-patients-not-others
Why is this overlooked, by professors and journalists, today?
Dangerous for Big Pharma’s profits…. 🙁 jerks.
Bear with my lackluster verbose, but I read somewhere that the presiding justice is retired… can his decision really change anything directly? or will his decision only inspire more media coverage of America’s weakness for years to come?
Will Supreme Court Footnote Lead To Rescheduling Marijuana? 2
BY P. AIDEN HUNT ON OCTOBER 28, 2014
“Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority in the 2005 case of Gonzalez v. Raich. To the dismay of marijuana advocates who see medical marijuana as a state issue, the Court ruled that the Constitution’s Commerce Clause gives Congress the authority to prohibit marijuana even in states with medical cannabis laws. A footnote in the opinion, however, left the issue open to further examination; or so says U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller.”
does this information correlate at all?
Collaborate, with the official archivists: conclusively establish, up through the court system, that the Constitution itself is Cannabis Sativa fiber. It’s the original draft, that is, of course. This should have been done, long before Nixon’s CSA.
I hope that the fact that there are still 4 people receiving joints from the feds(1 agent orange case I know of) and Medicare pays for Marinol will come up during this testimony
If reclassified will removed from the urine testing process?
If i were a hemp harvester
And she were a lady…
Shed marry me anyway;
Shed have my baby…
If i worked my hands in hemp,
Stoned buildin houses
She’d make me tax-exempt
Off what she arouses
Save your bud through loneliness
Save your bud through sorrow
Baby you’re my onlyness
Show me your tomorrow
If i were a pharmacist
Stone pistol a grindin
My lips she woulda kist
While my stash a findin…
If i were an investor
Investin in marijuana
Wouldnt had any lest’a her
Hot boiled in a sonna
Save your love through loneliness
Save a stash through sorrow
She gave me her onlyness
I gave her my tommorrow…
Hmmmm…hmmmmmm
Thanks for the update julian I have been so anxious to here something.
Save her the trouble. Sign the Petition! Anyone who hasn’t yet, PLEASE SIGN THIS! 136,000 of you fuckers signed this thing already and theirs only 13,100 left before it gets forwarded to Obama. No scheduling whatsoever! http://www.change.org/p/1418014?share_id=EOyqDWHaZD&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition
http://theleafonline.com/c/politics/2014/10/norml-feds-agree-benefits-cannabis/
Here’s NORML’s Link to the latest highlights before Dr. Mad-@$$-Madras drags the governments testimony through Thursday.
The latest: A U.S. attorney representing the U.S. government unwittingly admitted that marijuana is medicine in order to boost marinol as “lasting longer.” Big Pharma shoots itself in the foot just trying to sell some marinol? What was going through this attorney’s brain at the time these words came out of his mouth? Read this:
The third day of hearings on the constitutionality of cannabis’ federal Schedule I status presented further bizarre twists, as both federal prosecutors and NORML’s defense team appeared at times to agree on the medical benefits of cannabis.
“In one early incident, Assistant US Attorney Richard Bender, in continued cross-examination of Dr. Philip Denney, failed to rebut Denney’s testimony that plant-based cannabis effectively treated chronic pain. Instead, Bender attempted to show a marginal benefit to using dronabinol (AKA Marinol, which is synthetic THC taken orally in pill form) compared to cannabis and at one point seemed to get a little carried away with his line of questioning. Directing Denney’s attention to the results of a study which showed that both cannabis and Marinol proved effective in treating chronic pain but that the effects of Marinol lasted longer, Bender asked, “So, both smoked marijuana and oral THC were effective, but Marinol was a little better because it lasted longer?”
Mmmmmm… the bittersweet taste of hubris… It reminds me of the story I read to my children from little Golden Books about the little puppy carrying a steak in his mouth. When crossing a bridge the puppy looks at his own reflection, sees another dog with a steak in his mouth, BARKS at it, then looses the steak in the river. Bye Bye Steak. Bye Bye Prohibition.
NORML AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE= 1
PFIZER, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, GW PHARMACUETICALS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE= ZERO.
Denney answered yes, and Bender continued, apparently unaware that he had just admitted that cannabis has medical value.”
When will it start? How will it start? Who will start it? How will it end?
What am I talking about? The next American Revolution.
How much longer will people take what our own government is doing to us? For more than 30 years I have been saying, “If a foreign country was doing to us what our government is doing to us we would be at war.”
I am not going to re-cap all the things that the Federal Government has done to us, is doing to us and will be doing to us in the future but when will the American people reach the breaking point and take action? Our government is like a runaway train that is going to crash. It is just a matter of when, not if unless something is done.
Ronald Reagan reminded us that freedom CAN be lost when he said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
I fear we are the generation that is going to let Reagan down and let freedom extinguish in our time. Every day we lose more and more freedoms. It is a gradual decay and this is on purpose in the hopes that “We the People” won’t notice it or won’t care until it is too late to change anything.
We have a wonderful gift in this country that was given us by the Founders. They risked their fortunes and their very lives to give us what we have and today it seems no one cares if we throw it all away. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and the others would be so disappointed in us.
Yes, there is still hope to restore our country to what it once was but time is running out quickly. Think about the risk the founders took? They were under the rule of the King of England and the strongest military in the world but the lure of freedom and individual liberty drove them to do something the world had never seen before.
The concept that Americans have the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” and that these rights were given not by a King or government that could take them away, but by God and are inalienable was unique in human history. Never had such a document as the Declaration been produced and never has once since.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
of corse by happiness I mean weed but among othere thing the government as I said earlier if any othere country treated us like our government does wed be fighting but becuas ewe let them make us belive that there helping us we allow it because hey he was better than the last president/ congressman/ senator/mayor but really al they do is restrict us we must rebel and take a stand for this generation b4 its late
What about the movie just came out called kill the messagenger explain how our goverment is the one running the show I didn’t realize in USA are the control of cartel look who talking and why we allow 75,000 pounds of sugar that is one most dangerous than cannabis doesn’t make sense anymore
She is not always green
Nor hardly kind
But everytime leaves my eyes a gleam
From a perfect seed
She comes to my aid
Helping with that smokable weed
Finding a new version of this life
That until now was doomed to fail
So take me home my sweet green wife…
Hearing closed at noon yesterday. Testimony is over. Exhibits and objections have been ordered by Judge Mueller for Nov. 7th. She set a control date for Nov. 17th.
The evidence is clearly on the side of the defense. We will see on the 7th how Judge Mueller rules on the marinol blunder. Happy halloween everybody! Anyone gonna dress up as Dr. Mad@$$ Madras? (Or perhaps a corrupt social worker from Washington DC?)
Hello Julian,
I’m very worried that the federal anti-marijuana culture in our government will guide her decision making process.
The is literally what is has become. Taking away marijuana user’s rights is their past time, a good way to make money and not have to work for it. Just steal like a bunch of gangsters. Judges have been rubber stamping this thievery for decades and there isn’t any reason she would decide any different. In their world, you make marijuana safer by turning it into a pill. How can you convince someone of the truth when they truly do love the lies?
Good Luck, @Christie(‘)s, oh yes Roger could you move to N. J. and run for Governor?
Note 1973 prejudicial performance by Judge Kobayashi, which based on my perspective about the need to substitute vaporization and one-hitters for “$moking”, traces to a tragic “cultural” destiny that is particularly applicable to those of Japanese heritage. After World War Two, U.S. Capitalism showed humongous “generosity” to the recovering Japanese population provided it agreed to get hooked on H-ot B-urning O-verdose M-onoxide nicotine tobacco $igarettes. By the 80’s Raygun-infested addictive nicotine slavery empire days while the percentage of US adults hooked on $igarettes was over 40%, in Japan it was over 60%.
How, you ask, did they also achieve a highest or near-highest ranking for life expectancy?”
a. They smoked fewer $igs per addict than US $mokers
b. They used “holders”– Shunichi Suzuki is seen in a photo holding one 3 inches long with about an inch of $igarette sticking out, and he lived to 99 years, 3 months and 8 or 9 days.
c. There is a wrought-metal mini-pipe, the KISERU, in which (if you use a screen) 25-mg single tokes are possible, though part of a $ig can be propped in it as well. You can slip a foot of flexible drawtube over the suck-end for maximum modern single toke efficiency.
For decades Japanese cultural habits were pro-$ig, anti-cannabis because a monster $ig empire grew up in Japan comparable to Philip Moredeath et al. with the same fear the cannabis would replace tobacco and one-hitters would replace the profitable $igarette.
Therefore Judge Kobayashi’s verdicts are suspect of prejudice on grounds of cultural Tobackgo oops sorry back ground.
What’s the result..? What happened? Follow up article..?
PS the Little Golden Puppy with a steak in its mouth– updated interpretation might be: two dogs were fighting over the meat and a Third Dog picked it out and ran away with it! Big pHARMa and Big 2WaqkGo both know that story, and they’re both afraid legalized cannabis is a Big New Third Dog– REPLACE profitable $igarettes, PREVENT lucrative illne$$es.
Please @Daniel, don’t get carried away with that Reagan crap, “freedom must be fought for” (army? guns? obey command?). Liberty is created through work, not fighting.
Substitute the rhyming keyword “bought” for “fought” and you see what it’s aiming to do– $ell more stuff to ignorant fozos who don’t know what their dynamic Unconscious is up to.
Alleged “non-smoker” Reagan worked $$ for tobacco advertisers promoting Nigotine $lavery since 1937 at WHO Des Moines (Postcard with pipe-in-mouth photo, “Yours for Kentucky Club– Dutch Reagan”).
Uhhhmmm…Ronnie Reagan is the President that declared, The War on Drugs.
Or is it just me?
It might just be me. I’m stoned.
Amazing and painful reading all these sincere and relevant responses to this topic.
This last – “It might just be me. I’m stoned”, sums it up.
All of this because of a federal court case challenging the Scheduling Act, if it is at all doing that, and not simply challenging the power of the federal government over the People.
Technically, in times of peace, which we are within, the people have freedom. Technically we all know the laws against cannabis/marijuana don’t hold water. Currently the scheduling of marijuana or marihuana as a Schedule One drug is both bogus and ludicrous.
But the law is the law, and despite the politicians we elect, We the People decide what’s right. And we’re doing that.
This federal case means something, but not everything.
Do not forget… cannabis is legal in two states! You can go to the store and buy it! Yeah, here in NE that is a long way away. But it’s still a fact. In 20+ other states it’s legal for medical use. And in 2+ cities it’s not a crime.
There was a fairy tale in which a character pretended to be who he was not… or was it the Emperor Who Wears No Clothes? He still wears more clothes, only now the fog is lifting…
Bob Kat, if the DEA would actually follow the law which explains in detail what is schedule one and what is not them marijuana would be listed in schedule 4 or 5. Instead, they abuse the authority given and just “declare marijuana” a schedule one material. It doesn’t matter if Congress added a line in the CSA saying marijuana is a schedule one material–all the DEA has to do is overrule them; go to court and get it rescheduled. It is part of their jobs, but they seem to be under the impression that abusing people based on heresay is the behavior of Respects Officials? Give me a break.
Like in that Dave Chappelle skit about the “fif amendment”, I’d like to piss in their faces.
“…the behavior of Respectable Officials?”
When the people make no protest against arbitrary law, they invite oppression.
@ Dave…
Something in the way I said it? Imagine if alcohol prohibition still raged on, which fortunately it doesn’t. But if it did, I might just be so damn tired of it that I might make the statement: “maybe it’s just me, I’m drunk”.
I am not at all sure what you mean when you say, “…give me a break”? Where did I mention “the behavior of Respected Officials”? In an earlier comment?
Many so called “respected officials” are abusing We the People. Not just the DEA. Marijuana laws are bogus, ludicrous and undermine the whole foundation of our living in a Free Country. It breeds contempt and confusion towards laws meant to protect us. It makes criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens and the law kills people, not the marijuana.
Now maybe I misunderstand you and you’re in favor of marijuana being illegal. Though i don’t think so.
Marijuana simply does not fall under any guidelines set forth by Nixon’s CSA. His Shafer Committee said it themselves: “It should be decriminalized”. They said nothing about any other Scheduling, neither 2 – 5.
Maybe it’s just me, as I’m not stoned right now!
@Dave,
The time it takes for Judge Mueller’s decision to materialize i believe has been kicked down the road to 2016 elections. Which is not a bad thing when one condiders that legslizing marijuana is clearly a bipartisan agreement. Alaska is Republican. Oregon is Democratic. Do the math, and the beauty of legalization is that we are gaining on all three branches of the government equally.
I predict, since the Florida vote, that an apellate court will kick the can so the Supreme Court wont decide on this case until after 2016. But hey, after 75 years of ptohibition? 2 years aint $#!+!
I’m a 50 yr old man who on ocassion will indulge. I’m a hard working individual and love my country. I cannabis is a good thing for relaxation and helps immensely with my pain that seems to never end some days. I have old injuries that out of nowhere flair up. If we were able to go to a pantry to get it here in NY that would be great! But we are forced into a world of thugs and thieves who would rob anyone to get what they want to purchase it. NY has too many bureaucrats and we who use occasionally for relaxation and pain are the real victims of this old law! Idiots exist in our society… criminals are everywhere and I don’t want to be a victim anymore! Please reclassify this very good drug? And I currently am not stoned!
The best thing about deliberations like this is it gives more time, for us to simply submit an urgent mention, that the Constitution is originally made of same substance. “Why didn’t you just say, so? You could have saved us decades of considerations!”
http://classicalvalues.com/2014/11/a-deficiency-disease/
to Norml: thank you for your article. Question: What is the status of this court case today?
Where can I send “my Testimony” concerning MJ?
I would like to submit my personal “cures”.
All in all Marijuana is an adaptgen. This means MJ can “adapt” to almost any “disease”!
GINSENG is another “adaptgen”. (sp.) thanks AR
My comment: If this court case does not reschedule MJ (which I think the court will)
then the only other alternative is: “A Million Marijuana March (all states invited)
Washington DC 2015 2016. The people will win!
My comment (to the court): “If Marinol is THC; and if THC is Marijuana; then the FDA has already approved MJ/THC as a prescription.
So MJ is already approved for medicinal use.
All the rest is “hogwash”. Time has come today no more time to lose write to the Court!
ps Marinol has nothing to do with “pain”; I used Marinol for 3 yrs. nothing to the drug !
waste of time and money! I would use Marinol only if I could find no other source of THC.
Buddy I would use Oak Moss; which IS Marinol!
Marijuana is a thought provoker;makes u think!
“Do not forget… cannabis is legal in two states!”
Not any more….;)
The answer to the question in NO.
Marijuana is an Herb anyway..!
I PLAN TO MAKE MY OWN HOMEGROWN MARINOL from “OAK MOSS” AND ORGANIC CATNIP OIL”….
I will return with my results next month. AR
Very simply put. This is not an evil drug and should be allowed by all states to be grown for the patients by the patients.
Cannabis is one of many herbs that act as adaptogens, a compound that increases one’s ability to adapt to environmental factors, including physical and emotional stress.
Ginseng is another adaptogen.
War on Ginseng?
@Julian
2 years aint $#!+! – Julian
It may depend on one’s age?
I imagine many elderly people who would benefit from cannabis therapy today who will most certainly be dead in two years.
How long would two years be to you if you had two years to live?
Shame on America!
…that should read ,”I imagine there are many elderly who would benefit from cannabis therapy today who will most certainly be dead in two years”.
@ Julian and Eric…
Correction, that should read: ” I image there are many people who would benefit from cannabis, especially those over 18, the elderly and those who are sick and dying.”
People can legally take a bullet or be blown up serving our country, but they are forbidden use of a plant that is extraordinarily beneficial? If marijuana were available to those 18 or older, we might not only benefit as a society, but many may not go on to become tobacco or alcohol users; many may actually see their path ahead. I know I did at age 19.
Whoever suggested the only people “entitled” to use marijuana must be dying and in hospice care? Whoever thought that up must be an ideological zealot!
I think it should be REMOVED from the schedule – just like alcohol and tobacco. It is food, medicine and a host of other potentials – the law against it has been unjustified and the people have allowed it…….. TIME TO STAND UP!
what’s up, sc checking in, I just to say that the only problem I’ve had out of weed is that it’s illegal, men it is time to strike up that March! if the courts won’t grant it to the lawyers fighting for the change then we need to rally up together and put the PEOPLE back in “for the people by the people!”
if anybody want to March on this issue for real let ya boy know we’ll bring the confederate atw back n this motha… I’ll personally go start campaigning for that trip,so y’all lmk if y’all want do this jingfling@gmail.com, hmu sc ppl we need to give it a shot anyway.
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