cannabisnews.com: Drug Raids are a Waste of Time 





Drug Raids are a Waste of Time 
Posted by FoM on October 31, 2001 at 07:26:18 PT
Editorial
Source: Guardian Unlimited
This week, the United States attorney general, John Ashcroft, has been warning the country about the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack, a repeat of a warning issued a couple of weeks ago.In the light of this and the ongoing investigation into the September 11 attacks one might imagine that federal law enforcement officers in the US would all be fairly busy.
But last week, 30 federal drug enforcement agents found the time to carry out a raid in West Hollywood on the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Centre, the body which supplies medicinal marijuana to a variety of ill people in LA. The centre was set up five years ago in the wake of Proposition 215, which the Californian electorate had passed and which called for the setting up of such clubs for people who suffered from Aids, glaucoma, cancer epilepsy and so on and who believed that cannabis could help relieve their pain or their appetite loss.The idea was that people could register with the clubs, which were to be allowed to cultivate small quantities of marijuana, after being recommended by their doctors. The sale price for the marijuana varied slightly - at the LA centre they charged $50 (£35) for an eighth of an ounce.The measure, although passed handsomely, has been the subject of a series of legal challenges because it runs counter to federal drugs laws. Earlier this year, the US supreme court decided by an 8-0 vote that the clubs had no legal basis for existence. The raid follows on from that decision. Around 400 marijuana plants were seized in the raid as were computers containing the names of around 900 people who have made use of the centre, which had, incidentally, the backing of the local council and worked openly with the local sheriff's department.The affidavit for the search warrant on the premises stated however that "illegal conduct permeates the organisation's activities and ... all documents, records and equipment present at the site constitute fruits, instrumentalities or evidence of criminal offences".Workers at the resource centre used some of the dirt from their now defunct marijuana farm to create a mock graveyard in which the tombstones were labelled "compassion" and "democracy".Scott Imler, the centre's president, said: "I think it's shameful the justice department would waste money going after medical marijuana while the rest of the world is falling apart. If they had been doing what we pay them to do then maybe we'd still have a World Trade Centre."At one level, the action could be seen as the federal officials merely observing President Bush's encouragement for life to go on as normal: with 400,000 drug users now in the prison system, drug raids, even if only for some marijuana plants, could be seen as a sign of healthy normality.On the other hand, it might seem odd that, at the time when the UK is relaxing the drugs laws, reclassifying cannabis and exploring medical uses of marijuana, its partner in the war against terrorism is going in the opposite direction.The British home secretary, David Blunkett, indicated last week that one of the main reasons for relaxing the cannabis laws was in order to free the police to tackle more serious matters.How much more serious will things have to become in the US, one might wonder, before such raids as those on the LA Cannabis Resource Centre - hardly a secret hideout manned by violent criminals - are deemed to be not entirely the best use of 30 federal officers' valuable time?Meanwhile, the US drugs law reform organisation, Common Sense for Drug Policy, has also linked the events of September 11 and drugs laws. In advertisements in the national media, they quote House speaker, Dennis Hastert, as saying that "the illegal drug trade is the engine that fuels many terrorist organisations around the world, including Osama bin Laden".The ad asks: "is the funding of terrorism another unintended consequence of drug prohibition?"Note: In light of the terrorism crisis, surely raiding a medical marijuana centre is not the best use of federal officers' time, asks Duncan Campbell.Source: Guardian Unlimited, The (UK)Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2001Copyright: 2001 Guardian Newspapers LimitedContact: letters guardian.co.ukWebsite: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmUS Cracks Down on Medical Marijuana in California http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11227.shtmlEasing Drugs Law Wins Support http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11224.shtmlCampaigners Applaud Cannabis Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11177.shtml
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Comment #32 posted by lookinside on November 01, 2001 at 20:47:26 PT:
wrote this during my first cuppa coffee this...
morning...i'm glad i sent it...wonder when the fbi will be here?dear sirs,
  i'm not a member of your organization...i had thought about it in the
past...  your choice of mr. leshner as your new ceo makes me glad that i never
got around to joining...he is a political whore of the worst stripe...his
attitude toward medical marijuana is barbaric...he can and will do nothing
to advance real science...  my wife is a medical marijuana patient...i can tell you without
reservation that cannabis has been a godsend to her...if you are interested
in anecdotal evidence, please feel free to respond to this email...  your credibility has just dropped through the floor...      sincerely,
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Comment #31 posted by kaptinemo on November 01, 2001 at 17:17:09 PT:
My own tu-pence for the AAAses
Dear Sirs, I recently learned of your rather astonishing selection of Dr. Leshner to head what I once considered to be a highly prestigious organization representing the best of American scientific inquiry. I no longer hold that view. Dr. Leshner's efforts in service to the United States Government's position concerning the continued and unwarranted vilification of cannabis in this country have been nothing less than shameful. He has been the chief coordinator of the Federal effort at stonewalling legitimate, objective research into cannabis...particularly its' medicinal qualities. If you require proof of this statement, I suggest that you review the works of Dr. Donald Abrams in his multi-year long struggle to conduct simple tests upon ill volunteers to determine what negative cannabis use may cause upon those afflicted by serious illnesses. (His final report, delivered at the 13th International Annual AIDS Conference in Durban South Africa concluded that none existed.) As many of you and your readers are well aware, any open-minded scientific exploration of cannabis would soon prove what has been anecdotally evident since the first human ingested it; namely, that it is one of the most benign substances available to ameliorate such conditions as nausea caused by chemotherapy treatments, cachexia, anorexia, and a host of other life-threatening illnesses. A fact which totally undermines the US Government's faux-concern for public safety by demonstrating the lengths to which it will go to maintain it's official position on the matter. A fact that did not escape the notice of the late DEA Law Judge Francis Young; he made exactly the same conclusion, based upon empirical evidence. Evidently, a legal professional was more of a scientist than Dr. Leshner. Dr. Leshner's continued paycheck was dependent upon heading a publicly-funded agency acting as a megaphone for all the lies that the United States Government has invented about cannabis and continues to purvey to an increasingly skeptical world. Which is revamping it's US sponsored laws to reflect the truth concerning cannabis. The most recent example is Great Britain, which has all but decriminalized cannabis use de facto if not de jure. If this mercenary pandering to a governmentally derived - and inherently flawed - position (and acting as a paid apologist for it) to thwart legitimate research into a politically sensitive topic does not smack of Lysenkoism, then what does? There is an old saying about being known by the company you keep. This particular 'company' brings with it the sour reek of governmental corruption in the service of ideologically directed 'science'...as opposed to the 'real McCoy'. Sincerely, 
(Me)
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Comment #30 posted by Lehder on November 01, 2001 at 12:32:13 PT
letter
AAAS:I fear for the future of American science when an
organization that purports to advance science should
retain a Lysenkoist at its helm. Alan Leshner, as head
of NIDA, practiced a form of corrupted science that
served not honest inquiry but an ideology, namely,
lethal marijuana. AAAS risks degeneration to a propaganda arm of the
federal government and can no longer be of service to
 science, education, truth or humanity. Count on me to
denounce Leshner's appointment in speech and in print
at every opportunity.Yours truly,
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Comment #29 posted by kaptinemo on November 01, 2001 at 09:23:40 PT:
Here's one for you, E.J.
From:Lysenkoism
http://dcn.davis.ca.us/~btcarrol/skeptic/lysenko.htmlIt was due to Lysenko's efforts that many real scientists, those who were geneticists or who rejected Lamarkism in favor of natural selection, were sent to the gulags or simply disappeared from the USSR. Lysenko rose to dominance at a 1948 conference in Russia where he delivered a passionate address denouncing Mendelian thought as "reactionary and decadent" and declared such thinkers to be "enemies of the Soviet people." [Gardner] He also announced that his speech had been approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Scientists either groveled, writing public letters confessing the errors of their way and the righteousness of the wisdom of the Party, or they were dismissed. Some were sent to labor camps. Some were never heard of again. Under Lysenko's guidance, science was guided not by the most likely theories, backed by appropriately controlled experiments, but by the desired ideology. (Emphasis mine -k.) Science was practiced in the service of the State, or more precisely, in the service of ideology. The results were predictable: the steady deterioration of Soviet biology.Yes, and what can be said about an American 'scientist' who sold his credibility for a mess of government pottage (no pun intended; I'm quite serious, here)? And received a paycheck solely on trying to prove the existence of a chimera: namely, lethal pot? The name may be American, but the methods were wholly Soviet. And this will now head the prestigious AAAS? Perhaps we should just refer to them by the phonetic pronunciation of their acronym for now on? 
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Comment #28 posted by E_Johnson on November 01, 2001 at 02:46:11 PT
Here's my resignation
Dear membership person,I have friends whose lives are dependent on using marijuana to combat the nausea from their HIV medications. Without marijuana, they vomit up their HIV meds so their virus multiplies and becomes drug resistant.Alan Leshner has made it his mission to deny any and all science that shows that marijuana is an extremely effective and nontoxic anti-emetic, and it is his mission to keep these AIDS patients from ever having access to marijuana.If it were up to Alan Leshner, my friends would all be dead right now, and they would have been producing drug resistant strains of HIV before they died.I cannot ever respect this man's attitude towards science. I cannot ever be a part of any organization led by this man. His opinions on medical marijuana are completely in conflict with the report issued by the Institute of Medicine, and he doesn't even care. He rejects the conclusions of the top medical scientists in America. He is not a credible scientist in my eyes nor in the eyes of doctors and
scientists in the AIDS treatment world.It is with great regret that I must now resign from the AAAS effective immediately. This is a very sad day, when a man like this can be in a position of respect in science. I cannot be led by him. Please let me know when you find someone more worthy of your organization, and I might
be willing to join again.
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Comment #27 posted by E_Johnson on November 01, 2001 at 02:39:54 PT
Now I am resigning!!!! from AAAS
I just sent the AAAS a scathing letter telling them that I am resigning my membership effective immediately.This man's attitude towards science is like Mike Tyson's attitude towards a ho.
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Comment #26 posted by lookinside on October 31, 2001 at 18:48:35 PT
not to be mean spirited...
but this turkey is a dead ringer for the single dumbest, head up his *ss, individual i've ever known...
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Comment #25 posted by Lehder on October 31, 2001 at 18:35:08 PT
but not at all hilarious
for science.we're more and more the world's fools. science=propaganda, engineering=weapons, education=inanity, chemistry=drugs, war=peace. such a society cannot lead and cannot long remain respected, powerful or rich.
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Comment #24 posted by Lehder on October 31, 2001 at 18:25:43 PT
Hilarious, yes, but true
check out the smile:http://www.aaas.org/
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Comment #23 posted by Tim Stone on October 31, 2001 at 18:10:59 PT
Narc Overreach
The narcs have a particularly noxious habit going back to the 19teens of wildly over-interpreting Supreme Court rulings, going far beuond what the Supremes actually ruled. Back in the 20s, the Supremes got pissed at the narcs for busting docs who gave any sort of maintenence narcotics to addicts. The Court told the narcs to knock if off, forthwith, noting that the early legal basis for proto- drug prohibition, the Harrison Narcotics Act, nowhere contained the word "addict," and busting docs for giving drugs to addicts was far beyond the legislative intent of the Act. The narcs essentially ignored the Court and continued to bust doctors. However, the narcs never actually too any of the docs to trial. An indictment was sufficient to chill out the docs, who just stopped giving any drug to any suspected addict. What doc needs an indictment hassle, however legally spurious? Years later, a Supreme Court with new members eventually upheld the "no maintenence drugs" ruling since the narcs had made it de facto law for many years anyway, thereby in effect allowing the narcs to make de jure law unto themselves.
I think that's what the narcs are trying to do here. They're overinterpreting the narrow cannabis club ruling of earlier this year, using it as an excuse to try and kill the medpot movement, just as their granddaddies did the medical maintenance drug issue. Since about the 20s, the narcs have chased the docs and scientists off the drug policy playing field, leaving the narcs as the sole arbiters and "experts" of law, policy and custom in the U.S. In many ways, the medpot and "harm reduction" reform movements are an attempt to get docs and scientists back where they have always belonged - at the front of the issue, making policy. The narcs won't allow that if they can help it. And the law? They don' need no steenkin' law. By custom, narcs' actions _make_ law, which the Supremes eventually uphold. It's unlikely that this case will ever come to trial. The narcs daren't risk it. Just as with the docs seventy-five years ago, they will use arrests and the sundry arsenal of molestation powers to shut down the clubs _without_ ever actually having anything come to a trial. They will do what law enforcement bureaucracies always do to their targets short of actual trial: make the targets' lives an, er, unending series of terrible, very expensive "misunderstandings."
On the good side, one news account of the Hollywood bust mentioned something to the effect that elsewhere in the fed Justice Dep't, outside the DEA, there was very "lukewarm" support for going after medpot. Ashcroft's plate is too full at the moment with real, serious issues for him to pay much attention to this. If he signed off on this at all, it was most likely a quickie religious fanatic twitch. The raid feels more like Asa Hutchinson's doings to me. Pardon my windiness. Here endeth the day's lesson. ;)
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Comment #22 posted by Tim Stone on October 31, 2001 at 17:42:16 PT
Leshner resigning?
     "Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told friends and
      colleagues he was resigning to become head of the American Association for the
      Advancement of Science."Head of the AAAS? Leshner, that demonstrated scientific whore? Hilarious!
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Comment #21 posted by bruce42 on October 31, 2001 at 16:23:04 PT
way off topic. thanks everyone
who provided coca info in an earlier post.
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Comment #20 posted by bruce42 on October 31, 2001 at 16:21:52 PT
Interesting
I figured this might happen. As countires slowly shed the yoke of the drug war as in the UK, they realize that nothing bad happens and that they really do not have to be nice to America. As civillian casualties mount I think the backlash from bungled bombing is going to get more widespread. A case can't able to see the forest for the trees. Once you disassociate yourself from Amerika's policies and step back, you get a view of the beast and it ain't pretty.
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Comment #19 posted by firedog on October 31, 2001 at 15:18:13 PT
British criticism mounting quickly
Slightly off-topic, but it shows just how much things are changing in the UK press regarding our nice little adventure in Afghanistan.http://mirror.icnetwork.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=11392430&method=full
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Comment #18 posted by mayan on October 31, 2001 at 15:02:16 PT
Sinking Ship
To Shrubya,Asscrotch & Assa - Yup, Looks like it is time to prioritize. Your fraud of a drug war is crumbling all around you. If you choose to go down with the ship,that's cool. The ship will go down,with or without you.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on October 31, 2001 at 10:08:35 PT
JR, Is this what you are looking for?
http://www.csdp.org/ads/narcofund.htm
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Comment #16 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 31, 2001 at 09:56:58 PT
CSDP ads?
  The ads from CSDP mentioned at the end of the article are intriguing. Are these print, radio, or TV ads? Are they available online somewhere?
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Comment #15 posted by grassmike on October 31, 2001 at 09:49:49 PT:
Lady Liberty Is Crying
I think the DEA actions in California have set thousands of people on a course to become experts in growing marijuana. I have no respect for our federal government. They are liable to come up with a charge for "Contempt of Government" like "Contemt of Court" where the judge can put you in jail and keep you there until whenever.The UK was like a Pepsi can that had been shaken. Once the top was popped it can not do anything but spew. The Dutch do not really have a legal way to acquire MJ for their coffeeshops. I say the Brits will be far more practical and set up regulations that allow for growing and of course taxation.Someone sent me a link with Lady Liberty shedding tears. This is at a grow site and it expresses the way I feel. I liked the imagination of the L A Cannabis Resource Center having the graves with tombstones of "Freedom" and "Compassion". I think they need a small Statue of Liberty either crying or in shackles or in jail.....I am sure someone could do a better graphic of Lady Liberty crying and if you come across one, could you share the link.
http://members.tripod.com/~jeffnkris/ChiefsPassion/
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Comment #14 posted by kaptinemo on October 31, 2001 at 09:49:31 PT:
Grounds for celebration?
I just saw this in DEAWatch; I have no idea if it is true or not.DEAWatch:
http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htmDrug Warriors heading for the hills:More evidence that the "drug war" is lost... two senior folks at the National Institute of Health have abruptly quit:Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told friends and colleagues he was resigning to become head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Enoch Gordis retired as head of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 
Hmmmm... what's going on with these prestigious minds quitting under the Bush Admin???If Leshner has indeed left, it may be a sign that he realizes the MMJ issue is about to blow up in his boss's "State's Sights" trashing face. Are the rats leaving the USS DrugWar?. Looks like to me.
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Comment #13 posted by dddd on October 31, 2001 at 09:42:32 PT
Look on the brite side EJ
...we are developing into a new and improved soviet union right here at home,,,far superior to the stuffy,and simplistic original....ya gotta admit,,who,,or what did what they have done to our Constitution,and democratic intentions,,,,,,,they did an outstanding job!.......they have made it almost unnecessary to deal with dissent,thru the media campaign,,and now they have successfully made dissent,into a "terrorist" act,,,so if you say the wrong thing,,you can be imprisoned,and no news will be there to tell of your friends and familys concerns as to your whereabouts.........yup,,,,about all I can say is.
.; "Ha-Ha- former Soviet Union rulers,,what a bunch of LOSERS!....the US has once again outdone you,,,and this time,in a political realm that you helped develop!...now you are teetering on the virge of collapse,,while the US takes a crack at Afghanistan,with a spending party beyond your wildest dreams,,,yup,,we're having a grand old time,playing with the coolest military toys,and the neatest bombs,,droppin' 'em anywhere we think there might be some of them'evil terrorists'..."..it's kinda like the shrub regime is some sort of Idiot ,with a shotgun,,in the dark,......dddd
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on October 31, 2001 at 09:35:40 PT
puff_tuff
Really cool picture and not scary at all!
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Comment #11 posted by TroutMask on October 31, 2001 at 09:34:02 PT
Doh!
Answered my own question! This site seems to be following developments very closely...http://www.medpot.net/Cheers!-TM
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Comment #10 posted by TroutMask on October 31, 2001 at 09:32:08 PT
Interesting "Spin"
Here's an interesting article from www.hempbc.com:http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2146.htmlIt contends that since the Canadian laws against medical marijuana were not relaxed enough to meet the high court's earlier ruling, that "the courts could rule that, because of their unwillingness to let Canada's sickest citizens use medicinal pot, all Canadians are now free to enjoy the sacred herb."Wouldn't that be so amazingly awesome!?!?!?Anyone know where this matter stands in Canadian courts?-TM
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Comment #9 posted by Joe Citizen on October 31, 2001 at 09:24:13 PT
Laughs or disgust?
I found this site yesterday:http://www.pornolize.comIt is not porno pics or anything like that. It takes any URL and turns the text into filthy language. Obviously, the more creative types in the world have plenty to do! I thought that I would share this with my cannabis friends who might like to apply this site to their favorite anti website for a good laugh in these troubling times.
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Comment #8 posted by lookinside on October 31, 2001 at 09:21:26 PT:
very nice punkin!!!
i wonder if DEA agents are prohibited from reading the news and the constitution? do they submit to a pre employment lobotomy?i'd have to cut my throat before taking a law enforcement job in Amerika...
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Comment #7 posted by puff_tuff on October 31, 2001 at 09:08:42 PT
Happy Halloween
No, this isn't mine, I'm no artist.
Happy Halloween Pumpkin
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on October 31, 2001 at 09:00:32 PT:
A gentle tap on the shoulder, for now
The world press is finally finding its' voice. That voice is quietly deferential...for now. But that's bound to change. And this is the first sign of that coming change.The Bush Too Administration is now reaping the benefits of Condoleeza Rice's "go it alone" strategy at having to take literary spitballs like this from our traditional allies. It's the price for forgetting that, as John Kennedy so eloquently put it: "We share the same air." And to paraphrase John Donne, "No nation is an island." Bush tried to be an island...now he's surrounded by sharks and needs some help.This was the first. More will come, until there's some outright friction. And when that happens, it'll be put up or shut up. Either Bushy-Wushy really does try to go it alone...or he welcomes long needed criticisms of these misbegotten policies. And considering how beholden he is to the Brits for their support, I imagine his embarrassed silence in the face of mounting criticism by the foreign press will become ever more noticeable.
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on October 31, 2001 at 09:00:05 PT
I miss the Soviet Union
When they were still around as the Evil Empire, they gave Republicans a reason to support freedom in America.Now what is the Republican Party? Is it the party of "We're a free country, we're not the Soviet Union"?No it's the party of "We need more government control over the private morality of American citizens".Which kind of means that they're BECOME the party of the Soviet Union.So maybe I don't really miss the Soviet Union -- I just wish it would get the hell out of my country.
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Comment #4 posted by Patrick on October 31, 2001 at 08:49:34 PT
Thank God for the English Press
"How much more serious will things have to become in the US, one might wonder, before such raids as those on the LA Cannabis Resource Centre - hardly a secret hideout manned by violent criminals - are deemed to be not entirely the best use of 30 federal officers' valuable time?"Amen my English friends Amen!
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on October 31, 2001 at 08:25:31 PT
Shame and humiliate the DEA as much as possible
Come on world press, let them have it!!!!I'm sitting here today afraid to open my mail, and Scott Imler is supposed to be the DEA's big contribution towards my safety.If they put Scott on trial, they're sticking their hands into a giant nest of scorpions because that man has good karma coming out his ass. A lot of important people respect him enormously and if he were put on trial in this country, it would be covered in the world press like the trial of Sinyavsky and Daniel in the Soviet Union in 1965.
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Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on October 31, 2001 at 07:42:44 PT
Wrong Message
At least the folks in the UK are getting a look at the (ever more) uglier side of American prohibition. With our government acting like this, the UK and other countries are even more likely to relax both medicinal and recreational marijuana laws. What freedom-loving nation would look at the US's persecution of the sick and dying and wish to be that way?-TM
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Comment #1 posted by greenfox on October 31, 2001 at 07:30:05 PT
Why are they doing this?
The answer is simple: the backs are turned. Why else do you think they would wait not months but years after the passing of 215 to do anything? Now that we are engaged in this buffed-up "war on terrorism", we can engage in all sorts of nonsense- while the backs are TURNED. sly in green, foxy in kind,-gf
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