cannabisnews.com: Asa Has Left the Building





Asa Has Left the Building
Posted by FoM on April 03, 2002 at 15:18:18 PT
By Tim Kingston
Source: Frontiers Newsmagazine
After being greeted by 200 protestors in San Francisco just a month earlier, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Chief Asa Hutchinson went to the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Rockville, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. on March 18, "looking for friendly audiences." Unbeknownst to Hutchinson, that was not to be his fate. Hutchinson's appearance was supposed to be about Cindy R. Mogil's book Swallowing a Bitter Pill: How Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Addictions Are Ruining Lives--My Story, but the audience was seeded with medical marijuana advocates from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). 
When the question-and-answer period began, Larry Silberman told Hutchinson that he had used marijuana for eight months while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. Silberman then asked the DEA chief if he should be arrested. Hutchinson responded: "The tradition for approving new medicines comes from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and it comes from science and medicine ... which has not reached a consensus that any medical benefits that come from smoking marijuana override the harm that comes from it. We have to continue listening to them." MPP Communications Director Bruce Mirken broke in, admonishing Hutchinson for not answering the question. At that point, the Barnes and Noble community relations manager jumped in and asked the audience to keep their questions to the topic of prescription-drug abuse. They didn't. Twenty-year-old Fernando Mosquera stood up next and detailed his decade-long battle with Crohn's Disease, an autoimmune gastrointestinal condition. Mosquera's doctors give him prednisone, a powerful steroid intended only for short-term use. Mosquera told Hutchinson he relies on marijuana as the only effective treatment for pain and nausea. He, too, asked if he should be arrested for smoking marijuana to treat his illness. When Hutchinson replied by citing DEA-authorized studies on the issue, Mosquera interrupted: "I have a serious illness! Why won't you address my question?" The community relations manager then grabbed a microphone and tried to talk over Mosquera asking him to leave, at which point a red-faced Hutchinson walked out and left the building by way of a waiting car just outside. After Hutchinson left, Mosquera said, "I have been battling this illness for 10 years. I was disappointed that Mr. Hutchinson did not answer my question. I'm very frustrated because marijuana is the only medicine that gives me a normal life ... but my hands are tied by the DEA. They won't let me have the medicine that works best for me." Mirken was not exactly sympathetic to Hutchinson's plight at the meeting. "He showed himself to be a pathetic coward. ... All we asked is for Mr. Hutchinson to have a little bit of honesty and a little bit of candor. Apparently that's too much for him." --Brad Smith Note: Asa Hutchinson, DEA chief, abruptly departs from a book-signing after being peppered with a few too many questions about medical marijuana. DEA Chief Losses Another PR Battle.Source: San Francisco Frontiers Newsmagazine (CA)Author: Tim KingstonPublished: April 3, 2002 Vol. 20, Iss. 25 Copyright: 2002 Mercury Capital Publishing, Inc.Contact: sfeditor frontiersweb.comWebsite: http://www.frontiersweb.com/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmCannabisNews Articles - Asa Hutchinsonhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Asa
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Comment #27 posted by bruce42 on April 05, 2002 at 11:13:07 PT
kapt
Asa might hope that he actually shows up the panel, and i think that he is deluded enough to believe that he can. But he has shown himself to be nothing more than a figurehead, a puppet at best, of his agency. The scary part is that he thinks of himself as the man in charge... he actually believes the rhetoric he spews! The DEA has seen the "man in charge" come and go... they know that Asa is just a deluded fool and it just makes their job of controlling him easier.I don't doubt Asa is probably a smart guy, I mean he's no idiot, but I've known plenty of really smart people that don't have a lick of sense. That's how I see Asa- a smart guy, obviously a bit crazy, but lacking simple common sense.
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Comment #26 posted by Ethan Russo MD on April 05, 2002 at 10:41:17 PT:
Swampie
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence. I'd love to go, but the agenda for these things are set months in advance. I am quite happy to have Kevin Zeese represent my viewpoint, though. He's dynamite.
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Comment #25 posted by kaptinemo on April 05, 2002 at 09:05:38 PT:
I doubt he'd miss it, Swampie
If you do a Google search on the 'names' presented for the conference, it reads like an academic Who's Who of Reformers. Asa is odd man out. So at the risk of boring people, I ask again: What does Asa hope to accomplish? He will not be addressing the purblind, ignorant and easily bamboozled Rotary Club, rubber-chicken types; he's going up against the researchers he says don't exist, who are doing research he says doesn't have any merit into the supposedly nonexistant medical efficacy of cannabis. You could only do worse by smearing yourself with fish guts and jumping into a shark tank. Rhetorically, it'll have the same result.
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Comment #24 posted by Jose Melendez on April 05, 2002 at 08:13:21 PT
wrong link again:
here is the correct link to a picture of asa:http://www.taima.org/img/asa.gif
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Comment #23 posted by Jose Melendez on April 05, 2002 at 08:11:47 PT
more info on asa
see a picture of asa:http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/accent.html
More on Taima.org:http://www.taima.org/en/taimaorg.htm
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Comment #22 posted by Jose Melendez on April 05, 2002 at 08:09:42 PT:
asa = hemp
at which point a red-faced (DEA Administrator Asa)Hutchinson walked out and left the building by way of a waiting car just outside. fromThe character for MA/asa = hemp is an ancient Chinese pictogram*. It is composed of the madare radical (top and left) which represents a tilted roof and is used in the characters for words such as "house", "shop", "to live", etc. Under the "roof" are two small characters for "tree" which by themselves mean "small forest". Basically the character for hemp expresses the idea of a "small forest in or at one's house", a "domestic forest". This indicates that hemp must have been one of the earliest plants cultivated in ancient China, from where the Japanese writing system originated. 
Related characters are the ones for "to rub, scratch", "to brush, polish" as well as "demon, evil spirit" which is used in "magic", "witch", "devil" and "obstacle". This is because hemp was believed to keep away evil spirits, which is why it was used in many religious functions in the Shinto religion. 
 Taima is a Japanese word meaning "tall hemp", which means cannabis as opposed to other hemp-like plants such as flax or jute which are also often referred to by the more generic "asa". "Taima" is the legal term used in the relevant Japanese cannabis laws. The word is written using the characters DAI/TAI/oki = big and MA/asa = hemp. 
Hear how to pronounce "asa" in Japanese:http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/accent.htmlSee also:http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/accent.htmlNote: Sage, which is also said to ward off evil spirits, is high in caryophyllene oxide, a terpene which is a precursor to steroids and hormones. The sesquiterpene caryophyllene oxide is also present in lemon balm, sage, thyme, roses and (you guessed it) cannabis. Asthma inhalers often contain steroids. Just another shred of evidence...
poison is legal, WHY NOT POT?
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Comment #21 posted by SWAMPIE on April 05, 2002 at 06:51:55 PT
DRUG POLICY CONFERENCE QUESTION..
 Is there any way that we can get Dr.RUSSO to be included in the lineup?How about ED ROSENTHAL?We need to get some of our most prolific and knowledgable speakers in this ghastly situation to be able to speak the TRUTH!!!TAR AND FEATHERS aren't good enough,but they might work in this case if someone could figure out how to do it.We have a week.
  LETS ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SWAMPIE
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Comment #20 posted by kaptinemo on April 05, 2002 at 04:39:28 PT:
Thank you, Ekim!
I am definetly going to watch that one. I don't understand Asa; is he trying to commit political hara-kiri? He'll be rhetorically sliced to ribbons by people who've been sharpening their knives for decades...after being on the short, sharp and dirty end of the DrugWar stick for about as long. Maybe we should lobby C-SPAN to get them to carry it live...
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Comment #19 posted by ekim on April 04, 2002 at 19:36:22 PT:
James A. Baker III Institute Hosts Drug Policy Con
Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 09:58:47 -0500
From: "Kevin B. Zeese" Freinds:Unfortunately, CSPAN has decided not to air the James Baker Institute 
Conference scheduled for next week -- April 10-11. If you want to view the 
event you can watch it on-line at http://www.bakerinstitute.org. There is 
also information there regarding the schedule for the event.Below is our press release concerning the event. You are welcome to forward 
this post to those who you think will be interested.KevinFor Immediate Release:
April 4, 2002For Further Information:
Kevin Zeese, 202-332-2546
Doug McVay, 202-299-9780James A. Baker III Institute Hosts Drug Policy Conference April 10-11
DEA’s Asa Hutchinson To Debate Csdp President Kevin B. Zeese
First-Ever Public Dialogue Between Reform Organization and DEAWashington, DC: The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy will be 
hosting a conference, “Moving Beyond the War on Drugs,” that will bring 
together government, law enforcement officials, judges, academicians, 
healthcare experts, and representatives from drug policy organizations from 
around the world.The opening event of the conference will be a public dialogue between DEA 
Administrator Asa Hutchinson and Kevin B. Zeese, President of Common Sense 
for Drug Policy. This is the first time a DEA head has entered into a 
public dialogue with a leader of a reform organization.Through this conference the Baker Institute hopes to encourage discussion 
of this controversial issue and examine what is wrong – and right – about 
US drug policy. According to Baker Institute Senior Scholar and Rice 
University Professor William Martin, “As with so many of the programs 
hosted by the Baker Institute, we seek to bring together people who, 
despite their common interests in a topic, rarely, if ever, talk to each 
other.”Other scheduled speakers for this conference include California Judge James 
Gray; Ronald Earle, Travis County (TX) district attorney; Ethan Nadelmann, 
executive director of Drug Policy Alliance; Ernest Drucker, MD, director of 
Public Health and Policy Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; 
Marsha Rosenbaum, a drug education specialist; and other drug policy 
experts from around the US and around the world. Speakers from Australia, 
Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Switzerland will provide 
international perspectives.The conference will be webcast through the Baker Institute site at 
http://www.bakerinstitute.org . News media who want to attend should 
contact B.J. Almond in Rice University’s Office of News and Media Relations 
at 713-348-6770 or by emailing balmond r... .For more information on Common Sense for Drug Policy, check out our website 
at http://www.csdp.org/ . You can also read the latest CSDP public service 
ad, “Who Says We’re Winning The $19 Billion-A-Year War On Drugs?” at 
http://www.csdp.org/ads/whosays.htm .# # #
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Comment #18 posted by Dan B on April 04, 2002 at 12:53:25 PT:
Response to Robbie's Comment #4
Thanks, Robbie, for pointing out the hypocrisy of military logic. I can personally attest to everything that I read in your comment.As a young, incredibly naive and terribly depressed Army soldier in the late 1980s, I went on a drinking binge with a friend. We began our binge on the West side of town at the NCO club and worked our way across the German city of 600,000 (including the U.S. military presence there, which at the time was about half the city's population), stopping at every bar or night club we saw on the way. Remember, this is Germany, where beer is the main drink of choice, thus there were many stops. When we were about 2/3 across the city, we stopped at an Esso station and bought a liter of Jim Beam and took turns drinking from it as we made our way back to the barracks. It was about 4:00 a.m. when I remembered that I had to be at first formation at 6:30 a.m., so I went upstairs to sleep. I was sloppy drunk, to say the least.My roommate awakened me at 9:00 a.m. (finally--he had been trying since 6:00), and I hurriedly (in my still drunken state) threw on my uniform and ran downstairs (wobbly) to work. There, the staff sergeant saw that I was drunk (and probably stunk of alcohol to high heavens), scolded me, called the first sergeant over (he's the NCO who runs the company--about 400 people--so he's a bigwig), then told me to never do it again and sent me upstairs to sleep off my drunken state. I missed a full day of work, and I still was not punished beyond that. (This, by the way, was the beginning of my decision to stay away from alcohol completely, which I did for 11 years).But those who were caught with cannabis were not so lucky. On a first offense, I saw a sergeant get busted down to a no-rank private (a huge cut in pay), then was processed out under an other-than-honorable discharge. I saw an E-4 (a specialist, one rank below a sergeant) treated exactly the same way. It was one-strike-and-you're-out when it came to cannabis. Once, our chaplain led a weekend trip to Amsterdam, and the day after we got back everyone who went was forced to take a drug test. More were busted then and promptly shipped out.The Army didn't use the pretext of punishing drug users into getting help (not that the average cannabis user needs it--and certainly these guys didn't), but they were pissed off that these people dared to question the Army's control over their bodies. There was no pretext at all of trying to help anyone who used illegal drugs, like there was for alcohol (cigarettes were openly encouraged--"smoke 'em if you got 'em"). I can't tell you how many times I was reminded by the Army that I had no right to make personal decisions about my own life. I even had to get permission from my "superiors" to get married.The bottom line is that if you want freedom, ironically the last place you will find it is working for the one entity in this country that is supposed to protect it for the rest of us. Even if cannabis were legal in the United States, I would bet dollars to donuts that the military would still forbid it. They don't need a reason; they just do it--same as with everything else.Dan B
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Comment #17 posted by PAUL PETERSON on April 04, 2002 at 09:27:03 PT:
EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR ASBERGER'S: CANNABIS?
Oh, this is so00 good. This Asberger's sounds a little like either a 1) monomania, 2) OCD, 3) Tourette's, 4) overfocus issue, all of which I believe are well treated with cannabis- University of Iowa researchers (no names, they haven't published yet) told me a month ago that their spec studies on chronic use confirmed 1) usage does not cause structural changes in the brain, 2) no hard wiring of the stimulus reward circuit and 3) increased blood flow int eh ventral areas of the frontal lobes (the area for emotional "conversation" or activity), and other sources indicate increased utilization of dopamine in the "prefrontal cortex" (the main switching "yard"-which might help to remove the "overstuck" ideas mired in the mud of long dead thoughts that should have been moved off the road long ago-hey that was my own "visualization" of the thought, good, eh?). In other words, the best "therapy" for these people that can not seem to move on might be to induce cannabis into their diet, and then call me in the morning, eh? PAUL PETERSON
Cannabis might help cars stuck in the mud
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Comment #16 posted by goneposthole on April 04, 2002 at 08:15:23 PT
Napoleon Bonaparte
An Asperger syndrome victim?"If foresight were only as good as forethought."- Napoleon Bonaparte
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Comment #15 posted by kaptinemo on April 04, 2002 at 07:52:53 PT:
If this is true...
If Mr. Smith's appraisal of the mental composition of our opponents is correct, then it explains an enormous amount. It explains something else too...which he doesn't enter into in his article, save but fleetingly. Namely, why 'elites' believe themselves as such...and why they believe they have the right to call the tune - and punish you if you refuse to dance to it.My own brushes with this particular mental environment has caused me to classify antis as classic authoritarians. But not why they are. Now I know why.If his supposition is correct, then our opponents believe themselves to be mentally our superiors...because a lifetime of testing has told them they are. Academic Social Darwinism applied to the political sphere. They believe they have the right to tell everyone how to live because they have been told that they are smarter than the average American. Their lack of social skills (in this case, inability to debate) profoundly circumscirbes their ability to articulate their positions in anything but "I'm the (Mommy, Daddy, Bureaucrat, Congresscritter, Sin-a-tor, President, you fill in the blank), that's why!" As if fiat demands by putatively smart people were commensurate with discourse. Oh, but we don't need discourse; the 'smart people' have spoken...and we must listen to smart people, or we get into trouble.Like we have all along. Like we have with people who make policy concerning illicit drugs which have only dug a deeper rut in a process that's been tried throughout history with nothing but failure to show for it. But, being 'smart', they will find a way to make something work which others have failed at for millenia.We have been handed a major insight into our opponents. I strongly believe that buried within the article is the key to defeating them.
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Comment #14 posted by goneposthole on April 04, 2002 at 06:12:12 PT
dyslexic
that would be 'practitioner's' not practioner's.Joining the madness; I won't join. I can try to beat them.Asperger Syndromites are actually bithering idiots.
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Comment #13 posted by goneposthole on April 04, 2002 at 05:54:29 PT
think
"...the imperviousness of the practioner's thinking to outside fact or argument"An open mind is out of the question.Those Asperger Syndromites need help.
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Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on April 04, 2002 at 05:44:15 PT:
Continuing:
How did it happen that we have become cursed with a perseverating elite that endlessly repeats the same thoughts to whatever is said to it, and which insists on pursuing ideas well past any possible usefulness? Well, one theory is that the SAT has played a role, helping to choose an establishment that, while seemingly diverse, is actually disproportionately comprised of those of above average intelligence but who think life consists mainly of coming up with the right answers. In their own ways, both Clinton and Bush (not to mention Ted Koppel and Jim Lehrer) have manifested this disconnect between "policy," i.e. the right answer, and something called life which is in the end an imaginative and moral creation and not merely a technical problem.This is a matter of no little concern. Those of us still willing to let the empirical, the non-quantifiable, and the creative into our lives are being bullied, twisted, and threatened by a politically autistic confederacy at every level from the obdurate local bureaucrat to CNN with its propagandistic mantras parading as news to a president who doesn't know when to stop saying "terrorist." At its worst, the privatized and gated logic of our leaders is of the same ilk that once created a nation of good Germans willing to follow the pathology of a few. (Emphasis mine -k.)Silently, without argument or recognition, the logic of our nation has drastically changed - from "show me" to "tell me," from experience to propaganda, from the empirical to the virtual, and from debate and discussion to addictive perseveration. Our major choice at the moment is whether we, too, shall join the madness.Thank you, Mr. Smith. I couldn't have put it any better... 
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Comment #11 posted by kaptinemo on April 04, 2002 at 05:22:02 PT:
I've found a possible key to understanding
the antis:THE AUTISTIC CONFEDERACY
by Sam Smith
http://prorev.com/autistic.htmfrom the article:The French students who drew a connection between contemporary economics and autism have made one of the more profound observations of our time. Technically, the kind of autism exhibited by leading economists - and (although the students did not note it) leaders in politics and media - is called higher functioning autism or Asperger's Syndrome. Here are some professional descriptions:"Asperger's Syndrome, also known as Asperger's Disorder or Autistic Psychopathy, is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder characterized by severe and sustained impairment in social interaction, development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. These characteristics result in clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. In contrast to Autistic disorder (Autism), there are no clinically significant delays in language or cognition or self help skills or in adaptive behavior, other than social interaction. Prevalence is limited but it appears to be more common in males . . . Adults with Asperger's have trouble with empathy and modulation of social interaction - the disorder follows a continuous course and is usually lifelong . . . "...And it's far from just a matter of Reaganomics. Politics have come to be characterized by the serial introduction of small ideas of even smaller rationality but which soon find themselves elevated to iconographic status in everything from op ed pages to the federal budget. 
Among them: the fictional huge federal surplus, the even more fictional Bush tax cut, the false depiction of the status of Social Security, the enormously expensive capture and imprisonment (of) those who prefer marijuana to vodka, the very autistic assumption that counting student test scores is the same as educating students, and, most recently, an obsession with anti-terrorism to the detriment of every other aspect of American existence. (Emphasis mine -k.)Key to the Asperger style of politics and media is the constant repetition of thought patterns and the imperviousness of the practitioners' thinking to outside fact or argument. The technical name for this is perseveration which has been defined as "the persistent repetition of a response after cessation of the causative stimuli; for example, the repetition of a correct answer to one question as the answer to succeeding questions," an almost perfect description of what regularly occurs on your average Sunday talk show. A less technical but even more generally apt definition is "continuation of something usually to an exceptional degree or beyond a desired point."In other words, the anti mindset, neatly packaged and labeled for shipping.
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Comment #10 posted by Nuevo Mexican on April 03, 2002 at 22:42:03 PT
Breaking News and Speaking of Liars......
Asa is king, but folks, a holocaust is taking place almost in front of our eyes! bY THE BIGGEST LIARS EVER! SHRUB AND BUTCHERBOY. Not if you watch CNN, but check out the live reports from Jerusalem Indymedia (IGNORE THE ANTI-SEMITIC, COINTEL EMPLOYEE POSTS, THEY'RE RAMPANT) regarding the all out massacre of a population, (all with the financial support of billions of our tax dollars. We are complicite by our silence and inaction if we don't speak out now, wE WILL suffer the same fate! Tanks, cencorship, shoot to kill orders, targeting journalists and international peace activists', all your worst new world order scenarios! This is what we have all feared happening to us eventually and it is happening right now unabated an inflamed by bush and his hawkboys, Sharon and all! When people have nothing to lose, they will commit suicide rather than submit to murder. READ THIS:  
 http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/If C-News gets as many hits as the meter says, then let me say to all Cannabis users and medicators, Get this message out to the world: It's time to smoke a joint and get peaceful, lest we blow ourselves up over mutual misunderstandings. Stop the War! Stop the Slaughter Now! We won't be able to live with ourselves if we do nothing to stop this BLOODBATH IN PROGRESS!!!!! 
On 4/20! A huge anti-war protest is taking place in Washington and a smaller one in San Francisco, Here are the details:http://www.unitedwemarch.org/Let's make a point that Cannabis is missing from the mideast situation on 4/20. Fortunately, pot is associated with peace, love and chillin! It will be a natural for the media to blow up the connection as a pun-filled as usual approach to headlines and filler. Headline: One million people get high for Peace at 4/20 on 4/20! Make up one now, it's time to write the headlines for the lurking medias eyes! Write one here, see it next week! Bongs! Not Bombs! say One millions dancing Americans! Peace!
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 03, 2002 at 20:05:39 PT
p4me
I wish I knew when different people like Mr. Lewis were on a program. Like C-Span. I miss them all the time. If anyone knows of something happening on TV please post it even if the program has started and are you on line so others know. That would help many of us and me for sure.
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Comment #8 posted by p4me on April 03, 2002 at 19:59:21 PT
damned liars
I hate liars. It is like they think they have an extra tool to getting their way over people that are honest. And an experienced liar knows all the angles. I might as well call up the Schedule One Lie. You cannot say that marijuana has NO medical value. It is not true. Period. No is an absolute that says if it is good for nausea that is all that is needed. It does not have to be good for brain trauma, MS, Tourettes Syndrome, Chrones Disease, Irratable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, and others to defeat a NO value conclusion. And like I said, I hate liars and especially this governmental bull$hit when it affects the health of sick people. This lying is untolerable and those that support it have to be removed from public office including our Caveman of a president. If you let them lie once, they will keep lying.This is a link to Turmel's messageboard at yahoo:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MedPot/message/298
Today in BC the judge ruled that a person did not have to exhaust all the stupid hurdles that the government has thrown up to use medical marijuana. This guy had irratable bowel syndrome and the judge let him walk. Yes, you think I mispell irratable. It is just with Kapetino and EJ trying to flash their brilliance, I wanted to show everyone that I was smart enough to know how to spell some words two different ways. Where did Kapetino come up with that word he put up the definition for. And EJ had the one liner of the day about freedom from the press. I really should use Word, but then it may hide the raw emotion that comes from letting words fly.I was hoping someone would have mentioned the founder and Chairman of the Board of Progressive Corporation that was on Charlie Rose last night. His name is Peter Lewis and he appeared to be about 70 and is wealthy from his car insurance company. He mentioned how he would put up one dollar for every 3 of private money for the Gugenheim (I could spell that one three different ways)Museum that is to be built in New York and in his example said that if they raised 750 million he would contribute 250 million. When Charlie Rose first asked "Why are you interested in marijuana reform?," Lewis responded that he hoped that making marijuana legal would be one of his great contributions to society. He said that arrest went up from 400,000 in the 80's to over 700,000 now and that out of 2 million arrest a year, it was big stuff so to speak. CR asked him about MMJ and Lewis said that because of the lack of research we may not know all the medical uses of MJ. He cited three conditions helped by MJ. He started out with nausea for AIDS and cancer patients. He said that MJ was the absolute best medicine for glaucoma. He talked about research in the UK to come up with a spray for people with MS.CR asked him who were the public people on his side. He said one guy from Phoenix University and the wealthy guy that I cannot recall that always appears when they talk about money for reform- Sorenson maybe. It was a really interesting thing Peter Lewis said about when he tried talking to politicians about MJ. He said they did not want to talk about it because it had the capability to ruin their political career.Lewis did say that 30 to 50 million people use MJ in the US and said he did not know where the numbers come from. He was leading to a idea that if we legalize MJ, the other drug problems would become more manageable or comprehendable. CR called him on this asking "How do you know?." Lewis said he did not and went on.It was a good 5 minute piece for the voice of reason and there is a resemblance to what I put up.If someone copies this to Word to see my misspelling count and tries to make me look stupid, I say I am brilliant to be able to spell so many words in different ways. Of course you do not have to be brilliant to call Asa a liar about what he said in this article. It is way past obvious.VAAI
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Comment #7 posted by PAUL PETERSON on April 03, 2002 at 19:35:29 PT:
NICE TOUCH, MPP, wish u wur hear?
Oh what I would have given to have been there to see the red ring around the collar grow with each question posted so dear? And to have the meeting set around a literary event, almost reminiscent of those nightly sing song events in say, 1938 was it? when the stazzi-nazi folks would recycle (probably mostly hemp paged) books with the energy of modern day cub scout newspaper drives, the ones designed to save trees and supposedly save the earth, ah, and then there were those weeny roasts, I can almost smell the dog grease dripping onto and into the flames, oh those were the days-wait-wasn't I just watching Carmen Sandiago? Those arm bands weren't there a minute ago, aren't we protesting the Viet Nam war? Oh, I get it, Asa came here to start the pile of books on fire, not to sign them, he was going to say that every one of god's children has a patriotic duty to buy more pills, and make sure and get the 1/2 off special when you go down the aisle, for the side effects of the 1/2 of the pills when you take god's own medicines and adulterate the chemicals just so you can have a proprietary right to say the people can only buy at 1/2 off when the doctor has paid his 1/2 to the man, oh you get the idea, right? ITS A PROPERTY CRIME DUDE, DON'T YOU GET IT? I now know that the only way cannabis is ever going to be legal is if we pass a law, a good one at that, that sort of like the "product liability suits" assigns liability based on "market share" percentages, only here carves up the lucrative prescription drug market and then allows the current drug companies (new ones have no rights, you know, because if they aren't there now, they aren't yet bribing Asa and firends, and so we don't have to contend with them, huh?), to have a percentage stake in the new (we'll call it) the "PROPRIETARY PRESCRIPTION CANNABIS DRUG DEVELOPMENT" initiative (PPCDD)which allows the drug companies involved to privatize the DEA, and set up a cannabis monopoly with ruthless efficiency, designed to 1) fund aggressive research, 2) fund aggressive reeducation program-sort of like "four legs g-o-o-d, two legs b-a-a-d" went to (four legs good, two legs BETTER), 3) fund really quick drug development and "reintegration" of usage technologies to ameliorate harms, etc. and then 4) aggressive marketting of the stuff with rigid controls and regulation, with each company ensured to fund their % of costs, and to reap their % of profits, and ruthlessly sell this stuff (and really good consistent quality stuff) through the really good consistent existing health care monopoly system and at a low price (with huge taxes, of course) that drive down the illegal drug sellers' profits and get 99% of the marginal growers out of the system and therefore save America from the threat of world terrorism funded from the large illegal drug profits that now go as legal drug profits to the same people that try to keep cannabis illegal in this country although everybody, including Asa Hutchinson, knows it is a really good product, but that since drug companies can't own the patent, then they don't want to spend the money for research and then lose money (BUT NOW THEY EY ALL COME OUT LIKE GANG BUSTERS, DON'T THEY-AND BUST A LOT OF GANGS, DON'T THEY?) Whew-how am I doing Wally? eh? PAUL PETERSON
(PP IS A MM ADVOCATE IN THE LL-land of lincoln, and asks you to visit his web site for more stuff like this, and to learn more about the "9th column" the Illinois MM law that has been hidden and buried under the REAGAN BLACKOUT SANDS OF TIME since those storm troopers abolished the DDC back in 1984-that other George Orwell year, don't ya know!)
NOW I'VE GONE AND DONE IT OLLIE!
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on April 03, 2002 at 18:04:20 PT
Freedom Loves The Truth
Why did Asa leave? Because he knew he couldn't honestly answer those questions without showing just how cruel the establishment position is. Any decent person of conscience would've stayed & answered those questions. When confronted with the truth the antis cower & flee. Freedom has nothing to fear from the truth because the truth will set us free.(wow,that rhymes! - I don't know who said that last sentence but it is so very true.)
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Comment #5 posted by Dark Star on April 03, 2002 at 17:41:16 PT
Fair Game
If the bureaucrats have the audacity to speak in public and lie about cannabis, I see nothing whatever wrong with the prospect that concerned Americans will confront them at every turn.If every appearance were accompanied by questions like this from sick and dying people who use cannabis, what do you suppose will happen? Maybe they'll have to hide out with Dick Cheney, or skulk in the bushes out of the bright light of day that will not tolerate the lies, duplicity, hypocrisy and madness of the War on Drugs.
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Comment #4 posted by Robbie on April 03, 2002 at 16:21:56 PT
Thought I'd share...
This was posted in another forumI Lost A Man To Drugs TodayHe did not overdose. He did not drive "under the influence". I lost him not because of the drugs he used, but because of the laws about the drugs he used.
This young man is a excellent worker, up for promotion (deservedly so). He is intellegent, knows his job and his duty. But he tested positive for THC, the "active" ingredient for maruajuana(sp).His navy career is over. Due to the zero tolorance policy, he'll be thrown out shortly. He will have a "other than honorable" discharge. He will have no veterans benefits, no medical, just a bus ticket to his home of record for himself (not his wife!) and no way to move his household. He will be required to turn in all of his uniforms (and buy new ones if he doesn't have all of them), turn over his id and he will be escorted to the "blue line" that marks the base boundry and left there.10 years ago he would have been punished and fined. Now he's been ruined. With a "other than honorable" discharge, he can never work for a gov't contractor. And McDonalds is a gov't contractor.I'm sure he could be "treated" and "cured". I'm also sure that (if it weren't the law) he could perform his duties as he had been forever even with his habit. But we won't give him that chance. He's gone, lost to me and the navy, not because of drugs, but because of the rules against them.I can do nothing for this man. But I can ask for your support. Help get rid of these laws. The laws are doing more harm than the drugs they ban. If this man showed up to work hours late and too drunk to stand, he would not be discharged. He would be sent to bed to sleep it off and given a warning about losing workdays. If he drove drunk on base he would have been fined and restricted for a month. But he used pot, so he's out.I apologize for rambling, this was a good kid whose only mistake was believing he could beat a drug test. And now I'm left short handed not because he used something, but because of the navy's reaction to him using it.I'm pissed. I'm depressed. And oh so tired of this bull. Our Commander in Chief as much as admitted he used cocaine. If I used it, I would be out. He got away with it, and then signed laws that increased the punishment of people who use drugs after him. A murderer can get a college loan easier than a drug user. A murderer can get parole easier than a drug user.I'm so angry...http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=7006&forum=DCForumID40&omm=0
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Comment #3 posted by TaP2F on April 03, 2002 at 16:06:37 PT:
He won't answer because he knows he can't....
Mosquera told Hutchinson he relies on marijuana as the only effective treatment for pain and nausea. He, too, asked if he should be arrested for smoking marijuana to treat his illness. When Hutchinson replied by citing DEA-authorized studies on the issue, Mosquera interrupted: "I have a serious illness! Why won't you address my question?"The only true answer Hutchinson could give is "Yes, you should be arrested, because you are not using synthenic pharmaceutical products that contribute to American global corporations. Effective medicine that can be grown at home is a severe threat to the profitability of billion dollar companies."But he isn't stupid. He's cruel but calculating. He knows that, when confronted in the media with a real person who has tried all legal options and failed, there is nothing he can do but run away. Offering discredited studies is useless. There is no logical reason why someone who is in pain should suffer the tramau of imprisonment. His only options are to admit the ulterior motives behind the drug war, or get out of there quickly...
RealPlayer music - "The Irony of It All" - pro cannabis song
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on April 03, 2002 at 16:04:43 PT
Asa Hutchinson, think for yourself
The poor man must parrot the party line.If he wanted to stand and think for himself, he would quit his job.He should quit his job and open a medical marijuana club.If he would do that, he would be doing something.Think for yourself, Asa, don't let others do your thinking for you. You'll become addled.
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Comment #1 posted by DdC on April 03, 2002 at 15:46:03 PT
The ONLY way Assa can win a debate is avoiding it!
AsacondA
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/40/40163.gifAsa and Me
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread9898.shtmlThe conversion of Asa
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/12/hutchinson/index.htmlAsa Isa Assa 
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionprohibitionistwodjunkies.showMessage?topicID=31.topicAsa means hemp in Japan
http://www2.gol.com/users/joewein/hempjpn.htm
D.E.A.th Deceptions
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