cannabisnews.com: Let Them Smoke Dope





Let Them Smoke Dope
Posted by CN Staff on June 23, 2002 at 08:21:59 PT
By Derek Alexander
Source: Sunday Mail UK
Police officers have been told not to arrest anyone caught with cannabis for personal use, the Sunday Mail can reveal. All eight Scottish forces adopted the secret policy because they were wasting time arresting suspects with small amounts of the drug.Last night a source close to Justice Minister Jim Wallace confirmed cannabis has effectively been decriminalised in secret. Police have become frustrated after prosecutors binned 45,000 drug cases last year - one in five of all reported.
The source said: "There might not be a formal signed policy document from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland but that doesn't mean the policy is not in place."In an ideal world, every crime would be properly investigated and prosecuted. But we have to live in the real world where the possession of cannabis is no longer seen as a law enforcement priority."It means that if you don't have a record and there are no other offences involved you would be incredibly unlucky to be prosecuted for possession of cannabis."Last July, police in London adopted a "softly, softly" approach to cannabis possession, in an intiative sanctioned by the Home Office.Officers in Lambeth were instructed not to arrest cannabis users with small amounts for personal use.Local Metropolitan Police commander Brian Paddick was later suspended amid allegations that he had smoked cannabis, which he claimed were part of a smear campaign against him.Cannabis is due to be downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug by Home Secretary David Blunkett this summer.That would reduce the penalties for cannabis offences but police officers will still be required to send a report to the procurator fiscal when someone is caught in possession of the drug, even if it is a small amount.Yesterday, David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said: "Officers in urban areas are changing their attitudes to the use of cannabis."This could be because of the overworked legal system, but also because they want to focus on drugs like heroin and cocaine."Perhaps officers in rural areas will still adopt a hardline to cannabis use, but we've certainly been told that officers in urban areas are more tolerant."One senior police officer said: "As long as there's a public desire for us to prosecute people in possession of controlled substances - heroin, speed, ecstasy or cannabis - then the courts will be under huge pressure from the sheer volume of cases."The fact of the matter is that these cases are regularly being binned for administrative convenience because the courts can't handle the level of work being put to them."Last year, Strathclyde Police, which covers around half the country, reported around 12,000 people to the fiscal for alleged possession of cannabis.The total number of drugs-related cases, ranging from possession to trafficking of Class A drugs, to reach court in 2000 was 6500 - down a fifth from the peak of 8200 in 1997.Joe Grant, general secretary of the Strathclyde Police Federation, said: "We're are frequently hearing from officers that they're concerned and frustrated that the procurator fiscal is marking case no proceedings to expedite their workload."Tory Justice spokesman, Bill Aitken, said: "The use of cannabis is illegal. I find it deeply distressing that there should be, on the face of it, a back door approach to decriminalising drugs."Note: Scots police forces stop arresting cannabis users.Source: Sunday Mail (UK)Author: Derek AlexanderPublished: June 23, 2002Website: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/Contact: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/contactus/ Related Articles:Cannabis Cafe ‘Open in Weeks’ http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13154.shtmlEnd of 'Just Say No' Drugs War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12141.shtmlCity Must Go Dutch To Win The Drugs War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12183.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 23, 2002 at 21:45:08 PT
Richard
Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think god would look like that. If god looked like that lots more guys would pay attention! Just kidding. Too much! LOL!
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on June 23, 2002 at 20:43:45 PT
how do we find odds for Nevada pot law
Written in 1678, "THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS" by John Bunyan >From This World To That Which Is To Come 
Delivered Under the Simlitude of a Dream YOU CAN READ THE BOOK FREE HERE AT 4literature.net!
>>http://www.4literature.net/John_Bunyan/Pilgrim_s_Progress/http://www.4literature.net/John_Bunyan/Pilgrim_s_Progress/58.htmlThis book is the latest rage among "Fundamentalist Christians."            Unitarian minister and famous author Edward Everett
            Hale, was assigned in 1903 to be Chaplain of the 
U.S. Senate.            Once, when Hale was asked, "When you go to the 
Senate as Chaplain, what do you pray
            about?" And Hale answered:           'I will tell you. I go up to the Senate; I walk to 
the President's desk, and
            I am introduced by the President of the Senate to 
pray.            I get up, I take one look at the Senate, and then I 
pray for the people of the United States!"
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Comment #8 posted by Richard Lake on June 23, 2002 at 20:21:23 PT:
Picture of Her
God
Picture of Her
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Comment #7 posted by CorvallisEric on June 23, 2002 at 13:22:42 PT
God
I find the issue of God's gender interesting. A few years ago in California, my apartment overlooked a playing field often used by an obviously conservative religious youth group on Sundays. They once sang Dishwalla's "Counting Blue Cars" which includes:
Tell me all your thoughts on God
'Cause I would really like to meet her.
And ask her why we're who we are.
Tell me all your thoughts on God?
'Cause I am on my way to see her.
So, I opened my ears wide and - sure enough - they changed "her" to "him."
My theory is that anyone who sometimes refers to God in the feminine is:
1 - interesting, different, liberal, thoughtful, provocative (take your pick)
2 - someone John Ashcroft probably wouldn't like (well, whoop-de-do!)
3 - much more likely to support legal cannabis
4 - in the minority (2 percent? 49 percent?)
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 23, 2002 at 11:03:31 PT
Creed
Hi Richard! God is where you find her! That's funny! Thanks I needed a laugh. I remember when God came down from Heaven and became visible to the people of South Park. God was really funny looking and the people said Oh God we didn't think you would look like that and God said What did you think I looked like?It was funny.A Creed is a set of beliefs that you know the church bases it's teaching ways upon. How else does a person know if they believe what the church teaches without a creed? See what I mean.Without a creed anyone who has the ability to make him or herself a leader in the church can teach what they feel as an individual as a doctrinal belief if that makes sense?
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Comment #5 posted by Richard Lake on June 23, 2002 at 10:54:34 PT:
God is where you find her
*smile*Not much up on creeds myself. Glide has an in resident rabbi and Catholic priest, both of whom participate in the services. I have seen well known supporters of reform talk and sing at services. Just a kewl church, which some of the more traditional Methodist churches tried to throw out at one time.I feel about as close to God as it gets when I use a little herb.
ChristiansForCannabis
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 23, 2002 at 10:38:38 PT
Thanks Richard
I have friends that are Methodist. They are very open minded compared to fundamentalist churches. I guess I don't understand how a church doesn't need to have a creed. I was raised Catholic and we studied religion everyday. It was required. I learned to question many things because of progressive thinking teachers that were either nuns or priests. Now a days I can't imagine what religion class would be like in a catholic school with the sex scandal. 
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Comment #3 posted by Richard Lake on June 23, 2002 at 10:20:06 PT:
Unitarian Universalists
From their webpages:With its historical roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions, Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion -- that is, a religion that keeps an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. We are a "non-creedal" religion: we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. Our congregations are self-governing. Authority and responsibility are vested in the membership of the congregation. Each Unitarian Universalist congregation is involved in many kinds of programs. Worship is held regularly, the insights of the past and the present are shared with those who will create the future, service to the community is undertaken, and friendships are made. A visitor to a UU congregation will very likely find events and activities such as church school, day-care centers, lectures and forums, support groups, poetry festivals, family events, adult education classes and study groups. -----I know that they have churches everywhere. I first ran into them many years ago, about 1969, when I was getting ready to address house and senate committees of congress and needed support for printing of the written documents. The UUs found what I needed and were a great help.Personally, I belong to Glide Memorial United Methodist Church http://www.glide.org/ which does much similar good work. Indeed it is a church with an outreach that very rare
- please check out the link to see what I mean.But if it was not for Glide, I would probably join a UU church.Richard 
Unitarian Universalist Association 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 23, 2002 at 09:42:40 PT
Question
I don't understand what this organization believes. Are they a Christian based organization? I understand Rastafarians but I don't understand this Church's beliefs. Is it a Church? 
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Comment #1 posted by Richard Lake on June 23, 2002 at 09:34:29 PT
Unitarian denomination endorses major drug policy 
-------- Forwarded message -------- Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 09:47:51 -0400 From: Charles Thomas Subject: Great news! UUA's drug policy Statement of Conscience passes intactDear friends,I'm still here in Quebec City, where the UUA passed the drug policy reform Statement of Conscience yesterday. While a few UUs made a sincere attempt to defeat it and/or delete the most favorable parts, UUDPR successfully persuaded the necessary two-thirds majority of delegates to vote to pass it intact.There were some minor word changes in some parts, so the final version will not be on our web page until this evening. However, the best excerpts appear in our news release, below.We'll be faxing our release tonight and pitching reporters on Monday. Please flood your local newspapers with letters-to-the-editor this week. (To learn the most effective ways to right letters-to-the-editor on the drug issue, see http://www.mapinc.org ).Many thanks to all of you who helped to make this possible.Now the real work begins: public advocacy of the UUA's positions, including outreach to other denominations and working with the drug policy reform movement on local, state and national endeavors. Our new full-time communications director, Rose Deavers, and I will be e-mailing and calling you when there are important opportunities for you to take action!Peace,Chuck Thomas, executive director Unitarian Universalists for Drug Policy Reform (UUDPR) http://www.uudpr.org 301-270-1209For Immediate Release June 24, 2002Unitarian Universalist Association Breaks New Ground in Drug Policy ReformDenomination Calls for an End to the Drug War: "Remove Criminal Penalties"June 22, 2002 The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations passed a Statement of Conscience calling for "Alternatives to the War on Drugs." The religious denomination representing more than 1,000 congregations throughout the United States declared, "We do not believe that drug use should be considered criminal behavior."The comprehensive Statement of Conscience was passed at the 2002 General Assembly of the denomination (headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts) by a two-thirds majority of delegates from the congregations. Recognizing that "the consequences of the current drug war are cruel and counterproductive," the Statement calls for "alternatives that regard the reduction of harm as the appropriate standard by which to assess drug policies."The denomination's Principles recognize the "worth and dignity of every person" and advocate "justice, equity and compassion in human relations." The Statement of Conscience declares that the punitive, coercive drug policies of the United States violate these core religious principles.Specific proposals include:-- "Establish a legal, regulated, and taxed market for marijuana. Treat marijuana as we treat alcohol."-- "Remove criminal penalties for possession and use of currently illegal drugs, with drug abusers subject to arrest and imprisonment only if they commit an actual crime (e.g., assault, burglary, impaired driving, vandalism)."-- "Drug use, drug abuse, and drug addiction are distinct from one another. Using a drug does not necessarily mean abusing the drug, much less addiction to it. Drug abuse issues are essentially matters for medical attention. We do not believe that drug use should be considered criminal behavior."-- "Make all drugs legally available with a prescription by a licensed physician, subject to professional oversight. End the practice of punishing an individual for obtaining, possessing, or using an otherwise illegal substance to treat a medical condition," and allow "medically administered drug maintenance" as a treatment option for drug addiction.This groundbreaking Statement of Conscience goes beyond what any other religious denomination has thus far adopted. Unitarian Universalists plan to encourage other people of faith to follow suit."We are hopeful that this powerful Statement will pave the way for other denominations to join the movement for more just and compassionate drug policies," said Charles Thomas, executive director of Unitarian Universalists for Drug Policy Reform, the denomination affiliate that facilitated the congregations' study and development of the Statement of Conscience. "Drug abuse can be a serious problem for some people, but it should be dealt with as a health issue, not a crime." 
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