cannabisnews.com: Alcohol and Pot: Our Guilty Pleasures





Alcohol and Pot: Our Guilty Pleasures
Posted by CN Staff on July 15, 2002 at 08:47:42 PT
By Marianne Meed Ward -- Toronto Sun
Source: Toronto Sun 
Summer and smoking pot. They go together like backyards and barbecues, and it's usually when I'm in the former, huddled over the latter, that the telltale smells come wafting up from the ravine behind the house. Or is that the residual smell of garbage from T.O? No matter. The pot smells have been pretty scarce lately. And no wonder, what with the $95-million drug bust last week in Hamilton, and parts of Quebec and Nova Scotia. Most of it was pot and marijuana plants, with some cocaine and hash thrown in. 
The bust took two years of investigation. Some marriages don't last that long. So you have to credit the police for a job well done. Even if there are a lot of highly distressed university students who'll have to get through summer school without the frat house answer to Prozac. Okay, that wasn't fair. I bet there are a lot of CEOs at major companies who use drugs, too. (If not before, then certainly after all the scandals broke.) Abuse of rights  Not that we'll ever know. You see, on the day of the bust, the Canadian Human Rights Commission declared that employee drug and alcohol tests (at federally regulated companies or public services, anyway) are an abuse of rights. Who's to know when you had that joint? Was it on the job or off? And was it even yours, or did you breathe in when the guy next to you exhaled? Random drug testing won't tell you any of this. (A padded room with Britney Spears piped in 24 hours a day, maybe.) Alcohol is another matter, though. Tests do show whether it is present in the body, which is a good thing to know if, say, you're sending someone off to steer an oil tanker or pilot an airplane or oversee a nuclear reactor. So alcohol testing - though only for safety sensitive jobs - can proceed. For once, the commission did something sensible and for the right reasons. Then it had to mess it all up with some truly cockamamie provisions. Like the fact you can't be fired for being drunk while, say, testing contaminants in the water. You have to be rehabilitated - then given your job back. It's a very charitable idea (positively Christian, in fact). But I tend to take the zero tolerance approach to messing with hundreds of other people's lives. One strike, and you're out of any jobs that involve public safety. Go be a garbage collector. (Wait: that does involve public safety. Oh, never mind.) The Ontario Human Rights Code goes one better (for the employee). Drug and alcohol abuse is considered a disability, so you can't be refused work because of it. Of course it's a disability; that's why people do it: to disable whatever it is that's making them miserable. Or, as Paul Newman said in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: "I drink till I get that 'click.'" There are disabilities and then there are disabilities. The kind that doesn't impair judgment - like you can't move your legs - shouldn't bar you from safety sensitive work. The kind that does, should. Meanwhile, as all this was happening last week, the Brits relaxed their marijuana laws so users will only get a warning, while police focus on harder drugs. Good for them. But all this talk of drugs and alcohol (besides making me hungry and thirsty) makes me think we English-speaking Judeo-Christian types are awfully conflicted about our guilty pleasures. We can't decide whether drug and alcohol use is a crime or a birth defect, a medicinal aid or the biggest threat to public health and safety since the inventions of poutine and takeout coffee in those really thin cardboard cups. I'm not the my-genes-made-me-do-it type, but for consistency's sake, I'd vote for legalized pot. It's far less harmful than alcohol, which is legal. And anyway, for my money, I'd rather the cops spend their time tracking down corporate criminals, and leave the boys in the ravine to their rites of summer. Note: One's legal, and one's not, but maybe our laws have it backwards.Marianne Meed Ward, a freelance writer with an interest in social and ethical issues, appears Mondays. Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)Author: Marianne Meed Ward -- Toronto SunPublished: July 15, 2002Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: editor sunpub.comWebsite: http://www.fyitoronto.com/torsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Canadian Human Rights Commissionhttp://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/At Last, The Toke Can Be Toldhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13417.shtmlRights Watchdog Bans Workplace Drug Testshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13373.shtmlOil Company Defends Drug Tests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13372.shtml
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 22:33:16 PT
freedom fighter
I agree that Tom and Rollie must be smiling. It's just so special. I'm so happy for them. How wonderful.
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Comment #22 posted by freedom fighter on July 15, 2002 at 22:25:29 PT
Tom and Rollie
must be smiling...You, FoM!, rocks!ff
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 22:01:16 PT
Just a Comment
Hi Everyone,
This has been an active thread and I wanted to comment on this article mr greengenes posted on another thread. Everyday I hope that somehow and someway that Cannabis News makes a difference. I never expected that it would be an important tool in reuniting a Father and Daughter that hadn't seen each other for 17 years. I can't describe how good that makes me feel. Please take a minute and read this article. We are making a difference in ways we never expect.After 17 Years, Dad Locates Daughter
Tribune story of Rainbow Farm standoff leads to reunion
By CHRISTINE COX, Tribune Staff Writer 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It almost doesn't seem right to link the pain of the shooting deaths at Rainbow Farm last September to the joyful reunion of a father and the grown daughter he hadn't seen since she was 2 years old.
But Rick Hunkler of Texas may never have met his 19-year-old daughter, Vanessa Alham of Nashville, if it weren't for the Rainbow Farm events. The tenacity of his tough Texas girlfriend, a story in The South Bend Tribune and other touches of fate contributed as well.
Excerpt
Vanessa spoke with a Tribune reporter about Rainbow Farm. Her comments were published in a Sept. 5 story, which would become a key to her reunion with her father.
Excerpt
The hit
She got one direct hit from the Internet search. Cannabisnews.com had the Sept. 5 South Bend Tribune story listed on its site. The story identified Vanessa as being 18 and from Quincy. Rogers had a feeling she had struck gold.
Complete Article: http://southbendtribune.com/stories/2002/07/14/local.20020714-sbt-FULL-A1-After_17_years__.sto
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Comment #20 posted by qqqq on July 15, 2002 at 20:14:44 PT
..InterGalactic Planetary SeaHorse Drifter....
...just listened to some SuperClassic Curtis Mayfield....from the Superfly soundtrack!...Freddies Dead,,,and 'Pusherman'.."...Secret stash,Heavy bread,,baddest bitches in the bed,,,I'm yo pusherman...."....Now,,it's time to put on Electric Ladyland...really loud!...Still Raining,Still Dreaming
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Comment #19 posted by goneposthole on July 15, 2002 at 20:01:06 PT
market hangover
President Bush was blaming the excesses of 1990's for the current downturn in the markets, the Clinton years. Hogwash. I guess he likes to pass the buck a lot. Where does the buck stop, Mr. Bush?I find it interesting that he has no son. Not his fault, but he won't mind sending someone else's son of to a hellfire place. Eh?Time to end this prohibition maddness.
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 19:53:26 PT
Thanks ekim
I posted it. I think Arianna is brilliant. She is really aware of how things are and isn't afraid to say it.Go Arianna!
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Comment #17 posted by ekim on July 15, 2002 at 19:16:26 PT
arianna
. Please join me in calling for action
at:  http://www.moveon.org/jailthebastards/>Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 15:07:35 -0500
>From: Arianna Huffington 
>Subject: Arianna's Latest Column
>Sender: owner-news listman.pconline.com
>Crime And (Very Little) Punishment
>
>By Arianna Huffington
>
>Send the bastards to jail! At least, so goes the refrain from America's
>newest anti-corporate activists -- the Senate, the House, and the
President.
>Clearly, corporate crime is finally starting to register on pollsters'
>seismographs because suddenly all of official Washington is high on
>corporate punishment -- drunk on the idea of tossing CEO scofflaws in the
>slammer. The Big House is all the rage, with politicians on both sides of
>the aisle dancin' to the jailhouse rock.
>
>A day after President Bush took Wall Street to the woodshed and proposed
>doubling the maximum prison term for mail fraud and wire fraud, the Senate
>did him one better, voting 97-0 to adopt stiff new criminal penalties for
>securities fraud, document shredding and the filing of false financial
>reports.
>
>"Somebody needs to go to jail," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle intoned
>ominously. "We're going to shackle them and take them to jail," growled
>House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, sounding like he couldn't wait to slap on
the
>handcuffs himself.
>
>The new consensus along that other Axis of Evil, the one connecting
>Washington and Wall Street, is that very publicly hauling a few corporate
>crooks off to jail would be a very good thing for the market, for the
>economy -- and for our political leaders' reelection prospects.
>
>Count me in with the law-and-order crowd. The question is, how many of
>corporate America's new breed of robber barons will ever actually see the
>inside of a jail cell? If the past is indeed prologue, the answer is very,
>very few.
>
>In the last ten years, the Securities and Exchange Commission -- which,
>despite being the government's top corporate watchdog, doesn't have the
>authority to toss even the worst Wall Street cheaters in jail -- turned 609
>of its most offensive offenders over to the Justice Department for
potential
>criminal prosecution. Of those, only 187 ended up facing criminal charges.
>And of those, only 87 went to jail. Eighty-seven. In 10 years. And most
>white-collar criminals land in one of those ritzy country club prisons,
>where inmates play tennis and make collect calls to their brokers all day.
>
>So despite the PR value of pumping up maximum sentences for corporate
>crimes, it's not going to make much of a dent in boardroom thievery since
so
>few of the perpetrators will ever face criminal prosecution. For a corrupt
>corporate chieftain crunching the numbers, the odds will still justify the
>crime. Doubling the penalties for those convicted of crimes that are so
>rarely prosecuted is not serious reform.
>
>And just why are most prosecutors so reluctant to take on these kinds of
>cases, passing up more than half of the ones the SEC sends their way? Well,
>for one thing, proving fraudulent intent is tricky business -- and in
>criminal cases, it has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
>
>For another, with rare exceptions, most prosecutors just don't have either
>the passion for making corporate criminals pay or the mindset that these
>kinds of crimes are worth the hassle of pursuing them. Too busy busting
>prostitutes in New Orleans, perhaps? Even New York Attorney General Eliot
>Spitzer, one of the few who has shown a willingness to take on Wall
Street's
>elite, allowed Merrill Lynch to walk away with a fine but without having to
>admit guilt for brazenly misleading investors -- even though Spitzer had
the
>bankers dead to rights.
>
>Plus, prosecutors like to win. When they go after a corporate player, they
>know they'll be locking horns with the best legal talent that billions can
>buy -- not running roughshod over some overworked public defender. It's a
>high-stakes game that many aren't willing to play.
>
>Compare this tip-toeing on eggshells with the ardor with which our criminal
>justice system pursues even the lowest-level drug offenders. In 2000 alone,
>646,042 people were arrested in America for simple possession of marijuana.
>And while the Drug Enforcement Administration has a budget of $1.8 billion,
>even with the extra $100 million Bush wants to toss its way, the SEC will
>have to make do with $513 million.
>
>The sentencing side of the criminal justice ledger exhibits the same
>inequity: the average sentence for even the biggest white-collar crooks is
>less than 36 months; nonviolent, first time federal drug offenders are sent
>away for over 64 months. So much for letting the punishment fit the crime.
>
>The bitter truth is that, unlike the majority of nonviolent drug cases,
>corporate malfeasance is not a victimless crime. Not with tens of thousands
>of laid-off workers, $630 billion lost from corporate pension plans, and
>more than $4 trillion in shareholder assets wiped out in the scandal-fueled
>stock market swoon.
>
>So when it comes to rooting out corrupt corporate kingpins, will the
>president's new "financial crimes SWAT team" have the stomach for the
fight?
>Can we expect to see undercover "narc-accountants" infiltrating what's left
>of the Big Five accounting firms? Middle of the night no-knock raids on
>companies that restate their earnings by billions of dollars? Confiscation
>of an executive's entire assets simply on the suspicion of fraud? Will
>corporate cops get to emulate their drug fighting counterparts and be
>allowed to keep a percentage of the money they confiscate? I bet that would
>help change the reluctance to target corporate corruption.
>
>Here's the bottom line: our political leaders' tough talk notwithstanding,
>are we really serious about declaring war on corporate crime? Or are we
>merely going to toss Martha Stewart in jail and move on?
>
>---------------
>To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit
>www.ariannaonline.com/columns/maillist.html. If you have any questions or
>comments, please contact me at arianna ariannaonline.com
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 18:45:59 PT
Stock Market
Today when Bush was talking the stock market dropped around 100 points. It recovered to a degree but it won't stay recovered. If they decide to go get Saddam and they have to start up the draft again then implements of destruction will make the economy rebound. War is good for the economy or so they say. It's going to be hard for them to push this corporate scandal away but they will try. Let's hope they don't succeed. Bush sure compares things to drinking has anyone noticed that? I sure hope he isn't doing drugs or drinking and making important decisions under the influence. Carrie Fisher (sp) on PI one night a while back said why people that drink do coke. She said so they can drink more. That's scary.Glad you live on another planet too dddd.
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Comment #15 posted by goneposthole on July 15, 2002 at 18:38:52 PT
GSS
A stock symbol (don't ask me what it stands for right now) is trading about a buck seventy. It is a resources company. It may be a buy. Get in now, if you want to. I don't. We are nowhere near the bottom.As cash becomes scarce, gold prices may also plummet along with oil prices. The markets are finished. This is survival, nothing else.Buy cannabis for your medicine. You know the old saying.
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Comment #14 posted by dddd on July 15, 2002 at 18:36:17 PT
..Outer Space....
..."How can I say this without seeming like I live on another planet but I'll try.
" ...FoM...I'm from that planet,so dont ever worry about sounding strange....I know what you mean......
 
 
.........The next couple of weeks are going to be extraordinary!......Watch as the shrub empire does some weird Iraq thing to detract from the financial shocker!...The empire will be scrambling in grotesque ways to try and cover its criminal ass!!...It's going to be tragicly delightful,,and disturbingly astounding!...d....ddd
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Comment #13 posted by CorvallisEric on July 15, 2002 at 16:58:45 PT
Gold price
I heard something interesting on radio in the early 1980's about gold. The guy's view was that there are thousands of abandoned gold mines all over the world, each of which has a price, in dollars per ounce of gold, to reopen them profitably. Many of them are in the range of $250. The result is greater long-term price stability than you would otherwise think. Unfortunately, gold mining is very nasty to the environment, especially in the third world, so the world might be a little better place if prices didn't rise much and people could grow hemp instead.
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Comment #12 posted by Lehder on July 15, 2002 at 16:46:33 PT
meltdown
I hope you're right, dddd, because we just might get rid of Bush and a lot of Congress in November if people are unhappy. It's too bad Americans don't give a shit until it hurts them financially. that's why we need a 'meltdown' before the drug war can be tamed. Until Americans are hurting, losing jobs and houses, it's nothing but their goddamn religion, their flag, television, sports, and the evils of drugs - now here are the wages of ingnorance and inattention. Besides the stock market, the US dollar is sick - and fewer and fewer foreigners are interested in investing their money here. Two years ago they were sending 2 billion dollars a day, now only about half that and shrinking. The dollar itself has lost 15% this year against the euro, another little problem for Bush. And the budget surplus for four or five years running in now a $165 billion deficit. The government's usual treatments for these problems ( and others like the record trade deficit) individually contradict themselves and exacerbate the associated problems when they arise together, as they nowhave. It really presents some problems for a corrupt government and it's all very interesting. Don't worry about the 1 & 2 George Bushes' money though: they know how to make a profit on any sort of destruction.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 16:46:18 PT
dddd
How can I say this without seeming like I live on another planet but I'll try.The stock market is not real. It is an illusion of the dreams and hopes of many people who have put their money into it in hopes of a prosperous future. I don't know how people don't see that only tangible things are worth money. One time Bill Gates was on Jay Leno and Leno asked him about all the money he was worth and how it felt. Bill Gates said I'm not worth that amount of money and smiled and that's all he said that I remember but it was true. Food, clothing, shelter, and things to alter reality are worth money but what else is really? 
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Comment #10 posted by dddd on July 15, 2002 at 16:31:41 PT
....MELTDOWN!...
......we aint seen nothing yet,,,,this week is going to be stunning ......remember how the employees and investors in Enron got fucked,,well ,I think that is going to happen on a national scale!...I think we have just seen the tip of the iceberg!....Millions of people who thought they were rich,,will all of a sudden face the cold brutal fact,that their money is GONE!.......Most of the people who were thrilled by the fact that the stock market had made their money multiply in a fantastic way,,,will now realize,,that the money they thought they made,,was not really there,,and and quick as this money was "made",,will be as quickly lost!...I predict the financial shock er will be the story of the century!..it will make 9/11 look boring!...All of a sudden,,millions of American Idiots will start to wake up,,and realize that they have been getting fucked by the empire!...The Evil Empire!!!!!!! 
 
...All the monsters of creative accounting are going to continue to emerge from the closets of US corporations.. I think that people who say that things will get better,,and the market will "rebound",,are idiots!.....This is going to be big! bigger than anyone thinks!!.. and.. as usual,,,it aint gonna be pretty!...d..d...d...d 
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 15:04:08 PT
Dan
I'm glad your employment hopes are good. I know you have had problems and I don't like to think that you and your wife are struggling after all you've been through. How is your dog? I called her Texas Belle and then I read your call her Liberty. My dog is fine and we love him to pieces. The other night my husband had gone to bed and I was watching tv with my dog and he came out and asked me why I was still up and I laughed and said we (dog and me) are watching tv. He said what. I said look at him. He laughed then. There was a program about dogs on the Discovery Channel and he just kept watching it and even when he laid his head down his eyes were still on the tv. I never had a dog watch a tv program before!
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Comment #8 posted by Dan B on July 15, 2002 at 14:51:56 PT
I hear you FoM
Absolutely. Unemployment is a major indicator of economic stability--and since Bush took office, unemployment has risen about (in raw numbers) 1.6%, from 4.2% to 5.8%, or about 38% higher than it was under Clinton. See this web page for more economic disgraces brought on by the Bush administration:http://www.awolbush.com/economy.htmlUnemployment is another strong indicator that the stock market will fall. You are correct to consider unemployment figures as more important than stock market figures since, ultimately, the fact that fewer people have jobs will strongly impact all other elements of the economy, including the stock market.By the way, I now have a job for next year, and it looks like I will have at least one book (a course guide for a poetry class) under my belt by the end of this year--possibly two (if I manage to get my book of poetry published). The publications increase my chances of getting a good job in a university or college somewhere, and those jobs are somewhat more secure than those we find in the private sector. We'll see. I have a great deal more hope for a job this year than I had last year. Believe it or not, job opportunities for English have increased over the past few years. Here's hoping!Dan B
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 14:35:15 PT
Dan 
My opinion of our countries strength is based upon employment. How many blue and white collar jobs are really out there? Not many. My husband worked for General Electric for 10 years until they decided to close the plant and move to Mexico. Then we went into business for ourselves because what else could we do? You don't close a plant in a small town that had the benefits and pay of GE and expect the people to bounce back. Working for yourself is really hard but I don't have regrets even though the tough times were really tough.
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Comment #6 posted by Dan B on July 15, 2002 at 14:14:54 PT:
FoM
I know what you mean about the stock market. I told my Dad a few months ago that a big crash was going to come within what was then the next six months or so. I'd say that a loss of 1700 points is well on its way to a major crash.One might say, but wait--the Dow closed down just 45 points today, not the 400 points it was down just a couple of hours before closing. That must mean that the economy can bounce right back.Wrong, wrong, wrong.The bounce back that we saw today in the Dow is likely caused by certain members of the government, IMF, and other interested parties propping up the system by dumping a bunch of money into the stock market when it gets shaky--but there is little in the way of actual company value backing up that reactionary inflation. It's all smoke and mirrors, and eventually the mirrors are going to break. Right now, just 1 percent of polled investors say that they are 'very confident' in the practices of those who head those companies. That means 99 percent are not 'very confident,' and that spells trouble for the stock market in the long run. Expect more disclosures of wrongdoings by CEOs, CFOs and accounting firms, followed by a continued lack of consumer confidence and a plunge in the stock market. It will go up a day or two, but it will slump the majority of the time, and within the next three months, there will be a significant decrease in the Dow, NASDAQ, and the Standard and Poor's 500.Anyone who invests should remember this principle; the economy is only as good as you can make the majority of the people believe it is.What does this spell for cannabis users? Well, it means that people will be focused on the economy for a while, and many other important issues, cannabis legalization among them, may take a back seat. Then again, the majority of the people may eventually make the connection between frivolously abusive systems of government, like the war on some drugs, and the failing economy, and we may see a backlash against current policies. I'll just say this: it's a lot easier to make predictions about the stock market than it is to predict policy changes, but I'm hoping for the best.For those looking to invest, here is my advice (I'm not educated in this area, but certainly my opinion is based on years of observation and plenty of reading): invest in gold. Gold will go through the roof in the coming months, as it always does when stocks hit the floor.All financial advice is freely given with no charge and no guarantees. Dan B
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on July 15, 2002 at 13:13:38 PT:
The things to watch are gold prices
Presently, gold is actually being held down in price artificially...by people who stand to gain very handsomely when they have seen their normal stock options deteriorate in value...then step back.When gold starts rising, it could be a precipitous climb...so anyone who already had some at todays artificially low prices amy expect to see the kind of return it once provided in the late 1970's...and for the exact same reason that Uncle is running the printing presses on overtime, producing way too many Federal Reserve Notes and increasing inflation to 'pay' for raids on Social security and other 'trust' funds.Very dangerous times ahead...I'd suggest you start adding a few more canned goods to your shopping cart and squirrelling them away; you may need them before long...
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Comment #4 posted by bongathon on July 15, 2002 at 09:56:18 PT
bb or britny
Ahh, a padded room with Britney piping...heaven!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 09:32:56 PT
Wow The Stock Market
When Bush was speaking the stock market dropped around 100 points. It's down 331 points as I type this now. Is there a bottom line that will determine if the stock market crashed like it did way back when people jumped out of buildings? I can't remember the year. It's now at 8370.I'm glad I never put faith in the stock market.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 15, 2002 at 09:13:49 PT
kapt
I know how wise you are and you're right!PS: I wish my Dan Gardner series was unsnipped but it isn't and it was a good series. The more the powers that be try to stop us the more papers stand up and give us great articles. I love the Globe and Mail anymore!
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on July 15, 2002 at 09:08:52 PT:
And just as predicted  :)
In the previous article, I made comment as to the idea that this kind of 'human interest' article will become more commonplace, putting a human face on facts and figures...and introducing you to your 'criminal' neighbors...who ain't so 'criminal', now are they?And, right on schedule, here's another such article...one of a flood I expect will fill the Canadian media. Which will in turn influence legal matters. And lead to the dis-assembling of anti-cannabis laws in Canada very shortly.British Columbia's looking better all the time...
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