cannabisnews.com: Pot Issue Still Smoking, Justice Minister Says





Pot Issue Still Smoking, Justice Minister Says
Posted by CN Staff on September 23, 2002 at 19:42:09 PT
By Allison Lawlor, Globe and Mail Update
Source: Globe and Mail 
Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon reiterated to a world forum on drugs Monday that Ottawa is still examining the decriminalization of marijuana. Mr. Cauchon told the World Forum on Drugs and Dependencies being held in Montreal that some international conventions subscribed to by Canada would make legalization unlikely. 
"We have to make sure as a government that whatever will take place in the future, we have to respect those commitments," he said.Mr. Cauchon said while some countries have already decriminalized pot, Canada is still studying the matter."We have to look at that question and take into consideration the overall situation, in the sense that there's a question of public health involved."Mr. Cauchon said he is also looking forward to receiving the report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the non-medical use of drugs.The committee was scheduled to report to Parliament in November.The World Forum on Drugs and Dependencies, which runs until Friday, brings together some 700 panelists and 3,000 delegates from 70 countries to look at the growing problem of illicit drugs and other legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco and compulsive gambling.According to a recent UN study, as many as 185 million people take illicit drugs, with 147 million consuming marijuana and 33 million taking amphetamines or 'speed' — stimulants that speed up activity in the nervous system, followed by 13 million taking cocaine and 13 million taking opiates (of which 9 million took heroin). The estimates are included in the Global Illicit Drug Trends 2002 report released by the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.The UN report also found that Afghanistan has returned to the top position as a world producer of opium thanks to the power vacuum last fall and a drop in production in other countries.During the 1990s, and up until 2000, Afghanistan firmly established itself as the main source of the illegal opium and heroin produced, trafficked and consumed in the world, making up 70 per cent of illegal opium production around the world in 2000.Following a ban on opium production in the country in 2001, the global opium poppy cultivation dropped by 35 per cent. But a UN accessment done in February showed that opium cultivation has resumed in Afghanistan and that the production levels could increase significantly to mid-1990 levels.With reports from Canadian Press Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Allison Lawlor, Globe and Mail UpdatePublished: Monday, September 23, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.ca/Related Articles & Web Site:World Forum Montreal 2002http://www.worldforumdrugs-dependencies.com/Queen Noor Diplomatic on Pot Decriminalizationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14215.shtmlDecriminalizing Pot: Why Stop There?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13493.shtmlPot Laws Could Be Eased, Cauchon Says http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13427.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on September 24, 2002 at 07:34:58 PT
cannabis and hemp
Oil consumption from 1900 to 1980 was same from 1980 to 2000. The increase in oil demand is fourfold.65 years of hemp oil supply would have spread those numbers. The total numbers will astound you. 150 million cars and trucks on the road burning 500 gallons of gas 
(20 mpg times 500 gallons equals 10,000 miles) is 7.5 billion gallons of gasoline. Divided by 42 gallons (the number of gallons in a barrel crude) represents about 178 million barrels of oil. All other byproducts not included, the total number of barrels is more. There is a tremendous amount of oil. Worldwide, concerted commercial cultivation of hemp will increase the carrying capacity of the world's population. A decrease in the consumption of crude oil to sustain the world's population is a prudent course of action. The result will be the crude oil supply could possibly last hundreds of years longer; at the current consumption rates, it is anybody's guess. At this stage, we would sure miss it if it all of a sudden ran dry. At the rate of consumption nowadays, an augmented supply from any source should be welcomed. Who says that crude oil can't be replaced? There are plenty of natural resources to take its place; hemp oil is one of them. At one time, crude oil didn't play much of a roll in the economy. Competition from the supply side creates a different kind of economy. If legalization is the way to allow hemp production as raw material for resources and cannabis as medicine and an herb for your enjoyment, humankind will agree. A little competition never hurt anybody. Legalize hemp and cannabis, there really is nothing to lose. Fascists be damned.Level the playing field.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 23, 2002 at 22:09:51 PT
p4me
I don't normally watch Jay Leno or Letterman but I did tonight and he sure did do a lot about marijuana. I'll need to watch more often. 
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Comment #3 posted by p4me on September 23, 2002 at 22:05:43 PT
Jay Leno
Jay Leno hit the marijuana subject early in his monologue and stayed on it, left the subject, and closed out with marijuana and the Mets. It is worthy of pot-tv.After a few Emmy jokes, and Arnold the Terminator as a write-in for California governor, and the Kentucky governor he brought started on marijuana jokes. He brought up the passing out of MJ at Santa Cruz last week. He said only 25 people showed up- the New York Mets the passing out free marijuana in Santa Cruz. He said "only 25 people showed up- the New York Mets." The theme stayed on the Mets. "Well that's the big rumor in the sports world. Have you heard this. Aparently seven members of the New york Mets have been suspected of smoking marijuana. Only seven? You see the way they have been playing, I think the whole team has been smoking, haven't they?"One joke would say "Aparently, they finally got around to cleaning out Darrell Strawberry's old locker." He would then make fun of the combination of steroids and MJ and punchline it with, "Now the players will be huge and lazy."..."I don't think the players need marijuana. Now the umpires, there the ones with glaucoma."He would say the stupid story of the week was the guy that got caught selling marijuana out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken when a customer accidently used the code words. He made fun of the lack of thought in selecting the secret code words, "I'd like extra biscuits, please." He would call him an idiot 3 times before Kevin would ask where the store was. He said the manager was thrilled because the customers would take a smoke and come back for more chicken. After that marijuana segment that lasted 2 minutes and 8 seconds he would go on to more jokes before coming back for a closing segment about the signals, but nothing definitive, that the Mets manager, Bobby Valentine, had seen. He would put up a picture and read the caption, "They look up for a pop fly, but get distracted by cloud formations." Kevin would say that must be acid and Jay would reply and Kevin would say maybe mushrooms."You realize the slow motion instant replay isn't in slow motion." would be the second frame shown. "They giggle uncontrollably when someone says pitchers mound." Kevin was really laughing as Jay consulted on which drug would cause that.The fourth frame was "Only sign the third base coach knows is the peace sign." The fifth read, "Mike Piazza denies ever touching another player's joint." The last frame Jay would say, "And finaly you know your team is really high when this happens- They make an average of two million dollars a year, and they threaten to go on strike."I mention this only because this comes out of California and the amount of time devoted to marijuana shows it is in everyones lives. The last piece on MJ ran 1 minute and 8 seconds. 1,2
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on September 23, 2002 at 21:13:32 PT
Cannabis is Forever
Another excellent piece of writing! Everyone should check it out. Nice work Dr. Zombie (if you're reading this). I really like your drilling down on the whole propaganda issue of cannabis prohibition.  The Elkhorn manifesto tries to place it in context with corporate collusion with the Nazis, but the analogy of diamonds works better and is a perfect way to get people to think about it!The only reason De Beers DOESN'T run the cannabis market as well is that the source isn't restricted! If cannabis only grew in a few places in the world, you can be sure it would be legal and sold only by one giant corporation.It's actually a scary thought. One of the problems with full legalization is, how will America's corporate culture deal with it? In Europe they have cannabis cafes & coffeeshops. In America, we only have one coffeeshop: Starbucks. We can no longer even conceive of consuming a product that is not purchased through a huge, corporate mega-store. The only way people can envision legal cannabis is Phillip Morris pushing it.That's the sad part of prohibition - it's really just another ramification of our screwed-up society. End prohibition and we're still screwed up, and have less freedom every year. It's hard to believe cannabis will ever be legal here - our society seems to be moving in the opposite direction.I was reading an article about what used to be the old Italian section of my city. Some 90 year old guy was recalling when the whole neighborhood would have this big festival for a few days where they'd bring out barrels of wine and food and all the families would party it up. I can only imagine the array of criminal offenses that would involve today. Drinking in public. Excessive noise. Serving alcohol to minors. Hosting a public gathering without a permit.One of the few bars in my neighborhood, located on a busy commercial street, recently tried to expand capacity from 35 people to 60 - mainly by knocking down an internal wall. A few uptight neighbors were able to stop it, and have been stopping it for 10+ years. These are people that chose to live on a busy street in the middle of a city with 3,000,000 people! Our society is growing more intolerant every year, we're regressing back to the Puritans instead of progressing forward.  
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on September 23, 2002 at 19:54:32 PT
America = guard all profits! (and Superplant)
Condoleeza Rice represents safety in profits Chevron style. In fact this story shows she had an oil tanker named after her... and since she is hitched to another profiteeeeeer, bushbreath, they thought to quietly change that so people would not notice the filth. Condi Rice RenamedEnergy giant Chevron Corp. has quietly renamed one of its big oil tankers.http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/01june/june01names.htmlThe Condoleeza Rice, named after the former Chevron director and current National Security Adviser to President Bush, was renamed the Altair Voyager, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in May. (did this story already come up?)Oh, this was found from: Cannabis Is Forever by Doc Zombie http://www.drugwar.com/pcannforever.shtmProhibition of the Superplant as protection of a certain global monopoly. What could Oil, Diamonds, and Marijuana possibly have in common?...the SUPERPLANT... (I like that)
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