cannabisnews.com: Cartelling The Truth
Cartelling The Truth
Posted by CN Staff on October 08, 2002 at 08:40:05 PT
By Steve Sebelius
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Clark County Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker claims he never said drug cartels are funding Question 9, the ballot initiative that would amend the Constitution to legalize possession of up to three ounces of marijuana. But he did. Booker is on tape using the word before the state Board of Health, referring to a speech made by state Sen. Joe Neal, the North Las Vegas Democrat who is running for governor.
Neal, in turn, read about the cartel allegation in an issue of Executive Intelligence Review, a publication put out by perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. LaRouche, an ex-felon, claims that financier George Soros is connected to South American drug cartels. Then again, LaRouche also claims the Queen of England is connected to the global drug trade. "LaRouche noted that Soros has been the main source of funding for the entire drug legalization drive -- in the United States and around the world," reads a Sept. 20 article in Executive Intelligence Review. "How can the United States expect to press Colombia and Peru to crack down on the drug cartels, when the same cartels are now attempting to establish a beachhead inside the United States, LaRouche demanded to know." Neal says he called the Review's editors, who stood by their story. And he says he believes it, too, which is why he put it in his anti-Question 9 speech. And Booker, who has something of a history of exaggerations when it comes to Question 9, stood by his story, too. He says he never claimed the cartel was behind Question 9. But he did. (Booker didn't return a second phone call placed to inquire about the tape of the meeting.) Defeating Question 9 has become something of a cause celebre in the law enforcement community. Metro Deputy Chief Bill Young, a candidate for sheriff, said passing Question 9 will lead to "nothing but a continuous 24-7 Grateful Dead concert here." Incumbent Sheriff Jerry Keller said it would lead to a "public safety nightmare." Stop DUI chief Sandy Heverly compared anti-Question 9 citizens to David fighting the giant Goliath. Fair enough. They're cops and citizens, too, and they have the right to let the public know their views. But to suggest, as the Executive Intelligence Review, Neal and Booker did, that drug cartels are behind Question 9, is ridiculous. Drug cartels are the biggest fans prohibition ever had, since prohibition makes the product scarce and therefore valuable. Legalize it, even by selling the drug at state-sponsored stores, and the bottom falls from the market. That means anyone who supports continued prohibition is on the side of the cartels. "Gary Booker has a long history of making things up in this campaign," says Billy Rogers, the campaign manager for Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement. "When they make a claim, either they don't cite a source, or they cite a nutcase like Lyndon LaRouche." Among the dueling charges: Booker says the law -- which will prohibit "dangerous driving" and repeal all contrary laws, should it be approved by voters twice -- will gut anti-drug driving laws currently on the books. The pro-Question 9 team counters that it has a legal opinion from lawyer JoNell Thomas that says otherwise. Booker says that 3 ounces of marijuana -- chosen by Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement since that's what several other states allow medical marijuana users to possess -- could make more than 250 marijuana cigarettes. But Roger says four packs of cigarettes (at 20 per pack, or 80 total) weighs in at three ounces. And Booker said that medical marijuana patients could get their stash from the state -- an early plan considered by the Legislature that was never adopted. This he now admits was a mistake. "I put my foot in my mouth," he says. Rogers denies that Question 9 is the first step toward outright legalization of marijuana, or of drugs in general, although he does admit that younger people are more amenable to the idea. "It's inevitable that this (legalization of small amounts of marijuana) is going to happen," he says. "I don't ever think you're going to see outright legalization." Let's hope he's wrong. Booker claims that 30 percent of the fatal crashes prosecuted by his office involve marijuana, either alone or in combination with other drugs. Assuming he's accurate, it's clear that prohibition isn't working. A legalized, regulated market that cuts the profits from cartels could hardly be worse. Of course, laws against the use by minors, driving under the influence or public intoxication would still apply, as they do now to liquor. But cartels funding Question 9? No one should be able to say that with a straight face. Gary Booker says he didn't. But he did. Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: Steve Sebelius, Political ColumnistPublished: Tuesday, October 08, 2002Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Review-JournalContact: letters lvrj.comWebsite: http://www.lvrj.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/DA's Drug Cartel Remark Angers Initiative Officialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14379.shtmlCartel Remark Angers Nevada Initiative Advocatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14375.shtml Health Board Opposes Ballot Question http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14362.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by knox42897 on October 09, 2002 at 18:57:42 PT:
PROTEST RALLY TOMORROW
Who: NRLE, the campaign to pass Question 9What: A rally to support Question 9. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchiliangi will
be tapping a segment opposite the Federal Drug Czar on John
Ralston's show, "day one" on channel 8.When: THURSDAY, October 10, 2002. 11:00 a.m. PRESS EVENT.
Supporters please arrive by 10:15 a.m.Where: Near the Channel 8 Studios. 3228 Channel 8 Drive, the cross streets
are paradise and convention center drive. We will meet outside the
parking garage and assemble on the sidewalk near the studios. We will
validate your parking ticket.Why: To show our support for Question 9 and courageous spokespeople like
Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani. Nevadans DON'T appreciate the
Federal Government coming into our state and telling us how to vote on
Question 9. This is YOUR chance to be part of this historic effort. Look
professional-- the dress is business casual. We will have signs on hand
for supports to wave.
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Comment #13 posted by afterburner on October 08, 2002 at 20:46:44 PT:
Four Strong Winds:
I am not yet a billionaire, or even a millionaire, but I do have a heart that says that persecuting the sick and dying for using and sharing medical marijuana is cruel and unusual punishment. I also have a brain which tells me that cannabis, a mild psychedelic, which is not a gateway according to the Nolin Canadian Senate report, does not deserve to be classified as a schedule 1 (AKA schedule A) drug. My brain also tells me that the food, clothing, paper and fuel from this God-given plant could help solve many pollution problems. I have a spirit which cries, "Freedom of religion." I have emotions, which say, "Free at last, great God Almighty, I'm free at last."Re-legalize and be wise.
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Comment #12 posted by canaman on October 08, 2002 at 19:33:23 PT
On the other hand.....
Lyndon says:--"By their pattern of bizarre behavior, the President—and the Vice-President—of the United States, have shown themselves to be insane."They are conducting themselves in such as manner as to violate the most fundamental principles of international law that have existed since the formation of the United Nations at the end of World War II. No President of the United States could support such insane policies, unless he himself were clinically insane."--The man has a point there.The rest of the story:
http://www.larouchepub.com/pr_lar/2002/021004_president_is_insane.html
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Comment #11 posted by CorvallisEric on October 08, 2002 at 17:15:37 PT
Sorry, malleus
I meant you, not JR.
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Comment #10 posted by CorvallisEric on October 08, 2002 at 17:14:16 PT
LaRouche
Interesting, JR. I have 2 minor memories of him about 20 years ago. There was a magazine named "Fusion" which I'm 95% sure was run by him. The main point seemed to be that the earth needed a much higher population in order to achieve the greatest good for everyone, or something like that. Of course, fusion energy would make it possible.Also, a radio program, I think on NPR, which I don't remember in detail, but made it sound like those people were not just kooks but seriously creepy and cultlike.
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Comment #9 posted by malleus on October 08, 2002 at 12:20:03 PT
My own experience with LaRouchies
A few months ago, I moved to a new state and had to get a new driver's license. After waiting in the facility for 3 hours, I finally got it and was on my way out the door. Just past the doorway was a little old lady with a clipboard. When she approached me, I thought she was doing a 'quality assurance' check as to whether I was satisfied with the service I got from the DMV.She asked me if I had time to answer some questions. Being an affable sort, I agreed. Big mistake. But I didn't even cut her off when she identified herself as a LaRouchie and started her spiel. I heard her out. I listen, if only out of politeness. Again, it was a mistake. My kindness and openmindedness was about to be rewarded in the nastiest way.The gist of this spiel was LaRouche is still on his pie-in-the-sky dreams; he now wants to build a transcontinental railway. It used to be nuclear fusion. And before that, banning Rock-and-Roll. One more lost cause, one more windmill to tilt against.She went on and on, but the the thing that really rankled me was her statement that LaRouche had never been proven wrong about anything he said.I didn't bring up the 1990 bit of LaRouche going on TV and saying George Bush One was a Commie. I just said that I can't agree with anything she said. She asked me about what I disagreed with. I replied "Everything." I then excused myself, still quite civilly, and began to walk away.She then said, "Oh, I understand. You're afraid."I consider myself a Christian, even if I don't agree with a lot of things that are supposed to be followed by Christians. I adhere to the injunction of respecting one's elders, but that silly b*tch almost got knocked on her *ss for her insult. I am a veteran who's been some places Americans weren't supposed to be. I've had shots fired in anger go past my head, and there wasn't any doubt who they were meant for. All so this fool can cast aspersions as to my bravery? Someone who's evidently had a very soft and and easy life, with lots of time to stump for a crazy idea like that? For an equally nutso guy like him? LaRouchies are a lot like their 'anti' compatriots. In a word, loons. And this fool Booker wants to use THAT as his source of intelligence? He belongs in front of DMV's handing out BS like that little old lady, not be sucking down taxpayer dollars for peddling this bull.
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Comment #8 posted by DdC on October 08, 2002 at 11:09:14 PT
Brain Damage and D.E.A.th Monkeys
Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys
http://www.jackherer.com/book/ch15.htmlLyndon LaRouche's "War on Drugs" committee told us that, along with new marijuana laws, they expected to implement their most important goal: anyone in the future playing any disco, rock 'n' roll, or jazz on the radio, on television, in schools, or in concert, or who just sold rock 'n' roll records or any music that wasn't on their approved classical lists would be jailed, including music teachers, disc jockeys, and record company executives. LaRouche Declares War on Rock 'N RollIf you thought Anslinger's music craziness was over after he went after jazz in the 1930s and 40s, then consider this: One of the chief organizations among the 4,000 or so "Families Against Marijuana" type groups today is Lyndon LaRouche's "War on Drugs" committee, supported by Nancy Reagan, TV evangelists Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, and other right-wing activists. In January, 1981, this author and five members of the California Marijuana Initiative (CMI) secretly, by pretending to be pro-LaRouche, attended the West Coast convention of this organization, whose guest speaker was Ed Davis, former Los Angeles Police Chief, who was at that time a freshman state senator from Chatsworth, California. As we each walked in separately, we were asked to sign a petition endorsing a Detroit reporter who had written an open letter to the new President, Ronald Reagan, asking him to give immediate presidential clemency and make a national hero of Mark Chapman, who had murdered John Lennon of the Beatles six weeks earlier. The letter stated that John Lennon had been the most evil man on the planet because he almost single-handedly "turned on" the planet to "illicit drugs". The evils of rock 'n' roll are a constant theme of the "War on Drugs" publications. To keep up with the part we were playing, we signed the petition. (John, forgive us we were playing a clandestine role: under-cover CMI anti-narc. We remember you for "Give Peace a Chance," "Imagine," and all the rest.) After we signed the petition, their leaders took us to the back of the room to show us some of the goals that would be achieved when they would come to full power over the next decade. On five or so long tables set up in the back of the Los Angeles Marriott LAX meeting room were hundreds of recordings of Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and others, and dozens of pro-nuclear power publications. They told us that along with new marijuana laws, they expected to implement their most important goal: anyone in the future who played disco, rock 'n' roll, or jazz on the radio, on television, in schools, or in concert, or just sold rock 'n' roll records or any other music that wasn't from their approved classical lists, would be jailed, including music teachers, disc jockeys, and record company executives. School teachers, if they allowed such music by students, would be fired. (LA Times; KNBC-TV.) They were dead serious. Their magazine "War on Drugs" has always spent more space denouncing music with the "evil marijuana beat" than on heroin, cocaine, and PCP combined! Ed Davis was genuinely shocked and embarrassed about this out-front aspect of their anti-music dogma and said, "Well, I don't believe we could ever get legislation at this time outlawing these other types of music or their lyrics. But I do believe with the new Reagan Law-and-Order Administration, we are going to be able to pass some new and stronger anti-marijuana paraphernalia laws, even recriminalizing marijuana altogether in the states that have decriminalization laws now . . .That's the start."I called his office a few days later and was told by an assistant that Davis had no advance idea of this group's musical fixation and that he had accepted the invitation based solely on the name "War on Drugs". Most of what Davis predicted that day has come about. Those visionaries of a new society, one free from the influence of pot and any mention of it had their way in the 1980s. Remember James Watt and the Beach Boys in 1986? Since 1981, TV programs have been censored, cut, and pulled from the air for having a pro-marijuana connotation or even making jokes about it. In an episode of "Barney Miller", Detective Fish (Abe Vigoda) was told that some brownies he'd been eating all day were laced with pot. He looked forlorn for a moment, then said with a sigh, "Wouldn't you know it, this is the best I ever felt in my life and it's illegal." This episode has been pulled from distribution. The late "screaming comic", Sam Kinison, stood on the stage of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in 1986 and bellowed "Go ahead, you can have the cocaine! Just let us smoke our pot!" The line has been deleted from audio portion in subsequent re-runs. The Reagan/Bush drug czar, Carlton Turner, from his position as the White House Chief Drug Advisor in the mid 1980s quoted to the press passages of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and told police and interviewers that jazz musicians and rock singers were destroying the America he loved with their marijuana drug-beat music. In 1997, in an episode of the TV series "Murphy Brown", starring Candice Bergen, Murphy undergoes cancer treatment from which she is vomitting constantly and has lost her appetite. Finally she is told by her doctor to illegally use marijuana for nausea and appetite stimulation. Murphy smokes pot and she is saved by doing so. The Partnership For a Drug Free America and DARE tried unsuccessfully to stop this episode from airing as it "Sent the wrong message to our children" What wrong message!?That marijuana is the best anti-nausea and the best appetite-stimulant on our planet and can save millions of lives?
http://www.jackherer.com/book/ch14.html
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Comment #7 posted by canaman on October 08, 2002 at 10:00:28 PT
Pierre
What's your area code? The czar needs to take a break...maybe a side trip.
http://www.nevadatravel.net/features/doobieroad.html or
http://www.rimworld.com/balls/guru.html Free your mind John your body will follow.
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Comment #6 posted by VitaminT on October 08, 2002 at 09:53:21 PT
Letter to:
Senator Neal,Come on! Lyndon Larouche? Did you also consult the Rev. Sun Yung Moon and the Bagwaan Sree Rashneesh?Let me tell you this - there are thousands of us, both in and out of Nevada, who have donated money to NLRE in support of Question 9. I have nothing to do with drug cartels and everything to do with a group of people who are smart enough to see that PROHIBITION is the real culprit! That the persecution of peaceful Cannabis consumers by drug war fanatics like you and Mr Booker are the most egregious crimes related to drugs!DRUG CARTELS LOVE PROHIBITION because it makes them RICH! Prohibition is the real source our drug problems! Just as the prohibition of alcohol caused the rise of organized crime! Remember Al Capone?You have aligned yourself with the wrong people and you owe apologies to many people! Shame on you!I'm a Democrat but I won't be supporting you with a contribution, I will however make another donation to NLRE this one in YOUR NAME!
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Comment #5 posted by knox42897 on October 08, 2002 at 09:27:40 PT:
Volunteer NRLE
NRLE needs volunteers. 7 days a week for 3 to 4 hour shifts to help do phone polling and put together yard signs. Please call 253-9511 ask for Sarah or Lydia and tell them Pierre sent ya.
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on October 08, 2002 at 09:13:45 PT
May as well lie about everything all of the time
I guess that is what the prohibitionists have been doing for years. Nothing new there. Sidetrack everything. Divert everything. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Lone Star Hotel Cafe is nothing but a dive.Florence Smith showed up there, lord, everyday at five.Florence was a waitress. Have I mentioned that before?Serving beer to strangers and to some she'd seen before.Florence used to ride a little Appaloosa mare at the barrel race at the rodeo;She had that beehive hair. That was years ago, lord, too many to recall,But I remember Florence and them pictures on the wall.So here's to you west Texas; you old rodeo queen.How I miss those beer joints and those shuffleboard machines.Here's to you west Texas. How I miss the smell of greasy enchiladas at the old Lone Star Hotel."Lone Star Hotel Cafe" by Guy Clark
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Comment #3 posted by druid on October 08, 2002 at 09:02:22 PT:
nice stance by this paper
It's really nice to see a paper make a statement on their own like "But to suggest, as the Executive Intelligence Review, Neal and Booker did, that drug cartels are behind Question 9, is ridiculous. Drug cartels are the biggest fans prohibition ever had, since prohibition makes the product scarce and therefore valuable. Legalize it, even by selling the drug at state-sponsored stores, and the bottom falls from the market. That means anyone who supports continued prohibition is on the side of the cartels." Instead of just quoting someone elses words. 3 CHEERS FOR THIS PUBLICATION
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Comment #2 posted by malleus on October 08, 2002 at 08:58:00 PT
OMG, I just re-read this
So, Mr. Booker is relying on *Lyndon LaRouche* for his information? The very man who said, on national live TV in the 1990 election that Bush 1 was a communist agent?I am doubled over by laughter. To quote Bugs Bunny: "What a moroon!" Hehehehehehehehehe!This boob deserves to be raked over the coals.
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Comment #1 posted by malleus on October 08, 2002 at 08:54:12 PT
Time for a good lawyer
The prohibs have always been able to mouth off and slap us with all kinds of lies. It's time they be made to choke on those lies. And be taught that we aren't going to take this crap anymore.
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