cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar's Visit Prompts Rallies 





Drug Czar's Visit Prompts Rallies 
Posted by CN Staff on October 11, 2002 at 07:48:29 PT
By J.M. Kalil and Frank Curreri, Review-Journal
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal 
The nation's drug czar visited Las Vegas to again denounce marijuana decriminalization, inspiring the latest round of dual pep rallies for Question 9 opponents and proponents. John Walters, who oversees all federal anti-drug programs and spending, said he did not come to the valley to wave his finger at Nevadans over the high-stakes ballot initiative.
But the country's director of drug control policy encouraged Nevada voters to view marijuana -- often depicted as relatively benign by hemp advocates -- as a gateway drug that can destroy lives and lead pot smokers to use harder drugs. Half of the nation's nearly 16 million illicit drug users get high only on marijuana, making it the most abused drug in the United States, according to statistics offered by Walters' agency. "We as adults have a responsibility to do better for our children," Walters told an appreciative crowd of local politicians, police and Question 9 opponents at the WestCare shelter and drug treatment center in downtown Las Vegas. "(Marijuana) causes many other harms. ... No community is better off with more drugs." It was Walters' second visit to Las Vegas in the past three months to speak out against the proposal to relax Nevada marijuana laws. If Nevada voters pass Question 9 in November and again in two years, people 21 and older will be able to legally possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana in their home, but not in vehicles or public places. Use of the drug by minors would remain illegal, as would driving under the influence of marijuana. The drug would be sold in state-licensed smoke shops and taxed. Currently, possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana in Nevada is a misdemeanor subject to a $600 fine for the first two offenses. A hostile crowd greeted Walters earlier Thursday when he went to a Las Vegas television studios to tape an interview. A group of about 50 Question 9 supporters gathered outside the KLAS-TV, Channel 8 studio to confront Walters. They held signs reading "Vote Yes Question 9" and chanted "Drug Czar Go Back to D.C." Among them was Nevada Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, a paid consultant for the group backing the ballot measure. "The drug czar doesn't seem to understand that in the privacy of a home or under the care of a doctor, we have the right to use marijuana," Giunchigliani told the crowd, which responded with a roar of approval. Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, chided the federal government for intervening in a state issue, especially under the guise that the move was in the interest of public safety. "If they cared so much about the safety of Nevadans, then why in the heck did they give us the dump?" the legislator asked, referring to the permanent high-level nuclear waste repository planned for Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Giunchigliani made her comments after leaving the studio, where both she and Walters taped separate appearances on political commentator Jon Ralston's television show. Giunchigliani told the crowd outside that Walters had just refused an invitation to debate her on the issue. Several hours later, Walters spokesman Thomas Riley said Walters never received such an invitation. Walters said he is willing to debate only three people about the country's marijuana laws: New York financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance executive Peter Lewis and John Sperling of Arizona, founder of the for-profit University of Phoenix. Walters chose the wealthy trio, he said, because they have been the biggest funders of drug legalization efforts in the United States. The three men have formed an umbrella group that has funded marijuana initiatives in several states, including the medical marijuana initiative that voters passed in Nevada in 1998 and 2000. "Anyplace, anytime -- I will be happy to debate them on this issue," Walters said at WestCare. "Let's stop hiding. I'm here. Where are they?" Sandy Heverly, executive director of STOP DUI, directed her ire at Lewis, chief executive officer of Progressive, the nation's fourth-largest auto insurer. She frequently has said that passage of Question 9 would create a dangerous environment on Nevada's roadways by increasing the number of motorists driving under the influence of drugs. She called on Nevadans to boycott Progressive. "Let this company know that we do not want to do business with a company that has no regard for the health and safety of our loved ones," she said. Neither Soros nor Sperling has contributed to the marijuana decriminalization effort in Nevada, said Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement spokesman Billy Rogers. But Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in New York, which favors legalizing marijuana, said he challenged Walters to a televised debate on the cable network CNN last Sunday. Nadelmann said the nation's drug czar declined. "Walters is chickening out of any debate," Nadelmann said. "John Walters is too scared and too cowardly to debate anyone on this issue." Walters, meanwhile, said Question 9 proponents are out-of-staters who have been lying when they say marijuana is relatively harmless. He said that if marijuana is decriminalized in Nevada, it would create an avalanche of demand for new drug treatment programs that could not be met by the state. Walters made this promise to the Question 9 opponents who have turned to him for help: "We will stand with you. My office intends to challenge this ballot initiative here and in every state where this occurs."Note: Walters speaks against ballot measure to legalize small amounts of pot.Complete Title: Drug Czar's Visit Prompts Rallies for, Against Question 9 Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: J.M. Kalil and Frank Curreri, Review-JournalPublished: Friday, October 11, 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/Drug Czar Says State Faces Liabilityhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14418.shtmlCartelling The Truth http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14383.shtmlDA's Drug Cartel Remark Angers Initiative Officialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14379.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on October 11, 2002 at 11:15:41 PT:
The street is the gateway.
Marijuana (cannabis) is NOT a "gateway" drug. See the Canadian Senate report. The street is the gateway. Prohibition puts all illegal drugs, no matter how tame, into the hands of street criminals with an agenda to addict users to white powders, like heroin and cocaine.Legalize (cannabis) and be wise.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 11, 2002 at 10:39:51 PT
knox42897 
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures of the protest. Please post the link when you get them on line. 
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Comment #4 posted by knox42897 on October 11, 2002 at 10:07:56 PT:
protest rally success
I wanted to say our rally was a success. I wanna thank everyone in attendance. Walters is running scared. I glad a good crowd protested his appearance. This should happen everywhere this punk czar goes until we bet him into submission. I will pictures of the rally later.
Pierre
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on October 11, 2002 at 09:53:15 PT
malleus 
Hitler used to kiss the children too, today they're afraid to kiss the kids out of fear of a lawsuit (interesting times we live in). Yet these politicians still hide their policies behind the kids, like every politician before and after Hitler. It goes to show, any political monster could use the children.
 Botton-line: Walters is only trying to get media attenion without too much exposure to himself. He knows he could get a lot more out of the media than a debate.
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Comment #2 posted by malleus on October 11, 2002 at 09:34:10 PT
The gloves have finally come off
and the 'antis' are now beginning to realize something.For all their money (they had 1 billion dollars the last time to make those insulting advertisements, alone, and have gotten a billion more) they are failing to 'win the hearts and minds'. When Walters held that news conference, he had to BUS IN demi-conscious oldsters and an easily manipulated captive audience of schoolkids. He didn't *dare* bring in anyone from the age group most adversely affected by the drug laws, the 18-50 group. Particularly since that age group has almost certainly got members of it that have smoked cannabis and know he's lying through his fed teeth.Oh, Johnny, when will you realize that, just like Hitler was during the last days of the war, you're living in a dream world of victory when the enemy artillery was getting closer and closer. Rave all you want, but all you've done is alienate the voters. Who are of that group you were afraid to address. And they are heartily sick of fed interference in their lives. Interference that your presence represents. If you want to see the kind of revolt in the West that the Blair regime in the UK was recently faced with after trying to ram through unpopular regulations banning foxhunting, keep insulting the voter's intelligence.
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on October 11, 2002 at 09:25:52 PT
Doesn't that say it all?
"Walters is chickening out of any debate," Nadelmann said. "John Walters is too scared and too cowardly to debate anyone on this issue."I have an impression of an interview done with the President of the Ukraine that was on television a few months ago. An interviewer sat in a chair and the President sat in a chair just a few feet from him and they talked. The interviewer would ask a question of his choice and the President just spoke his mind. It was just an honest interview that let the people that saw it see how the President of the Ukraine saw it.Well, of course in the United States you have staged events like the economic summit held in Texas a few months ago or you have people bused in like at Ohio State where they turned their backs on Busch as he read a speech prepared by some expert with an agenda for the day. There is no genuine discourse going on. You have billions spent per decade on propaganda, yet the chief liar and traitor of the People's won't tolerate a simple debate.Even if somehow a person does not understand what we are saying in that it is a freedom issue, they should be concerned that there is no openness on this issue or a lot of issues for that matter. As a matter of fact, there is oppression with real threats to back them up. Maybe a harassment session from the IRS, or someone that wants to do you harm places a few ounces of marijuana under your hubcap so the sniffer dogs can find it at the next roadblock. It could be the police or it could be someone who wants you done in. There is not only openness; there is oppression. Why do you think there is an absence of bumperstickers in face of this waste of taxpayer money that warps the definition of freedom. Freedom says you have the right to use marijuana if you chose. Criminal law is for when you step on someone else's toes. I don not see how you could debate against that and neither does Walters.There was an article about MTBE at Alternet.org yesterday. The oil industry used to have hazardous waste with the remnants left over from the process of making gasoline from oil. When they had the chance to make hazardous waste into a profitable product they jumped all over it. On one side the government says we must test marijuana for medical safety when it should be legal to start with. If the people's freedom would not have been taken away from them, there would have been millions of people helped by the medical properties of marijuana. But when the industry knows the dangers of petroleum products to start with and knows that they have a dangerous product that readily dissolves in water, doesn't bind with soil, doesn't break down, and is a dangerous carcinogen in just a few parts per billion, they ignore the logical and known safety of ethanol, and push a very defective and dangerous product.It doesn't need test even though it is evaporated into the air and your lungs as you pump gas. It is released by all the 2-cycle watercraft that do not burn gasoline completely as they crowd our public waters. It is kept out of the fascist media so people remain ignorant on the subject. But the reason I say you should read the Alternet article titled, "Big Oil's MTBE Cover-Up," at http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14274 is because now they are running to Congress asking for protection not to be sued. If you think that government isn't about big business and don't think the media protects big business or slants stories on war and on profits, you need to come to a new reality and start by reading this article. Then come back to CannabisNews every once in a while and see what the fascist are up to.I was thinking about the Messiah disk that Dankhank has. I would think one reason no one would want to put it on their server is because some of the articles would be copyrighted. But remember how I said someone with some theater to them would roll in handtrucks full of studies and say, Israeli study 1992 and drop it on the floor. Then another study and drop it on the floor. It may someday be a scene in a movie, even if it is made in Canada which a lot of movies are these days. But the disk that Dankhank has is of great importance and should not be forgotten.I think the index he talked about along with the disk would be a very good prop in anyones speech on Freeing Cannabis For Everyone. I think Walter's would fall to pieces if he ever would debate someone and they held up the printed index to the Messiah disk.DAD-D,1,2 
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