cannabisnews.com: Reformers Charge Opponent With Illegal Campaigning


cannabisnews.com: Reformers Charge Opponent With Illegal Campaigning










  Reformers Charge Opponent With Illegal Campaigning

Posted by CN Staff on November 15, 2002 at 22:53:58 PT
By Ann Harrison 
Source: Agence France-Presse  

San Francisco, Calif. -- Activists lobbying for marijuana law reform say legal action against U.S. drug czar John Walters may be part of their ongoing political battle following the defeat of several marijuana measures in last week's elections.The Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, says it is looking into civil and criminal charges against Walters for illegally using taxpayer money to finance television ads opposing a Nevada marijuana legalization measure.
"If we nail the drug czar on this crime, maybe in the next years we won't have to go up against a $180 million dollar ad campaign," said MPP executive director Rob Kampia.Tom Riley, Walter's spokesman at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says the ads are part of a five-year, nationwide campaign authorized by Congress and did not target voters in Nevada. "Part of the job of the drug czar is to oppose efforts for legalization," says Riley. "They are tying to find something else to blame it on rather than the central factor that voters do not want legalized marijuana."Kampia argues that the television ads and Walters' travel expenses to speak against drug reform inititatives in Nevada, Ohio and Arizona, violated state campaign finance laws. In an address to 500 marijuana reform advocates in Anaheim, California last weekend, Kampia says his organization is also considering pressing similar charges against police, sheriffs, and federal prosecutors in Nevada who he said also illegally campaigned against the legalization initiative while on the job.Billy Rogers, who headed the pro-legalization group Nevadans For Responsible Law Enforcement, said law enforcement officials there campaigned against the measure in uniform, issued press releases on police department letterhead, and shot a television ad in a police station that featured a county sheriff.Sgt. Rick Barela of the Las Vegas Metro police department declined to comment on the ad. But he said the press releases were necessary to contradict an endorsement of the measure by the Nevada Congress of Police and Sheriffs that had been retracted three months earlier. Barela said the president of the police union group, Andy Anderson, misled the organization's board. "They attempted to make this a medical marijuana issue which it was not," said Barela."I didn't mislead them," counters Anderson who points out that Nevada voters had already passed medical marijuana initiatives in 1998 and 2000. Anderson said it was his endorsement of the legalization measure on national television that riled local police chiefs and sheriffs."They started putting pressure on the chain of command who put the pressure on street cops and the street cops pressured their union leaders for a retraction," said Anderson. "The people who are opposed to this are in administration because Metro and all police departments get some form of federal funding to fight the war on drugs."Marijuana reform activists say they will continue to focus on local initiatives such as San Francisco's recent vote in favor of city-grown medical cannabis and the successful Massachusetts measure which favors making marijuana possession a civil rather than criminal violation."The issue is jail, we are anti-jail," states Kampia who says reformers have set their sights on reducing the 723,627 marijuana arrests that took place in the U.S. last year. A measure making marijuana arrests a low priority for law enforcement will appear before voters next year in Seattle, Washington.Complete Title: Drug Reformers Charge Opponents With Illegal CampaigningSource: Agence France-Presse (International Wire)Author: Ann HarrisonPublished: Thursday, November 14, 2002Copyright: 2002 Agence France-PresseRelated Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/The Drug Czar Wins the Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14716.shtmlTough-on-Crime Message Becomes Joke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14602.shtmlWhy Question 9 is Bad for Nevadahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14401.shtml

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Comment #3 posted by observer on November 16, 2002 at 10:33:58 PT

''The issue is jail, we are anti-jail''

"The issue is jail, we are anti-jail," states Kampia Hear! Hear!
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Comment #2 posted by DdC on November 16, 2002 at 00:24:29 PT

We the People...
Tom Riley, Walter's spokesman at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says the ads are part of a five-year, nationwide campaign authorized by Congress and did not target voters in Nevada."We the People are the rightful master of both congress and the courts - not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln"Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do. http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#ditchweedOur American Common Law
http://www.svpvril.com/OACL.htmlHow FIJA Saved My Life!
http://serendipity.magnet.ch/jsmill/fija1293.htmErowid Freedom Vault : Jury Nullification
http://www.erowid.org/freedom/jury_nullification/jury_nullification.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by DdC on November 15, 2002 at 23:51:43 PT

Sovereignty Against Tyranny from D.E.A.th!
The Drug War Comes To The Rez
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread8646.shtmlThe sovereignty enjoyed by Indian nations in the United States is inherent to the Indian tribes. This means that the Creator granted sovereignty to the tribes, not the federal government or the Congress. The federal government has acknowledged the inherent nature of tribal sovereignty in the U. S. Constitution. http://www.cniga.com/images/sovereignty1.gifToday, tribal sovereignty is exercised by Indian nations in efforts to fulfill basic governmental obligations, including providing for the general welfare of its members, developing economies within its jurisdiction, and creating the governmental institutions by which local control and input are the foundation for tribal community prosperity.
http://www.cniga.com/images/pull_media1.gifBeginning in the early 1990's CNIGA adopted a policy and made a commitment to educating state elected officials, local governments and federal representatives about California Indians and tribal government gaming.Since the last Indian mentioned in a California textbook died in 1880, we realized that we would need to educate Californians at all levels not only that Indians still exist and have contemporary lives, but that we have sovereign government status. We were not surprised in the beginning of our educational outreach to learn that very few Californians knew Indians and reservations exist in the state, or that we still struggle to overcome poverty and the bitter circumstances of the past. Even more shocking to people not familiar with Indians was that we wanted to achieve the self-governance, promised us in the U.S. Constitution, court decisions and federal policy.The critical issue was and will continue to be the recognition of tribal government status, jurisdiction and political rights as equal to the state's authority. Understanding that the state cannot and does not have the automatic right to dictate to tribal governments, as it does all other governments in this state, is the lesson that all Californians are grappling with. The extent that other governments come to respect our sovereignty will depend on many factors, but one will certainly be public recognition of tribal sovereignty and its historical basis.The goal of the CNIGA Public Relations Committee is constant communication. Communication is also hearing and responding with understanding to concerned and interested parties from neighbors to local and state government officials, as well as getting our story and point of view across.We have learned through our public relations efforts, that when we articulate whom we are and what we are trying to achieve, people listen and support us. Indians and non-Indians can get beyond old stereotypes, old history and prejudice. Ignorance is only our enemy and oppressor if we allow it to exist.So we are vigilant in weeding out ignorance wherever it may be growing. We exist to prevent and expose misinformation, misrepresentation and ignorance about Indian people, tribal government gaming and sovereignty. By Anthony R. Pico, Chairman CNIGA Public Relations Committee
http://www.cniga.com/media/index.phphttp://www.cniga.com/sponsors.phpThe California Nations Indian Gaming Association would like to extend a special thank you to the following companies and organizations. Their support, expertise and generosity has helped make CNIGA more efficient, organized and successful.
http://www.cniga.com/sponsors.phpPurMedia, Inc. (pronounced Pure Media) is an agency that provides custom creative and technology solutions to Native American Tribes and Gaming establishments. They deliver successful products that surpass client expectation and maximize initial investment return.
          
VCAT provides consulting services to support and facilitate Tribal business development in the gaming industry. They act as the Tribal Council's ally in identifying, organizing, managing and capitalizing businesses.Pine Ridge 8
http://www.cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Pine+Ridge&H=40&SM=on&T=BRelated Fascism and Broken Treaties/Constitutional Rights...Bill Would Outlaw Internet Drug InformationThe days of ordering bongs and pipes and other drug paraphernalia online, getting information on the medical uses of marijuana or instructions on growing hemp may go up in smoke if lawmakers have their way. A bill passed by the Senate in November seeks to make it illegal to provide any information online about marijuana. The measure also would increase penalties for drugs classified as methamphetamines, which go by street names such as "speed," "meth," "crank," "crystal-meth" and "glass." Free-speech advocates say the proposed law banning marijuana information violates the First Amendment. In addition, the legislation also says Internet service providers (ISPs) will be held liable for not removing a site featuring marijuana information if notified by top federal law enforcement officials and that "appropriate" federal government Web sites will have to display anti-drug messages.Bill headed to House committee... (Older newz)Continued...
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http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=253.topicDrug Czar Manipulating Data in a Report to Congress
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http://www.aflcio.org/publ/estatements/aug1999/school.htmCOINTELPRO
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http://www.bilderberg.org/masons.htm#InstitutionalisedTHE ASSASSINATIONS OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. & MALCOLM X How the US National Security State murders popular leaders.
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/king1 
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/king2 
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/king3 
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/king4 Government Property Seizures out of Control 
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=255.topicThe Electromagnetic Bomb - a Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/kopp/apjemp.htmlAnti-Nuclear Movements — a list of links BOMBSHELL Links
http://www.bombshell-1.com/links.htmSTAR WARS II: HERE WE GO AGAIN The Nation, June 19, 2000 
http://www.thenation.com/The entire family has been dabbling in darkness for years.
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=18.topicAnd where oh where did crack suddenly appear from?
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=38.topicSecret Searches Bill Also provides plenty of stocked shelves.
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=107.topic
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