cannabisnews.com: Lege Takes Up Pot Smoking










  Lege Takes Up Pot Smoking

Posted by CN Staff on April 17, 2003 at 22:45:42 PT
By Jordan Smith 
Source: Austin Chronicle  

The House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence on April 8 heard testimony on HB 715, a bill by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, to lower simple possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine and no jail time. Dutton's measure would also forbid the state from suspending the driver license of a person convicted of the offense. Currently, possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and/or 180 days in jail. 
While keeping small-time drug offenders out of jail would certainly save money in the criminal-justice system, Dutton's bill, according to the Legislative Budget Board's fiscal note, could cost Texas nearly $164 million per year in federal highway funds if the driver-license provision remains in place. A committee substitute bill that would remove that provision was offered by committee chair Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, but was later withdrawn. Still, the measure got support from NORML, LULAC, the NAACP National Voter Fund, and others. Predictably, prosecutors from both Harris and Dallas counties signed on as opposing the bill, though neither of their representatives actually testified. Mark Stepnowski, the ex-Dallas Cowboys player who is now president of Texas NORML, pointed out that in 2001 alone, police made 47,000 simple-possession arrests statewide -- nearly one every 11 minutes and 90% of the state's total marijuana-related arrests. Making simple possession a citation that could be adjudicated in municipal court would save taxpayer money, he said. Dutton told the committee that he understands members might "measure the political cost" of voting for such a measure, "but measure instead where we might've spent this money," he said, and "how we could make better use of taxpayer money."Source: Austin Chronicle (TX)Author: Jordan SmithPublished: April 18, 2003 - Vol.22 No.33Copyright: 2003 Austin Chronicle Corp.Contact: louis auschron.comWebsite: http://www.auschron.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Texas NORMLhttp://www.normltexas.org/Lineman for Liberty - Reason Magazinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15926.shtmlWeed Watch - Austin Chroniclehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15714.shtmlStepnoski Now Advocating Marijuana Legalizationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15531.shtml 

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Comment #20 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 17:41:47 PT
ekim
Happy Easter to you too. Thank you for understanding about the site being down. I know it will be fixed as soon as Matt finds out about it. I picked and made fresh asparagus today. That was almost as good as a cookie to me. You noticed I said almost! LOL!
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Comment #19 posted by ekim on April 19, 2003 at 17:30:56 PT
Happy Easter Fom and All
don't worry about the site -- bake some cookies:))
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 17:19:34 PT
ekim here's an article that I'll post when I can
A Day To Celebrate The Planet By Zack Johnson, Staff Writer Source: BeniciaNews.com (CA)Website: http://www.benicianews.com/http://www.benicianews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=31667&webpage=0&s=1Berkeley - A few billion years ago, the swirling debris circling the sun formed into the hunk of rock hurtling through space that eventually became known as Earth. The species that came up with that name appeared a few million years ago, and the planet hasn't been the same since.But from noon until 5 p.m. on Saturday in Civic Center Park, members of that planet-naming species will celebrate the Earth by listening to music, listening to environmental speakers and eating vegetarian food at the annual Berkeley Earth Day Fair.Earth Day celebrations have been taking place across the country since 1970. The official Earth Day is April 22."It's a place for people to celebrate the earth, but also to challenge each other to walk more lightly on the planet," said Karen Hester -- http://www.hesternet.net/ -- who has organized the fair for the past nine years.The 180 booths that will fill the park will contain "every kind of environmental group imaginable," from the Sierra Club -- http://www.sierraclub.org/ -- to the Cannabis-Buyers Club-- http://www.marijuana.org/ -- she said. Those interested will have ample opportunity to find out ways to live more simply, educate themselves about solar energy or learn how to compost their waste, she said. Reggae, funk and Latin jazz acts are scheduled to perform. Direct Action to Stop the War -- http://www.actagainstwar.org/ -- will also be providing non-violent civil disobedience training. It's also a place for people to learn how to organize, which is important because a lot environmental protection laws -- laws that many take for granted -- are coming under attack, she said. Vivienne Verdon-Roe, who is a scheduled speaker for the event, agrees that environmental laws are being threatened. Verdon-Roe is an academy-award-winning filmmaker and cofounder of Seaflow -- http://www.seaflow.org/ -- an organization created to protect ocean life from man-made threats.The Pentagon is trying to push Congress into allowing the military to be exempt from certain environmental laws, she said. "We're facing one of the most dire threats to our environment," she said. "They're trying to be above the law." This would mean that the Pentagon would be allowed to cause more pollution and kill endangered species -- even whales, she said.One of the topics she plans to address on Saturday is the United States Navy's use of low-frequency active sonar, a method to locate silent submarines that bombards the sea with a sound blast that can "torture" or kill sea life, she said. "It's been compared to standing next to the (Space Shuttle) Challenger during takeoff," she said. The sonar can burst a whale's eardrums, cause its brain to hemorrhage or drive it to beach itself, she said. But environmental laws can put the readiness of the United States in jeopardy, according to Paul Mayberry, deputy undersecretary of defense for readiness, in an American Forces Press Service article on a Department of Defense website -- http://www.defenselink.mil/ Environmental laws are making it increasingly difficult to find areas that the military can use for training grounds, according to the story.The Endangered Species Act could make about 56 percent of the Marine Corps training grounds at Camp Pendleton, Calif. off-limits to military training, according to Mayberry.According to the article, the department is asking Congress this year to clarify or change parts of the following federal laws: *   Endangered Species Act 
*   Marine Mammal Protection Act 
*   Clean Air Act 
*   Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 
*   Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act  Among other things, these confirmations and changes could make it unnecessary to designate critical habitat on department land and allow the department "up to three years to accommodate or offset emissions from military readiness activities," according to the article. The defense department is also asking that the definition of harassment in the Marine Mammal Protection Act focus on "more biologically significant effects" instead of more ambiguous words such as "annoyance" and "potential to disturb."Inflexible rules can turn training facilities into wildlife refuges, Mayberry said in the article. The relaxing of environmental laws for the Pentagon is not the only way the military, and militarism, runs contrary to the theme of Earth Day, said Verdon-Roe.Earth Day is about realizing that all the people on the planet are component parts of a single giant being, she said. "Each one of us is a cell in the body of the Earth," she said. "(The war in Iraq) is literally one part of the body attacking the other," she said. Another speaker scheduled for Saturday, Ross Mirkarimi, is also concerned about war's effect on the environment. He recently had his account of the environmental effects of war in Iraq published in Mother Jones -- http://www.motherjones.com/"The conduct of war and the protection of the natural environment are fundamentally incompatible objectives," according to Mirkarimi by e-mail. Facilities destroyed during military conflict, such as oil wells or rubber factories, pollute the environment, he wrote.The hundreds of thousands of tons of heavy military equipment, such as tanks, brought to Iraq to wage the current war compacts and disrupts the soil, accelerates erosion and destroys the shallow root systems of some plants, according to Mirkarimi. "Coupled with heavy sandstorms this season, the impact is vast," he wrote.The United States military uses armor-piercing ammunition made from depleted uranium. The long-term ecological effects of this are unknown, but Mirkarimi calls it "an ecological Frankenstein waiting to happen."The environmental impacts of war can be harmful to people, too. The chemicals used to maintain military machinery are highly toxic and even trace amounts can cause skin cancer, birth defects and chromosome damage, he wrote. By looking at the disposable cups, made from petrochemical plastics made from oil, one can see how local habits are connected to the global environment, said Hester. People need to be encouraged not to buy plastics, she said. "(It's) seemingly small, but it's all related to why there's a war in Iraq," she said.Whole families will be educating themselves at the fair on Saturday, she said. "We've got to start with the young getting an education about the environment."The Lawrence Hall of Science will be performing a play designed to teach third- through fifth-graders about air pollution called Who Let the Smog Out. The play follows the journey of a child, Lorelai, trying to discover the roots of her asthma, said Naomi Stein, an actor, writer and educator at the hall. Along the way, Lorelai meets Dr. Particulate, Mr. Smog and other characters in a narrative that also teaches children about the science of air and air pollution, said Stein. Children are more vulnerable to environmental hazards, she said. Education about the environment helps, "...to make the world around them accessible and understandable," Stein said. At the hall, Stein says she tells children that every day is Earth Day."Every day we take things from the Earth ... and every day we have a choice to give something back," she said. The Berkeley Earth Day Fair begins at noon on Saturday and is scheduled to continue until 5 p.m. It will be held in the Civic Center Park, at Martin Luther King Jr. and Allston ways. Organizers encourage fair-goers not to drive to the event, but to use public transportation or take advantage of bicycle valet parking. 
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Comment #17 posted by ekim on April 19, 2003 at 17:15:58 PT
Comment #8 posted by FoM 
Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 22:21:01 PT 
ONDCP Press Release 
White House Drug Policy Office to Air Earth Day Ad Outlining the Negative Impact of the Drug Trade on the Environment Please let there be a call for tolerance will those in S.F.at the Norml Conference hold a Press Conference to preiment this total lack of responsibility on the part of Gov't. to protect the Earth because of this Unlawfull Prohibition. I am sure that some of those at the Conference only need call a News outlet and could get a crew to tape the Statement denouncing the Cannabis Eratication effort as very hurtfull to the Earth and all its inhabitents.
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Comment #16 posted by ekim on April 19, 2003 at 16:55:45 PT
"sue and settle," 
(CBS) The Bush administration is quietly
 reshaping environmental policy to expand
 logging and other development by settling
 a series of lawsuits, many of them filed by
 industry groups. As a result of settlements, the
 administration has announced plans to
 remove wilderness protections from
 millions of acres of land in Utah. It also
 agreed to review protections for
 endangered species such as salmon and
 the northern spotted owl, reversed a
 Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in
 Yellowstone and Grand Teton national
 parks and softened rules on logging. None of the decisions were subject to prior
 public comment or congressional approval. "I don't know if it's a policy, but it's definitely
 a pattern," said Kristen Boyles, a lawyer for
 the environmental group Earthjustice, who has
frequently battled this administration in court.  "The industry sues and then the current administration does a poor job of
  defending itself or comes to a sweetheart settlement," Boyles said.  Critics call it "sue and settle," leaving few fingerprints as officials 
move to roll
  back environmental protections.  CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen points out that, "This collusion
  claim is very hard to prove because it requires getting into the minds 
of the
  lawyers and officials involved. But federal judges in particular absolutely
  have to be more diligent about scrutinizing these settlements before
  accepting them. Once they are accepted they are virtually impossible to get
  around.  "IF this is happening-- and right now that is a big if-- it's illegal 
and unethical
  and you would think that both the legislative branch and the judicial branch
  would want to do something to stop it. Congress could clarify environmental
  laws and policies and judges could look much more closely about whether
  these settlements are reasonable or motivated by political gain.  "It's difficult, it might even be impossible, to separate out the 
politics involved
  in these lawsuits and settlements from the LAWS involved in them. It would
  just about take a smoking-gun sort of memo from an Administration official
  to a litigant to prove collusion and I cannot imagine that such a memo
  exists," Cohen continues.  Last month, several environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit claiming
  the administration and the timber industry have been holding secret talks to
  undermine the Northwest Forest Plan. The suit seeks access to settlement
  documents under the Freedom of Information Act.  Mark Rey, the Agriculture undersecretary who directs forest policy, denies
  any attempt to orchestrate legal challenges.  "No litigation is friendly," he said.  But critics suggest the administration is using the lawsuit settlements 
as an
  end-run around Congress, which has blocked some parts of the Bush
  agenda, including efforts to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge to
  oil drilling and the Healthy Forests Initiative, which would increase 
logging in
  national forests to reduce the risk of wildfires.  "In the guise of settling lawsuits, federal officials have retired to 
the back
  room to work out deals that sacrifice our old-growth forests, salmon and
  clean water for the sake of clear cutting our public lands," said Patti 
Goldman
  of Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs in the freedom of information case.  In recent weeks, the administration has settled several industry challenges
  to the Northwest Forest Plan, which governs logging and habitat protection
  for salmon and other threatened species. Among other actions, the
  government agreed to review Endangered Species Act protections for the
  northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet, birds that are icons of the
  Northwest timber wars. In a separate action, officials have proposed
  weakening some salmon protections to boost logging.  The National Park Service also has allowed snowmobiles in Yellowstone
  and Grand Teton national parks, and the Agriculture Department declined to
  defend the "roadless" rule, a Clinton-era policy that blocks 
road-building in
  remote forest areas.  Last week, the Interior Department announced that in response to a lawsuit
  it intends to halt all reviews of its Western land holdings for new 
wilderness
  protection and to withdraw that protected status from some 3 million acres
  in Utah. That settlement was approved by a federal judge on Monday, three
  days after it was filed.  Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, said officials are doing nothing the
  Clinton administration didn't do in the 1990s.  "I understand why they're unhappy," Rey said of critics, "but their
  unhappiness needs to be measured in balance to the situation they enjoyed
  when people who agreed with them more often than not were in this
  position."  Rey said the Clinton administration encouraged friendly suits from
  environmentalists to block logging in Northwest forests, prevent
  road-building and stop development on vast wilderness areas controlled by
  the Bureau of Land Management.  Environmentalists deny that claim.  "I do not know of any instance where the Clinton administration said, 'You
  sue us, and we'll settle and we'll stop a timber sale.' It hasn't 
happened in
  this office," said Boyles of Earthjustice.  Each of the settlements the Bush administration agrees to is presented to a
  judge and will be subject to public comment. Rey said they will be judged on
  their merits.  "Nobody gets frozen out of our actions because the public ultimately is 
going
  to get a chance to comment. If they are dissatisfied, they will get 
their own
  opportunity to sue," Rey said.  But environmental groups call the comment period a formality, which rarely
  produces any substantive change in the settlement.  Chris West of the American Forest Resource Council, a Portland,
  Ore.-based timber group which has filed several of the lawsuits, denied any
  collusion in the litigation.  He said Mr. Bush is "just trying to put some balance into how these forests
  are managed," noting that logging in the Northwest has dropped in the past
  decade to less than a third of the volume recommended by the Northwest
  Forest Plan
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 16:26:24 PT
JSM here's the one that says Canada is first
http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/archives/fotw246supp.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 16:22:22 PT
JSM
I found this information.Crude Oil Imports to the U.S., 1984-present(Thousands Of Barrels Per Day)http://www.public-i.org/Latam_Importsl_tables.htm
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Comment #13 posted by JSM on April 19, 2003 at 16:06:21 PT
Canada & trade ( Comment #10)
Does anyone here know where the US gets the majority of its oil? Last week there was an article in our local paper where a petroleum engineering professor stated that Canada is the number one exporter of oil to the US. If that is true does anyone in their right mind think that we are going to mess with Canadian trade relations? 
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 10:27:16 PT
Nuevo Mexican
I went ahead and deleted it for you. Glad you are feeling better. I know that Matt can fix it. It's just something small or the rest of the site wouldn't be working like it is. I'm sure it has to do with trying to turn over to 16,000 articles posted. That's when it messed up so it should just be a code. I backtrack too! LOL! I have around 10 or more articles set up to post so when it's fixed I will be busy. Have a Happy Easter Holiday and a Happy 4:20 too!
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Comment #11 posted by Nuevo Mexican on April 19, 2003 at 10:19:51 PT

Hope Matt can fix it!
It's not a problem for the front page if you go to the comments and backtrack for now. And please delete my previous comment as I was upset and feel much better now, I wonder why? LOL!
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 08:38:12 PT

Canada's Pending Drug Law Irks U.S.
I'll post this article when the page is fixed but thought you all might want to read it so here it is.Canada's Pending Drug Law Irks U.S.Decriminalization of marijuana likely to strain relations, White House says. 
Janice Tibbetts, CanWest News Service Saturday, April 19, 2003 
 
Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he has not consulted his American counterparts on his plans to relax Canada's marijuana laws -- prompting a warning from a White House official that sidelining the U.S. could become another irritant in relations between the federal government and Washington.Failure to talk to the Americans about pending marijuana laws is akin to Canada unilaterally setting up "open-air toxic waste sites"along the border, said Tom Riley, public affairs director for the White House office of drug control policy."I think there is a bit of an analog here," said Mr. Riley, repeating U.S. drug czar John Walters' assertion that eased drug laws will trigger tighter security checks for Canadians who cross the border.Complete Article: http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=EE5EF838-2CF6-4E1F-9CFF-532B7847355B
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on April 19, 2003 at 07:51:33 PT

bunch of bolderdash
most of the cannabis plants are Hemp this ad needs to be countered by the Hemp industry, what a low life lie to tell on a most holy Earth Day. Fools are those who lie to the children and to tell this to our most unsupecting will win those involved a special place in the creators garden.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 22:21:01 PT

ONDCP Press Release
White House Drug Policy Office to Air Earth Day Ad Outlining the Negative Impact of the Drug Trade on the Environment  Thousands of Acres Ruined on U.S. Public Lands due to Marijuana Cultivation; Illegal Drug Trade Responsible for the Devastation of Millions of Acres of Andean Rainforest.WASHINGTON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced that "Environment," a new anti-drug ad that is part of the "Nick and Norm" series, will air on Meet the Press and Face the Nation on Sunday, April 20th as part of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. In the ad, Nick informs Norm that methamphetamine labs produce toxic waste and cocaine production destroys rain forests -- just two examples of how drug cultivation negatively impacts the environment. The ad will run until June on FOX News, Bravo, A&E, and other channels. Testing has shown that the "Nick and Norm" ad series has successfully strengthened anti-drug beliefs across all audiences. "Those who enjoy and care about our planet's natural resources should be troubled by the environmental consequences of the drug trade," said John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy. "The billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs produced here and abroad are taking a horrific toll on some of the most fragile and diverse ecosystems on the planet. We hope that Earth Day will give parents and educators another reason to talk to their kids about the harmful consequences of drug use. Concerned young people and adults should think about the global impact of the drug trade the next time they and their peers discuss what they can do to sustain a healthy environment here in the U.S. and abroad." In the United States, the illegal growth and cultivation of marijuana has destroyed and contaminated thousand of acres of public lands. Environmental damage occurs when clandestine farmers burn off native vegetation, thus destroying natural wildlife habitats. The pollution continues when the toxic pesticides, fertilizers, and insecticides seep into creeks and municipal watersheds. The production of other illicit drugs, both internationally and domestically, also negatively impacts the environment. For example, methamphetamine labs, which are toxic waste sites, produce pounds of hazardous leftover material, leading to both immediate and long-term environmental and health risks. Over the past two decades, the Andean region has lost approximately 6 million acres of fragile tropical forest as a result of farmers clearing land to make way for the production of coca -- the raw ingredient for cocaine. To help educate parents and teens about the issues surrounding drugs and the environment, the Media Campaign has added "Drugs & the Environment" content to TheAntiDrug.com and Freevibe.com, containing facts and links for more information on how illegal drug use contributes to the destruction of the environment. Visit http://www.theantidrug.com and http://www.freevibe.com to view the new information.ENVIRONMENT & DRUGS Billions of dollars are spent every year on illegal drugs, which take a horrific toll on some of the world's most fragile and diverse eco-systems. In the U.S., production of methamphetamines and marijuana has had a devastating impact on our public lands. Globally, the growth of marijuana, coca (cocaine) and opium poppy has eroded valuable ecosystems.Marijuana The illegal growth and cultivation of marijuana has destroyed and contaminated thousands of acres of public lands in America. In fact, more than 2,500,000 marijuana plants have been found and eradicated on National Forest lands since 1997. The damage begins when marijuana farmers burn off native vegetation, destroying natural wildlife habitats. Some growers clear cultivation areas with chain saws and spread fertilizers and pesticides. The arsenic-based poisons kill small animals and rodents and in turn, the larger animals and birds that consume them, devastating the food chain and area water supplies. Often, tons of trash and high concentrations of human waste are left behind by smugglers, who come to the U.S. to care for the crops. This impacts wildlife, vegetation and water quality along rivers and streams. It also detracts from natural, scenic qualities and can affect human and animal health from spread of bacteria and disease.Methamphetamines Methamphetamine or "meth" labs, using inexpensive over-the-counter chemicals to process the drug, can cause soil and water contamination, threaten fish and stream wildlife and create fires. For each pound of "meth" produced, five to six pounds of hazardous waste are generated, posing immediate and long-term environmental and health risks. For example, National Forest Service employees who have been in contact with meth dump sites have become ill. The waste contains chemicals such as lye, red phosphorus, hydriodic acid and iodine. Some of this hazardous waste is dumped directly into domestic water wells, farmland and mine shafts, creating broader public health risks from contaminated water. And in California, for example, chemicals from large meth lab dump sites have killed livestock, contaminated streams, and destroyed large areas of trees and vegetation in that state.Cocaine The U.S. consumes nearly 260 metric tons of cocaine every year, which is grown and processed in the fragile environments of South America. The result has been the destruction of almost 6 million acres of fragile tropical forest over the past 20 years in the Andean region of South America, one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems(1). Each year millions of pounds of chemicals are used to process coca and then dumped into waterways or onto the ground in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Terrorist groups in Colombia linked to the narcotics trade frequently bomb oil pipelines resulting in toxic spills. One pipeline has been attacked more than 700 times since 1986 resulting in an overall spillage of 2.2 million barrels of oil into the surrounding ecosystem(2). In Colombia, which contains roughly 10 percent of the Earth's biodiversity, roughly three million acres of tropical rain forest have been ruined by the coca trade. In Peru, ten percent of the total rain forest destruction in the last century is due to illegal drugs. The rapidly eroding rainforests may mean that scientists may not find potential cures for deadly diseases, (one in six prescription drugs has a tropical source). The loss of rainforests also contributes to changes in the global climate. Pollution of waterways will perhaps permanently eradicate species of plants and animals, in addition to releasing carcinogens into drinking water for generations to come.For more information on the ONDCP National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign visit http://www.mediacampaign.org-- http://www.freevibe.com or http://www.theantidrug.com U.S. Department of State -- http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/andes/homepage.htm	
SOURCE: Office of the National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) 
 

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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 22:13:44 PT

Thanks puff_tuff
I'm watching a program on Bushmen on World Link TV. What is it with society that tries to push people with a different color skin or a different culture away from themselves. It's like they want them to just go away, far away. We complain about how other countries have different tribal issues but so do we. Doesn't anyone see a parallel or maybe it's just the way I see things. I hope this makes sense.
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Comment #6 posted by puff_tuff on April 18, 2003 at 21:51:31 PT

Authoritarianism and the racist drug war
April 18, 2003
Columbus Free Press The rise of authoritarianism and the racist drug warhttp://www.freepress.org/columns.php?strFunc=display&strID=339&strYear=2003&strAuthor=3

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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 20:32:42 PT

News Article from ABC 28 - Lubbock, Texas
Candidate For Cannabis
 
 
 
 
 
 To be honest, not many showed up in support of the pro-marijuana rally on the Texas Tech campus. But Dr. Chip Peterson did. Peterson is the Libertarian candidate for congress in the special election to replace Larry Combest. And while Peterson does not recommend marijuana use, he also doesn't condone the current ban. "I don't approve of drugs. I know a doctor who has treated people who took marijuana for long periods of time," said Peterson at the rally Friday. Peterson says people who smoke marijuana hurt no one other than themselves. Filling our prisons with marijuana users is not appropriate he argues. It's a good question. Are will filling our prisons with marijuana users? I did some internet research and came across a site for the Statistical Assessment Service in Washington DC. This group says 13% of all convicts in state prisons across the country are locked up strictly on marijuana charges. On the federal level, 31% of all prosecutions are marijuana related. But that figure is very misleading. Many of this 31% pleaded out on marijuana to avoid other charges. When you look at those investigated, charged, and convicted strictly with marijuana, it's one percent. But for Peterson it goes one step further than that. "What are we getting with the drug war now? We're getting gangs. We're getting a certain amount of corruption at the political level and, people are still getting their marijuana," said Peterson. 
 
 
 
 
 http://home.abc28.com/Global/story.asp?S=1240275

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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 17:16:57 PT

Nuevo Mexican 
Are you sure you want me to remove your comment? It doesn't bother me. I will if you want and we are doing fine.
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Comment #3 posted by Nuevo Mexican on April 18, 2003 at 17:06:14 PT

Hi FOM, you're right you know!
If you don't mind removing my last post, please do. c-news has matured! Hope you're doing well!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 11:36:17 PT

Nuevo Mexican 
Happy 4-20 to you! I wondered if you were ok because you haven't been here for awhile. I'll post the article as soon as the page is fixed. I have it ready to post now and named you Newshawk and thanks. You say you miss what was here on CNews. I understand that feeling. When we grow up we look back with nostalgia at our days when we were children. When we said that nothing would ever be the same after 9-11 it was true. We no longer are children and we long for those days sometimes. The war has been one of the events in my life that will be forever stuck in my mind just like Kennedy's Assassination and of course 9-11. Growing up is good too. 
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