cannabisnews.com: Tea and Hempathy





Tea and Hempathy
Posted by CN Staff on April 18, 2003 at 08:32:59 PT
By Julia O'Malley
Source: Juneau Empire 
Al Anders and I had been chatting for a few minutes when he pulled a box of coca leaf tea from his desk drawer like a businessman in a movie offering up a stashed flask of bourbon."You should try some of this. It's perfectly legal. You can get it off the Internet," he said. "This is how cocaine would be consumed if it were legal."
I'd wandered into the Alaska Hemp office because I'd seen signs up all over town advertising an Alaska Hemp/Libertarian Party convention in Juneau and I was curious. Anders, a portly, mustachioed man who chairs Juneau's chapters of Alaska Hemp and the Libertarian Party, welcomed me in, and was in the process of explaining Libertarian philosophy.Libertarians have championed many ideas over the years, among them the capital move, flightseeing with dirigibles and the legalization of marijuana. Famous Libertarians, I learned, include actress Dixie Carter, and the lesser-known Mojo Nixon, who wrote the anthem, "I Ain't Gonna (expletive) in No Jar.""Vices are not crimes," Anders said as he poured the tea. "They may keep you out of heaven, but they shouldn't put you in jail."Libertarian brochures sat stacked on every surface. Hydroponic pot-growing apparatus bubbled away in the front window. Anders was using it to grow tomato starts. A partially nude woman gazed sullenly from a calendar hung above his desk."Libertarians are individuals. Some are government minimalists; others are anarchists," Anders said. They don't like taxes or any other government intrusion into their private lives, he continued. Getting busted for smoking pot in your house qualifies as an unnecessary intrusion, wherein lies the connection between Juneau Libertarians and Alaska Hemp.Pot has been illegal in Alaska for about a decade. Anders was behind an initiative on the ballot in 2000 that would have legalized marijuana use by adults age 18 and up, freed people jailed for marijuana-related crimes, and possibly paid them restitution. Forty percent of voters that year - 114,000 people - voted in favor of it. He is at work on a new initiative that would legalize marijuana for adult consumption. Assuming he can get it on the ballot, he is optimistic about its chances, possibly in 2004."The spirit of individualism is huge in the Libertarian Party in Alaska," he said "That's why marijuana reform has its best chances here - we don't really care how they do it Outside. ... One lump or two?"The next evening Anders and Alaska Libertarian Party treasurer Len Karpinski were dressed in suit coats, milling around a small conference room at the Prospector Hotel. Officially, the convention was supposed to start at 6 p.m., which was any minute. So far, there were no takers."At 6:15, I start panicking. At 6:20, I start drinking beer," Anders said.Karpinski looked familiar. I asked if he'd run for public office."Al, did I run for state Senate before, or was it U.S. Senate?" He looked at me apologetically. "Oh, I can't remember."There were a dozen 22-year-old guys with long hair, a few older couples and a terrier-poodle mix named "Sparkle" in attendance at about 6:15 p.m. when keynote speaker Rob Kampia, director of the national Marijuana Policy Project, took the floor. His suit made him look like an evangelical minister.Kampia attributed national politicians' reluctance to take him seriously to his theory that political staffers smoke pot, and have issues about it. Still, the concepts of medical marijuana and lighter criminal penalties for marijuana users have made some inroads, he said. Kampia and Anders had been involved in a campaign for a marijuana legalization in Nevada last fall, which tanked, something Kampia spent the rest of his talk explaining.For one thing, stoned drivers recently killed an editor of the second-largest newspaper in Nevada, as well as a police officer and six teenagers picking up trash on the side of the road, he said. And the "Drug Czar" ran ads about baked teenagers getting in car crashes."It was one of those emotional things," Kampia said. "We learned that we have to be emotional about arrests. We have to show someone who lost their kids, lost their house, ended up in jail, maybe got assaulted in jail and now has AIDS."Kampia said his polls have indicated Alaska is one of the most likely states to legalize marijuana. The major group of voters that will help pass initiative are 18 to 24, Kampia said. The college men in the audience, who smelled suspiciously like a Phish concert, nodded at that, and I later saw them leaving with fistfuls of literature. I asked one of them why he was there."I'm a registered party member. Basically I don't like anyone having a hand in what we say and what we do," he said, and then paused for a minute. "But, I don't know, I'm still sort of researching it."Note: Behind the scenes with the Libertarians.Source: Juneau Empire (AK)Author: Julia O'MalleyPublished: Friday, April 18, 2003Copyright: 2003 Southeastern Newspaper CorpWebsite: http://www.juneauempire.com/Contact: letterstotheeditor juneauempire.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Free Hemp in Alaskahttp://www.freehempinak.org/Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Suing State http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15306.shtmlMarijuana Group Brings Effort to Juneau http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14246.shtml
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 18:09:19 PT
News Article from Reuters
Calif. Locale to Sue Feds Over Medical Marijuana By Michael KahnMonday, April 21, 2003 Copyright: 2003 ReutersSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California county and its major city plan to sue the federal government on Wednesday to allow the use of medical marijuana in a lawsuit they said will mark the first legal challenge over the issue brought by a local government.Plaintiffs, who include the city and county of Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco, said on Monday they will seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to allow a medical marijuana farm raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Santa Cruz last year to reopen and sick patients to obtain the drug. Use of marijuana for medical purposes is legal under state law but illegal under federal law."It is pretty clear that the people in the state of California support the use of medical marijuana," said Mardi Wormhoudt, a Santa Cruz County Supervisor. "It is disturbing when the people in the state have overwhelmingly expressed their support at the ballot the federal government feels no right to uphold that."Federal officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit plaintiffs plan to file in federal court in San Jose, California later this week.The lawsuit, which will name Attorney General John Ashcroft, Acting DEA Administrator John Brown and Drug Czar John Walters, marks the latest battle between California and the federal government over medical marijuana.California is one of nine U.S. states where voters have passed laws allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients suffering from illnesses ranging from AIDS and cancer to glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Medical marijuana proponents say the drug can help alleviate symptoms such as pain and nausea for some sick patients.But federal law enforcement authorities, bolstered by a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal ban on medical marijuana, have taken a far more severe view than their local counterparts in California and have been cracking down on patient clubs centered around medicinal use of the herb.Plaintiffs say they hope their lawsuit also sparks a flood of similar litigation in the medical marijuana movement, which gained strength in California during the height of the AIDS epidemic."This issue will be fought out in the courts," Wormhoudt said. "If this happens in many places, I believe it will begin to have a cumulative effect."RAID SPURS POT GIVEAWAYThe lawsuit revolves around a September raid in Santa Cruz where federal authorities closed down a medical marijuana cooperative and arrested the farm's owners. One of the owners was the woman who helped write the trailblazing state law that legalized medicinal use of the drug.That raid outraged many in the liberal beach community located about 72 miles south of San Francisco and spurred some local leaders to join a protest on the steps of City Hall where sick patients received free medical marijuana.In another high-profile fight showing the split over medical marijuana, federal prosecutors recently won a conviction on drug charges against national medical marijuana movement guru Ed Rosenthal.They did so even though state law deems Rosenthal's actions legal and the city of Oakland had certified him to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. Jurors in the case said later they would not have convicted Rosenthal, who is appealing, if they had known he was growing medical marijuana.
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Comment #28 posted by afterburner on April 21, 2003 at 16:32:18 PT:
Go Santa Cruz.
If we don't have rights in USA, where do we have them?Lawyers for Santa Cruz said the lawsuit will claim that the seven patient plaintiffs have had their medicine substantially decreased since the raid, and that WAMM has been unable to provide its patients with necessary medicine. This has caused an "insurmountable" level of pain and suffering and hastened the deaths of the most vulnerable WAMM members, lawyers said. Is this a con John? Is this a sneaky attempt to legalize all drugs (and the pain of addiction that goes with some of them)? No this is Human Rights, the contribution of the USA to the world. This is an organic wholistic movement to recognize the healing properties of a spiritual medicinal plant, cannabis. ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 16:02:41 PT
News Article from The Associated Press
Santa Cruz to Sue Feds Over Medical Marijuana RaidsThe Associated PressPublished: April 21, 2003Copyright: 2003 Associated PressIn hopes of stopping federal agents from again raiding a farm that provides marijuana to sick and dying people, Santa Cruz officials said they will file a lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Drug Enforcement Administration.Attorneys representing the city and county of Santa Cruz, as well as seven medical marijuana users, said Monday they plan to file the papers Wednesday in San Jose federal court."The city of Santa Cruz wants to prevent raids on medical marijuana. This is a public health issue to this community," said Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone on Monday.The lawsuit comes in response to a DEA raid last September at a small pot farm located on a quiet coastal road about 15 miles north of town. Agents uprooted about 165 plants and arrested the owners, Valerie and Michael Corral.The raid outraged local officials, who have since sponsored a medical marijuana giveaway from the steps of City Hall. They also deputized the Corrals, who are the founders the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, allowing them to cultivate, distribute and possess medical marijuana under a city ordinance.Lawyers for Santa Cruz said the lawsuit will claim that the seven patient plaintiffs have had their medicine substantially decreased since the raid, and that WAMM has been unable to provide its patients with necessary medicine. This has caused an "insurmountable" level of pain and suffering and hastened the deaths of the most vulnerable WAMM members, lawyers said.The lawsuit, to filed as County of Santa Cruz v. Ashcroft et. al, asks the federal courts to enjoin the federal government from raiding the WAMM gardens in the future.DEA spokesman Richard Meyer in San Francisco said Monday he could not comment on pending litigation, but that his agency's mission is very clear: "To enforce the Controlled Substances Act."Marijuana is an illegal drug under that law. State law in California - as well as Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington - allows marijuana to be grown and distributed to people with a doctor's prescription.Meyer said that raiding medical marijuana clubs and farms is the DEA's duty."Our goal is to seize illegal drugs and arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice," he said.Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, one of several attorneys representing the medical marijuana users, has said this case could be an important step toward ending the legal contradiction between state and federal laws.Last May, the Supreme Court ruled that people charged with violating federal drug laws cannot use medical necessity their defense. But Uelmen said the justices left open whether states could legalize medical marijuana under the 10th Amendment, which grants states powers not exercised by the federal government, or under the 14th Amendment's right to due process.Community members in this liberal central California community repeatedly have supported medical marijuana.In 1992, 77 percent of Santa Cruz voters approved a measure ending the prohibition of medical marijuana. Four years later, state voters approved Proposition 215, which allows marijuana for medicinal purposes. And in 2000, the city council approved an ordinance allowing medical marijuana to be grown and used without a prescription.Pictures from WAMM Protest: 
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htm
WAMM Raided by DEA - September 5, 2002
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 15:32:23 PT
druid
Thank you. I have always been a person who stands on an issue and can be very stubborn but I believe this is it for us. What I mean is we have been pushed so hard by world situations that we could become obscure without much effort. I believe that any chances of reforming laws concerning cannabis would take back seat to issues in the world. I know that our issue isn't as important as world problems but it is important and deserves attention and as long as I see others who feel that way I won't get discouraged. 
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Comment #25 posted by druid on April 21, 2003 at 15:16:46 PT
FoM
No Problem. It's been kinda refreshing taking a breather from constantly checking in on CNews. I have been going through withdrawals but I think I will make it. As long as you promise to be back in action, I think I can hold off the shakes. :pAnyway THANKS Again FoM for all your good work and keep fighting the good fight! 
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 14:24:54 PT
Thanks Druid
I will post it as soon as I can. I still haven't heard back from Matt or Richard. I have a lot of articles to post once the page is fixed and I'm really sorry for this problem.
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Comment #23 posted by Druid on April 21, 2003 at 12:31:38 PT
New Book-Reefer Madness
Keep Off The Grass
The author of Fast Food Nation takes on America's shadow economy: pot, porn and migrant labor
By LEV GROSSMANMonday, Apr. 28, 2003
It's amazing that Eric Schlosser is still capable of being shocked. As the author of Fast Food Nation, the best-selling indictment of the burger-and-fries industry, he has peered into some pretty nasty grease traps. But get him started on marijuana laws, and he's almost at a loss for words. "Some of these people are facing 20 years in prison for selling a glass water pipe with a pot leaf on it. I mean, that's just unbelievable. When you think about the fact that the typical convicted murderer in the U.S. does 10, it's...it's reefer madness."Reefer Madness (Houghton Mifflin; 310 pages) is the title of Schlosser's new book, and in it he widens his scope from a single industry to take on the entirety of what he calls America's "underground economy"--that vast, shadowy realm of financial activity that goes unrecorded because it's either illegal or unsavory or both. Like the fast-food business, the underground economy has ballooned over the past 30 years, to about $1 trillion, and Schlosser aims to find out why. He's hunting big conceptual game here, nothing less than America's troubled, hypocritical soul. "If the market does indeed embody the sum of all human wishes," he writes, "then the secret ones are just as important as the ones openly displayed."Schlosser concentrates his search on three areas: pot, migrant labor and pornography. (In case you're wondering whether combining porn and economics makes economics interesting or porn boring, it's the former.) He follows the money down some dark alleys: into peep shows and prisons, subterranean high-tech hydroponic pot farms and camouflaged, garbage-strewn encampments of illegal Mexican farmworkers. He introduces us to Reuben Sturman, a humble Cleveland comic-book salesman who became the founding father of America's $10 billion porn industry and who deserves a whole book of his own. We meet Mark Young, a good-natured loser who got a life sentence — without parole — for his peripheral role in one marijuana deal. Schlosser has a gift for spotting colossal numbers that hide in plain sight: America's domestic marijuana harvest, he tells us, is worth upwards of $20 billion a year, making it the country's largest cash crop.Schlosser isn't attacking the pot industry here; he's going after the institutional hypocrisies that force it underground while leaving far more damaging practices, like the abuse of migrant workers, to fester openly. What ties Reefer Madness together is Schlosser's passionate belief that America is deeply neurotic, a nation divided against itself into a sunny, whitewashed mainstream and a lusty, angry, deeply denied subconscious. He just might be the shrink America needs. His next book will take on the prison system, and it will complete what amounts to a three-volume history of the underbelly of late--20th century America. "In 1970 the prison population was just dropping," Schlosser says. "Last week they announced it was over 2 million. This is the land of the free, with the most prisoners in history! It's unbelievable!" See? He's still shocked.
Keep of the Grass
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 10:57:41 PT
Press Release - Government
U.S. Links Illegal Drug Production, Environmental DamageWhite House Drug Office notes deforestation, pollution, other effectsApril 21, 2003Marijuana cultivation strips the land. Cocaine producers cause deforestation. Methamphetamine labs are toxic waste sites. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is emphasizing the damage that drug traffickers do to the environment in a campaign launched for Earth Day.Earth Day, recognized in the United States since 1970, falls on April 22. In an April 18 press release, ONDCP reports that it is launching a new television advertising campaign that explains the environmental consequences of drug cultivation.Complete Press Release: http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=03042101.glt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtmlColombia Drug War News: http://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmU.S. Civilians Wage Drug War from Colombia's Skies: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread14652.shtml
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 08:24:28 PT
News Article from Wired Magazine
Getting High for SciencePublished: May 2003 
Ecstasy isn't just for fun anymore. This rave fave is one of several illegal substances now being tested for legit medicinal purposes. A research explosion in neuroscience has led the FDA to loosen its grip on MDMA and other recreational drugs. So, even as the Feds spend $20 billion a year on the drug war, scientists in the US and abroad have begun studying the potential benefits of X, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms. Here's a look at the whys behind the highs.EcstasyThe DEA doesn't like it, but South Carolina psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer got FDA approval for the first double-blind study on the effect of MDMA on people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Victims of violent crimes will get ecstasy combined with heavy therapy. The DEA has also touted research suggesting that MDMA causes Parkinson's disease, but a recent study out of the University of Manchester showed that the drug reduces tremors. Psychedelic mushroomsFor years, anecdotal reports pointed to the salutary effects of psilocybin on people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now Francisco Moreno, a psychiatrist at the University of Arizona at Tucson, is conducting the first FDA-approved psilocybin study in more than 25 years. Moreno hopes to replicate the anecdotes in the lab. Also, the FDA recently green-lighted a UCLA study of the effects of psilocybin on chronic anxiety and depression in end-stage cancer patients.MarijuanaResearchers at UC San Francisco recently finished a first-of-its-kind study on the safety of marijuana use among HIV-positive subjects. No ill effects were found. Now they're ready to test whether weed combats multiple sclerosis as well as the wasting syndrome that afflicts AIDS patients. Meanwhile, UC San Diego doctors will evaluate how effective marijuana is in alleviating the suffering of late-stage cancer patients.- Steven Kotlerhttp://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/start.html?pg=9
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 07:22:46 PT
Topsy-Turvy Times for Pot Advocates 
Medical use has wide support, but government cracking down. Now, it seems, is the best of times, and the worst of times, for the marijuana movement. While most Americans say they support medical marijuana, the federal government has won several high-profile criminal cases against cannabis clubs and pot growers in the past year. With staunch social conservatives like Attorney General John Ashcroft at the helm of federal law enforcement, Keith Stroup, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), says it's hard to know just how much longer marijuana advocates can ride the current momentum in their favor. Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/sfnorml.htm
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on April 21, 2003 at 06:46:27 PT
News Brief -- Associated Press
Hundreds Rally for Legalization of MarijuanaPublished: April 21, 2003BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A crowd estimated by police at 800 gathered at Farrand Field at the University of Colorado on Sunday to support the legalization of marijuana, and smoke a little weed.Cpl. Jim Manzanares of the CU Police Department said five police officers were on duty and didn't make any arrests but did confiscate some drug paraphernalia.''Because there were so many people, we decided to keep a low profile,'' Manzanares said. ''It was mostly a pretty peaceful group. When you're in that kind of situation, you try to enforce the laws but make sure you don't make it into a worse problem than it started out to be.''Ralph Shnelvar, former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, was at the event that he called a ''spontaneous'' gathering and estimated that the peak crowd at 4:20 p.m. was in the thousands.''There was an enormous amount of pot being smoked,'' said Shnelvar, 53, adding that he has never smoked marijuana but is in support of legalizing it. ''If there are five cops and 3,000 people, would you be insane enough to arrest somebody? In a lot of ways this is the essence of democracy in action. You have this overwhelming outpouring of people who want the law changed, and the cops would have been insane to arrest anybody.''The number 420 took on its meaning because it was the time of day a group of San Rafael High School students in California known as ''The Waldos'' had an after-school marijuana meeting 30 years ago, according to the online magazine -- http://www.420Times.com
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 22:29:03 PT
Marijuana for MS
Reported April 21, 2003 London (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers from the Institute of Neurology in London are now experimenting with marijuana to treat the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.Preliminary results of an ongoing study suggest marijuana can help control the pain and spasticity endured by MS patients. Cannabinoids, which make up marijuana, inhibited pain in virtually every experimental situation. They also controlled tremors in an experimental model of MS.Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco. The drug was banned in the United States in 1937. Now, cannabis-based medicines are being considered for license.Researchers believe the results of the study could lead to the widespread medical use of marijuana. Marijuana comes from the medicinal part of cannabis. “Varieties of cannabis might be tailored to different diseases or used in combination with known drugs,” says Alan Thompson, author of the study.However, Thompson warns against making the drug too accessible. He says, “There are many challenges to be overcome before we view cannabinoids as routine medicine in neurological disorders.”Cannabis produces a psychoactive, relaxing intoxication, or a “high,” which can change the body’s cognitive function. In some cases, cannabis can induce unpleasant effects including anxiety, panic or paranoia.Previous studies have found cannabis plays a role in preventing neurodegeneration, which means it could potentially help manage other disorders such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/SOURCE: The Lancet Neurology, 2003;2:291-298http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=5965
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 20:15:28 PT
Virgil
Green grass and eggs sounds good. I spent today with my sister and we talked about the war and Muslims, Christians and Jews. I have been reading to try to figure out where the split happened from an historical point of view. It is very interesting to me. Maybe it is very interesting to me because it is Easter. The more we read about any given topic the more we will learn. 
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Comment #16 posted by Virgil on April 20, 2003 at 20:08:21 PT
Time for spring planting
Today children looked for eggs in the grass. Why can we not have grass with our eggs tomorrow. Well, it is a kind of slavery to tell you the truth. One egg has all the cholesterol a person needs for a whole day and it would make more sense to prohibit them. When an agency of the federal government thinks it can legislate the banning of the source of the most beneficial oils known to man, people should be screaming at the insanity. Maybe when the people learn this is a misadministration run by slogans instead of real policy they will wake up. The No Child Left Behind bullshit is going to hit the fan as it is totally and absolutely impossible to meet the goals just as it is impossible to have the UN remove cannabis and other plants from the face of the earth in five years. I saw they have a new commercial from the ONDCP that is as stupid as the others and as misguided as the ersatz president. History will regard these lies as support of a great crime just as some of us that know of Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm and others like them have already determined.I have been reading at constitution.org. If you do not think the constitution is dead, it is because you do not read enough or suffer from lack of comprehension. The middle class is being shrunk to be servants of the plutocracy with everyone else living on the crumbs.That is what we should be teaching our children because the schools won't. People should take to wearing real chains around our necks. Really. It is not a mixed message.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 19:42:22 PT
Video: Marijuana Debate
The debate over legalizing marijuana is heating up.http://www.capitalnews9.com/shared/video/player.asp?destlist=11603
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 18:38:52 PT
Article from New Zealand
Health Officials Cautious About Cannabis for Medical Use April 21, 2003 Moves to legalise cannabis for medical use have been met with caution by Rotorua health officials. The proposals are supported by Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick, who chairs the Government's health select committee. She was reported yesterday as saying she backed the move and was confident of the support of her 11-member committee to make a recommendation to the Government. The model the committee is considering would see a pill containing a cannabis derivative administered to people suffering from certain illnesses. Mrs Chadwick has said medicinal cannabis can be effective in relieving chronic pain such as that experienced by those with motor neurone disease or traumatic paralysis. It would be available only to patients with a specific threshold of pain or illness and would be registered as a medicine under the Medicines Act 1981. Any law change would apply only to cannabis in pill form. It would not permit patients to smoke the drug. The proposed law change has been given cautious approval by Rotorua's Dr Tricia Briscoe, chairwoman of the GP Council of the New Zealand Medical Association. Complete Article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2418449a11,00.html
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 16:51:46 PT
Thanks puff_tuff
I'll get it posted as soon as I can! I'm listening to Neil Young. Here's a link for you or anyone who might want to watch the video.http://www.neilyoung.com/http://demand.stream.aol.com/wmg/us/wbr/neilyoung/nyoung_goinghome_450.wmv
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Comment #12 posted by puff_tuff on April 20, 2003 at 12:14:00 PT
Abandon potent marijuana strain?
Sunday, April 20, 2003Health Canada considers abandoning highly potent marijuana strainDEAN BEEBY 
Canadian Press http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=3A19434B-7A34-4276-A2E0-9DFCAF117EED
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 09:57:09 PT
4-20 an Underground Marijuana Holiday 
 The bouncer smiled knowingly as Joe and Pete walked past the stool he occupied just a few feet from the front door of the bar. "You going out for a joint?" the bouncer asked. Joe and Pete nodded. The two men, who asked that their real names not be used, smoke marijuana regularly, they said. Forty-year-old Joe has been doing so for more than 15 years. But today -- the 20th day of the fourth month -- is a special day. Internationally, it's become known as the "universal smoke day," and even the occasional weed smoker will light up to commemorate its underground culture. The origin of the "holiday" is the subject of various myths. One incorrectly holds that the police dispatch code for smoking marijuana is 420. Complete Article: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/04-03/04-20-03/a10lo043.htm
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 20, 2003 at 09:38:43 PT
Happy Easter
Just a note. I just looked at NORML's schedule and it shows that Matt and others have a presentation to do this afternoon. I thought people would be home on Easter so it might be tomorrow until the site is fixed. I'm really sorry about the site being down. I hope you all have a nice day.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 21:18:58 PT
Look What They Found
I took this portion out of the article. I guess they will say they finally found WMD. I sure hope not!Palaces of Saddam Hussein, Relatives, Reveal Extravagant LifestyleHe said the soldiers who entered it after the war found stockpiles of drugs, including AZT, which is used to battle the AIDS disease, heroin and marijuana. Another building housed a dental clinic. Complete Article: http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=FF309E19-8FC5-4A8D-BF805AF6BAE1E7AB
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 19, 2003 at 20:09:44 PT
afterburner
Is God inclusive or exclusive? I'm not sure I can answer because I don't really understand what you mean. I hope you have a nice day tomorrow. I'll be glad to be able to get stories posted. I've done it for so long that I feel lost not posting news. Meanwhile I'm watching a dog show on tv. Nothing serious about it but fun to watch just the same for me. I just love animals. 
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Comment #7 posted by afterburner on April 19, 2003 at 18:04:07 PT:
bunnies and eggs and Jeckyl and Hyde.
"bunnies and eggs and yum candy" are for the children and from the pagans, that is pre-Christians. Inclusive holidays honor everyone. Exclusive holidays dishonor everyone. Is God inclusive or exclusive? Is the savior for all or none? Here is some of the nonsense Harry J. Anslinger used to demonize and criminalize cannabis. Note the similarity to John P. Walters statement that marijuana is more dangerous than heroin. "Opium has all the good of Dr Jeckyl and all the evil of Mr Hyde. Marihuana is entirely the monster Hyde, the harmful effect of which cannot be measured."
- Harry J. Anslinger: Opening statement at the Marihuana Tax Act hearings, 1937 - Such lies are an afront to God and human. Of course, both Harry J. and John P. have it backwards: the opiates are the addictive substances and cannabis is a mild mind manifesting and body manifesting plant.ego destruction or ego tannscendence, that is the question.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 15:47:21 PT
afterburner
I always enjoyed Easter because it's spring. Never understood easter bunnies and eggs and yum candy with a Christian based holiday. We don't really celebrate holidays but try to celebrate living. That way everyday is a holiday! Enjoy!
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 15:42:50 PT
Thanks puff_tuff
I will get it posted as soon as I am able too.
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Comment #4 posted by puff_tuff on April 18, 2003 at 15:05:02 PT
Cannabis may become 'the aspirin of the 21st centu
Cannabis may become 'the aspirin of the 21st century'Pubdate: 19 April 2003Source: Independent (UK)http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=398495
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on April 18, 2003 at 14:48:46 PT:
Happy 4.20 Easter to FoM and all her Readers.
I am celebrating both. I learned back in the 1976 celebration of the American spirit from childern that celebrations make happy workers, creative artists, filling the spirit with joy, the heart with hope, the future with promise. Hold on for one more day. The rebirth is coming, it's only a heartbeat away. Reach out and embrace the future you dream of. Be that future, we heal we weal.ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 18, 2003 at 13:19:15 PT
afterburner 
Thanks! I guess Matt hasn't gotten my email yet. I know it isn't something hard to fix but I don't know how much he can do if he is away from home and at the conference. Hope you will have a nice weekend. Happy Easter (if you celebrate it) and Happy 4:20 too! 
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on April 18, 2003 at 11:18:20 PT:
Human Interest: Fighting Emotional Fire with Fire.
Kampia said. "We learned that we have to be emotional about arrests. We have to show someone who lost their kids, lost their house, ended up in jail, maybe got assaulted in jail and now has AIDS."ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.BTW, FoM -- I'm posting a comment on as many of the missing posted articles as I can find, so that people can read and post comments through the comments page.
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