cannabisnews.com: The Straight Dope 





The Straight Dope 
Posted by CN Staff on June 10, 2003 at 09:06:21 PT
By Will Durst - WorkingForChange 
Source: WorkingForChange 
Straight off, I got to tell you, I don't smoke pot. I used to smoke and deal bad Midwestern weed. Indiana gold. $95 a pound. We'd roll skinny little toothpick joints and smoke all day long. Right around 8 o’clock at night, we'd start to wonder, "Hey, are we actually getting high?" The answer, of course, was no. We had just spent the entire day hyperventilating. I quit smoking around 1978 when the heathen devil weed got too good. But every couple years I give it another go -- one hit and I turn into chattering paranoid monkey drool. I miss it, not for the high but for all the wrong reasons.
I miss rolling a joint one-handed while driving. I miss being illegal. Fortunately, for folks like me, it seems the federal government is determined to preserve rebel status for America’s estimated 80 million pot smokers. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer refused to sentence Ed Rosenthal on federal charges of growing over 100 plants. The Bay Area's 58-year-old guru of ganja received a one-day sentence and $1,000 fine instead of the 60 years he faced behind bars. Rosenthal may leave court a folk hero but he's still a convicted felon no longer eligible to vote. Not that it seems to do any good. After all, Californians already passed a proposition that legalized medical marijuana and the city of Oakland gave him a license to grow the pot as part of a city-sponsored medical marijuana program. And if you think this action will cause the Bush administration to slow down their feverish crackdown on medical marijuana, you might want to hold off on investing all your money in rolling paper manufacturers. Richard Meyer, spokesman for the San Francisco division of the DEA, said the sentencing would have no effect on the agency's work. "The so-called medical marijuana initiative was a smoke screen… the real agenda of these people was to legalize not only marijuana but all drugs." Speaking of marijuana advocates, Meyer said, "We are not listening to them. We will continue to protect the public from the dangers of all illegal drugs." Can you believe these guys? After spending billions to make Afghanistan safe for your local neighborhood opium lord, our government continues its ludicrous domestic drug policy of lumping all drugs together. A third grader can tell you that crack is to pot like an Uzi is to a banana. Crack kills, pot giggles. Say you do run into a crazed pothead, what's the worst thing that's going to happen? You might get fleas, that's about it. Okay, there's Twinkie crème on your shirt, wipe it off. Can't get the song "Stairway to Heaven" out of your head? Deal with it. Right now, nine states have some form of medical marijuana legislation on the books. But what happens when another seven or eight get wiggy with it? You telling me our government is willing to spend the Gross National Product of Bolivia to equip thousands of SWAT teams to ram through lines of wheelchairs just to bust a couple of grey ponytails filling baggies full of righteous herb? Don't these people get it? It's called "grass" because it GROWS IN THE GROUND LIKE A WEED. You don't need to refine it or distill it or brew it. You pick it, dry it and smoke it. And it's illegal. That's crazy bad stupid. It's not like you can walk out to your backyard a pull a cocktail off the Daiquiri bush. Although that stuff is legal. And heavily taxed. See, there's your answer right there. All we need is one state financially desperate enough, they decide to legalize it and throw a state tax on it. Now I ask myself, who would be willing to piss off the Bush administration that bad? Which state with Democratic majorities would want to incur the continuing wrath of the Feds just to pull themselves out of a money hole? Hmmm. Davis, can you hear me? Will Durst can still roll a joint, he just won't smoke it. Source: WorkingForChange Author: Will Durst - WorkingForChange Published: June 10, 2003Copyright: 2003 WorkingForChange.com Website: http://www.workingforchange.com/Contact: http://www.workingforchange.com/help/contact_topic.cfmURL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=15131 Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmDopey Days in America http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16582.shtmlTwist Ends Medical Marijuana Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16545.shtmlGuru's Tirade on Marijuana Earns Respect http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16540.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on June 11, 2003 at 07:38:56 PT:
THE REASONS WHY CANNABIS LAWS SHOULD BE REPEALED
The Marijuana laws should be repealed:I.THE HYPOCRISYThe United States Central Intelligence Agency launders over $200 billion per year of TAX FREE drug money thru Wall Street, www.fromthewilderness.com; www.expertwitnessradio.org, www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.html, while otherwise law abiding Americans are villified for responsible Marijuana use. The DEA will never stop the drug war because the CIA, Vice President Dick Cheney, Richard Armitage, are [allegedly] involved in this massive drug money laundering. People may not believe it because the public school curriculum is rigged, www.johntaylorgatto.com, major media is manipulated, and people are generally conditioned to be good sheep, to love their masters, the federal government.II.THE FAILURES OF THE COURTSThe courts of law should step in and strike down the marijuana laws. Unfortunately, the great majority of the courts have upheld the constitutionality of the Marijuana laws. There were a few freedom-loving opinions from a few State courts, though. In State v. Mallan, 950 P.2d 178, 208-209, 218-219 (Hawii 1998)(Dissenting opinion by Justice Levinson), Justice Levinson opined that the Marihuana laws are against the freedoms the American people were guaranteed and in violation of the Hawaii State Constitution Right to privacy. In State v. Holland, N.J.Super. (App. Div. 2001?), the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey reversed the conviction because the police did not have the authority to force their way into the apartment without a search warrant after the smell of marijuana smoke emanated from same apartment. In Ravin v. State, P.2d (Alaska 197 ), the Supreme Court of Alaska declared the Marijuana laws unconstitutional as a violation of the Alaska State Constitutional guarantee Right to privacy. We need to litigate for the State courts to enforce the State Constitutions to give greater protection for the individual citizen than the federal constitution, including through the use of expert witnessness such as Dr. Lester Grinspoon, M.D., to inform the jury of the relative safety of Cannabis, for jury nullification purposes.III.LEGISLATIVE MALPRACTICEWe need to get on our elected officials, to let them know we do want decriminalization of Marijuana. Otherwise, they will act in the best interest of the corporations, assuming the votes are not manipulated, www.votescam.com. I must have communicated too much to New York State Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan because, today, Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at around 9:45, she told me she received my letters & e-mails, "I will not be harassed", and lied to me that her e-mail address, nolanc assembly.state.ny.us, is on the New York State Assembly Web site!! Prior to our telephone conversation, though, I e-mailed her the upcoming Cannabis Pain Management Lecture from the upcoming events section from www.cannabisculture.com, to show her that Cannabis does have medical uses. I do not plan on contacting Assemblywoman Nolan for a while now, based on her comment, lie, and rushing me off of the phone. There are too many people who are slothful, have the attitude that there is nothing an individual can do. I would rather try, even if it is only me.
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Comment #7 posted by john wayne on June 10, 2003 at 17:28:03 PT
will durst is kinda funny
only kinda because he rehashes all the stereotypes of cannabis users.  Will, there are plenty of people who are anethema to the type you describe who use cannabis daily even. Deal with it.
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Comment #6 posted by Lehder on June 10, 2003 at 16:54:45 PT
angry!
Every prohibitionist carries a satchel of poisonous mushrooms and a bible that preaches hatred and crime. The guilty parties here are Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver and Marion County Judge Joseph Ochoa. Their victims are Robert Gray and Linda Johnson.>>Paul Ferder, Gray’s attorney, said he’s pleased with the outcome. With
        good behavior and boot camp, Gray may only serve nine months, Ferder
        said.Boot camp. That's where "offenders" are taught "responsibility." How to get up in the morning, how to mind personal hygiene, how to make your bed, how to yell "Sir, Yes Sir!" to a bull-necked numbskull whose embarrasses his mother. Gray is already a responsible guy. He's 38 years old, owns a furniture business, has a devoted girl friend, has taken the trouble to become a legitimate card holder and provider for medical marijuana, and enjoys a whole lot of dedicated - and responsible looking - friends who gathered to support him as shown in the article's accompanying picture. He was supplying several other card holders with medicinal marijuana, grew 37 plants and had a measly pound of weed. Leave him alone.Gray does not need boot camp and he certainly does not need to be taught responsibility. The sentence is a purely hateful one, like all those that result from marijuana convictions. Gray's girlfriend, who does not even smoke marijuana, has been convicted of being his girl friend and sentenced to probation, humiliation at the hands of a prohibitionist bureaucrat, and possible "treatment" -for what? And for the final spite, she and Gray are sentenced to be deprived of each other for 18 months:>>Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 18 months of probation, ordered to
        undergo an evaluation and possible drug treatment, cease being a care
        provider and stop associating with Gray during that period.Every aspect of the case presents the cruelty and bigotry of the drug war. Prohibition is more than a mere law. It is a vehicle that empowers delusional and frustrated bullies to swagger mercilessly through the lives of accomplished and desirable citizens almost at random. It is, as one reformer has said, "in a category with slavery." We must seek retribution as well as legalization, and when the drug war has been stilled let the descendants of its victims pursue for a hundred years the governments that waged the war the same as Native Americans today sue for the loss of their lands and the descendants of slaves seek compensations due of history.
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on June 10, 2003 at 15:32:26 PT:
Re: Marijuana Jury Trial Bypassed.
Another disgusting travesty of Justice. More treachery by the Federal Government. Zen koan: If a medical cannabis case happens in DEAland and no one in the Federal Government will listen, is cannabis a medicine?ego transcendence follows ego destruction, just keep piling up the injustices, feds, and the suits will keep flying (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances -Amendment I: U.S. Constitution - Bill of Rights http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html ).
 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 10, 2003 at 15:04:42 PT
News Article from Snipped Source
Marijuana Jury Trial BypassedA judge convicts an advocate for medical cannabis.SUSAN TOM, Statesman JournalJune 10, 2003Fifteen months after Robert Gray was busted for manufacture, possession and distribution of marijuana, the director of the Medical Cannabis Resource Center in Salem finally had his day in court Monday.Instead of the all-out fight for principle’s sake that Gray swore he would wage, the 38-year-old medical marijuana card holder and provider waived his right to a jury trial.Backed by more than two dozen supporters, wearing white T-shirts with a marijuana plant over a red cross, Gray and girlfriend Linda Johnson both agreed to a stipulated fact trials by Marion County Judge Joseph Ochoa.Gray was convicted by Ochoa, who said he would give Gray 40 months of jail time. The sentencing is set for Aug. 13 to give investigators time to review Gray’s criminal history.“I had no choice,” Gray said. “He wouldn’t allow me to use medical marijuana as an affirmative defense. I didn’t plea because I didn’t commit the crime. I need to take it to the Supreme Court on appeal.”Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 18 months of probation, ordered to undergo an evaluation and possible drug treatment, cease being a care provider and stop associating with Gray during that period.Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver said that Johnson’s sentence is appropriate.“It has always been our position that this is not a case that involved medical marijuana,” Suver said.Johnson was emotionally distraught, even before the sentencing.Snipped:Complete Article: http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=62901
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Comment #3 posted by CorvallisEric on June 10, 2003 at 13:01:02 PT
Minor error about a major issue
Rosenthal may leave court a folk hero but he's still a convicted felon no longer eligible to vote.Not quite so, unless California changed its laws since 1998, according to a Human Right Watch / Sentencing Project report.http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/usvot98o.htm for relevant details and http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/index.html for table-of-contents for the whole report.Offenders may lose the right to vote, to serve on a jury, or to hold public office, among other “civil disabilities” that may continue long after a criminal sentence has been served. While both state and federal law impose civil disabilities following criminal conviction, state law governs removal of the right to vote even if the conviction is for a federal rather than state offense.A chart shows Calif. disenfranchisement only for those in prison and on parole. Ten states disenfranchise ex-felons for life, most notably Florida (think Election 2000).
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Comment #2 posted by druid on June 10, 2003 at 10:59:57 PT
another victim of the WoD boohiss
Student Falls Victim To Jail Rape 6/10/2003Lack of room at the county jail left a gainesville student to share a cell with an inmate serving time for sexual battery charges.Overcrowding of Alachua County jails is a serious problem. Last Friday night a 19-year old college student was raped by fellow cell mate while serving his sentence for delivering marijuana.Inmate Randolph Jackson held a ball point pen to the teenager's neck and then forced himself on the student. Alachua County Sherrif's Public Information Officer James Troiano says Jackson had never really caused any trouble before.That weekend the jail had 918 inmates, two short of it's holding capacity. The two were put in the same cell because they were both charged with felonies. James Troiano says the issue of overcrowding has long been a problem but the county hasn't done anything to fix it.Troiano says the Sheriff's office is working on preventing anything like this from happening again by making the best of the jail space they have. Agressive inmates like Jackson will be confined to one-cell housing areas. http://www.am850.com/main.asp?News_Id=7299
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 10, 2003 at 10:56:56 PT
I Just Found NORML's New T-Shirts
They look nice and thought some of you might like to see them too.http://www.cafeshops.com/norml.4913823?zoom=yes#zoom
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