cannabisnews.com: High Anxiety





High Anxiety
Posted by CN Staff on September 24, 2003 at 18:02:15 PT
By Andrew C. Thomas
Source: The Tech
It was a beautiful day for a walk in the park. Boston Common played host to a rally on Saturday afternoon to promote the decriminalization of marijuana, an issue that is quietly making headway across the continent. And you could smell it from a mile away. But the point was made. It was as clear as the sky. I happened upon the rally, hosted by MassCann/NORML, dedicated to the promotion of marijuana use by responsible citizens, by chance. Among those who spoke was Ed Rosenthal, poster man for the battle between the feds and the marijuana legalization establishment.
He made headlines when his medical marijuana operation was caught in a turf war between Oakland city officials, who had permitted him to grow medical marijuana for distribution, and the federal government who arrested him and shut down his operation under the supremacy of federal regulations. How far has the group’s cause advanced in recent times? For the best local case, look up north. The province of Ontario currently has no personal possession laws on the books, thanks to a legal technicality involving -- you guessed it -- medical marijuana. As a result, police are instructed not to make arrests for amounts of less than 30 grams, which gave the recent massive Rolling Stones concert for Toronto a certain mellow atmosphere. There’s no such legal vacuum here, as many found out yesterday after they were arrested for possession at Saturday’s rally. But despite the here and now, we are seeing progress at the highest levels in this country. One presidential candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, has come out strongly in favor of medical marijuana. As his campaign stand at the rally would suggest, he’s cornered that market. Howard Dean of Vermont derailed a medical marijuana bill in his homestate and Sen. Lieberman of Connecticut has taken action to condemn any recognition of medical marijuana at the federal level. But in true political fashion, none of the opposing candidates have made the issue worthy of the front page in their runs for the presidential bid, letting figureheads like Rosenthal stand on their own. Whether Kucinich should stand tall on this ground is shaky, but it seems clear that he should take a stance. It would seem that he holds sway over a powerful voting lobby for being the first to side with this cause. As much as I hate to validate the work of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, led by head-in-the-clouds John Walters, his office publishes some relevant statistical information about drug use. It’s the conclusions the office draws I object to. The 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggests that 14.6 million Americans over the age of 12 use marijuana habitually. At best, Kucinich will have a commanding lobby of voters who would support him on this issue alone, enough to make him a significant candidate if the pot lobby maintains its strength. I’ll estimate that what we lose for those who are under 18 is roughly equivalent to what we gain for those who use it occasionally, not considered in the survey. But at this point, a victory by Kucinich is a slim possibility. He clearly holds a strong bargaining position with other candidates from the pro-pot vote. And that alone might give the issue the proper debate it deserves. Debate over this issue was stifled the minute Walters was nominated for the position by President Bush. His approach of targeting and arresting drug users, rather than dealers, comes directly from the Bush party line. Treating drug use as a criminal issue when it begs to be addressed from a health point of view is terribly unfair to the debate. Besides, there should be little expectation that a good heaping helping of guilt might work against the use of a drug whose addictive power is far less than that of legal drugs like alcohol, cigarettes, or even caffeine. It isn’t going to fix the institution of marriage, already under threat of collapse without considering its expansion to homosexual relationships. At the very least, we should not deny those in pain the ability to ease their suffering. While the debate over recreational use is still ongoing, the word is in for medical marijuana. Carefully conducted, sanctioned experiments are completely justified and should be expanded to the large scale. Those to whom current medicinal marijuana plans are aimed may have short lives ahead of them, but fully deserve to undertake this pursuit of happiness. Source: Tech, The (MA Edu)Author: Andrew C. ThomasPublished: September 23, 2003 - Vol. 123, No. 42Copyright: 2003 The TechContact: letters the-tech.mit.eduWebsite: http://www-tech.mit.edu/Related Articles & Web Sites:MassCannhttp://www.masscann.org/Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmCannabis Rally Held in Boston To Support Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17377.shtmlDemocratic Candidate Backs Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16448.shtmlNo Laws Ban Possession of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16321.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by SoberStoner on September 25, 2003 at 19:11:59 PT
Welcome to new media
The complete blackout on American media about this is not an accident. The antis know they cannot win this fight so they make it so that Joe Sheeple never hears a word of it on Faux news or anywhere else. 6 people control 90% of the US media outlets and those 6 decide what the average American sees. This is why internet news sites like this are vital to our cause. Most news is not meant to be remembered anyway. It's just filler space between commercials. I'd go on, but I recently discovered this incredible essay that deals with this, yes it's a sermon, but dont worry, it isnt really preachy, just brutally honest:http://www.austinuu.org/sermons/loehr091700.htmlPages like this are the cure for disposable news and the corporate propaganda machine of network news outlets. As long as we remember and continue to tell others about this site, mapinc, marijuananews.com and others we will break the media blockade and eventually the truth will win.Peace and loveSS
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 25, 2003 at 11:07:21 PT
escapegoat
You're right. There should be more stories but there just aren't. We don't hardly hear news anymore on much of anything concerning Cannabis. The press has gotten worse then ever down here unfortunately. But when we do get a story it has more details then they did before I believe.
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Comment #3 posted by escapegoat on September 25, 2003 at 10:57:42 PT
Only the 7th US story on LEGAL Ontario cannabis!
I have been tracking the noticeable LACK of coverage of the Ontario Phillips and Rogin decisions (which legalized marjuana) in the US media. This is only the seventh story since January, when the original decision was handed down.Lest I'd be accused of being a conspiracy theorist, I won't say this is based on any organized behaviour. But wasn't this HUGE NEWS? The legalization of same-sex marriage certainly drew US attention, while on cannabis, usually only the not-yet-passed "decrim" bill (which was recently amended to include US-style MANDATORY MINIMUMS for cultivation) gets mentioned. I find this rather strange.The other six stories:CN ON: Windsor Leads Way On Legal PotURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n748/a07.htmlPubdate: Thu, 22 May 2003Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)---CN ON: Judge Leads The Way In Legalizing MarijuanaURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n762/a03.htmlPubdate: Sat, 24 May 2003Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)---CN ON: Ontario Backs Off Pot ArrestsURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n868/a05.htmlPubdate: Sun, 08 Jun 2003Source: Buffalo News (NY)---US WI: Weedstock Seeks Northern ExposureURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n939/a06.htmlPubdate: Thu, 19 Jun 2003Source: Capital Times, The (WI)---Canada: Up In SmokeURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1017/a12.htmlPubdate: Thu, 03 Jul 2003 Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA) ---Canada: Canada's Pot RevolutionURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1263/a07.htmlPubdate: Thu, 04 Sep 2003Source: Rolling Stone (US)
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on September 24, 2003 at 21:14:20 PT
where is the play on Eds story --can run for years
How far has the group’s cause advanced in recent times? For the best local case, look up north. The province of Ontario currently has no personal possession laws on the books, thanks to a legal technicality involving -- you guessed it -- medical marijuana. --here we have had Mr Bob Randal the first US human to receive gov grown herb. man how many years has that been. 20-26 its been way longer then the upers -- we are still supporting only one grower, ol miss. just last week a college on the east coast i forget --asked to be a grower to. why in this great country there is no other higher learning center looking into this herb. why are citys like mine Kalamazoo loosing its paper industry we have smart paper people that have worked making [paper all there lives why no growing and studying this plant/ i feel bad as i could not get a good listing of the products made from hemp-i guess those i emailed we all wrong numbers. the hia said it has six boards filled with products. --tonight the CA debates renewable fuel was mentioned. hemp would be huge out there. thank you Andrew C. Thomas
for writing such a well painted picture of the idea of why the fest was being held. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 24, 2003 at 20:06:21 PT
West Australian Legislation
http://www.druginfo.nsw.gov.au/druginfo/lawjustice/WAleg.html
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