cannabisnews.com: Case of The Reluctant Jury





Case of The Reluctant Jury
Posted by CN Staff on December 08, 2003 at 09:19:13 PT
Commentary
Source: Globe and Mail 
A Calgary jury has sent a strong message that Canadians abhor Draconian laws on marijuana, a message that should encourage the incoming federal government of Paul Martin to move forward on decriminalization. The jury crafted its message cleverly, by accepting a judge's order to convict in a medicinal-marijuana case but taking nearly 10 hours to do so. The message was that Canadians are law-abiding, but the laws must make sense to be obeyed.
It wasn't quite jury-nullification, but it did contain an echo of the four jury acquittals of abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler in the 1970s and 80s, acquittals that helped bring down an unjust law. Grant Krieger, who has multiple sclerosis, and who admitted to keeping 29 cannabis plants to produce marijuana for other seriously ill people, was charged in 1999 with drug trafficking. Mr. Justice Paul Chrumka of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench instructed the jury to convict Mr. Krieger, since the accused offered no defence other than necessity, which did not apply since none of his customers faced immediate, life-threatening peril.Even so, hour after hour ticked by. At the seven-hour mark, two jurors emerged to ask the judge to excuse them. "I believe that I could not live with myself if I'm part of the conviction of this man," a male juror said, tearfully. A female juror added, "I can take your instructions. But it's not in my heart." Judge Chrumka sent them back to the jury room to finish the job .It all seems an absurd exercise. Mr. Krieger, who was sentenced to one day in jail (or rather, "one day in jail," which he will serve only on paper), will have a serious conviction on his criminal record. Yet Judge Chrumka acknowledged that Mr. Krieger ran a non-profit operation designed to help the sick (including those with AIDS, cancer and Lou Gehrig's disease), which hardly fits any common-sense definition of trafficking.Although his actions were illegal at the time, the law has since been changed. A year after he was charged, an Ontario court ruled the marijuana law unconstitutional because it contained no exemption for medicinal use -- the very flaw Mr. Krieger was trying to address. New regulations have since been written to permit severely ill people to use marijuana. Two months ago, the Ontario Court of Appeal rewrote those regulations, saying they dehumanized users by forcing them onto the black market to obtain a safe, reliable supply. The court struck out provisions that prevented licensed growers from producing marijuana for more than one person and from being compensated for providing marijuana to ill people. In short, there is no reason now that Mr. Krieger cannot go back to doing exactly what he was just convicted for. There is also no reason not to press ahead with legislation to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ottawa tabled a bill last May that would have treated possession as a non-criminal offence akin to speeding, worthy of a fine. The bill died when Parliament was prorogued.The Alberta jury was unlikely to have been composed of hippie-era radicals. While its focus was on the medicinal use of marijuana, its statement seems an accurate reflection of how many Canadians feel about the treatment of marijuana users in general. They have no heart for a blindly punitive approach. Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Published: Monday, December 8, 2003 - Page A16 Copyright: 2003 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmReluctant Jurors Convict Albertan Pot Crusader http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17906.shtmlTwo Jurors Ask To Be Released from Pot Trialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17905.shtml
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Comment #16 posted by Ethan Russo MD on December 08, 2003 at 14:50:43 PT
Cannabis and Degenerative Diseases
Neuroprotection/Degenerative DiseasesNeuroprotection represents a goal in pharmacotherapy to reduce or eliminate cell death after cerebrovascular accident (CVA), closed-head injury, or as a result of degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer, Huntington, Parkinson, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, severe seizure disorders (epilepsy), etc. The historical record and modern investigations support the prospect of cannabis based medicines having important applications in such areas.The first reference describing neuroprotective effects of cannabis may be the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, a traditional herbal written down in the 1st or 2nd centuries, but based on the oral traditions from the third millennium BCE (1), in which it was stated of cannabis (p. 148), ‘Protracted taking may make one fat, strong, and never senile.’ Similar claims were advanced by Sir John Russell Reynolds, Queen Victoria’s personal physician, who wrote of his experience with Cannabis indica in dementia in 1890 (2). It not only calmed his patient of his nocturnal agitation, but seemingly arrested progression of the disease for years without increase in dosage. Modern laboratory experience supports the neuroprotective effects of THC and CBD in preventing cell death due to glutamate excitotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (3). Initial therapeutic trials of cannabinoids in closed head injury support the clinical benefit of such an approach. Similar mechanisms are operative to some degree in central nervous system degenerative disorders, presenting the potential for therapeutic intervention (reviewed in (4)). To date, THC as Marinol® has shown promise as a calmative agent in Alzheimer disease (5), but may offer theoretical benefits in slowing progression of dementia over time, as claimed in the past. In Huntington disease, a striking loss of cannabinoid receptor expression occurring in step with degenerative status has been observed (6), and may represent a target in therapy. In Parkinson disease, the synthetic cannabinoid nabilone reduced dyskinetic movements from L-DOPA therapy (7), and there have been claims of additional therapeutic benefits in prolonged administration of oral herbal cannabis (8). Dystonic disorders are frequently progressive degenerative diseases, wherein CBD was employed in isolation and demonstrated benefit in one study (9). Similarly, one article has described the palliative use of cannabis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (10), but the potential neuroprotective effects in this disorder merit further attention, as it is invariably fatal, and existing agents offer little concrete benefit. A brighter future may possible in this area with additional investigation of cannabis based medicine extracts.References1. Shou-zhong Y. The divine farmer's materia medica: A translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing. Boulder, CO: Blue Poppy Press; 1997.
2. Reynolds JR. Therapeutical uses and toxic effects of Cannabis indica. Lancet 1890;1:637-638.
3. Hampson AJ, Grimaldi M, Axelrod J, Wink D. Cannabidiol and (-)Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol are neuroprotective antioxidants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1998;95(14):8268-73.
4. Glass M. The role of cannabinoids in neurodegenerative diseases. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2001;25(4):743-65.
5. Volicer L, Stelly M, Morris J, McLaughlin J, Volicer BJ. Effects of dronabinol on anorexia and disturbed behavior in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 1997;12(9):913-9.
6. Glass M, Dragunow M, Faull RL. The pattern of neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease: a comparative study of cannabinoid, dopamine, adenosine and GABA(A) receptor alterations in the human basal ganglia in Huntington's disease. Neuroscience 2000;97(3):505-19.
7. Sieradzan KA, Fox SH, Hill M, Dick JP, Crossman AR, Brotchie JM. Cannabinoids reduce levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease: a pilot study. Neurology 2001;57(11):2108-11.
8. Venderova K, Ruzicka E, Vorisek V, Visnovsky P. Cannabis and Parkinson's disease: Subjective improvement of symptoms and levodopa-induced dyskinesia. In: 2003 Symposium on the Cannabinoids; 2003; Cornwall, ON, Canada: International Cannabinoid Research Society; 2003. p. 145.
9. Consroe P, Snider SR. Therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in neurological disorders. In: Mechoulam R, editor. Cannabinoids as therapeutic agents. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 1986. p. 21-49.
10. Carter GT, Rosen BS. Marijuana in the management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2001;18(4):264-70.
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Comment #15 posted by The GCW on December 08, 2003 at 14:35:24 PT
Thanks, Nuevo Mexican & what is this E.J.?
Thanks Nuevo Mexican, ( now I've gotta read what E. Johnson just posted: it seem to show some bullsyes)If You did not post about Gus W. Weiss, I, along with many others wouldn’t know about this.This really is quite in line with the way Bush Inc. operates.Bush’s historic family connection to the CIA is shining, and has been shining.History will remember this one.Something that sticks in My mind is the contingent that believes there was no Holocaust.And now, We have a Hitler who is attempting to not leave any trace of anything, so to be able to cover up His atrocities with ease, which occur at every move He makes. He is doing so harmfully that He must not just cover up a stain here or there, but must cover His every track.This Hitler has learned from that Hitler.“It was the first military action he ever opposed, but he believed we shouldn't go to war in the Middle East without knowing what we were getting into.''' (emphasis added)”Did Gus W. Weiss believe as many others believe and as I believe: This one is the worst? (Reminds Me of Madalyn Albright , the senior press reporter who’s seen about 8 of them, and exclaimed, He’s the worst.) Let history show We did not want His father back and even more We don’t want Jr. back. Boot Him back to Texas so hard He goes past it.“I'm sorry, but all this sounds more than a bit suspicious to me.”“I'm sorry, but all this sounds more than a bit suspicious to me.”“I'm sorry, but all this sounds more than a bit suspicious to me.” TOO. (but it fits in perfectly with the previous examples of Jr’s trail)420& In case You haven't heard: Kucinich put in writing that as president He will: 
"decriminalize marijuana" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those already in place for alcohol." 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml 
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on December 08, 2003 at 14:07:10 PT
Calling Dr. Russo
People more likely to get Alzeimhers are those who reast strongly to stress.More circumstantial evidence for link cannabinoid deficiency involvement in the disease process.I remember coming across a paper on Medline that said that the brain tissue of deceased Alzheimer patients showed half of the expected CB1 receptors were missing or damaged, and they didn't think the defect was caused by the disease because it didn't match the distribution of disease damage in the tissue.
Alzheimers related to stress susceptibility
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 08, 2003 at 13:45:01 PT
afterburner 
I don't know what to call if but a brief from the canadian press because it is very short. Maybe I should call it something else. Maybe a short article from the canadian press would be better.
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on December 08, 2003 at 13:41:46 PT
ErikGhint
I didn't think it was meeting the requirements either.
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Comment #11 posted by afterburner on December 08, 2003 at 13:40:19 PT:
FoM: What Does This Canadian Press Brief Mean?
Since the Canadian cannabis law keeps flip-flopping back and forth with no end in sight until the Canadian Supreme Court rules or the Canadian Parliament passes acceptable new legislation, the result is:-No one knows for sure what the law is;-social, medical, and spiritual cannabis clients continue to consume cannabis for its beneficial effects;-vendors of hemp products, food and paraphernalia continue to operate;-the police continue to treat cannabists as second-class citizens, subject to arrest, caging, and ridicule;-neighbors and co-workers continue to self-righteously condemn cannabists as degenerate losers;-courts overstep their authority by re-writing regulations initiated by cabinet;-the prohibitionists continue to sow fear by repeating old discredited propaganda and inventing new whoppers like blaming the blackout and the Ontario's hydro-electric billing deficit on mega grow-ops stealing electricity from the grid;-schools are conducting anti-cannabis witch-hunts against students even away from the school property.Parents back school drug suspensions. by Christine Cox.The principal of a Catholic high school that suspended about 30 students last week for using or possessing pot, says that most parents support the action."They understand that the kids made a mistake, and that the school needed to act appropriately, even though it's tough medicine," Bishop Ryan principal Lou Friscolanti said. "This wasn't done lightly."The students were suspended -- most for 20 days -- after an undercover police investigation prompted by concerns about drug use. Two students face expulsion, if they were found to be trafficking.Police used surveillance around the east-end school and in a plaza across the street. The students were all caught off school property.Suspensions can be appealed through the school board.Ward 5 trustee Joe Baiardo had only one call about the suspensions, a parent complaining her son was suspended.Baiardo, who supports the school's action, was "surprised and disappointed" there were so many studnets smoking pot during the school day. He said the principal and board have a responsibility to the school and community to protect students.The school has several programs dealing with drug abuse, and offers support services including a chaplain and social worker. After the suspensions, Friscolanti said, the teacher-adviser program focused on the evils of drug abuse and the importance of healthy living.--Hamilton Spectator, Saturday, December 6, 2003, page A4.It is unwise for high school students to go to classes "high," but the availability of cannabis to underage students is another consequence of cannabis prohibition.Ignorance of the law is no excuse: that would be fine if we knew what the law is. "Justices David Doherty, Stephen Goudge and Janet Simmons struck down the regulations against sick people paying designated growers for marijuana, designated growers supplying more than one sick person, and growers banding together to grow the drug." --Court Eases Medical Marijuana Rules http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/17/thread17503.shtmlI'd say the Canadian Health Ministry is up to their old tricks, changing the regulations in spite of the court ruling to the contrary. It's funny how they abide by the court rulings only when they go the way the government wants.
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Comment #10 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 08, 2003 at 13:32:02 PT
Berlusconi equals bush equals blair equals:
the end of prohibition is near, the last gasps are being taken, the worlds populations are up to here with these nazi-facists! Thanks for the heads up Virgil!http://www.hempcity.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295&highlight=The world is in 'back-fire' mode, and you can see how fearful bush is when he beckons James 'steal Florida' Baker back into the fold. The media and bushes billionaires are the only ones supporting this hollow mans agenda, (making the rich richer), and the consciousness of the planet has risen, exposing those of a 'lower vibration' to gleefully carry out their seemingly reptilian agenda (rape the planet, people are slaves to the system, people of color have 'no value' etc). We're leaving bushland folks, and the future looks sooooo bright, you won't believe it! Go to: daykeeperjournal.comYes, the uni-verse allows everything, from your worst nightmares to your most awesome dreams to manifest, as this is a virtual reality, that you surrender when you turn on the boob tube, and allow your version, to be supplanted by 'our leaders version'. Thats why they call it 'programming'.The version that we are told we should believe, as it is the one the most money has been spent on to create, and they have to recoup their investment in 'brainwashing' dollars (advertising).Good news! A Green may win Mayors seat in San Fran!!!http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SAN_FRANCISCO_MAYOR?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULTTop Secret Advisor To 4 Presidents Dies 'Violently' In DC:Gus W. Weiss, 72, adviser to four presidents on top secret policy matters, died violently in Washington, DC, on November 25, 2003, but his death was not reported by The Washington Post until December 7, 2003, in the obitiuary section at the bottom of page C12. His home town newspaper, The Nashville Tennessean, was only a week late in reporting his death, but at that late date all they could say was, "The circumstances surrounding his death could not be confirmed last nighthttp://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=369514&group=webcastRacist media declares Nathaniel Jones killed self
e-mail this mail your views please!Cincinnati case not a tough call: Man killed selfThe coroner says he only called it homicide because he had no choice.http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/7438387.htmIt's Time to Recall BushRepublicans in California initiated a recall against the governor, giving three reasons for their effort: 1. The state's budget went from a sizeable surplus to a substantial deficit in a few short years. 2. Gov. Davis did not tell the truth to voters about the state's budget and economic situation. 3. The state's economy remains in dismal shape, and the chief executive of the state is ultimately responsible for its welfare. They applied these standards to a governor, now we must also apply them to a president. The next recall effort is long overdue: a Bush recall campaign.America needs a change. http://www.bushrecall.org/petition/BBC made drama about the far-right in secret:THE BBC has made the first television drama in more than 20 years about Britain's far-right. It was so nervous about reprisals against the film-makers that it recorded the project in secret.
Mr Ryan, an award-winning writer, said: "We had to be very careful. Some of the people on the far-right don't take kindly to this type of thing."http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?
story=469847Got chicken, get rid of it:Butler's blog draws anywhere from four to 400 readers a day. Many are moved to respond. "Your page was the most disturbing thing I have ever read in my whole life," one supporter wrote. Another, "not quite vegan but working on it," asked for advice: "I am so afraid to let my friends know what is really behind their McNuggets." Butler and Alexander, at their banged-up computer at 5 a.m., answer every e-mail. Butler made $500 off his activism this fall, when PETA sent him undercover to try to corroborate his claims of chicken abuse at the Grannis plant. (He taped some workers talking about the incidents, but the district attorney declined to prosecute.) Unable to find work since Tyson fired him, Butler has not earned another paycheck in more than a year. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1208-07.htmUS Lies don't hold up for long like they used to But when reporters began swarming to Samarra - some roused from their beds by eager military press officers - the scene was not as they had expected. Nor were the accounts of the townspeople, and, after a day of interviews, an entirely different picture of the Sunday battle emerged. Doctors and hospital staff reported only eight Iraqi dead, including one or two elderly pilgrims from Iran, a child, a mentally disabled man who was sitting in a taxi, and a woman leaving the drug factory where she worked. The hospital said that it had treated a total of 54 people for wounds. Indeed, townspeople interviewed by name described the "battle" more as indiscriminate firing from the tanks and other armored vehicles, and random shooting by US soldiers, much of it in the densely populated city center, while "dozens of guerrillas" moved around the city taking pot shots at the US troops at will. "Luckily we evacuated the kindergarten five minutes before we came under attack," said Ibrahim Jassim, a guard interviewed by the London Guardian. "Why did they attack randomly? Why did they shoot a kindergarten with shells?" http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=369496&group=webcastWhy stray from C-News, when you can hang out and get the news delivered!
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Comment #9 posted by ErikGhint on December 08, 2003 at 13:26:41 PT
This does not meet the requirements of the court!
I am positive the Ontario Court of Appeals made a mere 4 changes to the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, one of them being the ability for distributers to sell cannabis to more then 1 patient. Under these revisements the compassion centres will continue to be operated outside of the law. This is disgusting behaviour by the government of Canada.
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Comment #8 posted by Virgil on December 08, 2003 at 12:44:59 PT
Patch Adams supporting Kucinich
I would be very interested in what Patch Adams says about CC. He certainly understand that the poor have poor ways. From http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=4460Monday, December 8Washington, D.C.
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Mimi's American Bistro, 2120 P Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich will be joined at a campaign fundraising party by Dr. Patch Adams, the physician, activist, and founder of the Gesundheit! Institute, who was played by Robin Williams in the movie "Patch Adams." Dr. Adams's endorsement of Kucinich is his first ever presidential campaign endorsement.
Contact: Yu Lan Tu, DC/MD Coordinator Kucinich for President, yu-lan kucinich.us, 240-888-4871; Anne Singer, DC for Dennis Media Coordinator, easinger earthlink.net, 202-271-4679http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.php
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Comment #7 posted by Virgil on December 08, 2003 at 12:37:20 PT
Bad news from Italy
This is from the HempCity messageboard posting by Nol- http://www.hempcity.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295&highlight=Italy: Web: Italy Marches Bravely into 20TH Century 
by Phillip S. Smith, Editor, (05 Dec 2003) Drug War Chronicle Italy Government Proposal Would Recriminalize Drug Possession, Including Marijuana Ten years ago this April, Italians voted to decriminalize simple drug possession. Now the rightist government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to undo that, and then some. A proposal floated by Deputy Prime Minister Giancarlo Fini, leader of Italy's former neo-fascist party, and approved by Berlusconi and his cabinet in mid-November, would make possession of even the smallest amount of drugs an offense, and possession of more than the "daily minimum dose" of even marijuana could lead to a six-year prison sentence. People arrested with amounts varying with the drug, but in all cases less than a half gram, of cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, or even marijuana would face administrative penalties including confiscation of their passports and loss of drivers' or arms-carrying licenses. Foreign residents arrested with small amounts would lose their residency permits. The announcement of the government proposal was followed by a series of high-profile raids in Rome targeting celebrities in sports, the media, and political circles. Among those arrested was 82-year-old former prime minister and Senator for Life Emilio Colombo, busted as an alleged cocaine consumer. While, contrary to perceptions among some in the US, Europe is not a truly "drug tolerant" continent, the Fini proposal would, if adapted, give Italy some of the region's toughest drug laws. For one thing, it abolishes the distinction between "soft" and "hard" drugs, treating marijuana as if it were as dangerous as cocaine. It is also part of an emerging prohibitionist trend among rightist European governments. The Spanish government of Felipe Aznar is moving to suppress pro-pot publications, and even the current conservative Dutch government is moving to restrict access to coffee shops by foreigners. The proposal is particularly harsh on marijuana. It allows administrative sanctions instead of criminal penalties for people caught with 500 milligrams of cocaine, 300mg of ecstasy, but only 250mg of marijuana. And, taking a cue from US drug warriors such as Rep. Mark Souder ( R-IN ), who is preparing to introduce a bill with similar provisions ( http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/harsh.shtml ), marijuana penalties will be based not just on weight but on the amount of THC in the seized drug. And although the proposal has aroused a storm of criticism in Italy, where, according to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction ( http://www.emcdda.eu.int ) nearly 10% of Italian young adults smoked marijuana in the last year, and must still clear parliament, it appears assured of success. All four parties in Berlusconi's governing coalition, which controls both legislative chambers, support the proposal. "Taking drugs is not an innocuous exercise of freedoms that cannot be curbed, but a rejection of the most elementary duties of the individual towards the various communities in which he or she actually lives," said the cigarette-smoking Fini, providing a concise lesson in neo-fascist values. "The joint of 10 years ago had an active ingredient of not more than 1.5%. Today, you can find them with as much as 15%," he added, using a page from the US drug czar's playbook. "That is how the devastating and progressively less reversible effects of cannabis on physical and mental health are being multiplied." But while the government is behind the proposal, not everyone agrees in a country where soft drug use has been increasingly tolerated and one guest on a prime time TV program recently lit up a joint to press for less, not more, restrictions on marijuana. One of that program's hosts, Paolo Kessisoglu, told the Guardian ( UK ) the government would have a fight on its hands. "It's plain as day that, even if the law gets through, it's going to be impossible to enforce." And while some segments of the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in drug treatment in Italy, welcomed the proposal, others, including some involved in drug treatment were harshly critical. "The philosophy underlying the bill is that of the authoritarian father who doesn't know how to cope with his son, so takes a strap to him," Monsignor Vinicio Albanesi, president of the Capodarco treatment community, told the Guardian. The Italian Radical Party, which sponsored the 1993 referedum decriminalizing drug possession, is preparing to fight. "We do not accept this proposal, it is a piece of totalitarian statecraft" said Marco Cappato, Member of the European Parliament and coordinator of Parliamentarians for Anti-Prohibitionist Action at the European Union. "First, there will be a confrontation in the Italian parliament," he told DRCNet. "There is still a chance to modify this proposal's most repressive aspects -- there are some critics even within the government. But there are also people in the opposition parties who support the proposal, so it is entirely possible it will pass as is." Parliamentary action will be matched with civil disobedience, Cappato said. "We will try to combine this with CD actions," he said, "perhaps handing out hashish in various cities. We also want to show the harm this has done and will do," he added. "With these raids, they are trying to show that the law is the same for everybody, they are trying to show a hard line and show the public the people they have destroyed. But when they arrested Emilio Colombo, who admitted using cocaine for two years for therapeutic purposes, that caused a big stink." And if all else fails, there could be another referendum effort, Cappato said. "It would be a huge task, and more difficult than 10 years ago because we now have no access to the media on these issues. But the Italian Radicals are preparing for that eventuality," he added. Cappato also had a cautionary note for drug reformers in the US. "Americans need to understand that yes, the war on drugs is worse than the tolerant climate in Europe, but that tolerance came from left-wing governments and is not here to stay," the anti-prohibitionist said. "Stopping at tolerance is short-sighted. Without legalization of some sort, being tolerant eventually gives an opening to the political opposition to attack you as soft on drugs or soft on crime. If you don't stand firm for legalization, sooner or later you are on the defensive. That is what is happening now in Italy, and Holland, and Spain."_________________In Cannabis Fidelis
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on December 08, 2003 at 12:30:13 PT
What we are up against
Bush the Incompetent will sign the Medicare Pill Bill today. There was an editorial in the NYT on the dismantling of Medicare and how the fat cats sliced the pie- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/08/opinion/08HERB.htmlThe Canadian health care system is still unconstitutional because of the access regulations. To see how absurd it is you can look at Terry Parker and his epilepsy. This is a permanent condition and they can not issue him a piece of paper that says have a happy rest of your life. Why would someone with AIDS need a specialist approval for what should be legal to start with. And why should he always be jumping through hoops to get a renewal when his AIDS is not going away. It is not like we are talking about something that has terrible side effects or anything.Why the hell did they not set up clinical trials on anyone willing to volunteer? Of course they did not want the studies. They would rather have people die and suffer. I want to copy a little from what I wrote at hempcity when I posted the decision that the GW extracts had been delayed. From the second post in the thread at http://www.hempcity.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=287People speak of 2800 people killed on 9/11. That many epelitics could die tommorow world wide. Cannabis could have saved most of them. People often give a response to the subject of MMJ, or CC, in honor of Dr. Russo, that cannabis does not cure anything. The prohibition of CC on what should be the first remedy of choice in many ailments as the herbal because of its do not harm nature. How could a profession that espouses a prime directive as "Do no harm" not want cannabinoids in medicine? So to the ignorant that support total CP (Cannabis Prohibition- 1937- ????), how about forgetting it does not cure anything and start with it prevents death. It cures death. What else do you want to cure and would you like seeds or seedlings? CP is a hoax that is killing people and has turn medicine on its head. 
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Comment #5 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 08, 2003 at 11:34:01 PT
E.J. was right! Prosecutor had 'secret life'
and nothing to do with the 'gang rapper'. Stabbed 36 times.
Funny how things at c-News seep into the mainstream!Todays news:Michael Riley shows his feelings about the Cincinnati police department during a New Black Panthers Party protest march at the station in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, December 7, 2003. Tensions between the Cincinnati African American community and the local police department continue to rise with the recent death of Nathaniel Jones, who died after a confrontation with officers in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant. REUTERS/John Sommers II http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/031207/ids_photos_ts/r3173339168.jpgTo all in the U.S. military and their loved onesWhen I started hearing about weapons of mass destruction that threatened the United States from Iraq, a shattered country that had endured almost a decade of trench war followed by an invasion and twelve years of sanctions, my first question was how in the hell can anyone believe that this suffering country presents a threat to the United States? But then I remembered how many people had believed Vietnam threatened the United States. Including me. When that bulls**t story about weapons came apart like a two-dollar shirt, the politicians who cooked up this war told everyone, including you, that you would be greeted like great liberators. They told us that we were in Vietnam to make sure everyone there could vote. http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=369497&group=webcastDiebold (e-voting company) must now deal with the students they tried to silence and a Congressional investigation. And:MODERN US HISTORY 101 
BUSH SR DID NOT GO AFTER SADDAM FOR A REASON http://www.punkvoter.com/home/home.phpHope the chicken you eat is from your own farm, otherwise....A Killing Floor Chronicle
A down-and-out former poultry worker's online memoirs of his gruesome job have electrified animal-rights activists worldwide.PINE RIDGE, Ark. — In his dim trailer in the pines, Virgil Butler writes of killing. He once shot a man to death in the parking lot of a bar. He served in the American invasion of Panama and recalled killing enemy soldiers at close range. That is not the violence that drives him to his keyboard. He is haunted, instead, by the nine years he made his way in the world by slaughtering chickens. In the chilled dark of a Tyson processing plant, Butler killed 80,000 birds a shift. He snapped their legs into shackles so they hung upside down. He slit their throats. Every two seconds, another chicken came at him down the line, squawking and flapping. It was not possible, then, to think much.http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1208-07.htmRacist rants expose lack of justice for Blacks in America, media becomes lynching tool for WHITE MEN WHO CONTROL EVERYTHING! These racists are rampant, and need to be addressed, as I'm sure they're tooling up for the bush/manson race war. Read some of these and see why I am so pissed at the media for spinning our outrage at the man who was killed after being peppersprayed and provoked, while being commanded to stand down, as they lick bushes bum while he murders 9 Afghani children, (but no outrage):Rated R for racist terminology, these are the people we are fighting!http://www.steroidology.com/forum/showthread/t-21690.html
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 08, 2003 at 11:17:13 PT
What Does This Canadian Press Brief Mean?
I thought that medical marijuana patients could get together and grow larger volumes as a co-op? I guess I was wrong.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 08, 2003 at 11:14:15 PT
News Brief from The Canadian Press
Health Canada Eases Pot RulesPublished: December 08, 2003 
Ottawa (CP) - People seeking access to medical marijuana now need the recommendation of one medical specialist, not two, under revised rules announced Monday by Health Canada. Under the new rules, which take effect immediately, it is legal for designated growers to receive payment. Designated growers are authorized to grow marijuana at the request of a patient entitled to use it. However, it will remain illegal for a grower to supply more than one patient, and for more than three licensed growers to cultivate plants together. The revisions respond to an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in October that struck down several provisions of the existing law as unconstitutional. 
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on December 08, 2003 at 10:27:23 PT
Sam Adams = My observation:
How can a major newspaper say "a judge ordered the jury to convict" with a straight face? 420& In case You just bumped into Cannabisnews, & haven't heard: Kucinich put in writing that as president of the U.S. He will: 
"decriminalize marijuana" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those already in place for alcohol." 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on December 08, 2003 at 09:33:42 PT
back to a different time
How can a major newspaper say "a judge ordered the jury to convict" with a straight face?  It's not even a jury anymore.  It's a lie to even use the word "jury". The modern judiciary has failed completely.  The brief window of fairness from the upper classes is closing faster & faster. For a brief time, from what, around the late 1700's to about the late 1800's, some of the rich felt a moral compulsion to be fair and generous to the lower classes. The last echoes of that age are fading quickly. We've headed into a new techo-medievalism, with starving, diseased masses acting as serfs for the rich. And, instead of the Pope and a Christian church as the henchmen of the new royalty, it's a Communist-like political class. The rich give these middle-class thugs enough to money & perks to keep 'em happy as they suppress the masses.The saddest part is the mind control. The serfs of ages past knew damn well they were being ruled with an iron fist. Today, there's barely a whiff of outrage.  Materialism has broken the back of the lower & middle classes. They're fat & happy. Keep the junk food & TV coming & we won't make a peep! As long as some poor 3rd-world folk keep making crap for us to buy at Walmart, we won't complain.  Supersized oppression!
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