cannabisnews.com: Three Students Arrested For Pot Possession in Md





Three Students Arrested For Pot Possession in Md
Posted by CN Staff on January 04, 2004 at 23:34:19 PT
By Hera A. Abbasi, Crimson Staff Writer 
Source: Harvard Crimson 
In an incident which sparked international media coverage, Albert Gore III ’05 and two other Harvard students were arrested over winter break for possession of marijuana.On Dec. 19, Gore, the son of former Vice President Al Gore ’69, Yann V. Kumin ’04 and Marc G. Hordon ’05 were arrested in downtown Bethesda, Md.
An officer stopped Gore, who was driving, at around 11:30 p.m. after noticing that his headlights were off, according to Joyce M. Utter, Montgomery County Police spokersperson.Utter said the officer saw the passenger in the back seat “making movements to conceal something.”“As he approached the vehicle he detected an odor of marijuana coming from inside,” Utter said. The officer also noticed that the sunroof and windows were open.This was “another indication that something was wrong,” Utter said.The officer asked Gore, Kumin and Hordon to exit the vehicle. Gore gave consent for a vehicle search, during which the officer found a marijuana cigarette, Utter said.The officer also found a box with “a green leafy substance” which field tested positive for marijuana, according to Utter.The three were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor. They were released pending their trials, which Utter said will be held on Feb. 4. The maximum punishment for possession of marijuana is a fine of up to $1000 and a year in the county correctional facility, according to Utter.It is unclear whether Hordon, a baseball player for Harvard, will be punished by the athletic department.He was out last season due to a shoulder injury. Harvard Coach Joe Walsh said he has not yet talked to Hordon and could not comment on any potential punishments.“I’m not going to jump to any conclusions until he’s in my office and we sit here,” Walsh said. “All I want right now is to see him eyeball to eyeball.”According to the NCAA Manual, a student is “ineligible from further participation” in a sport for one year after testing positive on a drug test.According to Utter, the students were not tested for drugs at the time of their arrests.Director of Compliance for Harvard’s athletic department Nathan Fry could not be reached for comment.Gore and Kumin declined comment, and Hordon could not be reached for comment.In September 2002, Gore was ticketed by military police in Virginia for driving under the influence.In August of 2000, he was arrested for speeding at almost 100 mph in North Carolina. During a court hearing that November, Gore pled guilty to speeding. A reckless driving charge was dropped, and he was ordered to pay a $125 fine. Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.Source: Harvard Crimson (MA Edu) Author: Hera A. Abbasi, Crimson Staff Writer Published: Monday, January 05, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Harvard Crimson, Inc. Contact: letters thecrimson.com Website: http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/ Related Article:Al Gore's Son Arrested for Pot Possessionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18010.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 10:28:47 PT
neo-lib?
"Al Gore, the father, would rather see the DEA gone."He sure is awful quiet about it, on and off the job. Thanks, Doc Russo, I would understate the case greatly if I were to describe your efforts as dedicatedly heroic. 
throwing stones?
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Comment #17 posted by goneposthole on January 05, 2004 at 08:56:30 PT
neo-con him
Force Al Gore III into the drug enforcement administation as a full flegded DEA agent that busts recreational and/or medical grow-ops in California. Al Gore, the father, would rather see the DEA gone.
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Comment #16 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 05, 2004 at 07:30:37 PT
Back to Ghana
An added element the author did not address is the potential for use of cannabis in treating the African pandemic of HIV/AIDS. I wrote about this in Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics 1(3-4) 2001, also released as a book, Cannabis Therapeutics in HIV/AIDS. Here's that section: 
AIDS in the Third World: A Modest Proposal   Since its discovery a mere two decades ago, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has quickly become one of the world’s most challenging public health issues. Initial cases in the USA and Europe mostly affected homosexual males and intravenous drug abusers, making it easy for those in some quarters to relegate AIDS to some expression of heavenly revenge for immoral behavior. This introduced a noteworthy roadblock into funding for research (see Werner’s article in this issue). When “innocent victims” such as transfusion recipients and babies with congenitally acquired infections appeared on the scene, public sentiments began to change. Soon enough, the disease proved to be a pandemic, and none was immune to its reach. It now affects 36 million people worldwide (Piot et al. 2001).    The current spread of AIDS is greatest in the Third World, with 60% of total cases in Africa, affecting an estimated 8% of the adult population (Thomas 2001). Transmission is primarily through heterosexual sex and vertical transmission. Asia seems to be the next nidus for its spread, which has recently been termed “explosive” (Kilmarx et al. 2000).   Treatment of AIDS remains extremely problematic, particularly in the Third World, due to the incredible expense of retroviral and newer protease-inhibitor drugs. These costs easily reach into the many thousands of dollars per patient per year.   Benefits of cannabis on appetite have long been known, including early citations by da Orta in India in his 1563 book (da Orta 1913), and Owen in the USA (Owen 1860). Sir William Dixon (1899), a noted pharmacologist said of smoked cannabis (p. 1356), “It is not dangerous and its effects are never alarming, and I have come to regard it in this form as a useful and refreshing stimulant and food accessory, and one whose use does not lead to a habit which grows upon its votary.”   The modern history of cannabis as an anti-anorexic and antiemetic is addressed in the current issue, along with two excellent reviews in the JCANT charter issue (Hollister 2001; Musty and Rossi 2001). Given the current support for this indication, and an overwhelming need for less expensive medicine to treat AIDS symptomatically until a cure is available, one might properly ask the question, “Why not cannabis?”   International law governing “illicit drugs” is contained within the United Nations Single Convention Treaty on Narcotics (United Nations 1961, available online at: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/legal/singconv.htm). Although international trade on cannabis is prohibited, existing provisions of the treaty allow for internal medical usage, or its abrogation in the event that the treaty contravenes a nation’s constitution or its expression of human rights. That would certainly seem to be the case with AIDS. Increasingly, this treaty has proven counter-productive to the public health, and a key promotional factor in the highly wasteful and ineffectual international “War on Drugs.” A modest proposal would call for its revocation, or at the very least, its amendment to allow for therapeutic cannabis usage as a stopgap effort in treatment of the worldwide AIDS epidemic. Referencesda Orta, Garcia. 1913. Colloquies on the simples and drugs of India. London: Henry Sotheran.Dixon, W.E. 1899. The pharmacology of Cannabis indica. Brit Med J 2:1354-1357.Hollister, L. E. 2001. Marijuana (cannabis) as medicine. J Cannabis Therap 1(1):5-27.Joy, J.E., S.J. Watson, and J.A. Benson, Jr. 1999. Marijuana and medicine: Assessing the science base. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine.Kilmarx, P. H., S. Supawitkul, M. Wankrairoj, W. Uthaivoravit, K. Limpakarnjanarat, S. Saisorn, and T. D. Mastro. 2000. Explosive spread and effective control of human immunodeficiency virus in northernmost Thailand: The epidemic in Chiang Rai province, 1988-99. AIDS 14(17):2731-2740.Musty, R.E., and R. Rossi. 2001. Effects of smoked cannabis and oral delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol on nausea and emesis after cancer chemotherapy: A review of state clinical trials. J Cannabis Therap 1(1):29-42.Owen, P.H. 1860. A description of Cannabis indica with an account of experiments in its use. NY Med Press 3:280-283.Piot, P., M. Bartos, P.D. Ghys, N. Walker, and B. Schwartlander. 2001. The global impact of HIV/AIDS. Nature 410(6831):968-973.Thomas, J.O. 2001. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-Associated cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Semin Oncol 28(2):198-206.United Nations. 1961. Single Convention Treaty on Narcotics. New York. 
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Comment #15 posted by The GCW on January 05, 2004 at 07:22:41 PT
Thanks for the 60 minutes, comments.
It sounds like it made the historically discredited cannabis prohibitionists squirm funny.To John Pee Walters and the great urine hunters; Bottoms up!
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Comment #14 posted by Sam Adams on January 05, 2004 at 07:19:17 PT
Re: Ghana article
Nothing ever changes, look at this:"The DEA offered the carrot of "technical assistance" ­ jargon in foreign-aid speak for equipment and cash that African police, who are woefully underpaid, long for."Sucks to live under an evil government, doesn't it? Sure doesn't make me want to fly my flag.Bob spoke of this 25 years ago, nothing's changed:See them fighting for power,But they know not the hour;So they bribing with their guns, spare - parts and money,Trying to belittle ourIntegrity now.They say what we knowIs just what they teach us;And we're so ignorant'Cause every time they can reach usThrough political strategy ;They keep us hungry ,And when you gonna get some food,Your brother got to be your enemy, we - e - ell
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Comment #13 posted by Dan B on January 05, 2004 at 06:43:29 PT
byrd: About 60 Minutes
60 Minutes is in its last season, which is probably why they feel like they can do a story like this one. I'm glad other people saw the program and/or appreciated seeing the link. I am always happy to see a program as prestigious at 60 Minutes do something so damning to the prohibitionists.Dan B
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Comment #12 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 06:29:24 PT
more on C.I.A. cocaine testimony
from: http://www.thememoryhole.org/kerry/Senator KERRY. Mr. Garcia, can you put a value on the drugs
     that you brought through the Bahamas in the years you were traf-
     ficking?       [page 20]   20   Mr. GARCIA. Oh, if I do, I have done that before, and I have said
     that before, and I think I have just taken a guess. I don't know. It
     could have been--it all depends on the value, the retail end of it or
     the wholesale end of it, because that is the business, and supposed-
     ly it is conducted as a business. It goes into the millions of dollars.
     If we are going to the retail end of it, I would say over $10 million.
     Who knows?   I mean, oh, my God, even more than that at the time, 1982, that
     I--by way of the Bahamas I transported exactly 377 ki's of cocaine,
     which was almost $100 million in those days.   Senator KERRY. $100 million in 1982 alone?   Mr. GARCIA. Yes, sir.   Senator KERRY. And could you put a value on the numbers, the
     amount of money you spent buying protection in the Bahamas?   Mr. GARCIA. Like I say, anywhere between 15 and 20 percent.   Senator KERRY. So again, millions of dollars?   Mr. GARCIA. Yes, sir .   Senator KERRY. From our perspective, and I know you are not a
     policy expert, but sitting there as a person who knows the thinking
     of traffickers, and knows the way trafficking is planned, are there
     ways that we can leverage policy, are there things that we can do
     that will make a difference in any of these countries?   Mr. GARCIA. Well, you said it correctly, sir, when you say I am
     not a policy expert, but I would say that if we change the rules of
     the games a little bit, if we change the players a little bit, maybe
     the new players will see a little better our own way, let's say my
     personal way this time, and at least be more discrete. I don't think
     we are ever going to stop, you know, the drug business completely.
     I mean, that is like trying to stop people from having a scotch. I
     think we did try it in this country and it didn't work.   But you know, let's have a little bit more professionalism into it.
     And you know, whoever gets caught, no matter where he gets
     caught, let's pay the rice. I mean, if you want play, you better be
     ready to pay, and not only in this country , which happens, thank
     God, but in any other country, instead of having a guy bail out
     and, you know, just take off or--   Senator KERRY. Is one of the significant reasons the Bahamas is
     such an important transit point the fact that people can pick it be-
     cause it is easy. They know they won't pay? Is that what you are
     saying?   Mr. GARCIA. That's right, sir. Correct.   Senator KERRY. And you know that that is in fact true today?   Mr. GARCIA. Yes, sir.   Senator KERRY. As we sit here?   Mr. GARCIA. Yes, sir. In fact, one of my former pilots, I think he
     got--he got--like I say, sometimes things, you know, get out of
     focus a little bit. People make mistakes. What I am saying is, hon-
     estly what I am trying to say is, somebody is supposed to pay some-
     body and they didn't pay it, so that is how the mistake comes
     about.from:  http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/1989_cr/s890516-drugs.htmThere should not be any doubt in anyone's mind that the United States is  engaged in a war directed at our citizens--the old, the young, the rich, the  poor.also, in: http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/issue43/articles/1980s_us_central_america.htm"There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones by individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, mercenaries who worked with the Contras and Contra supporters throughout the region....  U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts....  In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter....  Senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems."see also: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htmfinally, from: http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/970504.hist.html1980s to early 1990s, AFGHANISTAN
 ClA-supported Moujahedeen rebels engaged heavily in drug trafficking while
fighting against the Soviet-supported govemment and its plans to reform the
very backward Afghan society. The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and leading heroin refiner. CIA
supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used
to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan Pakistan border. The
output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United
States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. US officials
admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against
the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and
Afghan allies. In 1993, an official of the DEA called Afghanistan the new
Colombia of the drug world.
 
MlD-1980s to early 199Os, HAITI
 While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power,
the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. In 1986, the
Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian
organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). SIN was purportedly
created to fight the cocaine trade, though SIN officers themselves engaged in
the trafficking, a trade aided and abetted by some of the Haitian military
and political leaders. William Blum is author of Killing Hope: U.S Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War ll available from Common Courage Press, P.O. Box 702, Monroe,
Maine, 04951, USA; tel: (207) 525-0900; fax: (207) 525-3068-------
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Peace Be.
Roads End
throwing stones?
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Comment #11 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 05:58:43 PT
the whole world is watching
from the cbs story:"In the wake of the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, Congress passed harsh sentencing guidelines and mandatory-minimum sentencing laws - requiring federal judges in most cases to impose long jail terms on anyone convicted of drug trafficking, no matter how small their crime. "see, from: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/testimony/052599.htm'We  found that Blandon received a green card improperly while he was cooperating with the  government. We found that the Justice Department vacillated about whether Meneses should  be prosecuted or used as a cooperating witness. We found the CIA intervened in the Zavala  case to permit the return of seized money to him. 'read on, from: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1996_hr/s961211.htm   SEN. JOHNSTON: Dr. Deutch, I saw you out in -- I think it was Los Angeles -- appearing before a group in the African American community to reassure them that the CIA had not been involved in the crack cocaine business -- reminded me a little bit of some of the town meetings I've had -- where the crowd seemed not to be totally reassured by what you had to say. Are you satisfied that you have all the information you need to make a definitive judgment that the CIA has in fact never been involved in the crack cocaine business in the United States?    MR. DEUTCH: I have no information that leads me to believe that the intelligence community in the past -- remember, this is an allegation about the early and mid-80s -- I have no information to suggest any CIA involvement at that time whatsoever.    On the other hand, I have also stated clearly that until an independent report is done by the inspector general and reviewed by this committee, the committee in the House, the Justice Department, and publicly available for scrutiny, I don't believe that a final judgment can be made that there was absolutely no involvement at all. And I will believe that we should await the completion of that report.    SEN. JOHNSTON: But you have no reason to suspect that there was that involvement?    MR. DEUTCH: That's exactly right, Senator. I have no reason to suspect and I have no information that leads me to suspect such an involvement.    SEN. JOHNSTON: And none has ever -- no credible allegation has really ever been made, to your knowledge, has it, about such involvement?    MR. DEUTCH: Up till now, there is no allegation that I've heard which I find credible.    SEN. JOHNSTON: And the inspector general is in the process of making that investigation (now ?)?    MR. DEUTCH: Yes, sir.     SEN. JOHNSTON: And you're satisfied he will have all the information he will need; he will not need subpoena power or any ability that he does not now have?    MR. DEUTCH: If he encounters a situation where he believes that he needs subpoena power, he should come forward, and I am sure we will find a way to give him the access that he needs. So he does -- he will -- he's responsible to come forward and say if he -- if he's in a situation where he requires subpoena power, that he would let us know.   He would inform the director. from: http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/961008.dea.htmlIn seven years in the trenches, I had
arrested dozens of traffickers; trained antinarcotics squads in two countries;
flown aerial eradication missions; spearheaded huge cocaine busts. The drug
barons barely flinched: In Peru, I watched cartel pilots playing soccer with soldiers; in El Salvador,
military officers took weapons seized from the guerrillas and sold them to
traffickers; in Guatemala, I discovered members of our host government running
a smuggling ring for the cartels. Then I discovered the Contras' secret. By the end of his Congressional testimony, North was crowned an American Hero.Telegrams streamed in from admirers across the country, who reached out to
their new icon. I knew better. Many of the diplomats I worked with on a daily basis in the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador regarded the hard-nosed NSC staffer running the Contra operation as
"pushy and arrogant." I thought of him as the leader, whether he knew it or not, of Latin America's
most protected drug smuggling operation. The connections piled up quickly. Contra planes flew north to the U.S., loaded
with cocaine, then returned laden with cash. All under the protective umbrella
of the United States Government. My informants were perfectly placed: one
worked with the Contra pilots at their base, while another moved easily among
the Salvadoran military officials who protected the resupply operation. They
fed me the names of Contra pilots. Again and again, those names showed up in
the DEA database as documented drug traffickers. When I pursued the case, my superiors quietly and firmly advised me to move on
to other investigations. In Central America, the Contras' drug connection was no secret. The Salvadoran
military knew. The U.S. Embassy knew. DEA knew. The CIA knew: "With respect to
(drug trafficking by) the Resistance Forces ... it is not a couple of people.
It is a lot of people," the CIA's Central American Task Force chief would tell
the Congressmen a month after North's testimony. A Congressional subcommittee chaired by Sen. John Kerry searched North's
personal notebooks and found 543 pages containing "references to drugs and
drug trafficking." On many of the pages, the material adjacent to the drug references was blacked
out before the pages reached the subcommittee. A few cryptic references
remained, scrawled in North's shorthand: July 9, 1984. Call from Clarridge -- Call Michel re Narco Issue -- RIG at 1000
tomorrow (QO384) -- DEA Miami -- Pilot went talked to Vaughn -- wanted A/C to go to
Bolivia to p/u paste -- want A/C to p/u 1500 kilos -- Bud to meet w/Group (QO385)
[italics added] It was also enough to scare the hell out of some of our elected leaders, who
knew a political minefield when they saw one. Six months before North's
Congressional appearance, the senate lran-Contra committee pondered
investigating the Contras' drugs-for-guns network. A New York Times article on
January 13, 1987 summed up their trepidation: "Some senators say that any
official inquiry on this topic, and how much if anything American officials
knew about it, at this time would create such an uproar that it could derail
the main thrusts of the Senate inquiry: to sort out the Reagan
Administration's secret arms sales to Iran and diversion of profits to the
contras." also, from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1116028,00.html
 
The retrial starts today of a former police officer accused of assaulting a black teenager by slamming him on to the boot of a police car, an encounter caught on video and broadcast around the world. But 18 months after the alleged attack in Inglewood, at the edge of Los Angeles, the only person involved who has been sent to jail is the man who shot the video, who has been accused of being a "race traitor" for exposing what took place. Mitchell Crooks, a 29-year-old actor, DJ and video-maker, was staying at a backpackers' hostel in Inglewood on July 6 2002 when he heard someone shouting "stop hurting him". He ran outside and started filming. The images in the car park of a petrol station he captured of Donovan Jackson, 16 at the time, led to a charge of assault against Jeremy Morse, who is to appear in court today. A jury was unable to reach a decision at the officer's first trial in July. "I don't regret doing what I did," Mr Crooks told the Guardian. "You have to do the right thing regardless of what the consequences." Mr Crooks, who is from Sacramento and had lived in Los Angeles for four years, saw footage from his two-minute video broadcast on every US news network.The alleged assault has been likened to the beating of Rodney King by four LA police officers, which was captured on video and led to the prosecution of the officers. Their acquittal in 1992 led to the LA riots in which 55 people died.Inglewood police were aware someone had shot a video and searched the hotel for it. Mr Crooks said Australian and New Zealander backpackers staying there knew he had the footage but did not reveal his identity, so he was able to get it out to the media. He was arrested outside the CNN offices in LA. "There was a warrant out for my arrest in connection with drunk driving, hit and run, and petty theft," Mr Crooks said. "I'm not making excuses but it was a fender-bender type of accident and I had pawned a VCR that belonged to me, but they made me look like I was the next worst person to Osama bin Laden. "I had just arranged by phone with a friend to meet me there with the video so they must have tapped the phones." Mr Crooks, a slim white man who says his experience has made him more politically involved, said: "I was flown by private jet to Placer county. For my sins, I was put in an all-white jail in an all-white county. It turned ugly real quick for me. I did six months in jail - that's what I owed them - and it was a rough six months. "I was under lockdown 22 hours a day. There were no minorities in jail and some of the other inmates were saying I was a race traitor and throwing it in my face an awful lot." After his arrest, he said, interest in the actions of Mr Morse, then 25, dwindled. "The media stop paying attention after they're told that you're a criminal." 
Kerry   knows too much?
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Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on January 05, 2004 at 05:08:11 PT:
Dan B, thanks for the link
I missed the program yesterday; I have barely watched any commercial TV for the last 2 months. I'd learned of the 60 minutes program here on CNEWS, and was planning to watch, but got busy helping a fellow cannabist in Australia try to fix his primary box via a chatroom. I got so caught up in it that I forgot (bad, bad, bad to have missed this!).But I am glad to read that McCollum came off sounding like the anti he is. I wonder how he would feel if he learned tomorrow that his idol Roger Christie a.k.a. "Rush Limbaugh" would be remanded to a Federal prison tomorrow? For trafficking in 2,000 pills, he wasn't a 'casual user'. If anything, he looks just like a 'drug king'. The kind McCollum is supposed to support jailing. Too bad this program was probably taped before "Rush"'s little dance with Florida DrugWarriors began; Mr. Bradley couldn't ask McCollum about "Rush"; There's few things more satisfying than like seeing a hypocrite caught in his own trap.
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Comment #9 posted by byrd on January 05, 2004 at 05:07:09 PT
Dan - you beat me to it
The CBS story was great. I wonder how long it'll be before they cancel 60 minutes :PHappy New Year to everyone!!
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Comment #8 posted by Dan B on January 05, 2004 at 04:05:35 PT
Article
You may want to check out this article about judges who protest mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug "offenses." I saw the segment on 60 Minutes yesterday, and Ed Bradley really made the prohibitionists look like--well, I can't say the word here, so I'll use an equally dastardly word--prohibitionists. Here's the link:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/31/60minutes/main590900.shtmlDan B
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Comment #7 posted by CorvallisEric on January 05, 2004 at 03:35:03 PT
Ghana again
Anyone interested in international trade, legal or otherwise, should be aware of this:
2003 Corruption Perceptions Index
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Comment #6 posted by CorvallisEric on January 05, 2004 at 03:21:55 PT
Ghana - comment 4
Interesting, but a couple gripes:1 - European countries have eased their restrictions on marijuana, creating a chance for African growers to tap the huge market in cities such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Including Stockholm (Sweden, tightest of the relatively uncorrupt European countries) in the list makes me question the author's credibility. Elsewhere in Europe, any opening is more likely due to laxity than change in policy. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.2 - $6 per ounce in Ghana strikes me as too much for a truly free (non-criminal) market.
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Comment #5 posted by Kegan on January 05, 2004 at 02:34:48 PT
Montel never mentions pot.....
http://www.nypost.com/commentary/15001.htm
MONTEL BARES MS SUICIDE ANGUISHJanuary 2, 2004 -- MONTEL WILLIAMS put the speed loader into the .357 
Magnum
and sat down in his locked closet, spinning the barrel, praying the 
gun
would go off "accidentally." It had to look like an accident. It just 
had
to.
No - it wasn't because he was worried what people would think of him 
if they
knew he'd committed suicide - this man who'd spent a career telling 
people
how to fix their lives. And no, he didn't care that everyone would 
discover
that in the end, he was the one who couldn't take it anymore.It wasn't because of that. It was for more practical reasons. If it 
were
discovered that he deliberately blew his own head off, his kids 
wouldn't get
the insurance. And the insurance payout for a major TV star is 
formidable.But the damned thing wouldn't go off, no matter how long the legendary
talk-show host/motivational speaker sat there - and he sat there for 
45 long
minutes.If he was such a loser that he couldn't even shoot his own head off, 
then
how about taking a dive off a tall building? Drive his car into the 
river?
Drive it at top speed into a tree?Good. But what if the air bag deployed? "I'd probably wind up losing 
my body
and be a head sitting on a shelf; people will keep me alive," he 
realized.
Then this man, one of the most famous faces in America, decided that 
the
best course of action would be to throw himself into New York City 
traffic
at Columbus Circle.He waited, then stepped off the curb and "tripped" onto the road, 
falling in
front of the giant Cadillac that he'd decided, unbeknownst to the
unsuspecting driver, would be his chosen instrument of death.Instead, the driver swerved, hit the brakes and avoided hitting him. 
The man
jumped out of his car spewing curses, until he realized that the man 
in the
road, the man he'd just avoided hitting was Montel Williams. It was 
1999.Yes, he'd nearly killed him, and nearly fulfilled the star's greatest 
wish -
to die, and die before both his life and his multiple sclerosis 
(which he'd
been diagnosed with a few months earlier) got any more painful, any 
worse.HARD as it is to believe this is what Montel's life had come to, and 
harder
still to believe, he's revealing it all in a new book, due out in a 
few
days, called, "Climbing Higher," from New American Library.It's an absolutely riveting read not only for his fans, but for 
anyone who's
ever suffered from serious illness.He spoke to me exclusively last week, just before leaving town to hit 
the
slopes and then to spend New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, performing a 
tribute
to Barry White with Niles Rogers and the Chic band at the MGM Grand.This is, as you can tell, a far cry from the man who tried in vain 
just a
few years ago to die.Why did he choose to let it all out? "Because we [MS sufferers] need 
to stop
lying about ourselves. We lie about the pain we're in. A lot of the 
reason
my relationship with my wife, Grace, came apart was because I tried 
my best
to pretend I wasn't in pain. I didn't want to say I needed help."I also knew that before anyone writes about this, about me and my 
disease,
I better do it myself. It also gives me the opportunity to get the 
message
out there - it's not a shame to be ill. It's not a disgrace. No one 
in my
family had anything like this, anything neurological before, and yet 
my
daughter has epilepsy, also neurological. We need to stop lying-no 
matter
what the cost."And the cost can be high for a star with a disease - especially a
potentially debilitating one. "But even to say this, to admit [how 
seriously
ill] I am, puts me and my career in jeopardy," he said."Talk-show host, fine - the [company] has accepted me [with my 
disease], but
other projects? 'Uh, uh. He's got MS, get someone else.' " It is 
Hollywood,
after all."I have extreme neuralgia. If I'm standing outside and someone 
brushes up
against me - how do I describe it?-it's like when you strike your 
crazy
[funny] bone. Take that feeling and times it by 100. Wherever you 
touch me."I used to want people only to see me at my best - now I don't. [When 
I'm in
extreme pain], I tell my friends please, don't touch me. Please. 
Thank you.
I can be sitting in the movies with someone I really like, and the 
popcorn
bag brushes against me and I'm in torture. So I excuse myself and go 
to the
bathroom - anything to not scream. The worst part, however, is what I 
do to
myself sometimes. I can sit here for 14 hours straight and drive 
myself
crazy waiting for it to come on."And yet, he hasn't missed a day's work, a meeting, or a charity 
event, no
matter how bad the pain.MS is a disease that, in essence, destroys the myelin - the substance
covering the nerves. The resulting scar tissue is called "sclerosis." 
These
damaged areas are known as plaques or lesions.But Williams still tries to look at life from the bright side."The good thing is that I've got it in the particular way that I've 
got it -
I haven't had a bout in four years," he said. "The 
remitting/relapsing cycle
comes and goes though."A "bout" he describes as a period when the nerves sustain more 
damage. The
periods of pain are not "bouts" but simply the everyday searing pain 
he
lives with."If you scrape the rubber off a wire," Williams continued, "it will 
work
fine at first, but the damage eventually destroys the wire." And can 
cause a
fire, which is exactly how the nerves of a person with MS can feel."Part of what happened to me - the depression, the wanting to die - is
because when you have this disease, there's also a chemical imbalance 
in the
brain," he said. "You have to make that decision each day, 'Do I want 
to get
out of bed?' 'Will it be excruciating to step on the floor?'"The pain was driving me. My feet feel like I am walking - literally -
 on
hot coals. In fact, there are times, still, when I can take a spoon 
or knife
to the back of my thigh and press, just to displace the excruciating 
pain in
my feet."At the time I was diagnosed, my marriage was falling apart, and I got
trapped in the vortex. I know I didn't handle any of it well. None of 
it."DOES he have regrets about the very public breakup of his marriage in 
which
his wife reportedly threw his clothes out the window of their $10 
million
home. (Grace Williams told The Post's Cindy Adams she did not toss 
them out
the window, but carefully packed them up, covered them in plastic, 
and put
them out on the front lawn.)"It unfortunate," he said, "that my marriage fell apart the way it 
did. My
ex-wife is remarried now, and having a child, and I'm happy for her,"
although he admits she was the love of his life. She, at the time of 
the
divorce, said the same about him.As he is clearly still smarting from losing Grace, I asked him if he 
was off
marriage for good. "Hmmm. For good?" he mused. "I'm not in a 
relationship
now and I'm gonna stay that way for a while. I was in a long-term
relationship that I messed up - an incredible relationship with a 
wonderful
woman, and my own fears made me ruin it."I've not sworn off marriage, but I promise you I won't be rushing 
into it
again, anytime soon."His biggest fight now isn't with a woman, but with the drug companies 
that
he wants to step up to the plate. MS, he estimates, has been under 
reported
by 1.1 million.The drug companies don't have the incentive, he believes, to throw the
necessary research dollars behind developing new drugs, partially 
because
the numbers aren't there to support it.His fame, and the paths blazed by Michael J. Fox, who has 
Parkinson's, and
Christopher Reeve, who is paralyzed with a spinal injury, help him, 
he said,
to be able to walk into Congress and meet with members about MS and 
other
issues."I can talk about MS, and where my tax dollars will be going in the 
next
five years [in terms of research of this and other diseases.]"I applaud President Bush for pushing through the prescription-drug 
bill.
Now the drug expenses [for people with MS] of $1,200 a month will be 
free."The former Marine fights now to keep an optimistic outlook about his 
life."Had I not come out," he said, "I probably wouldn't have realized how
blessed I am. I've been on the air for 13 years. By the time my next
contract is up I will have done 3,000 shows. How many guys can say 
that
they've been that lucky?"Better still, how many guys get to play Vegas and do Barry White all 
in one
night? Only the few, the proud, the Marine!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Kegan on January 05, 2004 at 02:32:45 PT
more stories
This one is about how the US is about to bring a costly drug-war too a country that has none of the drug-war problems.God Bless Amerika!Newshawk: CMAP ( http://www.mapinc.org/cmap )
Pubdate: Sunday, January 4, 2004
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Contact: letters alternet.org
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Author: G. Pascal ZacharyWest Africa's Cash CropBy G. Pascal Zachary, AlterNetWhat if a poor African country could grow a plant that would fetch
healthy prices in the U.S? What if the plant could be grown on small
farms, encouraging democracy in this poor African country by putting
cash into the hands of its poorest and most powerless people? What if
such a plant could reduce the poor African country's dependence on
the U.S. for aid?Of course, the U.S. would cheer such a plant and the country that
grows it. And President George Bush would be especially glad, since
improving living standards in Africa is one of his key global
objectives.Such a plant does exist, and an African country is growing it in good
measure. Yet President Bush isn't cheering. Worse, the Bush
administration is fighting a war against the plant and the poor
African country that grows it.The country is Ghana, in West Africa, and the plant is cannabis or
"ganja," the term preferred by Ghanaians. Marijuana grown in Ghana is
of good quality, plentiful and relatively inexpensive. Twenty neatly
rolled sticks of pot, or about half an ounce, sell for about $3.
That's right, good pot sells for $6 an ounce in Ghana. Here is the
highest stage of capitalism, ­the free market, ­in action.Ghana is one of the most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The
country rarely sees any violence (a benefit of pot-smoking?), has a
democratically elected government and boasts one of the freest
societies in Africa. Pot has been grown and smoked in the country for
decades, drawing little comment. In Accra, the coastal capital of
Ghana, people smoke discreetly, to be sure, because the sale and
possession of pot is technically illegal. But pot is easy to
purchase, arrests are rare, and smoking is popular, especially among
American and European aid workers in the country.For pot smokers, Accra is an African paradise. But like many a
paradise in Africa, Accra is threatened by a man-made disaster. The
disaster, funded by American tax dollars, is the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA).I am no expert in the world's drug wars, or the DEA, but I spent the
better part of the past two years in Ghana and I never saw any signs
of pot ripping apart the fabric of Ghanaian life. There are no drug
lords in Accra, no gun-toting bodyguards or pot addicts strewn across
the city's derelict roads.Just the opposite is occurring, actually. Pot is giving a people
starved for economic opportunity a chance to participate in the
global economy. Ghana is one of the losers in the world's experiment
with widening trade. Goods flood into Ghana from China, Brazil,
Mexico, even the U.S. And not just manufactured products either.
Butter is imported from France, pasta and canned tomatoes from Italy,
rolled oats from Germany and rice from the U.S. Because the cost of producing and shipping these foods is subsidized
by European, U.S. and Canadian governments, their cost in Ghana is
sometimes less than it is in the country of origin. And even if it
isn't, these imports ruin the lives of African food producers.
American rice, imported into Ghana, sells for substantially less than
rice grown in Ghana.The burden of food imports would be less crushing if Ghana exported
an equal amount of goods, but the country doesn't. It hardly exports
anything. The country's two leading exports are cacao beans (the
basic ingredient in cocoa and chocolate) and gold. These exports are
the foundation of Ghana's economy ­ today and 100 years ago.Ghana has low farm costs, making it an attractive place (in theory)
to grow fruits and vegetables. But because of deplorable "feeder"
roads to Ghana's cities and ports, roughly one-third to one-half of
the country's crop of delicious pineapples rots before reaching
market. Nearly as many of Ghana's plentiful bananas suffer the same
fate.Marijuana has a longer shelf life. For poor Ghana, it offers a
lifeline to a more diverse and durable economic future.To achieve this does not require a revolution in world drug laws
either. European countries have eased their restrictions on
marijuana, creating a chance for African growers to tap the huge
market in cities such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Copenhagen. After
all, West Africa is a short hop by sea or plane to Western Europe,
giving Africans an edge over producers elsewhere in the world.Simply, then, by sticking to the gray area of the world's fuzzy pot
laws, Ghana could reap substantial benefits. Instead, the U.S.
insists that Ghana buy American rice and yet refuses to allow its
citizens to purchase Ghana's marijuana. Whatever the arrangement is,
it is not free trade.To add to the injury, the Bush administration wants to fuel a drug
war in Ghana, where pot exporters are so sophisticated and nefarious
that their preferred method of transporting weed is to hide it in
shipments of yams bound for Europe.Against this menace stands the DEA. About six months ago, the agency
privately persuaded the government of Ghana to accept its advice and
mount a campaign of resistance against pot production and
distribution. The DEA offered the carrot of "technical assistance" ­
jargon in foreign-aid speak for equipment and cash that African
police, who are woefully underpaid, long for.For now the DEA-inspired move against Ghana's pot growers has
resulted in publicized destruction of fields, some arrests ­ and more
aid for Ghana from a grateful U.S. government.G. Pascal Zachary served in 2003 as Ghana director for Journalists
for Human Rights, a media training group based in Toronto.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by Kegan on January 05, 2004 at 02:31:37 PT
Stories
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=bb269fee-1285
-41f4-81a6-c0e5aa38e2dbPM, Bush were to discuss Iraq, marijuana at cancelled summit 
		
Mike Blanchfield		
CanWest News Service		January 5, 2004 
OTTAWA - Newly released federal documents reveal the depth of planning for
last May's visit to Ottawa by George W. Bush, cancelled after Canada refused
to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The White House pulled the plug about three weeks before the planned May 5,
2003, visit. The President said he was too busy running the war in Iraq, but
the cancellation was seen as a final blow to his strained relationship with
Jean Chretien.
The documents show the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa planned a
gala in the Grand Hall of the Museum of Civilization, on the Ottawa River
facing Parliament Hill.
About 750 guests were invited to the cancelled banquet, including the
federal Cabinet and other politicians, business people, sports and arts
figures, bureaucrats, academics, diplomats and 20 Americans who would have
formed part of Mr. Bush's official entourage.
The documents also show Foreign Affairs planners drew up a long list of
topics for discussions between Messrs. Bush and Chretien. The Chretien
Liberals expected Mr. Bush to raise questions about a controversial federal
government plan to decriminalize marijuana possession, which U.S. drug czars
continue to view as a major irritant. Other topics that never got discussed
included the conduct of the Iraq war "if still ongoing," the reconstruction
of Iraq, which was identified as a "key brief," Canada's military commitment
to Afghanistan, as well as the situation in North Korea and the role of the
United Nations.
Along with marijuana, the two leaders would have talked about a host of
bilateral issues, including the planned U.S. missile defence shield, border
issues, the ongoing trade disputes involving softwood lumber and wheat, and
other economic issues.
Neither the menu nor the cost of last May's cancelled banquet was contained
in the documents, which were obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin under
Access to Information.
Despite Mr. Bush's cancellation, many in the federal government kept
preparations at the ready because they viewed the decision as simply a
postponement.
The true impact of the snub became evident when Mr. Bush announced that he
did have time to welcome Australian Prime Minister John Howard to his Texas
ranch on May 2-3 -- two days before he was officially too busy to fly to
Ottawa.
Mr. Bush and Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, are to have their first
face-to-face meeting next week in Monterrey, Mexico, at the Summit of the
Americas.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]Canadian Cannabis Coalitionhttp://cannabiscoalition.ca/Email List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ccc-members/ Yahoo! Groups LinksTo visit your group on the web, go to:
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ccc-members/To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
 ccc-members-unsubscribe yahoogroups.comYour use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
 http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on January 05, 2004 at 01:59:49 PT
Gore's endorsement
Does Howard Dean think Al Gore's son should be treated like a criminal?Dennis Kucinich doesn't!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 00:03:02 PT
I don't understand.
What do we have to do to get you to speak out, Al? Run for office?
Will YOU run?
[ Post Comment ]


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