cannabisnews.com: Ease Up for Ganja - Recommendations Set for House Ease Up for Ganja - Recommendations Set for House Posted by CN Staff on January 21, 2004 at 22:39:04 PT By Robert Hart, Staff Reporter Source: Jamaica Gleaner The Joint Select Committee of Parliament examining the use of ganja is set to recommend that Government reclassify the drug, making its use a low-level criminal offence.The decision, made during yesterday's sitting of the committee, which is looking at the recommendations of the three-year old National Commission on Ganja, came the same day a doctor's union in the United Kingdom expressed concerns about that government's own attempts to downgrade marijuana's status as a drug. Speaking during yesterday's committee sitting, Solicitor-General Michael Hylton stated that "It would be possible for Jamaica to remove criminal sanctions from the personal use of ganja, as marijuana use does not have to be made subject to criminal sanctions, according to the relevant conventions."During the last sitting in December, Mr. Hylton had told the committee that any move to decriminalise the use of ganja, even for 'private, personal use', would place Jamaica at odds with the country's international treaty obligations on drug control.Returning on the request of the committee including Opposition MPs Mike Henry, Delroy Chuck and Dr. Ken Baugh, as well as Government MPs, Dr. Patrick Harris and committee chairman Dr. Morais Guy, the Solicitor-General, yesterday noted that those obligations require criminal sanctions to be applied to the possession, cultivation, transport, and production of ganja.NON-CUSTODIAL SENTENCES "(But) in the circumstances it is possible to argue that the possession or cultivation of small quantities of ganja could be subject to reduced, non-custodial, sentences or to fines," Mr. Hylton said. He further suggested that any criminal record could be erased after a short period.With the suggestion finding general favour within the Chamber, the committee also decided it would recommend that renegotiations take place between Jamaica and its Caribbean Community and European Union partners on the treatment of ganja."If we were to be successful in having the treaties exempt the personal use of ganja then it would cover the religious, the medicinal, etc... so that those other things we are discussing would no longer be necessary. That exemption would cure all of that," the Solicitor-General said.Mr. Hylton added: "I suspect though... because that is both uncertain and may take some time... that there are some who would think that it would be better to, as a companion measure, do some changes in the meantime."On this point Government member Senator Floyd Morris noted that new literature and information that has emerged, regarding for example, medicinal use could be used as a rationale for the renegotiations."I think that would be perfectly in order in making a general approach," he said.But yesterday, the British Medical Association (BMA) warned that reclassification of the drug could lead some people to believe it is safe. The group was reacting to a UK initiative to reclassify marijuana from a class B to a class C drug on January 29. The goal is to allow police to focus enforcement efforts on harder drugs.The UK initiative was the primary example given by Mr. Hylton in supporting the reclassification of the drug in Jamaica. The Committee will have its final meeting, to sign off on its report, on February 11.Complete Title: Ease Up for Ganja - Committee Recommendations Set for House Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica)Author: Robert Hart, Staff ReporterPublished: Thursday, January 22, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The Gleaner Company LimitedContact: feedback jamaica-gleaner.comWebsite: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/Related Articles:Useless Ganja Laws http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18024.shtmlA Rational Decision on Marijuana, Please http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17959.shtmlJamaica: Go Easy on Ganja Users, Says Report http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17919.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #21 posted by jose melendez on January 23, 2004 at 04:11:49 PT Another published letter to the editor http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n142/a08.html?1121 [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 21:10:23 PT How Can John Kerry Deny Us? Check out this picture.http://www.johnkerry.com/download/submitted/kerry_lenon_1024.jpg [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 21:08:15 PT Peter Yarrow Sings for John Kerry I was looking for the Puff the Magaic Dragon piece but found this song. The link offers a couple other audio options if anyone is interested. http://www.johnkerry.com/download/http://www.johnkerry.com/audio/01americacomehome.ram [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 18:51:22 PT I Watched The Debate I didn't see anything that impressed me. They didn't really say anything important unless I missed something. I enjoyed listening to Al Sharpton though. [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by Virgil on January 22, 2004 at 18:43:15 PT Kerry's website I wrote something on page 5 yesterday. I also wrote this on page 7 today.The announcement has been made that GW Phamraceuticals in the UK will finally be allowed to go on the market in the second quarter of this year. The approved use of this will be for MS. There is a group of people that have seen that those that wanted cannabis for MS received such medicine in chocolates. This organization is called thc4ms.Now the canvas I paint on says that cannabis should be legal. The canvas Kerry paints on says cannabis should get you arrested, convicted, and branded. So to me, I see the idea of legalizing cannabis for medicine as a result of the prohibition that Kerry has supported his whole life in the Senate. On my canvas all the research that will now go on for twenty years to mine the secrets of cannabinoids would have proceeded and we would already know much of the potential. Kerry has supported the stonewall approach that says we have done 10,000 studies and we do not know of such properties. Why did he not call for the $28 billion annual budget of NIDA truley search for answers?The idea of cannabis not having medical value is absurd to start with as it has a long history of use in medicine. To sit in the Senate and not call for true study is all but criminal and he has a history of disservice to the country in this regard.In 1971 Nixon called for a War on Cancer. In 1974 they found that cannabis actually could cut off the blood supply to cancer tumors. Of course it was buried in the media and the government tore up study after study that had all shown promise and helped bring about the first medicial cannabis laws of the 1970's and 1980's. It made a rebirth in medicine and Kerry was there while it was murdered.There is still a federal program that supplies 7 patients with some crappy cannabis out of Mississippi that got closed down because government saw it was going to be flooded by AIDS patients. The whole position of the government on that is just part of the secrecy program that only gets interrupted for the lies needed for demonization.At what point is Kerry going to call for some real talk about freedom for behavior that has no victim. And in that you can bring in prostitution and gambling. Good grief the states bad mouth gambling and then they monopolize it. But to return to the cannabis issue, the government does not have a policy about cannabis. It has an attitude. Any claimed position is completely disingenuous. I can tell you know the position that cannabis should be a Schedule 1 narcotic is absurd as not only does it not meet all three criteria and is not a narcotic anyway, it does not meet any of the criteria. And then remember many of us feel it should have been legal all the time.When is Kerry going to come clean on the WOD and on how he justifies the extreme harshness of the laws that inflict many multiples of harm thn cannabis ever could? When is he going to get real? When is he even going to talk, much less talk sense?He has been there. I have seen the video on the Internet where he was on the Kerry Commission and spoke to the issue of the USG being involved in bringing cocaine in this country. The Kerry Report was a whitewash on this issue. I want to know what he is waiting on in coming clean. In the last election , Gore and Bush agreed not to discuss the WOD including the insanity and freedom-robbing policies on cannabis that make medical marijuana debate something that still goes on.Why does he not raise the failure of the WOD and the insanity to continue the failure? When is he going to talk sense or is he going with the silence and lying routine. I am tired of hearing drugs, drugs, drugs. I want to hear "Prohibition, black market, imposed civil war in Colombia."I want to hear what he thinks of the 9th and 10th amendments in my Constitution that a president is supposed to defend and not the one past presidents including Clinton did not respect because of their warped vision of the WOD.Now here is your test on the Kerry position on cannabis and also the War of Insanity the politicians call the War on Drugs.Will KerryA) be silentB)be disingenuousC)be silent and lie until silence can be resumedD)talk sense [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 17:25:29 PT The Thread is Still On Kerry's Web Site I thought I should mention that I did see it. I'm glad they didn't pull it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 13:55:50 PT Maybe They Pulled The Drug Legalization Thread I bookmarked this thread but when I went into the message forum on Kerrys site I couldn't find it. Maybe I missed it though.http://forum.johnkerry.com//index.php?showtopic=525 [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 12:46:47 PT Band was Called Electras Here's a picture of Kerry in the Band. I wish it was a rock band but it doesn't look like one to me.http://www.ragtimejack.com/Documents/pics2.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 12:24:42 PT MaxFlowers I don't think it's called Fuzz, Acid and Flowers but maybe someone can find more information about this band he was in. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 12:16:46 PT MaxFlowers I followed the link that Breeze posted and came up with this. Senator John Kerry was in a band called of all things Fuzz Acid & Flowers! I hope this is accurate because this will help us to make him speak out if we know more about this band and it's true.http://www.realchange.org/http://www.borderlinebooks.com/us6070s/fuzz.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Max Flowers on January 22, 2004 at 12:04:30 PT breeze: regarding realchange.org Interestingly, when you look up Kerry, there's nothing negative---his only skeleton in the closet is being a bassist in a surf rock band in the mid 60s! That's a GOOD thing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by afterburner on January 22, 2004 at 09:37:09 PT: The Power of the British Empire Lives On... As the UK moves to re-schedule cannabis in the face of prohibitionist backlash, other commonwealth nations ponder similar measures. Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, like many other commonwealth members, still take their lead from the Grandmother in Jolly Old England. The Medicine Line is now global!Medical Freedom Amendment for 2004: you know you want it! [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 22, 2004 at 08:42:59 PT Just a Note I've been looking for news to post and haven't found any so far. Yesterday was busy and today there doesn't appear to be much happening. I'll keep looking. Here's the link to Art Garfunkels arrest for Pot from the Daily Freeman.http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=74969&newsid=10847846&PAG=461&rfi=9 [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 22, 2004 at 07:45:57 PT Only Way To Get Serious Human Life End Drug WarBan Chemical Farms - all food MUST be organic [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 22, 2004 at 07:44:30 PT Off Topic: Just Turned on CNN for a minute and... A wharehouse full of fertilizer and weed killer is on fire somewhere. The fireman are just going to let it burn out. No mention whatsoever about how toxic that is. So they move on to: Crime Under Our Noses. Marijuana plants were found growing in a man's basement. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by darwin on January 22, 2004 at 07:04:08 PT MN sentencing reduction? This is getting a lot of play in MN. A sentencing commossion member is on MPR this morning talking about the need to reduce sentencing!http://www.startribune.com/stories/362/4330041.htmlMinnesota taxpayers could save up to $30 million a year if nonviolent drug offenders now flooding state prisons in unprecedented proportions were sent to treatment instead, a new report to the Legislature suggests.The report, by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, is likely to spur another round of emotional debate over the fiscal and social effects of state policies that sent a record 938 drug offenders to prison in 2002, the last year for which figures have been compiled.According to the report, Minnesota's drug-sentencing laws are more severe -- sometimes startlingly so -- than those of many other states, especially in the Upper Midwest.As a result, drug offenders admitted to Minnesota prisons in 2002 outnumbered those incarcerated for violent or property crimes, the first time that has occurred. Drug war prisoners: A growing forceFurther, the average prison term for drugs -- more than four years, twice what it was in 1988 -- was longer than that for nondrug crimes.And among all 12,978 felons sentenced in Minnesota in 2002 -- 3,424 of them for drug crimes -- a higher percentage of drug offenders went to prison compared with nondrug criminals.Combatting illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, has begun to dominate criminal justice in Minnesota only in the last few years. As recently as 1990, drug offenders made up only 9 percent of the state prison population; now they are 23 percent.Stiff drug penalties enacted as crack cocaine use spread in the 1980s, and a court ruling that required equal treatment of crack and powder cocaine crimes, produced "a combination of intended and unintended consequences" for drug enforcement, the report said."In addition, reductions in treatment resources at both the state and local levels have contributed to a growing number of drug offenders recycling through our criminal justice system," the report noted.Some legislators say it's time to reexamine the situation."We've got to reserve our prison cells for the truly dangerous," said Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minneapolis, chief sponsor of a bill to increase the amount of cocaine or methamphetamine an offender would have to be caught with to warrant Minnesota's longest prison sentences for drugs.Now, possession of less than half an ounce of either drug with intent to sell carries a recommended sentence of seven years and two months for a first offender. Ellison's bill would raise that threshold to nearly 2 ounces. Other states require drug stashes in the pounds, not ounces, before the toughest prison sentences apply."We have to figure out what is the right level of deterrence and get in line with other states," said Rep. Eric Lipman, R-Lake Elmo, a cosponsor of the Ellison bill. "Why would we be way out front?"Law enforcement view Other legislators, however, have pointed in the opposite direction, urging increased penalties for methamphetamine, a stimulant whose manufacture and use is said to be rife in outstate Minnesota. Police and prosecutors have consistently opposed rolling back drug penalties.But there are hints that law enforcement leaders may now support modest changes in a sentencing system that many agree has slipped seriously out of balance. The report notes that only a high rate of leniency by sentencing judges has kept drug offenders from consuming an even greater share of correctional resources.Nearly two-thirds of the most serious drug offenders received penalties less than those called for by state guidelines, raising "questions as to the appropriateness of the presumptive sentences," the report said."If we're out of sync with other states, it's worth it to take a look at it," said Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. "But we must keep a focus on drug dealers. We can't go too far the other way."Major crime is down 25 percent in Hennepin County since 1998, Klobuchar said, thanks largely to aggressive police attacks on drug traffic that breeds violence and thievery. Poor inner-city neighborhoods would suffer a swift reversal of recent economic and livability gains if those efforts were blunted, she added.In addition, if large numbers of drug offenders now going to prison were shifted to local jails, treatment facilities and probation caseloads, Klobuchar said, the costs could overwhelm county budgets, financed by property taxes.Big savings in store But the report demonstrates that the savings to state prisons could cover extra local expenses with room to spare. A sweeping drug-diversion policy could mean 576 fewer prison admissions and annual savings of $30.8 million, it added.Under current policies, the report said, Minnesota would need an extra 2,667 prison beds for drug offenders by 2012 at an annual cost of $58.2 million.Some authorities, however, say that burgeoning prison rolls are simply a reflection of levels of crime. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom noted that Minnesota is tied with North Dakota for the lowest imprisonment rate in the nation. "We do not incarcerate too many offenders compared with national levels," he added.But when it comes to drugs, Minnesota's laws are clearly more stringent than those of neighboring states, the report shows. In the rest of the Upper Midwest, amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine that trigger the most serious penalties range from 40 grams in Wisconsin to 5,000 grams (176 pounds) in Iowa, compared with 10 grams in Minnesota.In Minnesota, those 10 grams carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. In Wisconsin, that amount brings a top penalty of 15 years. In South Dakota, no quantity of drugs can get you more than 10 years in prison.Ellison, one of two blacks in the Legislature, said a recent surge in imprisonment of white methamphetamine offenders may push Minnesotans to reassess the current penalty structure. "I don't think the average Minnesota taxpayer wants this," he said. "Often the drug user is your kid, your cousin, your neighbor."Conrad deFiebre is at>cdefiebre startribune.com. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on January 22, 2004 at 06:55:39 PT sheer madness prevails Ken Lay, the CEO of Enron, shorted his company stock from an eighty dollar price to zero. He roams the streets with his pockets full of bucks, no charges laid against him and other hapless stockholders are left out in the cold. Martha Stewart sells four thousand shares of IMCLONE, and faces ten years in a federal prison.George Bush, the fool of a President, speaks to Congress and he can't remember one sentence from the next because he didn't write one word of the speech. The fool addressing the wise old Adams sitting so inattentively in the House of Representatives during the State of the Union 'speech' hasn't a clue. The vulgar watch in perfect mesmerized transfixed stupor. All to protect America, the homeland; the 'Praetorian Prefect' in action. All is sacrificed save the ridiculous notions that America will prevail. Billions and Billions pledged to do this and that while the House of Cards precipitously falls flat. Not good. Time for Atlas to shrug. Time for George Orwell to say, "I told you so."All the while that the self-deluded fools who think they are wise, all nod and go along with the charade in imperfect cacophony. It's as phony as it can get. The rest of the world points and laughs at such idiocy and carries on its agenda to grasp some rhyme and reason from it all. To hope for some escape from the lunacy is sheer madness.The real issues are dismissed out of hand, the manufactured topics are grasped with great vim and vigor. All is lost. It's only a matter of time.Time for some cannabis. The only thing that makes sense.Go Britain Go Canada Go Jamaica [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by ekim on January 22, 2004 at 06:10:34 PT Faith based work to restore voting and change laws The show went great. Matha Dewolfe form Leap did a wonderful job of telling the drug war story from a womans point of view. And when you concider that she was a police officer for many years it carrys more weight. http://www.leap.cc Tim Beck from Detroit Med. Cannabis Petition told the viewers about the upcomming vote on med use in Dertoit in Aug. He named many many high ranking civic minded persons that are supporting the petition. http://www.mmdertoit.org The MI Norml Reps took calls about current laws and news. http://www.minorml.org I see that the President said Tues. that he will offer 300 million for help for those who will be released from prison. I hope that a good share of the money will go to restoring the voting rights of those affected. Also I hope that the money can be used to help educate lawmakers on unjust laws that locked up many. Laws that should not be kept on the books and would help the country if they were removed. There is nothing worse than having a prison record --except having a record of breaking a law that should never ever have been a law in the first place. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on January 22, 2004 at 00:43:48 PT Art Garfunkel busted HURLEY, New York (AP) -- Art Garfunkel, part of the folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, was charged with marijuana possession after police pulled his limousine over for speeding in upstate New York. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by breeze on January 22, 2004 at 00:03:23 PT This might deserve a second look I was sent this link, its about the prospective candidates and their hidden history. Can anyone verify that these tidbits might hold truth? The guy I was hoping would run just to make things interesting was just revealed as a hypocrite. That simply goes against my principles. I might be a pothead but I am scrupulous...http://www.realchange.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Virgil on January 21, 2004 at 23:41:05 PT The prize is right. You can't give up like that. What you need to do is retrench and make stiffer penalties. Some death penalties like Malaysia or whoever would help. That island doesn't have any oil or anything to sell and can only support so many people anyway. Come on. The prize is right- A drug free society. You guys have sat down there smoking that ganja and drinking that tea and look where it has gotten you. Nowhere. Convert some schools into prisons like California does with policy. You can do it for real. You don't even have to build prisons. Just fence off a section of the island into a penal colony and let them survive somehow. You can go in and steal their crops and take it easy. This is a good time to decrease the surplus population and cull the rift-raft. Start a castration program for second time offenders and become first-class drug warriors. Look where this pussyfooting has gotten you. Nowhere. If it were not for the cocaine runners out of Colombia you guys would already be out of bullets. How can you be safe if you do not have bullets to defend yourself with?Suck it up. Inflict some harm. War on. Come on now. The prize is right. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment