cannabisnews.com: Anti-Pot Fight Comes To Fairbanks





Anti-Pot Fight Comes To Fairbanks
Posted by CN Staff on October 15, 2004 at 07:33:28 PT
By Tom Moran, Staff Writer
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 
Local Fairbanks leaders and the nation's deputy drug czar came together in a Thursday morning press conference to lambast the ballot proposal to legalize marijuana.Scott Burns, the deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the other attendees argued that legal marijuana would harm Alaska's youth and businesses and dampen the Department of Defense's desire to post troops in the state.
"Being the first in the country to do this could have all kinds of repercussions," Burns said.Ballot Measure 2 would make it legal for people 21 and older to grow, use, sell or give away marijuana, which could be taxed and regulated by the state. It's on the Nov. 2 state ballot. Burns was joined at the conference by representatives of law enforcement agencies, including Fairbanks Police Director Paul Harris and Harvey L. Goehring, Alaska's top federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent; and local officials, including Fairbanks City Mayor Steve Thompson and Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly members Bonnie Williams and Garry Hutchison. Margaret Russell, chair of the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce board of directors, also spoke at the event, held in the Fairbanks City Council chambers.Burns argued that passage of the measure would contribute to a trend of kids trying marijuana at younger and younger ages, calling smoking pot a "middle-school rite of passage."Burns also stressed that much of the money being used to tout the initiative came from the Washington D.C.- based Marijuana Policy Project, a group he argued wants to make it the first step toward legalizing further drugs. And he also argued that the U.S. military might look less fondly on Alaska if it had legal marijuana. Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor for the University of Alaska Anchorage's biomedical program and a sponsor of Ballot Measure 2 dismissed that argument as a "scare tactic."Hinterberger defended the MPP as only interested in marijuana, and noted that Burns is an out-of-stater as well. Hinterberger also argued that Burns was making his point for him when he pointed out how many youths use tobacco. The solution, he argued, is to regulate marijuana rather than spending money to prohibit it."What we're doing now, we're saying, is not working," he said. "So how about trying something different?"Other speakers on Thursday argued against the initiative for a number of reasons, such as its potential to cause businesses and tourists to shy away from Alaska. Harris argued the public good entailed in banned marijuana trumps the right to privacy cited by initiative backers."This is not a privacy issue; it is a public safety, it is a public health issue," he said.Burns is on a two-stop tour of Alaska that was meant to focus on several issues until the ballot initiative jumped to the fore. "This topic has kind of taken over as the emerging theme of this trip."Thompson said he plans to introduce a resolution in opposition to the ballot measure in the Fairbanks City Council, while Williams said she and others have one in the works for the borough assembly as well. The borough school board has also discussed one, while the Chamber of Commerce has passed one already. Russell said the chamber has also raised about $4,000 from local businesses to contribute to the effort to fight the measure.Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)Author:  Tom Moran, Staff WriterPublished: Friday, October 15, 2004 Copyright: 2004 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.Contact: letters newsminer.comWebsite: http://www.news-miner.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Yes on 2 Alaskahttp://www.yeson2alaska.com/Anti-Pot Team Attacks Push To Legalize Ithttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19639.shtmlNorth To Alaska! http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19638.shtmlAlaskans to Vote on Pot Legalization in '04 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18067.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by libertynymph on October 24, 2004 at 17:47:52 PT:
Who's morals should we enforce
By what RIGHT does one individual have to dictate to another what to do.  Yes drugs can destroy someome this includes as the author says alcohol and tabacco.  But so will cheeseburgers if in excess. Medical expenses?, If the same overbearing government that legislates "morals" didn't mess around the health care system and pass laws requiring responsible citizens to pay for the irresponsibilty of others there wouldn't be the problem of "medical expenses". Sound cold hearted? Which is colder FORCING (that's what it is) a responsible citizen who works hard to pay for someone elses bills, or, "you reap what you sow" (Thats a paraphrase from....The Bible right?)? If someone has no right to do something no matter how remote the expense to you then what is legal...sex? overeating? no exercise, to much TV? Nasty web when society is Forced to pay for someone elses bill, It feels it has a right to dictate someones life eating smoking ect.... The arguement that someone will be killed by a driver Under the influence is bogus...It's requiring an hypothitical action of a different LAW being broken it's blameing the Pot NOT the irresponsible person. It's like blaming Porn for the rapist's violence and lack of selfcontrol.  How many people drink? Whats the ratio of drunk drivers? Then Alcohol should be illegalized, and we know by history what happened then. Which brings up an odd question Why was it neccessary to have a constitutional admendment illegalizing alcohol but only a law to illegalize pot? Powers to be? What are we to dumb to run our own lives we need BIG Brother to do it for us? OUR values? My values are not your values? If a law upholds anyones values those values are worthless, they come from governemnt not the heart. Rather then looking for Pot smokers and pot in corn fields maybe the governemnt should look for the rapist and murders that they cant find.
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Comment #9 posted by mayan on October 15, 2004 at 11:23:30 PT
Desperation
Burns argued that passage of the measure would contribute to a trend of kids trying marijuana at younger and younger ages, calling smoking pot a "middle-school rite of passage."Wake up, Burns. It's already happening under the current disastrous policy known by many as "prohibition". Your lies have destroyed your credibility among the young and old alike.Burns also stressed that much of the money being used to tout the initiative came from the Washington D.C.- based Marijuana Policy Project, a group he argued wants to make it the first step toward legalizing further drugs.At least they're not using taxpayer's money to oppress taxpayers...and it's not the "Further Drugs Policy Project"! Other speakers on Thursday argued against the initiative for a number of reasons, such as its potential to cause businesses and tourists to shy away from Alaska.What??? Alaska will draw all kinds of tourists if they pass this! And just imagine all of the horticultural centers,head shops,ski board shops,etc. that will open up! More tax revenue for the state!Harris argued the public good entailed in banned marijuana trumps the right to privacy cited by initiative backers.Another idiot who wants to "save people from themselves" by prying into their private,personal lives. The ends do not justify the means. These prohibitionists truly are desperate to be slinging such shallow arguments! We are winning the battle for the minds of America. The truth is in demand! 
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 15, 2004 at 09:56:06 PT
I Feel Change In The Air
I'm taking this slow news day to reflect on what is going on. I am happy and I'm sad about different things. I'm sad because of where we are now and it's all happened in the last 4 years. I could list lots of things since 9-11 but we know them all to well. Now I feel the winds of change in the air and as I see the leaves falling from the trees and dancing around in the breeze I feel content. This is the first time I have ever felt a similarity to the revolution of the 60s. I wasn't involved in protests and I wasn't a flower child but the spirit of the time was what I felt was most like how I felt about issues and life. I have never understood why we have been so hated by the extreme right. I will not support anyone who is wrong no matter if I was a diehard member of any party but why do people support things that deep inside they know are wrong. Don't they look into the future? Are we so greedy for money that we can't see the starving child on the streets of America? 
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Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on October 15, 2004 at 09:55:34 PT
Alaska
Concerning the letter to the editor below - "Marijuana inhibits a person's actions, debilitating them from doing even basic things."Don't look now, buddy, but up at Mt. Aleyska ski area, and in the Chugach mountains, people are skiing 60 degree avalanche couloirs, rocketing down near-vertical faces at 60 miles an hour on skis & snowboards, and about 80% of them have smoked marijuana immediately before engaging in such activities.These are activities at the edge of human experience, demanding a total physical and mental focus. It has other functions too - like helping morose people uplift their spirit and mood so they don't walk around thinking about mangled teenage girls.
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on October 15, 2004 at 09:44:03 PT
Extortion?
Wow, Kappy is right, maybe they ARE starting to feel threatened - the frantic bleatings to scare the flock have reached a fever pitch. I've never seen this before - basically threatening to abandon Alaska to the enemy. Oh, wait a sec, who were protecting them from again? Er, the Russians! Ooops, they're friendly now. But wait, we might withdraw the missile shield from AK! oh yeah, the one that doesn't work unless the incoming missiles have GPS transmitters in them - and then it only works half of the time.Do any local politicians care about being threatened by the feds? It's frightening that they're totally silent. It shows you how much authority is really from DC. The locals are addicted to federal funding, it gives them their power among their friends in AK.Too bad the media doesn't really care, this paper barely batted an eye at the outrageous bullying. These guys from DC are just petty thugs, it's an insult to our history & culture that we have to tolerate them.
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Comment #5 posted by potpal on October 15, 2004 at 09:43:12 PT
biomass...
Cannabis is king.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3746554.stm
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 15, 2004 at 08:52:11 PT
Commons Debate on Cannabis UK
For those who might be interested.http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/cm041014/debtext/41014-31.htm http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/cm041014/debtext/41014-32.htm
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Comment #3 posted by global_warming on October 15, 2004 at 08:44:20 PT
Enough is enough
"With this issue it is time for the powers that be to rise up and to protect the unwary and innocents from harm. Our values are at risk of being bought and the very moral fiber of our society is at risk."It is unfortunate that such an idiot as this David Anton Pieczynski is allowed to have such an uninformed opinion. It seems that he and many other people have forgotten who the powers that be are,..it is we the people, I for one do not want those so called powers that be to have any authority over my body, my freedom and privacy."A young man said to me: Tax it, it's a moneymaker. A thought went through my mind as I looked at his young daughter. The vision of a father weeping over his daughter's mangled body for she had been hit by an intoxicated driver who was under the influence of marijuana, legal marijuana just purchased over the counter just like a 12-pack of beer."Ah yes, it would so much better to see the same mangled body in an overcrowded prison, while the violent inmates (prisoners) or take your pick, the prison guards, are allowed to bruatlly invade and torture, rape and kill these non-violent offenders.All of these ballot efforts are a way for people to say to the "powers that be" that enough is enough, we do not want any more invasive police tactics, compliments of the war on drugs, we do not want our children rushed off into prisons or drug rehab centers, the benifits that this plant has for so many should not be denied any longer, the damage that the society imposes on these non-violent victimless crimes, is far worse than the damage of smoking this herb.Enough is enough
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Comment #2 posted by cloud7 on October 15, 2004 at 08:37:16 PT
...
A young man said to me: Tax it, it's a moneymaker. A thought went through my mind as I looked at his young daughter. The vision of a father weeping over his daughter's mangled body for she had been brutally beat to death by gang members in a prison, prison just like where marijuana offenders are now sent to. 
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on October 15, 2004 at 07:42:10 PT
Also in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, yesterday.
US AK: LTE: Pandora's BoxTo the editor: To legalize marijuana to tax it is disturbing. This is a drug and should be treated as such. Marijuana inhibits a person's actions, debilitating them from doing even basic things. Society has enough to deal with just on alcohol and cigarettes: Both break down and destroy the human body. Medical expenses and lost work time passed on to the people that can bear the burden by those who partake in the Grim Reaper's menu. Now they want to dig in Pandora's box and pull out another entree. People say they have the right to smoke marijuana. I say no, and that's my right when it factors into my life as an expense that I'm not willing to bear. Outside interest groups slinging around big bucks painting this big beautiful picture of revenue and big money to be made. You can't put a value on what this poison will destroy. I am a man of God and will not turn away and let marijuana become legal without a fight. I'm exposed to enough sin in this world and don't want to see more. A young man said to me: Tax it, it's a moneymaker. A thought went through my mind as I looked at his young daughter. The vision of a father weeping over his daughter's mangled body for she had been hit by an intoxicated driver who was under the influence of marijuana, legal marijuana just purchased over the counter just like a 12-pack of beer. I enjoy the freedoms that this great nation offers but not something like this marijuana issue, which is continually and repetitiously brought up on the ballot and made to sound like a good thing when really it is a venomous snake ready to sink its lethal poison into society. With this issue it is time for the powers that be to rise up and to protect the unwary and innocents from harm. Our values are at risk of being bought and the very moral fiber of our society is at risk. Keep marijuana illegal--this time for good! David Anton Pieczynski, North Pole http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1458/a04.html?397
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