cannabisnews.com: Communicating by Drug Laws





Communicating by Drug Laws
Posted by CN Staff on September 17, 2006 at 08:48:05 PT
By Ed Quillen, Denver Post Columnist 
Source: Denver Post 
Colorado -- Among the many items on our ballot this year is Amendment 44. If it passes, it will legalize the possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana by people 21 years of age or older. Currently, such possession is a Class 2 misdemeanor and can result in a fine of up to $100. It does not change any other portions of Colorado's marijuana laws. There are the medical exceptions that we approved in 1998. Outside those, though, it will still be illegal to cultivate marijuana, to consume it in public, to drive under its influence, to buy and sell it, to provide it to minors, etc.
Nor does it affect any of the federal government's stupid marijuana laws. Nor does it affect marijuana laws passed by Colorado home-rule cities, which would still be free to waste police time and public money. All Amendment 44 does is legalize possession of less than an ounce, as is already the case in Denver since city voters approved an initiative last year. But it didn't really change much, since the cops can just charge offenders under state law instead of city ordinance. Predictably, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration opposes this change in state law. Last month, DEA officials were advertising for a professional to lead an opposition campaign - and they were doing this on taxpayer time with taxpayer dollars. When necessary, it can be a propaganda ministry.  Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_4340171Source: Denver Post (CO)Author: Ed Quillen, Denver Post Columnist Published: Sunday, September 17, 2006Copyright: 2006 The Denver Post CorpWebsite: http://www.denverpost.com/Contact: openforum denverpost.com Related Articles & Web Site:Safer Choicehttp://www.saferchoice.org/ Ambushing The Pot Initiativehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22169.shtmlStatewide MJ Initiative Backers Lose Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22160.shtmlDEA Should Butt Out of State Ballot Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22122.shtml 
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Comment #11 posted by Max Flowers on September 19, 2006 at 09:02:06 PT
Editorials versus story articles
Remember to note though that there is a big difference between an opinion column and a story (news article) in a newspaper. The opinion column is the opinion of just the writer, and what a story says is more or less the official angle of the whole newspaper.Still, it's a good sign, and the paper (the top editor) still has to sign off on what the columnist's editorial is going to say.
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Comment #10 posted by observer on September 18, 2006 at 12:10:04 PT
DEA propaganda ministry
Do you think it is significant that the mainstream media is beginning to refer to the DEA as a propaganda ministry?Very much so. It is becoming increasingly difficult to put lipstick on this pig. 
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Comment #9 posted by whig on September 18, 2006 at 11:18:18 PT
observer #8
Do you think it is significant that the mainstream media is beginning to refer to the DEA as a propaganda ministry?
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Comment #8 posted by observer on September 18, 2006 at 10:35:18 PT
drug war propaganda ministry
Predictably, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration opposes this change in state law. Last month, DEA officials were advertising for a professional to lead an opposition campaign - and they were doing this on taxpayer time with taxpayer dollars. When necessary, it can be a propaganda ministry.breaking drug war propaganda - 
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/propaganda 
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Comment #7 posted by whig on September 17, 2006 at 10:13:43 PT
FoM
You may feel like a leaf in a breeze but you are more like a rock in a stream. You are causing the flow to change, just being there and doing what you do.
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Comment #6 posted by whig on September 17, 2006 at 10:11:17 PT
freewillks
http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2006/09/17/un-office-makes-case-to-end-cannabis-prohibition/
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 17, 2006 at 10:08:30 PT
Freewillks
Thank you. I have the article posted now.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 17, 2006 at 10:07:14 PT
Whig
I guess I don't think as deeply as you do. Neil Young said something like when he was a young man he felt the world was his to conquer or make an impact upon or something close to that. What I really remember him saying is that now he feels like a leaf floating down a slow moving stream. I feel the same way.
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Comment #3 posted by whig on September 17, 2006 at 09:56:28 PT
FoM
That was a good article. I hope that the people of Colorado are smart enough to see through the lies.We have a real problem in America and it has to do with the conventional wisdom and the metaphors we use to think. I don't think we can change anything until we can get people to understand us, and the lies have been so thick that anyone who hasn't met or talked to someone like us would never even know there is a way to think this way.It is changing, we are talking, and people are hearing us. Some are joining us. Others are at least willing to respect our point of view and that is all that we really ask for.I spend over 12 hours per day on average blogging about cannabis and other things. Even when I am talking about politics or other issues, I am always trying to find ways to steer the conversation into a way that people can at least find a link to something about ending cannabis prohibition.I am participating in lots of other blogs, mostly progressive and liberal, and promoting my understanding and my board, so they can learn more about it, and try always to refer people out to CNews and other places to get more perspectives. I think it makes a difference. It can make a very big difference.Some of the boards I participate on are well-connected with the political establishment. I would be unsurprised if Bill Clinton and other national political figures read my blog. Do you think I could reach them another way?Just like probably Neil Young reads here and then it affects his way of thinking, do you think maybe when people read what I say it affects them? Maybe a majority dismiss it. But if a couple hear me and repeat it to others, then it spreads.So talking and writing are the essential things, in my opinion. We're doing what we should be doing.
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Comment #2 posted by global_warming on September 17, 2006 at 09:47:51 PT
nice report
maybe Fom could post it so other readers might read..
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Comment #1 posted by freewillks on September 17, 2006 at 09:41:57 PT
U.N. world drug report News
SnippedHad a single member of the world press read the ironically entitled “Cannabis: Why We Should Care” section in the middle of the 2006 World Drug Report, they might have scooped their colleagues with the discovery that the report’s authors had inadvertently laid out a convincing case for ending prohibition. After offering a plaintive appeal to treat cannabis cultivation and consumption as serious problems, this section of the report systematically undermines the logic of doing so.After stipulating that cannabis is a relatively harmless and inexpensive intoxicant, the report presents statistics that the drug is grown and consumed everywhere and in very impressive quantities. Based on public polling data from 134 countries, the report explains that an estimated 4% of humanity enjoys the planet’s most popular illicit drug. There are good reasons to think that figure is an undercount. The authors admit that their estimates of quantities consumed make the 4% figure too low. What is more, given the entirely understandable reluctance of respondents in many societies to answer pollsters' questions about their illicit drug use, the survey's findings are probably too conservative. For example, only 3.5% of the respondents in a 2003 poll in Cambodia and only 1.1% of the respondents in a 2002 poll in Mexico said they used cannabis. Something about those numbers smells funny.Still, 4% of humanity is 162 million people. To see that in perspective, note that if cannabis users comprised a single nation, it would have the sixth largest national population on the planet.Snipped
baltimore chronicle
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