cannabisnews.com: A More Sensible Drug Policy










  A More Sensible Drug Policy

Posted by CN Staff on January 22, 2008 at 06:00:00 PT
Editorial 
Source: Vermont Cynic  

Vermont -- We applaud city councilors Ed Adrian and Tim Ashe for actions that may have paved the way for a more sensible marijuana policy here in Burlington. A referendum on decriminalization is the most sensible way to approach such a difficult and politically sensitive issue.In proposing their referendum, the counselors work towards increasing both civil liberties and the rule of fair and direct democracy in the city.
While many of us would go so far as to question the basic right of the government to dictate what substances a person may put into his or her own body, we find that this approach presents a balanced and very reasonable compromise, one which could lead to even more progressive moves in the future, and which will ensure that voter preferences are protected.And we would like to remind those councilmen and women who oppose this resolution that this vote asks not for your approval or disapproval of marijuana, but that voters be allowed to make this determination for themselves. Is it proper for you to exert your preferences over thousands of potential voters? Is it fair to eschew such a powerfully democratic mechanism as a city-wide referendum because of your personal feelings on the matter?We ask the residents of Burlington to join a patchwork of cities and states all across the country that are questioning the need to penalize, so severely, those who choose use marijuana. If there is fear in your hearts that, by decriminalizing marijuana we somehow hurt children - we send the wrong message. Consider this: there is little you can do to keep your kids from marijuana, it's something that parents have tried and failed at for generations.The drug is simply too popular, and for many, too beneficial to stamp out. It will always be found throughout the social circles of not only high school and college, but throughout all levels of society, and has a long history of use extending deep into the foundations of western civilization.For this reason, the focus of marijuana legislation should be education, not eradication.Rather than treating marijuana users as criminals not unlike those who steal, kill, or otherwise bring direct harm to others, the focus should instead be on bringing rehabilitation to those who are perhaps less responsible than most, and teaching responsibility to those who have not yet tried the drug.Decriminalization is the necessary first step.Source: Vermont Cynic (VT)Published: January 22, 2008Copyright: 2008 The University of VermontWebsite: http://www.vermontcynic.com/Contact: http://www.uvm.edu/talk_to_us/Related Articles:Senate Panel To Consider Drug Issueshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23607.shtmlVt. Senate To Consider Bills Easing Pot Lawshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23592.shtmlWhy is Pot Cultivation for Personal Use Illegal?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23583.shtml

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Comment #34 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 09:59:34 PT
fight_4_freedom 
I'm glad you keep your eye on your Mom's medicine. Years ago when I was taking different legal mind altering prescription drugs I took way too many more then once unfortunately so I know it happens. The drugged mind forgets.
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Comment #33 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 24, 2008 at 09:47:39 PT:

Exactly
And I don't think people that take these drugs understand how dangerous they really are. Especially when mixed. And a lot of doctors hand out these pills like candy. I always keep track of what my mom is taking. And preach religiously about the dangers of these drugs. I always do lots of research on new drugs they try to give her before she takes them. Cause once in a while the doc will give her a pill that shouldn't be mixed with another pill that shes currently taking. She may forget to tell him she's still taking a drug before he prescribes her another or he may not tell her that she's not supposed to mix them. It doesn't happen often but it has before.And she has the tendency to do what you said. She'll take a pill, forget that she took it, then go ahead and take another one. So you truly have to be careful with those things.That's why I'll still have some trusty herb and a pack of papers next to me in my rocking chair at 100 years old.
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 09:33:20 PT

fight_4_freedom 
I agree with you. The reality of legal drug use is if they are easily available they can contribute to cases like this. People take a drug or two and then can forget that they just took a drug or two and take some more. They can pass out and if they took enough of the substances can stop breathing when it comes to drugs that are narcotic type drugs. 
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Comment #31 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 24, 2008 at 09:28:26 PT:

FoM
I do believe they said they were all legal prescriptions. But yes you're right, because they are who they are i'm sure they have easier access to them. Sadly, the docs might be more willing to hand them out just because they are celebs.This is exactly why we're fighting. Maybe he would have only had to use 2 or 3 of those scripts if he used cannabis. I know cannabis is not the answer for everyone and everything, but it's sure a lot safer than the meds he was using. And who knows, if he was using cannabis to help him sleep instead maybe this could have been prevented. Although we don't know for sure what it was that he mixed.
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 09:22:09 PT

fight_4_freedom 
I read that too. It seems celebrities have more access to controlled substances then average people and they don't know how to handle them.
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Comment #29 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 24, 2008 at 09:17:12 PT:

I just heard on the news
that they had found 6 prescriptions in the apartment. Sleeping pills and they also mentioned anti-anxiety pills. I didn't catch the other ones. So a mixture of pills is very possible. So sad.
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Comment #28 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 07:41:51 PT

Hope
Maybe we'll hear if he was sick or not soon. Anna Nichole Smith was sick too and maybe in trying to feel better they took more drugs then they should have. 
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 21:29:27 PT

FoM
I hadn't heard that. People can die of either of those things. Even young people. 
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 21:04:43 PT

Hope
 I think he had pneumonia or the flu I heard on the news.
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 20:51:19 PT

FoM
I haven't heard about him being sick. 
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 20:12:38 PT

Hope
If he mixed pills and was also sick that could have done it. Mixing pills can be very dangerous.
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 19:48:45 PT

As far as I can tell ...
It appears that some sort of accident happened. He may have reacted badly to a prescription... boy... we know that happens. Or something else. I read where he started taking sleeping pills during the filming of the Joker part. He did not like the character...said the Joker was a murdering, psychopath, without conscience. Or something like that. He played the part the best he could... but it bothered him and he couldn't sleep over two hours a night... even though he was exhausted... cause he kept thinking. There were no pills scattered about the room, as first reported. That was just a sensationalism factor that some enterprising reporter threw in for the story value or because of reporting rumor. There were prescription sleeping pills... in a bottle. An oddly folded twenty dollar bill was tested for drugs... because of the way it was folded. There was no residue. He may have taken more of the sleeping pills than he should have. Maybe they just turned on him. The prescriptions, I mean. We won't know for a while... if ever. The autopsy was inconclusive. Twenty eight. He hadn't even reached his prime. It's always extra sad, to me, when young people die. He had a baby girl that he loved and that probably loved him. It's sad. Very sad. 
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 19:43:53 PT

Hope
I believe people can hate sometimes because they are afraid. I'm not sure what they might be afraid of but fear can often create hate. 
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Comment #21 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 23, 2008 at 19:42:21 PT:

God bless him and his family
What a tragedy. Very good actor and from what I'm reading now a very kind, down to earth guy. And Hope, it is really sad how people have to say negative things about him at a time like this. No reason for it.Once again, looks like the pharmaceutical poisons they try to feed us caused another death.May God rest his soul.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 19:35:31 PT

Actually...
"Sane, grown up, reasonable, educated, modern people can actually hate him for the part he played in Brokeback Mountain, apparently."Actually, they can't be "Sane, grown up, reasonable, educated, modern people". If they were any of those things, they could not hate a person for a part they played or for their actual sexual orientation. It's insane and unreasonable to hate like that. 
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 19:32:58 PT

Hope
Sometimes the most intense and talented people have the most problems. 
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 19:31:43 PT

Hope
That was very good. For me when Brokeback Mountain gets on regular tv I will watch it. 
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 19:27:13 PT

Sweetness
As far as I can recall, I only saw him in two movies. The Patriot and Ten Things I Hate About You.In Ten Things I Hate About You, I was swept off my feet. Not just by his physical beauty, but a remarkable and tangible sweetness and beauty of soul and spirit about him that I've seen in few people. From the comments from people who knew and met him... that was a real thing about him and not something he conjured up out of his marvelous acting ability.Sane, grown up, reasonable, educated, modern people can actually hate him for the part he played in Brokeback Mountain, apparently. It was a part in a movie. I don't understand that. I don't understand their hatred even if that was really him and about him. It's so disgusting that people could mock and despise him like that.Once again, a dramatic and hateful case of the wickedness of the self righteous, it seems.It takes a wicked kind of pride and self righteousness... a delusion about their own worth and character and a true wickedness to laugh at and mock a tragedy like Ledger's death is.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 18:45:50 PT

Dankhank
No we don't go to movies. When the new Indian Jones movie comes out we might go see that one. Do you have HD TV? I am doing a lot of reading up on it.
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Comment #15 posted by Dankhank on January 23, 2008 at 18:32:14 PT

FoM
so you didn't run right out and see "Brokeback Mountain?"seriously, you make an excellent point ...early and untimely death is a great tragedy ...
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 16:53:38 PT

Dankhank
I never saw the movies he was in and I didn't recognize his name but it made me sad that a young life is lost. It always upsets me when a young life is lost because they won't even have a chance to mature and learn from their mistakes like most people do. 
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Comment #13 posted by Dankhank on January 23, 2008 at 16:37:15 PT

question ...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/23/remembering.ledger.irpt/index.htmlhttp://alternet.org/blogs/peek/74748/two points of view ...which one do you want your name next to?
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 23, 2008 at 07:42:19 PT

Hate
My belief is that hate only hurts the hater.
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Comment #11 posted by dongenero on January 23, 2008 at 07:26:51 PT

hate 
of someone who has never wronged you = fear and insecurity.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on January 22, 2008 at 22:57:24 PT

PatrioticDissension
Good grief. Why would anyone be happy about Ledger's death... or Smith's? That's creepy, ghoulish, and disgusting the way you said that. 
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Comment #9 posted by Dankhank on January 22, 2008 at 18:03:21 PT

who we "hate" ...
says as much about one as who we love ...in this fractured crazyworld we get along the best we know how.If the choice of lifestyle doesn't cause widespread pain and hurt it's really no ones right to criticize.
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Comment #8 posted by MikeC on January 22, 2008 at 17:33:58 PT

PatrioticDissension...
I can't imagine anybody would be happy upon hearing that news. It is a terrible tragedy and it appears to have been caused by overdosing "legal" prescription pills.
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Comment #7 posted by PatrioticDissension on January 22, 2008 at 17:20:34 PT

GREAT/TERRIBLE news - OFF TOPIC
Depending on your predisposition regarding Heath Ledger you will eitherbe very happy or very sad to know that actor Heath Ledger was found dead today. so far thats 3 for 3 actors i have predicted would die and did. i forget who the third was anymore but 2 are Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith whom will always be the fat dumb bi*** i remember from the anna nicole smith show even though she got skinny she'll always be the same fat dumb bi*** to me.I know im probably insensitive about this and I apologize. 
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Comment #6 posted by RevRayGreen on January 22, 2008 at 15:16:54 PT

What a load of crap
"Iowa City, Ia. - Members of the University of Iowa's Delta Upsilon fraternity must find new lodging after the international fraternity announced it would close the chapter because of an alleged marijuana ring in the house.Representatives from the fraternity's International Headquarters, alumni board and university told the chapter members of the decision Saturday. The eviction notice came just three days before the start of the spring semester today, but the 20 members living in the house were given 30 days to find new places to live.The actions and decisions of these men are incongruent with the mission and values of Delta Upsilon Fraternity," fraternity Executive Director Justin Kirk said in a prepared statement. "Substance abuse does not have a place in our fraternity."Four Delta Upsilon members were charged in December with drug violations after police raided the fraternity house and found 650 grams of marijuana, cash, packing materials, scales and drug-deal ledgers, court records state.Stephen Boyler of Bettendorf; James Goetz of Madison, Wis.; Joseph Hillegas of Hinsdale, Ill.; and Arthur Kerwin of Wheaton, Ill., have each been charged with possession and/or conspiracy to deliver marijuana and failure to affix required tax-stamps to the drugs. Both charges are felonies punishable by up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.The men pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this month.Delta Upsilon's international board and standards committee voted the first week of January to close the chapter and expel the chapter's 40-some members from the organization, Kirk said in a phone interview Monday.The fraternity has been at the U of I for 82 years, and more than 1,000 men have joined the chapter. Delta Upsilon hopes to return to campus at a later date with all new members, Kirk said. The alumni board will determine how to use the chapter house in the interim, he said.Fraternity closures and suspensions are not unusual at the U of I.The Phi Delta Theta chapter dissolved in 2005 because of low membership and after a battle with U of I officials over alleged hazing violations from 2002.The U of I suspended Pi Kappa Alpha for five years in 2004 because of alcohol use and hazing allegations.Beta Theta Pi closed in 2004 because of fire code violations and unsanitary conditions, but returned to campus a year later.Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan dmreg.com

Pot case spurs closing of U of I fraternity
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Comment #5 posted by masterkush12 on January 22, 2008 at 14:25:06 PT:

rehabilitation??
rehab?? for what?? drugs yes!! cannabis absolutley nooo!!! why are people so fkin insipid!!! u idiots!!!how do you hold a job?? start catching the real criminals duma***. when will u morons get it?? u will never eradicate cannabis never!!! plus JESUS CHRIST is the one who made the universe. do u think a human can eradicate something that nature produces anyhow. u all are a waste of oxygen!!!get over it idiots and start protecting and serving as your job implies fktards.... peace
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on January 22, 2008 at 10:09:43 PT:

Sniffle, sniffle.
Hey, who is that guy in uniform over in the corner crying. Why it's Sherrif[Booboo]McQueen. He is seeing the limit on his county credit card going down. He is looking at driving two or three year old patrol cars. His over sized SUV gas hog will become a ford sedan. No more fancy federaly funded fancey cop toys. He may even have to resort to buying his own stash."Can't we just get a bong?"-That is funny!
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Comment #3 posted by augustwest on January 22, 2008 at 07:53:16 PT:

common sense
"can't we all just get a bong"
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 22, 2008 at 07:20:22 PT

News Article from Salem-News.com
Sweeping Changes to Medical Marijuana from Lawyer for Federal Contractor?***By Tim King Salem-News.com January 21, 2008 
(SALEM, Ore.) - Advocates for medical marijuana say a lawyer who often represents huge federal contractors is seeking to radically modify Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program. Oregon already has the most restrictive medical marijuana program in the nation. Advocate Dan Keys says Dan Harmon, an attorney with Hoffman Corporation, is trying to implement sweeping changes that would limit patients to possession of only two ounces and three plants.Complete Article: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january212008/medical_pot_changes_12108.php
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Comment #1 posted by PatrioticDissension on January 22, 2008 at 07:11:00 PT

common sense
Adds meaning to the phrase "can't we all just get along?"
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