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  NAACP Backing of Legalization Outrages Minister

Posted by CN Staff on June 29, 2010 at 05:06:30 PT
By Peter Hecht 
Source: Sacramento Bee 

Sacramento, CA -- The state chapter of the NAACP is endorsing a November ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use – and Sacramento minister Ron Allen is furious.Their competing arguments stir debate over which perceived threat is greater for African Americans – police exploiting existing marijuana law to target urban minorities or legalized pot endangering youths and communities.
In a news conference today, the California State Conference of the NAACP is due to throw its support behind the initiative to legalize marijuana for adults over 21, allow small residential cultivation and permit cities to tax and regulate pot sales. In a statement, Alice Huffman, the state NAACP president, said the organization is backing the initiative, Proposition 19, to counter marijuana arrest rates that she contends unfairly target African Americans."There is a strong racial component that must be considered when we investigate how marijuana laws are applied to people of color," she said. "The burden has fallen disproportionately on people of color and young black men in particular."But Allen, president of the International Faith-Based Coalition, a Sacramento group representing 3,600 congregations, said he is stunned the state NAACP would favor legalized marijuana. Snipped   Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/0flSoUxRSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Peter HechtPublished: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - Page 3A Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #29 posted by RevRayGreen on June 29, 2010 at 19:16:46 PT
Leonard Pitts Jr. was just in DSM IA today....
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid36249172001?bctid=104511737001Replay of today's video: Leonard Pitts Jr. at the Register, damn I would've tried to run him down.
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Comment #28 posted by rchandar on June 29, 2010 at 18:45:36 PT:
John Tyler
Len Pitts has been a columnist here for about 30 years. He generally frowns upon drug use. But he's very gutsy about Black Miami.Miami has about 700,000 African-Americans. There is a tremendous diversity, and many who have "made it." But racism is something they all report back. In some ways, this was supposed to be their city, one of the largest and most diverse Black communities in America. There is among many, a "gut feeling" that goes back about 70-80 years here, that they weren't appreciated or understood.Race is a tremendous problem here. In Miami, the color of your skin determines many of your life's possibilities, education, reception. It determines your station in life, and your sense of self. Changing that isn't easy in Miami. And a lot of people dislike our city, because fairness is an issue all over the city.In the sense, you can be successful. You can be modern. But image is everything, and white is right in our town. There's a huge disparity of income, but even those who are successful have a large list of things in society to be angry about. It's flared up plenty of times. But generally a lot of Black people in Miami aren't talkers. They don't think you'll understand. They also don't trust you because you're probably a tourist and so, you couldn't care less.--rchandar--rchandar
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 18:26:19 PT
John Tyler 
Thank you. I agree with that article. 
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Comment #26 posted by John Tyler on June 29, 2010 at 18:11:40 PT
drug war in the black community
This is an opinion column written by Leonard Pitts, a well respected black journalist. This is about a book written by a lawyer that researched and documented how police departments purposely use the Drug War to target black communities as a form of racial oppression.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/26/1701798/a-new-legal-caste-system-read.html
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 18:00:45 PT
Vincent
I understand what you are saying. I believe things like most of us do but I don't expect someone to agree with my beliefs. How can anyone be sure they are right about anything beyond a shadow of a doubt?
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Comment #24 posted by Vincent on June 29, 2010 at 17:29:11 PT:
FoM
You're quite correct, your name doesn't give you away. I just naturally assumed--hmm--well, as Felix Unger once said in an episode of the "Odd Couple"..."you should never assume, because when you assume, you tend to make...". You know the rest. When I started talking to these Born-again Christians, their opposition to pre-marital sex, and pornography, and Marijuana use, and abortion, etc etc, didn't surprise me. I expected it. But when they started dismissing science and reason and tolerance, that really shocked me. And when my friends, soon to be ex-friends, started elevating religious beliefs over science, especially when they should know better, I was really disappointed. To lose a best friend in such an unnecessary way was very painful.
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Comment #23 posted by rchandar on June 29, 2010 at 16:42:13 PT:
Board
I enjoyed the comments. I guess, in the past 10 or so years, I disliked America because she was the country that outlawed MJ. I know that's stubborn; I envisioned a different sort of country 15-20 years ago, and saw her run awfully and tremendously in the other direction. Sometimes I get even madder, because the USA criminalized MJ around the world. These aren't however reasons to dislike other things happening in America.
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 15:06:58 PT

Hope
I got a big grin out of it too.  
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Comment #21 posted by Hope on June 29, 2010 at 14:49:17 PT

Vincent
You're far from the first commenter that didn't realize FoM is a woman.It was just so funny, the way you said it. "Mr. FoM". That cracked me up for some reason.
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 14:31:08 PT

Vincent
No problem at all. My name doesn't give me away. I quit going to church when Pat Robertson said they were going to get into politics (Republican) and change the laws so people started living right or something close to that. I was very active in church until that time and I knew that was wrong.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 14:26:46 PT

konagold
Thank you. I have it posted now.URL: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread25775.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on June 29, 2010 at 14:23:38 PT

RChandar. That healing thing.
Someone came up to me in a parking lot and said, "I feel like God wants me to pray for you. May I?"I said sure, why not. It wasn't dark and there were other people around. He was just a kid. He put his hands on my shoulders and I don't remember what he prayed, but I felt my spine unfurl... an instant and totally beautiful Kundalini type experience. Whooo! I laughed and told him I felt like I grew three inches.I went back to work and before I realized it, reached up and dusted a shelf that just an hour or so before, I couldn't reach and was going to have to get something taller to stand on.I wouldn't mind running into one of those fellas about now! But 'whence they come and whence they go'... ya know? Ours is a very mysterious world. We haven't got it all figured out yet, by a long shot.You know... any healers out there. You can zap me from a distance if you choose to! Jesus did that at least once that I read of.But I do consider medicine... the doctors, nurses, everyone in medicine... healers, too. They can seem like beings of great love and mercy.... because they are.And you that pray and send love into the ether... you are healers, too.And you that are kind to others... you are healers, too.
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on June 29, 2010 at 14:11:56 PT

Mr. FoM.
Lol!
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on June 29, 2010 at 14:06:40 PT

From the article.
"If anyone should know the effects of illicit drugs in the black community, it should be one of our most respected civil rights organizations."Yeah!That's almost funny. So many successful young black people today. So many! It's wonderful! Our President is black, or blackish... for Heaven's sake. I'm certainly not saying "Drugs" caused this wonderful transition to happen. But it happened during this awful "Drugs" thing he's so flicked out about.It would be funny, except for the people, in this case, black people, that do mess up their lives, and go around zonked on something or other all the time while they're doing it.Arresting people or having legalization in place will not stop people from messing up, or being dorks, or being successful. But legalization... or decriminalization... will save some people from more sorrow, humiliation, loss, and grief than is necessary, most of the time.With legalization, we won't likely ever read again about one of those suicides that happened because someone was just so devastatingly humiliated that they couldn't bear to live through it all. They were made so ashamed. That's wrong. So wrong. Legalization might help that never happen again, I hope.

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Comment #15 posted by Vincent on June 29, 2010 at 14:03:22 PT:

A Clarification
Ahh, forgive me FoM; I didn't know that you are a Mrs! At any rate, let me clarify what I wrote before. I am not against anyone's religious beliefs or practices. I, myself, was raised as a Catholic. I have great respect for the Catholic church, Greek Orthodox church, or the mainline Protestant churches. These institutions don't really try to force their dogma down your throats. But these Evangelicals...hmmm...they do present a dilemma, don't they. If they just believed as they do and didn't interfere in other people's lives, I wouldn't mind. But these so-called "Christians" get involved heavily in politics, which in turn, touches many people's lives. They create policy which affects people in the most personal ways.
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Comment #14 posted by konagold on June 29, 2010 at 13:15:21 PT

FoM
found this on msnbchttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38002047/ns/business-local_business/
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Comment #13 posted by konagold on June 29, 2010 at 11:52:06 PT

kalamus calamus or cannabis
Exodus when translated into Greek and then Latin mistranslated Kaneh Bos which means 'aromatic reed' to the Greek word 'kalamus' meaning reed then to calamus a specific plant 
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Comment #12 posted by runruff on June 29, 2010 at 11:40:51 PT

We will do what we can?
The White House has abandoned some of the old drug war rhetoric, but the decision to nominate Michele Leonhart to head the DEA raises serious questions about the administration’s commitment to reform. Leonhart is responsible for obstructing scientific research and overseeing raids on medical marijuana patients and caregivers. She’s the worst imaginable choice, and we need to show our political leaders that we won’t tolerate her backwards ideas.It’s clear that despite the many gains we’ve made this year, we still have far to go. It’s more important than ever that we keep our focus because in the coming months we’ll have the opportunity to turn the drug war on its head.  With your support, we can win our biggest victories to date.California could become the first state to end marijuana prohibition, and DPA is right there on the front lines. We’re working with legislators in New Jersey, Maine and Washington, DC as they implement new medical marijuana legislation. And we’re closer than ever to reforming the draconian and racially biased sentencing laws enacted during the drug war hysteria of the 1980s.The momentum is on our side. This year DPA has been winning more unprecedented reforms than ever. The Senate voted unanimously to reform unjust federal sentencing laws that disproportionately impact communities of color. Meanwhile, New Jersey became the fourteenth state to legalize medical marijuana, and the first state to reform its harsh and ineffective “drug free zone” laws.We’ve had great success, but in so many ways our work has just begun. That’s why I hope I can depend on you to contribute and help us raise $10,000 by the end of June.It’s your support that makes our work possible. Together, we are the Drug Policy Alliance.Sincerely,Ethan Nadelmann
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance

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Comment #11 posted by konagold on June 29, 2010 at 11:40:18 PT

the bible and cannabis
Ex. 30:23 calls for 8 lbs of Cannabis[Kaneh Bos in the original Hebrew] as a principal spice of the Holy Anointing Oil of Israel. this anointing oil was directed to be coated on the Aaronic priesthood and fixtures of the Tabernacle the candle sticks altar and the ARC OF THE COVENANT [modern quest of the fictional Indiana Jones] to render them MOST HOLY. the word Messiah [Hebrew] or Christ [Greek] means 'the anointed ' were Jesus not anointed with this oil he would fail qualifing for this term.Is.43:24 indicates God prefers offerings of Cannabis before and with money 
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Comment #10 posted by rchandar on June 29, 2010 at 10:29:38 PT:

Faith Healing
I don't remember the minister's name. This was in Acadia County, near Baton Rouge. He happened to be in his truck where the accident was.No, I am actually grateful for such a helping hand. I was glad that there were people, at such a time of extreme pain and shock.--rchandar

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Comment #9 posted by Shielde on June 29, 2010 at 09:24:49 PT

slightly off topic
As far as there being a difference between christ and christians I see that. I get asked often if I am a Christian to which I respond no
Then they start telling me about Christ and why I should be a Christian, I tell them I know about Christ and I am a "follower of Christ" but not labeled "Christian"
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 08:49:34 PT

rchandar
That is great. 
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Comment #7 posted by rchandar on June 29, 2010 at 08:03:16 PT:

FoM
I was "faith-healed" when I was in a car crash. That did a lot to establish some perspective in me.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 07:08:27 PT

Vincent
I was at one time a Fundamentalist Christian and I know you are right. I am a Mrs. FoM though! LOL!
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Comment #5 posted by rchandar on June 29, 2010 at 07:07:53 PT:

GCW
There's a huge, MONUMENTAL difference between Christ and Christianity. Almost like a black hole in outer space. The sheer amount of misinterpretation of Christ's teachings, mission, and messianism is the focal point for all of our cultural and ethical problems to date.As a non-Christian, I am often very much endeared to and willing to embrace Christ wholeheartedly--but not Christians, they have committed many crimes against humanity! There is a tremendous difference. The main problem comes with Christ's statement: "I am the truth, the way, the life."It's been interpreted backhandedly for earthly gain, and so many imposters have supposed Christ's will as theirs, it isn't funny. Lots of people have lost their lives at the hands of Christ's "believers". It is us, Christians and non-Christians, who are only able to say that "these actions were not what Jesus intended."--rchandar
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Comment #4 posted by Vincent on June 29, 2010 at 06:48:34 PT:

Bible-thumpers opinions
"What is wrong with a little peace, love and understanding coming from our religious leaders"?Mr. FoM, as to your statement above, well...let me paraphrase Mr. Spock of the Starship Enterprise:"To expect peace, love and understanding from people of such extreme viewpoints is not logical"I first encountered these so-called "born-again Christians" in the early 1970s. As soon as they opened their mouths I knew that they were a negative force, because they were against everything that we, the younger and more liberated generation, were fighting to achieve. So, after that I just dismissed all their opinions. And was I right to do that! In time. they joined forces with the Fundamentalist Christians, (I believe that they were always part of them anyway) and they became the most ugly political force that ever existed. So, I am NOT surprised at what Bible-bangers come out with.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 29, 2010 at 05:40:53 PT

And why was that put on the very 1st page?
I don't think it is an accident that it is the very 1st page where God indicates all the plants are good...God knew there would be people trying to prohibit cannabis. That is evident when reading 1 Timothy 4:1-5, where 3 things are illustrated. #1 is that it seems cannabis prohibition is predicted before it happens. #2 is that it describes what kind of people will attempt to prohibit foods (the 1st page uses the word "food") which God says are good... #3 it also lets Us see the only Biblical restriction to using cannabis; that is to use it with thankfulness.1 Tim. 4:1-5 subtitled: APOSTASY, 1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+4&version=NASB-0-So again I ask, Exactly what kind of clergy thinks it is ok to cage humans for using what God says is good on the very 1st page of the Bible?Or maybe I should be asking, Exactly what kind of people will Satan choose to do His work?CANNABIS PROHIBITION, PERSECUTION AND EXTERMINATION is the work of the devil.The GCW
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 29, 2010 at 05:34:44 PT

Ministers Are Suppose To Love People
He should re-think his opinion. If he fights this he will be causing pain to many more people who will have to go thru the criminal justice system. What is wrong with a little peace, love and understanding coming from our religious leaders?
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on June 29, 2010 at 05:24:15 PT

So, minister Ron Allen is furious
One reason earth faces some of the problems We have is directly due to clergy. Exactly what kind of clergy thinks it is ok to cage humans for using what God says is good on the very 1st page of the Bible?-0-Genesis 1:11-12, Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.Genesis 1:29-30, Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. -0-And it's not just caging humans for using cannabis at issue here. Cannabis prohibitionist's wish is to exterminate the plant off the planet. Exterminating cannabis would be very bad for human kind.The minister seems to be working for evil.-0-The Green Collar Worker
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