cannabisnews.com: Pot Smokers Unite in 'Hemp-Friendly City' 





Pot Smokers Unite in 'Hemp-Friendly City' 
Posted by CN Staff on April 01, 2005 at 09:20:20 PT
By Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, California -- Elvy Musikka lives in a pot-smoker's dream: She's one of seven people in the United States who receive pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes each month from the federal government as part of a drug study. No wonder she was smiling Thursday, hobnobbing at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco with hundreds of others who share her quest to legalize the leaf.
Through Saturday, the hotel is the place to be for marijuana enthusiasts, as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws holds its annual conference in what the organization's Web site calls "America's most hemp- friendly city." The scent was pungent, the dress casual to hippie and the faces friendly Thursday outside the conference rooms, where tables offered novelties such as Oaksterdam sweatshirts for $27, $5 hemp-shaped lapel pins and, of course, matches and cigarette lighters. Richard Lee, who runs the SR71 medicinal marijuana dispensary in Oakland, was selling the Oaksterdam gear. "SR71 was the first stealth plane and, until recently, the highest flying plane," he said. "Mine is the highest flying coffee shop." Lee's is one of just four medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Oakland, where officials decided last year to weed out the city's share of medicinal pot clubs. Meanwhile, at least 37 pot shops call San Francisco home, and the Board of Supervisors this week voted to ban any new ones until it devises a way to regulate the existing dispensaries. Under Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, it's legal to use medicinal marijuana with the recommendation of a doctor in California. Federal law enforcement officials, however, think differently, as they are duty-bound to enforce U.S. anti-drug laws that contain no such exemption for cannabis. Among the attendees at the NORML conference were Angel Raich of Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville (Butte County), who sued the Justice Department following government drug raids of medicinal marijuana co-ops. The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to issue what is expected to be a precedent- setting ruling any day now in the case that should settle the federal and state law conflict. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, said it was exciting to land in town at a time when medical marijuana is on the political agenda. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/unite.htmNewshawk: TruthSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished:  Friday, April 1, 2005 - Page B - 1Copyright: 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htmGreen Rush Fever - AlterNet http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20435.shtmlCannabis Cure - North Bay Bohemian http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20434.shtml Cutting Through The Hazehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20431.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Druid on April 03, 2005 at 09:34:43 PT
Mayan
Your welcome and I am glad that what I posted was of value. A crazy world getting crazier everyday. I can't imagine the whirlwind of existence that is bound to happen before things blow over to a more beautiful time where we can all finally breath and inhale deeply under the sun.
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Comment #2 posted by mayan on April 01, 2005 at 17:33:57 PT
Druid
Thanks for following up on this! Hitler would be proud of the Flint police.
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Comment #1 posted by Druid on April 01, 2005 at 09:24:36 PT:
A message from DPAlliance and the ACLU
THANKS FOR STANDING UP FOR CIVIL RIGHTS!MORE THAN 3,500 OF YOU HAVE TAKEN ACTION!Dear Fellow Reformer,We can't thank you enough for your commitment to First Amendment rights 
and for turning that commitment into action. Your incredible outpouring 
of support for the club-goers in Michigan who had their civil rights 
violated in the raid at Club What's Next has been incredibly successful 
at raising public awareness of what happened. 
New details that have emerged via eyewitness accounts since our last 
report ( http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=26721&l=85968 ) 
indicate that the strip searches and cavity searches to which some patrons 
were subjected were conducted in unsanitary or dangerous ways. Because 
Michigan has strict rules about when and how police officers can 
conduct cavity searches, these searches may have been in violation of state 
law. As for the arrests themselves, the local law against frequenting a 
known drug establishment, which was used to arrest and ticket many 
patrons of the nightclub, broadly defines a "drug establishment" as any 
place where people use or sell drugs. This means the law could be used to 
prosecute anyone who is ever in a place where drugs are used or sold. 
With concerns about the constitutionality of such a broad statute and 
the legality of some of the searches, the Greater Flint ACLU ( 
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=26721&l=85907 ) and ACLU 
of Michigan ( http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=26721&l=85957 
) held a meeting on Thursday to speak with people who were present at 
the nightclub raid, and the Alliance is working with the ACLU to 
determine how we can best support this fight as it goes forward. If you were 
there and want more information about fighting back, please submit an 
incident report to the Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund at 
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=26721&l=85909 and a copy 
will go to the ACLU. If you live in the Flint area and are able to 
organize people for a possible future event such as a public rally, please 
contact us directly by emailing webmaster drugpolicy.org . 
 Thank you again for all your work! We will keep you updated as the 
situation evolves. And if you have not yet taken action to tell the city of 
Flint you condemn these civil rights abuses, you can still do so: 
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=26721&l=85969 .
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