DdC

Going Up in Smoke? By William W. Savage III
Source: Oklahoma Daily* April 19, 2006

In Oklahoma, the law is almost simple — marijuana is illegal. But the issues behind America's most fought-against drug are much more complicated.

“The drug war is very profitable,” said Ron Shewey, president of the Drug Policy Forum of Oklahoma and advocate of Oklahoma's Compassionate Care Campaign. “The police and prisons are the two largest growing industries in America today,” Shewey said.

“We've now got 2.2 million people behind bars in America. We're No. 1 in incarceration per capita in the world, and a substantial amount of that is drug war. Here in Oklahoma, 32 percent of our prison population is there for drugs.”
In 2002, there were 11,167 arrests for marijuana in Oklahoma, just more than 50 percent of all drug arrests for the year and 6.7 percent of total state arrests, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Almanac of State Marijuana Statistics.

“The thing about cannabis, or marijuana, is it's actually one of the least harmful substances that people use, if you compare it to tobacco or even prescription drugs,” Shewey said. “I guess the distinct difference is that tobacco kills about 270,000 people a year.”

Shewey added that diet kills about 330,000 people a year, while alcohol kills 430,000 a year.

“The government's statistics show us about 17,000 people a year die from all illicit substances combined,” he said. “But marijuana has never killed anybody, as far as anyone knows.”

Shewey said 12 states have passed laws allowing medicinal marijuana. Oklahoma is not one of them.

And while Shewey said the Oklahoma Compassionate Care Campaign has received grants to analyze the legislature's interest to pass medical marijuana legislation, state representatives don't see that happening any time soon.

“There would have to be a big educational effort with the public because the public still views marijuana in the same class as other dangerous drugs,” said District 44 State Rep. Bill Nations, D-Norman. “What happened to marijuana is that, it may be much more innocent than methamphetamine and heroin, but in the '60s, it got put into that dangerous category of drugs.”
Nations said individuals who are arrested, fined and even incarcerated for marijuana possession are not necessarily being helped by the criminal justice system.

“The state budget would be better served if we treat a substance abuser,” he said. “The incarceration system only better educates abusers about how to abuse. They come out worse.

“We also incarcerate the mentally ill who need treatment and not incarceration. So our system is not as enlightened as we'd probably like to have it be.”

That's one reason State Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman, has supported drug courts and treatment plans in Oklahoma, helping to allocate $8 million last year and $8 million more this year.

Still, Balkman said he doesn't favor changes in marijuana laws.

“I'm not real high on marijuana, no pun intended,” he said. “I've seen far too many times when individuals and families have had their lives destroyed by substances abuse ... by alcohol and marijuana. And lots of times, they've told me it all started with experimentation with alcohol and marijuana.”

Asked if there is a way to use marijuana responsibly, Balkman said, “Not that I'm aware of. I don't think there is.”
Shewey disagrees.

“I'd equate it to the binge drinker,” he said. “There's the guys that go out on Friday nights who have a couple of beers, drink responsibly and then go home. But then there's the guy who starts with a beer, has a couple of shots, a few more beers, some more shots and then he's three times the legal limit, and then he's on the verge of death because he's abused alcohol — that's what I equate it to.”

Nations also said an argument exists for marijuana to be treated like alcohol.

Ralph Hamerla, Honors College professor, said it is socially counter-productive for marijuana smokers to be deemed criminals.

"Decriminalizati on is not a bad idea in my point of view,” Hamerla said. “I've been to a lot of countries around the world, and the way we treat things here is a little asinine and pointless ... and expensive. But a lot of people have a lot invested in the war on drugs.”

Hamerla teaches a perspectives course in the Honors College called, “What is Science?" Students recently read the book, “Marijuana Myth, Marijuana Fact" for the class and discussed how statistics and analysis have been manipulated to vilify the substance since the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914.

“People's lives are destroyed by this,” Hamerla said. “Not by the actual item itself, but by the policies we choose to subscribe to in this country regarding its legal status. You can look at the history of marijuana and see where all these laws come from. They're clearly geared to demonizing the substance for the purpose of someone's career goals.”

As for the state of marijuana in Oklahoma politics, Hamerla said there are several reasons for resistance to decriminalization or medicinal legalization.

“It's going to take generations. I would argue, in this situation, the culture has to change first,” Hamerla said. “Resistance to the medical use of marijuana is as much a resistance to the doors that would open as to the danger of the drug itself.

“In other words, there's an accepted status of marijuana in the legal system today, and if that’s recognized as malleable in any way, that threatens to undermine its criminalization as it currently stands.”

Shewey's Compassionate Care Campaign is ultimately looking toward a ballot initiative.

Cannabis is said to have medicinal benefits, according to multiple private, state and federally funded studies. Several reports and studies are available on -- -- the Website of NORML.

Among other things, cannabis is prescribed for AIDS patients to reduce nausea, vomiting and appetite loss caused by the disease and by other medications. Cannabis is also prescribed to combat the same problems when they stem from chemotherapy.

The drug also has yielded positive results when used to reduce intraocular pressure in the eyes of glaucoma patients.
Balkman said he is unaware of marijuana having medical benefits.

But Nations said Oklahoma may eventually move toward medicinal legality, a thought which jives with Balkman's analysis that proponents of marijuana are becoming a more powerful special interest group in the state.

Still, Nations said Oklahoma's conservative tendencies will delay such a movement, even if it begins with medicinal legalization.

“Someone would have to say there's a legitimate need and use — here it is, and here's why we need to do that,” Nations said. “It would have to come from somewhere in the health care industry. It's not going to be very effective if there's a college student or a guy on the street claiming there's great medical benefits for marijuana. You're going to have to have doctors and medical professionals stand up and say that.”

The Daily left messages for several doctors working in internal medicine, contacted two, but was unable to find a medical professional willing to discuss the issue on the record.

Shewey said finding people in health care fields willing to tackle the issue is hard, but his group has the support of one doctor.

“The rest of the medical community is so afraid of the Feds and the [Drug Enforcement Agency], it just seems like they're just afraid,” he said. “They'll tell you privately that they know the benefits, but as far as here in Oklahoma, they're just afraid. But we need them to have courage to come out and endorse this campaign.”

Note: Opinions differ on laws on use of marijuana, medically and otherwise.

Contact: dailyopinion@ou.edu * Website

CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archives

The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law, for nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
--Albert Einstein, My First Impression of the U.S.A, 1921

Why do you think they call it dope?

DdC

Sonoma Keeps Marijuana Patient Will Foster in Custody

A Sonoma County court declined to release Prop 215 medicinal marijuana patient Will Foster from custody over his Oklahoma parole violation, but ordered a further hearing on a motion that would let him be released on bail.

In an editorial in its May 1 issue, William F. Buckley, Jr.'s National Review commented on the case of Jimmy Montgomery, a paraplegic sentenced to 10 years in Oklahoma prisons for less than 2 ounces of marijuana. NR noted that former deputy drug czar John P. Walters criticized ABC News for reporting on the Montgomery case. Walters showed no concern for Montgomery but rather complained, "Apparently ABC couldn't find a grandmother on death row for carrying a roach clip..." NR observes that "something is seriously wrong with a drug policy that condones such treatment -- a point that the drug warriors tacitly acknowledge by changing the subject."
Continued...~olsen/NORML/WEEKLY/95-04-20.html

Death Penalty for Two Ounces of Marijuana!
(from September/October 1996 Marijuana Policy Report)
Picture this: An indiscreet American college student returning from a vacation in Mexico is caught with two ounces of marijuana in his pocket. A judge is forced to sentence him to spend the rest of his life in federal prison. If this is his second offense, he will be executed. Could this really happen in America? Yes, if U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and his cronies have their way.
Continued...http://www.mpp.org/archive/newtdth.html



Cops Confiscation Maliciously Punished Amputee

Think of the message being sent to the kids?



Congress Considers Dangerous Mandatory Minimum Sentences For Marijuana

Fear in the Fields

If the war on drugs were really about reducing supply, drug controllers would be promoting hemp. But the war has taken on a life of its own, become an industry unto itself.

For example, Congress gives the DEA half a billion dollars a year to eradicate marijuana. But according to the DEA's own figures, 98 percent of the "marijuana" eradicated by its agents or the police departments and National Guard units it hires is hemp-the harmless, feral stuff that escaped during Hemp for Victory days. "Ditchweed," it's called. That's the "marijuana" you see getting burned in all the photos.

If you're caught with ditchweed, you're in big trouble, as Vernon McElroy, 50, discovered in 1991 when he got convicted for possessing 10.9 pounds that he says a friend had picked and given him as a joke. Now he's doing life without parole at the overcrowded maximum-security penitentiary in Springville, Alabama.

In Oklahoma, ditchweed is even sprayed with herbicides from helicopters. And last year Congress authorized $23 million for research into a soil-borne fungus that attacks and kills marijuana, poppy, and coca plants.

Mike DeWine (R-OH) calls it a "silver bullet" in the war on drugs, but David Struhs, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, calls it a threat to the "natural environment.".

99 Percent Of All Marijuana Plants Eradicated In US Is Feral Hemp,
Federal Data Reveals
(Statistics statistics statistics, thats what makes the WoD go round.)

Spraying Ditchweed Could Devastate Midwest Game Bird Populations

Demonising Druggies Wins Votes June 15, 2001
Until the early 70s, Britain was a haven of enlightenment: every doctor in the country had the right to prescribe heroin for the welfare of patients. This reflected the idea, powerfully proposed by the Rolleston committee in 1926, that drug use should be seen as a problem which needed help, not as a sin which needed punishment.

The Invisible Prohibition

DEATH TO THE DRUGGIES" February10, 1998

A Look at Prohibitionist Rhetoric and Its Consequences by Julian Heicklen
Senator Orin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 28 Senate co-sponsors have introduced Bill S. 3 that mandates that a person convicted of bringing into the United States "100 usual dosage amounts" of several illicit substances including two ounces of marijuana be sentenced to life without parole for a first offense and death for a second offense.

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and 37 House co-sponsors have introduced Bill H. R. 41 with the identical provision. On May 8, 1997, Speaker Gingrich said: "If you sell it, we're going to kill you."

William Bennett, the first U. S. "Drug Czar" has said: "The non-addicted or casual irregular user is likely to have a still-intact family, social and work life. These are the users who should have their names published in local papers. They should be subject to drivers' license suspension, employer notification, overnight or weekend detention, eviction from public housing, or forfeiture of the cars they drive while purchasing drugs."

On "Larry King Live," June 15, 1989, a caller to the national cable television show suggested to Drug "Czar" William Bennett: "Behead the damn drug dealers." Mr. Bennett's response was: "I mean what the caller suggests is morally plausible. Legally, it's difficult



Witch hunts and the war on weed 20 Jun, 2002
The persecution of "witches" was really a war on sacred plants that continues today.

Bush's War on Pot

"Dear Agent ..., please prepare all cases in your jurisdiction involving musicians in violation of the marijuana laws. We will have a great national round-up arrest of all such persons on a single day. I will let you know what day."
Harry J. Anslinger, Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1947



A Good Day for Intolerance

Drug Czar Targets Pot Use

The Surreal Stupidity Of Placer County.
Kubby to Be Held Without Bail Until At Least Friday.
Next Hearing At 8:30AM On February 3rd.
No Doctor In Four Days. Shame On Canada! Shame On America!
Posted by*Richard Cowan on*2006-02-01 16:20:00

Steve's life remains in great danger, and right now he is the subject (victim) of a bizarre medical experiment that should outrage the medical profession. He is as much a victim of torture as anyone in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. Of course, if he were an accused terrorist, Amnesty International would have been there today.*

CANNABIS IS MEDICINE



Did anyone consult the AMA?

According to the American Medical Association, the group has a long history of recognizing the therapeutic value of marijuana while also drawing attention to its dangers. A 1981 AMA report shows that the organization opposed the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, which imposed the first federal restrictions on use of the drug.

"At the time," the report says, "the AMA was virtually alone in opposing passage of this Act. The AMA believed that objective data were lacking on the harmful effects of marijuana, and that passage of the Act would impede future investigations into its potential medical uses. Furthermore, the AMA's Committee on Legislative Activities recommended that marijuana's status as a medicinal agent be maintained."

Really? The AMA opposed the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act?
What, then, are we to make of this?

Dr. William C. Woodward, for instance, who was both a physician and an attorney for the American Medical Association, testified on behalf of the AMA.

He said, in effect, the whole fabric of federal testimony was tabloid sensationalism! No real testimony had been heard! This law, passed in ignorance, could possibly deny the world a potential medicine, especially when the medical world was just beginning to find which ingredients in cannabis were active

The AMA opposed the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act

The Marijuana Tax Act was prepared during two years of secret meetings, held by Treasury Department officials between 1935 and 1937. At no time was the American Medical Association consulted for an opinion on the health effects of Marijuana smoking and were not even informed that the meetings were taking place

Cunningham's Vote to Support the Death Penalty for Drug Kingpins

DdC

Food Stamps Become a Weapon in the War on Drugs

Drug Ruling Worries Some in Public Housing

Outside View: Nixon Tapes Pot Shocker
One can imagine Nixon's surprise when rumors began circulating in early '71 that the "L-word" was on the table. He responded curtly at his next press conference: "Even if the Commission does recommend that it be legalized, I will not follow that recommendation.



Once-Secret Nixon Tapes Show Why US Outlawed Pot

Nixon Launched The 30 Years' War as Election Issue

Policing For Profit: The Drug War's Hidden Economic Agenda

Spoils of Drug War Forfeitures Prove Too Lucrative

Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys (Jack Herer)

In 1974, California Governor Ronald Reagan was asked about decriminalizing marijuana. After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called "Great Communicator" proclaimed, "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana."
(L.A. Times)



Jive Souder: Drug Sentencing Reform Act

Souder Says Drug Czar’s Fake News Didn’t Break Law

"You're enough of a pro," Nixon tells Shafer, "to know that for you to come out with something that would run counter to what the Congress feels and what the country feels, and what we're planning to do, would make your commission just look bad as hell."

The Shafer Commission of 1970
Marijuana does not lead to physical dependency, although some evidence indicates that the heavy, long-term users may develop a psychological dependence on the drug"
Richard Nixon missing tapes

Priming The Propaganda Mill

Bad research makes headlines

Anti-pot propaganda
Shortly before last year's Super Bowl, about 22 million American households saw a series of reports on their local TV news about the dangers of marijuana. The reports were by journalist Mike Morris, and included interviews with Drug Czar John Walters and other "experts" on the harms of pot. US feds are addicted to making up fake anti-pot news.

Just as G. Gordon Liddy went into high-tech corporate security after his disgrace, Carlton Turner became a rich man in what has now become a huge growth industry: urine-testing. Submission to the humiliation of having your most private body parts and functions observed by a hired voyeur is now the test of eligibility for private employment, or to contract for a living wage.



New Bill Has Draconian Penalties - norml
spreadhed phred (Info) November 29, 2003 18:21:46 ET
As the 2003 Congressional legislative session comes to a close, Rep.
Mark Souder, one of the most ardent drug warriors in Congress,
intends to introduce legislation to drastically increase penalties
for certain marijuana offenses.

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.

Bloggers beware. As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer. From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war. The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act.

November.org

Nazism or WoD



SCAPEGOATING -
Blaming social problems on a cultural, racial, or behaviorial group.

PREJUDICE -
Selling the public on the idea that all members of the targeted group are 'bad' people.

LIES -
'Facts', which cannot be verified, and pseudo scientific studies are used as propaganda against the targeted group. History is rewritten.

NO PUBLIC DEBATE -
"These people have no right to have their viewpoiunt aired." and " Anyone who disagrees or questions us must be one of them!"

DEHUMANIZATION -
Characterizing all members of a targeted group as subhuman and typically capable of monstrous deeds and/or crimes.

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN -
"They corrupt, seduce and or destroy our children."

CIVIL LIBERTIES SACRIFICED -
"We must give up some of our freedoms, liberties, and rights in order to combat this menace to society."

LEGAL DESCRIMINATION -
Laws criminalize members of targeted group and they may be denied jobs, the right to own property and/or be restricted as to where they may live or go.

INFORMERS -
Citizens are urged to 'turn in' friends, neighbors, co- workers and family members.

SECRET POLICE -
Non-uniformed police squads set up to wage war on targeted groups utilizing deception, infiltration, espionage and entrapment.

CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY -
Property and assets are seized from people who are members of targeted group. Property may be divided between the informer and the state.

REMOVAL FROM SOCIETY -
Prisons, rehabilitation camps, 'hospitals', executions and genocide...
("kill them all" "Zero Tolerance")

GW Bush Gang: IG Farben 2001



420 by Peter Koht
Exploring the cultural history of marijuana on the day (and time) it matters the most

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
-- President John F. Kennedy

FDA-Approved Medical Marijuana Research Blocked

F.D.A. Misses Medical Benefit From Marijuana

Flush Rush and his Maggot DEAth Mongers

__________________