DdC

Supreme Court Clears Way for Medical Pot
Declaration of Arnold Leff, M.D.

Conservative Addiction Good! Liberal Addiction Bad!

I wish I could remember who wrote this, because I'd like to give credit.

TOMMY CHONG: Whatcha in for, man?

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Dealing in drugs and being an addict. I bought synthetic opiate painkillers illegally and became addicted to them.

CHONG: Really? Rush Limbaugh an addict? Wow!

LIMBAUGH: What are you in for?

CHONG: Selling glass.

LIMBAUGH: Grass?

CHONG: No, glass. With an 'l.'

Like everything funny, there is great truth to that little skit. Tommy Chong, at 65, is in prison for six months for selling marijuana bongs over the Internet. He shouldn't be in prison. Limbaugh is not going to serve a day in jail. He shouldn't, either.

I tell people Chong should have bought thrift-store coffee pots and sold them, since they can be used for other purposes than making coffee. ("Bongs, your honor? They're coffee pots!")

Dittoheads rationalizing Limbaugh's addiction (which one, now? Painkillers, food or tobacco?) claim his "dependence" is okay because he was taking drugs for pain and therefore deserves compassion. On the other hand, people who use drugs for pleasure should be punished.

I guess all pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.

I've had substantial experience with addicts. You name it; I've seen it. Not a little experience, but a lot. My experience with addicts is that all are in pain. That's why they use drugs. They're trying to self-medicate.

None of them have been in physical pain. All have been in some kind of psychological torment. People who aren't in some kind of pain, either physical or psychological (what exactly is the difference?) don't become addicts.

From now on, can't anyone using drugs use the Rush Limbaugh defense? "I'm not using drugs for pleasure. I'm sick and in pain, and I need them to function."

What are prosecutors and judges going to do about that? "Well, gosh...if Limbaugh can go into treatment two or three times, and relapse, and never go to jail, how can I put anyone in jail for drug use when they're claiming their addiction is for pain, just like El Rushbo?"

I remember one woman in particular. I'll call her Joane. She was a junkie who told me one shot would hold her for eight hours. She didn't want to be a junkie, but told me the first time she tried heroin all the pain went away and she instantly knew she was an addict.

I never bothered to ask Joane her history, about what had happened in her past that might have contributed to what she became. But I do know she supported her addiction by being a whore. Didn't have enough talent to get behind a microphone, like Rush.

Finally Joane became so disgusted over what she was she went into rehab for 30 days, where she was basically given sleeping pills so she wouldn't feel too many withdrawal symptoms. "All I did was sleep and eat," she told me.

When she came out, she had gained 20 pounds. This makes me wonder if Rush will again have a weight problem when he finishes rehab. After all, like William Bennett, he appears to be an addictive personality.

Rush, like Bennett, should repeat over and over, morning, noon and night, "Judge not, lest you be judged." I never saw Joane judge anyone the way Limbaugh and Bennett judge, because her experience and understanding of addiction excluded that kind of self-righteousness.

How could Joane decide she was so superior to anyone that it gave her the right to look down on others, considering what she was? But when it comes right down to the basics, there's really no difference between Limbaugh, Bennett or Joane.

In a way, all of it makes me smile. All humans are inherently flawed, no matter how big their mouths, or how arrogant and grandiose. I never saw any arrogance in Joane, but I've seen a lot of it in the judgmental Limbaugh and Bennett.

Joane also told me that anyone who goes through rehab, and gets back on drugs, is probably never going to get off of them. Limbaugh has been through rehab more than once, and failed. Will he ever get off of painkillers? I don't know. But I suspect he's going to have cravings for the rest of his life. Maybe he'll just smoke a lot more cigars, or pour sugar down his throat, the way I've seen alcoholics do when they kick booze.

One thing I do suspect, though, is that Limbaugh will never, ever again say a word in support of the Drug War. Limbaugh is an addict, and is always in danger of relapse. I suspect he's smart enough to know this.

There would be a lot less problems in the world if drug were legalized. Some who think there would be an explosion of drug use don't realize that all societies are inherently conservative. They have to be, to survive. Social pressure against drug abuse would reduce it to the minimum. Abuse, however, will never be eradicated. As the old saying goes, "the poor are always with us."

State interference in societies is what exacerbates problems. Laws against drugs is what creates black markets, massive profits for criminals, and small quantities of concentrated drugs that are easy to smuggle.

Poor Rush. Like William Bennett, like Joane, and like everyone else, he has feet of clay.

I believe Rush has two paths: humility, or more arrogance. The first leads to repentance and atonement. The second, being the same thing as hubris, will lead to more problems for El Rushbo. It's up to him.

All we need now is for Rush to get wounded in a war. Then maybe he would give up being an armchair-warrior chickenhawk lusting after murder and destruction.

Nothing like the School of Hard Knocks, I always say.

Bob Wallace is the author of I Write What I See. Please visit his Shameless Book Promotion Page. And here is his Page Full o' Fun.
http://www.LewRockwell.com

Conservative Addiction Good! Liberal Addiction Bad!
By Bob Wallace October 14, 2003
Rush To Judgment
Hypocrisy Revealed
Rush To Jail? - Joel Miller
Limbaugh Won't Be Prosecuted, Attorneys Wager By John Pacenti

Ashcroft Nephew Got Probation After Major Pot Bust By Daniel Forbes
Ashcroft Limits Prosecutor Discretion
Stop John Ashcroft
Stop Ashcroft Coalition
Steamroller Ashcroft
Law Enforcement Shares the Wealth in War on Drugs
Has the Drug War Created an Officer Liar's Club?
DRUG SQUADS 'HIKING UP VALUE OF HAULS'

Newt Gingrich's Support for Medical Marijuana

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human." - Aldous Huxley

Fair Deal for Noelle Bush
Noelle Bush Needs Help, As All Addicts Do
Jeb Bush Urged To Reconsider Drug Law View
JEB BUSH CAUGHT IN ILLEGAL DRUG COVER-UP SCANDAL
The Drug Policy Alliance

Morality is always the product of terror; its chains and strait-waistcoats are fashioned by those who dare not trust others, because they dare not trust themselves, to walk in liberty.
-- Aldous Huxley

Cunningham's Vote to Support the Death Penalty for Drugs
Cunningham son held on marijuana charge (thread)
Judge Lindsay sentenced Randall Cunningham to 2 1/2 years in prison,
half the federally mandated minimum. Dad's interest may have been noted.

Bush's Double Standard

In 2000, there were 1,579,566 drug arrests in the US. Of those,
46.5 percent -- 734,497 arrests -- were for marijuana.
There were 646,042 arrests for simple possession of marijuana in 2000.
drugwarfacts.org

U.S. law enforcement spends $7.5 to $10 billion annually enforcing marijuana laws.
According to the FBI, 720,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges in 2001.
Keith Stroup, (NORML)

Tommy Chong Gets Nine Months
Tommy Chong's Web Site (closed?)
Cheech and Chong.com
CannabisNews Paraphernalia Archives
55 Charged in Drug Paraphernalia Sales
Tommy Framed?...
Tommy Chong's factory, Chong Glass,
as well as his home in California were raided by the feds today.

Busted for Art

DdC

Bill Bendit's Virtues * Poster
DEAth Flunky * Poster
Monsanto's Cliarence * Poster

Bush Religion Initiative headed by John J. DiIulio, Jr.
(Superpredator Kids on Pot!)
Moral Poverty and How to Win America’s War against Crime and Drugs
By William J. Bennett, John J. DiIulio, Jr., and John P. Walters

Marijuana Misinformation
Harry J. Anslinger
Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys
Soon after Czar Turner left office, Nancy Reagan recommended that no corporation be permitted to do business with the Federal government without having a urine purity policy in place to show their loyalty. 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.

Pisstasters * Poster
Racist Ganjawar
PREJUDICE: MARIJUANA AND JIM CROW LAWS
The Ganjawar is a Product Sold by D.E.A.th to Profit Fascist ... DdC

November Coalition
The November Coalition is a non-profit, grassroots organization who are educating the public about the destructive increase in prison population in the United States due to our current drug laws. We alert our fellow citizens, particularly those who are complacent or naive, about the present and impending dangers of an overly powerful federal authority acting far beyond its constitutional constraints. The drug war is an assault and steady erosion of our civil rights and freedoms by federal and state governments.

Human Rights and the WoD

Behind Czarist 'Truths' - Deception No Way To Wage Drug War
Drug Czar Seeks To Ban All Hemp Products
Annual Ditchweed Eradication Boondoggle Underway Again
May 7, 1998, Washington, D.C.: Over 99 percent of the marijuana eradicated by the Drug Enforcement Administration's federally funded "Cannabis Suppression Program" is nonpsychoactive hemp, reveals a 1998 Vermont State Auditor's report
99.28% ditchweed
Urgent Warning about Industrial Hemp...
The Toxic Alternative to Natural Fiber

Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible
"The horrors experienced by many young inmates, particularly those who are convicted of nonviolent offenses, border on the unimaginable. Prison rape not only threatens the lives of those who fall prey to their aggressors, but it is potentially devastating to the human spirit. Shame, depression, and a shattering loss of self-esteem accompany the perpetual terror the victim thereafter must endure." U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Farmer v. Brennan

SPR - Stop Prisoner Rape
Human Rights Watch
Male Rape in US Prisons

Conditions of Confinement

Human Rights Watch has documented abominable conditions for children in detention in countries around the world. In the United States (Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, and Maryland), Pakistan, Jamaica, among other countries, children are subjected to excessive force, inadequate medical and mental health care, and are provided with little or no education. Often, these children are placed in the facilities along side adults, exposing them to physical and sexual abuse.

Close to Home: Juveniles in Adult Jails

Correctional Systems, Inc.
(CSI) is a publicly-traded corporation that contracts with governmental agencies to operate correctional projects.



Slave Labor Means Big Bucks For U.S. Corporations
UNICORE
Prison Industrial Complex ... Search top rght

("Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do.)

James Geddes-47
90 YEARS-5 PLANTS!

Release Petition

DEA Raids MMJ Garden of L.A. Patient Sister Somayah
October 10, 2003

The Murder of Peter McWilliams
Archives
Cartoon: Murder of Peter McWilliams

Rainbow Farm Massacre
'WE WILL NOT FORGET,' VOW RAINBOW FARM SUPPORTERS
CASSOPOLIS -- A downpour didn't deter friends of Rainbow Farm from gathering outside the old Cass County courthouse at 5:30 p. m. Monday on the second anniversary of the Labor Day weekend 2001 deaths of Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm.

Statewide billboard campaign against federal war on medical
marijuana featuring 8-year-old daughter of MMJ prisoner Bryan Epis.



Osburn Defense Fund
HEMP PLYWOOD Becomes a Reality by Lynn and Judy Osburn
HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD
Part One by Lynn Osburn
Part II, Hempseed Oils and the Flow of Life Force
HEMP, THE PREMIER RENEWABLE RESOURCE
Energy Farming in America

DdC

RENEE BOJE
Mike's (Michael Moore) Militia Mission has also taken up Renee's cause
Help Renee Boje fight extradition from Canada, where she seeks political asylum from US drug war zealots. Only because Boje associated with medical marijuana activist Todd McCormick, these zealots intend to imprison her for a longer term than they would a rapist or murderer.
News items about Renee

CANCER VICTIM TODD McCORMICK PUNISHED WITH SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
LOS ANGELES - Medical marijuana patient, Todd McCormick, confined to federal prison while appealing his case, reports he is being sent to solitary confinement. Todd has a spinal fusion - the top five vertebrae were fused when he was two-years-old. A tumor had completely eaten the 2nd vertebrae and the old fusion is now literally carving grooves in the base of his skull,
prompting severe headaches as well, His left hip stopped growing when he was 9, a result of radiation treatments for childhood cancer. He has severe scoliosis, nerve damage in his upper back, shoulders and neck and severe muscle spasms in his lower back. He has received no medical treatment since January," said Mrs. McCormick.

Benefit For Todd McCormick
Todd McCormick in Prison for Perhaps Five Years

Uphold The Law By Steve Kubby
November 05, 1999
Cannabisnews search: Steve Kubby

What Will Happen To Will Foster?
There was absolutely no evidence of any sales, but a jury was convinced to convict him with cultivation and intent to distribute. Failure to obtain marijuana tax stamps increased the sentence to 93 years. In 1998, an appeals court found that the 93-year term "shocks our conscience" and reduced the sentence to 20 years, which opened up the possibility of parole for Foster. During Foster's trial, the prosecution claimed the plants were equivalent to 2,652 joints. Ed Rosenthal, a marijuana cultivation expert, testified that the yield would be at most 600 joints, a proper amount for a medical patent taking it as medication on a daily basis.
The Ohio Hempery

Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articles
safeaccessnow.org
green-aid.com



NJ Weedman Wins Right to Advocate Drug-Law Reform
County's 'Weedman' Released from State Prison
Cannabisnews search: NJ Weedman Ed Forcion

UK Grandmother Gets 18 Months Probation For Drinking Cannabis Tea For Arthritis Pain
A GRANDMOTHER who narrowly escaped jail for drinking cannabis tea to ease her constant pain today insisted: "It should be legalised".

Pot Grower, 75, Given Year in Jail

US Prosecutes Cancer Patient Over Marijuana

TWO SUSPECTS KILLED IN SHASTA COUNTY MARIJUANA RAID
MANTON -- Two suspects were fatally shot by drug agents raiding a massive marijuana garden early Tuesday, the Shasta County sheriff's department said. Two suspects were killed during a gun battle with the 40 to 50 police conducting the raid, said Lt. Denis Carroll. None of the police officers was injured. Four helicopters helped a beefed-up contingent of about 75 police officers surround the area, search for the suspects, and bale the marijuana, Carroll said. Continued...

The Year In Pot
A Year in the Life of Pot Prohibition
2001: A Year in the Life of Marijuana Prohibition
2002: A Year in the Life of the Drug War



WAMM Plans Family Day
wamm.org
Cheryl Heart Foundation
MMJ Use Advocates Stage Protest at Barr's Office
Supporters of medical marijuana usage blocked the door to Georgia Rep. Bob Barr' s office Thursday to protest his efforts to overturn a District of Columbia referendum that would permit seriously ill people to use marijuana legally if their doctors recommend it.

MAKING THE WALLS TRANSPARENT
Change the Climate
(FAMM Foundation)
Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation
F.E.A.R.
I LOST MY FREEDOM
and can't find it anywhere!Linx

The American Psychiatric Association has in their seal the portrait of Dr. Benjamin Rush. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship... the Constitution of this Republic should make special provision for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." - Benjamin Rush M.D.

__________________

DdC

Within a month's time, drug war supporter and conservatives’ conservative Rush Limabugh fesses up (only after being outed by a tabloid) about his addiction to prescription pain killers and 70s pothead icon Tommy Chong (the other half of Cheech and Chong) is sentenced to nine months in prison, not for possession of the evil weed, not for distribution of the enticing white powder, but for selling “paraphernalia.” America has definitely reached the boiling point of hypocrisy in its useless drug war.

Rush Limbaugh in his brief public admission to his addiction attempted to veil it with an excuse. Rush, claims that pain caused by an unsuccessful surgery drove him to addiction. This may be true, but coming from a person who has mocked others drug problems and even publicly supported their incarceration, his actions deserve more scrutiny.

Mr. Limbaugh has made a comfortable living from his radio talent, and he has used his bully pulpit to espouse and spread his views. His public views on illegal drug use are well known, and since he has profited from making his views public he now owes the public an “honest” explanation. There are many question yet unanswered; how can a public figure call for the incarceration of drug users, while privately consuming drugs illicitly himself? Will Mr. Limbaugh’s public stand on the War on drugs differ when he returns or will he simply try to explain away his actions (like a liberal)?

The cat is out of the proverbial bag, many Americans have known for years that the war on drugs is not about drugs. This drug war is a war by our own government on its own citizens, it has made mince meat of the fourth amendment, it has shredded the second amendment, it has given the government the power to peak into our finances, it has run rough shod over private property rights, it has turned our inner cities into war zones, it has turned non violent youths into criminals and in the process ruined countless lives.

Though most Americans hope that Mr. Limbaugh recovers from his addiction, many others also hope more importantly that he recovers from his duplicity. Will drug warriors blindly continue to support this defenseless war? Will they simply consider Rush more human and more worthy of forgiveness than a poor man busted for buying crack? Maybe the rules aren’t the same for everyone? Bush, Gore and Clinton all admitted to what were considered for them youthful “indiscretions”, but for the not so connected folks these are not youthful “indiscretions” but “crimes”, plain and simple.

Mr. Chong’s plight should concern all of us. He was convicted of selling “drug paraphernalia”, more specifically decorative pipes. Though one would suspect that most folks buying colorful; pipes from self professed “head” Tommy Chong to be packing them with marijuana and other illicit substances, Mr. Chong was not providing the pot nor was he packing their bowls with goodies. What constitutes “paraphernalia”? Today even glow sticks, bottled water and lollipops can be considered drug “paraphernalia.” What will be next: orange juice and baking soda?

We can only hope that these recent events will shed a light on all the stupidity and grief the drug war has caused. No one knows for sure whether Rush will quit his prescription pain killers after his rehab or if Tommy Chong will swear off the evil weed after his stint in the poky, but if our government doesn’t quit cold turkey on its drug war thousands upon thousands of innocent Americans will continue to suffer needlesly for many years to come.



Rush and Chong

Source: Sierra Times.com (NV)
Author: Emiliano Antunez
Published: October 17, 2003
Contact: opeds@sierratimes.co m * Website



Delay Requested in Chong Term
Rush To Judgment
He's Taking One Big Hit
Rush To Jail? - Joel Miller



Drug Rush By Jacob Sullum
October 17, 2003
Source: Reason Magazine

Rush Limbaugh may not be arrested, let alone spend time behind bars, for illegally buying narcotic painkillers. "We're not sure whether he will be charged," a law enforcement source told CNN earlier this month. "We're going after the big fish, both the suppliers and the sellers."

If the conservative radio commentator escapes serious legal consequences, there will be speculation about whether a pill popper who wasn't a wealthy celebrity would have received such lenient treatment. Yet the distinction between dealer and user drawn by CNN's source is both widely accepted and deeply imbedded in our drug laws.
Read More... cannabisnews...17604 .shtml



Rush on Terror Attacks

Wimpering Rush

DdC

At press time, comedian Tommy Chong is in his third week in federal prison in California, where he's serving a nine-month sentence after pleading guilty to selling drug paraphernalia over the Internet. Chong was popped in February as part of the federal government's much-hyped paraphernalia sting, code-named Operation Pipe Dreams.

While selling drug paraphernalia is technically illegal, the decision on whether to pursue bong sellers as criminals has long been left to the discretion of local law enforcement agencies.

OPD operations were based in Iowa and Pennsylvania -- two states with a reputation for considering paraphernalia peddling a serious crime -- and Chong was trapped in the OPD net after sending a hand-blown glass bong to Beaver Falls, Pa.

While two previous Pipe Dreams defendants pled guilty to similar charges, each was sentenced only to six months of house arrest; so far, of the 50 Pipe Dreams defendants, Chong is the only one who has been sent to jail (see "Will Chong's Freedom Go up in Smoke?," Sept. 26). Chong and his supporters say the comedian's sentence is unreasonably harsh and claim that prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania's western district, used the pot-toking character that Chong has played for 30 years as evidence that the real-life Chong undermines drug-law enforcement.

On Sept. 17, attorney Stanton Levenson filed an appeal of Chong's sentence with the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, claiming that the government relied on "improper evidence" when sentencing Chong. "Apparently they have an inability to separate fact from fiction," Levenson told the Chronicle. Further, Levenson said that during the sentencing hearing, Judge Arthur Schwab "extracted a promise" from Chong that he wouldn't "use this experience" in any of his future "entertainment enterprises" -- a pledge that Levenson said is likely a violation of Chong's free-speech rights. Levenson is also asking that Schwab release Chong on bail while the 3rd Circuit considers his appeal. Schwab is expected to rule on the motion some time next week.

Meanwhile, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has kicked off a "Free Tommy Chong" campaign and, along with Chong's wife Shelby, are asking that Chong's supporters drop him a line. "He's going to be getting a ton of mail," said NORML Director Allen St. Pierre.

To join the letter train, address mail to:
Tommy Kin Chong
Inmate No. 07798-068
Taft CI
Unit A No. 4B
PO Box 7001
Taft, CA 93268

NORML: Free Tommy Chong! by Jordon Smith
Source: Austin Chronicle (TX) October 24, 2003
Contact: louis@auschron.com * Website



Related Articles & Web Site

U.S. law enforcement spends $7.5 to $10 billion annually enforcing marijuana laws.
According to the FBI, 720,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges in 2001.
Keith Stroup, (NORML)
He's Taking One Big Hit
Will Chong's Freedom Go Up in Smoke?
Chong To Appeal Prison Sentence

Tommy Chong Speaks From Behind Bars
Rush and Chong - Sierra Times
Crash of Conservative Icons

And Won't Rush Be Pleased to Get a Card By Joyce Wadler
Source: New York Times October 22, 2003
A flack for the new movie "Potluck" told us excitedly that "half the cast was either in prison or rehab." Press agents exaggerate, of course, and as far as we could determine, only two actors in the film are or were so indisposed: TOMMY CHONG, sentenced this month to nine months in prison for conspiring to sell bongs over the Internet, and JASON MEWES, reportedly in rehab.
A prison sentence, of course, is no reason to shirk one's promotional duties, so we called Mr. Chong in the Taft Correctional Institution, near Bakersfield, Calif.

Rush Limbaugh: aka Jeff Christie 1972 - 1973 KQV Radio Pittsburgh,Pa

Meet Thine Enemy By Michelangelo Signorile
Source: New York Press October 22, 2003
It’s true that Rush Limbaugh won’t be going through cold, nasty, state-funded drug treatment like his poorer fellow addicts–that is, in the states that still have treatment slots open, as Republicans, spurred by people like Limbaugh and his armies, have consistently put the kibosh on government-funded drug programs. And yes, as a loaded, white alleged buyer of illegal drugs he probably won’t go to jail the way a street addict would, though the maid he allegedly got to buy illegal pain pills for him may be put in the can.

Makes No Sense At All

Osburn Defense Fund

* The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry *

Has Ashcroft Abandoned Federalism for Fed. Power? By Radley Balko



Legal Marijuana Smoker Touts 'Good Medicine' By Jessamy Brown
Source: Star-Telegram October 23, 2003
Denton - When George McMahon picks up his pain relief medicine, he has to go through two sets of locked doors and, once home, store it in a locked safe. He's just done a drug deal, but it's legal.
McMahon, who smokes 10 marijuana cigarettes a day to ease chronic pain, is one of a handful of patients in the government's little-known medical marijuana program.

Fear of Flying
Patients Out of Time

Tourist-Free Coffee Shops Rejected

Hashish Is Medical Marijuana Attorney General Says