Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

The title links to a LEAP promotional video. This wonderful organization is made up Law Enforcement officers that believe that the War on Drugs is an extremely harmful social policy. In summary, they believe drug prohibition leads to institutional racism, with 4919 black males per 100 000 incarcerated. Police officers become corrupt and dip into the piles of drug money during a drug bust. Who is going to stop them? Billions of dollars have been spent on drug prohibition and we have just as many drug users. When the police work hard to bust a drug gang, another one takes over where they left off. It's like trying to bail the ocean with a coffee mug. But don't take my word for it. Stop reading this and watch the video. Go go go!!!!

Red Ribbon Week is Over

I complained about Red Ribbon Week before. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with teaching children to be safe and to stay away from drugs. However this whole Red Ribbon thing is very distasteful. It boils down to giving kids a red ribbon to wear and this is all you need to do to keep your kids safe. It also is a case of the school system giving tacit approval to the War on Some Drugs rather than pointing out how futile it is to lock up non-violent people in the first place.

" Stay away from alcohol, tobacco and drugs, " Hunton said. " For you all to be successful, you need to try your best to stay clean. "

Reh said this year's speakers did a good job delivering a drug-free message to students.

" They all volunteer their time to be here, " she said. " They're drug-free adults, and they're letting the kids see that you can have a great life if you stay drug free. "

Link

Except that a lot of adult role models do choose to have an alcoholic drink, smoke a cigarette or smoke the occasional joint and still manage to lead successful and happy lives. Do you think it is possible that kids are going to grow up, realize that they have been mislead and disregard the entire "drug-free" message? I know I felt the same way when I read unbiased information about marijuana and I found out that everything I was taught about marijuana was completely untrue. The school system misleads children and this makes me quite sad. I hope that it does save at least one child from doing drugs so they can justify the existence of these feel-good do-nothing Drug-War loving programs but I doubt it.

I would be in favor of having a Green Ribbon campaign to go along with the Red Ribbon campaign to commemorate all the people killed and harmed by the War on Drugs.

Although I am not sure why they would include pre-schoolers in all this. Does a pre-schooler have the ability to understand an anti-drug message?

There are many stories show-casing children and their commitment to stay drug-free, as though students in grade five are going to keep these promises when they become teenagers. Fighting THE MAN is a normal part of becoming an adult and doing ILLEGAL drugs is a cheap way to show that you are so much better than your parents. If drugs weren't illegal, would it be as tempting to show your independance by doing drugs? Drug use is not effected by draconian American prohibition any more than it is effected by the relatively liberal drug policy employed by the Netherlands.

I want to protest something

The situation in Colorado interests me greatly. It has been a pretty ugly fight so far, with lies being thrown around by prohibitionists. In the following video, take note of the high horse that the governor of Colorado is sitting on. He says to the camera, "Look at the people standing up here with me and the people shouting us down and not allowing us to speak."

Yes, governor, you are right that pot people are angry. We are shouting and acting inappropriately. Prohibitionists have been lying to the public for years, pulling at the public heart strings and pandering to the publics' fear in a bitter attempt to justify a horribly flawed law. They have indoctrinated school children and locked up so many people all in the name of the War on Drugs. They have demonized marijuana. Harry Ainslinger, the very first US Drug Czar used to claim that "Marijuana makes a negro look at a white woman twice." He also said "Marijuana makes darkies think they are as good as white men." He said it like equality is a bad thing!

Racist, heartless, non-thinking government officials get to have their say and ignore the opinions of the people that they represent. Why doesn't the Governor ask himself why so many people are angry? Why is this so important to so many people? It's just marijuana, surely there are more important things in the world than legalizing this plant.

I get that all the time. "Why do you care so much? It's so easy to get anyway." That is true and it shows the strength of my position. We have been following the same tactics for years and we still have 90% of high school seniors telling us that marijuana is easy to get. Let's cut the bullshit and legalize already.

I wish I could have been there protesting with them. I feel so useless sometimes, writing a shitty blog that nobody reads and feeling like I have no idea how to be an activist. At least waving signs around and yelling would be lots of fun. I just wonder what the public would think after watching that video clip. Would they understand why pot people are angry or is this issue going to get written off as only effecting a small number of people and not very important in the whole grand scheme of things.

Video Link

Nevada gets even closer to pot legalization

Nevada is going even further than Colorado by putting question 7 on the ballot in November's election. The following video summarizes what question 7 will accomplish:

Video Link

Nevada will allow retailers to sell up to an ounce of marijuana in state-regulated outlets. Driving under the influence of marijuana, use of marijuana by minors, selling marijuana to minors and using marijuana in public would still be illegal.

I shouldn't be surprised that Nevada would be the most progressive. None of the other ballot measures go as far as allowing a legal supply of marijuana and it is wonderful to see that activists are fighting the drug war in such an effective way.

There is the predictable backlash from prohibitionists such as "all seven Clark County commissioners, six of 13 Nevada university regents, Washoe District Attorney Dick Gammick and Las Vegas police Lt. Stan Olsen".

In response, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana is taking them to court for breaking a law that states that elected officials may not use tax dollars to oppose a ballot initiative. Read the whole story.

Just another reason to watch the November elections.

Prof asks university to take high road on prescription pot

A Toronto professor wants to smoke his prescription pot at the university where he works and is refusing to step onto campus until he can.

York University professor Brian MacLean says he has clearance from Health Canada for medical marijuana use for an undisclosed illness, but there is no place at work where he can smoke it.

"I have to medicate a lot," he says. "There's no issue here, well, can I restrain my medication on campus? No, I can't."

I am finding it very satisfying the way educators are getting involved in the fight to normalize and legalize the use of cannabis. This is the second time I have read about a university prof using marijuana as medicine and it is really nice to see.

I just wonder what is going to happen when it's an elementary or high school teacher that steps outside to use medical marijuana on a coffee break. I suspect there would be howls of outrage and more pleas for somebody to please think of the children.

And of course the 4:00 Friday "choir practice"* will continue unabated and unquestioned. I would still like to show up for choir practice with a bag of pre-rolled reefers but I suspect hell will freeze over before that happens.

* choir practice is the friendly euphemism announced on school intercoms on Friday afternoons which means, send the kiddles home and let's meet at the local pub for a refreshing alcoholic beverage, to celebrate another successful week of educating children.

Peeing in a Cup

Looks like drug testing little old ladies is backfiring. The words of the following volunteer comes pretty close to expressing my thoughts about drug-testing:

"It's not like we are a high-risk group for coming in drunk or high or stoned or whatever," said one volunteer. "This is just a common-sense issue - why are we spending tax money to test 75-year-old grandmothers for marijuana? We should be using that money to buy more books and computers."

Amen sister! Of course this begs the question, "Why should a public institution spend any money to drug test employees or students?" Schools can find money to get teenagers to pee in cups when it could be better spent on books, computers or pay raises for teachers.

Speaking of teachers, a school principal in Charleston was arrested for alleged cocaine possession. Oh goodness! Won't someone please think of the children? Oh the audacity of the authority figures entrusted with the care of our children, to be as fallible and human as the rest of us.

Besides the safety issue, what kind of example is being placed in front of our students by personnel — whom they are told to learn from, respect and hold up as role models — who are breaking the law?

Random drug testing of school teachers and principals is the predictable knee-jerk reaction. It is apparent that the author of the editiorial did not give any thought to the negative consequences to implimenting random drug testing. Such as the excessive cost and the invasion of privacy.

At least there is a little common sense to balance out the lunacy. An editorial from the Charleston Daily Mail expresses the opinion that random drug testing is an expensive and unwarranted invasion of privacy. Let's hope that common sense will prevail, but if that were the case we would never have declared a "War on (Some) Drugs" in the first place.

Ordering Blood and urine Samples Unconstitutional

Pretty surprising stuff. Requiring random blood and urine samples as a condition of parole has been quite common until now. But that is about to change.

It is too bad that this ruling came about to protect the rights of a convicted home invader.

Score another bitter-sweet victory for cannabis people!

Canada Troops Battle 10-foot Afghan Marijuana Plants

From CannabisCulture

The brave soldiers faced a ten-foot foe that they just could not conquer. The Taliban fighters took cover in a forest of ten-foot marijuana plants. Our brave boys attempted burning the plants, with predictable and hilarious results.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

I should "Support Our Troops" by sending those boys some Twinkies and Cheet-os. I doubt very much fighting happened that day. I know I would have shoved a few handfuls of bud in my pockets. Nothing better than Afghani. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Stumbleweed stumbles

Debunking bullshit drug propaganda designed to terrify teenagers is one of my favorite things. I love it almost as much as tormenting the eardrums of my dog with my terrible clarinet-fueled musical styling.

There is just one thing I must do before I get to the fun part where I lambaste morons and make myself feel important. I must point out that the sheer volume of bullshit propaganda pretending to be education is so vast that this blog can only be a pin in the proverbial haystack. However, for the sake of my sanity and to give me good practice writing and arguing with my imaginary friends, I must give it an honest attempt.

The magazine in question is entitled “StumbleWeed” which is linked to http://www.justthinktwice.com/ It uses the same scare tactics that are used unsuccessfully by abstinence-only “educators” and it contains many lies and exaggerations and very little content.

The overall tone of the magazine is preachy, judgmental and misleading. Where do I even begin?

How about with the obnoxious cartoons? They look like something out of a Christian children’s’ coloring book.



Isn’t it cool how they use patronizing acronyms like U and R on the front page? What a great way to show teens that we are one of them!!! The marketing geniuses that worked hard on this must really be patting each other on the ass right now. The following quote is taken from the first page:

“Truth is, marijuana is not just a plant.”

If it’s not a plant, what is it? Even though the media frequently shows grow-ops being dismantled by people wearing protection equipment that looks suited for a space launch, this does not refute the fact that:

MARIJUANA IS A PLANT!

How do they get away with putting a blatant lie in the very first sentence of this booklet? This is supposed to be factual material designed to educate students about the real dangers of drugs. Instead we have a booklet designed to convince teenagers that marijuana is not a plant.


But if you read on it gets even worse. It would take too long to debunk every single stupid thing that was written so I am just going to show you the “short list” and the truth about each erroneous claim being made:


DEA: “The THC content of marijuana has increased dramatically since the 60’s and 70’s. The higher THC levels make marijuana far more powerful-and dangerous- for young people whose brains are not fully developed.”

TRUTH: While it is true that the potency of marijuana has increased somewhat since the 60’ and 70’s there is no reason to believe that this makes it more dangerous for consumption. The user tends to smoke until the desired effect is obtained. There is a very good reason to believe that stronger pot may in fact be less dangerous than less potent pot, since the user of stronger pot will be exposed to far less burning plant material. It is impossible to ingest enough marijuana to cause a fatal overdose, unlike alcohol, so why the fake concern over increased potency?

DEA: Over the years, as marijuana’s potency has grown, so have emergency room episodes.



TRUTH: If you look at this chart, you might mistakenly believe that marijuana must be a terribly harmful substance to result in so many emergency room visits. What they fail to mention is that these statistics are based on the number of times patients mention marijuana use. It does not necessarily mean that marijuana was the cause of the emergency room visit. They also fail to mention that nobody has ever fatally overdosed from the use of marijuana.

DEA: Many teens believe:
- there’s no penalties for growing and dealing.
- that driving after smoking pot makes them better drivers.
- Marijuana is harmless.

TRUTH: Any time broad sweeping generalizations are made about a large and diverse group of people, it should set off your bullshit detector. It is quite insulting and presumptuous to talk about what “many teens” believe. If they are uninformed about the legal, social and physical risks involved with using marijuana, then parents and the education system have failed to teach them. The solution would be teaching teens the truth and ensuring that they read Stumbleweed and recognize lies and misinformation when they see it.

DEA: You can lose your student loan if you sell or grow marijuana while you are receiving educational assistance from the government.

TRUTH: It isn’t just growers and sellers that are at risk of losing funding. You are also at risk if you are convicted of possession. I wonder why they do not include this fact on “Stumbleweed” but rather rely on the reader to click their link to find out the truth. This is especially interesting considering that they have a disclaimer in regards to the validity of the information on external web sites. It doesn’t seem like the DEA wants teens to know the entire truth after all.

DEA:

Smoked Marijuana is not medicine

Even though some groups have endorsed smoking marijuana for medical use, major medical organizations do not agree. This is what they say:
• The American Academy of Pediatrics “opposes the legalization of marijuana.”
• The American Medical Association rejected marijuana as medicine.
• The Glaucoma Research Foundation calls medical marijuana a “poor choice” in treating glaucoma.
• The National MS Society says that there is “…insufficient data to recommend marijuana…for treatment of multiple sclerosis.
• Even the Supreme Court rejected medical marijuana.

TRUTH: The ongoing fight to allow sick and dying people to use the medicine prescribed by their doctors is complicated. The use of medical marijuana is endorsed by many organizations. There are at least 10 states that allow medical marijuana users access to their medicine despite the federal prohibitions against the use of marijuana as medicine. Although the DEA continues to enforce state laws by enlisting armed jack-booted thugs to endanger the lives of medical patients, these actions are opposed by many state governments.

The DEA must think the educational system has done an extremely poor job teaching critical thinking skills if they think your average teen is not going to recognize this booklet for what it is-propaganda. It is quite apparent that the DEA should leave drug education in the hands of educators.

For anyone interested in learning about the truth about marijuana and the risks it poses to teens, I highly recommend Safety First.

* All images taken from the Stumbleweed site

Amendment 44 is heating up

I finally understand why the DEA is so upset about the ballot initiative in Colorado that is intended to legalize possession of one ounce of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age. I was concerned that perhaps Federal prohibitions against marijuana would still be enforced. But that is not the case. According to CBS4Denver, it would be impossible for the Feds to enforce the law.

"There aren't enough federal resources on the entire planet to handle ounce size marijuana possession," Jeffrey Sweetin, a DEA agent said. "Your viewers should understand if this passes, we're really legitimately legalizing an ounce of marijuana. They're not going to be prosecuted."

When reading editorials, make note of the claims made by the prohibitionist. Read the following passage and try to figure out why it is suspect:

• It is not true that marijuana is a harmless alternative to alcohol. Alcohol is dangerous when abused, but marijuana can be dangerous, too. Too many people become psychologically addicted to its drug. Some users get into accidents or otherwise endanger themselves. Some become intrigued with harder, more addicting drugs and begin to experiment with them.

Link

The author makes a lot of claims but with no evidence to back them up. Notice that the claims are very vague and difficult to prove. They can not come out and say that marijuana causes more accidents or is more addictive than alcohol because those claims are easily refuted. And we are still hearing about the disproven "gateway" theory. in the same way that some Christians still cling to Intelligent Design, prohibitionists cling to the gateway theory.

They better get those "but what about the children" editiorials published despite the fact that the current laws don't prevent children from using drugs.

I hope that in a months' time when the voters get to cast their ballots I can happily report to my non-existent readers that possession of an ounce of marijuana is no longer illegal in Colorado. In the meantime, I have a bit of advice for prohibitionist-minded editorialists.

Sign your letters. This might give you the appearance of credibility.

My LTE appeared in Saturday's Star Phoenix

I wish I could find a picture of the cartoon that inspired me to send off an angry email to the paper. In any case I can assure you that it was stupid enough to justify my letter that mocked it. Without further ado, my letter:

Newshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Saturday, October 7, 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Contact: spnews@SP.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Author: Tanya Derbowka

Dopey thinking behind cartoon on medical pot

I wish I could say I was amused by the cartoon in the Sept. 28 edition of
The SP that portrayed a couple of "typical" stoners discussing the loss of
funding for medical marijuana research.

The loss of funding is another underhanded attack on medical marijuana and I
wouldn't be surprised if the existing medical marijuana program is the next
thing on the Tory chopping block.

It is despicable that only 1,306 terminally ill patients across Canada have
legal access to this medicine, which has proven beneficial to people
suffering from various chronic ailments such as cancer, AIDS and multiple
sclerosis.

The lack of access by sick and dying people to medical marijuana is a highly
contentious issue and is the reason the majority of patients are still going
to the black market to gain access to their medicine. Portraying cannabis
consumers in a stereotypical negative light does nothing to help their
cause.

And you think potheads are the dopes?

Tanya Derbowka
Saskatoon

Beauty pageant for cocaine mules in Peru prison

Beauty pageant for cocaine mules in Peru prison. When I first saw the title of this story I thought they were talking about a horse-donkey hybrid. I never would have guessed they are talking about human beings from the headline.

The gist of the story is just as stupid as the title suggests. Fallen women get to show the world that they are still human by participating in a “beauty” pageant. I personally do not see what is so beautiful about glorifying fake femininity.

This story sickens me on so many levels that I don't know where to begin. Here are more examples of people that are caught by the War on Some Drugs. First the government invents a crime. Banning opium and marijuana was implemented by the government in an attempt to control the activities of Latinos and Asians. What better way to find an excuse to lock people up than to persecute them for the use of drugs not condoned by the dominant culture? Do you really believe it is a coincidence that tobacco and alcohol are legal for consumption and those are the two drugs traditionally favoured by white Europeans? People of color are overrepresented in the prison system and the War on Some Drugs is the reason why.

For another thing, I wonder how long these women are going to have to wait until they have a chance to defend themselves in a court of law. Three-quarters of them are still waiting for a trial. The police love to persecute small-time drug offenders like these women because they are too inept to find the men that actually run these drug-peddling organizations. The police get to pat themselves on the ass and feel like they have accomplished something. They know that these women are easily replaceable by their boyfriends and husbands. Nobody really cares that they will waste a lot of time in prison and it will have no impact the flow of drugs. Is the public really made safer by jailing these women?

Then to add insult to injury they doll them all up and parade them around for the benefit of pathetic wankers. Glorifying consumer-augmented, Cover Girl femininity is never a good thing. In this case, it should be criminal.

via Feministing

Drug Users= Terrorists

*This is what a filthy terrorist looks like.

I’m inspired to write this post after reading this. The author acknowledges two solutions to breaking the connection between opium and terrorism: “decriminalization of drugs or much more aggressive policing”.

Equating drug users with terrorism is nothing new. The Bush administration ran ads during the Superbowl equating marijuana smokers to terrorists. Goodness! I better put down my beer bong and my crack pipe* and stop supporting the filthy terrorists. I mean, this couldn’t be a gross oversimplification of a complex issue, could it? Maybe we should run commercials equating drug prohibition with terrorism. Sales of alcohol and tobacco don’t support terrorism, since terrorists could never provide a cheaper product than the legal market.

It just goes to show how deeply the drug prohibition mentality is entrenched in society when a thread about the connection between opium and the Taliban debates the "morality” of legalizing drugs. What does morality have to do with it? I thought we were talking about taking profit away from terrorists. Are we so committed to a failed ideology that we can’t even have an honest debate about this issue without talking about morality? I don’t agree with the morality of Catholicism (or any other religion) but I sure would never suggest making the practice of worshipping illegal.

If you really believe that the law has any impact on the habits of drug users, you are sorely mistaken. It’s not as though there are thousands of people waiting for the day when they can start a dangerous drug addiction as soon as they get government permission. Rates of drug use seem unaffected by our laws.

Instead of wasting more money on a failed policy we need to talk seriously about hitting terrorists where it really hurts – in the pocket book. “Much more aggressive policing” is just more of the same failed and wasteful policy that has had no impact on use rates. Unfortunately, none of the federal political parties in this country has had the courage to tackle this divisive and controversial issue.

Salon ran an excellent piece about the Superbowl ads. Read it here. They assert (quite convincingly) that all consumers of gasoline are aiding and abetting terrorism. Salon rules!

* I stole that bit from Futurama. I watch entirely too much television.

Russell Barth on CTV news

Here is Russell Barth, a marijuana activist who also happens to be legally allowed to use marijuana. He talks about the recent cuts to the edical marijuana research program by the conservatives. Will legal medical marijuana be the next on the chopping block? Let's hope not.

The List of Things That Kill More People Than Marijuana

It is going to take a lot of doing for me to come up with a comprehensive list of all the things that kill more people than marijuana. But I have to give it a shot. Since marijuana was banned because of how dangerous it is it only makes sense that all the things on this list should also be banned as well. I think I will update this list from time to time when I am too lazy to write a real update.

1. Shoelaces
2. Pets
3. Police
4. Lifesavers
5. Chewing gum
6. Children
7. Sex
8. All motor vehicles
9. Peanuts
10. Tampons
11. Pets
12. Jelly Beans
13. Alcohol
14. Antifreeze
15. Reefer madness
16. Toilets
17. Allergic Reactions
18. The Drug Enforcement Administration
19. Airplanes
20. Stingrays
21. Water
22. Aspirin