Medical Marijuana makes it hard to discriminate against potheads

A man suspended from work after testing positive for pot has filed a human rights complaint, claiming his boss refused to let him see the company drug-testing policy.

Stephen Shorten, 46, says he suffers from chronic pain and smokes a nightly joint - paired with ibuprofen - to ease the discomfort.

His arms were broken after they got caught in a machine at the Layfield textile plant in April, and he only returned to full-time status in October.

Shorten said he and eight other staffers were told to provide urine samples for marijuana testing on Dec. 6. He tested positive and was immediately suspended.

Over the nearly five years Shorten has worked at Layfield he said the company has turned a blind eye to recreational pot use, so long as staffers showed up for work sober. Link

The company has to drug test its' employess otherwise they might mistake potheads for productive workers. The thing is these potheads act just like regular people and you can't tell by the way they look, act or perform their jobs whether they are, in fact, drug-using losers. It is necessary to take samples of pee and blood and subject it to analysis in a lab to know whether discrimination based on the ingestion of the wrong plants is warranted. We certainly know that it is necessary.

Due to the labor shortage, some very wise companies have decided that they should judge their employees by their on-the-job performance and do away with this costly drug-testing nonsense altogether.

Judge employees by their performance? Why that's just crazy talk!

Anyway, I just have a couple of things to say to this unfortunate young man, who is facing being canned from the same company that broke his arms. First of all, get the physician that recommended marijuana to write you a legal prescription. Even if you end up getting your weed on the black market, because legal weed sucks noodles, there is no way they can fire you for treating a medical condition. Second of all, realize that there is nothing wrong with being a pothead. It's like being gay. Pretty soon, we will get to the point where people will say, "Hi I would love you to meet my friend Tanya, the pothead, not that there is anything wrong with that." People will know that they can categorize me based on just one of my many wicked habits. That will be awesome.

Grow-op Children Concern Police

I love it when somebody shows concern for the children. The police are concerned because Abbotsford children are exposed to the dangers of plants! In their home!

Abbotsford Police discovered two young children living in a home housing a grow-op Monday afternoon.

While executing a search warrant at a house in the 2900 block on Whistle Dr., the drug squad unit discovered 111 marijuana plants and two children under the age of seven.

The children are under medical care for some sort of respiratory illness that my be related to the grow op, and all relevant information has been passed onto the Ministry of Children and Family Development, according to police.

"Police are particularly concerned when children are involved, and will take steps to ensure the welfare of the children are a priority," said Const. Casey Vinet.

"In all these cases the ministry is notified to investigate possible neglect by parents for exposing children to dangerous conditions."

Some dangers associated with grow ops -- especially for children -- are the accumulation of mold and fungus due to humidity, the presence of toxic chemicals, and an increased risk of violence as marijuana operations are susceptible to home invasions and ripoffs.

Two adults, a man, 34, and a woman, 31, are facing charges of production of a controlled substance.

The couple are expected to appear in court in February.

My goodness, those poor children were exposed to humidity and may even have a case of asthma!

What I want to know is, if having a house full of plants is so dangerous, why is the government issuing medical marijuana licences? People are allowed to have their own legal, indoor grow-ops. Would parents with legal grow-ops be threatened with the kidnapping of their kids for merely exposing their children to plants? Even in a legal grow-op, the children could still be exposed to violence due to home invasions and rip-offs. After all, the reason that cash-strapped parents can make so much easy cash from grow-ops is due to the irrational policy of marijuana prohibition. Legal weed is worth the same amount on the street as illegal weed. Legalize pot and there will be no easy money to be made and children will no longer be exposed to the terrible dangers of plants. It's win-win for everybody.

I will make sure to keep my children away from the Mendel Art Gallery. There must be more than 111 plants in the Civic Conservatory. My poor children must be protected from the harms imposed by plants at all costs.

DrugSense Year in Review

I love these Year End wrap ups. I am going to grab a coffee and get reading.

Everybody hates Drug Dealers

In my internet travels I came across an excellent drug law reform blog called Drug War Rant. After discovering it, I read the content and decided to link it. Last night I stumbled upon his FAQ entitled "Why Should I support Reform?" The gist of the FAQ is wonderful, I really think the drug reform movement has done a terrible job of getting non-drug-users to care about this issue. Unfortunately there is this idea that the Drug War only effects drug-users.

However I have a huge problem with the last question:

Q: I am an illegal drug dealer. Why should I support drug policy reform?

Actually, you shouldn't support drug policy reform.

Drug legalization would put you out of a job, and take away all your profits. In order to continue to sell drugs, you'd have to become a business person, pay taxes, follow regulations, stop selling to kids, make sure your product is not tainted, and a bunch of other things that would make life very annoying for you.

Who would buy drugs from you illegally, if they can get what they need from legal, safe sources? You'd be like some pathetic beer salesman trying to sell black market six-packs of Budweiser on the corner. People would look at you like you're an idiot.

Forget the quick big bucks. Now you'll have to get a job, probably starting at a fast-food place because you don't have a real resume, and you'll have to work your way up like everyone else. Since you didn't finish school, it'll be harder.

Sorry.

This forces me to consider some very important questions. Are all illegal drug dealers evil? Do they sell a shoddy product to children? Do all drug dealers lack real jobs and education? I learned in grade 7 that anybody that passes a joint could be arrested for drug trafficking. This was proven to be a valid definition of drug dealer when we enlightened Saskatonians threw cannabis crusader and drug dealing lowlife, Marc Emery in the slammer for two months for passing a joint. That dude has done a lot for the cannabis reform movement and yet he is considered a drug dealer. This also means that me and every single person that I have shared pot with over the years is a drug dealer. Every member of the SKMP, most of my adult friends and acquaintances, a large number of the adult members of my family, co-workers, teachers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents and college professors are all drug dealers. By this twisted logic, that means that every single person that passes a joint, accepts a joint, splits an ounce with a friend to reduce the cost, gives a joint to a friend who has PMS cramps or sells pot to their grateful friends is a drug dealer. This is a pretty broad definition and it means that 46.1% of the American public and 45.5% of the Canadian public are drug dealers.

So why do drug warriors spend so much time portraying drug dealers as unwashed, needle-sharing, diseased, homeless, morally and financially bankrupt junkies? The gateway theory teaches this common fear as though it were a fact. All drug users start with "soft drugs" like tobacco, beer and marijuana and then end up as junkies. Why is the fear of drug users the driving force behind prohibition?

It seems that the majority of people interested in reforming our drug laws are those of us that have firsthand experience with drug dealers. It is those of us that have seen a marijuana garden firsthand, those of us that have participated in events like the Tokers' bowl or the Global Marijuana March or even just belonged to the silent minority of illegal drug users that realize that the demonization of drug dealers is just plain wrong.

The fact is growing marijuana properly is an art form, just like brewing fine wine. Just ask the likes of Ed Rosenthal or Jack Herer. Drug dealers are talented artisans as well as demonized scum. It is also a fact that without drug dealers the entire cannabis culture would cease to exist. I am extremely grateful to all the drug dealers that keep people like me with a supply of good quality pot.

You see most drug dealers have jobs, families, and would be very happy to pay taxes on our dirty, illegal habits. The current system, that a lot of us drug dealers want to change, prevents us from paying taxes. It supports the notion that there is something terribly wrong with our current way of ife. Smoking the occasional joint and sharing it with your friends is something that must be prevented at all costs. Our way of life is so dangerous and terrible that we must be prevented from harming ourselves by any violent means. Jail, fines and property seizures are all par for the course for the dirty drug dealers.

So, boys and girls, do you see how demonizing drug dealers like me and my friends plays right into the hands of the drug warriors and the prohibitionists? Do you see how harmful it is to embrace and encourage the idea that drug dealers are less than human? If drug users were seen as people it would be far more difficult to justify our continued persecution for enjoying the wrong plants. We have a lot in common with homosexuals. We need to throw open those closet doors and let people know that drug users are both people and make up 12% of the population.

NORML's Top 10 Events That Shaped Marijuana Policy

There are many times when I read the news and I see how widespread reefer madness is and I wonder if we will ever see the end of the War on Drugs. But Norml has an excellent year in review and it is about all the positive events of the past year.

Go read it. It's nice to know that everything isn't all doom and gloom.

I can feel a rant coming on so I'll keep you posted.

Why we need a War on Pop

Did you know that drinking one pop a day will lead to a weight gain of fifteen pounds per year? Did you know that increased pop consumption leads to type 2 diabetes and obesity? Did you know that diabetes leads to impotence? Clearly we need to put an image on pop cans alluding to failed boners, just like the labels Health Canada put on cigarette packaging. Diabetes also leads to blindness, amputations and kidney damage. Pop will leach the calcium right out of your bones and lead to bone fractures.

Did you know that the Big Pop companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi are notorious for marketing to children? They even put pop machines in schools! Do we really want our children, the future of our country, to fall victim to the depravities of sugar addiction? Won't someone PLEEEZ think of the children? Stop letting Big Soda inundate our children with advertising right in the schools. Clearly we have allowed the soda cartel to lead to death and destruction for too long. It is time we acted decisively and shut down every pop company that is marketing its' filth to our children. Let soda fountains, Coca-Cola billboards, pop machines and all objects with advertising for Big Cola be piled up in the Town Square and set alight. Nothing is too good for our children! Don't let the conspiracy to keep the public uneducated about the harms of Pop go unpunished.

Ban Pop!

New law could mean bad news for allergy sufferers

An allergy sufferer gets caught in the crossfire in the War on Meth and this is the best headline that they can come up with? Getting tossed in the slammer for having too much of the wrong drugs is bad news but it isn't surprising.

via Cattalarchy

Afghan heroin's surge poses danger in U.S.

Supplies of highly potent Afghan heroin in the United States are growing so fast that the pure white powder is rapidly overtaking lower-quality Mexican heroin, prompting fears of increased addiction and overdoses.

Heroin-related deaths in Los Angeles County soared from 137 in 2002 to 239 in 2005, a jump of nearly 75% in three years, a period when other factors contributing to overdose deaths remained unchanged, experts said. The jump in deaths was especially prevalent among users older than 40, who lack the resilience to recover from an overdose of unexpectedly strong heroin, according to a study by the county's Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.

"The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics," said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. "We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses."

According to a Drug Enforcement Administration report obtained by The Times, Afghanistan's poppy fields have become the fastest-growing source of heroin in the United States. Its share of the U.S. market doubled from 7% in 2001, the year U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban, to 14% in 2004, the latest year studied. Another DEA report, released in October, said the 14% actually could be significantly higher.

Poppy production in Afghanistan jumped significantly after the 2001 U.S. invasion destabilized an already shaky economy, leading farmers to turn to the opium market to survive.

Not only is more heroin being produced from Afghan poppies coming into the United States, it is also the purest in the world, according to the DEA's National Drug Intelligence Center.

Despite the agency's own reports, a DEA spokesman denied that more heroin was reaching the United States from Afghanistan. "We are NOT seeing a nationwide spike in Afghanistan-based heroin," Garrison K. Courtney wrote in an e-mail to The Times.

I wonder if and/or when calls to legalize heroin and find legitimate medical uses for the Afghan opium crops will ever be taken seriously? This isn't exactly a new idea. Believe it or not there were was a time when heroin was a prescription drug, at least in Britain. Keeping heroin illegal has obvious negative consequences. Overdose deaths are much more likely when the dosage can not be determined.

This potent heroin, which the DEA says sells for about $90 a gram in Southern California, has prompted warnings from some officials who deal with addicts that they reduce the amount of the drug they use. Many addicts seeking the most euphoric high employ a dangerous calculation to gauge how much of the drug they can consume without overdosing. An unexpectedly powerful bundle of heroin, therefore, can be deadly.

"I tell people, 'If you're using it, only use half or three-quarters of what you used to,' because of the higher potency," said Orlando Ward, director of public affairs at the Midnight Mission on Los Angeles' skid row.

This might possibly be the most dire consequence of the thriving opium crops.

AFGHANISTAN'S share dwindled to 6% for much of the 1990s, as competition from Southeast Asia and Colombia grew. Meanwhile, the Taliban was cracking down as it gained territory, virtually eliminating poppy production after taking over the country.

Once the fundamentalist Islamic government was overthrown in 2001, Afghans turned once again to the poppy trade to survive in one of the poorest countries in the world.

A report released Nov. 28 by the World Bank said U.S. and European efforts to end Afghanistan's $2.3-billion opium business were failing.

The production of opium used to produce heroin reached its highest level ever in Afghanistan this year. It accounted for more than one-third of Afghanistan's gross domestic product and 90% of the world's supply of illicit opium, mainly going to Asia and Europe, according to the report.

The poppy crop now drives the economy in some regions of the embattled nation, helping to fund a Taliban resurgence.

via Digby

Year-End Round Up Courtesy of Stop the Drug War

An excellent end of the year post. Go and read it. It's too bad that Canada was not included in the list. If I wasn't so lazy maybe I would do a year-end round up for Canada. Maybe two weeks of unemployment and sheer boredom will compell me to get to work. Who knows.

Don't hold your breath.

Legality is poor policy

Randy White, for those of you that do not follow Canadian politics, is a windbag prohibitionist that is a poster boy for reefer madness. He works with the like-minded organization known as the Drug Prevention Network of Canada. Don't click the link and raise their traffic ranking! They are to the drug reform movement what Concerned Women for America is to feminism. They are a bunch of hand-wringing asshat moralists that are committed to promoting prohibition. Just look at the slogan on their site:

To advocate no use of illegal drugs and no abuse of legal drugs including alcohol, tobacco and solvents.

Apparently only legal drugs can be used responsibly. This despite the fact that legal drugs kill far more people than all illegal drugs combined. So every single drag that I take of my completely non-toxic marijuana is abuse due to the fact that marijuana is illegal. They would rather that the public continue to succumb to reefer madness rather than wake up to the fact that marijuana has never killed anyone in all the years it has been used for medicine and recreation. But I am getting off-topic.

I have linked an absolutely embarassingly terrible letter to the editor written by Randy White. Go ahead and read his article and then come back and read my rebuttal, which has a snowflakes' chance in hell of being published. But hey, what the hell is boxing day for but to write unread rebuttals to bloviating coservative moralists that think that keeping teh gays from getting married should be a priority of the Canadian government? Without further ado, my smackdown.

Randy White’s December 22nd letter promoting the aims of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada left me with a number of questions. The mission statement of this organization sounds very positive. It seems difficult to disagree with “To promote a healthy lifestyle — free of drugs, to advocate no use of illegal drugs and no abuse of legal drugs”. It promotes the unspoken assumptions made by those promoting the prohibition of drugs, that the most dangerous drugs were banned in order to protect the public. I guess nobody told them that legal drugs kill far more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. They also seem to unaware of the hundreds of medical marijuana users that benefit from the use of a formerly illegal substance.

Mr. White and the organization he represents seem to be completely unaware of the total and complete failure of the war on drugs. Thanks to decades of prohibition, all illegal drugs are cheaper, stronger and more widely available than ever before, despite the fact that $400 million a year is spent annually on arresting, prosecuting and jailing drug criminals in Canada.

Unlike Mr. White, I have enough faith in politicians to disagree with his view that all politicians promote wasteful policies. In any case I would rather that this money was frittered away on such non-essentials as health care, education or even another Liberal scandal than to see reefer madness compel the continued persecution of people that make the mistake of enjoying the wrong plants.

Hemp grows with technological advances

Go and read the whole article about the growing hemp industry in Canada. Ever since we legalized industrial hemp in 1998, hemp production has been increasing.

I really liked this angle though:

Canadian nutritional hemp producers have enjoyed a competitive advantage.

Industrial hemp production is still illegal in the United States, where it's feared illicit drug dealers could hide plants high in THC, the psychoactive chemical found in hashish and marijuana, among the industrial plants, which have no psychoactive effect.

While U.S. producers work to change the law south of the border, Canada has had time to set up its own hemp industry just in time to capitalize on two worldwide changes: Exploration of alternatives to pricey and depleting petroleum, and development of crops with smaller ecological footprints.

Technological advances have allowed hemp to replace petroleum-based products for a variety of industrial uses.

So, legalizing hemp gives Canada a distinct advantage. Hopefully we will make so many bucketfuls of money that the Envious Americans will look north and realize that legalizing hemp will not make the sky fall in and they will follow our superior example. Money talks, right? But the War on Some Drugs is fought even more bitterly in America so I won't hold my breath.

16-year-old mother charged after murder after tests reveal drug overdose killed baby

A 16-year-old gives birth to a dead baby because of her drug use. She is threatened with life in prison. There are a few questions that I wish I knew the answer to:

What kind of prenatal care did this woman have access to? Was she treated for drug addiction? Where is the father of her baby and what role does he play? Did she know that an unborn child may die from her drug use? And most important of all:

If a "woman" of 16 years old can be charged for the accidental death of her unborn child, what does this have to say about a woman's right to choose?

Teen drug use drops, with exceptions

Abuse of the painkiller OxyContin by younger teens hit record levels in 2006, a national survey says.

While most other teen drug and alcohol use continued a decade-long decline, teen abuse of pharmaceuticals, including prescription narcotics, barely budged, the survey says.

The annual survey of 50,000 high school and middle school students, released Thursday, was conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

More kids raiding mom and dads' medicine cabinets, less kids raiding liquor cabinets and smoking weed. The whole report from the University of Michigan can be found here.

Drug Users Urged to turn themselves in.

This is some seriously scary shit. Reefer madness is completely out of control in Taiwan. On Sunday bloviating moralists also known as government officials were up in arms because a few celebrities use drugs. They are upset because they promised during the last election to make war on crime. Unfortunately, nobody told them that calling for war on a cause is the best way to doom it. The war on terror has resulted in everybody being scared of brown people. The war on drugs has insured that drugs are cheaper and more plentiful than ever. Declare war on crime and crime becomes rampant. All you have to do is look at the crime and prison rates for America to know that a war on crime increases prison rates.

Prison Rates

"The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 714 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Belarus, Bermuda and Russia (all 532), Palau (523), U.S. Virgin Islands (490), Turkmenistan (489), Cuba (487),
Suriname (437), Cayman Islands (429), Belize (420), Ukraine (417), Maldive Islands (416), St Kitts and Nevis (415), South Africa (413) and Bahamas (410).

"However, almost three fifths of countries (58%) have rates below 150 per 100,000. (The rate in England and Wales - 142 per 100,000 of the national population - is above the mid-point in the World List.)" Link

Crime Rates

It is important to note that each of the most violent episodes in this century coincide with the prohibition on alcohol and the escalation of the modern-day war on drugs. In 1933 the homicide rate peaked at 9.7 per 100,000 people, which was the year that alcohol prohibition was finally repealed. In 1980, the homicide rate peaked again at 10 per 100,000. Link

Anyway, it seems to me that actress and TV hostess Hsiao Shu-sheng has become another celebrity to become famous due to failing to be drug-free. Celebrities still use drugs despite the fact that the trafficking of cocaine is a class 1 offense which is penalized by death or life imprisonment. Taiwan is home to some of the most repressive drug laws in the world. It simply won’t do to have celebrities testing positive for cocaine. What of the children?

But just like in America, where intoxicated starlets like Britney Spears have pics of their nether regions splashed across the internet, Taiwan goes easy on its’ celebrities. The Taiwanese actress and the other entertainers will be required to undergo mandatory drug treatment whether they need it or not. I guess treatment is better than jail. Any celebrity that wishes to turn themselves in and undergo voluntary drug treatment will escape incarceration.

Too bad they can’t extend similar amnesty to the rest of Taiwanese society.

Never Get Busted

Barry Cooper is a former narcotics offer that is hawking a DVD that will help people avoid arrest for drug crimes. I should put this on my Christmas wish list, although it's a bit late for that now.



After getting a flood of fan mail about the non-functioning video (OK one dude notified me that the video didn't work). So I fixed the link. You can also see the trailer on his web-site located at http://www.nevergetbusted.com/

Merry Cephalopodmas!

My kid is still mad at me for this.

"But Mooooooom! Squids are grooooossss! EW!"



(For you igoramuses out there that don't know about the War on Cephalopodmas, I suggest you read this and this.

Pothead to spend a minimum of 16 years in prison

Brown, who pleaded guilty to his first and only offense at age 17, was given probation after a $2 armed robbery in which the victim wasn't harmed and had his wallet returned. But months later, Brown violated his probation by testing positive for marijuana. In most cases of marijuana violations, Texas judges — and Dean — often recommend counseling and allow the defendant to remain on probation with a stiff warning.

In this case, however, without explanation, Brown was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

But this story has a "happier" ending.

The response from the story led to a Web site and protests — pressure that seems to have worked. Brown may soon be on the road to freedom, 16 years after his probation violation.

Nobody can give him sixteen years back. But it's nice to know that activism pays off.

I wonder what race Mr. Brown is? I have a feeling that he isn't white. The war on drugs has been absolutely devestating to minorities. Remember kids, "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."*

Hat tip to PZ and TalkLeft.

*Quoth Harry Anslinger, America's first Drug Czar

Time for some reverse reefer madness

Remember when I posted about the recent spat of articles that claim that the number of drivers that drugged driving is a huge problem? I have decided that the MSM isn’t the only one that can creatively interpret statistics.

We know that the number of people admitting to using cannabis has doubled in the last twelve years. Some stats via FrankD:

Cannabis use by all Canadians

2004: 12% of Canadians used cannabis more than once over the past year
2004: 45.5% of Canadians said they had smoked pot some time in their lives
2004: 14% of Canadians said they smoked pot some time over the past year
2002: 25% of adult Canadians have tried cannabis some time in life
2002: Approx. 7% of Canadians smoke marijuana recreationally (2.2 million)
1994: 7.4% of Canadians said they smoked pot some time over the past year

We also know that the rate of motor vehicle accidents has gone down over the years. The following graph can be found at the Saskatchewan Government Insurance's web site.



As you can see, the number of motor vehicle accidents and the number of casualties has gone down over the years. Do you have any idea what this means?

It is obvious that more cannabis smokers mean fewer motor vehicle accidents. The reduction in motor vehicle accidents has nothing to do with cracking down on drinking and driving or improved safety features in vehicles. It's because there are more people that admit to smoking cannabis. The reported increase in cannabis smokers certainly has nothing to do with the hard work of cannabis activists like Marc Emery or David Malmo-Levine to reduce the stigma attached to being an admitted pothead. Statistics never, ever lie.

Marijuana : Mexico's Dandelion

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico - Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with pesticides.

This is a perfect example of evolution in progress. The indiscriminate spraying of toxic chemicals in Mexico results in marijuana plants that survive year-round.

Now you know why they call it weed.

Hat tip to Drug War Rant

More Drugged Driving Reefer Madness

OTTAWA -- Canadians who say they have driven after smoking drugs has more than doubled since the late 1980s, according to a study that reports young men drive while high just as often, or even more, than they drink and drive.

Almost five per cent of the 4,639 drivers surveyed said they had driven within two hours of using marijuana or hashish in the previous year an average of 24 times, said the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse.

"The evidence we have is that the behaviour is increasing," said Doug Beirness, senior research associate for the federally sponsored agency. "Another factor that makes us believe it's an issue of concern is that it seems to be most concentrated among young people." Research remains inconclusive, however, on whether the hike in drugimpaired driving has contributed to car crashes causing injuries or death, said the study.

Do you think it's a coincidence that this research reinforces the Tories bid to push through drugged-driving legislation? No, me neither. But even in this article they admit that there is no proof that drugged-driving is a cause of traffic accidents. This just goes to show that if there is a political agenda to be promoted, any study will be interpreted as evidence.

I would like to point out that the rates of cannabis use has been increasing over the years, despite the War on Some Drugs so it really shouldn't be surprising that the incidence of drugged-driving is increasing. What this doesn't prove is that the drugged-driving legislation will reduce accident rates. Statistics should always be carefully scrutinized. The studies are influenced by factors such as the stigma to admitting use of illegal drugs, reefer madness and the honesty of the respondents.

Speaking of studies, here is a study that proves that women need to be married to be happy via Twisty.

More Proof that the Gateway Theory is Bullshit

This is no news to anyone that is well-versed in the marijuana legalization movement. But I do feel debunking the gateway theory is extremely important because a lot of people are completely unaware that there is no scientific evidence to support it. This lie is still taught to children and is often repeated. I have even had "discussions" with like-minded people that believe in the gateway theory. Teachers and parents were all taught reefer madness and they repeat it to their kids. It's going to take a long time and a lot of work to undo the damage that the gateway theory has done to the cause of legalizing marijuana.

So without further ado, run on and read the latest research about the gateway theory.

Link

Safety First

The Drug Policy Alliance just recently updated their wonderful parent-child manual about drug use and abuse called Safety First. I highly recommend this publication for any parent or teacher that wishes to keep kids safe without using counter-productive "Just Say No" scare tactics.

Here is the pdf link to the Safety First booklet. Check it out!

* I think I will add these to my blogroll.

From today's Dear Abby

(December 18, 2006)

DEAR ABBY: When I learned that my 16-year-old son and his friends were high on marijuana at school, I reported them all to the administration. As a result, they were suspended from school for eight days. His friends' parents are furious with me, and now I am beginning to question whether I did the right thing.
My friends tell me I was right to do what I did. My son said I should have left his friends out of it. Apparently their smoking has been ongoing, and I do not believe it would have stopped unless they faced disciplinary action. By the way, I am a middle school teacher. What do you think? -- SECOND-GUESSING MYSELF IN SOUTH CAROLINA

DEAR SECOND-GUESSING: While I don't approve of minors getting high on anything, your solution was needlessly Draconian. Your son's friends' parents are angry because you did not consult them before reporting their children and allow them the option of handling the matter themselves. Frankly, I see their point. I think you jumped the gun, and you owe them an apology.

-----------------------------------

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Eight days of detention for smoking some grass seems a little counter-productive. These kids already like to get high, what do you think they are going to do on their eight days off? Those parents probably have jobs and aren't able to supervise those kids for that long. Not only that, they are going to get so far behind in their school work. I know what I would be doing on my eight day vacation. Puff puff pass, hand me the damn cheetos. I thought we were trying to encourage kids to stay in school????

Thanks Herb!

Illegal Drugs & How They Got That Way

Crack and Cocaine



This is a series and there are two more parts. The above show is about crack and cocaine. Although I do know quite a bit about drugs I still have a lot to learn. I need to expand my drug knowledge horizons beyond weed, since the War on Some Drugs effects all drugs.

Opium and Heroin



Thanks to Herb for sending this in EFSDP's mailing list.

Hooked - Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way (Vol. 1)

Here is a documentary from the History channel. I watched the first bit of the show and it looks promising. I am not in a movie mood right now so let me know what you think of it.

Cash value of pot crops is highlighted in report

SACRAMENTO -- For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report to be released Monday by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay.

California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined -- and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.

The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter-century despite an anti-drug effort by law enforcement.

Those numbers are shocking. Pot is worth $35 billion dollars a year? It's worth more than the value of grapes, vegetables and hay combined? It's amazing to think that the government is losing out on all that tax revenue due to the black market which they helped create. The economic impact of this misguided social policy is unconscionable.

Predictably, the propogandists at the White House Office of National Drug Control policy don't want to hear it.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, cited examples of foreign countries that have struggled with big crops used to produce cocaine and heroin.

"Coca is Colombia's largest cash crop, and that hasn't worked out for them, and opium poppies are Afghanistan's largest crop, and that has worked out disastrously for them," Riley said. "I don't know why we would venture down that road."

Riiiiight. Is that why opium production is sky-rocketing in Afghanistan?

"It's almost the devil's own problem," CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told Congress last month. "Right now the issue is stability. . . . Going in there in itself and attacking the drug trade actually feeds the instability that you want to overcome."

"Attacking the problem directly in terms of the drug trade . . . would undermine the attempt to gain popular support in the region," agreed Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. "There's a real conflict, I think."

Not only do I give you definitive proof that the War on Some drugs has had a huge and devestating impact on the economy, I give you one more reason why the Bush admin should get the hell out of Afghanistn. It's a two-for-one kind of deal.

But Mr. Riley also mentioned something about Columbia? The drug war has had a devestating impact on Columbia. What the US government has done to Columbia's people and the environment in the name of the War on Some Drugs is criminal.

Since early January, pilots from DynCorp, working under contract to the U.S. State Department and under the supervision of the Colombian National Police, have been spraying glyphosate over indigenous and Afro-Colombian villages in the fragile rainforests of Chocó on Colombia’s Pacific Coast. Ostensibly they are working to eradicate the coca crops that have sprung up in the region in recent years, as fumigations to the south in Putumayo, Guaviare, and Narino have pushed coca cultivation into new areas, and the utter destruction of local communities and economies has forced more and more people into the lower rungs of the cocaine economy. Rain recently forced a temporary halt to the fumigations, but they are slated to resume once the rain stops.

The reason why "it hasn't worked out for" Columbia is your government's insistence on using chemical warfare to fight the War on Some Drugs, among many other things.

What a Horribly Hateful thing to Say

Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who heads the city's Stop Marijuana Grow Ops steering committee, described last week's busts as a "huge victory" in the fight against drugs.

"It comes down to organized crime and making profits. They will sacrifice their families to make a profit," said the Ward 13 alderman. "I hope that if these parents are found guilty, that they never get their kids back."

I hate to break it to you Ms. Colley-Urquhart, but those children don't give a crap that they were exposed to all the "dangers" of grow-ops. They love their parents, flaws and all. We are talking about exposing children to plants and electrical cords. If grow-ops are so bloody dangerous then why is it that we continually hear about the dangers of grow-ops in the media yet we never hear of any grow-op related casualties? The War on Some Drugs, on the other hand, kills many people. This is not in dispute.

I would call children being forcibly removed from their loving parents for growing the wrong plants a terrible tragedy. This is further evidence that drugs need to be legalized, so that children aren't needlessly taken from their parents and so that children aren't exposed to any more "dangers".

How to Make Drugs Boring, In Five Simple Steps

I was thinking about this idea, that keeping drugs illegal and unregulated adds to their appeal to young, foolish impressionable teenagers. I agree with that whole heartedly. I recall being treated to an anti-drug presentation put on by the RCMP when I was in the seventh grade. The RCMP lectured us about the dangers of drugs that noe of us were exposed to like marijuana and LSD. I impressed the hell out of my classmates by declaring that "I know what marijuana smells like!" whilst strutting around. Meanwhile, nobody said anything about the legal drugs that we were experimenting with at the ripe old age of twelve, such as tobacco and alcohol. Maybe they had the same mindset as groups such as The Drug Prevention Network of Canada, that all use of illegal drugs is abuse and some use of legal drugs is acceptable.

The RCMP came and lectured us impressionable young'uns and brought us glass cases full of drugs and drug paraphanelia to admire. I saw little tabs of acid with pictures of cartoon characters on them, proof that drug dealers were targetting children. I saw joints rolled up in pretty, colorful paper. I listened as the police informed us that passing a joint to your friend was trafficking and would result in us being put in jail for a very, very long time. This all had the effect of making illegal drugs seem very cool!

I do believe that encouraging teenagers to stay drug free is a worthy goal. I think that there should be a sixth step added to the "How to Make Drugs Boring" List.

6. Show Respected Adults Using Drugs*

If most teachers were seen using a bong, it wouldn't seem quite so cool and rebellious anymore.

In light of that fact, maybe I should make a youTube movie of me smoking a joint. There is nothing more uncool than the sight of me smoking. If that doesn't stop the little punks from smoking weed, nothing will.

* Assuming that I am a respected adult, of course.

Marijuana and Liberal Bad Faith

This blog post by Stephane Dion, the new liberal party leader, gives a very accurate history of the Liberal party's cannabis policies over the year. He is a bit long-winded but I thought it was an excellent recap.

This is why the police love prohibition

Kids will be much more motivated to stay away from drugs if they see the cops spinning around town in the Drugs*Are*Really*Excellent-mobile.

See kids? Drugs are bad, unless you are a police officer. Then you can use your authoritah to seize property and gain respect and recognition for "protecting" the public from themselves. Don't be a drug dealer kids, be a cop!

I guess I was wrong after all

The police busts are working! All the pot sellers are giving up and getting real jobs. Also, the cops arrested the parents and girlfriend of the Winnipeg shooter after discovering 3.15 kgs of marijuana in the home.

Looks like I have to get a new cause, seeing as I was totally wrong! The police were right to raid that house THERE WAS 3.15 kgs of merry-jooo-wanna in the house! They did absolutely no wrong! The cops are winning the war on some drugs. I better shut down this blog, hide my head in shame and blog about my pets instead.

Another Cop Shot During a Raid

Not another one so soon???

Ex-Cop editorializes that we must deliver a mighty smackdown

It's time for more on the Winnipeg Drug Raid Gone Terribly Wrong. Robert Marshall is busy demanding that we "Make noise for real justice"

After reading Marshall's sentimental meanderings about his cop buddies, we are all treated to the following insightful critique:

A switch to a Conservative government has brought strong efforts toward a long-overdue shift. Changes that would put some teeth and guts back into our jelly-like system.

So where are those changes today? Where else? Held up by parliamentary committees and hindered by opposition parties that won't support them. In their zeal to get elected last time around, Liberals and the NDP promised the moon and pledged a new era of "get-tough," but as usual instead of stepping up to the plate, they've withered.

What does that even mean? I read that and I have no idea what this ex-cop expects us to do. It sounds like a call for vague "get tough on crime measures" such as mandatory minimum sentencing. But I looked for an explanation as to how our system is jelly-like and what we are supposed to do about it and I didn't find one.

This story is about alleged drug dealing that was ongoing from the comfort of a home in an average neighbourhood, where legal consequence translated to "who cares." And ends with a will to kill in the name of protecting the business. A shotgun ambush.

Lots of meaningless inflammatory rhetoric but no substance. We haven't finished the investigation and we still haven't determined what happened during this raid. For all we know this is a case of a terrified kid that thought he was defending himself from home invaders. Maybe the police followed the standard operating procedure for drug busts to a tee. I do not think it matters either way.

Why don't I blame the police or the shooter? I said it before but I will say it again. The drug war is to blame. Make no mistake, every single drug raid has the potential for violence. If we are going to send police officers into potentially dangerous and deadly situations, then we have a responsibility to make sure that the potential loss of life and limb is worth it. The whole concept of drug raids is the problem. We need to legalize and regulate drugs, especially marijuana, in order to stop police officers from being killed or injured unnecessarily. If drugs are legally available, there won't be a need to do any drug raids.

I am sure that is what the author of this article meant when he said:

The injuries sustained by our officers are life altering. For them, their families and their squad.

Winnipeg is bigger than Mayerthorpe. We should be able to make more noise. Penner, Murray and Cull should hear that noise on their long painful road of recovery. And it should be heard all the way to Ottawa.

At least the vague calls to arms weren't the only opinions put forth about the Winnipeg shooting. There were some rather interesting LTE's and a statement from Winnipeg's Chief of Police.

Since I am too lazy to rant today

Go read this and laugh.

I Don't Blame Police For Incident

Gordon Sinclair Jr. offers his insight into the disastrous Winnipeg police raid of a kid who was allegedly using and/or selling the Wrong Drugs.

Feel free to click the link and read the article in its' entirety. Read about the tsunami-like flood of letters that were received regarding the conduct of the police officers. He opines that while he does not blame the police for what happened, he does believe that the incident needs to be investigated in an objective manner.

But the readers want to know. What about the officers' families? Why haven't we heard from them? They put their lives on the line every single day to protect the lives of the public and this is how we treat them?

I agree with Sinclair that the actions of the officers needs to be investigated. However the blame for this incident falls squarely on the drug war. And part of the blame for the drug war falls on the police. The police are the biggest prohibitionist lobby in Canada. You would think that the police would oppose prohibition. They are on the front-lines on the war on drugs yet they seem to be incapable of seeing that the violence and crime are the direct result of prohibition. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising when you consider that prohibition fuels the police budget and is giving them more power and authoritah.

I would have far more sympathy for the police if they had the guts to oppose prohibition. Outside of LEAP, the police are overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining prohibition and demanding more power and resources to win the war on drugs.

I have the following statement to make to police:

Does it feel good to participate in drug raids? Is it satisfying to do a job which is completely worthless and does nothing to reduce the number of drug users, drug addicts or make an impact on the supply of illegal drugs? I like to think that most police officers enter the force to make a positive impact on society and protect the public. Yet that mission is corrupted every time they do another drug raid or preach to school children about the bullshit gateway theory.

I am finding it difficult to have sympathy for the officers when they are partially responsible for this bullshit war on drugs in the first place.

What is the Harper government trying to accomplish?

I was thinking about yesterday's story, about Canada looking to the United States for advice on our drug policy. It's bad enough that we are looking to a nation whose drug policy has been a costly disaster. The United States incarcerates a disproportionate number of people of color. The war on drugs costs billions of dollars per year without having a significant impact on the number of drug users. In order to ignore these facts, our elected representatives have to be either willfully blind and stupid or desperately trying to win brownie points from the US government.

But let's pretend for one minute that the war on drugs could succeed and would succeed, if only we poured enough money into law enforcement, built enough jails, locked up enough brown people and gave up enough of our civil liberties. What would we have accomplished?

In the case of marijuana, we would have taken one of our most beneficial plants and wiped it off the face of the earth. Marijuana is an extremely safe recreational substance. Nobody has ever suffered a fatal overdose while using it, it is not linked to cancer and is highly unlikely to be implicated in motor vehicle accidents (despite the Tory governments' pointless drugged driving legislation). Not only that, it is a medicine which is cheap and highly effective. Big Pharma isn't very happy to know that there is an easy-to-grow weed which is highly effective in treating a wide range of ailments, including nausea, AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain.

More criticism:

U.S. shows us what not to do

Canada looks to USA for drug policy hints

Conservative cabinet ministers and their aides are consulting with "keen" U.S. government officials on a new national drug strategy for Canada, according to internal documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

"There have been various senior-level meetings between U.S. officials and ministers/ministers' offices," states a summary of a June 16, 2006 meeting on the Tory drug initiative, involving bureaucrats at nine federal departments and agencies.

"U.S. officials have been keen to discuss drug issues with the current government."

This is a confirmation of my worst fears about where Canadian drug policy reform could go. The last thing we should do is take advice from the United States. No-knock raids, disproportionate jailing of minority groups, gang violence, increased numbers of drug users and billions of wasted dollars are all they have to show for fighting their War on Some Drugs. Why do we want to follow in their footsteps?

Proof that the RCMP is completely out of touch with reality

The RCMP, which has publicly taken a neutral position on Vancouver's Supervised Injection Site for drug addicts, has produced an internal report harshly critical of the pilot project.

The three-page analysis, obtained by The Vancouver Sun, suggests that the "harm reduction" approach -- helping addicts avoid overdosing or contracting HIV-AIDS -- actually encourages drug use.

''The RCMP has concerns regarding any initiative that lowers the perceived risks associated with drug use," states Staff-Sgt. C.D. (Chuck) Doucette, Pacific Region co-ordinator of the RCMP's Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness program.

''There is considerable evidence to show that, when the perceived risks associated to drug use decreases, there is a corresponding increase in number of people using drugs."

It is hard to read the headline without cringing. But the rest of this article is absolutely appalling. Let me get this straight. The RCMP would rather have drug addicts facing the full risks involved with highly dangerous behaviours such as injection drug use. These risks include disease, overdose and violence. Exposing people to these risks is A-OK because it discourages drug use? That is taking a childish and simplistic approach to drug addiction, which is a complex and multi-facetted problem. Prohibition, popular culture, poverty are all factors which encourage drug addiction. But I doubt that those factors were considered when the report was written.

Insite is a safe injection site in Vancouver. Clients are allowed to inject their own drugs at the site and are supplied with the necessary equipment to make this a safer experience.

For some reason this line of thinking reminds me of the wingnuts south of the border that will do anything to keep people from having sex. Abstinence-only "sex education" is taught as the only acceptable way to keep people safe from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

This is the same idea being promoted. It is better to have the drug addicts die or get diseases then to reduce the harm caused by their addiction. It’s better to have teenagers get diseased or pregnant than to have safer sex. It’s almost like the RCMP believe that the only thing preventing your average law-abiding citizen from shooting up is the threat of AIDS.

I agree with the viewpoint put forth by the following article:

Needless to say, we wouldn't expect, nor would we permit, scientists to patrol our streets, as police officers do. But unfortunately, we do need to say that we shouldn't expect police officers to conduct evaluations of scientific experiments, as scientists do.

It certainly isn't the first time that the RCMP has been given unwarranted decision-making authority.

Update on the Winnipeg Shooting

Last Saturday I reported that a shooting occurred during a drug raid in Winnipeg.

Here is a timeline of the events, courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press:

How it happened

This is the sequence of events as described by witnesses to the police drug raid on 723 Jubilee just before 11 p.m. December 7.

1. After a squad of 12 police officers, some in uniform, some in plain clothes, secure the area around the 1,180-square-foot bungalow at 723 Jubilee, they break through a side door.

2. Bonnie Anderson, 55-year-old mother of the accused, is on the phone talking to her sister when police come through the door announcing themselves as "Winnipeg police". She screams. The family's two dogs are barking.

3. Daniell Ian Anderson, 21, is in his bedroom getting ready to watch the rented movie, Chasing Christmas. He bolts for the bathroom directly across the hall.

4. Anderson's girlfriend, 20-year-old Ashley Cochrane, is in the darkened living room turning off the outside Christmas lights. A police officer, described as wearing a "windbreaker" identifies himself to her as being with the Winnipeg Police Service.

5. After a police officer announces there is someone in the bathroom, a gun discharges from inside the bathroom. Three officers are wounded.

6. Anderson, having had three fingers of his left hand blown off and suffering another gunshot wound to his right elbow, is "dragged" out of the side door as his mother watches.

7. At 11:12 p.m., an ambulance is called to Jubilee and Cockburn -- a few doors away from the target home -- and conveys Anderson to St. Boniface Hospital.

Let me see here. Armed thugs bust down your door screaming and brandishing weapons. Do you think that grabbing a gun, hiding in the bathroom and defending yourself is a reasonable response?

Even if this kid had been selling drugs, there is absolutely no excuse for breaking down his door. What exactly was this supposed to accomplish? As Ken pointed out in the comments, this is standard operating procedure for the police. If they surprise the alleged drug dealer, they may prevent him from flushing his merchandise down the toilet. Although one has to wonder how much merchandise could possibly be flushed in the short period of time it takes to inform the inhabitants of the raid. Surely this isn't necessary for raids on homes with large quantities of drugs. Is it possible to stuff a few kilos of marijuana down the toilet as the cops stand outside your door? It's terrifying to think that marijuana users are being targetted like this.

Did the police think that Anderson was anything other than a kid selling a few bags of weed to supplement his income? How can the police possibly justify their actions? Were they acting on a Crime-Stopper tip?

This incident is just one more reason that the War on Some Drugs needs to end. Unfortunately, due to our cowardly politicians and uneducated public, there will be many more tragedies like this before this senseless death and destruction finally comes to an end.

Just realize what we could become.

Think about grow-ops next time you use pot

It's time for yet another editorial blaming all the drug-users for the growth of grow-ops and all the hazards that they cause. We have the usual hysteria about mold, electrical fires, and gun-toting crooks guarding their valuable crops. The misguided editorialist then implores the pot-smokers to consider the impact of their illegal habits and put down the bongs for the sake of all humanity.

But the author does make the following concessions at the end of the article:

To you we would say that, yes, we could fully legalize marijuana. And perhaps if we had politicians or a population with enough courage to push for this, we would.

But until that day, perhaps you should consider what your pot smoking does to others when people are willing to break the law to grow it for you. It's not a pretty picture.

I would rather that the policy makers consider the harmful impact of prohibition. If decades of reefer madness, gang violence, criminal records and social stigma are not detterants, than the threat of grow-ops are certainly not going to stop anybody from using marijuana. The market for marijuana is a huge mutli-billion dollar industry and its absurd to think that it is going to go away anytime soon.

The threat of grow-ops is ridiculously overstated. We always hear about the threat of fires due to faulty wiring but I certainly do not recall hearing about an outbreak of grow-op induced fires (correct me if I'm wrong.) Reading about the threat of mold is even more laughable. Should we then fear common potted household plants because of the mold they might be harboring? Marijuana man did a far better job repudiating the grow-op fears than I could ever hope to do.

More Drug War Casualties

A suspected drug dealer hiding in a bathroom fired a shotgun blast through the door -- hitting two police officers -- in the seconds after police raided a Jubilee Avenue home for drugs, police sources said Friday.

A third officer was shot in the leg by a fellow officer, the sources said, in the seconds of chaos that followed one of the bloodiest attacks on police in Winnipeg's history.

Daniel Ian Anderson, 21, who is charged with attempted murder, was chased down after he fled the house at 723 Jubilee.

Believe it or not it gets worse.

A 21-year-old alleged gang associate and former high school football player charged in the shootings of three city police officers may have fired at them because he thought they were home invaders, lawyer Greg Brodsky said late Friday.

Brodsky said Daniel Ian Anderson may have fired at the officers because police did not properly identify themselves when they burst into his family's home at 723 Jubilee Ave. just before 11 p.m.

"There's going to be a lot of that said before this is over," Brodsky said.

"It's going to be a hell of a surprise."

Brodsky said he spoke to Anderson's parents, identified as Montgomery and Bonny Anderson, but has not yet spoken to their son. Sources said the Andersons had been the victims of a home invasion, which might explain why their son took such extreme action.

This reminds me of the no-knock raids which have killed so many innocent bystanders in the USA.

And on and on it goes!

Call renewed for full-time SWAT team

Sat Dec 9 2006

By Jason Bell
WINNIPEG needs a full-time, heavily armed SWAT team to respond to drug busts and other potentially dangerous searches, says the boss of the local police union.

Loren Schinkel noted every other major Canadian city has a tactical team dedicated to that kind of situation, while Winnipeg is taking a big gamble by calling out its Emergency Response Unit on a case-by-case basis.

"The reality is, with 80 per cent of the warrants executed in Winnipeg by the drug unit, weapons are located," he said. "We're really rolling the dice."

Speaking in the wake of the shooting of three officers late Thursday night, the president of the Winnipeg Police Association said an emergency response tactical unit should be in place to handle all search warrants at suspected drug houses.

It's a funny thing, this tragedy is turning into Mayerthorpe 2.0. The Winnipeg Free Press is turning into a hotbed of prohibitionist rhetoric. Not a single thing has been written about ending prohibition and ending the need to give the police yet more power and resources. It's unfortunate that this reaction fails to shock or surprise me.

Constable who admitted stealing drugs appeals dismissal

An Ottawa police officer, ordered to resign after he admitted to stealing and smoking crack cocaine, is appealing his dismissal.

Calling the sentence "unduly harsh and punitive," Const. Kevin Hall filed his notice of appeal to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services yesterday, four days after Police Services Act hearing officer Terence Kelly ordered that he resign within seven days or be fired.

In his notice of appeal, Const. Hall alleges Mr. Kelly failed to give "proper weight and consideration" that his drug addiction is considered a disability under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Should the cop get his job back? Maybe he will have a bit of compassion for drug addicts. But we certainly don't want compassionate people in the police force, do we?

More on the Pothead Teachers

Turns out they may not be potheads after all.

A lawyer for one of two teachers accused of smoking marijuana in a car near Mililani Middle School denied there was ever any marijuana involved and said it is a misunderstanding.

Police booked Mililani Middle School teachers Lisa Luhrsen and Ben Ayson on charges of promoting detrimental drugs. The two were smoking marijuana in a car before school, police said.

Ayson's attorney, David Gierlach, said the language arts and physical education teacher was not smoking anything illegal.

"The one thing he wanted to make absolutely clear is that he was not smoking dope before school started. He and his friend were sharing a cigarette, a Benson and Hedges cigarette," Gierlach said.

This is indeed frightening. So a couple of teachers shared a before school cigarette and some jerk phones the police? Don't people have anything better to do? I have come across a carful of my co-workers enjoying their tasty death sticks and all I did was make bad jokes. As if teaching children, one of the most poorly paid and thankless jobs on the planet, wasn't bad enough. Now if you are in the teaching profession you get to worry that a nosy parent can end your career.

Drug-Driving: Scouge on Society

*If the Tory gov't gets its' way, we will never have to see THIS again.

One of my favorite things to do is to read the drug war news that I get from MAP in my email. I can see all the tactics that the wingnuts use to scare people into fearing drugs and I can also learn all the positive moves that activists are making in support of ending prohibition. It is quite enlightening when you realize how much time, money and energy is wasted on some really pointless measures.

Take the Tories Drug-Driving legislation. Some of the highlights are:

Under the new bill, the minimum fine for a first offence of either drug-or alcohol-impaired driving would be $1,000 rather than the current $600. A second offence would bring a mandatory 30 days in jail rather than 14, a third offence 120 days rather than 90.

In the worst cases, the maximum sentence would be life in prison for impaired driving causing death and 10 years for causing bodily harm.

The Tory bill also creates a new offence of being in care and control of a vehicle while in possession of an illicit dug - something like driving with an open bottle of beer.

The penalty would be a mandatory six-month prohibition on driving, in addition to jail time that could run up to five years. Link

There have been numerous stories about the proposed bill, some in favor and some opposed. My favorite argument in favor of the drug-driving bill reads as follows:

The Prime Minister is striving to make driving while high as unacceptable as driving drunk. This new legislation will not only help to prevent drug IMPARIED driving related crimes, but it will also help to raise awareness about the issue. Link

You mean the Prime Minister wishes to stop me from careening down the highway with beer bong in hand? Years of drinking and driving propoganda have failed to impress upon people the foolishness of driving while impaired? I find that hard to believe. If education is what is required, I fail to see why a new law is needed. Let MADD hand out some more red ribbons and give it a rest. Impaired driving is already illegal. What this really is is an excuse to infringe upon our civil liberties via drug testing that does not detect impairment.

It seems to me that there are far more important issues than trying to pass a bill that Vic Toews' admits was basically identical to the bill written by the liberals:

But Toews admitted, when pressed by reporters, that the core of his legislation - setting out the legal steps police must follow to prove drug impairment - is taken straight from a bill proposed by the previous Liberal government.

"In that respect, it's essentially the same," said the minister.

He went on, however, to point to areas where the Tories had "enhanced" the Liberal approach - mainly by boosting the penalties upon conviction.

The liberals failed, why do the Tories think that the same bill with increased penalties will be successful?

Bah, humbug!

Researchers say smoking pot not always path to hard drugs drug use

Shocking, I know!

"This is actually quite novel, this idea," Dr. Tarter said. "It runs counter to about six decades of current drug policy in the country, where we believe that if we can't stop kids from using marijuana, then they're going to go on and become addicts to hard drugs."

But the data doesn't support that contention, he noted. The findings were published in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry.

The best part was at the end.

According to Dr. Tarter, drug use prevention messages should minimize "slippery slope" scare tactics and emphasize healthy living. Interventions to foster values and attitudes that resist illegal behaviors and to strengthen parenting skills could be helpful.

It's possible to identify children who are at high risk for drug use years before they begin experimenting, Dr. Tarter said.

"Nothing is carved in stone, especially at this age," he said. "But the longer you wait, the harder it is to change."

Pothead Teachers Get Arrested

I should put this in my "WON'T SOMEONE PLEEZ THINK OF TEH CHILDREN!!11" files.

The Department of Education has launched its own investigation into the arrests of two Mililani Middle School teachers yesterday on suspicion that they smoked marijuana off campus before school began.

Police identified the pair as Lisa Kay Luhrsen, 36, of Waipahu, and Benjamin Albert Ayson, 32, of Kane'ohe.

Both teachers have been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, according to DOE spokeswoman Sandy Goya.

"They were arrested and posted bail," Goya said.

The offense is a petty misdemeanor.

I wonder if they had been caught drinking some tasty choir-practice-worthy alcoholic beverages if anybody would have gotten their collective panties in such a bunch. I doubt that the police would be involved or anybody would talk seriously about firing the teachers. I often wonder what would happen if I brought a bag of pre-rolled joints to a staff school social function. Well, thanks to the internet and reefer madness, we don't have to wonder. Straight to the slammer and the pogey line for you!

Maybe they can come to Canada, where professors with medical exemptions get smoking rooms.

Carson High scraps second issue of student paper

Carson High's student newspaper has run afoul of school authorities for the second consecutive week, this time over articles that argue for legalized marijuana, the benefits of masturbation and greater sexual freedom among teenagers.

After consulting with his superiors, Principal Kenneth Keener decided to postpone Wednesday's scheduled publication. He said that three signed opinion pieces needed better writing and alternative viewpoints.

Last week, an edition of the Trailblazer was withdrawn after publication because of an anonymous article that among other things compared rowdy black students at a nearby Taco Bell to a "pack of monkeys." At the time, all sides agreed that the issue would be quickly reprinted without the offending piece.

But new problems arose because "even if you are presenting an opinion piece it should include pros and cons," Keener said. "The article about legalizing marijuana doesn't talk about any of the consequences of breaking the law or talk about research that marijuana is a gateway to other drugs."

Somebody needs to tell Keener and Co. that the gateway theory is bullshit. Does he not see the contradiction in talking about the consequences of breaking the law in an article about legalizing marijuana? Dude, if it were legal it wouldn't be breaking the law anymore and then there would be no legal consequences. See how that works?

Don't you love how they mention a racist article about monkeys at the local Taco Bell, and then mention the marijuana legalization piece right after that? You know, because being racist is on the same level of stupid as advocating for the legalization of marijuana. Those silly children, where do they come up with these crazy ideas?

Now, I am not a journalist, I am merely a know-it-all smarty pants with a shitty blog that nobody reads, but I do know that editorials do not require offering more than one point of view. I personally could never write an editorial that presented both sides of the legalization dealio because I feel strongly that prohibition is a horrible evil. I don't see two sides of the issue and I highly doubt that most people do. That's like asking a pro-lifer to argue in favor of abortion.

The masturbation piece starts by listing slang expressions for what it calls "America's favorite forbidden pastime."

The article, Keener said, is something "students may be interested in, but was it correct to be printed in a student newspaper?"

OH NO NOT MASTURBATION! We can't have kids touching their own body parts. And then discussing it in a newspaper. This is too terrible to contemplate.

This reminds me of my high school days when we had a very well-intentioned lady, who I suspect had never had an orgasm, talk to us about how sex would infect us all with nasty diseases unless we waited until we were married. When one of us cheeky monkeys asked about masturbation she acted horrified and offended that any of us could think of such a terrible thing. See, the thing is nobody gets sick or pregnant from masturbation, otherwise I would be a diseased mom of 435435 children, I tellz you the truth!

My goodness, we certainly can't have people admitting to having the most natural and beneficial drive known to humanity!

I have never understood the taboo about masterbation and I guess I never will. Everybody does it and if they don't they should. And yes I include myself in that statement.

Great, I just admitted that I masterbate. This is going to come back to haunt me one day.

In conclusion, these free speech-hating school officials and parents need to chill out. I hope these kids fight the establishment and get to publish their controversial articles.

What good is high school if you aren't allowed to think for yourself?

Not Much Better than DARE

Public education, while beneficial to society, is a subject which causes me a great deal of consternation. Without a doubt it is an institution which has improved with the passage of time thanks to some hard-working individuals in our community. I am eternally grateful to the public educators that saw bullying as an issue which has the potential to ruin education for every student in the school system. The seven virtues are now taught in elementary schools system-wide in Saskatoon. When I was in kindergarten I remember being face-washed every recess by older kids. Then when I reached the ripe-old age of nine I exacted revenge on an unsuspecting kindergartener, thus perpetrating the cycle of violence in the playground. I remember feeling pangs of guilt about this type of behaviour, but I knew in my little forth grade heart that bullying was no big deal. I am grateful that in comparison to my grade-school experiences my children have been relatively untouched by daily aggression and unrelenting bullying.

However, being an opinionated know-it-all school marm is not easy when there are still so many things wrong with the school system. For example, in the early part of this week I had the misfortune of sitting through an absolutely terrible bit of reefer madness indoctrination presented in a public school classroom and incorrectly labeled as "drug education".

A police officer accompanied by two handsome and charming young men came into the classroom and detailed their experiences talking to the homeless substance abusers they encountered while on the infamous East Hastings Street in Vancouver. They talked about desperate homeless people that will do anything for their next fix. These people were living in unimaginable filth, stealing, and prostituting and living only for their next dose of coke, heroine or morphine. They are homeless and live in back-alleys, full of urine, feces and used needles.

The police officer was not in uniform, although he chose to wear his gun. I should have assured him that the children aren't THAT bad. He talked about how the bad guys always get caught. The handsome young dudes talked about the numbers of dealers on the street and the fact that there is nothing the police can do about it, completely contradicting what the police officer had previously stated.

Now before I go on and tell you about the absolutely horrible hair-raising part of this program I want to make something perfectly clear. I have no problem with telling children about the uglier parts of real life. There is nothing wrong with teaching children about homelessness, drug addiction and poverty in an honest way. What I do have a problem with is the lies and nonsense told to this room full of impressionable school children by supposedly trustworthy authority figures.

The police officer said, "These drug dealers do not care about you or who they destroy. They will get you hooked and all they care about is your money. People start by drinking beer and smoking pot and the next thing you know they are doing needles."

Would any self-respecting teacher teach their students the discounted gateway theory? I certainly hope not. The gateway theory has been roundly debunked and there is no excuse for teaching this trash to children.

I have a different scenario that the police officer and all police officers everywhere should consider. The black market supply of drugs is irregular. It isn't like a liquor board store. Your friendly neighborhood drug dealer may run out of your drug of choice (in this case marijuana) and may offer you a stronger alternative such as cocaine, heroin or the much-feared meth. While I realize that teaching children the futility of the war on drugs may be inappropriate, I do not see how anybody can defend or justify telling kids that pot and beer always leads to harder drugs. This is unscientific garbage that should not be taught to kids!

Here is another thing to consider. I know that the high schools in this city are literally awash with marijuana. If you know where to look I can guarantee that you will find stoned kids in class. I have seen kids smoking pot, I have smelled it in communication books, on the jackets of pre-schoolers and I have smelled the cloud of marijuana around the groups of Goth kids as they walk past me in the hallway. Kids love their dope. While I do not in any way condone or approve of this behaviour, I do realize it exists. I also know that these kids sat through (and ignored) the very same reefer madness indoctrination that I witnessed this week. And I know that the majority of them are not going to become homeless, unwashed, prostituting, thieving, needle-sharing drug addicts.

Why do you think that is? Maybe these kids have an older brother or sister, parent, kokum, mooshum, auntie or uncle that smokes marijuana and they know firsthand that it is a relatively benign substance. I also hate to think what a terrible thing it is to teach inaccuracies to children about marijuana. What if they find out that marijuana has been unfairly demonized and then come to the conclusion that the school system lied about meth too? Horrors!

So yes, I do like public education but the continued reefer madness indoctrination is something that I have a HUGE problem with. I hated sitting through that entire presentation with my thumb up my ass, feeling helpless against the onslaught of bullshit. I wanted to ask a question or make a comment that would let everybody know that I think this presentation is full of evil wrongness but an appropriate comment failed me, until later. Then I realized I should have asked the police officer innocently, "So do all the drug dealers go to jail?" What could he possibly have said in response to that?

Of course, teaching kids the truth about marijuana, that it is about as addictive as caffeine, kills less people than stingrays, and does not cause cancer, may actually make people feel A-OK about using marijuana and pretty pissed about the War on Some Drugs. And we simply can't allow that to happen!

Full Grass Documentary

Thanks to Herb I can now see the whole movie.

Another Great You Tube Video

GRASS - History of Marijuana Part 1

This is a wonderful look at the history of the prohibition of marijuana. It is quite enlightening.



And here is part 2.

Frightening Thing Happened at Work Today

I was at an unnamed Saskatoon Public school when I saw a picture of a grade one student that had the words BLOOD CONTACT WARNING under his name. So I asked one of my co-workers what the sign meant.

Co-worker: "It means that he may be positive"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Co-worker: "He was playing on the playground and he got jabbed by a dirty needle."

Me: "#$*#(*$)$)@@#$^%&?!?!?! Really?"

This is horrible! Kids finding and getting stuck with dirty needles on a public school playground? This is frightening as hell. Imagine if it was your kid that got the needle jab and had to have HIV testing.

I hope it doesn't take a kid getting HIV for Saskatoon to finally get a safe injection site. Parents and teachers better make sure to talk to their kids about dirty needles. I'll make sure to lecture mine tonight!

If you find a dirty needle:

- Tell an adult.
- DO NOT TOUCH A DIRTY NEEDLE. Getting poked with a dirty needle can give you or your friends a serious, life-threaening illness. Never, ever pick it up. Let an adult take care of the needle.

That about covers it, eh?

A Great Stocking Stuffer

My own kids have bought the reefer madness bit and this book might be just the anti-dote that they need.

Why I love Air Farce

The NDP: Out of the frying pan and into the fire

Some interesting remarks were made in the legislature on Nov.23, 2006.

Ms. Draude: — Mr. Speaker, the NDP went to great lengths to ensure that you can’t smoke a cigarette in a café in Saskatchewan. Yet the federal leader of the NDP Party says you should be able to smoke a joint in a café.

Mr. Speaker, does the Premier support this leader? To the Premier: should you be able to smoke up in a Saskatchewan café where other people including children may be present and harmed by second-hand smoke?

I would invite Ms. Draude to read the resolution that was passed by the NDP. It reads as follows:

WHEREAS cannabis has a long history of social, religious and medicinal use in a wide variety of cultures around the world;

WHEREAS government figures estimate 3 million Canadians or 14% of Canada's population are current cannabis users, and about 45% of Canadians have used cannabis during their lifetime, and that virtually all these people are otherwise law-abiding citizens;

WHEREAS numerous public opinion polls conducted since 2000 show that most Canadians support eliminating criminal penalties for cannabis;

WHEREAS the value of the Canadian cannabis industry is estimated at between 5 and 20 billion dollars, and that if taxed and regulated this industry would generate substantial revenues for provincial and court time and resources,

WHEREAS the two major Canadian studies into the effects of cannabis and cannabis law, the 1971 LeDain Commission and the 2002 Canadian Senate Report, both recommended removing punishment for personal cultivation and possession, with the Senate report also recommending that cannabis should be regulated and made legally available to adults,

WHEREAS Canada's federal NDP advocates for non-punitive cannabis legislation, and in February 2006, the BC NDP passed a resolution showing their support for non-punitive marijuana laws,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Saskatchewan NDP support the Federal NDP's call for a non-punitive approach to cannabis law, including elimination of all penalties for personal cultivation and possession by adults, and actively work to institute non-punitive cannabis policies at the provincial level.

I read the resolution a few times. I did not see any mention of allowing cannabis cafes or smoking in public. The resolution merely acknowledges the futility of the prohibition of cannabis.

I think I better write a letter to both Ms. Draude, for her ill-informed remarks. And to Mr. Addley for the weak ineffectual response to Ms. Draude's ill-informed remarks. I'll post them if I get around to writing them.


Hat tip SKMP

Niagara addicts turn to prescription drugs

Hopefully this will mean fewer cases of AIDS.

Why does that feel like such a creepy thought?

It frightens me that these people are in charge sometimes.....

"I can't seriously see people (being) opposed to this type of legislation," said Toews, noting that similar measures are already in force in many American states.

Ha ha

new legislation 'unfairly targets marijuana users'

Russell Barth says it better than I ever could:

Regular medical marijuana users are being unfairly targeted by the Conservative government's new drug-driving legislation, which will increase penalties and make it easier for police to crack down on people who do drugs before getting behind the wheel, a national advocacy group warned Wednesday.

"This law, we feel, would unfairly target marijuana users," said Russell Barth, a medical marijuana user and member of the National Capital Reformers. "Discriminating against us based on our medication . . . is much like discriminating against us based on the colour of our skin."

Justice Minister Vic Toews revived on Tuesday a Liberal-era bill designed to catch drug-impaired drivers through roadside checks and blood samples, an initiative that has failed twice before and raised concerns about court challenges.

Let's hope that this measure fails again.

School Board rejects drug test grant

It said no Tuesday to a four-year federal grant that would have paid for random drug testing of some high school athletes. It said no to a national study that would have let the federal government evaluate drug use among Citrus students.

They made the right choice.

Mom punches teacher

What was the biggest mistake made in this video? Allowing the drug-testing to take place? The teacher revealing the results in such a public and unprofessional manner? Or the parent for punching the teacher in the face?

It's kind of a toss up.

School district settles suit for no money

A former industrial arts teacher at Abingdon High School who lost her job in 2004 after she was accused of letting students make drug paraphernalia in class has reached a settlement with Abingdon District 217.

I have to wonder, did the teacher make a major lapse in judgment by knowingly allowing her students to build drug paraphernelia? Or was this teacher just remarkably naive. Pipes and bongs can be made out of apples, tin cans, pop bottles, and copper pipe (to name a few building materials.) Did those kids get marks for creativity? I wonder what those pipes and bongs looked like.

I wish I knew the whole story.

Saskatchewan NDP Convention Endorses Pot Decriminalization

The Saskatchewan NDP are having a convention this weekend. I wish I would have gone there now! We moms never leave the house except to work, buy groceries or go to a kid-involved school event. Next time I will make sure to show up.

I knew that the SKMP was going to go to this event and I knew that Dana Larsen, who is the founder of eNDProhibition, was going to be there. And instead I enjoyed my kid-free evening by playing Tetris! I am an incorrigible nerd, that I am.

I was very happy to hear that the resolution to deal with cannabis in a non-punitive manner was almost unanimously endorsed. I was very pleasantly surprised by that news. I have always thought that Saskatchewan was rather conservative and not ready to embrace a more progressive drug policy. I have obviously misjudged the Saskatchewan NDP and I am very happily wrong.

In my pro-cannabis dealings I have had an overwhelming number of people support our cause. It is kind of exciting but it makes me think: Now what? I would love to be more involved the Cannabis culture but I am not sure how to do that. Should I start a medical grow or a hydroponics shop? Should I dress up in a giant leaf costume and parade around downtown educating people about the wonders of cannabis? Join eNDProhibition? Join a committee for the SKMP?