US Marijuana Party

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Paramilitary Law Cements Colombia's Double Standard

By Sean Donahue,
Posted on Wed Jun 29th, 2005

Any pretense that the U.S. and Colombian governments were cooperating in a real war on cocaine trafficking in Colombia was erased completely last week when the Colombian Congress passed the Orwellian "Justice and Peace Law" which allows paramilitary leaders implicated in drug trafficking to get off with a slap on the wrist, hold on to their wealth, maintain their terror networks, and escape extradition by making vague confessions and accepting light prison sentences.

This despite the fact that the Uribe administration's own study on demobilization, prepared in secret two years ago, concluded that paramilitaries are responsible for at least 40 percent of the cocaine trafficking in Colombia.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Justice Souter's House Under Eminent Domain Threat?


Press Release

For Release Monday, June 27 to New Hampshire media
For Release Tuesday, June 28 to all other media

Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter's land.

Justice Souter's vote in the "Kelo vs. City of New London" decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

"This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

Clements' plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise investment capital for the project. Clements hopes that regular customers of the hotel might include supporters of the Institute For Justice and participants in the Free State Project among others.

# # #

Logan Darrow Clements
Freestar Media, LLC

Phone 310-593-4843
logan@freestarmedia.com
http://www.freestarmedia.com
---------------------------------------------------

MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! How sweet is that? I hope the Board of Selectman comes up with three votes....and in New Hampshire they just might do it.

Action Alert

Ask your Representative to SUPPORT H.R. 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005

Currently, the United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop, according to a 2005 Congressional Resource Service (CRS) report. Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only minute (less than 1%) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Farmers worldwide grow hemp commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products, including food.

Advocate records medical marijuana radio ads

Montel Williams joins Oakland woman in national campaign
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Inside Bay Area

The voice of Oakland's Angel Raich might soon be emanating from radios near and far as medical marijuana advocates launch a nationwide advertising blitz.

The Marijuana Policy Project on Monday sent CDs with 30- and 60-second spots to 1,000 radio stations from coast to coast.

The campaign includes ads with Raich, a plaintiff in the recently decided U.S. Supreme Court case, and television talk show host Montel Williams speaking about how medical marijuana has helped them survive serious illnesses. Raich uses marijuana for a variety of maladies, including a wasting syndrome, while Williams uses it to control symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Another pair of spots features novelist Tom Robbins describing his mother's battle with glaucoma.

"We are proud to partner with these three distinguished Americans to bring a message of hope — and accurate information — to patients and those who love and care for them," said MPP communications director Bruce Mirken.

Although the Supreme Court ruled federal authorities can enforce the federal marijuana ban even in the 10 states with medical marijuana laws, Rhode Island lawmakers have just passed a medical marijuana bill that could get a gubernatorial signature this week.

The MPP ads are available online at www.mpp.org/media/psa.html.

Medical Marijuana? Rhode Island Says Yes

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 29, 2005

The Rhode Island legislature passed a bill yesterday allowing the use of medical marijuana, three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that federal authorities could prosecute those who use the drug for medicinal purposes, even in states with laws allowing it.

The bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 33 to 1 last evening and will head to the desk of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, who is likely to reject it. Supporters of the bill, which passed the House 52 to 10 last week, are confident they have the necessary three-fifths majority to override a veto and make Rhode Island the 11th state to authorize patients to use the drug.

The law would allow those with a "debilitating medical condition," including cancer, glaucoma and AIDS, to receive a signed statement from their doctor stating they would benefit from marijuana. Patients and their caregivers would be entered into a registry kept by the State Department of Health.

Patients, who must be Rhode Islanders, would receive a state registration card allowing them or their caregivers to grow up to 12 marijuana plants indoors or possess up to 2.5 ounces without being arrested. Doctors would be able to prescribe the drug for only five patients at a time.


Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds

UN report says world drug use rising, led by cannabis, but ecstasy declining

Canadian Press

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Global drug use is on the rise with cannabis leading the way, but synthetic narcotics such as amphetamines and ecstasy are declining, a UN report said Wednesday.

About 200 million people around the world - or five per cent of the global population between the ages of 15 and 64 - use drugs at least once a year, the 2005 World Drug Report said, analyzing figures from 2003 and 2004. The number of drug users had increased by 15 million from last year's report.

In Afghanistan - where a majority of the world's opiates are produced - the amount of land dedicated to growing opium poppy increased to record highs, but bad weather ruined much of the crops so that the global increase in opium production stayed at two per cent, the report said.

The overall retail value of illegal drugs sold worldwide in 2003 was about $322 billion US - higher than the individual gross domestic product for 88 per cent of the world's countries, the report said.

Marijuana and hashish remain by far the most popular street drugs. Almost 161 million people had used cannabis at least once, up from about 150 million a year earlier. The use of cannabis is likely to grow in coming years, said the report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

However, the use of amphetamines and ecstasy dropped, mainly in the United States and Southeast Asia, the report said.

Amphetamines was still the world's second most popular drug, with 26 million users, while there were an estimated 7.9 million ecstasy users worldwide.

The report said the main "problem drugs" globally for people seeking help at treatment centres are cocaine and opiates, such as heroin. In Europe and Asia, 62 per cent of those seeking help for drug abuse in 2003 were addicted to opiates, while 59 per cent of all drug treatment in South America was for cocaine. Cannabis was the most common drug for people seeking treatment in Africa and North America.


UNODC 2005 World Drug Report

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Loretta Nall now Featured on Cultural Baggage Radio

I would like to thank my friend Dean Becker for inviting me to do a weekly spot on his awesome and highly respected drug war radio show.
Please check out Drug Truth Network listen to the shows and then pass it on.

DRUG TRUTH NETWORK UPDATES:


4:20 Drug War News now online for 06/27/05 to 07/03/05

Monday: 06/27/05 Norm Stamper former police chief of Seattle & author of "Breaking Rank"

Tuesday: 06/28/05 Reporters Dennis Bernstein of Flashpoints & Loretta Nall of US Marijuana Party & Pot TV

Wednesday: 06/29/05 Howard Wooldridge & horse Misty cross America for Law Enforcement Against Prohibiton

Thursday: 06/30/05 Philippe Lucas, N Americas First High THC study, at Vancouver Compassion Club

Friday: 07/01/05 Drug War History,
Drug War Facts


Saturday:
07/02/05 Poppygate, Fully Informed Jury PSA

Sunday: 07/03/05 Loretta Nall chops drug war at knees

The Cultural Baggage 1/2 hour program for 06/24/05 is now online featuring Norm Stamper, former police chief of Seattle and author of "Breaking Rank."

MP3

Listen to Cultural Baggage Live on Friday, July 1st, 7 PM CT KPFT . Guests: Blair Anderson from New Zealand and Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt from Great Britain discuss US involvement in drug reform in their countries.

All DTN programs available at DrugTruth & Audioport

"The court's decision to allow surveillance and control of America's gardens and windowsills is ludicrous." - Houston Chronicle, June 10, 2005

Dean Becker
281-752-9198
Drug Truth Network/Pacifica
419 Lovett Blvd.
Houston, Tx. 77006

"Best FM Talk Show" ­ Houston Press, 2004 (Cultural Baggage)
"Best Radio Commentary" ­ Houston Press, 2003 (4:20 Drug War NEWS)

Federal Funding for Mental Health Screening of Kids

by Rep. Ron Paul, MD

On Friday Congress defeated an amendment I introduced that would have prevented the federal government from moving forward with an Orwellian program to mandate mental health screening of kids in schools. This program, recommended by a presidential commission, has not yet been established at the federal level. However, your tax dollars are being given to states that apply for grants to establish their own programs – and a full-fledged program run by the Department of Health and Human Services is on the way.

Nearly 100 members of Congress supported my amendment. Many of these members represent Texas and Illinois, two states that already have mental health screening programs in place. They have heard from their constituents, who believe intimate mental health problems should be addressed by parents, kids, and their doctors – not the government. These parents do not appreciate yet another government program that undermines their parental authority.

The psychiatric establishment and the pharmaceutical industry of course support government mental health screening programs in schools, because they both stand to benefit from millions of new customers. But we should not allow self-interested industries to use a government program to create a captive audience for their products.

full article

Lawmakers Press For More Prison Funding

Channel Oklahoma.com

McALESTER, Okla. -- Hoping to draw attention to the funding needs of the Department of Corrections, a group of lawmakers walked the floor of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Monday in the garb of prison guards Monday.

The short tour of duty came after Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, held an appropriations subcommittee meeting in the warden's board room. Corn, whose Senate budget subcommittee handles prison funding, said conditions at the penitentiary illustrated problems throughout the system.

"We want to be tougher on crime than any other state around us," said Corn, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety. "We have got to find some creative solutions for funding."

More Marijuana Treatment Referrals Coming from Justice System

JoinTogether.org

The majority of treatment admissions for marijuana came from the criminal-justice system in 2002, according to a new report from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The Drug and Alcohol Services Information System (DASIS) report found that 58 percent of all marijuana treatment admissions in 2002 resulted from referrals from the criminal-justice system, compared to 48 percent in 1992. The report also found that those admitted to treatment from non-criminal-justice sources were more likely to be daily users of marijuana and other drugs, such as alcohol, cocaine, opiates, or other substances.

Home Grown: Why cannabis is the new DIY boom

Most of the cannabis consumed in Britain is now cultivated domestically. Terry Kirby reports on a vibrant cottage industry

Independent, UK
28 June 2005

In countless spare rooms, attics and garages, hundreds of thousands of leafy plants are being lovingly tended, their roots fed by nutrient-rich water, their leaves bathed by hot lamps 24 hours a day.

And if the neighbours have a room with the windows blacked out from which emanates a rich, earthy smell, they are probably growing something far more potent than tomatoes.

They are likely to be part of an unprecedented boom in domestic cultivation of cannabis, which is now believed to account for more than half of all the drug consumed in Britain.

Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply

By Sonni Efron
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and congressional allies are gearing up to renew a plan for drug eradication in Latin America despite some grim news: The $5.4 billion spent on the plan since 2000 has made no dent in the availability of cocaine on American streets and prices are at all-time lows.

United Nations figures released this month show that coca cultivation in the Andean region increased by 2% in 2004 as declines in Colombia were swamped by massive increases in Peru and Bolivia. And the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said last week that the anti-drug effort had had "no effect" on the price or purity of drugs in the United States.

The findings have fueled skepticism in Congress, where conservative groups have joined efforts to lobby against continued funding. The National Taxpayers Union called the anti-drug program a "boondoggle."

Nonetheless, a House committee last week approved the administration's request for $734.5 million for next year as part of a foreign aid bill. Debate on the bill could start as early as today. President Bush also may unveil a renewed multiyear commitment to South American anti-drug efforts this year when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch U.S. ally, is expected to visit.

Monday, June 27, 2005

White House Drug Plan Excludes Anxiety Drugs

TalkLeft is reporting that the White House has excluded anxiety drugs like ativan, xanax and valium from Medicare coverage. The elderly will have to switch to a less addictive medication or pay for this class of drugs out of their own pocket.

READ MORE...

I see a possible return of grandma and grandpa growing that miracle weed in the back yard.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING

26 June 2005

On this International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, we celebrate the choice that millions of people around the world have made to live healthily, and we applaud the courage shown by those who have stopped using drugs. In doing so, we send a positive message to all people who use or might be tempted to use drugs: “Value yourself... make healthy choices”.

This day is also an occasion to highlight the fact that nearly 200 million people are still consuming illegal drugs. These drugs might have names that sound colourful or enticing, such as crack, pot, junk, crystal meth, and disco biscuits. But these are little more than tickets to a dead end. For those trapped by addiction, treatment is a way out, and the choice to seek treatment is not only courageous, but often life-saving. Those who have not ventured down the path of drug abuse should learn the lesson from those who have, and firmly choose not to.

Making healthy choices also means choosing a lifestyle that has a positive effect on the body and mind, including, for example, participation in sports to improve health and well-being, teach the value of teamwork and discipline, and build self-confidence.

On this day, let us strengthen our collective resolve to live in a society free of drugs, and let us encourage all our fellow human beings to make personal choices to lead healthy lives.
-Mr. Kofi Annan

Pot decriminalizing measure up for debate

By Jon Brodkin
Milford Daily News
Monday, June 27, 2005

PA - Lawmakers on Beacon Hill today will debate a proposal to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, a measure advocates say would save the state at least $24 million a year and prevent pot smokers from losing government student loans and scholarships.

The bill, filed in the Senate, would make marijuana possession a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine.

"As far as public opinion is concerned, this should pass," said Whitney Taylor, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts. "Voters are way ahead of the politicians on this."

Voters in six legislative districts approved nonbinding measures in favor of marijuana decriminalization last November, according to the Drug Policy Forum. Since 2000, there have been 36 ballot questions regarding decriminalization, medical marijuana and marijuana taxation and regulation, and voters approved every one, the group said.

But the bill being debated today has been around six years without being implemented, and lawmakers are reluctant to pass it.

Sheriff conference addresses meth epidemic

RYAN LENZ
Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The message about methamphetamines was simple for sheriffs from around the nation who gathered to exchange ideas about curbing production: Law enforcement needs help.

Sheriffs from across the nation went to the National Sheriffs Association's annual conference, which began on Sunday, to discuss such topics as meth and the ongoing battle with prescription drug abuse.

Later Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales instructed the sheriffs to spread the word about the usefulness of the Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement officers more ways to detect and combat terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.

"I know how important the tools of this act are to the war on terror," Gonzales said. "No one has provided me with evidence that the Patriot Act is being misused or abused."

Sunday, June 26, 2005

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

Generally, I avoid the words "I told you so" because I find them to be among the four most useless in the English language. However, this recent development calls for those words like no other.

New parolee return rate climbs

By John Davis
Montgomery Advertiser

Sixteen percent of state inmates purged from the prison system in the past two years are finding their way behind bars again -- a 10-percent jump from a year ago.

In April 2003, the state began a program to accelerate the release of nonviolent criminals as a way to relieve prison overcrowding. Now more of these inmates than ever are returning to the system.

"We expect it (the recidivism rate) to grow even more," said Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

In July of last year, the board reported that only 6 percent of the special docket inmates were returning to prison. That number has grown steadily and is catching up with the 22-percent return rate of parolees who were not fast-tracked.

The state has paroled 4,174 inmates through the program, and 679 have returned to prison.

The move to purge the prison system of nonviolent offenders meant a 31-percent increase in paroles last year, the second-highest increase in the nation.

"We had just an overwhelming lot of work," said Scott Perkins a probation and parole supervisor. "We were struggling just to keep our head above water."

By August of last year, the special docket paroles slowed to a trickle, but Pardons and Paroles still had to watch over all of the parolees, leading to the hiring of more officers.

"Our caseloads are still higher than we want them to be," Perkins said. The department oversees 39,923 probationers and 7,603 parolees.

"We're trying to get more and more into the rehabilitation mode," Perkins said.

The governor's office characterized the accelerated parole program as a short-term solution. The program did push the overall prison population down to 25,977 prisoners in October of last year, but inmate numbers are once again on the rise, hitting 27,585 in April.

During the last legislative session, some lawmakers moved to disband a special docket parole board, but the measure never made it to the governor's desk. Riley has said he's in favor of disbanding the special docket parole board if its work is done

Trooper accused again of forcing another couple to strip

By Tony Gordon
Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer
Posted Thursday, June 23, 2005

An Illinois State Police trooper was charged Thursday and accused for a second time of forcing people to remove their clothes to avoid prosecution.

Jeremy Dozier, 31, was arrested late Thursday morning on official misconduct charges stemming from an April 29 incident in Gurnee.

Dozier, who has been a state trooper for 10 years, faces similar charges in Cook County for a June 16 incident along the Edens Expressway and Route 41.

In both cases, officials said, Dozier forced the young couples he encountered to disrobe and run around in exchange for Dozier not citing them for what he said was illegal activity.

Suit claims police brutality

Beaver County Times

BEAVER, PA - Five Beaver County residents have sued Beaver, its police department and officer Jeff Wijnen-Riems in federal court, claiming they were brutalized by Wijnen-Riems and their civil rights were violated.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, seeks damages in excess of $75,000 for each of the following parties: Lorri Stiles and her husband, Joel Koslicki, both of 431 Rotteck St., Baden; Christopher E. Green of 239 Taylor Ave., Beaver; and Robert Capo Sr. and his son Benjamin, of 790 River Road, Beaver.

According to the lawsuit, filed by Ambridge attorneys James Ross and Charles F. Bowers III, Wijnen-Riems displayed a pattern of attacking people, and though his superiors in the police department were notified, they did nothing to stop the incidents.

According to the lawsuit, Green was at the Beaver police station on July 7, 2003, at the request of police who were investigating an incident that was not detailed in the lawsuit.

Green was taken to an interrogation room, where, the lawsuit says, Wijnen-Riems screamed at Green and accused him of giving police false information. Green was then handcuffed, and Wijnen-Riems slammed Green's upper body into a window, which shattered, injuring Green, the suit says.

Robert Capo and his family, after his unsuccessful run for mayor prior to September 2004, was being harassed by police, according to the suit.

On Sept. 28, 2004, Benjamin Capo was arrested after Wijnen-Riems was citing him with not having a light on his bicycle. Capo walked away as Wijnen-Riems was citing him, according to court records, and Wijnen-Riems is accused of assaulting Capo while arresting him and after taking him to the police station. The lawsuit says Wijnen-Riems put Capo in a chokehold, slammed his head into a glass door and hit his head with a clipboard.

When Capo's father arrived at the police station, Wijnen-Riems attacked the elder Capo, according to the lawsuit, putting him in a chokehold and slamming him into a wall, also injuring his wrists with handcuffs.

Both Capos were charged with various offenses, but those charges were dismissed in a preliminary hearing before District Judge C. Douglas Loughner.

According to Beaver Police Chief Anthony Hovanec, earlier complaints the Capos made about Wijnen-Riems' behavior that night have been forwarded to the FBI for investigation.

In another accusation, Stiles said she was arrested on Oct. 21, 2004, after she witnessed a fight at the McDonald's restaurant in Vanport Township.

When she approached Wijnen-Riems to tell him what she had seen, he "recognized Stiles as the person who wrote an editorial about the Beaver police in the local newspaper the previous year and told (Stiles) to shut up and insisted she was drunk," according to the suit.

Stiles was arrested and her blood tested, but no alcohol was found, according to the suit. But she was still taken to the Beaver County Jail, the suit says, where she remained for seven days after Wijnen-Riems charged her with aggravated assault by vehicle while driving drunk, along with other charges. The outcome of those charges was not available Friday afternoon.

Also according to the suit, Wijnen-Riems called Stiles' husband and told him that Stiles was having sex with another man in the back seat of a police car the night of her arrest and that she had tested positive for Viagra.

Attorneys said that along with the complaints in the lawsuits, others were made to Beaver police against Wijnen-Riems, but that Beaver police did not properly investigate the claims or discipline him.

Hovanec said Friday that he hadn't seen the lawsuit, so he couldn't comment on it or any of the allegations within it. Wijnen-Riems could not be reached for comment Friday.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Family grieving after father is shot and killed

Peoria Journal Star, IL

According to police, David L. Green, 47, was under investigation by the West Central Illinois Task Force when officers came to his rural Glasford home to serve a search warrant at 6:10 a.m.

Illinois State Police Capt. Kenneth Yelliott said Green confronted officers with a long gun and a handgun and pointed the handgun at officers after being told to drop his weapons.

An officer Yelliott described as a veteran fired at Green, who was later pronounced dead at the home.

An autopsy Friday shows Green died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, according to Fulton County Coroner Steve Hines. He said Illinois State Police asked him not to release the number of shots fired at Green.


Green's ex-wife Linda Mordue:

"I'm not trying to say what he was doing was OK," she said. "But in 14 years I'm sure they've busted people for things more serious than watering marijuana plants."

Mordue said she thinks police have been arrogant about the shooting when she asks questions. She also believes police were out of line, and Green did not have to die.

The History Of Marijuana As Medicine

CBS 5, CA

Transcript: WLOS asked man to smoke pot

Asheville Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE — Federal prosecutors Friday reviewed a court transcript in which a WLOS-TV reporter describes prodding a source to smoke marijuana for a news story and referred the case to the Buncombe County district attorney.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards said he sent the case to Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore’s office “for them to handle in whatever manner they deem appropriate.”

In a WLOS report about the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Steven William Ward was seen rolling a joint and puffing on it. Ward, at the time of the June 8 broadcast, was awaiting sentencing in federal court for threatening to kill a judge.

His probation officer saw the footage, resulting in a hearing Tuesday in which U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell revoked Ward’s probation and sent him to prison. The judge found that Ward had violated the terms of his probation by using drugs.

Probation officer Eric Simpson testified that after the segment aired, Ward said he took two puffs of marijuana but didn’t inhale. But in a later interview Ward denied the substance was marijuana, as he did on the stand during Tuesday’s hearing. Simpson also said a drug test performed on Ward turned up negative.

In closing arguments to the judge, Edwards called the claim the substance wasn’t marijuana “just incredible” and said a drug test could easily come back negative if only one or two puffs were taken.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Proposed federal anti-drug cuts decried

WASHINGTON -- Local law enforcement officials decried Thursday huge budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration to a national network of drug-interdiction task forces, including one that provided more than $12 million to the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area this year.

Members of the Maryland State Police, Baltimore Police Department and the Charles County Sheriff's Department joined a bipartisan group of senators and representatives on Capitol Hill to protest President Bush's recommendations to cut funding for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programs by more than half.

Under the administration's budget, funding would be reduced from $227 to $100 million for the coming fiscal year.

Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, a Democrat who has long supported the program, said that his state likely could make up part of the $12 million spent in his region this year. But to do so, he said, would miss the beauty of the anti-drug effort.

"It's the coordination" among local, state and federal narcotics officials (this translates to "federalization of the local police" LN) that makes the task forces so successful, Hoyer said.


READ MORE
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So, 2.5 million American citizens in prison, largely due to the drug war, is a beautiful thing?

Millions of families ripped apart is a beautiful thing?

Untold monetary, societal and human life costs are a beautiful thing?

And...dead Police Officers, countless other dead, injured, orphaned or widowed victims, a rise in violent crime, criminal gangs, police corruption,rising drug use combined with lower costs, higher purity and easy (UNRESTRICTED...dealers don't ask for ID) access of dangerous drugs to our kids equals SUCCESS?

Someone please explain this to me. I must be a simpleton or something because I can't reconcile "success" with any of the things I see as products of the "drug war".

Former Crossville mayor, police chief sentenced for rape of 10-year-old

Former Crossville mayor, police chief sentenced for rape
6/24/2005, 5:37 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The former police chief and mayor of Crossville has received a 20-year sentence for the rape of a 10-year-old girl, Attorney General Troy King said Friday.

A DeKalb County jury convicted Ronald Dale West in March of first-degree rape, which occurred in December 1997 while he was police chief.

According to the Attorney General's office, West took the child to visit her great-grandfather in the hospital, stopped at a fast-food restaurant and then drove her around to look at Christmas lights. He then took the girl to a secluded back road and raped her, authorities said.

"The violation and pain he inflicted upon an innocent child must not be tolerated," King said Friday in a statement. "I hope that this verdict and the delivery of justice will bring some measure of comfort to the victim and her family."

Under the 20-year split sentence, West will serve five years in prison, during which he will be ineligible for parole, King said. He will then serve five years of probation with the remainder of the sentence suspended.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Yes Attorney General King, I am sure that young girl and her family will feel much safer after the rapist cop spends 5 years in prison.

The average sentence for first degree felony marijuana possession in Alabama is 6 years and one month while the average sentence for child molestation is 5 years.

I don't know about y'all but, I would much rather have a non-child molesting pot smoker living next door to me and my kids than a child sex predator who hides behind his badge.

Even though Troy King might not admit it publicly I am sure he would feel the same.

US man makes $13,000 from pennies

BBC

Some people may not consider it worth bending down to pick up a penny, but Edmond Knowles knows their value.

After 38 years of collecting pennies, Mr Knowles has cashed in his collection which totalled a whopping $13,084.59 (£7,182.69).

The 1,308,459 one-cent coins - known as pennies - stored in his garage in Alabama, weighed 4,082kg (4 tons).

The 62-year-old said he planned to use the money for his retirement, home repairs and medical expenses.


No word yet on how many of the pennies the government plans to seize from Mr. Knowles.

Eminent Domain and the Drug War

CNN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including -- but by no means limited to -- new jobs and increased tax revenue," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a key swing vote on many cases before the court, issued a stinging dissent. She argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers.

The lower courts had been divided on the issue, with many allowing a taking only if it eliminates blight.

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," O'Connor wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
-------------------------------------------------

This is, of course, an unbelievable decision, but it is what has been happening to us, disguised as asset forfeiture and carried out under the drug war, for years.

Basically, if local governments find your piece of real estate to be of monetary value to them then they can take it from you and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

This ruling is a classic example of
"I told you if they take away my rights they will eventually take away yours" and I think all reformers and others who care about this issue should seize this opportunity and point out the paralells.

Two weeks ago the SC ruled that we have no rights to our bodies and now they have ruled that we have no private property rights.

I see a big opportunity to bring over former enemies and turn them into allies.

Making the SC's eminent domain ruling unenforcable in Alabama will be part of my election platform in the gubernatorial race that is looming on the horizon.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Senator Specter May Introduce Med MJ Legislation in the Senate

Philly.com

Arlen Specter says he "may introduce legislation" in the Senate in favor of medical marijuana.

The U.S. senator, who has long supported the use of human stem cells for disease research, told Your Humble Narrator yesterday that he's in favor of a state's right to decide whether to allow its doctors to prescribe marijuana.

Specter himself, who is battling Hodgkin's disease, could be a candidate for medical marijuana use.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that federal agents could arrest people who use doctor-prescribed marijuana in states that have authorized it, including California and Oregon.

Medical research has proven the drug successful in reducing pain and nausea in people with cancer and other diseases.

Specter's remarks to the Daily News came before a speech at the Loews Hotel (12th & Market), where he was honored by the Philadelphia Bar Association.

He vowed during his speech to beat his cancer. His spirits were up, and he joked several times about the Bar Association medal, which disappeared after rolling under a row of tables when it was to be handed to him.

The medal was later found by a Loews staffer and Bar Association Chancellor Andrew Chirls presented it to Specter, none the worse for wear.

Pain Relief in the 'Land of Plenty'

by William Campbell Douglass II, MD

God have mercy on you if you live in this "Land of Plenty" and develop some form of horrific pain. You’ll end up with "plenty" alright: plenty of unnecessary pain and suffering. The government is so obsessed with "fighting" drugs that they’ve destroyed the ability of doctors to reduce suffering among their patients.

Police Use A Taser On An 82-Year-Old Man

D.K. Wright
State Journal, WV

MARTINS FERRY, OH - On Saturday morning 82-year old Alfred Jim Edwards reportedly urinated in Martins Ferry's City Park. Police say they questioned him about the urinating, and he started to walk away several times....and finally they say he resisted arrest. Police then used a taser on the man. Edwards' family says he has dementia and he was frightened and confused, but never combative. Martins Ferry Police Chief Barry Carpenter called the FBI in to investigate, and they say if they find there was excessive force or civil rights violations, the officer will face discipline.

Torture by Taser

Fort Worth Weekly, TX

Since the 1950s, guards at jails and prisons have used stun batons — cattle prods — and stun belts on prisoners considered to be dangerous. Those devices carry a jolt of about 5,000 to 10,000 volts. Then in the early 1970s, police began using early-generation TASERS — an acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. The punch these early Tasers carried was equivalent to or slightly stronger than that of a stun baton.

But those early Tasers were a far cry — a long, agonized scream, victims might say — from the powerful weapons being used by police today. In 2000, TASER International of Arizona introduced the M26, which the company touted as being nearly four times more powerful than its predecessors. Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, the gun shoots two fish-hook-barbed electrical wires that can travel up to 21 feet and deliver a 50,000-volt shock in a cycle that lasts five seconds. It can also be fired by placing the weapon in direct contact with clothing or skin. The shock renders the recipient instantly immobile, and the five-second cycle may be increased if the officer continues to hold the trigger down. The M26, with bright yellow striping across a black body, comes equipped with “built-in laser sights and an onboard data chip that records the time and date of each firing to back up an officer’s use of force reports.”

But for a weapon whose makers crow about its “stopping power,” Tasers occupy a strange place in the police rulebook. Law enforcement officers learn what is called a “use of force continuum” to determine what means or weapons they may use in different situations. The “continuum” begins with simple police presence, then moves up to issuing commands, then the use of open hands, and after that, pepper or other chemical sprays, closed hands (including elbows and knees and other takedown moves), the use of a hard baton, and finally, the use of lethal force.

You might think Tasers would fit somewhere near the “lethal force” end of that list, right before a gun. Instead, however, many police agencies place Tasers immediately after the “issuing commands” force level — which suggests to officers that using a Taser is less serious even than a push or pepper spray. Which also means that if an officer asks you to produce your driver’s license and you ask “Why?” rather than immediately complying with the order, there’s a chance, in some jurisdictions, that you could, within their rules, be hit with a Taser for refusing the command. That’s in part how Tasers have begun to be used, not as serious, life-threatening weapons, but as a bully’s tool of compliance, something to get people in line — with sometimes egregious consequences.

Marijuana Growers Wanted by State Police

WBKO

KY - Police are reaching out to the public in their effort to find marijuana growers!

"Wanted posters" are available through Kentucky State Police. The forms allow you to report illegal marijuana growers anonymously. There is a space to list the name of the grower, along with his or her address and a description of the home.

The information can be mailed to an address on the form or called into 1-800-DOPE-TIP.

Click here for a printable form.

South Dakotan completes cross-state tour for medical marijuana

DIRK LAMMERS
Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A Hermosa man has completed a cross-state bicycle tour aimed at gathering signatures to put a medical marijuana measure on the 2006 ballot.

Longtime activist Bob Newland pedaled into Sioux Falls Tuesday night after logging 440 miles and gathering 250 signatures along the Matthew Ducheneaux Trail to Safe Access Bicycle Tour Across South Dakota.

The petitions need about 17,000 signatures by May 2006 to get on the 2006 ballot. Newland said his target is 20,000 to provide a cushion for invalid signatures.

"We have a year," he said in an interview. "My plan is to find 100 people who will each get 200 signatures."

"Actually, I picked up $200 in contributions the first three days, and people were stopping me to sign the petition and people were offering me weed," Newland said.

Federal agents raid marijuana clubs

By J.K Dineen
San Francisco Examiner

Federal agents raided three medical marijuana clubs and more than 20 other homes and businesses Wednesday in what law enforcement authorities are calling a sprawling investigation into an alleged criminal organization involved in money laundering and other illegal activities.

While the details of the investigation will not be officially released until indictments are unsealed today, the probe is focused on three medical pot clubs: the Sunset Medical Resource Center at 454 Judah St.; the Herbal Relief Center at 1545 Ocean Ave.; and the Alternative Relief Co-Op at 1939 Ocean Ave.

Law enforcement authorities say the group, which has ties to Singapore and Vancouver, was allegedly laundering millions of medical-marijuana dollars through a number of specialized gardening centers catering to pot growers, including one on Filbert Street in North Beach and one on Ocean Ave. Money from the pot clubs, which are illegal under federal law, was allegedly funneled through the gardening stores, which police say were essentially fronts.

"This is not a medical marijuana thing," said a high-ranking law enforcement official who has been working on the case for months. "This is an organized, criminal conspiracy to launder money, to make a ton of profit utilizing sick people and the medical marijuana laws of the state of California."

Marijuana bill advances in R.I.

By Associated Press | June 23, 2005

PROVIDENCE -- A bill that would allow patients with serious diseases to grow and smoke marijuana continued its advance through the General Assembly, winning overwhelming support from House lawmakers yesterday.

Qualifying patients suffering from such diseases as cancer, AIDS and Hepatitis C would be shielded from arrest and prosecution under the bill, which passed 52-10. Their doctors and physicians also would be protected.

Rhode Island would become the 11th state to authorize the medical use of marijuana, according to the legislation.

Under the bill, patients would be able to possess up to 12 marijuana plants or 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana.

Supporters say it provides a compassionate way to ease the pain of the seriously ill. But some questioned a provision allowing people to grow the drug in their homes.

The House Health, Education and Welfare Committee was expected to take a Senate bill and conform it with the House version. That bill would then return to both chambers.

Governor Don Carcieri has threatened to veto the bill. But legislators said it had enough votes to override a veto.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

DEA Raiding SF Dispensaries RIGHT NOW!!!

This just in from Tony Bowles President, California Marijuana Party

The DEA, possibly with the SFPD, has raided at least 3 dispensaries on
in San Francisco RIGHT NOW today.

The Sunset Medicinal Resource Center at 445 Judah Street has been raided, I believe it is connected to the Herbal Relief Center which was raided at 1545 Ocean, along with one other club on Ocean that is not connected to the other two, but was in dispute with the city over wether they were opened before the moritorium or not. The Alternative Relief Center which is at 1944 Ocean, which is across the street from dispensary in dispute with city, was Not raided.

The DEA along with SF Narcotics inspector Marty Halloran were spotted on the scene of the crime. ASA staff is headed to the scene now. Please join us at 445 Judah Street to protest
and show your support for safe access to medical marijuana! We will be planning for an emergency demonstration tomorrow at around noon, on City Hall, more info will be sent out on final location of Action, so stay updated because we are on High Alert for the time being.


Tony Bowles 415 368 7187

House to Vote on Government Forced Child Mental Health Screening

We're trying to help Representative Ron Paul, who
also happens to be a medical doctor, do something
very important...

* Protect parental rights,
* Protect children from dangerous, mind-altering
drugs.

We call our campaign, "No Child Left Undrugged," but
the real title of the bill is HR 181 - The Parental
Consent Act of 2005. You can
send a message to Congress right now,
or continue reading to obtain
more information and talking points:

As reported yesterday by the Liberty Committee, the
American tradition of parents deciding what is best
for their children is under attack. The major
pharmaceutical lobby wants universal mental screening
for every child in America, including preschool
children.

But universal screening alone is not what the
pharmaceutical lobbyists want. The real payoff for
these select drug companies is the drugging of
children that will result - as we learned tragically
with Ritalin - even when parents refuse!

The drug companies want your children to be
"screened." The psychiatric establishment wants to do
the "screening." And even a recent presidential
commission (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health)
supports it all.

These powerful groups want your children "screened"
whether or not you, as parents, give permission.

Congressman Ron Paul, an OB/GYN physician for over 30
years, is desperately trying to keep the drug
companies, politicians and federal bureaucrats from
becoming "parents" to your children. Dr. Paul will
introduce this week an amendment to the Labor, HHS,
and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2006 that
will withhold funds from being used to implement or
support any federal, mental screening program.

In a letter to his congressional colleagues, Dr. Paul
states:

"As you know, psychotropic drugs are increasingly
prescribed for children who show nothing more
than children's typical rambunctious behavior.
Many children have suffered harmful effects from
these drugs. Yet some parents have even been
charged with child abuse for refusing to drug
their children. The federal government should not
promote national mental health screening programs
that will force the use of these psychotropic
drugs such as Ritalin."

If you think this action alert is about something
that "can't happen here," think again. In 1995, the
state of Texas launched the Texas Medication
Algorithm Project and then Governor George W. Bush
signed it into law. (WorldNetDaily.com, June 21,
2004)

The state of Illinois has also approved a mental
health screening program. The Illinois legislature
passed the Children's Mental Health Act of 2003 which
will provide screening for "all children ages 0-18"
and "ensure appropriate and culturally relevant
assessment of your children's social and emotional
development with the use of standardized tools." In
addition, all pregnant women in Illinois are to be
screened for depression.

Dr. Karen R. Effrem, a pediatrician and leading
opponent of universal screening with EdAction states:

"Universal mental health screening and the drugging
of children, as recommended by the New Freedom
Commission [presidential commission], needs to be
stopped so that many thousands if not millions of
children will be saved from receiving stigmatizing
diagnoses that would follow them for the rest of
their lives. America's school children should not
be medicated by expensive, ineffective, and
dangerous medications based on vague and dubious
diagnoses."

Dr. Effrem warns:

1. Parental rights are unclear or non-existent
under these screening programs.
2. Parents are already being coerced to put their
children on psychiatric medications and some
children are dying because of it.
3. Mental health screening does not prevent
suicide.
4. Mental health diagnoses are "subjective" and
"social constructions" as admitted by the
authors of the diagnostic manuals themselves.
5. Most psychiatric medications do not work in
children.
6. The side effects of these medications in
children are severe.
7. The untoward influence by the pharmaceutical
industry, or at least the impropriety, is
abundantly clear in two important aspects of
this issue.
8. Merging screening with the academic standards
required by No Child Left Behind, as is
happening in Illinois, will lead to diagnosis
for political reasons. School mental health and
violence prevention programs funded by NCLB and
government counterterrorism operations are
already using such criteria as "homophobia" and
"defenders of the US Constitution against
federal government and the UN" to label school
children and US citizens as mentally unstable
and violent. (source: EdAction.org)

Urge your U.S. representative to vote "yes" on the
Paul amendment to stop universal mental screening of
children.

If your U.S. representative does not vote "yes" on
the Paul amendment, he or she supports screening your
children without your permission -- just as the drug
companies want.

The U.S. House will vote on the Paul amendment
Thursday or Friday.


Also, please be sure to tell others to come to
DownsizeDC.org and send a message because time is
running short.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Kerry Spencer Sentenced to Life in Police Shooting Deaths

Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The Birmingham News

Jury recommends life for police killer
A Jefferson County jury today recommended sparing the life of convicted police killer Kerry Spencer, 25, of Birmingham. The jury recommended four sentences of life without parole, instead of the death penalty. They reached their decision about 2 p.m. after 2½ days of deliberating his punishment.

They convicted him on Sunday in the shooting deaths of three Birmingham police officers and the attempted shooting of a fourth officer last June at an apartment in the Ensley neighborhood.

Circuit Judge Tommy Nail, who has the right to reject the jury’s recommendation, will formally sentence Spencer on Sept. 9.

Carol Robinson
---------------------------------------------------------

I can't say that life without is better than the death penalty especially since I have an inside view of what the prisons are like in Alabama. However, I am happy that Mr. Spencer was not sentenced to death and I hope that Judge Tommy Nail will impose the jury's verdict and not his own.

I believe from the testimony that I read that Spencer was telling the truth about paying off the police and I can't help but wonder if there will be any type of investigation into the allegations he made against the officers involved. Something tells me no.

The drug war invites corruption and gives rise to situations like this.
Four lives lost. Four famillies destroyed. Kids without dads. Wives without husbands and parents without sons.

Drug war in Colombia: Is there any progress?

By JOHN OTIS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - As proof that the U.S.-backed drug war in South America is paying off, the Bush administration says cocaine production has plummeted by nearly 30 percent over the past three years.

But some American counternarcotics officials and drug-trade analysts call such triumphal pronouncements misleading.

A U.S. government task force, they note, estimated that cartels last year produced more than twice the amount of cocaine claimed by the White House. A report released last week by the United Nations maintained that cocaine output is actually on the rise.

The debate over drug numbers matters because Congress uses the White House figures as a measuring stick when determining the best way to spend nearly $1 billion annually in counternarcotics programs in South America.

Uncontrollable Urge

My original animation
Mpeg music video for Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge".
Mandella-type animation with intricate designs and pleasing color schemes.
Should stream fairly well but right-click to download full resolution mpeg.

A Design


Picture created by Terry Posted by Hello

click picture to enlarge
stare at black dot in center

The Militarization of the Police

Bob Wallace
Lew Rockwell

Do we really want to create police who dehumanize and demonize the public? That's the path to creating better killers, not better police. When's the last time they were referred to as "peace officers"?

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

ABI Agent Charged with DUI

ABI investigator charged with DUI

DOTHAN -- A state police investigator remained on leave Monday after Dothan police arrested and charged him with driving under the influence in a state vehicle.

Jayson Wade Solomon, 38, was arrested early Friday when officers found him unconscious behind the wheel of his state-issued truck, which was stopped on a Dothan road, police said.

"A field sobriety test was administered, and officers had reason to believe he was under the influence of alcohol," Dothan Police Capt. Steve Parrish said.

He said Solomon refused to take an intoxilyzer test and became belligerent and "uncooperative" when questioned by officers. Solomon was off duty at the time of the incident.

Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt said Solomon was placed on leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. She said it would be "premature to speculate" about whether he will face further disciplinary action.

Solomon joined the department in 1994 as a state trooper and later became a Dothan-based ABI investigator.
---------------------------------------------------------------

He He He He He...Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Carmichael gives up center


Leon Carmichael Posted by Hello

By William F. West
Montgomery Advertiser

Attorneys for convicted marijuana trafficker Leon Carmichael reached a settlement with the government Monday in which their client would turn over his 3,000-seat entertainment venue in west Montgomery.

Carmichael also agreed to surrender up to $1 million worth of property surrounding the building and one of his cars.

"We think it sends a message to drug dealers or people who might be inclined to become drug dealers that there's no profit in it," prosecutor Stephen Feaga said afterward.

The U.S. Marshals Service will take possession of the properties, but the deal will remain subject to the outcome of Carmichael's appeal, which one of his attorneys, Susan James, said could take approximately a year to two years.

"It seems to be a fair settlement," defense attorney Ronald Brunson said afterward.

Jurors found Carmichael, a local businessman, guilty of marijuana trafficking and money laundering after just three hours of deliberation Friday.

The government at trial presented evidence showing the Carmichael Center, which opened more than two years ago at a cost of approximately $1.8 million, was paid for with drug money. It also presented evidence showing that the car, a 2001 Honda Accord, was used for illegal business.

The government had wanted a full property hearing Monday, but Carmichael and his attorneys decided not to run the risk of again facing the jury and instead huddled with prosecutors in the courtroom.

James said Carmichael could have lost his trucking company, rental properties and even his home.

After the settlement was reached at approximately 10:20 a.m., Judge Myron Thompson called the jurors into the courtroom and dismissed them. Carmichael's wife, Valerie, declined comment as she left.

Court lasted nine days, and a spectator from beginning to end was the Rev. Albert Sankey of Jesus Christ Missionary Baptist Church.

"I've been saddened all the time," he said.

Greg Calhoun, chief executive of the Calhoun Foods supermarket chain, echoed similar opinions, but was careful not to be judgmental of the jury's verdict.

Calhoun said Carmichael is a shrewd man whom he believed wanted to do some good for the west side of Montgomery. Calhoun recalled going to first-class events at the Carmichael Center.

"I hate that he's in a situation where now his family is going to be judged by his actions," Calhoun added. "And we as businesspeople have to think about more than ourselves.

Charles Kelser, director of the Carmichael Center, said he believes his boss is innocent.

"He's a very giving person," Kelser said. "He's been honest and forthright with me and with his employees, and I know that he has always been vehemently against drugs."

Jurors on Friday also found co-defendant Freddie Williams guilty of distributing marijuana.

Carmichael and Williams each face 10 years to life imprisonment on the drug distribution charges.

Carmichael also faces up to 20 years behind bars for using a Compass Bank personal account in the name of promoter Sherry Pettis to channel drug proceeds.

Carmichael and Williams will be sentenced Aug. 22.

The two were arrested in November 2003 after more than 500 pounds of marijuana and guns were found in Williams' house. Guns and at least $5,000 in cash were found in Carmichael's Honda.

Williams' attorney, Barry Teague, couldn't be reached Monday.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that the Byrne Grants have been chopped from drug task force budgets property seizures will become more common. There is no profit in drug dealing...unless of course you are a cop with a license to steal.

Choppers Flying in My Town

Sweep recovers 900 plants

By Amy Redd

More than $1.7 million worth of marijuana was seized from a field in Tallapoosa County during a sweep last week.

Investigators from the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, along with several other local agencies, assisted the Alabama Bureau of Investigation's Alabama Marijuana Eradication Program in recovering 891 marijuana plants from large cut over areas near Langley Road, Buttston Road and Sandy Creek Road during a routine helicopter sweep Thursday and Friday. The Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Department, Alexander City Police Department, Alexander City Fire Department and the New Site Police Department also participated in the eradication program.

Task Force Investigator Jay Turner said the ABI conducts marijuana eradication sweeps twice a year.

"The marijuana plants were found near a burn pile where land had been cleared," he said. "The area was not easily accessible. We had to use four-wheelers to get out there and then walk the rest of the way to get to the plants."

Seven marijuana plants were recovered from a kudzu patch behind a residence on Highway 50 in Camp Hill. The recovered marijuana has a street value of approximately $1,782,000 and the seized plants ranged in size from eight inches to five feet, Turner said. The state of Alabama values each recovered mature marijuana plant at $2,000 regardless of size.

"The amount found in this sweep was above what was found last year," Turner said. "One year we'll find a lot and the next year we won't find any."

Though the case is still under investigation, at the present time investigators did not expect to make an arrest in connection with the recovery of the plants, Turner said. He said it was often difficult to determine who owned the plants due to the remoteness of the locations in which they are grown.

"In some cases, we have been able to tie the plants to a house and make an arrest," Turner said. "But a lot of times, they plant on someone else's land and it's hard to tie it back to them and make an arrest."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are the same goons who flew over me in 2002 and subsequently launched my career in drug policy reform. You can watch the video of that raid HERE.

I haven't seen or heard the choppers out near my home this year....but I've got the video camera at the ready because I know they will come.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Sativex Now Available in Canada

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- A cannabis-based painkiller for multiple sclerosis patients went on sale Monday in Canada, the first country to approve the spray derived from the marijuana plant.

Sativex can now be obtained by prescription through Canadian pharmacies, Bayer HealthCare announced Monday. Bayer markets the drug in Canada for British drug company GW Pharmaceuticals, which developed the drug.

Health Canada, the federal agency that oversees medical care for Canadians, announced in April it had approved Sativex, made from components derived from the cannabis plant that have been shown to ease pain.

Medical professionals welcomed the availability.

"Effective pain control and management are extremely important in a disease like MS," said Dr. Allan Gordon, a neurologist and director of the Wasser Pain Management Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. "The availability of Sativex addresses the great demand for an effective treatment option in the field of neuropathic pain in MS."

Many people with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, treat their pain by smoking marijuana. But the dose is hard to regulate and the drug is difficult to obtain legally.

About 2.5 million are believed to have MS worldwide, of which about 50,000 are Canadian, according to the U.S. National Multiple Sclerosis Society. About half of MS patients say they suffer from chronic pain, the society said.

Sativex is administered through a spray pump under the tongue or on the inside of the cheek.

In 2001, Canada became the first country to adopt a system regulating the medicinal use of marijuana for people suffering from terminal illnesses and chronic conditions.

In the United States, the federal government has classified marijuana as a drug that is as dangerous as heroin, although 10 states have passed laws that allow its use under medical supervision.

Alabama Man Convicted of Killing Three Officers

When this happened last year there were some questions about the house being a "drug house" as the warrant wasn't for drugs and no drugs were found in a search conducted after the officers were killed.
During the trial, Kerry Spencer , admitted that drugs were sold from the house.However, according to The Birmingham News
"Prior to trial, one of Spencer's defense attorneys said two of the officers had received past payments to protect the dope house. When the payments stopped, the police started harassing those at the apartment, lawyer Scott Boudreaux said."



The Kerry Spencer case is a really tragic example of the DAMAGE prohibition has done to our country.

Due to the drug war, thousands of police officers (both the honest ones and those corrupted by the lucritive opportunities the Drug War provides), drug users and dealers (both responsible and irresponsible), and innocent by-standers caught in the crossfire, have died needless deaths.

We have over two million U.S. citizens in prison...many of them on drug related charges, our children have alarmingly easy access to any drug they desire, our police have become soldiers engaged in an unwinnable war against the American people and our Constitution and Bill of Rights have been DESTROYED!!

Yet, drugs are still readily available to anyone who wants them, cheaper and of higher quality than ever before.

It seems to me that Americans have been fooled into paying for their worst nightmare and the bigger the failure of the Drug War the more money we are asked to pump into it.

I don't think citizens should support any government program that puts all of us at greater risk and fails us year after year.

When will the needless death and destruction end? When will the citizens of America accept that prohibition has never worked and will never work ,no matter how many lives it destroys or tax dollars it consumes, and do what is necessary to change the laws that cause so many to suffer needlessly?

Admitting that the drug war has failed and approaching it from a health and social standpoint is not the same as condoning or advocating drug use.

Tonight, my thoughts are with ALL of the families caught up in this tragedy, which could have been avoided if people would only wake up and realize that, in the case of prohibition, THE CURE IS WORSE THAN THE DISEASE!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Accused cop-killer Kerry Spencer took the stand in his own defense Saturday, claiming he feared for his life when he fatally shot three Birmingham police officers.

Composed and articulate, Spencer told jurors it was him or them.

"I didn't mean to kill nobody, man," Spencer said. "This was a decision I had to make to stay alive or be shot. I did what I had to do."

Read More Here

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

It took a Jefferson County jury working through the weekend less than four hours to reach a unanimous verdict Sunday in the capital murder trial of Kerry Spencer, the man charged with gunning down three Birmingham Police officers last year.

Guilty on three counts of capital murder in the deaths of on-duty officers Carlos "Curly" Owen, 58; Harley "RoboCop" Chisholm III, 40, and Charles Robert Bennett, 33. Guilty on one count of attempted murder in the wounding of Officer Michael Collins, 37. Guilty of capital murder for killing two or more people in one fell swoop.

The five-day trial wrapped to a dramatic conclusion Sunday when a woman stood and screamed at prosecutors during closing arguments. She was arrested and hauled out of the courtroom in handcuffs. The woman, like Spencer's lawyers throughout the trial, suggested the slain officers were tainted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lancet: Debating Drug Use Openly

The Lancet 2005; 365:2064
June 18, 2005
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66712-8

Debating drug use openly

A Personal Account in this week's Lancet contains an intimate description
of an individual's dependence on -hydroxybutyrate (GHB), used as a method
of combating social anxiety. An accompanying Review surveys the evidence
for management strategies to treat complications of the recreational use
of new drugs. These two provocative pieces serve a common purpose: they
highlight the need for accurate, impartial information about the long-term
effects of illicit drugs, and lay bare the difficulties doctors face when
dealing with the consequences.

Recreational drugs are an undeniable, even routine, part of many people's
lives. Indeed, the British Medical Association reported last week that one
in 15 practising doctors in England and Wales will be addicted to drugs or
alcohol at some point during their lifetime. Their statement continued: we
do not think the figure is higher than in the general population. But, as
is characteristic of statistics purporting to inform about drug use, this
number carries considerable uncertainty.

The societal debate over how to combat illegal drug use focuses mainly on
when to legislate and to what extent. But from the perspective of health,
the problem of illicit drug use, which is nurtured by stringent laws, is
pragmatic. How can one treat a patient who may not admit to an illegal
addiction? Or conduct research into management of conditions resulting
from habits that the law urges doctors to oppose?

The Lancet does not endorse illegal drug use, but we believe that the
cloak of secrecy shrouding those who use illicit substances is the most
destructive feature by far of the cultural condemnation of recreational
drug use. Discussions framed by moralising or by adherence to social
ideals have little utility in a society of which drug use is an
inescapable part.

Without open debate, we cannot know the true extent of the problem.
Without open debate, there can be no accurate quantification of the risk
of harm. And without open debate, doctors remain starved of the knowledge
necessary to cope with the acute and long-term effects of drug use. We
proffer our website as the forum for your comments.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Nervous Tic = Disorderly Conduct

Sun-Sentinel.com, FL

Pembroke Pines recently settled a lawsuit for $75,000 that accused one of its police officers of making a false arrest and using excessive force when trying to detain a city resident at Home Depot.

The plaintiff was Raymond Russo, a former Miami Police Department sergeant. He worked with the Miami department for 23 years and before that was with the New York City Police Department.

According to the lawsuit and a transcript of Russo's trial, here's what happened on April 20, 2003:

Goulding responded to a call at the Home Depot at 12800 Pines Blvd., where Russo was a manager. Russo had sighted a child's knapsack underneath a stack of wooden pallets near a gate in the garden department.

Russo, who feared the knapsack belonged to a lost or missing child, asked an employee to call police. As Russo led Goulding to the knapsack, Russo experienced a "tic," an involuntary movement in which his heads snaps from side to side.

Goulding testified that Russo was having "some sort of problem" and became belligerent with him and cursed at him.

Russo attempted to explain to Goulding that he was suffering from the tic, but Goulding maintained he was being belligerent. He said he asked Russo to pick up the knapsack, but he refused.

Goulding arrested Russo on a disorderly conduct charge. Goulding said that while attempting to arrest him, Russo resisted, so he sprayed him in the face with Mace.

Robert Audas, a Home Depot employee, testified that Russo did not curse at Goulding and that Goulding used Mace on Russo two or three times.

When placing Russo in a patrol car, the suit alleged that Goulding pushed Russo's head against the vehicle, knocking his glasses off.

Overkill

By JOSIAH E. CARTWRIGHT and JEREMY GRAD
The Standard-Speaker

PA - Hazleton police wearing masks, helmets and body armor broke into a house where they suspected crack cocaine sales occurred, apprehended a woman and seized evidence Friday afternoon.Police from the Special Operations Group, distinguished by their protective garb and high-tech gear, conducted the drug raid at 18-20 E. First St.

The raid began near 3 p.m. as police walked out of their van and began marching in tight line toward the house and single file up the steps.

Most carried semi-automatic weapons. Some wore helmets and all donned black masks.

A girl outside the house screamed "Mom'' more than once as police passed.

"Police," an officer announced before battering the door open.

Jacqueline Bartenope, 39, crouched behind the slats of an interior stairway banister that partially obscured the view of her through the front entrance as a police officer pointed an automatic weapon at her.

Unsure how many people were inside, police searched both halves of the double house.

They found no one else, but located drug paraphernalia consisting of "a metal pipe used for smoking crack, wrapping papers and a marijuana bong," according to a criminal complaint.

Police took Bartenope into custody and charged her with one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. No drugs were found at the scene.

Bartenope said she was planning to move to a different home.

Her daughter watched the raid from outside the house, while her son was down the street on his bicycle.

Police led Bartenope out of the house in handcuffs as Mayor Louis Barletta watched.

After being arraigned by District Judge Thomas Sharkey she was released on her own recognizance.

Violence escalates as Mexico steps up war against drugs

By Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post | June 19, 2005

MEXICO CITY -- Nobody wanted the job of police chief in Nuevo Laredo, a city on the US-Mexico border plagued by drug gangs and violence. Finally, Alejandro Dominguez, 52, a businessman and father of three, volunteered to take the post to help his besieged city. Two weeks ago, hours after being sworn in, Dominguez was assassinated by men firing assault rifles from a convoy of sports utility vehicles.

Last week, federal troops and police took over the city of 300,000 as the death toll reached 50 in an escalating drug war, and US Ambassador Antonio Garza Jr. warned of a ''rapidly degenerating situation along the border." The entire local police force was ordered off the streets after city officers engaged in a gun battle with federal investigative police that left one federal officer seriously wounded.

The human cost of Mexico's aggressive war on drug trafficking is skyrocketing as the country suffers through the worst barrage of drug-related violence in years. More than 600 people have been killed this year, often in remarkably bold and bloody executions, according to national press tallies and state-by-state crime reports.

Mexican authorities last week disclosed for the first time that 90 soldiers have been killed in drug-related violence since President Vicente Fox took office in December 2000, vowing a ''war without mercy" on Mexico's drug cartels. In addition, at least 65 agents of the Federal Investigative Agency have been killed since it was formed in 2002.

Some died in confrontations with drug dealers on city streets; others crashed in helicopters after traffickers shot them down or disabled them by stringing heavy cables across narrow valleys where opium poppies and marijuana grow.

In a recent interview, Fox likened Mexico's ''explosion of organized crime killing" to the Al Capone era in Chicago. ''It took years to get rid of the mafias, it took years to get rid of organized crime," he said. Fox said US and Mexican authorities were working jointly to confront criminals who control ''millions and millions and millions of dollars."

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Strip-searches at Traffic Court

Orlando Sentinel, FL - Jun 8, 2005

SANFORD -- Seminole County corrections officials on Tuesday ordered a sweeping review of all jail policies and practices. The action came a day after an internal investigation showed hundreds of people had been illegally strip-searched.

A team will review everything from how inmates' belongings are handled to whether policies involving highly invasive body-cavity searches are being followed, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail.

The practice came to light after Seminole County Judge John Sloop had 11 people arrested for being late to traffic court Dec. 3. The 11, who had been mistakenly directed to the wrong courtroom, were ordered to jail, where they were strip-searched.

Random drug sweep comes up empty at Northampton County Prison

Allentown Morning Call

PA - Ten police dogs sniffed their way through most cells of the Northampton County Prison on a surprise drug search earlier this week and did not find any drugs.

The dogs, from seven area police departments, searched all housing sections of the prison except for those used by women, special-needs inmates and inmates who are segregated from other prisoners.

Prison common areas were not searched because the dogs grew tired after 90 minutes of searching cellblocks, some of which were built in 1871 and have limited ventilation.

New Developments in Central Booking Inmate's Death

Baltimore, MD (WJZ)- Two internal prison investigators who had been involved in separate high-profile inquiries, including the beating death of an inmate in Baltimore last month, were reassigned to correctional officer jobs with no explanation, according to a union representing the officers.

One of the investigators helped lead the inquiry into the homicide of Raymond Smoot, who died after he was savagely beaten at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center.

The other investigator, who was based on the Eastern Shore, was involved in the investigation last year of state elections chief Linda H. Lamone.

Lamone kept her job.

"We feel (their reassignment) is strictly political," said Herbert Berry Jr., a labor representative for the Maryland Correctional Law Enforcement Union. "They have exceptional evaluations, no disciplinary history."

The department's secretary, Mary Ann Saar, authorized the transfer of the two investigators, Berry said, adding that the investigators fear that their transfers back into correctional institutions, where they have conducted investigations of inmates and staff, will put them in danger.

Oregon to resume issuing medical marijuana cards to qualified patients

Medical News Today

Oregon's state-operated medical marijuana program will resume issuing registration cards to qualified patients today as a result of Attorney General Hardy Myers' opinion that a June 6 US Supreme Court ruling does not invalidate the program.

The Oregon Department of Human Services had continued processing applications but discontinued issuing registration cards in the wake of the ruling, which prompted DHS to immediately seek an attorney general's opinion.

More than 10,000 qualified patients now have registration cards through the state program, one of 11 in the nation.

Cops Raid Wrong Duplex With Noise Device

Associated Press

NAMPA, Idaho - Police in this southwestern Idaho town raided the wrong duplex, throwing a powerful noisemaking device through the unit's window and standing outside with guns drawn.

John Simpson, convinced he was under attack Wednesday, said he hit the floor of his home, and took his wife down with him.

"I guess we're going to have to seek psychological help, I hate to say that," Simpson said Thursday. "I'm not nuts or anything, but I'm still shaking. Put a shotgun next to your ear and pull the trigger to get an idea of the noise."

A Nampa police officer had confused Simpson's window for that of residents who share a duplex with the 62-year-old Vietnam veteran, Assistant Chief Tim Vincent said. Police had intended to serve a search warrant in the adjacent unit. The officer threw the so-called "flash-bang" device in the window, breaking the glass and setting off a loud noise and light.

Simpson, a house painter, said he picked up the first thing he could find - a vacuum hose - and ran out the duplex's door to defend himself.

The police department quickly fixed the window, Vincent said. The agency also will pay for any other damages, he said. Because the officers were involved in a drug investigation, the raid was considered a high-risk operation, Vincent said.

Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials assisted.

Police subsequently arrested Simpson's 20-year-old neighbor. They allege he had 4 ounces of marijuana with the intent to deliver.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Slain Officers Son in Law "Legalize Drugs"

Legalize drugs, maybe,
officer's son-in-law says
By WILLIAM C. SINGLETON III
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD

It may be time for the government to consider legalizing drugs, said the son-in-law of a slain Birmingham police officer.

"They need to step in and control it like they did liquor 50 years ago when they were bootlegging it," said Tim Banna, 40, whose father-in-law, Carlos Owen, was gunned down at a drug house in Ensley one year ago today. "They've got all these officers risking their lives over this."

Seated in a Jefferson County Circuit courtroom during the trial of a man accused of killing three police officers, Banna said it's not his grief talking.

He just feels a general frustration about the drug trade and the inability to stop it, he said.

Officers venture into dangerous areas to bust drug dealers, only to see another dealer take their place.

"All these drug dealers are out there, and you've got them sitting in line waiting to take the place" of the next one taken off the streets, he said.

Kerry Spencer, 25, is on trial charged with capital murder in the killings of three police officers and attempted murder of a fourth.

Police have said drugs were sold in the apartment where the officers were killed. Spencer's attorney, Mike Blalock, admitted during opening testimony the residence was a drug house, and his client armed himself because such houses were always being robbed.

Spencer had claimed self-defense in the shooting, saying officers startled him as he slept in another room. When he saw officers pointing what looked like a weapon, he fired on them.

Banna said Owen wanted to make a difference in the community.

"He knew the risk and he wanted his beat clean," Banna said. "That's what he told me."

But Banna doesn't want to see more officers killed over a war that seems endless.

"When is it going to stop?" he said. "We've got to get to a point where we have some type of government control over the drugs. These policemen are risking their lives to do it. Eventually somebody's going to have to draw the line."

test

Activist alleges prison abuses

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - What makes Jon B. Eichelman unusual isn’t that he claims to have been assaulted in prison.

He is unusual in that he reported the assault, Tom Zeager contended this morning.

Eichelman, who was arrested two weeks ago in connection with the “road rage” shooting of a 2-year-old boy, filed a complaint with Lancaster City police that he was attacked by four or five inmates while in the county prison.

He was later released after police realized they had arrested the wrong man.

Eichelman reportedly suffered a fractured eye socket, lacerated liver and three broken ribs in the attack, according to police and Eichelman’s attorney.

Zeager, president of the prisoner advocacy group Justice & Mercy, told the county Prison Board this morning that he has probably heard 50 stories of prison assaults.

“This happens in this prison regularly. This is not an isolated incident,” Zeager told the board, which includes the county commissioners, controller, district attorney, sheriff and a judge.

Justice & Mercy presented to Warden Vincent Guarini this morning an allegation of an inmate who claims he was handcuffed, thrown down a flight of stairs and had his head thrust into a glass window on April 9.

Zeager contended few such assaults are reported because the inmates fear reprisals.

Former Miami-Dade officer accused of sex with inmate

By Chrystian Tejedor
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted June 17 2005

Miami, FL - A former Miami-Dade corrections officer was charged with sexual battery, accused of repeatedly having sex with a female inmate over a three-month period and fathering her baby, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Ajmo Jolicoeur, 22, also was charged with sexual misconduct for using his position as the midnight shift officer at the Homestead Correctional Institution to gain access to the unidentified woman.

Both are felony charges.

Student made meth in research lab, DEA says

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO - A chemistry graduate student allegedly used a research lab at San Diego State to manufacture methamphetamine, Ecstasy and an anesthetic 80 times more potent than morphine, authorities said.

Matthew Finley, 26, was arrested at his home in Ocean Beach on Wednesday on drug charges and the Chemical Sciences Laboratory was shut down as investigators removed the drugs, said Misha Piastro, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"He felt he could get away with it. To his disappointment today, he did not," Piastro said. "His disregard for the safety of the rest of the student body is alarming and not something we take lightly."

Finley told investigators that he manufactured methamphetamine and a chemical used to make methamphetamine, as well as Ecstasy and an anesthetic called fentanyl in the university lab, according to a court document. Capsules of Ecstasy, vials of fentanyl and three marijuana plants were seized from his home, authorities said.

$1 million bail for meth lab owner

The Decatur Daily, AL

A circuit court judge set a hefty price tag on the freedom of a man, accused of making meth for a third time in less than a year, by ordering bail set at more than $1 million.

Authorities said they do not expect the suspected meth cook to post bail and walk free any time soon.

Morgan County drug agents arrested Kerry Dale Humphries when they raided his residence at 43 Hillside View Road in Joppa on Tuesday and discovered a methamphetamine lab, Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett said.

So far this year, authorities have seized more than 25 meth labs in the county.

Drug war looks more like Prohibition

Don Parcell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

I have supported fighting illegal drugs since the war on drugs began, but recently I began to see the futility of it. We spend ever-increasing tax dollars here and abroad trying to reduce the supply, with no results.

Let's win the war on drugs

Charlotte Observer, NC

From John Emerson, assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Charlotte District office.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Illegal Drugs

"Illegal drug use ... destabilizes our energy supplies and prices".

- U.S. Congressman Mark Souder
Republican, Indiana

Guantanamo Bay: Tourist destination

Behind the high fence, a line of cacti, and across some scrubland watchtowers built by the Americans.

The Stars and Stripes hang defiantly from each side that faces Cuba. From the Cuban side, you can hear and see the live fire exercises of the Cuban army.

The gunfire and explosions are clearly audible in the US base. It is a reminder to the Americans if they needed one whose island this is.

Of course most of this is not visible to the naked eye. So the Cubans have provided a telescope for tourists to get a closer view. It is made in Alabama, USA.

Through the lens the base shimmers in the heat. If it gets too hot, you can adjourn to the bar, where the staff outnumbers the visitors.

They will serve drinks and a meal as you watch the valley below.



Republican Strains
Emerge Over Iraq

Wall Street Journal

Although senators and especially Democrats seemed skeptical that the Pentagon's policy was enough to prevent abuses, some Republicans defended the system at Guantanamo Bay. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said he had visited the site, which he said "would make a magnificent resort."

"This country is not systematically abusing prisoners," Mr. Sessions said.

The hearing adjourned without any specific action being taken, and Mr. Specter acknowledged wading into Guantanamo "may be...too hot to handle for Congress."


Google News Search guantanamo sessions



U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions


Senate HELP Committee Passes Sessions’ Prescription Drug Monitoring Bill May 27, 2005

WASHINGTON-- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today passed and sent to the floor legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) designed to help states prevent prescription drug abuse.

Entitled the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, Sessions’ bill would create a federal grant program to help establish or improve state-run prescription drug monitoring programs. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is chief co-sponsor of the legislation.

“The abuse and diversion of prescription drugs is a tremendous public health issue for our nation, and the problem is growing,” Sessions said. “An epidemic that first attracted public notice as a regional crisis has spread to every kind of community. Prescription drugs now rank second only to marijuana in the incidence of abuse. I believe my bill provides states with resources and guidance to help their established programs to minimize the abuse and diversion of prescription medications while ensuring patients’ access to timely, effective treatment.”

Sessions said that while press coverage has frequently focused on the abuse and diversion of OxyContin and other narcotic pain relievers, the problem extends to several classes of commonly prescribed drugs, including tranquilizers and stimulants. It’s estimated that more than 6 million Americans are current abusers of prescription drugs that fall within these three classes.


Democracy Now! Headlines for June 16, 2005
Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions argued that some of the prisoners "need to be executed,"

Rene Boje Ordered Back to US to Stand Trial


Rene and Family Posted by Hello

Please see this thread at the Cannabis Culture Forums for the latest information from Chris and Rene.

What an absolute nightmare for this young mother and wife. Ripped from her baby who is still nursing and who loves his mommy very much. Ordered into the hands of murderers to stand trial for being a compassionate human being.



We Miss You, Peter McWilliams
by James Leroy Wilson
lewrockwell.com

Peter McWilliams himself said it best, in an interview in the autumn of 1999:

We are so far away from what the constitution was written as, we as well just tear the whole thing up. It's a sham. It's ridiculous. The constitution was based upon the fact the federal government had exceedingly limited powers. It was only allowed to do eighteen very limited things – the enumerated powers, period. And everything else belonged to the states and the individuals to regulate.

Now it's become such that if the constitution doesn't specifically guarantee you can have it, it's okay for the government to regulate it or make laws against it. That is putting the constitution on its head. It's like saying, if a woman doesn't carry a sign on her back that says you can not rape me, she has permission to be raped. It is that. And boy, has lady liberty been raped – repeatedly.

Congressman Everett's Med Pot Position..."Go Live in Another Country"

Alabama medical cannabis patient Laura Campbell was busy the last few days calling, faxing and emailing her Alabama Congressmen in Washington D.C. asking for their support on the Hinchey/Rohrbacher Amendment.

After the vote on June 15, 2005 Laura placed additional calls to the offices of Alabama Congressmen asking how they voted. She sent this out to the list last night.

It has taken me a couple of hours to digest this piece of information. I am still very upset by it. When I was calling around to see how everyone voted today I spoke with an Allison in Congressman Everett's office.

I told her why I was calling and she told me that there standings were no legalizing marijuana for any reason whatsoever.

I told her my story and she asked if there was no medicine I could take for my pain. I told her there was not and she said it was their office standing on cases like mine is that the patients are not looking hard enough for their treatment and we are lying about our illness just to use an illegal substance.

I told her I was the exception to the rule and I had no other options and that my biggest fear was surgery or an injury with nothing to manage the pain with!

Her suggestion to me was" not to have surgery and not to have and accident."And if I wanted to live such a" lifestyle" I could leave the country.

I don't remember but I don't think I choose to have a sick and painful lifestyle. Like I said I am still very upset. I did not get angry with them or shoot of at the mouth but man I wanted to. What actions , if any, should I take about this crap?
Laura


I am OUTRAGED!
This kind of conduct is UNACCEPTABLE.

Mr. Everett YOU WORK FOR US and if anyone leaves anything it will be you vacating that cozy seat in Congress.