US Marijuana Party

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

FBI to assess threat from radicalized inmates

CNN

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- The FBI will conduct "threat assessments" of inmates nationwide to determine who may have been converted to a radical ideology and could commit extremist violence upon release.

Randy D. Parsons, acting assistant chief of the FBI's Los Angeles office, gave the directive in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

"The primary goal of these efforts is to assess and disrupt the recruitment and conversion of inmates to radicalized ideologies which advocate violence," Parsons wrote.

Prison task force considers facilities offering counseling, rehab

Montgomery Advertiser

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- At age 24, Keith Hooper was a heroine addict and a major dealer in northern New Jersey. He was never a fan of prison, but calls the last time he was arrested "a rescue."

That's because before he was released into society, he spent a few months at a prisoner drug treatment facility operated by the New Jersey-based Community Education Centers.

Hooper said, "I didn't understand why I was an addict," until receiving counseling at the center.

Now at 40, Hooper is director of operations for one of the company's eight centers in four states.

Hooper's success story has members of the governor's newly appointed prison task force considering the Community Education Centers as one of several possible solutions for easing overcrowding at Alabama's prisons.

The group, appointed by Gov. Bob Riley, is made up of judges, attorneys, educators, legislators and a victim advocate and is headed by Michael Stephens, a former CEO and president of ReLife Inc., a Birmingham-based physical rehabilitation hospital.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell, who was not appointed to the commission, stressed the need for more beds for inmates and, essentially, more prisons to deal with the growing prison population. But he also said substance abuse programs and transitional centers were crucial to keep released convicts from returning to prison.

"If you're going to spend money, you need to dedicate a part of it to some form of treatment," Campbell said, pointing out that about 80 percent of Alabama's inmates have a drug habit. "Otherwise, in my opinion you're wasting your money."


Tutwiler Prison for Women

Wildfire or Wild Claims?


WASHINGTON - Federal officials announced Tuesday they had completed the first nationally coordinated law enforcement operation aimed at fighting the growing use of methamphetamine.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen Tandy said more than 200 cities took part in "Operation Wildfire," which resulted in the arrest of 427 people and the finding of 30 children in danger because they were in meth labs that were raided.

Pete at Drug War Rant says something is fishy about Operation Wildfire.

Some local law enforcement officers are also sceptical but for different reasons.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

But Cpl. Jason Grellner, commander of the Franklin County Drug Task Force and eastern district director for the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association, said he knew nothing about the operation and questioned whether the government was combining routine work and citing it as a coordinated effort.

"When they take something and give it a name, it's usually the result of multiple wiretapping and a long-term in-depth investigation," Grellner said. "If there was an investigation going on through the federal government, we were unaware of it."

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Seattle Hempfest 2005


This show covers the 2005 Seatle Hempfest. Watch the shoutouts of goodwill and support to Marc Emery, speeches from, Dominic Holden of Sensible Seattle, Tony Bowles of the California Marijuana Party, Loretta Nall of the United States Marijuana Party with a surprise address from Marc Emery via cell phone.

WATCH THIS SHOW

Grab a Heine!



A New Orleans resident recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

In all seriousness....if I were stranded there then I would be looting to stay alive too. Sorry...but if you have no water and nothing to eat and you do not know how long you will have to wait until help comes then you would do it too. It is basic survival instinct.



Even the police agree apparently...but perhaps that is only if you are an employee of the Ritz Carlton Hotel.








However, that will not stop the police from pressing charges, you can be sure. once the waters have receded.

And did you see the long lines of people who sought shelter at the Superdome. The line was long because the National Guard insisted on searching EVERYONE FOR ILLEGAL DRUGS IN THE MIDDLE OF A CATERGORY 4 HURRICANE!!!
That makes me so mad I could SPIT!!

Look at these pictures





Hugo Chavez may call for Pat Robertson's Extradition



Venezuela Threatens To Seek Robertson's Extradition
WHIOTV
August 29, 2005


CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says his government could request the extradition of the Rev. Pat Robertson for suggesting that American agents should kill him.

Speaking to delegations at a meeting of the Organization of American States in Caracas, Chavez said Venezuela will take "legal action in the United States" against Robertson and "could even request his extradition."

On his TV show, "The 700 Club," last week, Robertson called for Chavez' assassination, saying the U.S. should "take him out" because the Venezuelan leader poses a danger to the region. The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network later issued an apology.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who's visiting Venezuela, has offered support for Chavez, saying Robertson's statements were immoral and illegal.
-------------------------------------------------

If the U.S. can extradite Marc Emery for selling seeds that might turn into pot plants with the right amount of tender loving care, but will never kill anyone no matter how many plants are produced, then surely Hugo Chavez is standing on strong legal ground in considering an extradition request for Pat Robertson who has called for his assasination in order to take his oil.

I say again that Hugo Chavez is very admirable in my book if for nothing more than standing down the big, white bullies to the North.

GO HUGO GO!!

Innocent mom calls arrest a 'nightmare'

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
August 27, 2005

A woman wrongly identified as a suspect in a domestic violence case was pulled from her car, handcuffed and strip- searched earlier this summer at the Jefferson County Jail.

Mercedes "Mercy" Archuleta, 45, said it was the most traumatic day of her life.

"I never thought anything like this could happen," said Archuleta, mother of nine children. "I felt like I was in one big nightmare.

"I felt so humiliated. I couldn't face my children because I felt ashamed."

Lakewood police have admitted they made a mistake and have reprimanded a detective involved in the case.

`Going after a concept' leaves a nasty taste

Eric Zorn
Chicago Tribune, United States

If we all agree that it's OK for the government to ban certain flavors, then I want bleu cheese on the hit list.

How many dinner parties and banquets have I been to where the salad was ruined by the fetid taste of crumbly nuggets of moldy curd? Dozens, I tell you.

But we don't all agree. And I'd rather prod unhappily at scores more contaminated salads than cede to the state the right to outlaw flavors, even conceptually noxious ones such as marijuana.

As the accompanying article says, several suburban municipalities and the Chicago City Council have recently banned the sale of candy that tastes like marijuana, even though it contains no psychoactive ingredients. Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office is exploring legal action against the manufacturers.

continue

Rev. Jackson meets with Venezuela's Chavez

IAN JAMES
Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - The Rev. Jesse Jackson met with President Hugo Chavez in hopes of reducing tensions between the United States and Venezuela after a religious broadcaster called for the leftist president's assassination.

The U.S. civil rights leader on Monday urged both sides to tone down their "hostile rhetoric," and said President Bush should strongly condemn recent remarks by conservative religious broadcaster Pat Robertson calling for Chavez's assassination.

Jackson said good relations are in both countries' interests since Venezuela is a top supplier of U.S. oil.

"I hope that we've done something to facilitate a detente on threatening rhetoric," Jackson said. "We're not going to have an oil war."

Chavez offered the United States cheap heating oil for poor communities and said he was willing to cooperate with the United States in anti-drug efforts, a program he recently suspended saying U.S. drug agents were involved in spying.

"In spite of the differences and the tense relations that exist, we're always willing to continue working together with Mr. Bush's government in the fight against drugs," Chavez said, adding that it "cannot be a mask to carry out spying or violate a country's sovereignty."

Monday, August 29, 2005

LAPD Chief wants to relax officer hiring rules

KESQ, CA
AP

LOS ANGELES L-A-P-D Chief William Bratton wants to relax officer hiring rules by ending the zero tolerance policy toward marijuana use and bad credit.
He says the proposed changes are necessary to attract new officers.

The force wants to have 10-thousand officers by next summer.

Opponents fear lower standards will bring problem officers onto the force.

But law enforcement experts said Bratton's proposal wouldn't be a radical departure from what many other agencies already are doing.

F-B-I candidates are allowed to have up to 15 uses of marijuana as long as those uses are not within three years of their application date.

Jurors see close-up of tourist's injuries after border struggle

By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

August 29, 2005, 6:43 PM EDT

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Jurors who will decide whether a border officer was too rough on a Chinese tourist got a close-up look at the visitor's injuries Monday through pictures taken shortly after the incident.

On Tuesday, government prosecutors were expected to put the alleged victim on the stand.

Department of Homeland Security Officer Robert Rhodes is charged with violating Zhao Yan's civil rights by using excessive force after mistaking her for a drug suspect at a Niagara Falls inspection station where she had traveled with a tour group. Prosecutors say Rhodes sprayed Zhao with pepper spray, slammed her head to the pavement and drove his knee into the side of her face.

The photographs taken within two hours of the incident last July showed Zhao's forehead scratched and swollen, her left eye puffed to a slit and bruising to her right eyelid.

Zhao suffered no broken bones and no internal bleeding, an emergency room doctor who treated her testified Monday. Dr. Gil Marzinek said Zhao's eyes were irritated from pepper spray and attributed the swelling and bruising to "forceful contact with a hard surface."

Thirty indicted on drug gang charges

Associated Press

ATLANTA - Thirty people accused of being members of a violent north Georgia drug gang have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of selling cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said Monday that all 30 defendants face the three drug charges as part of an 18-month northwest Georgia investigation federal authorities call "Operation Reclaim."

Twenty-seven of the defendants also are charged with being part of a racketeering conspiracy.

"The truly violent character of this gang is demonstrated by the fact that the racketeering charges are based on violent crimes including five murders, attempted murder, arson, kidnapping and extortion," Nahmias said Monday.

As of Monday, 27 of the defendants had been arrested on federal charges, Nahmias said.

Authorities say 47 weapons were recovered during one of the arrests.

The five killings involved in the case occurred in northwest Georgia's Floyd and Polk counties.

Brad Pitt's Bong Dealer, CraigX, Tells All in '9021GROW'

PubNewswire.com

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - August 29 -- 9021GROW (ISBN-0-9747110-0-4) is an autobiography that is quickly becoming a classic. Released last week, this book is part history and part celebrity gossip column.

Craig X grew up in Beverly Hills, and opened a hemp and pot paraphernalia store in West Hollywood in the mid-1990s called 2000B.C. Soon he was selling bongs, pipes and marijuana to the rich and famous, and creating a secret place for them to enjoy their purchases in 'Bong Canyon,' which artificially simulated the Grand Canyon."

Author CraigX has recently turned to acting, playing the medical marijuana club owner on the Showtime Series "Weeds," where Mary-Louise Parker plays a suburban mom turned pot dealer.

Celebrities who are outted in the book: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Harrison Ford, Kirsten Dunst, Drew Barrymore, Luke Wilson, Jack Black, Ricky Martin, Tori Spelling, Luke Perry, Ian Ziering, Eddie Griffin, the biggest shocker Martha Stewart, and more.

Law Targets Student Aid for Drug Crimes

Provision Rescinding Financial Packages Criticized for Affecting Only Non-Affluent

By Sanhita Sen
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A15

One graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, the other from Princeton University. Both used drugs including marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Both were caught.

But where these students' paths diverge -- the first lost his financial aid package and was suspended, the second got a slap on the wrist and continued his studies uninterrupted -- demonstrates how a little-known 1998 federal law exacts serious consequences for some students but leaves others unscathed.

Emery round-up

from Last One Speaks

Recon Mission in Preparation for Assault

www.lorettanall.com/chopperday.mov

music-versus-guns.org

Legal pot OK in traffic stops

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - In response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that left intact a state law allowing marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes, the California Highway Patrol has stopped confiscating all medical marijuana during traffic stops.

The policy change was a victory for the Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, which sued the CHP and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year to have the practice stopped.

The group's executive director, Steph Sherer, said the policy would send a "clear message" that patients' rights need to be protected.

"Our hope is this will ripple around the state," she said.

CHP officers received an Aug. 22 bulletin about the new policy, which allows a patient traveling on state highways to have as much as 8 ounces of marijuana if the person has a certified user identification card or written approval from a physician.

Shooting evidence of drug war failure

Sun-Sentinel.com, FL

by Donald Sheldon
Chairman, Libertarian Party of Broward County Florida hollywood
Posted August 29 2005

Sunday, August 28, 2005

ALMJP Website

Recent DEA actions have disrupted the regular service of the Alabama Marijuana Party website.

Let's see if we can serve a Real media file from the new lorettanall.com

PTV logo animation with music Real media file.

And if that works then maybe we will be able to offer up a new version of our Bush video.



music-versus-guns.org

Friday, August 26, 2005

Utah Rave-Raid

Goose Creek, S.C.

Goose Creek, S.C.

Alabama Voices: Jail plan shows failure of leadership

Alabama Voices: Jail plan shows failure of leadership

By Larry Menefee
Montgomery Advertiser

It was so sad I did not think I could respond. But I have to. Your article last week about the apparent decision of the county to spend about $100 million to expand the jail and county offices gives in to our worst fears rather than our best hopes.

Leadership is failing. A decision to build for 20 years into the future more jails and more government offices is not about leadership for a better future.

Expenditures of government are about priorities and needs. As these county leaders cross Scott street from their parking garage each day they should notice Baldwin school, almost 100 years old, and then look at the existing jail, about 20 years old. Can they then tell us that we most need more jail space and government offices to take us 20 years into the future?

Might it be that if the money was spent on education of this generation the jail space might not be needed in 20 years and that those educated children would be better able to use a smaller and more technologically sophisticated county government? Perhaps at least that would be the hope. But they want to budget out of fear and defeat.

The excuse from the county will be that it has no responsibility for the schools, just as the city and our legislative delegation say. But they all have a responsibility, a moral responsibility, to lead our community and to educate our children.

The legal documents, starting with the 1875 Constitution through our current 1901 Constitution, purposefully created a weak system of public education so that the former slaves and low-income whites would not have claims for education. Our whole state has suffered for that. Those current leaders who use that excuse actively perpetuate that old plan.

They are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Either leadership at all levels of local government will do their share to make the old broken educational system work or that system will continue to fail us. The current leaders are perpetuating the lingering effects of that old system.

Yes, they could change that system and given the school board the taxing authority it needs to meet its responsibility, but until they do that they should make the old system work.

And this newspaper doesn't get a free pass. The discussion must be about the choices we are making. The symbolic juxtaposition of the century-old Baldwin with 600 children and the 20-year-old county jail with about 300 beds should be discussed.

The plans for tripling the capacity of the jail and county office space for 20 years is a poor vision for the future of our community in light of other more immediate needs, particularly educational.

Larry Menefee practices law in Montgomery.
----------------------------------------------

It is very heartening to see someone agree with me publicly that building prisons and government offices instead of educational institutions is a recipe for disaster designed to keep our heads empty and the jail cells full.

Emery faces hearing next month

London Free Press, Canada

VANCOUVER -- Pot crusader Marc Emery says all Canadians will be complicit if the United States succeeds in extraditing him to face drug charges south of the border.

Emery, 47, made the comment yesterday after a B.C. Supreme Court judge set Sept. 16 as the start of his extradition hearing that could net him life in prison if he is convicted on marijuana charges in the U.S.

The longtime pot activist and former London resident is accused of selling marijuana seeds to Americans through the Internet and the mail, conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Emery's co-accused, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Gregory Keith Smith, were also in court yesterday.

The three were arrested July 29 after Vancouver police raided Emery's pot paraphernalia store after an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Emery, who showed up in court with his fiancee and a few supporters, called the DEA "a Nazi-like military organization."

He said he has been selling marijuana seeds for 11 years, during which time Canadians have benefited from the $4 million he has given away to various organizations.

Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, also reaped the rewards of his popularity because Emery's Internet-based Pot-tv solicited support for the party from viewers, Emery said.

"Everybody took the money, from the income tax departments representing the province and the federal government," said Emery, leader of the B.C. Marijuana party.

"I've never received a written complaint or a phone call in 11 years and I have a listed phone number.

"So if I get taken away for the rest of my life to a United States prison, then every Canadian has let it happen because they have tacitly and complicitly condoned my behaviour."

He continued to vent against the DEA, calling it a well-armed beast.

"It's in the business of putting the marijuana culture away in prisons for a long time.

"As the leader of the marijuana people around the world, they have targeted me -- and when I go to the United States, if I am extradited, you will never see me alive in Canada again."

Emery's supporters have asked Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to step in, but Cotler has said the matter is now before the courts.

"He is selling out an exemplary Canadian citizen to appease their war on drugs," Emery said of Cotler.

Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm granted a request from lawyer John Conroy to have $15,000 of Rainey-Fenkarek's bail money returned so she could retain her own lawyer.

Conroy had asked Dohm to set a court date in September so Emery could continue a speaking tour across Canada.

While selling marijuana seeds is also illegal in Canada, no one has been arrested for years.

NIH scientists can no longer consult for drug companies

St. Petersburg Times
August 26, 2005

WASHINGTON - After accusations that some government scientists used their official positions for private gain, the National Institutes of Health announced rules on Thursday that ban scientists from consulting for drug companies.

"Our research should be based on scientific evidence that is not influenced by any other factors," Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the health institutes, said at a news conference.

The rules were issued after disclosures that scientists at the institutes had leveraged their positions to land lucrative consulting contracts that seemed to conflict or at least overlap with their official duties. Those contracts caused some critics to worry that research by the agency could be tainted.

An investigation by the agency concluded that 44 of its 1,200 senior scientists appeared to have violated rules governing consulting and that nine might have violated criminal laws.

The controversy surrounding consulting work and scientists' relationships with drug companies has been a black eye for the health institutes.

Investigations found that the health institutes had such poor and inconsistent controls over scientists' outside activities that the agency could not even answer basic questions by investigators about the extent of the problem.

Utah


D.C.


B.C.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Home of 'Weedman' attracts graffiti; he says it's a bias crime


Newsday
August 25, 2005

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Pro-marijuana activist and perpetual underdog political candidate Edward Forchion, who once tried to get his legal name changed to NJ Weedman, said he woke up Thursday morning to find his home vandalized.

Forchion said he found a 6-foot cross and the words "Get Jesus" in black paint on his house in the Browns Mills section of the township.

Burlington County First Assistant Prosecutor Raymond E. Milavsky said Thursday that his office was investigating the case as a bias crime _ or one committed because of the victim's race, ethnicity or religion.

Forchion said the sentiment painted on his house might be a reaction to something he wrote on his Web site: "The U.S. marijuana laws are based on ridiculous Christian Superstitions that claim the herb is sinful, when infact it is one of the greatest natural herbs on the face of the planet."

Forchion said that lately he has quieted his activism _ which has previously included smoking marijuana at the Statehouse and in front of the Liberty Bell. "I said I was going to take a low profile because of the things that happen to me," he said.

Suspected pot grower busted

WALB-TV, GA

August 24, 2005 Cairo-- A Grady County man is accused of masterminding a lucrative pot business. But business is closed after drug agents executed a search warrant on his house Monday night.

Authorities say Richard Keith Davis was growing 22 pot plants that stood more than five feet tall. Agents also found more than half-a-pound of marijuana that had already been processed.

Grady Sheriff Harry Young says he's glad the gateway drug is off the streets. "It's easy for someone to come along and say try this, this is a little bit stronger, this will make you feel a lot better. That's the way a lot of these dope dealers do. They just want to try to infiltrate our young people," says Young.

Reporter pleads guilty in pot case

Thursday, August 25, 2005
From staff reports

David Holden, a Huntsville Times reporter, pleaded guilty Monday in Limestone County court to possession of marijuana.

Holden was arrested in Athens in May 2004 and charged with second-degree assault, driving under the influence and possession of marijuana. The assault and DUI charges were dropped, said Limestone County District Attorney Kristi Valls.

Holden received a one-year sentence that was suspended in lieu of two years of unsupervised probation and a $1,000 fine, Valls said.

Bloc Pot leader guilty of drug charge

Montreal Gazette, Canada
Thursday, August 25, 2005

MONTREAL -- Bloc Pot and Marijuana Party Founder and President Marc St-Maurice was found guilty of marijuana possession at the Montreal Courthouse Thursday morning.

The 36-year-old activist was arrrested in March 2004 at the Chez Marijane coffee shop during a "bring your own joint" night in Montreal.

St-Maurice said his arrest was illegal because the police officers infiltrated the party by paying a membership fee.

St-Maurice said his arrest breached the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Quebec Court Judge Andre Perreault rejected St-Marice's arguments and fined him $300.

St-Maurice and his lawyer Julius Grey plan to appeal the ruling.


Medical pot denied at nursing home

Boston Globe
August 25, 2005

BURLINGTON, Vt. --A man who qualified for the state's medical marijuana registry cannot use marijuana to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis because he lives in a nursing home, pointing to a potential flaw in the state's 2004 law.

Shayne Higgins, is one of about 15 people on the state's medical marijuana registry, which theoretically allows him to legally possess and consume marijuana.

But in March, when the staff at Starr Farm Nursing Center in Burlington found a marijuana cigarette in Higgins' room, they called police, who seized the cigarette.

Burlington Police Deputy Chief Stephen Wark said the officer confiscated the cigarette because Starr Farm doesn't allow smoking on the premises. Higgins wasn't charged after he showed the officer his medical marijuana registry card, he said.

"If this were his house, we wouldn't have taken it," Wark said.

Starr Farm Nursing Center administrators said in a statement Wednesday that they cannot allow marijuana on the premises because the federal government doesn't recognize Vermont's medical marijuana law and the nursing home receives federal funding. That advice came from state registry officials at the Department of Public Safety, the statement said.

"A registry representative informed us that because our facility receives federal funds, and federal law prohibits the possession and use of marijuana, its possession and use in our facility is against the law, and therefore is strictly prohibited," the statement said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that state laws don't protect users from federal prosecution. At the time, medical marijuana advocates thought that decision would have little impact in Vermont, where the state law is intended to help MS, AIDS and cancer patients with pain and appetite problems.

"I'd like to be able to use it," Higgins, 44, said of the drug. "It helps with the pain and it gives me the munchies."

Nancy Lynch of the Vermont Marijuana Policy Project, which helped fight for the medical marijuana law, said there should be an allowance for someone in his situation to use marijuana.

"Nursing homes need to be educated. Hospitals need to be educated. Doctors need to be educated," she said.

Pot law makes ballot

Denver initiative would legalize adult possession, use
By April M. Washington
Rocky Mountain News
August 25, 2005

Denver would become the second city in the nation to legalize the adult use of marijuana if voters approve a ballot measure in November.

The first city was Oakland, Calif. Voters there overwhelmingly approved an initiative last year that requires the city to regulate and tax marijuana, similarly to the way it administers laws on alcohol. It also directs Oakland officials to make pot the city's lowest law enforcement priority.

The new law has not been enacted because it conflicts with the state of California's laws.

Denver's initiative may face the same fate.

The ballot measure would make it legal for adults 21 years and older to possess less than 1 once of marijuana. But state law prohibits the possession of marijuana.

City Council members on Monday begrudgingly cleared the way to put the measure on the Nov. 1 ballot. They didn't have a choice.

The measure's backers, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, collected more than the 12,000 signatures needed to force the matter onto the ballot.

Clash over pot research gets personal

By Michael Doyle -- Bee Washington Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, August 25, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Bush administration is using hardball and ridicule this week as it fights efforts to expand medical marijuana research.

Former California legislator John Vasconcellos caught the ridicule, with derisive inquiries into his past work on self-esteem. Others faced hardball, with questions about their pot smoking. It's all part of a high-stakes fight as a reluctant Drug Enforcement Administration reconsiders a researcher's application to grow high-quality pot.

"We're the only people in America who can't get 10 grams of marijuana," research advocate Rick Doblin testified Wednesday.

The DEA's administrative law courtroom is far from the limelight, and only about one-quarter of the spectator seats were taken Wednesday afternoon. Still, the hearing that's likely to last several more weeks is the most important legal proceeding on the issue since the Supreme Court ruled in June that federal authorities can pursue medical marijuana users in California.

After years of delay, the DEA's administrative law judge is being asked to help overturn the agency's rejection of a marijuana researcher's application first filed in 2001. University of Massachusetts plant physiologist Lyle Craker had sought approval to grow 25 pounds.

"We (look) at marijuana as we would do any other medicinal plant," Craker testified.

Craker said the limited marijuana now grown under federal supervision at a 12-acre University of Mississippi site is weak and filled with stems and seeds. Craker, the editor of the Journal of Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants, said his more potent pot would help test new vaporizers as a healthier means for patients to ingest the smoke.

The American Civil Liberties Union is supporting Craker's effort, as are several law firms working on a pro bono basis.

"We're not doing marijuana research because we can't seem to get marijuana," said Doblin, head of the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, "so we're spending money on litigation."

On Wednesday, DEA attorney Brian Bayley took a different tack with Doblin, by pressing him repeatedly about his own marijuana use. Over his lawyer's objections, Doblin acknowledged he had begun smoking marijuana in the early 1970s and still smokes it recreationally about once a week.

Bayley then asked him who he bought his pot from; at that point, the judge said the DEA had gone far enough.

The hearing will continue through Friday and then resume next month. The administrative law judge will make a recommendation but cannot order the DEA to grant the application.

Group pushes to ease restrictions on marijuana

Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan. - People caught with small amounts of pot would be prosecuted in municipal court instead of district court under a proposal that is supported by the mayor and the district attorney.

Pushing for the change is the Drug Policy Forum of Kansas, which formed in May.

Because Lawrence has no city ordinances covering marijuana, cases must be handled in district court instead of city court.

Laura Green, the group's executive director, said that is a problem, in part because students are disqualified from federal financial aid if they have a drug conviction in state or federal court.

Green said those convicted in municipal court do not lose eligibility for financial aid.

At Green's request, the city commission is expected to discuss the issue at its Sept. 6 meeting.

"We're not proposing legalization," Green said Tuesday. "I'm just asking them to consider making it part of the city code. ... Part of what I'm asking them to do is to make possession of marijuana a low priority. Don't seek it out. Don't go looking for it as if it's the Holy Grail."

German Opera Includes Pot-Smoking by Both Performers and Audience

PlaybillArts, NY
By Emily Quinn
25 Aug 2005

The performers in a Neuköllner Opera House production of Saint-Saëns’s Princesse Jaune smoke pot onstage, the news agency Ananova reports.

Audience members are encouraged to smoke their own marijuana during the performance.

The opera tells the story of a man in love with a portrait of a Japanese princess. Under the sway of a hallucinogenic potion, he confuses the portrait with his own fiancée.

Bernhard Glocksin, the company’s artistic director, said that the opera experience would be “improved with a few joints.”

The opera house asserts that artistic license will protect it from drug laws. “It’s a test to see just what we can get away with,” Glocksin said.

Schaumburg bans pot-flavored candy

By Mary Ann Fergus
Chicago Tribune
Published August 25, 2005

Trustees in Schaumburg are the latest to ban the sale of marijuana-flavored candy such as lollipops or gumdrops, following a similar Chicago ban and an investigation of the products by the Illinois attorney general's office.

Any business selling the candy in the northwest suburb will face a fine of up to $750 and possible revocation of its business license. The law was passed Tuesday and became effective immediately.

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan sent letters to Schaumburg and other municipalities earlier this summer to announce her office's investigation of the products, which taste like marijuana but don't contain THC, the ingredient that causes a high.

Madigan investigated and subpoenaed a New Jersey-based company called ICUP Inc., which makes Pot Suckers, a marijuana-flavored lollipop. In a July letter to Madigan, the company announced it had decided to stop selling and distributing its candies.

Cop suspended after overdose death

The Mercury, Australia
By Padraic Murphy
26aug05

THE senior officer who led a raid in which the drugs seized were later linked to the overdose death of another policeman has been suspended.

Victorian corruption investigators are close to finalising their probe into the theft of the drugs linked to the death of Constable Geoffrey William "Billy" Gunn.

Corruption investigators have been examining allegations the drugs were stolen during a raid - dubbed Operation Ayah - by drug squad detectives and somehow passed to Gunn.

Gunn was found dead in the bedroom of his home in the inner Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford on June 18, 2001.

His death was attributed by the coroner to "amphetamine and narcotic toxity".

N.J. officers raid the wrong house

Boston Globe
August 25, 2005

NEWARK, N.J. --Federal and state authorities are trying to determine how armed officers raided the wrong house, smashing doors and frightening residents earlier this week, a state police spokesman said Thursday.

"We are investigating what went wrong," said Sgt. Gerald Lewis Jr. "For some reason, whether it was erroneous information or supervision, we actually hit the wrong house."

He said the address on the state search warrant was correct, but that the team of state police SWAT officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents went to the wrong street and raided a home with the same number on Tuesday.

An assessment of the damage had not been completed, Lewis said, "but of course we will work with the attorney general's office and other agencies to make restitution."

Residents of the four-family home in Newark said officers cursed at them while ripping through two upstairs apartments and asking where guns were for 15 minutes before realizing the mistake.

"The investigator said they were looking for bad people and they were in the wrong place," homeowner Cedelie Pompee told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Thursday's newspapers.

"That's a bad mistake they made," said Pompee, noting that several doors would not close properly.

Pompee, 59, has owned the house for 27 years, and shares it with her two sisters and their children, as well as a family that rents an apartment.

State police also hit a wrong house in May, raiding the home of a retired truck driver in Woodbridge while looking for a prostitution racket.

Officer guilty of tipping off target of drug raid

Newsday
August 25, 2005, 11:06 AM EDT

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A veteran officer in a small, scandal-ridden police department has been found guilty of tipping off the target of a drug raid.

Waterford Township police Sgt. Joseph Chiarulli also was found guilty by a hearing officer of five other charges, including possessing illegal drugs and covering up on-duty sex allegations against another officer. He was cleared of a charge of abusing prescription drugs.

Chiarulli, 44, has been suspended from the Camden County department since last year; he's now likely to be fired.

Since last year, eight of the township's 23 police officers have been taken off duty amid a variety of accusations of wrongdoing, including having sexual liaisons in police cars while on duty.

Chiarulli is the first officer to have his case decided by a hearing officer. Four other hearings, which are closed to the public, are underway. Three officers quit the department instead of going through the hearing process.

Hearing officer Barry Weinberg, a former judge, said while making his ruling Wednesday that Chiarulli's claims of innocence were "not credible."

Chiarulli said he called a man who was to be a target of a drug raid in November 2003, but that it was personal and had nothing to do with the raid.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Center-stage robo-cop victory pose.







A human being becomes a bloody rag-doll.


Enemies of The State Conspire to Get a Good Groove Going


They continue in their criminal behavior even though they know full well that this type of thing could lead to dancing.

In Our View: Reviewing the rave

New Utah, UT
The Daily Herald

This editorial doesn't like raves one bit but still criticizes the police actions.

Excerpt:


To be sure, there were a number of drug- and alcohol-related arrests and citations arising from the rave. These are fair game by any measure. Once a crime is committed, a permit may be considered null and void. But of the 43 citations reported by the Utah County Sheriff's Office, about half appear directly related to the raid itself -- disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and related acts. Most of the others could have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis, without shutting down a concert at which the majority were not breaking the law.

A massive police assault on virtually any public gathering (a BYU football game, for example) would uncover similar illegalities, from drugs to weapons to expired driver's licenses. But if a crime is committed during a BYU football game, the game is not stopped. Offenders are trundled off individually. A general suspicion that something illegal might happen at a public gathering, even a rave, may not be the best basis from which to launch a major law enforcement action.

W.O.N.P.R. Director Hospitalized

W.O.N.P.R. Director Hospitalized
Following Serious Auto Accident
Near Her Home in North Carolina
08-23-05 07:39pm

Jean Marlowe was in a serious car accident late this
afternoon near her home in North Carolina.

Information is sketchy at the moment. She is in the
ER. There are definitely broken bones, but she is
concious and responding to verbal instructions.

Please send your prayers and positive, healing
thoughts her way.

I will update you as we get more information on the
extent of her injuries.
__

Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:35:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ann McCormick
Subject: update on Jean

Jean is in surgery right now to repair her broken hip.
She is expected to be in the OR for a few hours. As it
is now 11:30pm on the east coast, we will not have
more information until morning.

St Luke's Hospital
101 Hospital Dr
Columbus, NC 28722
---------------------------------

Jean is a good friend of mine and I just saw her in Washington DC last weekend at the prison reform march. I'm wishing her all the best and a very speedy recovery.

Ferndale to vote on medical marijuana initiative

August 23, 2005, 11:18 AM

FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) -- City voters will decide in November whether to legalize medical use of marijuana.

Ferndale City Council member did not act on the proposal at a Monday meeting, sending it to the city's general election ballot, the Detroit Free Press reported.

If voters approve the initiative, Ferndale would be the third city in Michigan to allow medical marijuana use. Detroit and Ann Arbor voters approved it last year.

Ferndale Police Chief Michael Kitchen told the City Council that even if voters pass the proposal Nov. 8, his officers will enforce state laws outlawing marijuana use.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Hang-gliding heroin smuggler is shot down


By Sam Knight, Times Online, UK

A hang-gliding heroin-smuggler has been shot down by soldiers over the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, one of the world's busiest drug trafficking frontiers.

Tajik border guards shot the glider down with machine guns and recovered 18kg (39lb) of heroin from the vehicle, officials said.

There are conflicting reports about the nature of the glider, with some sources saying it was a hang-glider and others reporting that it was a para-glider with a small, improvised engine.

Tajik authorities said that the pilot escaped when the glider came down about 230km (142 miles) south east of Dushanbe, the capital of the former Soviet republic, whose landscape is almost entirely made up of mountains and deep, narrow gorges.

"The pilot was most likely injured and hid himself in a mountain area on the Tajik border," Sabza Sarkorov, the deputy chairman of the Tajik Committee for State Border Protection, told Agence France Presse.

"An investigation is under way to determine the country of origin of the paraglider and the citizenship of its pilot."

The airborne trafficker is thought to be a repeat offender. One border official said guards had been trying to shoot the vehicle down for three years.

CRACKPOT POTHEADS DEAL DOPE ON TV

By Cliff Kincaid

Charming fellow

Prisoner Bus Overheats; 13 Sent To Hospitals

WESH.com, FL

A bus carrying 40 inmates overheated on Interstate 95 Friday after it was caught up in the traffic from an earlier fatal crash.

The bus pulled off to the side of the road, and the inmates were stuck on the hot bus with no air conditioning for about two hours.

The prisoners were juvenile offenders between the ages of 18 and 25 and were considered high-security risks, so the guards could not remove them from the bus until backup law enforcement officers arrived.

Two corrections officers were on the bus, and they did get off it while waiting for other officers to arrive.

The prisoners, who were all handcuffed, were yelling that they were hot and needed to get off the bus.

Several collapsed from the heat, and once backup arrived, the prisoners were removed from the bus and laid out in the grass along the side of the highway. Several had passed out from the heat.

Many gasped for air, vomited or lay unconscious along the side of the busy highway. One prisoner stopped breathing and was feared dead until paramedics revived him. A few medics tried to treat the prisoners while the guards stood by with their rifles ready.

"We've been in there for about two hours with no air or water. (It was) bad," one of the prisoners told WESH 2 News reporter Dan Billow.


We saw one of these battleship grey prisoner transports on our way back from the Jacksonville hempfest. A nightmare on wheels. They really look like something from a horror movie.
The one we drove beside was a modified schoolbus with iron welded over the windows.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Utah: Ravers Attacked by Cops at Legal Concert

from Talk Left

`Hempfest' a big draw

Bangkok Post, Thailand

Seattle, Washington _ Thousands of marijuana fans openly celebrated their love of cannabis at a Saturday festival, despite a recent ruling by the nation's highest court backing federal law making pot illegal.

The crowd of revellers that strolled, snacked, socialised and smoked their way through Hempfest in the northwestern US city of Seattle tallied approximately 75,000 people by sundown, according to organisers. Many festival attendees wandered the downtown park toking marijuana cigarettes in the summer heat.

Seattle police safeguarded the cannabis aficionados, not bothering to enforce local pot laws that make recreational marijuana smoking the city's lowest crime priority.

Hempfest is political in nature and protected by free-speech provisions of the Constitution, regardless of federal marijuana laws, concluded Sergeant Lou Eagle, who headed the police detail at the event.

``We are there simply to protect a large group of people from others' misbehaving,'' Sgt Eagle said. ``We are not out there to enforce the marijuana laws.''

Police only arrest pot smokers if they puff in an officer's face and ignore warnings to stop, Sgt Eagle said.


Why is this article on the Seattle Hempfest coming out of Thailand where the US DEA trains Thai soldiers to engage in the wholesale slaughter in the streets of suspected drug users?

Human Rights Abuses and the War on Drugs in Thailand

The citizens of Washington State serve as an inspiration to the rest of the nation in that they have courageously stood up and overthrown the oppressive yoke of the Drug Warriors. The DEA, refusing to admit it's own defeat,is attempting to portray the Washingtonian's victory as evidence of the benign nature of the Drug War.


ILEA Bangkok

Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs US State Department

Sunday, August 21, 2005

BCMP Bookstore Raid Photo Gallery

Loretta in D.C.


Loretta's recent speech in D.C. is now available on Pot TV.

Where There's Smoke

Article on the Seattle Hempfest

BY DOMINC HOLDEN

Law Seen As Soft on Militias in Colombia

By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 21, 2005; Page A21

Excerpt:
But the demobilization program, based on a new law, has aroused intense criticism from human rights groups, U.S. politicians and others. The critics say the incentives in the law will allow some of the country's most dangerous criminals to escape justice through lightened penalties and legal loopholes that could protect them from extradition. They say the government of President Alvaro Uribe, while well-intentioned, is being manipulated by international terrorists.

"The law doesn't really make an effort to dismantle these groups," said Cesar Gaviria, who was Colombia's president from 1990 to 1994 and now heads an opposition political party. "They will still have their full economic power, their political power, and they will be pardoned for everything they did."

The Uribe government hopes the law, passed last month, will prompt as many as 20,000 paramilitary members to lay down their guns and reenter legitimate society after years of battling Marxist rebels, often in concert with the Colombian army, killing thousands of peasants, assassinating politicians and financing their operations through the drug trade. The right-wing paramilitary groups were formed in the 1980s by large landowners and drug cartels to protect their interests from leftist guerrillas.

The U.S. government considers Uribe one of its closest allies in Latin America, and it has provided about $3.5 billion in foreign aid since 2000 to fight Colombia's illegal drug industry, responsible for as much as 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States, according to U.S. government figures. U.S. officials expect to partially foot the bill for the mass demobilization effort, but last month, the Senate passed a measure that would prevent U.S. assistance if the new law's perceived shortcomings were not addressed.

The law requires prosecutors to bring charges within 36 hours after receiving statements of confession, and it limits investigations of crimes to 60 days. It also requires that criminals be charged in Colombia if they confess to crimes committed there. Human rights groups say that only those fearing extradition will admit to crimes, simply to take advantage of light sentences and to avoid punishment in the United States.

Paramilitary groups are believed responsible for 12,999 killings since 1996, according to a report this year from the Colombian Commission of Jurists. They are also believed to control about half the cocaine reaching the United States.

"Commanders convicted of atrocities or other serious crimes, such as drug trafficking, will get away with sentences little longer than two years, probably in agricultural colonies," a highly critical report from the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch stated recently.

The U.S. government has been generally supportive of the law, maintaining that Colombia should be given the freedom to pursue its own solutions to end 40 years of civil strife. U.S. diplomats have been reluctant to criticize the law directly, but they have called on the Colombians to limit concessions for the most serious crimes.


Problem: Mass-murdering terrorist organizations flood the US with cheap cocaine and heroin.

Solution: Extradite Marc Emery for selling pot seeds.

And to top off the irony, some of the murderers plan to seek asylum in Canada.

Canadians Reject Extradition in Marijuana Case
August 20, 2005
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in Canada believe Marc Emery should not face trial in the United States, according to a poll by The Strategic Counsel released by CTV and the Globe and Mail. 58 per cent of respondents oppose the extradition of the Canadian citizen on drug charges.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

US firm to fight drug onslaught

BBC News

US drugs giant Merck is vowing to fight a potential wave of thousands of lawsuits over the painkiller Vioxx, once taken by 20 million people.

A widow in Texas won $253.4m (£141.07m) damages after a jury accepted that her husband had been killed by the drug.

The verdict could clear the way for some 4,200 other cases involving Vioxx, which raises the risk of heart attacks or strokes if taken for a long period.

Merck denies responsibility and says it will appeal against the Texas ruling.


Thousands dead from government sponsored poison? At least we can take comfort in the fact that they died without their lips ever having touched the Evil Weed with Roots in Hell.

The Long Arm of Uncle Sam

A growing number of U.S. crimebusters are operating in B.C. in a cross-border crackdown

Kim Bolan
Vancouver Sun

Saturday, August 20, 2005

The U.S. Attorney prosecuting three Canadians in the cross-border drug tunnel case will ask a Seattle judge next week to seize the B.C. property on which the tunnel was constructed.

A court order would mean the little piece of Canada on Zero Avenue would be surrendered to the U.S. government if property owner Francis Devandra Raj is convicted on trafficking charges, regardless of whether individuals or banks in Canada have an outstanding claim on the Langley land.

The tunnel case is just one of several recent cross-border investigations that have some legal experts concerned about what they see as growing encroachment of U.S. law enforcement agencies into Canada and the erosion of Canadian sovereignty.

In July, B.C. pot activist Marc Emery and two associates were arrested at the request of U.S. authorities who accuse him of selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to Americans. The arrest came despite the fact that Canadian police had ignored Emery's activities for years.

Last March, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association wrote to the RCMP Public Complaints' Commission about in incident in which an off-duty Vancouver police officer was stopped in the Fraser Valley by Texas state troopers working with the RCMP to detect motorists under the influence of marijuana.

The Vancouver constable, David Laing, also complained to the commission about the involvement of foreign police agents and received a settlement from the RCMP.

"The Texas Rangers example is one of the most brazen examples of Canadian authorities acquiescing to U.S. control on Canadian soil," Jason Gratl, president of the civil liberties association, said Friday. "It is not just about this guy's rights. It is really about our territorial integrity . . . . It is absolutely outrageous that a foreign law enforcement official would be on the front lines of policing in British Columbia."

Ian Hillman, spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, won't give the exact number of law enforcement agents from his country operating here, but notes that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Department of Homeland Security are all represented.

U.S. officials to destroy smuggling tunnel

National Post, Canada

VANCOUVER -- A tunnel allegedly built to smuggle marijuana from Canada to the United States will be destroyed next week, an official with the Drug Enforcement Administration said Friday.

Rodney Benson, special agent in charge of the Seattle Field Division of the DEA, also said more arrests are imminent in the case.

The two-day project to fill in the tunnel will begin on Thursday. A crew will cut through the roadway above the tunnel near the Lynden, Wash., border before steel and cement barriers are inserted and the tunnel is filled in with dirt and gravel, Benson said.

A liquid foam cement that hardens like rock will then be put into the tunnel to close it off permanently, he said.

Benson said 1,000 pieces of lumber were used to build the tunnel.

"So a lot of that wood will have to be taken out," he added.

"Criminal organizations spent months to construct it, spent . . . probably a million dollars in constructing it, and it's going to be shut down in a way that it will never be used again."

Teen survey: Fewer drug-free schools

Teen survey: Fewer drug-free schools
CNN

Thursday, August 18, 2005; Posted: 11:49 a.m. EDT (15:49 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and those who have access to them are more likely to try them, said a Columbia University survey released Thursday.

Twenty-eight percent of middle-school-student respondents reported that drugs are used, kept or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since 2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41 percent in the last three years, to 62 percent, the survey said.

Twelve- to 17-year-olds who report that there are drugs in their schools are three times likelier to try marijuana and twice as likely to drink alcohol than teens who say their schools are drug free, the survey showed.

"Availability is the mother of use," said Joseph Califano Jr., the center's president. "We really are putting an enormous number of 12- to 17-year-olds at great risk."

Witness: Glasford man shot 10 times

BY BRENDA BOWEN
Peoria Journal Star, IL

LEWISTOWN - A Glasford man was killed after being shot 10 times by three Illinois State Police officers during a June drug raid on the home where he lived, a Fulton County Coroner's jury was told Friday.

Police broke into the dwelling at about 6 a.m. June 23 when David Green, 47, didn't respond to knocks at the door, Illinois State Police Special Agent Eugene Tennial told the coroner's jury.

Tennial, who works for the agency's Division of Internal Investigation, was the lone witness during the inquest.

He said members of the Illinois State Police Tactical Response Team and the West Central Illinois Task Force were serving a warrant at the home after a two-month investigation indicated Green and homeowner Daniel Matheny were growing marijuana on the property.

Miami drug agents launch air assault

Associated Press

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - A $750,000 home behind fortress-like walls was seized Friday by heavily armed federal agents who dropped in from helicopters.

It turned out that no one was in the home, which had been ordered forfeited to the government in a drug case.

The home had belonged to Yoel Tirado, 33, who is serving a 15-year prison term after being convicted in a local narcotics organization that had been busted in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation launched in 2004.

The seized property had been purchased through illegal drug profits, federal officials said.

The home had been occupied for months by individuals claiming no association to Tirado, officials said. ICE agents tried several times to evict them, but residents fortified the property to keep them out.

ICE agents were joined by officers from Miami, Miami-Dade County and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the raid Friday.

The investigation into the drug organization has led to the seizure of eight properties valued at more than $2 million, three Hummer vehicles and more than $620,000 in cash, ICE officials said.

Large Internet purchases trigger inquiry into suspected drug lab

By Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News
August 20, 2005

Suspiciously large purchases of sassafras oil and glass containers on the Internet kick-started an investigation into what may be the largest Ecstasy lab uncovered in the state's history, according to federal court records.

Cameron J. Bartley, 30, was charged Friday by the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office with possession with intent to distribute MDMA, also know as Ecstasy.

The investigation, which started in May, led Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Denver police to the house in the 19000 block of East 53rd Avenue.

Investigators were alerted to a person living at the house buying large amounts of equipment commonly used to make Ecstasy, including glass containers, gas masks and sassafras oil, according to a federal arrest affidavit.


Friday, August 19, 2005

Petition for Marc Emery

The following is a petition calling on the Justice Minister of Canada to deny the US extradition request for Marc Emery.
These will be circulating at the Seattle Hempfest this weekend.
All inerested parties are encouraged to print and circulate this petition.

Petition to Deny the Extradition of Marc Emery to the USA

To: Honorable Irwin Cotler, Canadian Minister of Justice:

As per the request of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Marc Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine and owner of Marc Emery Direct Seeds, was arrested on July 29, 2005.

DEA director, Karen Tandy subsequently bragged that his arrest "is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the US and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement."

Her avowed political motive, to quash the cannabis reform movement, is a brazen attempt to undermine democracy in
both our nations, and should not be authorized by the Canadian government.

Emery will not get a fair trial in the USA. Federal US courts do not allow a medical marijuana defense,nor do they consider the circumstances of the case or the individual facing charges. Considering that ten US States have legalized cultivation of medical marijuana and his enterprise has been tolerated in Canada, it is outrageous that Emery faces a potential LIFE SENTENCE in an abusive US prison system, possibly even the DEATH PENALTY, were he to be extradited to the US for trial.

These severe penalties for this beneficial plant are unjust and clearly in violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights protections against cruel and unusual punishment and cultural persecution.

Therefore we, the undersigned, urge you to reject the DEA’s request and keep Mr. Emery in Canada.
______________________________________________
Print name, signature, city, state (or nation, if outside the USA), and date
______________________________________________
Print name, signature, city, state (or nation, if outside the USA), and date
______________________________________________
Print name, signature, city, state (or nation, if outside the USA), and date
______________________________________________
Print name, signature, city, state (or nation, if outside the USA), and date
______________________________________________
Print name, signature, city, state (or nation, if outside the USA), and date

Please return to Human Rights & the Drug War (HRDW)
PO Box 1716,
El Cerrito CA
94530 USA •

www.hr95.org
info@hr95.org

Reporting Weed

My friend Kevin Zeese sent this to me last night.
It's quite amusing.

Have a look

Challenge: Identify the elements which indicate this is in fact a comedy skit and not an actual news report.

Extra Credit: Apply this same scepticism to mainstream media

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Snoop Plays Ball



In bold Capitalist move, Snoop JR. High Football breaks with Government schools and forms own league. Recruits top area players. Haters Jealous.

I know it's just Jr. High football but I really think the Gubmint will go after Snoop for this one because it has all of the right elements.

A strong, independent, wealthy Black Man who defies government authority, offers a Capitalist alternative and smokes Pot. This is bound to piss them off.

Cartoon


Link from The Agitator
Nice comic strip

Citizens Shoot Cops

Eight Deputies Fired Over Atlanta Courthouse Shooting
ATLANTA (AP) -- Eight Fulton County deputies were fired Friday because of their actions surrounding the courthouse shootings of March eleventh that left a judge, court stenographer and sheriff's
deputy dead.

Ohio governor signs warrant to send Hyattes back to Tennessee
George and Jennifer Hyatte, charged with murdering correctional officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan will likely soon be headed back to Roane County to stand trial.

LUMPKIN, Georgia
LUMPKIN, Georgia (AP) -- The police chief, a county deputy and a paramedic were shot in this small town's courthouse square Thursday and the suspected gunman was killed during an ensuing gunbattle, authorities said.



Dog Eat Dog

Corrupted Justice

by Paul Craig Roberts
on Lew Rockwell

Excerpt:

Conviction rates are believed to be a sign that prosecutors are protecting society from criminals, serving justice and being budget effective. To get high conviction rates, prosecutors engage in a wide variety of behavior that would have shocked earlier times. They suborn perjury, reward false testimony, withhold exculpatory evidence, and force defendants to incriminate themselves with plea bargains by piling on charges until the defendant or his lawyer gives up.

Lumber dispute needs soft words, envoy says

Globe and Mail, Canada

Toronto — Outraged Canadian officials must tone down their outbursts if the festering trade dispute over softwood lumber is ever going to be resolved, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada says.

"We all share the responsibility of keeping the rhetoric down," David Wilkins said during an hour-long interview with The Globe and Mail yesterday.

Since being installed as ambassador last month, the long-serving southern politician has visited six provinces. Bracing for the Canadian winter, he plans to see the other provinces by December.

While he has been "out talking to folks" from Windsor to Whitehorse, the ambassador hasn't yet had the opportunity to speak to U.S. President George W. Bush about his travels. But that will probably happen soon.

"I consider it one of the great privileges of my life to be able to call the President of the United States my friend," said Mr. Wilkins, who raised at least $200,000 (U.S.) for each of the President's election campaigns.

Trade and security are the No. 1 issues for the ambassador. Lately, Canada has been imploring him to do something about U.S. handguns heading north, but Mr. Wilkins says Canada has to curtail some of its own illicit goods.

"The marijuana is going south to be traded for the guns coming back north," he said. "So the more that can be done to stop the flow of marijuana the better it will enhance the control of weapons coming into Canada."

Seattle Hempfest This Weekend!!



Seattle Hempfest 2005, the Year of Education
Come get your PhD in THC at Seattle Hempfest!

Don't just burn it, learn it!

The world's phattest "protestival" has a burning desire to present you 6 stages of speakers and bands, all speaking up for justice. Add hundreds of arts, crafts and food vendors, and put scores of leading marijuana law reform organizations in one of Seattle's most beautiful waterfront parks and you have a recipe for free speech Seattle style.


Click HERE for band and speaker line-up.

I will be speaking both days at Hempfest. I fully intend to really show my ass and send a clear message to Karen Tandy and the DEA about how strong our community is among other things. Please come out and show your support.

U.S. keeps up help for Columbia aerial drug fight

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday authorized continued U.S. assistance for Colombia as part of a program to stop suspected drug-smuggling flights.

The Air Bridge Denial program became controversial after the Peruvian air force mistakenly fired on a small plane in April 2001, killing a U.S. missionary and her daughter.

After a two-year halt, the United States decided to resume the program with Colombia in 2003 following lengthy negotiations to ensure safeguards were in place to prevent future mistakes.

Bush's initial authorization for the help with the drug program would have expired on Thursday without a renewal.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe paid a visit to Bush's ranch earlier this month, where Bush vowed to sustain funding for Colombia's fight against drugs and violence.

The United States has provided more than $3 billion in assistance to Colombia over the past five years as part of an effort to wipe out cocaine and heroin production and crush the long-running leftist insurgency.

Sen. Wyden pushes for stricter drug laws

Coos Bay World, OR
By Carl Mickelson, Staff Writer

On the same day that Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed groundbreaking legislation to battle the methamphetamine plague (see sidebar) that's wreaked havoc on families across the state, Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden pledged to take the issue to Washington, D.C.

"It's time for the federal government to do its part," Wyden said Tuesday at a press conference at the North Bend Public Library.

Wyden and his Republican counterpart, Sen. Gordon Smith, are sponsoring the Combat Meth Act recently approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The key provisions of the federal bill includes restricting the sale of the necessary ingredients to make meth, providing millions of dollars in funding to local law enforcement and prosecutors and to research new types of treatment.

Peru anti-narcotics aid on Rumsfeld visit agenda


By Alistair Scrutton
Reuters
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; 8:38 PM

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Peru on Wednesday to face requests for more aid to battle narcotics as the Andean country struggles to contain one of the world's biggest cocaine-smuggling industries.

"One of the things we have to discuss with (Rumsfeld) is having bigger support in the whole area of defense against drugs trafficking," Peru's new Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski told cable television station Canal N on Tuesday.


Rumsfeld Makes Surprise Visit To Wife's Vagina Onion News

Faster, Speedfreak! Cook! Cook!

LA City Beat, CA -

Homemade crystal meth makes another big comeback, and the hapless War on Drugs fumbles once again

Mother: Why did he die in Iraq?

Charlotte Observer, NC

STATESVILLE - Summer Lipford wants to know how her son died. The Pentagon says Pfc. Steven Sirko died in his sleep on April 17 while serving as an Army medic in Iraq. He was 20 years old.

Lipford, of Statesville, says the Army's Criminal Investigations Division (CID) initially ruled Sirko's death a drug overdose. But she asked to see the toxicology results. It shows no drugs were in Sirko's system. Lipford says the CID has reopened its investigation.

Now, Lipford plans to join forces with another military mom. Cindy Sheehan has spent nearly two weeks in Texas trying to get President Bush to speak with her about her son's death.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

D.C. Rally Pics