Marijuana Reform Bill HR 2835: Does It Do Enough?
June 16th, 2009 by Rick
Although the Marijuana Reform Bill HR 2835 that was introduced by Barney Frank into Congress, has hopes to do something about the current state of chaos surrounding marijuana, there are people that believe it’s just another veil to fuel the deception of the war on drugs. MinistryOfTruth, at the Daily Kos breaks it down.
- The Bill seeks to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I (which are drugs that have NO medicinal value) to a Schedule II (which are drugs deemed to have some medicinal value) and have the “create a regulatory framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana.” MinistryOfTruth blames prohibition and the cost of the war on drugs which led to our chasing of our proverbial tail. There are some experts that believe more money can be saved and gained from legalization.
- The DOJ left a message for Barney Frank via their website, saying that Marinol was an excepted accepted use of medical marijuana, a synthetic THC. What MinistryOfTruth says about the big pharma companies and drug sources from around the world is true. Why haven’t they been able to slow the heroin and opium trade?
- H.R. 2835 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. MinistryOfTruth makes a good point. Before Obama said marijuana couldn’t “grow the economy”. Now all of a sudden a panel is meeting to discuss the potential of it having an impact on commerce?
The only reason they are going through the motions of reform is because of pressure. Pressure from the American public — popping their heads out of the sand and seeing what is really going on with our country and prepared and ready to do something about it.
Kush Should Be Punished More Severely, Rep. Says
June 16th, 2009 by Russ
Try as they might, our country’s legislative bodies cannot seem to get on the same page. The very same week that legislator Barney Frank introduces a bill to protect medical marijuana dispensaries from undue and unjust prosecution, someone on the other side of the aisle wants to increase legal penalties on certain strains of it.
Illinois’ 10th District Representative, Mark Kirk, thinks it would be a wise idea to single out “kush” dealing and make it punishable by up to 25 years for a first offense. For the uninitiated, kush isn’t a new chemical weapon or a secret Satanic doctrine that causes its members to engage in deplorable acts. It’s simply a species of weed that contains 5-10% more THC than your typical, regular marijuana strain.
In the press circulating around Kirk’s new proposal, there doesn’t seem to be very many arguments for imposing such draconian penalties. A sheriff from Kirk’s home turf (Lake County, IL) offered this rationale:
They are more dangerous behind the wheel of a vehicle. It’s not a good idea to have people that messed up.
Well that certainly makes zero sense. Isn’t that the reason why laws treating drunkenness from weak spirits and hard liquor are completely different? I mean, could you imagine if the same people with access to beer (5% alcohol) were allowed to access Bacardi 151 (75% alcohol)? It would be total anarchy in a world like that. Heh.
Hang on a moment… My intern here is telling me that we actually have no laws that distinguish beer from wine or from hard alcohol. No law distinguishes 5% alcohol by volume from 75%. In fact, we allow adults to use these substances responsibly, regardless of the volume they consume at all. And it’s only when they demonstrate a lack of responsibility (like getting behind the wheel, or making life difficult for someone else) that we see fit to punish them at all.
To be fair, we have yet to reach the real crux of the Kirk team’s argument for this new standard. To quote Lake County Sheriff, Mark Currand, once more:
When you amplify the strength of it, you are increasing the harm to the system.
Well I, for one, would like to thank Representative Mark Kirk (who can be conveniently reached at 202-225-4835) and his intrepid staff for taking a pre-emptive strike against that vile kush-weed before it inevitably ruins our society and systems at large.
2010: A Legalization Odyssey
June 16th, 2009 by Russ
Occasionally, California politics seems like something right out of a Kubrick, brain-addled, psychadelic, sci-fi jaunt. The law of the land is seemingly set just as often by the people themselves as their elected representatives. A 1996 CA referendum gave us Proposition 215, a historic and revolutionary endorsement of medical marijuana. Now, activists want to do away with ordinary criminalization, and legalize small amounts for personal use.
The Control, Regulate, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 (in its current incarnation) would legalize possession of weed by adults in amounts up to one ounce. It would also give Californians the right to grow and cultivate up to 25 square-feet of weed for personal consumptive purposes.
It will have it’s day at the polls if organizers can muster the nearly half a million signatures necessary to place it on next year’s ballot. Given the weed dispensary boom going on in Los Angeles and other parts of Northern California, the business community may find itself uncharacteristically advocating for this position.
If they succeed in placing the Prop on the state ballot, organizers forsee a fighting chance for the measure. According to Oakland dispensary owner, Richard Lee:
We believe that the people lead the politicians on this issue.
California is certainly the place to test out that notion. Open the pod bay doors, Hal. It’s time to go for a ride.
Large Marijuana Farm Discovered on Government Land
June 15th, 2009 by Rick
The largest marijuana bust discovery, in the history of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office occurred last week, when more than 22,000 marijuana plants were discovered in a San Francisco Water District. Where the water runoff feeds into the Calaveras Reservoir, a couple of nearby creeks had water lines going from them, flowing underground into 24 marijuana gardens, along with three camp sites and three kitchens.
When deputies found the gardens, two young looking men wearing woodland camouflage, were seen working in the gardens. Both men fled into deep ravines and thick brush and evaded capture, although a semi-automatic hand gun was apparently dropped by one of the men.
The investigation into the gardens began when a tip came through to them that said that a teenage looking boy, wearing camoflauge was seen running up a creek bed. Oh, if only camouflage in real life was as reliable as it is in Call of Duty.
AC360° Covers Public Land Grow-Ops
June 15th, 2009 by Rick
AC360° Correspondent, Randi Kaye ran a report on the apparent growing trend of growing marijuana in national parks and public land. No, it’s not being done by a roving group of dead-heads or Phish fans hiding out in the bushes. The people that are doing it, now cultivate 80% of outdoor marijuana growth in these places.
Supposedly, the squatters of our wonderful national parks who are tending pot farms, may be illegal immigrants that were brought over the border by the Mexican drug cartels. Many are forced to work as farmers; taking care of the seeds, fertilizer and anything else needed to continue the green garden.
It seems it’s a win/win for the cartels. They already know all the drug-smuggling routes and possibly have bribes in the wind that help them gain access to the United States so it makes sense that they would bring over illegal immigrants to “work” in America. If the illegals become captured, they scratch that cultivation, find more illegals and then start over in another area — all of the locations of a certain cartel will not be raided, so something will make it to the black market, thus bringing back money to the cartel.
The adventure for Kaye and deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department begin with a ride in a helicopter to Los Padres National Forest in California, just two hours from Los Angeles. The pilot slowly hovers over roughly 7,000 marijuana plants — Kaye says the aroma was overwhelming with an estimated $3.5m worth. She watched as the officers uprooted the plants, destroying the crop. As the deputies watched over, armed and ready for action, Kaye herself pulled up a plant with ease. Stalks were broken in two to ensure unrecoverable damage.
After informing Kaye and her team that sometimes the growers stayed nearby, armed with AK-47s, hiding in homemade underground bunkers, the deputies and team pushed a bit deeper into the forest and found the “hooch” (or camp) that the growers use from Spring to Fall, the optimal time for a harvest. The deputies went through it looking for any drugs or weapons and then destroyed it.
Time to go home, and with no growers being found, the team hiked back through the forest to a ridge and caught another chopper ride, all knowing deep inside that the physical and monetary damage that was done today will be recovered later down the road by the cartel.
Watch Randi Kaye’s full report tonight on AC360° @ 10pm ET or more than likely tune into tFS for a video of that broadcast.
Barney Frank Sponsors Bill to Protect MMJ
June 15th, 2009 by Russ
Civil-libertarian and long-time legislator, Barney Frank, is about to take the medical marijuana debate to the floor of the US Congress. Funny thing is, he may have himself a fighting chance this time around.
HR 2835, known as the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, would do a couple very common-sensical things. Firstly, it would alter the schedules set forth by the Controlled Substances Act by moving pot from a Schedule I drug (evil with no redeeming properties) to Schedule II (evil but with potential medical applications). Furthermore, it would prohibit the federal government from interfering with states that approve medical marijuana programs.
Hardly his first foray into drug law legislation, last year, Frank sponsored the “Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act,” which would have legalized possession of up to 100 grams of weed (if it hadn’t been buried in subcommittee and scattered to the winds). So, what makes the new bill any more promising?
We know that there is widespread and unprecedented support for saner marijuana law. We know that our administration has expressed interest in protecting state sovereignty from federal encroachment in matters of weed. We know that supporters of progressive drug policy range across the entire conceivable political spectrum. And, since this isn’t Frank’s first time riding the weed regulation rodeo, we know that he has given this bill every chance to succeed. The wording of the bill is very middle-of-the-road and doesn’t smack of any controversy. To oppose it, a rival congressman would have to start spouting quotes from his Reefer Madness Propaganda handbook. And that is becoming a less popular play all the time.
Ever the self-depricator, Representative Frank once said:
I’m used to being in the minority. I’m a left-handed, gay, Jew.
Over the life and career of this prolific legislator, the political landscape has changed so dramatically that on the weed issue, Barney Frank is finally in the majority.
Study Suggests Weed Causes Cancer & DNA Damage
June 15th, 2009 by Rick
According to one of the American Chemical Society’s journals, Chemical Research in Toxicology, in the June 15 issue it says that Rajinder Singh and researchers at the University of Leicester “discovered” information that the drug warriors have been searching high and low for: marijuana damages DNA and may cause cancer. Eep!
Researchers wrote:
These results provide evidence for the DNA damaging potential of cannabis [marijuana] smoke, implying that the consumption of cannabis cigarettes may be detrimental to human health with the possibility to initiate cancer development. [...] The data obtained from this study suggesting the DNA damaging potential of cannabis smoke highlight the need for stringent regulation of the consumption of cannabis cigarettes, thus limiting the development of adverse health effects such as cancer.
Now let’s take a closer look at the words used:
- potential
- implying
- possibility
- suggesting
A study should be factual, ensuring every possible angle is covered and this one doesn’t seem to be very bullet-proof in their findings. The claim that smoking marijuana has the potential to cause cancer is interesting seeing how another study done in Spain says that components of marijuana actually slow tumor growth. In fact that study was first conducted in 1974 but like anything that places marijuana in a positive, medicinal light, the journals were suppressed.
Which study was/is more scientific? How can this plant cause cancer and then turn around and fight tumor growth? I’m no rocket scientist (although I play one on TV) but I’m fairly sure that the cancer might be connected somehow to tar intake… from burning the plant, not the plant itself.
Why then wouldn’t they run studies with vaporizers (alternate forms of marijuana intake) and see if marijuana was still damaging DNA… and had the “potential” to “initiate cancer development”?
The Real “Air Bud”
June 15th, 2009 by ErinIn high school, my friend’s dog ate a sack of weed at a party (by accident) and we all gazed with laughter as we watched it scarf down food and pass out shortly after. It appears he wasn’t the only puppy with a taste for greenery.
People in Seward Park, Seattle need to keep a better eye on their personal stash. Jen Nestor Waddell’s dog stumbled back to her with a glazed-over look in its eyes like it was high. Unknowingly why, she brought him to the vet where they determined that it consumed a large amount of dried and harvested cannabis. After some induced vomiting, a good night’s sleep and a $1,500 vet bill, Jack, the 11-year old black Lab mix, was all clear-eyed, sober and fine.
So make your vote: Air Bud, Spuds McKenzie or Jack — who’s the biggest party animal?
