Marijuana Medicine's Near-Miraculous Healing Powers Require the Whole Plant-Not Just One Oil Extract CBD-only laws are a pretext to extend marijuana prohibition under the guise of 'protecting the children.' A version of this article was originally published on the Pediatric Cannabis Therapy website. Ever since marijuana was banned by the federal government in the 1930s, proponents of prohibition have insisted that cannabis must remain illegal to protect America's children. "Protecting the children" continues to be the calculated cornerstone of anti-marijuana propaganda, the cynical centerpiece of the war on drugs. [continues 1315 words]
Study Suggests Some Are Taking It as a Substitute for Prescription Drugs and Alcohol Three quarters of medical cannabis consumers report using it as a substitute for prescription drugs, alcohol, or some other illicit substance, according to survey data [2] published in the journal Addiction Research and Theory. An international team of investigators from Canada and the United States assessed the subjective impact of marijuana on the use of licit and illicit substances via self-report in a cohort of 404 medical cannabis patients recruited from four dispensaries in British Columbia, Canada. [continues 439 words]
The lives of medical marijuana patients in Oakland County, MI and Oakland, CA are as different as night and day. For Oakland residents who want marijuana policies that protect public safety and secure access for medical marijuana patients, it is the best of times and the worst of times. It just depends on which Oakland you live in. The lives of medical marijuana patients in Oakland County, Michigan and Oakland, California are as different as night and day. While medical marijuana patients in Oakland, CA are protected and treated like law-abiding citizens, medical marijuana patients in Oakland County, MI aren't so fortunate. Since 2008, when medical marijuana was legalized in Michigan, dozens of legitimate patients have been raided and prosecuted like common criminals. [continues 535 words]
A recent Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found that, of a sample of 1,0003 American adults, 55 percent of respondents support the legalization of marijuana, though the majority do not support the legalization of other drugs, like cocaine or heroin. However, in a move towards removing the stigma of drug users and addicts, 64 percent of respondents believe our country has a serious drug problem that affects the United States, and only 20 percent consider drugs a problem that effect only certain people or areas. Suggestive of a widespread belief in an un-treated problem, only 5 percent of respondents said America does not have a drug problem, and 67 percent of respondents call the war on drugs a failure. On an ironically positive note, only 9 percent of respondents consider the war on drugs a success. Is this a step in the right direction? According to Angus Reid, [continues 74 words]
There's a lot of science on the books on the question of marijuana's addictive properties, but is the issue too politicized to get any clear answers? Is marijuana addictive? The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says it is. According to its "Marijuana Abuse" research report, "Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction; that is, people have difficulty controlling their drug use and cannot stop even though it interferes with many aspects of their lives." The Office of National Drug Control Policy's abovetheinfluence.com Web site is blunter. "Marijuana is addictive, with more teens in treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined," it declares. [continues 2496 words]
Nyc's Mayor Bloomberg Has Made Sex Education Mandatory, but We Need the Same Thing for Drugs -- Let's Stop Pretending That Teenagers Won't Take Them The Bloomberg Administration announced on July 9 that New York City students will be required to receive sex education in public middle and high schools. These sex education classes will teach about condom use and the appropriate age for sexual activity. I applaud the Mayor's campaign to teach sex education in school. While many parents may hope that their teenagers won't be sexually active, the reality is that most teenagers will have sex and it is important that they are educated about the risks of pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases like HIV. [continues 694 words]
Facing a Huge Budget Shortfall, Chicago May Switch to Issuing Fines for Marijuana. Last year, police in Chicago arrested more than 23,000 people for simple marijuana possession, 78% of them black. But those charges are routinely dropped by judges, and the head of the Cook County Board, who is facing a serious budget gap, wants the police to knock it off. Facing a $315 million shortfall, Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a 5% spending cut and threatened layoffs if necessary. Preckwinkle last week discussed the idea of merely ticketing pot smokers with Chicago Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy, and while no decision has yet been taken, the notion is percolating through the police bureaucracy. [continues 392 words]
If the Obama administration really wants to go down in history as the first to take drug policy in a significantly new direction, it's going to have to actually do something. Last month I was interviewed on CNN.com as part of the network's coverage of the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon declaring the "war on drugs." It was just one of thousands of articles, broadcasts and blog posts featuring the voices of police officers, politicians and scholars marking an anniversary that offers little to celebrate. Many commentators across the political spectrum eagerly welcomed the opportunity to seriously examine the failures of our drug policies, evaluate possible reforms and opine on what it all might mean. [continues 1198 words]
Author John Gibler's New Book Surveys Surveys the Unending Flow of Drugs North and Guns and Cash South and the Tens of Thousands of Murders They Cause. In Mexico, journalist John Gibler points out, there is the War on Drugs and then there is the drug war. The War on Drugs is the spectacle -- the well-publicized deployment of troops, the high-level diplomatic meetings, the perp walks of captured capos before the media, all designed to show that the Mexican government is dead serious about confronting the "menace to society" that Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the mislabeled "cartels," represent. [continues 930 words]
As the White House Prepares to Launch a Billion-Dollar Anti-Oxy War, Here Are Some Crucial Facts About WHO Gets Addicted-and Why. Egged on by the nation's media, The Obama administration seems keen to start a full-fledged national panic over prescription painkillers. In April, the nation's drug czar, flanked by the heads of the DEA and FDA, announced a major new law-enforcement initiative at a much-discussed press conference where he designated the widespread use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin an "epidemic" and a "crisis" comparable to crack in the '80s and heroin in the '70s. [continues 1587 words]
The Idea That the Public Supports Harsh Drug Laws and Will Punish Politicians WHO Deviate From It Is Starting to Fade. One of the most deeply imbedded ideas in our political culture is the notion that the public supports harsh drug laws and will punish politicians who deviate from the tough-on-drugs script. Unfortunately, that's precisely why a lot of good ideas never make it out of the conference room. It goes something like this: INDIANAPOLIS -- When state Sen. Karen Tallian first floated the idea of introducing a bill to look at legalizing marijuana, her Statehouse colleagues warned the Portage Democrat that it could kill her chances for re-election. [Herald Bulletin] [continues 392 words]
New Study Reveals the Population Charicteristics From Nine Assessment Clinics in California. An interesting new study of the California medical cannabis user population by Prof. Craig Reinarman et al. appears in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 43(2) Apr-Jun, 2011: "Who Are Medical Marijuana Patients? Population Characteristics from Nine California Assessment Clinics". Noteworthy findings: Medical cannabis use is higher than average among Blacks and Native Americans, lower among Latinos and Asians. 73% of patients are male. Use is heaviest in the 25-44 year age group. [continues 231 words]
Voters in Miami Beach could make it the first city in Florida to decriminalize marijuana possession after campaigners announced Tuesday they had turned in more than double the number of voter signatures needed for their initiative to make the ballot. They needed 4,300 signatures and turned in more than 9,000. The initiative is sponsored by the Campaign for Sensible Marijuana Policies in Florida. Under the initiative, people caught in possession of up to 20 grams of pot would face no more than a $100 fine. Under Florida state law, possession of up to 20 grams is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. [continues 254 words]
Our 40 year war on drugs is proof of failure. Portugal is an example of an alternative. It is time for an exit strategy from our longest, costliest war! Everyone knows that the war on drugs is a failure. Despite more than $40 billion spent every year on the U.S. drug war and 500,000 people behind bars on drug related offenses, drugs are as available as ever. But what is the alternative? What would happen if a society decided to treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue? What if we stopped the futile effort of using force to decrease drug consumption? What if we decriminalized drugs, not just marijuana, but all drugs like heroin, cocaine and meth? [continues 476 words]
By Keeping Marijuana Illegal We Are Actually Giving Our Children Easier Access To It. Last year I had the honor of being one of the many former police officers who served as a spokesperson for the Yes on 19 marijuana legalization campaign in California. During that effort I learned a lot about politics, and one of the biggest lessons was that many of the proponents of marijuana legalization need to learn how to talk more effectively with social conservatives. I am not just talking about Republicans. Many of the older Democratic Latinos and African Americans that voted against Prop. 19 would be considered "social conservatives." Remember, this is the same group of voters that helped pass Prop. 8, the initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California in 2008. [continues 651 words]
Although This New Bill Is Largely Symbolic, the Fact That It's Being Introduced, and Other Small Victories of Late, Bode Well for a Change in Tone on This Discussion. It's been forty years since President Nixon declared a "war on drugs." And we're not winning. In local communities, Black and Latino men are being singled out unfairly and fed into the prison system for minor drug offenses; in Mexico, an unspeakably brutal drug war continues with no signs of cessation; sick people continue to be denied legal access to medical marijuana that could ease their pain. [continues 858 words]
How Can an Employer Terminate an Employee for Off-The-Job Marijuana Use, Even If the Employee Is Authorized Under State Law to Use Cannabis Medicinally? "Separate but equal" was a legal doctrine once widely used by the courts to justify segregation. And while the courts have largely turned away this doctrine over the past 60 years, several state supreme courts in recent years have begun applying this principle to arbitrarily discriminate against state-authorized medical cannabis patients in the workplace. [continues 760 words]
We Need to Call Out the War on Drugs for What It Really Is -- a War on Families and Communities. "America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive." These were the words of President Richard Nixon on June 17th, 1971. For those of us on the front lines, organizing in America's toughest neighborhoods, the idea is naive at best. At worst, it's a deliberate and subtly racist misrepresentation. We are fully aware of the myriad social ills plaguing communities all across this country, and the misuse of drugs simply is not the primary concern. [continues 653 words]
The Constitutional "Precedent" Set by the Patriot Act Appears to Be Serving to Accelerate the Rapid Disintegration of Civil Liberties in This Country With the stroke of an autopen, the once articulate critic of the Patriot Act signed a four year extension of the most dangerous assault on American civil liberties in US history without a single additional privacy protection. One would think that this reauthorization would have incited vigorous debate in the halls of Congress and at least a fraction of the breathless 24/7 media coverage allotted the Anthony Weiner "sexting" scandal. Instead, three weeks ago the House (250 to 153) and Senate (72 to 23) approved, and the President signed, an extension of this landmark attack on the Bill of Rights with little notice and even less debate. [continues 2828 words]
The Public Understands How Disastrous It's Been -- Now It's Time for the Politicians and Law Enforcement to Change Course. The "War on Drugs" was launched by President Richard Nixon 40 years ago this week. In 1980, at the end of its first decade, I began a nine-year career as a "captain" in the war on drugs. I was the attorney in the U.S. House of Representatives principally responsible for overseeing DEA and writing anti-drug laws as counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. [continues 2280 words]
When Will We Abandon What Is Arguably The Most Disastrous Public Policy In American History Since Chattel Slavery And The Jim Crow Legacy? Forty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon declared illicit drugs "public enemy #1." The ensuing war on drugs has been fought in fits and starts by every ensuing administration and is arguably the most disastrous public policy in American history since chattel slavery and its Jim Crow progeny. This ignominious anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect, to ask ourselves and our leaders some very hard questions, and to demand a new direction in U.S. drug policy once and for all. [continues 589 words]
For More Than Three Decades, I Watched the Drug War Destroy Values That, As a Cop, I Swore to Uphold. It's not hard to explain why I morphed from drug warrior to drug policy reformer. I observed unnecessary suffering, justice gone wrong, and widespread corruption within policing. I witnessed the physical deterioration of whole neighborhoods--streets, homes, and schools made less safe. And I saw myself and fellow police officers cast as the "bad guys" in the enforcement of drug laws. [continues 564 words]
The International War on Drugs Isn't Stopping Drug Use or Trafficking - -- but It Is Ruining Lives. Drug Policy Expert Sanho Tree Discusses What We Can Do Differently. Earlier this month tens of thousands of people marched in Mexico City to protest a war that has left more than 35,000 people dead in the last four and a half years. When elected president of Mexico in 2006, Felipe Calderon vowed to crack down on drug trafficking in his country. With the support of U.S. policies like the Merida Initiative [pdf], he executed a military crackdown that has only increased drug-related violence. [continues 2897 words]
It's Time to Begin the Debate About Whether to Repeal Drug Prohibition and Replace It With a Real System of Drug Regulation and Control Last week, the Global Commission on Drug Policy issued a report stating publicly what many people privately believe: THE WAR ON DRUGS HAS FAILED. The high-level commission which includes three former heads of state - from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, former U.N. secretary-general Kofi-Annan, former Reagan cabinet official George P. Schultz, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker and Virgin mogul Richard Branson calls on governments to end the criminalization of cannabis and other currently illicit substances. In a clear and forthright statement the report says: [continues 2014 words]
The Waldorf Astoria may be worlds away from the blood-spotted streets of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where the "drug war" has taken over 35,000 lives; the fiefdom-like favelas of Rio, Brazil, where even the police don't go; or Pakistan, one of the lowest-ranking on human development in the world, and neighbor to its largest opium producer. But members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy came to the famed New York hotel Friday to bring together leading thinkers and call for an end to the global "war on drugs," whose failed policies have claimed thousands of victims around the world over the last five decades. [continues 1909 words]
Pot Arrests Are Highly Expensive for the Taxpayer, Associated Racial Disparities Are Ghastly, and Just to Ice the Cake, Most of These Arrests Are the Result of Illegal Searches Over the last fifteen years in New York, arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana have exploded. These arrests are extremely expensive for the taxpayer, the associated racial disparities are ghastly, and just to ice the cake, most of these arrests are the result of illegal searches. Now, in a rare show of New York bi-partisanship, legislators in Albany are finally seeking to address the issue. [continues 848 words]
Even a minor pot bust can be life-altering for people unlucky enough to be arrested in one of these five states. Police prosecute over 800,000 Americans annually for violating state marijuana laws. The penalties for those busted and convicted vary greatly, ranging from the imposition of small fines to license revocation to potential incarceration. But for the citizens arrested in these five states, the ramifications of even a minor pot bust are likely to be exceptionally severe. 1. Oklahoma. Lawmakers in the Sooner State made headlines this spring when legislators voted 119 to 20 in favor of House Bill 1798, which enhances the state sentencing guidelines for hash manufacturing to a minimum of two years in jail and a maximum penalty of life in prison. (Mary Fallin, the state's first-ever female governor, signed the measure into law in April; it takes effect on November 1, 2011.) But longtime Oklahoma observers were hardly surprised at lawmakers' latest "life for pot" plan. After all, state law already allows judges to hand out life sentences for those convicted of cannabis cultivation or for the sale of a single dime-bag. [continues 1047 words]
Hundreds of Mexicans began a three day march yesterday to protest the death and violence of the failed drug war. The national protest movement was formed last month after the murders of several innocent young people, including the son of Mexican poet and journalist Javier Sicilia. Mr. Sicilia joined family members of other drug war victims yesterday in leading a silent protest march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City. The march will culminate in a convergence on the capital's Zocalo (main square) on Sunday, May 8 - when protests are also planned in dozens of other Mexican cities and in New York, California, Maryland, Texas, Virginia and several other U.S. states. [continues 424 words]
In October 2009, the Justice Department declared that prosecuting medical-marijuana users and caregivers who clearly comply with state laws was not a wise use of its resources. That declaration has dominated public perception of President Barack Obama's policy on the issue-minimal progress, but is a welcome improvement on his predecessors. In reality, however, the Obama administration has attacked medical-marijuana providers on several fronts. Since January 2010, it has staged more than 90 raids on dispensaries and growers, according to figures collected by the patient-advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. That represents a pace double the Bush administration's, says ASA spokesperson Kris Hermes. The administration has also threatened state officials with prosecution if they participate in licensing or regulating medical marijuana. The Internal Revenue Service has expanded auditing dispensaries for tax evasion, on the grounds that drug-trafficking enterprises cannot legally claim business-expense deductions. [continues 2356 words]
After forty years and a trillion dollars, supporters of the drug war still claim that any discussion of legalization sends the "wrong message" to children. The truth, as seen in news from Mexico ever day, is that the drug war itself is killing children. And the message we send by not discussing alternatives is one of cruel indifference. According to reports by The Washington Post and Associated Press, at least 1,000 boys and girls have been murdered since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office and unleashed the army against drug traffickers - with the ready support of the United States. Tens of thousands more have been orphaned; so many in Chihuahua that the state government has set up a special fund to care for them. [continues 595 words]
We Need YOU to Help End Marijuana Prohibition. April 20th is a special day for millions of people around the world, the unofficial "holiday" for marijuana smokers. Many people mark April 20th, especially at 4:20 pm, with a toke. Some people will mark the day and the occasion with close friends. Others, in cities like Santa Cruz or Boulder, will be part of gatherings of thousands of people to celebrate the occasion. Both the intimate and mass gatherings are fun. It is special to be with a small group smoking a joint: the laughing, discussing, playing and chilling. It is also exhilarating being with thousands of others, all smoking, usually at a beautiful outdoor spot, often with some music. [continues 632 words]
In Montana, Passing Someone a Bowl of Your Medical Marijuana Could Put You in Prison for Life. In a Missoula County courtroom... an eight-woman, four-man jury found Matthew Otto, 27, guilty of a single charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs - in this case, 3 grams (well under an ounce) of marijuana. Otto faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $50,000 fine. Well under an ounce? How about close to a tenth of an ounce? Regardless, Montana law defines sales or distribution (giving) any amount of marijuana as a felony and allows for a one year to life prison sentence and $50,000 fine. Otto is lucky he wasn't within 1,000 feet of a school or an additional three years minimum would be added. [continues 916 words]
Drug Courts Must Be Standardized, They Must Be Held Accountable and They Must Not Be Our Primary Policy Approach to Drug Use and Addiction. In Glynn County Georgia, reports the popular radio show This American Life this week, Lindsey Dills is the victim of horrifying injustice in the name of drug treatment. For forging two checks on her parents' checking account when she was 17, one for $40 and one for $60, Ms. Dills ended up in that county's drug court for five and a half years, including a total of 14 months behind bars and then, when she was finally kicked out of drug court, she faced another five-year sentence for the original offense, including six months in state prison. In other Georgia counties and in other states, the penalty for this first-time, low-level offense would have been a term of probation and/or drug treatment. [continues 498 words]
Legislation is pending in California, New York, Illinois, New Mexico and at least ten other state legislatures and the United States Congress that would deny help with food and housing or unemployment to any recipients who fail a drug test. Proponents argue that denying basic needs to families with children is okay since the drug test will encourage those who fail to seek drug treatment. But nothing could be further from the truth. An individual who is facing homelessness and hunger will not be in a better place to address drug dependence. Furthermore, none of these legislative proposals increase drug treatment capacity. [continues 518 words]
Federal regulators ignited a firestorm of controversy recently when they ordered banks located in the North Coast area of California to spy on transactions of customers who are suspected of making money in the marijuana business. In a bid to crack down on California's marijuana industry, regulators have ordered banks to look out for suspicious activity by those running such operations, but that is leaving legal -- under state, but not federal law -- medical marijuana businesses out in the cold. Although DEA and FBI officials are not specifically targeting medical marijuana, they say they are looking for drug traffickers and money launderers, and they regard any marijuana-related banking activities with suspicion. The banks are not being ordered to not do business with dispensaries, but are instead closing accounts rather than put up with the hassles of investigating and reporting those transactions. [continues 1294 words]
A New Study Reveals That Since 1996 New York City Has Spent From Half a Billion to Over a Billion Dollars Arresting People for Less Than an Ounce of Marijuana. In 2010 New York City spent $75 million arresting people for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Three members of the New York City Council joined advocates and community members on the steps of City Hall today at a press conference organized by the Drug Policy Alliance and the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives. They announced the release of a new report: "$75 Million A Year - The Cost of New York City's Marijuana Arrests." [continues 474 words]
Religious and Community Leaders Address the Failed Drug War Conference Gathers This March to Chart a New Course in Drug Policy That Could Serve As a Model for the Nation. On Saturday, March 19th, an unprecedented collection of community advocates, service providers, public safety personnel and public health professionals will come together at a day-long conference to chart a new course in drug policy that could serve as a model for the nation. The New Directions conference will examine the decades-old ramifications of President Nixon's declaration of the "war on drugs" in urban communities like Newark and African American communities in particular. [continues 666 words]
Marks Devoted His Life to Change NY's Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws and Helped Secure Clemency for Prisoners Rotting Away in Prison for Their Roles in Minor Drug Crimes. There are heroes and then there are heroes. My good friend Judge Jerry Marks, a former New York Supreme Court Justice, was a hero's hero. On March 9, he died at age 95. Judge Marks had a long and distinguished career as a New York elected official and jurist. [continues 638 words]
The ACLU Has Released a Brief Calling on the DEA to Grant Research Permits for the Production of Medical Cannabis. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) does not commonly take an active role in matters pertaining to the drug war, but in the case of Dr. Lyle E. Craker, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, outspoken is certainly one way to describe their position. Craker's name might sound familiar to keen observers of the drug war. After a decade of waging a hard-fought battle with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which repeatedly denied his application for the production of medical marijuana, he recently said he would call it quits, resigning his fight in bitter defeat. [continues 605 words]
But Your Dime Bag Would Still Send You to Jail We Should Be Very Wary About the DEA Allowing Regulation and Marketing of Pharmaceutical Products Containing Plant-Derived THC. "[M]arijuana has no scientifically proven medical value." So stated the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on page six of a July 2010 agency white paper, titled "DEA Position on Marijuana." Yet only four months after the agency committed its "no medical pot" stance to print, it announced its intent to allow for the regulation and marketing of pharmaceutical products containing plant-derived THC - -- the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. [continues 1280 words]
So Much for the American Medical Association's Demand for Clinical Cannabis Research. It was nearly two years ago that the Obama White House issued its "Scientific Integrity" memorandum stating, "Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration." Those of us involved in marijuana law reform welcomed the memo -- which came just months after the American Medical Association called for "facilitating ... clinical research and [the] development of cannabinoid-based medicines" -- and we hoped that it would stimulate the commencement of long-overdue human studies into the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis. [continues 515 words]
Santa Cruz Just Became the Latest County to Announce It Would "End" Treatment-Instead-Of-Incarceration Program for Low-Level Drug Offenses Because of a Lack of Funding. Santa Cruz just became the latest county to announce it would "end" CA's Proposition 36 treatment-instead-of-incarceration program for low-level drug offenses because of a lack of funding. This terminology is confusing and misleading even for those who should know better. Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, was approved by 61% of California voters in 2000 - and it can only be undone by the voters. That is, it doesn't "end" simply because the state and county aren't funding alcohol and drug treatment. [continues 607 words]
How Do We Stop the Madness? Four Decades After President Nixon Declared His War on Drugs, Let's Take a Look at the Devastation and Figure Out How to End This Thing. Some anniversaries provide an occasion for celebration, others a time for reflection, still others a time for action. This June will mark forty years since President Nixon declared a "war on drugs," identifying drug abuse as "public enemy No. 1." As far as I know, no celebrations are planned. What's needed, indeed essential, are reflection -- and action. [continues 1734 words]
A Review of the NIH Website Shows That U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse's Kibosh on Medical Marijuana Trials Continues Unabated. It was nearly two years ago when the Obama White House issued it's 'Scientific Integrity' memorandum stating, "Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration." Those of us involved in marijuana law reform welcomed the memo - which came just months after the American Medical Association called for "facilitating ... clinical research and [the] development of cannabinoid-based medicines" - and we hoped that it would stimulate the commencement of long-overdue human studies into the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis. [continues 507 words]
Grown Under the Radar of Legal Authorities, Even "Medical" Cannabis Can Be Covered in Toxic Mold or Coated in Commercial-Grade Synthetic Fertilizers and Insecticides. In 2004, California organic farm inspector Chris Van Hook submitted an unusual request to the US Department of Agriculture: He wanted permission to certify a medical marijuana farm as organic. He'd already inspected three pot farms, he says, before word came back that weed couldn't be organic because it wasn't a federally recognized crop. [continues 1102 words]
With more states looking for an economic solution to solve their budgetary problems, more prisoners are being released early from their sentences. Politicians are calling for ways to let individuals out of prison faster because of the economics of doing so. In New York State, which has reduced its prison population significantly because of Rockefeller Drug Law reforms, many prisoners are now returning to their communities. The question I pose is what do we do with them once they get out? How will they survive once ex-offenders return to the real world? Andrew Potash, a retired insurance entrepreneur and CEO, has an answer to this question. He wants to give back to society by creating businesses that employ the formerly incarcerated. He and his small team, Spring Into Action, were set to launch New York City's first mattress recycling business in October of 2010, until they came face-to-face with their greatest business challenge - bed bugs. [continues 533 words]
Why Is the United States Formally Objecting to Bolivia's Request to the UN to Allow Its Ancestral Practice of Coca Leaf Chewing? Last week the United States formally objected to Bolivia's request to the United Nations to allow the ancestral practice of coca leaf chewing. In doing so, it revealed the corruption, hypocrisy and futility of the global war on drugs, which it clearly values over the rights of indigenous peoples. Bolivia's proposal is modest. It would strike two clauses from the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs, which require that coca chewing "be abolished within twenty-five years" after taking effect. The existing system of cocaine prohibition would remain. [continues 601 words]
The battle over cigarettes is heating up - and recent news shows that momentum to criminalize tobacco smoking continues to build in the United States and around the world. Last week the New York Times reported on the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan's war on cigarette smokers. Back in 2005 Bhutan banned the sale of tobacco but made little headway as smugglers brought in cigarettes from India. Now the country is enforcing the ban by allowing authorities to break down doors looking for illegal cigarettes. People who sell illegal cigarettes are now facing five year sentences. Breaking down doors and long sentences over the tobacco plant! Sounds familiar? If it does, it's because that's how the U.S. deals with the marijuana and coca plants. [continues 575 words]
The following is an excerpt from James Cockcroft's new book, Mexico's Revolution: Then and Now (Monthly Review Press, 2010). U.S. Intervention For decades, Washington, D.C., has been pouring military aid into Mexico. In 2008 there were 6,000 U.S. troops on the Mexican border, and in 2010 President Barack Obama decided to send in more. The U.S. side of the border is militarized, as it was before and during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917 and periodically since then. Drones routinely fly over Mexican soil. In the United States, video games show American troops invading Mexico. [continues 2896 words]
What Can Today's Crusaders Against Prohibition Learn From Their Predecessors Who Ended the Alcohol Ban? Reviewed: Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, by Daniel Okrent, Scribner, 468 pages, $30 Of the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the 18th is the only one explicitly aimed at restricting people's freedom. It is also the only one that has ever been repealed. Maybe that's encouraging, especially for those of us who recognize the parallels between that amendment, which ushered in the nationwide prohibition of alcohol, and current bans on other drugs. [continues 2253 words]
