The police raid on Martin Martinez, a Seattle man who uses marijuana to dull the chronic pain from a motorcycle accident, made the page-one headline last Thursday: "Was Pot Raid Justified?" Martinez's lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, insists vehemently that it was not. In Seattle, the topic of medical marijuana and the law leads quickly to Hiatt. A native Chicagoan, 49, this blue-jeaned barrister is vehement often, his deep voice rising quickly to indignant italics. His cellphone rings. "I gotta take this," he says. "Hello? Yes ... No . No, we're not going to do that! Look, this is my client ... Yes, I'll be there." Click. [continues 589 words]
The experience of Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, California, accelerates the day when heavy dilemmas in our legal system might just force a fresh look at our marijuana laws. Presumably that will have to happen when state legislators, congressmen, and presidents are in recess, because the great enemy of sensible reform has been, of course, politicians high from righteousness. What happened to Rosenthal was that he was convicted of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy, facing a conceivable sentence of 100 years in prison and a fine of $4.5 million. [continues 750 words]
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, of St. Sabina Church, led yet another march on Chuck's Gun Shop in sunny Riverdale on Saturday. Why? To stop the killing, he says. Unfortunately, Pfleger is leading his flock down the wrong path. Mayor Richard Daley, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Pfleger all tout the goodness of more gun control, but all three of them shy away from the central issue. How can we take guns out of the hands of young men who join gangs, make their living selling drugs and rake in outrageous profits in the process? [continues 496 words]
Paul Kengor's commentary "A conservative take on drugs" (Forum, Sunday) is atypically bad. His take on those of us who oppose the war on drugs, also known as Prohibition II, is wrong in many ways. Primarily, his notion that legalization advocacy is solely a libertarian view is absurd. I would point to former Secretary of State George Shultz, the late economist Milton Friedman and a man Mr. Kengor quotes, William F. Buckley, as non-libertarians against the drug war. The good professor should know that Mr. Buckley was friends with Peter McWilliams, a man whose death still lays at the feet of Prohibitionists. Mr. McWilliams' death is one of the saddest examples of our present-day Prohibition's errant ways, and Mr. Buckley is no friend of the drug war. Even former Rep. Bob Barr, who almost a decade ago held Washington voters' ballots hostage for nearly a year because of the medical cannabis (Measure 59) issue, is supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Drug Policy Forum of Oregon Eugene, Ore. [end]
A Look at Pot: Its Users, Its Trade, Its Cultivation, the Research And the Anti-Prohibition Movement Marijuana. Cannabis. Grass. Pot. Smoke. Dank. Herb. Ganja. Dope. Hemp. It's the plant with a hundred names, including simply "weed," which is what it grows like. It's been grown for fiber and medicine and fun for thousands of years. In the United States, it currently has its own subculture and economy, and even its own decades-long guerilla war--the War on Drugs--plus a multi-faceted and increasingly visible anti-war movement. [continues 4970 words]
Medicinal marijuana has very little to do with getting stoned, yet it is difficult to separate the issue from the broader push for legalization. But perhaps the strongest argument for marijuana reform is its potential benefit to medicine. Because few comprehensive studies have been done on marijuana's medical efficacy, what is known is largely anecdotal. This isn't to say one should be skeptical, however. On the contrary, testimonials to the virtue of cannabis as a pain reliever, anti-inflammatory and nausea queller are abundant enough that you'd think further studies would be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, they aren't. [continues 2274 words]
A Deep Cove woman who faces a minimum 10-year U.S. prison sentence for allegedly moving and watering marijuana plants at a Bel Air, California residence eight years ago, is appealing an extradition order from the U.S government. "I face something that's incredibly scary, " says Renee Boje. "It's been devastating for me. It's caused a great deal of stress in my life. I feel I don't need to be persecuted in this way. On July 29, 1997 Boje, a recent graduate from Marymount University, was working on her first freelance arts project illustrating a book called, How to Grow Medical Marijuana. [continues 813 words]
When the Supreme Court ruled in June that states could not legalize marijuana for medical uses, Justice Stephen Breyer voted with the majority. But during oral arguments, he suggested an alternative way for patients to get it: let the federal Food and Drug Administration decide if marijuana should be a prescription drug. "Medicine by regulation is better than medicine by referendum," he said. In theory, that sounds reasonable. But what if the officials doing the regulation are afflicted with a bad case of Reefer Madness? [continues 699 words]
Why Prosecuting Victimless Crimes Is A Colossal Waste Of Time Whenever I think of marijuana, I think about vomit, specifically, the vomit of one Peter McWilliams, noted author of breezy self-help books such as Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life in School But Didn't and Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts. It's been five years since McWilliams died in the bathroom of his California home. He was a victim of both AIDS and cancer, but neither of those ultimately did the man in. No, on June 14, 2000, McWilliams simply choked on his own vomit. [continues 4476 words]
"The history of the 'war on drugs,' and more specifically the well-documented history of marijuana legislation, makes it clear that the goals of the repeatedly declared 'wars' have little to do with availability and use of harmful substances, and a lot to do with what is called 'population control' in the literature of counterinsurgency. The targets are both at home and abroad-overwhelmingly the poor and defenseless... The 'war on drugs' has the dual function of eliminating the disposable people (being civilized, we lock them up rather than murdering them) and frightening the rest, and has been cynically used for these purposes. The case of Renee Boje illustrates this cynical abuse of power..." [continues 700 words]
But 'Gnostic' Renee Boje Is Free On Bail And Preparing To Ask B.C. Appeal Court To Reverse Decision Renee Boje, the 34-year-old U.S. marijuana refugee, checked herself in and out of jail at the B.C. Law Courts Friday after federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler ordered her out of the country. She surrendered to sheriffs at about 8:30 a.m. and was granted bail about 90 minutes later after a five-minute hearing in a packed B.C. Supreme Court. [continues 614 words]
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of a woman who faces trial in California for tending marijuana plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s. Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and young son, surrendered herself yesterday to court officials in British Columbia. She was granted bail while pursuing judicial review of Mr. Cotler's decision. That process will postpone her extradition until at least the end of September. [continues 672 words]
This is just one more sad story in the never-ending dark comedy that is the war on drugs. We're talking about the same government that treated anti-drug-war crusader Peter McWilliams, riddled with AIDS and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, as if he ran a drug cartel. The same government that prohibited him, during his sham of a trial, from taking the only drug that would help him keep his AIDs and cancer medications from being thrown back up due to nausea. The same government that told him that Marinol would work just as effectively. Only it did not. Ryan Meray Sterling Heights [end]
Supreme Court ruling should satisfy critics -- the justices left it up to Congress to change the law. The Supreme Court did what conservative court-watchers should welcome. It looked the California situation in the face and said: If Congress doesn't like the law, let Congress change it, but don't look to the Supreme Court to improvise on the drug laws. There are now four collateral movements in the matter of the use of medical marijuana where individual states have authorized it: [continues 551 words]
CHIC YOUNG, who by one reliable account (his), installed the very first television set in Madison, came full circle over the weekend when he received a lifetime achievement award from WYOU, the city's public access cable channel. The award will now be given annually and called the Chic Young Outstanding Achievement Award for Extraordinary Contribution. Young received his honor from Mayor Dave Cieslewicz at the WYOU Awards Saturday night at the Overture Center. The first of what will be annual awards were a big hit, according to WYOU executive director Whitney Wilcox. Wilcox pointed out that WYOU generally makes news when something outrageous finds its way onto the air. The awards were a chance to recognize the hard work and talent of the people - many of them volunteers - who make the station run. [continues 661 words]
Stand Against Medical Marijuana Raises Phony Fears And Ignores State Law On Monday, the Huntington Beach City Council curiously, and wrongfully, imposed a 45-day moratorium on permits for medical cannabis dispensaries, which are legal in California. The city attorney and police chief argued for the ban, hiding behind the smokescreen of "a conflict between state and federal law on the issue of medical marijuana." The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in November and is now deliberating in a medical marijuana case, Ashcroft vs. Raich, to decide whether federal agents can stop patients from peacefully growing their own medicine. [continues 579 words]
The Drive to Legalize Picks Up Never before have so many Americans supported decriminalizing and even legalizing marijuana. Seventy-two percent say that for simple marijuana possession, people should not be incarcerated but fined: the generally accepted definition of "decriminalization." Even more Americans support making marijuana legal for medical purposes. Support for broader legalization ranges between 25 and 42 percent, depending on how one asks the question. Two of every five Americans - according to a 2003 Zogby poll - say "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children." [continues 2982 words]
The Drive To Legalize Picks Up Never before have so many Americans supported decriminalizing and even legalizing marijuana. Seventy-two percent say that for simple marijuana possession, people should not be incarcerated but fined: the generally accepted definition of "decriminalization." Even more Americans support making marijuana legal for medical purposes. Support for broader legalization ranges between 25 and 42 percent, depending on how one asks the question. Two of every five Americans-according to a 2003 Zogby poll-say "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children." [continues 3007 words]
I commend The Day for its coverage of the rally near Congressman Rob Simmons' office in Norwich last Friday to protest his position on medical use of marijuana. ("Demonstrators show support for medicinal marijuana," June 5.) Although eight states have already legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, such as for the relief of nausea brought on by chemotherapy or relief of painful muscle spasms, Rep. Simmons apparently feels that the federal government must prevent these states from carrying out the will of their citizens under their laws. He seems quite comfortable, for example, with the 10-year federal prison sentence currently being served by Bryan Epis for growing medical marijuana legally under California law. It seems ironic that a Republican would have such disrespect for the right of each state to govern its own affairs. [continues 130 words]
McWilliams, Peter
