Pot Coulda Been a Contender in DeVore Race. Then the Terminator Harshed His Mellow Things were looking great for industrial hemp this summer. Thanks to the, erm, joint efforts of polar opposite state assemblymen--openly gay leftist Mark Leno (D-Baghdad by the Bay) and openly militarized right-winger Chuck DeVore (R-NewBenz Riche)--a bill to legalize the non-high-making cousin of marijuana (a.k.a. pot, grass, chronic, the Devil's Weed, Widespread Panic Parking Lot Breakfast Combo) won bipartisan support in both state houses. And then, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signage was considered inevitable--you've seen those Pumping Iron scenes, right?--he up and vetoed the bill in September, saying it conflicted with federal law. [continues 1120 words]
Here's sports columnist Steve Bisheef in the Sept. 21 Orange County Register on Rex Hudler, who was suspended from the Anaheim Angels broadcast booth after airport screeners discovered one of his bags contained a small amount of marijuana that he's been using to get to sleep after suffering a brain hemorrhage a couple of years ago: "For whatever reason, the Hudler case has been a hot-button issue for those who abhor drug use of any sort, as well as for rabid Angels fans who want to forgive the former big-league infielder and get him back on the air as soon as possible." Uh, Steve, aren't you leaving out another huge segment of the population that sees this as a hot-button issue? That would be those who believe our country's prohibition of a harmless, natural substance like marijuana is stupid, outmoded and corrupt? Geez, for a refresher, read the cover story by Rebecca Schoenkopf in this same issue -- or any Register editorial page. [end]
Clockwork hereby gives the Hacky-Sack Salute to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who had the cojones to lock arms with two Democrats and sponsor legislation to keep medical-marijuana growers and suppliers out of federal prisons. Drafted in response to the latest wave of federal marijuana busts of compassionate users and suppliers, the bill would apply to California and the other seven states with legalized medical cannabis. The so-called "Surfin' Congressman" -- who, unlike Bubba, admits he inhaled as a young lad -- possesses a "very strong libertarian streak," but he's also personally invested in the issue. Speaking about the pain and suffering his late mother experienced after hip surgery, Rohrabacher said, "I couldn't help thinking, when I was in the hospital feeding her, what a travesty it is that my mother, who's lived such a good life, would be denied marijuana if it could actually help her." However, don't hold your breath too long after draining that bong load: an even farther-reaching bill Rohrabacher co-authored with Barney Frank in 2001 never got out of committee -- and that Congress wasn't even dealing with a war, a free-falling economy or the promotion of an evil Republican agenda. [end]
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 16 Laguna Beach's Ross Embry, who grew 12 marijuana plants to use and share with neighbors at the Hagan Place apartment complex for fellow HIV patients, pleads not guilty to felony charges of cultivation and possession of pot for sale. If you're wondering why the 53-year-old is being prosecuted given the state's Compassionate Use Act, you're not alone. "This is ridiculous," Hilary McQuie, spokeswoman for Americans for Safe Access, tells someone at the Reggie not yet let go. "He's a compassionate provider. And 12 plants is a very small number." Unfortunately, the law's ambiguity about how much pot one can grow is frequently pounced on by those boozers at the Orange County district attorney's office. [end]
TUESDAY, Sept. 17 Laguna Beach narcs seize 12 pot plants grown at an apartment complex catering to people with HIV/AIDS and disabilities. Whoa, a dozen plants! We had a bigger crop in our dorm's window box. Cops also bust a 53-year-old man for alleged dealing. Perhaps he'll share a cell with Orange County Cannabis Co-op's Marvin Chavez, who may be prison-bound. So much for compassionate use in OC. As this nonsense goes on, free pot is given away on the steps of city halls in San Diego and Santa Cruz to protest the feds willfully ignoring state law and breaking up co-ops that get cannabis to sick people. [end]
Diary Of A Mad County Marvin Chavez can only wish he's headed to a cushy MDA jail. The California Supreme Court today declines to consider the Orange County medical-marijuana activist's appeal of his 1998 pot-possession conviction. The 48-year-old Santa Ana resident originally got six years for providing medical marijuana to undercover cops who used a fake doctor's note to get the weed. Chavez was freed on $25,000 bond pending an appeal but could now be forced to serve the remaining 21 months on his sentence. "The question is when do I go back to state prison and how long?" he soberly tells supporters. [end]
Clockwork joins the Orange County Libertarian Party in saluting Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). You read that right: saluting-and not the one-fingered kind. The former writer of scary Ronald Reagan speeches and even scarier Orange County Register editorials warrants kudos for becoming the first California Republican to co-sponsor a medical-marijuana bill that has sparked up in the House. Authored by libertarian-leaning Ron Paul (R-Texas) and man-leaning Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), the bill would give states the right to decide their own medical-marijuana policies without interference from the feds. Rohrabacher's support is not that surprising; he previously backed California's medicinal-cannabis initiative and opposed tough mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. [continues 67 words]
Nov. 5 was the fifth anniversary of California's passage of the medical marijuana initiative, but Dubya has not sent a card to mark the occasion. Instead, he has sent jack-booted federal thugs up and down the Golden State to uproot pot grown by ill people, break up cannabis co-ops, and seize files from doctors who recommend the drug for patients. "The attorney general and the administration have been very clear: we will be aggressive," Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden recently told The New York Times. "The Bush administration is forcing sick people to become criminals," countered West Hollywood City Councilman Steve Martin, who sits on the board for the recently raided Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, the state's largest co-op. California Medical Association spokesman Peter Warren said of the assault on the doctor-patient relationship, "It's especially shocking in this time of national crisis that federal agents are out tossing doctors' offices." Even a district attorney, San Francisco's Terence Hallinan, asked the feds on Nov. 6 to knock it off. "Any move to close dispensaries will result in sick people trying to get marijuana from street vendors, whose product may or may not be safe," said Hallinan, who credited the medical-marijuana initiative with reducing crime, saving money and contributing to the public's well-being. [continues 166 words]
Ken Bucchi says he was a drug-running spook. The CIA says he's an impostor. The 1980s. The U.S. appetite for cocaine is insatiable. Everyone's snorting. Nancy Reagan's screaming, "Just say no!" The government decides to kick ass. Uncle Sam goes straight to the source: Central America. South America. Any America that's not North America. We go down there. A familiar face smiles back. The CIA's been there for years. "What took you so long?" The CIA had already hopped from one impoverished country to another. [continues 4074 words]
Johnny Depp At His Best As A Lovable Scumbag Ah, the late '70s/early '80s: mountains of cocaine, immorality and dangerous gunplay. But enough about George Dubya Bush. Blow is a biopic about George Jung, who rose to become Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar's main man in the U.S. during that wild time when disco ruled, everyone had the sniffles, and credit cards had a purpose beyond driving you deeper into debt. If you've had your doubts about Johnny Depp-after Sleepy Hollow, The Astronaut's Wife and The Ninth Gate, who wouldn't?-prepare yourself for the performance of his career as Jung. Sure, the Boston accent sometimes bugs (especially when he says "staaaaahs" instead of "stars"), and the makeup used to make him appear several decades older is unintentionally funny (until a photo of the real Jung flashes on the screen just before the end credits-yikes!). But aided by Ted Demme's epic direction, Ellen Kuras' absorbing cinematography, and David McKenna and Nick Casavettes' smart script, Depp manages a tour de force, making you care about a scumbag rotting in prison until 2015 by boldly shading him with honor and humanity. [continues 491 words]
Damned if Sam Clauder wasn't telling Clockwork the truth. On Sept. 10, the state Assembly passed a resolution that acknowledges the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana and calls for University of California studies on the wonder plant's feasibility. Clauder runs Californians for Industrial Renewal (CAIR), and this isn't exactly the legislation he told us about three months ago ("Hemp, Hemp Hooray!" June 18). That bill would have California farmers planting hemp by the end of winter 2000. The resolution by Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin (D-Duncans Mills) also didn't enjoy the widespread bipartisan support Garden Grove Democratic political consultant Clauder envisioned; the final vote of 41-30 split along party lines. [continues 159 words]
David Lee Herrick, who tried unsuccessfully to become the first in Orange County to base a defense against drug charges on California's medical-marijuana initiative, was sentenced on July 17 to four years in state prison. The 48-year-old former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy was convicted in May of selling weed through the Orange County Cannabis Co-op to people who had obtained doctors' permission to smoke dope under Proposition 215. But the judge refused to let the jury consider the new law, ruling that it only allows for marijuana's use, not its sale. [continues 98 words]
A judge ruled on July 24 that Orange County Cannabis Co-op founder Marvin Chavez cannot use the state's medical-marijuana initiative as a defense in his upcoming trial for allegedly selling pot. OC Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald also granted Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust's request that the defense be forced to prove that people who obtained weed from Chavez were ill. (Note to Fitzgerald: If Chavez can't use the Proposition 215 defense, what's the point?) The co-op founder contends he gave grass to patients who then made voluntary donations to his operation. Prosecutors allege he was simply selling dope. Chavez's attorney vows to appeal the judge's rulings. David Lee Herrick, a co-op volunteer and former sheriff's deputy who also tried unsuccessfully to base his defense against pot-peddling charges on the medicinal-marijuana law, was sentenced on July 17 to four years in state prison. Armbrust also prosecuted that case. - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett [end]
