ARTICLE: New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch vetoed a medical marijuana measure.

He claimed that the proposed law -- which would let minors use prescription pot -- could: "downplay the perceived risk of use of this drug and will lead to increased adolescent use."

Supporters of the bill had hoped that the state Senate could override Lynch's decision,
but that legislative chamber failed yesterday to gather the necessary two-thirds majority vote. Lynch also nixed a similar bill in 2009, according to The Associated Press.

Other developments in the rest of the weed world?

In Michigan, Cops can arrest medical marijuana patients on possession charges if they're not carrying their prescription pot IDs, a state court decided Wednesday.

But there's a caveat: even though these patients can be arrested, they cannot be prosecuted once they prove that they do, in fact, have a prescription.

Confusing, right?

According to the Detroit Free Press, the appellate court claimed that cops were "within their rights to arrest the patient...because he couldn't establish proof of registration on the spot."

The appellate, however, took issue with prosecutors' position that the patient -- James RG Nicholson -- was "not protected by the marijuana law because he did not 'possess' a registry identification card," on his person at the moment of his May 2011 arrest.

Follow Victoria Bekiempis @vicbekiempis.

ARTICLE: DEA chief Michele Leonhart is an idiot.

Last week, DEA chief Michele Leonhart got quite a bit of attention with congressional testimony that left a lot of people shaking their heads in frustration. Here's what everyone is talking about:
"Is crack worse for a person than marijuana?" Polis asked Leonhart.

"I believe all illegal drugs are bad," Leonhart answered.
Polis continued, asking whether methamphetamines and heroin were worse for a person's health than marijuana.
"Again, all drugs, they're illegal drugs," Leonhart started, before being cut off by Polis.
"Yes, no, or I don't know?" Polis said. "If you don't know, you can look this up. You should know this as the chief administrator for the Drug Enforcement Agency. I'm asking a very straightforward question: Is heroin worse for someone's health than marijuana?"
Leonhart ducked again, repeating, "All illegal drugs are bad."
The whole thing ought to speak for itself, but it's worth repeating that the person who is literally in charge of stopping everyone from taking drugs is somehow incapable of explaining to us the difference between the various drugs we shouldn't be taking. It's her job to know a lot about this, and her complete lack of insight is less than impressive.
What makes this moment so significant is that people really reacted to it, and the video has now been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube. I doubt it's news to anybody that drug warriors have a tendency towards being obtuse when asked simple questions, but Leonhart's feigned ignorance is so vividly depicted in this exchange that she managed to captivate everyone in the worst possible way.
Who, if not this woman, should be able to speak intelligently about the dangers of drugs? By attempting to downplay marijuana's reputation for relative safety, she ends up coming across as oblivious or indifferent to the basic facts about drugs that everyone learns in school. The idea that there's a hierarchy of drug dangers is so widely understood that there's really no sense in even challenging it.
That's why the question wasn't even that big of a trap. There is simply no reason at all that the DEA administrator can't just tell everyone outright that, no, marijuana is not as dangerous as heroin. That's just a fact. It's the only answer she can give that won't make her look foolish, and not looking like a fool in front of Congress and the American people ought to be more important than maintaining such an absurd stance as this.
The irony of it all is that Leonhart's silly statement comes at a time when more people are paying attention to the issue than ever before. When the public is exhibiting increased skepticism about our drug policy priorities, the need for candid and intelligent commentary from public officials is that much greater. If more people are asking questions about the issue, then our policy-makers should be giving longer answers, not shorter ones.
The power to enforce these laws should never be separated from the obligation to articulate whatever wisdom and necessity underscores them. When political posturing compromises a spokesperson's ability to speak intelligently about their own area of expertise, it's a sign that something is wrong. In this case, that something is our nation's ongoing war on marijuana, a fiasco so embarrassing and inexplicable that insisting the stuff is as bad as heroin remains a top argument in its defense.

ARTICLE: Oregon's High Hopes Farm

RUCH -- Back in the day, cops knew James Bowman as "Hippie Jim." With his beard and long ponytail, the moniker fit the small-town counterculture outlaw who grew his own weed deep within southern Oregon's national forests.

Nearly 20 years later, Bowman still has the beard. Crow's-feet bunch around his eyes from long days in the sun. But at 52, he's less a hippie and more a savvy entrepreneur, the CEO behind The High Hopes Farm, a sophisticated marijuana enterprise. This year the farm will produce hundreds of pounds of premium pot for an estimated 200 Oregon medical marijuana patients.

Bowman, who once did a three-year stint in federal prison for his role in a marijuana growing ring, is among thousands of pot growers operating openly under the state's medical marijuana law. An analysis of Oregon Medical Marijuana Program data by The Oregonian shows Bowman produces pot for more medical marijuana patients than any other grower in Oregon.

This year he plans to cultivate about 400 plants, each producing an estimated 3 pounds of marijuana. That translates into 1,200 pounds of pot, more than a half-ton, with a black market value of more than $1 million.

ARTICLE: Mayor: Medical Marijuana Should Be Sold at Pharmacies

By Nathan McIntire | 5:59 am

Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz joined a recommendation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors calling for the federal government to allow medical marijuana to be sold at pharmacies.

Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz joined the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week in calling for the federal government to reclassify medical marijuana so it can be sold in pharmacies across the U.S.

Lutz spent last week in Florida at the conference, which invites more than a thousand mayors from around the nation to convene and develop policy recommendations for legislators.

The mayors voted to send a resolution to congress and the President suggesting that medical marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug under the Controlled Substances Act so that it is sold in pharmacies instead of dispensaries, Lutz said during her report at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

"This request moves all medical cannabis to Schedule 2 and what that means is that Schedule 2 drugs for medicinal purposes are all sold through pharmacies," Lutz said. "And so it was a recommendation of all the mayors across this country that we have a uniform policy that cannabis for medical purposes (is) sold at pharmacies."

Though the resolutions are non-binding, Lutz said the U.S. Conference of Mayors' positions are taken very seriously at the federal level.

"The U.S. Conference of Mayors has a very strong voice when it comes to federal legislation and the federal government," she said.

Monrovia does not allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate anywhere in the city, but Lutz said she believes the City Council would support the sale of the drug through pharmacies because it would be more tightly regulated.

"It would be sold in pharmacies and I believe that we would have no problem with that as a municipality any more than we have with codeine or oxycontin or any of those other drugs sold under that category," Lutz said in an interview. "Pharmacies—that’s their job, to sell these controlled substances that are used for medicinal purposes."

A federal reclassification of medical marijuana would resolve a current conflict between California law, which allows medical marijuana to be sold through dispensaries, and federal law, which bans the sale of the drug altogether.

DC Department of Health Notifies Applicants Eligible to Register for Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

(Washington, DC) – Today, the DC Department of Health (DOH) notified applicants who are eligible to register for a medical marijuana dispensary in the District of Columbia. The selection process included review by a (6) member panel with expertise and understanding of specific criteria defined in the regulations, and input from Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) members.

The panel put forth recommendations to DOH Director, Dr. Mohammad Akhter. With information and guidance from the review panel and ANC, Dr. Akhter narrowed-down the pool of applicants eligible to establish dispensaries.

Dispensary applicants who will be eligible to register include:

Herbal Alternatives
1147 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Takoma Wellness Center, Inc.
6925 Blair Road, NW
Washington, DC 20012

Metropolitan Wellness Center Corporation
409 8th Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003

VentureForth, LLC DBA Center City Care
1334 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

“Today’s announcement highlights the District’s commitment to provide patients who are suffering from very specific conditions that require unique solutions to help alleviate their pain,” said Dr. Mohammad Akhter, Director DC Department of Health. “I am pleased with the progress we have made, and look forward to administering the program with the utmost security to ensure patient safety and security for all residents.

Applicants must now apply for business licenses, building permits, certificates of occupancy, and meet all other regulatory requirements prior to receiving a registration from DOH to operate a medical marijuana dispensary.

Marijuana Conspiracy: The Reason Hemp Is Illegal

by Doug Yurch


They say marijuana is dangerous. Pot is not harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does not pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is, if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about the plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies.

Where did the word ‘marijuana’ come from? In the mid 1930s, the M-word was created to tarnish the good image and phenomenal history of the hemp plant – as you will read. The facts cited here, with references, are generally verifiable in the Encyclopedia Britannica which was printed on hemp paper for 150 years :

1) All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s. (Jack Frazier. Hemp Paper Reconsidered. 1974.)

2) It was legal to pay taxes with hemp in America from 1631 until the early 1800s. (LA Times. Aug. 12, 1981.)


3) Refusing to grow hemp in America during the 17th and 18th centuries was against the law! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769 (G. M. Herdon. Hemp in Colonial Virginia).

4) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers grew hemp. (Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.)

5) Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America, and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow’s export to England. (Jack Herer. Emperor Wears No Clothes.)

6) For thousands of years, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from hemp. The word ‘canvas’ is Dutch for cannabis. (Webster’s New World Dictionary.)

7) 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc., were made from hemp until the 1820s, with the introduction of the cotton gin.

8) The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross’s flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp. (U.S. Government Archives.)


9) The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th century. (State Archives.)

10) Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt.

11) Rembrandt’s, Van Gogh’s, Gainsborough’s, as well as most early canvas paintings, were principally painted on hemp linen.

12) In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs. (U.S. Department of Agriculture Archives.)

13) Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935. (Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before the U.S.Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.)

14) Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the car itself was constructed from hemp! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel. (Popular Mechanics, 1941.)




15) In 1938, hemp was called ‘Billion-Dollar Crop.’ It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars. (Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938.)

16) Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled ‘The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.’ It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture’s 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing ‘patriotic American farmers’ to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort:

“…[When] Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable… Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese… American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries… The Navy’s rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!”

Certified proof from the Library of Congress, found by the research of Jack Herer, refutes claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film Hemp for Victory did not exist.




Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin #404 concluded that hemp produces four times as much pulp with at least four to seven times less pollution.

From Popular Mechanics, February 1938:

“It has a short growing season… It can be grown in any state… The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. …Hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.” In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression.

THE CONSPIRACY

William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst’s grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp.


In 1937, DuPont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. DuPont’s Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80% of DuPont’s business.

Andrew Mellon became Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury and DuPont’s primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J.Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion-dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: ‘marijuana’ and pushed it into the consciousness of America.

MEDIA MANIPULATION

A media blitz of ‘yellow journalism’ raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst’s newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of marijuana. The menace of marijuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality.


Films like Reefer Madness (1936), Marijuana: Assassin of Youth (1935) and Marijuana: The Devil’s Weed (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marijuana laws could be passed.

Examine the following quotes from The Burning Question, aka Reefer Madness:

a violent narcotic;
acts of shocking violence;
incurable insanity;
soul-destroying effects;
under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax;
more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marijuana!
Reefer Madness did not end with the usual ‘the end.’ The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: ‘Tell your children.’

In the 1930s, people were very naive, even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children, and their children grew up to be the parents of the babyboomers.

Read the rest of the article

July 19, 2010

Copyright © 2010 Activist Post

Letter to Gov Markell Delaware Medical Marijuana By Diane Jump

Dear Governor Markell,

You have been very quiet and non responding to letters and concerns about moving forward with the compassion care centers for Delaware.

We sent letters, testimonials and concerns about Delaware Medical Marijuana the whole month of April and received a standard response that offered no information, or even human touch.

Yesterday we had a conference call and basically learned that nothing has been done to move forward. Stagnate.

Delaware patients want safe access to safe medication. We have an abundance of prescribed medications that have their own sickening side effects. Doctors prescribe pill after pill and support the huge pharmaceutical companies. But they don't want to hear about the pain relief, nausea relief, the want and ability to get up, move, feel better and control of our life. Marijuana is medication, and it works for so many,

If this is some political move because it's an election year, and nobody wants to upset the apple cart, it's just sickening. Some of us will die this election year, others will keep fighting for Delaware Medical Marijuana despite your lack of leadership and follow through. Patients who use medical marijuana are not afraid of the Oberly memo, we are afraid of being singled out as criminals.

You know, the best and most logical thing for me to do is just forget SB17. I can get marijuana, I'll always do the right thing and medicate just like I do with the prescribed narcotics. I'll be fine, but....

Sir, there are so many sick Delaware patients who need a voice, who are afraid. Patients who choose medical marijuana and subject themselves to danger or arrest just to get quality medication that works to relieve their ills, pains, nausea, wasting and side effects of disease and treatment.

I beg you Sir to move forward with the compassion care centers.

Diane L Jump
notwith0utafight@aol.com
CANCERVIXXEN
FocusOnHope