Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 6:49 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Jessica Corry – Huffington Post) Denver is a city in love with its newspapers. Even in 2009, many residents still cling to the scent and grime of fresh newspaper print. But as the recent loss of the city’s beloved Rocky Mountain News still lingers, the focus now turns to saving the publications remaining. In an ironic twist of fate worthy of its own front page feature, essential revenue could come from the most unlikely of sources. Marijuana.
Denver’s top alternative weekly, Westword, gets it. On both sides of its most recent edition’s back cover, 32 medical marijuana dispensaries advertised their services. In addition, in the publication’s “alternative healing” section, nearly nine additional pages were packed with similar plugs.
While the Denver Post has run a series of front page stories over the last month chronicling the brewing debate over how or whether to increase regulations on dispensaries, it has been slower getting into the advertising game, running quarter page ads from a handful of dispensaries, with plans to expand advertising access through a special section devoted to dispensaries and other alternative health outlets.
While most of American business is mired in a rut, for medical marijuana providers in California and Colorado, business is booming. But it’s not just the sales of marijuana that provide jobs and tax revenue to the state. There are also all the construction, advertising, rent, utilities, and other expenses these businesses pay that creates jobs for others. At Oregon’s Cannabis Café, which doesn’t sell any cannabis at all, they are doing the same amount of business in a day that used to take all week to generate, and that’s just the sales of café food and beverages. The café also charges a monthly membership fee and a cover charge minimum at the door.
This is why I always scoff at estimates of money to be made from legalization of cannabis. I believe those estimates are extraordinarily conservatove and don’t even begin to factor in all the ancillary industries that will be formed to support the legal cannabis market. The increase in sales of Ziploc baggies alone could bring enough tax revenue to hire more teachers and cops or fix some roads.
(DEA) Exposing the Myth of Smoked Medical Marijuana
Q. Does marijuana have any medical value?
…The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance.
And now today when you go to that same link…
Q. Does marijuana have any medical value?
And the AMA reference is gone. Congrats to the folks at LEAP who spearheaded the campaign to harass the DEA about it. (Though if you want to believe it was the fast response of the loyal frontline battle grunts in the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs™ known as “Stashers” that provided the “bump” that put the DEA over the edge, well, I’m not going to disabuse you of that notion. Whatever keeps you writing to your government is fine with me.)
But the rest of the document needs some serious fixing, too…
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 4:39 pm | By: Radical Russ
In the face of growing calls to tax and regulate marijuana, the prohibitionists are left with few tools in their rhetorical arsenal. One talking point they’ve trotted out lately goes something like this:
Why not tax pot and alleviate the financial burden of our cities and states? We tax alcohol sales and it earns billions. “The latest studies show that the U.S. collects about $8 billion yearly in taxes from alcohol.” However, this is not the end of the story. “The problem is, the total cost to the U.S. in 2008 due to alcohol-related problems was $185 billion, and the government pays about 38% of that cost (about $72 billion), all due to consequences of alcohol consumption, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism.”
In other words, if we “legalized” marijuana, the damage caused by all the rampant stoners would cost us more than the pot taxes would bring in.
Of course the argument is silly on its face; alcohol use causes serious health problems, violence, and auto wrecks, so it naturally costs society more than it brings in. Cannabis use is relatively safe and as I’ve argued before, 22 million of us are using it now, so if there is any social cost, why not at least bring in some tax revenue instead of none?
In terms of costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user. On the enforcement side, costs for cannabis are the highest at $328 per user—94% of social costs for cannabis are linked to enforcement. Enforcement costs per user for alcohol are about half those for cannabis ($153), while enforcement costs for tobacco are very low.
Now that’s Canada, so our US numbers may vary a bit, especially when we’re talking about health care costs. But in the title of his post, Paul asked me to “do the math”. So here it is:
Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 2:47 pm | By: Radical Russ
Cheech & Tommy hit the road this winter!
(CheechandChongTour.com) Cheech & Chong: Get It Legal is the follow-up to their hugely successful reunion tour, Cheech & Chong: Light Up America, where they performed together for the first time in over 25 years. The pop culture duo performed for more than 100 audiences and quickly became one of the most sought after shows of 2008-2009. Additionally, their performance in San Antonio, Texas was filmed by the Weinstein Company and will be released as Cheech and Chong’s: Hey Watch This on 4/20 of next year.
“We had an amazing time last year reconnecting with each other and our fans in a way that felt like it was part of our DNA, we were meant to be together,” said Cheech Marin. “In 2010 we are looking forward to doing more classic material that people haven’t seen for years and years, performing more of our songs and introducing some new bits. We’ve had material brewing separately for the past 25 years,” said Tommy Chong.
The Cheech & Chong: Get It Legal tour is scheduled to make 17 stops across North America including Boulder, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Bellingham, Portland, Santa Barbara, Tampa, Minneapolis, Rockford, Detroit, Louisville, DC, Bakersfield, Phoenix, and Fort Worth with Canadian stops in Regina, and Saskatoon. Additional dates to be announced soon. Chong’s wife and comedy partner, Shelby Chong, will open all dates on the tour as well as DJ-Joey Mojo. Fan club members will have access to presale tickets beginning November 17th at CheechandChongTour.com.
Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Washington Post) A federal survey of Americans’ drug use shows that [Joe Lee, a 62-year-old, and his friends] are not the only baby boomers approaching the age of retirement much as they departed the Age of Aquarius — with an occasional case of the munchies. The government’s most recent survey showed that the share of marijuana users ages 50 to 59 increased from 5.1 percent in 2002 to almost 10 percent in 2007.
Some of those users are empty-nesters, returning to the drug decades after their pot habits gave way to raising children and building careers. Others, like Lee, have kept using pot all along, researchers said.
[O]lder marijuana users say they are living evidence that smoking pot does not preclude a normal life, and more older smokers seem more comfortable than at any point since their teen years with going public — a tribute, they say, to a big boost in public tolerance of marijuana use.
“I don’t think more people in their 50s are smoking marijuana. I think we are just more comfortable talking about it,” said Rick Steves, who writes travel guidebooks and hosts a public TV series on travel. At 54, the clean-cut guru of mass-market European tourism has begun to present himself as the hard-working, successful face of the longtime smoker.
“Even my pastor knows I smoke pot,” said Steves, who was recently named Lutheran activist of the year for his work on international poverty relief.
One older smoker who doesn’t mind outing herself is Florence Siegel, an 88-year-old artist from New York who has been smoking regularly since her early 50s. That’s when the family’s pediatrician suggested they try marijuana together to see “what the kids were so excited about.” The pediatrician didn’t feel a thing. Siegel said she never stopped.
Now her routine is to sit in her favorite chair each evening, listen to Bach and take a few hits from one of her many pipes. Marijuana boosts her creativity and helps with joint pain that has come with aging, she said.
Siegel smokes occasionally with her daughter Loren Siegel, 64, a recently retired lawyer. But does her 93-year-old husband ever join her?
“Oh, no,” she said. “Well, only very rarely.”
I know some sixty-, seventy- and eighty-year-olds who occasionally use cannabis, and some who still drink coffee, and a few who even still use alcohol and tobacco. I can’t say that I’ve met one yet who was an active cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine user.
There is a joke in medical marijuana circles that “after forty, all use is medical.” There is a certain grain of truth to that, though. Even as I approach age 42, I can feel pain in my knees and back that never used to bother me before. When you think of the things marijuana can be used to treat – arthritis, chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and so on – it seems to be a natural fit for many seniors who’d prefer an herbal remedy over a handful of increasingly expensive pills.
Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 7:33 pm | By: Radical Russ
We all know Judge Jim Gray is a powerful advocate for ending marijuana prohibition. We all know David Evans is a rabid prohibitionist. Let’s just skip to the fun parts and give you the bullet points from David Evans’ reefer madness:
(CBS News) David Evans: We cannot legalize marijuana because…
…it serves as an entry point for the use of other illegal drugs. This is known as the “gateway effect.”… [There is no "gateway effect", Institute of Medicine debunked that a decade ago and every serious study since has agreed.]
Higher potency marijuana may be contributing to a substantial increase in the number of American teenagers in treatment for marijuana dependence…. [No, that's because of drug courts that sentence marijuana users to rehab.]
Drug legalization advocates claim that marijuana is less dangerous than drugs like alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. However, studies … show that marijuana is not harmless but that it is toxic and addictive. [Marijuana is notably non-toxic to healthy cells and organs and is not even as addictive as coffee.]
The legalizers claim that as legalized drugs become less expensive, people will no longer need to commit crimes in order to pay for their drug use. The problem with this claim is that some drugs are already inexpensive. Marijuana, the most abused and addictive drug for young people, is very inexpensive…. [Really, you consider $10-$15/gram inexpensive for a young person?]
Even supporters of drug legalization admit that “low prices would encourage use.” A good example of this is [crack] cocaine. … Higher levels of drug use cause increased crime, especially property crime to pay for the drugs. [Wasn't this a discussion about marijuana? So, then, you're saying the people who'd rob someone for money for that $400 ounce now will rob more people for that $40 ounce in the future?]
Drug users, many of whom are unable to hold jobs, commit robberies and other crimes not only to obtain drugs, but also to purchase food, shelter, clothing and other goods and services. Even if drugs were legalized, addicts will still need to pay the rent and may resort to crime to do so. [Uh, if marijuana is legal, marijuana users can keep their jobs or find new ones without being discriminated against for the metabolites in their urine.]
…most violent drug related crime is committed because people are under the influence of drugs. The use of drugs changes behavior and causes criminal activity because people will do things they wouldn’t do if they were rational and free of the drug’s influence…. Cocaine-related paranoia is an example. [Again with the cocaine! Please, what crimes are being committed by people under the influence of marijuana, except for noodling too long on a guitar solo or not sharing the bag of Doritos?]
If legalizing drugs will increase drug use, then drugged driving will also likely increase. Many studies show a clear correlation between drug use and motor vehicle accidents, trauma, and dangerous driving…. [If legalizing marijuana causes more people to choose it instead of alcohol, we'll have less dangerous driving!]
Your comment that increased pot use will not lead to more addiction is preposterous…. This argument does not work when we consider that drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are dangerous and highly addictive. [Cocaine and heroin are dangerous and highly addictive. Can we please stick to talking about pot?]
[Prohibition] keeps potential drug users from using drugs by virtue of the fear of arrest and the embarrassment of being caught. [Right, all 22 million of us who will smoke this year are terrified, but it's not stopping us from using cannabis.]
[Prohibition] helps drug users/addicts into treatment through the use of laws and drug courts that offer treatment as an alternative to incarceration. [Helps drug rehabs, you mean, by providing them unaddicted people forced into rehab by courts. Over one third of those attending marijuana rehab haven't even used cannabis in the past thirty days!]
Some other points to notice from Mr. Evans’ rants:
He insists on calling us “legalizers”. I call Evans a “prohibitionist” because he supports continuing the status quo of prohibition. But to say that we support “legalization” of drugs is not semantically correct. A “legalized” drug, as Judge Gray points out, would be something like aspirin, a substance that has no restrictions on marketing, age of use, sales, manufacture, and purchase. We don’t call for that, we call for sensible regulations on marijuana not unlike alcohol and tobacco. It would be more accurate to call us “regulators”.
He must always bring drugs into the discussion – cocaine, heroin, and meth – because a discussion of the dangers of marijuana use alone doesn’t scare people anymore.
He continues to harp on the negative consequences of drug use while ignoring the demonstrable consequences of drug money, which include corruption, violence, and terrorism.
There will be a part two to this debate on CBS News website tomorrow.
Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 12:42 pm | By: Radical Russ
Thanks to a tip from our friends at LEAP, I reported on Tuesday about Iowa Senator Charles Grassley offering an amendment to Senator Jim Webb’s prison reform bill that forbids the commission from recommending the legalization of marijuana or even studying what effect legalization might have on society. Well, thanks once again to the Tom Angell, blogging for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, we now have audio of Senator Grassley defending this censorship of science, even as he talks about putting “all options on the table.” (Catch the audio on tonight’s Stash.)
QUESTION: I hear there was an amendment to a bill tomorrow that would legally prevent some of the government’s top advisers from — according to some of the memos we’ve seen — even discussing the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing drugs.
Can you talk a little bit about that? I understand that you pulled that amendment, but, nonetheless, I wanted to ask you what your intent is with that.
GRASSLEY: Well, my intent on that amendment isn’t any different than any other amendments that are coming up. The Congress is setting up a commission to study certain things. And the commission is a — is an arm of Congress, because Congress doesn’t have time to review some of these laws.
And — and — and the point is, for them to do what we tell them to do. And one of the things that I was anticipating telling them not to do is to — to recommend or study the legalization of drugs.
Their — their program would be what we tell it it is. …
Senator Webb wants to understand why we have 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s imprisoned. Sen. Webb understands that the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs™ has a lot to do with it. Sen. Webb understands that discussion of marijuana legalization must be on the table. I’m not sure which concept is more misunderstood by Senator Grassley: science, democracy, free speech, or justice. Wait, maybe it’s compassion:
QUESTION: Would your amendment have even stopped the discussion of legalized marijuana for medical purposes?
GRASSLEY: I think that would not — let’s see. Yes, the extent to which it would be decriminalization, the answer is yes.
SneakerPimp: im diggen yesterdays stash daily toker tunes segment awesome
WakeUpDead: Just got done with yesterdays stash and now the new one is up, very cool.
SneakerPimp: ah fresh stashieness
SneakerPimp: nice pic there mr ruben
Missippi Hippy: black beauties - got 'em by the pharm sealed 1000 in the 80s
Adam: Kieth Stroup told me that he has new book coming out, it will cover the time periods after High in America was published.
Adam: I recommend that you all read High in America: The True Story Behind NORML and the Politics of Marijuana.
Read it FREE online HERE
http://tinyurl.com/cxzc3h
slash5city: ah the mid 80's spof ..the summers of 3d weed.... head down to the smoking area at school buy a 2$ pin joint or two from the one dealer then [...]
Missippi Hippy: drug war grunts we be.
Adam: @Rev, Thats right, They split over this exact priority issue. I have read a lot about the history of NORML and the marijuana legalization fight.
Missippi Hippy: yep... they lobby
Missippi Hippy: I'ma people, you'r a people, she's a people, he's a people, wouldn't you like to be a people too!
Adam: We can't forget that MPP has a man in the hall's of Congress every day, that POV is priceless for our side and without the NORML chapters in small town [...]
RevRayGreen: Adam many MPP execs. were once in NORML....
Missippi Hippy: a grassroots movement of the people.
Adam: The way I see it MPP focuses on legislation where as NORML is about the people and keeping them motivated and strong for the long fight to come.
Adam: MPP is no more perfect than NORML is, I'm thankful for all the ORG's fighting for reform.
Missippi Hippy: yep, I agree. The prohibo's are tearing each other apart... can't get their duckies in a row.
Adam: We must be careful not to divide into THEM and US! Each ORG will have it's own priorities but we all fight on the same side in the fight.
Missippi Hippy: Now dat's wut Ima talkin' 'bout!
Missippi Hippy: ...responsible use...adults... no longer subject to penalty
Missippi Hippy: Norml's mission Statement
NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject [...]
Missippi Hippy: ...reduce or eliminate... f- reduce!
Missippi Hippy: This is MPP mission statement.
1. Increase public support for non-punitive, non-coercive marijuana policies.
2. Identify and activate supporters of non-punitive, non-coercive marijuana policies.
3. Change state laws to reduce or [...]
Missippi Hippy: In MN, MPP counted Gov Pawlenty's veto of the Med MJ bill as a loss.
The bill was so weak, that I counted the veto as a win, i.e. I ain't [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Could marijuana advertising save Denver papers?
I'ma people, you'r a people, she's a people, he's a people, wouldn't you like to be a people too! 
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