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Hemp Headlines

1. Tim Lincecum: Cy Young Winner, 2-time All Star, #1 strikeouts, #2 batting average, #2 ERA, cannabis user
2. Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor
3. Convicted pot dealer sentenced to slightly less time than home invaders who killed his daughter
4. Puking drunk driver calls 911 to report stolen marijuana

Daily Toker Tunes

• Woodstone – “Grass”

Grassroots Activism

• David Clark, Executive Director of Georgia NORML, on 101 Ways to Beat a Marijuana Charge in Georgia

WoodStone from Kansas City

Nick McEwen handles guitar and vocals, Tom Noel plays bass, and Ryan Shelledy rounds out this traditional rock three-piece on drums.  This is another group whose website takes you to a dead link, so if anyone in the Kansas City area has information on WoodStone, please let us know at stash@norml.org.

Download audio file (WoodStone-Grass.mp3)

(Salem Statesman Journal) A 21-year-old Salem man reportedly called 9-1-1 that his marijuana was missing, but when deputies arrived, he was booked on drunk driving charges instead, officials said.

It began early Tuesday at 12:52 as a report of a vehicle break-in at the Freeloader Tavern at 501 Lancaster Drive SE, sheriff’s spokeswoman Lt. Sheila Lorance said.

A man told dispatchers that while he was inside the bar, someone broke into his truck, stole $400 cash, a jacket and about 3/4 of an ounce of marijuana, valued at about $180.

Deputy Ryan Clarke went to the scene, but when he was arrived, was unable to find the driver.

About an hour later, the driver called 9-1-1, angry that deputies had not arrived, and was driving.

Lorance said the dispatcher had difficulty understanding the caller because the driver was stopping several times to vomit.

Deputies eventually found the driver at 49th Avenue and Fontana Court SE where the man had parked. The driver, who was found about 100 feet from his truck, told deputies he was looking for the people who stole his “weed.”

Clarke determined that the driver was drunk.

Calvin Hoover, 21, of Salem, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

I’m not so certain that this should be classified as a Stupid Stoner Story since he exhibited this stupid behavior while drunk.  In fact, if you’re so drunk that you’re puking while driving, we don’t really want your kind.  But if this helps stop the next non-medical marijuana user from calling police to report stolen weed, then it was worth posting.

And for the record, isn’t it nice to once again be reminded of the parking lots at taverns that are so well guarded and patrolled that there can be a vehicle break-in that goes unnoticed and a puking drunk that’s allowed to just drive away?

(Clark County Columbian) Tim Lincecum, star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and a two-time All Star, is facing charges of misdemeanor possession of marijuana after being stopped for speeding on Interstate 5 in Vancouver last week.

A Washington State Patrol motorcycle trooper working with a laser device timed a 2006 Mercedes-Benz doing 74 mph northbound in Hazel Dell near Northeast 78th Street at 8:23 a.m. Oct. 30, WSP trooper and spokesman Steve Schatzel said.

The speed limit there is 60 mph. The trooper pulled the Mercedes over. When the driver, Lincecum, rolled down his window, the trooper smelled marijuana. He asked Lincecum to hand it over, and Lincecum reached into his dashboard console and produced a small pouch and a pipe, Schatzel said.

The amount was 3.3 grams, Schatzel said, which is considered only enough for personal use. Lincecum did not appear to be impaired behind the wheel and is not being charged with a felony crime, Schatzel said.

Another top athlete who is playing in his prime and is a current marijuana consumer.  I don’t follow majorly boring ball, but even I can tell you that winning the 2008 Cy Young Award means this guy is one of the best.  His stats show that over the last two years, Lincecum ranks 1st or 2nd in the National League for strikeouts, ERA, and batting average; and ranks 2nd to 4th in wins and innings pitched.

Washington places felony possession at 40 grams, so he doesn’t face much of a punishment when he’s arraigned this Monday, November 23rd, in Clark County District Court right across the river from me in Vancouver, Washington.  I’ll be there getting audio for the Stash and I’m encouraging any supporters in the Vancouver area to join me.  I have ideas for big picket signs reading “Another Successful Cannabis Consumer” over the huge blowup pics of Michael Phelps, Santonio Holmes, and other high profile athletes who’ve recently been busted for weed.

As I follow the coverage of the incident, one theme that repeats is that he won’t be punished much by the law or by baseball, but that “The hit to his reputation will be worse than the penalties“. Why must that be the case?  Lincecum is just one of 22 million adults who will enjoy cannabis this year and still manage to have a productive and remarkable life.  He plays just one of many sports that are saturated with support and advertising from a drug that kills tens of thousands and leads to violence, yet we’re supposed to look down on him for relaxing with a joint?

(NY Times via CNBC) Among the 14 states with medical marijuana laws, Colorado has experienced particularly brisk growth in the stores. From fewer than two dozen dispensaries in the state in January, there are now more than 60 just in Denver and nearby Boulder, and more than 10,000 registered medical marijuana patients statewide, according to reports in Westword, a Denver alternative weekly.

Now a business that has nothing to do with cannabis is aiming its ads at medical marijuana patients. A new print ad — by TDA Advertising and Design of Boulder — for Hapa Sushi, a restaurant chain based in Boulder, features a map of Denver and Boulder with 63 dots. Four dots are red, representing the four Hapa locations, and the remaining 59 are blue, representing medical marijuana dispensaries, some of which, it turns out, are just a stone’s throw from the restaurants. The ad was to appear Thursday in the Denver/Boulder edition of The Onion and in Westword later in the month.

“We’re just kind of saying, ‘Look, these dispensaries exist and they’re becoming part of our community, so let’s welcome them in and have some fun,’ ” said Mark Van Grack, owner of Hapa Sushi, a privately held, 10-year-old chain. “If you’re going to smoke pot, you’re going to get the munchies, so come to Hapa to eat.”

And when it comes to tasty munchies, you can’t get much healthier than sushi.  (Denver’s one of the few landlocked states where I’ll eat sushi, since they have a major airport just a couple of hours from the coast by air.)

Once again, the business world can’t get enough of the power of pot.  There is so much economic opportunity locked up in the underground marijuana market and the money sharks can smell it.

It’s not just the revenues that could be made by taxing cannabis and the savings from not prosecuting its users.  It’s also the ancillary businesses that would thrive in a legal marijuana market – glassblowers, paper mills, timber mills (for hemp pressboard), farmers, retailers, restaurants, and so on – and the jobs they would create.  It’s also the extra cash freed up for other purchases; if a guy used to paying $400 an ounce is soon paying $100, even with taxes, he can afford to buy some more clothes or go out to a dinner and a movie.  Or maybe some sushi.

(Denver Post) Leo Cisneros was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for selling marijuana out of his family’s Denver apartment, nearly two months after a jury found him not guilty of child abuse resulting in the death of his daughter, Auralia.

Cisneros, 31, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and having a gun while dealing drugs.

Three men tried to force themselves into the Cisneros family home the night Auralia was killed and they exchanged gunfire with Leo Cisneros. Auralia was shot in the face in the crossfire.

The intruders — Trivi Trujillo, Joshua Rojas and Juvencio Hernandez — all pleaded guilty in the case and are serving between 16 and 24 years in prison.

I’m not saying it’s a good idea to deal a pound of weed per week out of your apartment when your little girl is living there.  What I’m saying is that it is unjust to sentence a man who was selling a non-toxic substance to willing customers to one year less than a man who violates the sanctity of your home, guns blazing, and kills your child.

Of course, I’ve always had a problem with how we sentence pre-meditated violence in our country compared to other crimes.  To me, there is no greater crime than assaulting or killing another human being.  There should certainly be some temperance when we’re talking about spontaneous or emotional violence, but when someone coldly plans to physically harm another person, I’ve got a “one strike and you’re out” policy.

For example, take Bernie Madoff.  A really rich guy suckers some other really rich people into throwing away more money than I’ll ever see on a too-good-to-be-true Ponzi scheme.  The really rich people who were snookered lost a lot, but it’s not like you’re going to see Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon standing with a “Will Act for Food” sign at a freeway onramp anytime soon.  And it’s not as if once this was all revealed, Bernie Madoff was going to be able to pull it off again.  But for the sake of preserving society and punishing Madoff, he’s sentenced to 150 years and will never see the light of day again.

But if Bernie Madoff were just Bernie the Child Molester or Bernie the Rapist or Bernie the Murderer, depending on the circumstances he would likely be out of prison in three-to-six years.  We have mandatory minimum sentences for people who sell drugs to other people who willingly buy them, but no such mandates for people who rape, assault, and kill innocent others.  We have jails and prisons that are at 200% capacity, being ordered by federal courts to release tens of thousands of prisoners, but they can’t release the non-violent drug offenders because of the mandatory minimums, so thieves and violent offenders must be set free.

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-11-05.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. Drug Czar Kerlikowske on National Public Radio
2. Iowa Sen. Grassley: Webb Commission will “do what we tell them to do” and not “recommend or study the legalization of drugs.”
3. Oregon Court of Appeals to decide 2nd Amendment rights of medical marijuana patients

Daily Toker Tunes

• DilloKing – “Marijuana Mountain”

Grassroots Activism

• Laura Kriho from Cannabis Therapy Institute on Colorado Medical Marijuana changes.

DilloKing on Myspace

Tom Christy is a professional musician from Austin, Texas creating a wave of excitement with his folk/rock/country songs performed by his band, DilloKing (as in “armadillo”). Tom’s unique drumming style and experienced vocals add special flavor to his band, and he has performed on stage with ZZ Top and as the opening act for Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer, Point Blank, Night Ranger, Joe King Carrasco and the Romantics.

This song, “Marijuana Mountain”, won awards as the Best Folk Rock “Elevator Song” at GarageBand.com and makes a nice mellow transition this Thursday to the weekend.

Learn more about Tom Christy and DilloKing at their Myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/dilloking

Download audio file (Tom_Christy-Marijuana_Mountain.mp3)

Click here to view the embedded video.

VIERA (Florida Today) — A Brevard County jury today convicted a 53-year-old man, who said he uses marijuana for religious and health purposes, of illegally harvesting more than 100 of the plants in his Palm Bay home.

It took a jury 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed minister Steven Swallick following a two-day trial.

Swallick faces up to 10 years in prison following a conviction on one count each of possession and manufacturing of marijuana. He also was convicted on one misdemeanor count of larceny with relation to a utility fixture for tampering with electrical wiring in his home.

Circuit Judge Jim Earp wouldn’t let him testify about his use of marijuana for religious purposes.

But as part of a motion asking the judge to allow the evidence, Swallick testified outside of the jury’s presence that he is affiliated with the Hawaiian Cannabis Ministries, which mandates use of the drug.

This Hawaiian Cannabis Ministry will sell to you and anyone who logs on a “Sanctuary Kit” for just $250.  This kit allegedly “provides you with proof of your legitimacy as a religious practitioner of Cannabis Sacrament.”  They claim it provides a “successful religious defense to prosecution”.

Looks like it didn’t work for Rev. Swallick.  Even if Judge Earp did allow Swallick’s religious testimony, if wouldn’t work and hasn’t worked for plenty who have tried.  I wonder how much of Swallick’s and others’ $250 donations to the ministry will come back in the form of legal defense funds for an appeal?

I am all for religious use of cannabis and I believe many people’s sincerity when they call it a sacrament.  I don’t think anyone should be arrested or locked up for any use of cannabis, whether you think it’s holy or whether you just think it’s gnarly, dude.  But all the “it’s my religion” claim is ever going to get you in an American court is a nice quiet cell and plenty of time to read your holy book.  I’m not saying that’s right, I’m just saying that’s the facts.  Point to precedents over ayahuasca and peyote all you like, but no court is going to allow cannabis as sacrament because doing so undermines government’s compelling duty to protect the citizenry from the “evils” of legal weed.

Only full legalization for all people, even healthy atheists, is going to provide patients and practitioners their right to access legal medicine and sacrament.