edmontonsun.com – Edmonton News – Stoner waiting for sentence

I don’t really have anything to say about the story.  It’s the headline I’ve got a problem with.

“Stoner”?  I wonder if the DUI driver profiled in the story were drunk, if they would have said “Alcoholic waiting for sentence”.  The other Canadian press led with headlines like…

Edmonton court hears from family of stoned driver’s victims

Edmonton judge reserves decision in stoned driver case

…which are fine, because you’d say “drunk driver”, too.

I’m pretty free with the terms “stoner” (and “pothead” and “toker”), but that’s among the community.  I can say it, you can say it, but they better not say it!  It’s kind of like our “n-word” – we can say “stoner”, but they can’t.

I see this too often in the headlines.  Another one that really bugs me is “medipot”.  If you need a shorthand for “medical marijuana”, you can use “med-mj” and it’s even less letters!

The drug policy reform organizations ought to think about mounting a campaign to inform the media about the proper terminology for our issues.  The gay community has been very successful in getting the AP, Washington Post, and New York Times to adapt their style guide to avoid using biased or pejorative terms such as “admitted homosexual” or “transsexual”.  Is there any such equivalent to tell newspapers not to use “stoner”, “junkie”, “tweeker”, or “crackhead”?

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Marijuana activist’s legal appeal rejected
The Alberta Court of Appeal has rejected the bid of a Calgary marijuana activist seeking to have his drug trafficking charges stayed.

Grant Krieger was looking for a constitutional exemption Wednesday from his marijuana trafficking conviction, arguing his actions were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Krieger has admitted he sent two packages of marijuana to Manitoba in 2003 and 2004, but has argued he was supplying it to sick people for medical purposes.

At Krieger’s 2006 trial, it was argued it was too difficult for some ill people to obtain an exemption to use the drug under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations — doctors were reluctant to sign-off on the treatment due to insurance concerns.

However, after retiring for only a few minutes, the court of appeal ruled against Krieger.

Outside the courtroom, Krieger said the problem is people can’t get a signature from a “bloody doctor” to receive medical marijuana.

“Every time I’m in court, people come to see me asking me to help them out, because they can’t get doctors’ signatures or whatever,” he said.

This is not the end of the case, however. Krieger, who has multiple sclerosis, is appealing the four-month jail sentence he received in 2007. He said if he’s forced to serve the time, “that’s a death sentence.”

The recent ruling against Health Canada’s monopoly over the medical cannabis supply in Canada should help alleviate some of the problems of access to medicine for patients.  But every system of medical marijuana in North America faces some level of difficulty getting medicine to patients because of the prohibited market in consumer marijuana.  Prohibition keeps dispensary prices high in California, frustrates the state dispensary system in New Mexico, endangers patients growing their own in Oregon and Washington, and sets ridiculously low possession limits in the other medical marijuana states.

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Driver on drugs found guilty in fatal crash
EDMONTON – An Edmonton-area man who was high on marijuana when he slammed head-on into another car and killed two people has been found guilty of impaired driving causing death.   

James McIlwrick, 36, was also found guilty on two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. He looked dazed as Court of Queen’s Bench Justice June Ross delivered her verdict.

McIlwrick acknowledged he was driving one of two vehicles involved in the fatal crash on Nov. 25, 2003, but admitted nothing else.

He was allegedly driving the wrong way down Highway 21 near Sherwood Park around 7:30 p.m. when he collided with the oncoming vehicle.

Tammy Engelking, 27, and Henry Yao, 40, died in the collision. The passengers suffered serious injuries.

A bystander rushed to McIlwrick’s van and opened the door, and noticed the strong smell of marijuana. Doctors later questioned whether he was fit to consent to tests because of his level of intoxication.

Court has heard he had been using marijuana, Paxil, Zyprexa and Ativan.

Before I start any of my commentary, let me note that if you’re so high you drive down the wrong way of a highway and crash into and kill two people, you deserve very severe punishment.

That said, notice the lede of this story says “who was high on marijuana” and you don’t hear about the pharmaceuticals until you get to the end of the story.  The average reader is going to infer “marijuana causes accidents and death” from that lede.

But deeper analysis reveals that the pharmacuticals may have been much more to blame:

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-05-20

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s Tuesday, May 20th and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.

We here at NORML would like to remind you to get involved in the cannabis civil rights movement and join us here at NORML – you can learn everything you need to know at NORML.org. Make a donation, write a letter, attend a march – it all starts with you. Call your Congress at 202-224-3121 – they’ll ask your zip code and put you in touch with your elected officials. Tell them to support HR5842 and HR5843 to end DEA raids in medical marijuana states and legalize personal possession of pot. It still is a government of We the People, but you have to step up and do your part.

Tuesday is Government at Work day on the podcast, and coming up after the news, we’re going to speak with Tonya Davis of North Ohio NORML. Tonya’s here to deliver the fantastic news of the Ohio Medical Compassion Act, a medical marijuana bill sponsored by state senator Tom Roberts which will be introduced this Friday.  (See Tonya’s YouTube videos and her MySpace page, too.)

After that Cannabis Karri brings us some instrumental electronica from Machine Love. It’s a trippy little number called “Stoner Girl” and I hereby dedicate it to all the sativa sisters and ganja girls listening to the Stash.

We’ll wrap up today with Professor Geraint Osborne from the University of Alberta in Canada. He’s just released some interesting data on the “typical” Canadian cannabis consumer and found that we come from all walks of life.

We’ve also got another great NORML Pass the Stash contest. This time you could win the uncensored DVD of “Totally Baked”, written by Craig Shoemaker (a guest on the Stash). Bonus for you Stashers: it’s autographed by the Executive Producer, Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC! No joke, there are even three brand new Brian Johnson songs on the DVD. Listen for details later in the podcast on how you can win.

There’s plenty to talk about, so sit back and relax with your favorite strain – this is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

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Just catching up on some of the reports from the March this weekend:

Close to 500 protesters took to the streets [of Calgary, Alberta, Canada] Saturday in favour of marijuana’s medicinal use and making it more accessible to those suffering debilitating pain.

Amid the incense aromas and reggae beats, several hundred Austinites rallied at the Capitol on Saturday for the legalization of marijuana for personal and medical use.

Rolling out at high noon May 3, the Ninth Annual Million Marijuana March smoked through downtown Portland as part of Oregon NORML’s protest of pot prohibition and to support the use of medicinal marijuana through Oregon’s sometimes controversial Medical Marijuana Act.

“These guys are easy compared to the anarchists,” said Sgt. Voepel of the Portland Police Department, “they’re on time, and they’re orderly.”

According to the Sarge, the only rabble rousers during the march were two drunkards who were pestering people but were unconnected to the peaceful pro-pot gatherers. No pot smokers were spotted.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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