“What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue, simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism; we’ve got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with,” said presidential candidate Barack Obama in a March 2008 interview.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that’s inconsistent with federal and state law,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a March 2009 statement.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Mercury News) LOS ANGELES—Federal and local agents are raiding at least two marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles but authorities won’t say what they’re seeking. Officials say more than 20 people from various agencies served a state search warrant at around 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Organica Collective in Marina del Rey.

Los Angeles police, the FBI and DEA were still searching the distribution center three hours later.

DEA spokesman Jose Martinez says agents also served the warrant at the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says a residence also was named in the warrant.

Well, at least President Obama is fulfilling his other campaign promises, like getting us out of a protracted Middle Eastern war.  Oh, right, Afghanistan.

But at least he’s bringing us health care reform.  No, wait, better not use that one.

At least he’s holding the past administration accountable for… no, can’t go there.

Reducing the influence of lobbyists in Washington and refusing to have any lobbyists in his administration… uh, no.

Protecting the Constitution from the serious abuses of the previous administration, like warrantless wiretapping… no again.

Bringing Wall Street excesses to an end… ‘fraid not.

Ending the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military… uh-uh.

Wait, I know!  Cash for Clunkers!  There we go!

At NORML, we are a non-partisan organization, and with these new DEA raids, it makes it so much easier for me to move from my personal support of the Democratic Party to political independence.  I’ve had it.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.  At least with a President McCain, I would have known straight up that he hates medical marijuana and would allow DEA raids to continue instead of being sold a bill of goods about not “circumventing state laws” and then circumventing them anyway.

(Wall Street Journal Law Blog) Fair-use cases are often a blogger’s dream, what with their angry celebrities, well-known (or at least visible) works of art, and strident accusations of theft.

But as much fun as J.D. Salinger, Woody Allen and J.K. Rowling have provided us over the months on the fair-use front, the following just might take the cake as Best Fair-Use Smackdown Ever.

But is it “adulterated enough to comply with the fair use laws?” The standard, a copyright lawyer tells us, is whether there was a “transformative use.” And that doesn’t necessarily mean the image has to be transformed — an image can remain exactly the same and satisfy fair use if the picture is framed in a way that sends a message. In other words, its “use” is transformed. “For example, a Nancy Reagan picture on the poster would send a parodic message,” he says. “This one is a closer call.”

Well, I’m pretty sure taking the Obama image, putting a joint in his fingertips, centering it in a ’60s-acid-rock-style poster, and lampooning his signature campaign phrase “Yes We Can” is pretty transformative.  Especially considering the context of his famous cop to using marijuana “frequently” in his youth, his recent online polls where legalizing marijuana was chosen by the public as a top political concern, and his subsequent chuckling brush-off of the “online audience”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From today’s Washington Post Reliable Source:

For their annual conference poster, they took an old photo of cool-dude college freshman Obama puffing away — on a regular cigarette, mind you — and tweaked it just ever so slightly to fit their message: “Yes We Cannabis.”

Think it might be a problem for the president (who opposes legalization)? It’s really a problem for the photographer. Lisa Jack, an Obama classmate at Occidental College, snapped the image in 1980, one in a series of photos that never saw the light of day until she debuted them in Time’s 2008 Person of the Year issue. She had no idea her photo had been appropriated by NORML until we told her Tuesday.

“They do not have my permission,” said Jack, a psychology professor in Minnesota. These photos “are absolutely not to be used in this way. … I really made a grand effort to do this properly, and I’m very irritated. If I’d wanted these to be used for political purposes, I’d have sold them to Hillary years ago.”

Jack, whose photos now have a gallery show in L.A., grudgingly admits “it’s really cool” that the images are already iconic enough to steal.

US Copyright Office’s fact sheet on “fair use” (emphasis mine):

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

We are selling the poster, no doubt. But the “we” in question is a non-profit educational foundation.  It is obviously a political satire meant as a criticism and comment about President Obama continuing the failed policy of cannabis prohibition.  It promotes a conference presented for the education of cannabis activists and the general public.

Original Lisa Jack Photo

Besides, look at the original picture.  It is obvious to anyone looking at it that Obama appears to be smoking a joint.  I’ve received numerous emails from readers when I first displayed the photo asking me whether the object was in fact a joint.  We felt that the original was simply begging for someone to point this out, so we did.  We understand that Jack might be irritated by someone defacing her work, but that’s what “fair use” is all about.

Compare it to these satires in MAD Magazine:

MAD Magazine Obama satire

Here we have a Photoshopped Barack Obama head, which must have come from someone’s copyrighted photo, pasted onto Steve Carrell’s body in a “40-Year-Old Virgin” movie poster that I’m pretty sure is copyrighted.  But it’s obviously a political satire.

MAD Magazine Phelps satire

Here we have a shot of Michael Phelps in the pool, probably a copyrighted shot, with a joint Photoshopped in (like the NORML poster) and the service marks of High Times Magazine.  Oh, and a Harold & Kumar shot as well.  But it is a parody.

One big difference, though, is that MAD Magazine is not a non-profit entity.

It has been my experience as typical American church-going Christian that our religious right haven’t embraced Marijuana, and they take a stance contrary to the religious teachings of the Kings James or Living Bible.

In spite of condemnation from hard line conservatives, this isn’t the case of Illinois Reverend Al Sharp, executive director of Chicago-based Protestants for the Common Good.

Along with more than 60 religious leaders in Illinois, Reverend Sharp is taking a bold stance contrary to mainstream religion by calling on state senators this week to pass a bill that would allow patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation and without criminal consequences.

“Jesus lived his life healing those where he could, this [request] is entirely consistent with that.”

In a list provided by the article, many local religious organizations and leaders support the Medical Marijuana bill.

Denominations that officially support medical marijuana include the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Union for Reform Judaism, Unitarian Universalist Association, Episcopal Church, and United Church of Christ.

A decision on the bill expected by Thursday. If passed, the legislation would create a three-year pilot program allowing the state Department of Public Health to give registry identification cards to people with doctors’ recommendations for Marijuana. Eligible patients would be entitled to seven cannabis plants and 2 ounces of dried usable cannabis.

These events bring together two very important elements; The Conservative Christian Right is starting to realize that “Reefer Madness” is nothing more than an empty hat, and their realization is happening in our President’s home state of Illinois!

Mr. President, are you still laughing?

From the Chicago Tribune.

I can’t write this up any better than the email I just got from Stasher Rhett:

The road to hell is paved with what?

President Obama has just proclaimed April 8th as National D.A.R.E. day.

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 8, 2009, as National D.A.R.E. Day.”

How noble.

An excerpt from the speech had him saying that “The D.A.R.E. program has worked to educate students about drugs, gangs, and violence for more than 25 years. Placing law-enforcement personnel in the classroom, D.A.R.E. provides students with important lessons from experts and seeks to prepare them for the difficult encounters and choices they may face.”

The reality is that this program has had no positive effect on our society or our kids in any way. It is a complete waste of tax dollars. In 25 years of this program we have seen a steady increase of drug use in our kids at younger ages. I submit that this program is just exposing most kids to drugs much earlier than otherwise. These local cops that show up are not experts in any way, either. They are trained to enter the classrooms and lie about things above their pay grades. This programs sole purpose is to make money for the law enforcement economy by perpetuating nonsense.

My personal account of D.A.R.E was an officer coming into the class, doing a show and tell of various drugs and then asking us to NARC on our friends and parents if we ever see any of these things. It was the first time I had ever seen or heard of illegal drugs. Few, if any of us, were interested. We were more concerned with the expected dodge ball game during the next recess. Years later, when I finally did encounter marijuana, I used my memory of the joint the officer showed us to help figure out how to roll it up. Thanks D.A.R.E!

This administration isn’t going to make drug policy decisions from a position of integrity or intelligence. They are demonstrating, with actions, that they are going to take the lobby money and run the same plays we have seen in previous years. Obama is looking to be a one termer. Maybe we will get a real candidate for change next time.

Now, Therefore, I, Taxpayer 420, Citizen of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by laws and constitution of the united states, do hereby proclaim April 8th as national dog and pony show day.

I hope pop culture turns April 8th into a annual Marijuana rally of some kind. It would only be fitting.

I smoke pot, and I like it – THE WEEK.

Have you heard of Santiago Meza Lopez? They call him “The Soupmaker.” In January he confessed to Mexican authorities that he had dissolved over 300 dead human bodies in acid. There’s a lot of money to be made in America’s black market for drugs and Mexican suppliers are willing to kill a lot of people to control those markets and capture the gains. Conservative estimates put the death toll of the war between rival Mexican gangs at over 5,000 in the last year alone. When you kill so many people it’s hard to know what to do with all of the rotting bodies. One way to handle the problem is to call in the Soupmaker. Six hundred American dollars per corpse.

Did you know that the United States of America, the Land of the Free, puts a larger portion of its population behind bars than any country on earth? Thanks in large part to the War on Drugs, Americans lock more of their own in cages than do the thuggish Russians or those “Islamofascist” Saudis. As it happens, American drug prohibition and sentencing policies hit poor black men the hardest, devastating already disadvantaged black families and communities—a tragic, mocking contrast to the achievement of Obama’s election. Militarized police departments across the nation month after month kick down the wrong doors, terrify innocent families, shoot lawful citizens, and often kill the family dog.

So why is Obama laughing? To be fair, in 2004, Obama called the War on Drugs “a complete failure.” And he’s much saner about pot than most politicians. He has in the past called for decriminalization of marijuana and his Justice Department has promised the DEA will ease up on medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law (though the Feds just cracked down on a cannabis coop in San Francisco). Sure, Obama’s got a lot on his hands these days. But his dismissive snicker reflects a sadly common nonchalance toward America’s disastrous experiment in prohibition. This is a “war” that has not only failed utterly to shut down the market for drugs, but has, on the way, perpetuated the shameful American legacy of racial stratification, eroded the rights and safety of American citizens, and fomented a civil war on our southern border in which knock-on markets for assassins and corpse liquidation specialists flourish. To call this “complete failure” is to put on a happy face.

Click here to view the embedded video.

202-456-1111

Would arresting this guy for smoking pot make you laugh, Mr. President?

Call.  Send a letter.

“I’m one of the tens of millions of Americans who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol.

The American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults. The time for joking is over.

Please consider apologizing for your dismissive tone, and please consider treating those of us who believe that there are viable alternatives to marijuana prohibition with the respect we deserve.”

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Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-03-30.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. President Obama: “Elliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition, oftentimes that causes even more violence.”
2. VA Sen Jim Webb Definitely Gets It
3. NORML’s Weekly Legislative Round Up

Pot and Politics

• Allen St. Pierre on NORML’s reaction to Obama’s Legalization joke, Jim Webb sentencing commission

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• Message Monday – ‘Leave the Trees Alone’ by Chezidek

Chapter of the Week – Michigan NORML

• CHAPTER NAME: Michigan NORML
• CHAPTER MAILING ADDRESS: 6215 Smeltzer Road, Benzonia, MI  49616
• CHAPTER PHONE: (231) 882-9721
• CHAPTER WEBSITE: www.minorml.org
• CHAPTER EMAIL: info@minorml.org
• CHAPTER OTHER: www.myspace.com/minorml
• CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Rev. Steven B. Thompson
• CHAPTER MEETING DATES: Quarterly statewide meetings, local chapters more often, see website for details