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Today is Government at Work day… and most of them are in recess. So I’m bringing back the interview with Rep. Barney Frank on his HR5843 bill to end federal penalties for personal marijuana possession.
Then I’ve got the executive producer of a new film chronicling the work of hemp activists, Rod Pitman. It’s called “Hempsters Plant the Seed” and a screening will be held this Thursday at 7pm and 10pm at Portland’s Bagdad Theater (yes, it is spelled that way).
Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 8:22 pm | By: Radical Russ
CNN has a feture called “iReport” where you can send in your comments and video replies to their stories.  The Barney Frank press conference is the subject, and I am thrilled to note that almost all of the comments were positive for our side, or as CNN puts it, “The overwhelming majority of iReporters who responded favor legalization”. As of 8:15pm PT they had 221 iReports submitted. Here is CNN’s select sampling of 15:
Marijuana bill sparks debate among iReporters – CNN.com qotsa7777: I absolutely agree with the legalization of recreational marijuana use as a means to end the damaging and unproductive war on responsible, non violent users, but if we deny individuals the right to cultivate and sell marijuana for profit (with regulation similar that of alcohol), than we continue to perpetuate the most damaging aspect of marijuana prohibition: the funneling of money to gangs.
TJ1: I have been in hiding too long on this subject. I have a medical disorder that marijuana helps…. why should I have to hide responsible use of this what I consider to be very helpful to me?
Aoman: These issues should be left up to the states to decide. Let the DEA worry about drugs that are actually harmful to society.
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We’ve got plenty of coverage from today’s press conference on Capitol Hill. Congressman Barney Frank announced HR5843 and was followed by Rep. Clay & Rep. Lee, plus Allen St. Pierre, Rob Kampia, and Bill Piper. The Drug Czar even sent Dr. David Murray to try to dazzle reporters with his 20-page full-color anti-pot propaganda.
Also our regularly scheduled Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch. Today we look at a study that shows family mealtimes – sitting around the table together for supper – improve the chances of teen girls avoiding marijuana use, but not teen boys. (There are families that can get a teen boy to sit for a dinner at the table?)
Then we finish up the interview with Kevin Hoover, who grilled Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns when he showed up in Arcata, California for a photo-op.
Finally, today is Intern Appreciation Day here at the Stash. Find your nearest intern and give them a great big hug.
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 11:30 am | By: Radical Russ
Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use – CNN.com
“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business,” Frank said during a Capitol Hill news conference. “I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 11:14 am | By: Radical Russ
The Raw Story | Bush drug warrior crashes pot press conference
On Wednesday, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) held a press conference to tout his pot-decriminalization bill, that even defenders admit has an almost non-existent chance of becoming law in the near future.
Frank, however, found himself alongside The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s “chief scientist” and two aides who were dispatched to provide instant rebuttal. Given the bill’s chances of passage, Bush Administration surrogate Dr. David Murray’s impassioned arguments that seemed more appropriate in Reefer Madness were greeted with plenty of puzzled glances.
Why did the White House feel it necessary to send at least three staffers to Capitol Hill to place in every reporter’s hand a copy of its 20-page, color-copied “2008 Marijuana Sourcebook?” RAW STORY posed this question to Murray.
“It is our responsibility to be aware of policy developments,” he said, explaining that Frank’s attempt to modify the controlled substances act was very much of interest to the Bush administration’s pot prohibitionists.
How pathetic are the government’s pot prohibitionists? First of all, the chances that this bill will pass are slim-to-none right now. Second, even if the bill moves forward, it won’t be heard until the next Congress, and this Dr. David Murray, appointed by George W. Bush, won’t even be around anymore. Third, these minions of the Drug Czar are required by LAW to lie to the public about marijuana – even if Jesus himself appeared at that press conference to say that cannabis is the sacred healing herb given by God to Man and no man has the authority to deny it to another, the ONDCP would be required by LAW to say, “no, it isn’t”.
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 9:51 am | By: Radical Russ
Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use – CNN.com (CNN) — The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.
Current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans, Frank said, flanked by legislators and representatives from advocacy groups.
“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business,” Frank said during a Capitol Hill news conference. “I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”
Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, and Barbara Lee, D-California, said that in addition to targeting nonviolent offenders, U.S. marijuana laws also unfairly target African-Americans.
Clay said he did not condone drug use, but he opposes using tax dollars to pursue what he feels is an arcane holdover from “a phony war on drugs that is filling up our prisons, especially with people of color.”
Too many drug enforcement resources are being dedicated to incarcerating nonviolent drugs users and not enough being done to stop the trafficking of narcotics into the United States, he said.
Frank said there were about a dozen states that already had OK’d some degree of medical marijuana use and the federal government should stop devoting resources to arresting people who are complying with their state’s laws.
In a shot at Republicans, Frank said it was strange that those who support limited government want to criminalize marijuana.
If HR 5843 were passed by the House, marijuana smokers could possess up to 100 grams — about 3½ ounces — of cannabis without being arrested. It would also permit the “nonprofit transfer” of up to an ounce of marijuana.
The resolution would not affect laws forbidding growing, importing or exporting marijuana, or selling it for profit. The resolution also would not affect any state laws regarding marijuana use.
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 8:54 am | By: Radical Russ
Wednesday, July 30, 2008: At a press conference held this morning, members of Congress called on their fellow lawmakers to remove all federal penalties that criminalize the possession and use of marijuana by adults.
“To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree,” said Representative Barney Frank (D-MA). “But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe … criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.”
Rep. Frank, along with co-sponsors Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Lacy Clay (D-MO), urged lawmakers to support HR 5843, An Act To Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults, which would eliminate federal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana, and for the not-for-profit transfer of up to one ounce of marijuana. Other co-sponsors of the measure include Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA); Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Rep. Ron Paul R-TX).
This proposal reflects the basic recommendations of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (aka the Shafer Commission) in its groundbreaking report to Congress in 1972 titled Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the responsible use of marijuana by adults and this should be of no interest or concern to the government,” said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. “It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals. “
“I am a 42-year-old man, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, I pay my taxes and, like millions of other Americans, I occasionally smoke marijuana. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would wish to treat me like a criminal, based on my responsible use of marijuana. It is time we stopped arresting responsible marijuana smokers, and HR 5843 would do that under federal law.”
This is the first federal marijuana decriminalization bill to be introduced in Congress since 1978, and reflects the changing public attitudes that no longer support treating responsible marijuana smokers like criminals. According to a nationwide Time/CNN poll, three out of four Americans now favor a fine only, and no jail, for adults who possess or use small amounts of marijuana.
Each year in this country we arrest more and more of our citizens on marijuana charges. In 2006, the last year for which the data are available, we arrested 830,000 Americans on marijuana charges, and 88 percent of those arrests were for personal possession and use, not trafficking. They were otherwise law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana.
Since 1965, a total of nearly 20 million Americans – predominantly young people under the age of 30 — have been arrested on marijuana charges; more than 11 million marijuana arrests just since 1990.
Currently 47 percent of all drug arrests in this country are for marijuana, and another marijuana smoker is arrested every 38 seconds. Police arrest more people on marijuana charges each year than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
As President Jimmy Carter said in a message to Congress in 1977, “Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to the individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use.”
For More Information, Contact:
NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre; allen@norml.org; 202-483-5500
or Legal Counsel Keith Stroup: keith@norml.org; 202-483-5500
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am | By: Radical Russ
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and representatives of organizations supporting reform of marijuana laws will hold a press conference on Wednesday to discuss Frank’s “Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008.” The bill, H.R. 5843, would remove federal criminal penalties for personal possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana or the nonprofit transfer of up to an ounce of marijuana. It would not change federal statutes forbidding cultivation, import, export or for-profit sale of marijuana.
We will have audio from the press conference and Allen St. Pierre’s prepared remarks for you tomorrow morning. Then on Friday, tune in for a very special interview with Congressman Barney Frank himself.
This is the first positive marijuana policy reform legislation to be introduced on the Hill for thirty years. Congressman Frank will be fighting an uphill battle, so make sure you call your Congressperson today and urge them to cosponsor or at least support Barney Frank’s HR5843 (full text here).
America yearns for tomorrow while neo-conservatives, frightened evangelicals, and the old-guard cling to yesterday’s well-formed lies. Iraq is a lie, fossil fuel is a lie, political boundaries are a lie, right-wing religion is a lie, and so are America’s money wasting, prison-crowding, twentieth-century marijuana laws.
In response to public pressure, scientific evidence, and a lack of fear, twelve states have passed marijuana legislation in conflict with federal law. In California, medical marijuana has been dispensed since 1996. Despite federal views to the contrary, the sky has not fallen down over the golden state’s liberal herbal policy.
In 1992, Bill Clinton admitted to having “experimented with marijuana a time or two.” But, he famously claimed, “I didn’t like it, and didn’t inhale and I never tried it again.” Challenges to twenty-first century America have warranted a new look at unwarranted fears: Barack Obama supports marijuana for glaucoma, cancer patients, and medical use. He has said, “the war on drugs has been an utter failure, we need to rethink it – decriminalize our marijuana laws.”
John McCain’s moth-eaten, opposition to marijuana for medical use, is another signal his presidency would be a roadblock to a new America. McCain states: “I still would not support medical marijuana because I don’t think the preponderance of medical opinion in America agrees with the assertion that [marijuana] is the most effective way of treating pain.”
In part 2 of my interview with Congressman Barney Frank, he talks bluntly and plainly about an issue that clouds the path towards a new America. His reasonable, live and let live position makes sense, moving us into the twenty-first century, at last.
Friday is Cannabis Community day on the Stash, and coming up after the news, we’re speaking with our regular guest Steve Bloom, the webmaster at CelebStoner.com. Steve is a former editor at High Times Magazine who helped uncover the origins of the whole “420″ subculture. (No, it’s not the California police code for marijuana smoking in progress and it’s not how many chemicals are in cannabis.) If you’re listening in Colorado, Steve will be at a Cheeba Hut store near you, autographing copies of his latest book, Pot Culture, The A to Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life.
We wrap things up today with NORML’s Founder and Legal Counsel Keith Stroup discussing Barney Frank’s groundbreaking new bill to end the prosecution at the federal level of adults who use cannabis responsibly.
Finally, don’t forget that every Saturday we’re now posting the NORML Weekend Music Stash, where you can get all of the last ten songs from our daily musical breaks in one podcast, suitable for your weekend party pleasure. If you have a band that would like to be featured on our podcast, please send us an email at stash ‘at’ norml.org.
So sit back and relax with your favorite strain and enjoy your NORML Daily Audio Stash…
RevRayGreen: MASS TWEET THIS -@ChuckGrassley Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer sadness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
RevRayGreen: @ChuckGrassley http://bit.ly/55Ejsi Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer madness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
SneakerPimp: one last thing Puff puff pass to any one who wants it
SneakerPimp: i wanna here about the imminent MiniSpof sounds like time for some
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
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. […]
Stash for Tue, Aug 12, 2008
sounds like time for some 
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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