Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2010-03-19.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. Wal-Mart fires medical marijuana patient in Michigan, MPP calls for boycott
2. More information on Steve Sarich home invasion in Washington; suspects former employees of Sarich
3. 81-year-old Florida man busted for marijuana selling
4. Drug users union formed in San Francisco with grant from DPA
5. New Jersey’s John Ray Wilson sentenced to five years for growing medical marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis, convicted with no medical marijuana defense prior to New jersey’s new law.
6. Woody Harrelson’s all-hemp tux at the Oscars

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Eric Smokesbud

• Rockin’ Friday: 3 Kisses – “The Pot Song”

CelebStoner.com Entertainment Report with Steve Bloom, co-author of Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life

• Commentary on “stoner” vs. “pothead” and his quote in the Wall Street Journal
• Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington’s positive drug tests

Cannabis Conversations

• Cheech Marin beats Anderson Cooper on Celebrity Jeopardy

The only thing I consume other than marijuana that is horrendously overpriced

(Cannabis Culture) The company does not provide financial support to the anti-marijuana law enforcement group in Colorado, Starbucks said in an official statement.

“This organization is apparently targeting us because a local law enforcement organization in Colorado posted our logo on their website,” the Starbucks statement said. “Starbucks has not taken a position on their issue.”

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the men and women of local law enforcement,” the company said. “However, we have not sponsored this particular organization through our foundation. It is up to the discretion of our local teams to support those groups that are relevant in their neighborhoods. Our stores often support organizations in their community by donating coffee for their events.”

The Colorado Drug Investigators Association website, which reportedly listed other national and local companies besides Starbucks as backers, is no longer working.

“This website has been disabled by its owner,” a message reads at www.cdiausa.org. “Please check back later.”

If you’ve been following the Stash, you know about California NORML and now CelebStoner websites being dropped by PayPal for accepting advertisement income from medical marijuana referral clinics. I covered the topic on last night’s NORML SHOW LIVE with Steve Bloom from CelebStoner.

Since then, I’ve received this email:

I believe in true freedom as I believe you do as well (correct me if I am wrong, I dont know you personally but I am assuming because of the way you talk on the show). When I mentioned Paypal having the right to refuse service to businesses like Norml and CelebStoner the argument I got back was that they are hypocrites because there are other “bad” businesses that use paypal. Now, if the everyday citizens should have the right to their freedoms, shouldnt private companies, no matter how big they are, have the right to their freedoms as well? Isnt it a bit hypocritical to want freedoms for some people but not for other people? Yeah, it might have hurt his business but its like being mad for getting arrested for not paying taxes. You know the rules (at least you should…you did click the little button that said “I read and agree to the terms of service” or you wouldnt have gotten the account), yet you decided to break them anyway. Which is fine, you can if you decided to, but what really bothered me was telling people to boycott because you decided to break the rules. You broke the rules not them. Its like telling people to boycott 7-11 because they wouldnt let you rob them or someone telling people to boycott the Oregon cafe because they didnt have an MMJ card and you guys wouldnt let them in. Its just silly. Im sure Norml doesnt like it when people tell them what to do, just as I believe Paypal doesnt like it when people tell them what to do. You can be mad and say your pissed, you lost money or time or whatever, but to use your influential position (how ever big or little it be) to tell people to boycott a company because you broke the rules seems wrong to me. Especially for a company that advocates freedoms the way Norml does.

Well, first of all, let’s look at the actual “Terms of Service” that PayPal claims the websites violated:

You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:

1. violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation
2. relate to sales of (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity,

If CalNORML and CelebStoner were taking ads from Bobby’s Bong Bungalow, PayPal has an argument.  But the ads in question were for doctors who provide examinations and recommendations for medical marijuana.  The US Supreme Court ruled in Conant v. Walters that doctors had a First Amendment right to recommend medical marijuana, even though they cannot prescribe it, even though marijuana is federally illegal.

These clinics are not in violation of point #1; recommending medical marijuana is not against any law, even in non-medical marijuana states.

They do not violate point #2a, as the clinics do not sell any controlled substances.

They do not violate point #2b, as they do not sell drug paraphernalia.

The only shred of an argument they have is in point #2c, if you accept that taking money from a legal doctor who makes a legal recommendation to a patient to use marijuana in a state where the patient is legally allowed to do so and that patient does, you have somehow “encouraged, promoted, facilitated, or instructed” that patient to “engage in [a federally] illegal activity.”

PayPal has dropped these websites because they don’t like subsidizing doctors who recommend medical marijuana, because patients might smoke it and the feds say it’s illegal.  This is PayPal making a business decision to discriminate against medical marijuana

Now, to your points about “freedoms for all”.  Yes, certainly, companies deserve some consideration of rights.  PayPal doesn’t have to do business with anyone.  And maybe they have a valid point about their Terms of Service.  There’s no law saying they have to accept medical marijuana and given the federal/state dichotomy on the issue, they’re well within their rights.

However, freedoms also extend to consumers, who can certainly use their First Amendment rights to bitch about PayPal’s Terms of Service.  Those consumers can peaceably assemble to try to convince others PayPal is in the wrong.  They can use freedom of the press to organize their own “Terms of Consumption” that has a “we boycott businesses that don’t accommodate the legality of medical marijuana in 13 states” point.

Just because a company puts something in its Terms of Service doesn’t make it right.  Southern lunch counters in the 1950′s used to have perfectly legal Terms of Service that were horrendously immoral, too.

Maybe Kellogg’s didn’t get the message down to IT and Promotions to scrub their website of this Michael Phelps Poster Promotion.  Or maybe they just like to bury the recall of their possibly Salmonella -tainted products under a deluge of Michael Phelps boycott news, but still make the money on the Michael Phelps promotion.

If I’m reading this promotion correctly, if I fill out a form and give them either ten bucks and proof I bought one box of Corn Flakes, or five bucks and three boxes of Corn Flakes, I can get a poster that is 6’10″ wide and 1’5″ tall?  Where am I supposed to hang that up?  

Let’s see, a box of 18oz cornflakes at my local Safeway cost $1.99, so under Plan A you’re out $12 and Plan B only costs $11.

And did you know that the corn cost of a box of cornflakes is less than 5¢ per box?

Since U.S. ethanol production uses field corn, the most direct impact of increased ethanol production should be on field corn prices and on the price of food products based on field corn. However, even for those products heavily based on field corn, the effect of rising corn prices is dampened by other market factors. For example, an 18-ounce box of corn flakes contains about 12.9 ounces of milled field corn. When field corn is priced at $2.28 per bushel (the 20-year average), the actual value of corn represented in the box of corn flakes is about 3.3 cents (1 bushel = 56 pounds). (The remainder is packaging, processing, advertising, transportation, and other costs.) At $3.40 per bushel, the average price in 2007, the value is about 4.9 cents. The 49-percent increase in corn prices would be expected to raise the price of a box of corn flakes by about 1.6 cents, or 0.5 percent, assuming no other cost increases.

(Yeah, we could do the sensible thing and legalize hemp, use it for biofuel, bring down food costs like Corn Flakes by using corn for food, while simultaneously opening the market to healthier hemp-based foods — Hemp Flakes! — but if we were doing sensible things there’d be no need to boycott Kellogg’s in the first place.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-02-06

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-02-06.mp3)

It’s been a full day of graphic design, conference calls, web design, and flurries of email, all to take full advantage of the weekend press on the Kellogg’s / Phelps story.  I even registered http://boycottkelloggs.net and http://boycottkelloggs.org (someone already got .com), but I don’t expect the redirects to the  Stash to be active until Monday.

Today we wrap up Phelps Week with Steve Bloom from CelebStoner and me discussing the endorsement deals and comparisons to other CelebStoner athlete.  I also have another fantastic essay from Chris Goldstein, this one on George Obama and the racial injustice in America’s war on marijuana users.

Sigh.  I get to sleep in tomorrow morning…

[singlepic=289,320,240,,left]NORML is calling on all cannabis consumers to join Boycott Kellogg’s!  Click the link for the products and brands to watch for and learn how and why this all got started.  C’mon, fellow stoners, you’ve got at least one Kellogg’s product in the house right now.  Take a picture of yourself destroying it and send it to stash@norml.org and I will add it to the gallery.

Los Angeles Times:

Someone needs to spank Kellogg’s on its sugar-frosted hiney. And If I bought Kellogg’s products I would join the call to boycott them. How does a company devoted to setting little kids on the path to Type 2 diabetes get all sanctimonious about Michael Phelps and a bong hit? His behavior is inconsistent with its image, the company says. Huh? How can that be? Tony the Tiger is generally the first pusher of addictive substances in a child’s life. That’s the American way.

Take Frosted Flakes. The company recommends a 3/4-cup serving, but come on that’s like eating a handful of sugary air. A real bowl is about two to three times that amount. That means kids can start the day with up to 36 grams of sugar, or about 9 teaspoons per bowl. Multiply that morning after morning.

Then there are Crack-its, or rather, Cheez-its. I don’t care what the serving portion is, can anyone stop at anything under half a box? Anyway, the larger point is this: He’s a 23-year-old young man who got caught doing what 23-year-old young men do. Phelps has apologized. He can still be president. And most of his other sponsors, like Speedo, seem to be sticking with him.

Lee Stranahan at Huffington Post even has drafted a petition!

Whereas…

1) Kellogg’s is a major manufacturer of cereal and junk food products including but not limited to Frosted Flakes, Pop Tarts, Cheez-Its, Froot Loops, Keebler’s Cookies, Rice Krispies, Eggo Frozen Waffles, Famous Amos Cookies and many other products known to be a part of the diet of many marijuana using Americans

2) The Kellogg’s has profited for decades on the food tastes of marijuana using Americans with the munchies. In fact, we believe that most people over the age of twelve would not eat Kellogg’s products were they not wicked high.

(AP) Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps was sentenced to 18 months probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to drunken driving.

“I recognize the seriousness of this mistake. I’ve learned from this mistake and will continue learning from this mistake for the rest of my life,” Phelps told the judge as more than 100 spectators packed the courtroom, mostly to see the famed Olympic champion.

“It’s not out of line with other first-time offenders who blow .08 in Wicomico County,” State’s Attorney Davis Ruark said of Phelps’ sentence. Prosecutors said Phelps had a .08 blood alcohol content — the legal limit in Maryland.

Phelps was stopped by a state trooper on Nov. 4 for running a stop sign near Salisbury University, about 85 miles southeast of Baltimore.

Phelps, [age 19,] who won eight medals at the Athens Olympics, was charged with driving under the influence, driving while impaired, violation of a license restriction and failure to obey a stop sign. Maryland’s drinking age is 21.

via Olympic Champ Sentenced For DUI, Phelps Gets 18 Months Probation In Drunken Driving Arrest – CBS News.

So let me get this straight:

Michael Phelps was convicted of illegally using a hard drug (alcohol is a hard, though legal, drug and Phelps was 19, not legal age to use it) when caught driving a car, running a stop sign, and pushing the legal limit for intoxication.  Michael Phelps could’ve caused a serious accident and injured or killed himself and others.  Kellogg’s didn’t seem to have a problem with that being “not consistent with the image of Kellogg”.

Michael Phelps was photographed using an illegal soft drug in the privacy of someone’s dorm room.  This action would cause zero harm to others and only temporary, negligible harm to himself (“harm” being “getting high”), and, ironically enough, give Phelps the kind of munchies that are best cured with a Kellogg product.  That’s a big enough issue for Kellogg to drop Phelps for being “not consistent with the image of Kellogg”.

Let’s review:  according to Kellogg’s, public drunk driving: OK, private pot smoking: unacceptable.

[UPDATE:  Yes, I know that Michael Phelps didn't sign with Kellogg's until 2008.  The point is that Kellogg's didn't seem to think a conviction of drunk driving, an act that can harm others, should prevent Kellogg's from signing Phelps.]

From this moment forward, I purchase and eat no Kellogg’s products.  That includes the brands Kellogg’s®, Keebler®, Pop-Tarts®, Eggo®, Cheez-It®, Club®, Nutri-Grain®, Rice Krispies®, All-Bran®, Special K®, Mini-Wheats®, Chips Deluxe®, Sandies®, Morningstar Farms®, Famous Amos®, and Murray®.  (Cheez-Its?!?  NO!!!)  I encourage you to do the same.

Kellogg Company contacts:
Consumer complaints:  http://www2.kelloggs.com/ContactUs.aspx
Media Relations:   media.hotline@kellogg.com
Kellogg Company
P.O. Box CAMB
Battle Creek, Michigan 49016.
Consumer inquiries should contact our Consumer Affairs Department at 800-962-1413

Also, take a minute to let USA Swimming know how you feel:

USA Swimming Contact:
http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=26&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en (use on-line contact form) or:
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Phone: 719.866.4578
Fax:    719.866.4669

More fun graphics after the break…