Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 1:55 pm | By: Radical Russ
As the popularity of the marijuana issue in these [Change.gov & Change.org] polls indicates, there is a significant, vocal and identifiable minority of American society that wants to see an end to America’s archaic and overly punitive marijuana laws. Politicians, particularly progressive politicians, would be well-advised to acknowledge this interest group and respond accordingly.
Further, a majority of 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, even if their elected officials are not. One only has to log on to the thousands of public comments, both for and against, marijuana legalization on the message board of Change.gov and Change.org to see that Americans are pining for, if nothing else, an honest review of our nation’s so-called war on drugs.
These results shouldn’t be surprising. According to a national poll commissioned by CNN and Time magazine, 80 percent of Americans support the physician-supervised use of cannabis, and some 3 out of 4 say that adults should be fined, but not jailed, for using pot recreationally.
In short, marijuana-law reform should no longer be viewed by legislators as a political liability. It isn’t. Instead, for the new administration and for 111th Congress, it is a political opportunity. The sooner our federally elected leaders recognize this fact, the sooner we, and they, can begin to undo the damage caused by America’s longest and costliest war, the so-called war on drugs.
Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 11:30 am | By: Radical Russ
Legalize marijuana goes right to crack smoking murderers in the streets and comparisons of injecting heroin vs. drinking wine. Alan, you’ve got the right position, but expressed it very poorly.
The proper answer to “Do you want to legalize all drugs?” is “I want to end using prison for drug rehab.” Don’t let a prohibitionist take you from “legalize marijuana” to “legalize heroin”! We may indeed support some form of decriminalization for all drugs, but when people hear “legalize” they think “as available as beer”, because it is the only legalized intoxicant they’re familiar with. Keep the issues separate, perhaps with “Sean, pot and heroin are as different as wine and morphine. I don’t see a problem with making pot as legal as wine, nor with making heroin as legal as morphine.”
When Hannity takes it back to “injecting heroin in your arm is a lot different than a glass of wine…”, that’s when you reply with “but smoking a joint is a lot like a glass of wine, and we learned with Al Capone that making wine illegal caused more problems than it solved.”
Naturally, since it is Hannity’s show, he’s going to end it with a swipe like “Alan has to go take another bong hit…” Not much you can do there. But what I do in public when I get the inevitable sarastic jab like that, I counterpunch with, “Wow, for a drunk, you don’t slur your words at all!” Chances are the jerk drinks alcohol, because a) jerks drink alcohol and b) alcoholic jerks tend to really hate potheads. If he defends with “I’m not drunk”, you counter with, “But you drink, right? I support pot, and you make jokes that I’m high. You support booze, so I figure you’re drunk.”
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 4:22 pm | By: Radical Russ
Third verse, same as the first:
Ending Marijuana Prohibition
I suggest that we step back and take a non-biased “Science Based” approach to decide what should be done about the “Utter Failure” that we call the War on (some) Drugs.
The fact is that Marijuana is much less harmful to our bodies than other Legal Drugs such as Tobacco and Alcohol. And for the Government to recognize Marijuana as having Medicinal Properties AND as a Schedule I drug (Has NO medicinal Properties) is an obvious flaw in the system.
We must stop imprisoning responsible adult citizens choosing to use a drug that has been mis-labeled for over 70 years.
President Obama’s Change.gov website once again asked citizens for their input and once again we made marijuana legalization the #1 issue.
If a million stoners click on a website, does it make a sound?
It’s put up or shut up time. The wisdom to be gained from these Change polls showing legalization to be a prime concern for many is not that our issue is more important than global warming, financial catastrophe, the Middle East, and so forth. It is that prohibition is such an obvious failure and legalization such an obvious windfall that Americans can’t believe it is still an issue. And the key to unlocking that wisdom is knowing you’re not alone in seeing the naked emperor, that what is obvious to you is obvious to others.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm | By: Radical Russ
I’ve just visited the website of President Obama, whitehouse.gov. It is a beautiful 21st century site with links to all the possible issues one could care about.
Except, of course, the one we care about. The one voted to the top of Change.gov three times and the top of Change.org as well.
A search of “marijuana” at whitehouse.gov returns:
Search was unable to find any results for marijuana, you may have typed your word incorrectly, have entered an empty phrase or are being too specific.
Perhaps we have just entered an “empty phrase”, huh? I tried “cannabis”, even “drugs”, same result.
The slightest bit of mention of our issue is found on the Civil Rights page:
Expand Use of Drug Courts: President Obama and Vice President Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.
“Changing bad behavior.” You’re being “bad”. ’Cause drugs ‘r’ bad, mmmkay? OK, if it’s your first time, and we find it “appropriate”, we’ll call you an “addict” and sentence you to rehab. Sure, you’ll still have a criminal conviction that would keep you from ever becoming president, but there must be some punishment for your “bad behavior”. If you continue your “bad behavior” a second time and we catch you, then it’s off to prison for you!
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Today’s Stash celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the end of the Bush Administration, and the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama. Despite some misgivings over Change.gov and cabinet appointments, I am so excited to see the new day dawning in America. Yes, there are dark clouds hovering over us and worse storms ahead, but I can’t help but see the silver lining – that we just can no longer afford to arrest and lock up taxpayers for their cannabis use anymore, and we can no longer overlook an untaxed ecofriendly fuel-producing billion dollar crop anymore. As Obama has said, this wasn’t about him, it was about us. As Change.gov and Change.org have shown, we are ready to talk about legalization of marijuana!
It’s as if enough people who think the war on drugs is stupid have realized that enough people think the war on drugs is stupid. We’ve realized that it’s OK to ask “Why are we arresting potheads?” and “How come we don’t just sell and tax pot?” without everyone thinking we, too, are potheads and even if we are, realizing that nobody gives a damn if you are so long as you do your job, pay your taxes, and be civilized. Enough people have either smoked it, do smoke it, or know someone who smokes it to know the government is peddling nothing but lies to prop up a failed bureaucracy. People know that one slacker stoner, but they also know ten more who are just regular working folks who toke. People also know alcoholics and know they’d rather hang out with the slacker stoner, given a choice, and figure if we can tolerate alcohol, we can tolerate weed.
My guest today is Tom Daubert from Montana Patients and Families United (check ‘em out at http://mtpfu.org*) who is here to warn Big Sky listeners and rally Montanans to contact their state legislator to protest Senate Bill 212, which would strip medical marijuana patient protections for life if convicted of new cannabis DUI standards so strict no patient could ever pass. In short: choose your drivers license or your marijuana license.
Then my full reading (with music and everything!) of my Cannabis Civil Rights essay posted below, if I may indulge, and in doing so, thank George Rohrbacher for inspiring me…
*That URL always cracks me up because the show Meet the Press is often abbreviated “MTP” on progressive lefty blogs I inhabit.
Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
EL PASO — South-West city Rep. Beto O’Rourke has been in the hot seat since he successfully lobbied the rest of City Council to approve a resolution that included an amendment that asked for an open and honest debate on the legalization of narcotics.
The resolution by the Border Relations Committee called for federal intervention to quell the crime wave in Juárez that claimed 1,600 lives in 2008. O’Rourke added the part of a debate on legalizing narcotics, the rest of council agreed with him but Mayor John Cook vetoed it.
After making national headlines, being on the losing end of the veto and taking on a congressman, O’Rourke discussed the interesting week-and-a-half he has had.
Q All city representatives said they received a lot of calls and e-mails on this issue. Can you share some of the feedback you received?
A Right off the bat most of my correspondence was split 50/50 pro and con. Later on, I got more 70 percent pro and 30 percent con. Someone at my Monday morning breakfast meeting said that when they first read the headline he wondered what I and the rest of City Council were doing. But that then, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that we were right. That all options needed to be on the table.
Q Is it your belief that El Paso would have lost federal and state funds if the veto had been reversed on Tuesday?
A The honest answer is I don’t know. And part of why I don’t know is because the congressman (U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas) and his office and the state House delegation offered no specifics or facts. In fact, what they did offer was speculative. It’s speculation. There is no specific threat, no specific dollar amount or no specific project that is in peril.
The American People are ready to talk about legalization. Every call for issues to discuss through Change.gov and Change.org has seen marijuana law reform rise to the top of the list, over concerns with the economy, foreign policy, the environment, and war. It is not because marijuana law reform is more important than those issues, it is because those issues are at least allowed to be talked about.
Americans recognize the fundamental unfairness and unAmericanness of silencing any discussion on this issue. Americans have recognized that not only has the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs failed to stop any American who wants to use drugs from doing so, but that it has wasted billions of dollars, ruined millions of lives, and created the unintended harmful consequences resulting in the erosion of our 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 14th Amendment rights, America as the world’s largest prison state, and the creation of needless violence and despair.
In August I commented on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s revealing interview with CNN, where she called on the public to actively voice their support for marijuana law reform.
“We have important work to do outside the Congress in order for us to have success inside the Congress.” Pelosi said. “[W]e need peoples’ help to be in touch with their members of Congress to say why this (marijuana law reform) should be the case.”
Ask and you shall receive.
In the past few months the public has taken their message to the hallowed halls of Washington, DC in unprecedented numbers:
Over 700 individuals have posted comments to The Hill.com’s influential Congress Blog calling on lawmakers to amend federal marijuana policy;
In December, a question calling for the legalization of marijuana bested over 7,300 public policy issues to claim the top spot in Change.gov’s inaugural ‘Open for Questions’ poll;
In a follow up poll conducted by Change.gov this month, marijuana law reformed was the eighth-most popular question voted on by the public, out of a staggering 76,000 issues.
This week, the question “legalize the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana” finished first (by nearly 5,000 votes) in Change.org’s inaugural “Ideas for Change’ online poll.
And finally, in yet a third poll hosted by the Obama Transition Team, the public’s call for “ending marijuana prohibition” is — you guessed it — polling ahead of all other issues. (To participate in this latest poll, please visit: http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov and click on “popular ideas.”)
In short Madam Speaker, the people have done their part — just as you requested. The question now is: When are your colleagues and the incoming administration going to do their part to end the federal government’s war on marijuana consumers?
Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 9:46 am | By: Radical Russ
(Before we start: Change.gov is Barack Obama’s official transition website. Change.org is not affiliated with Obama, but is a collection of non-profits lobbying the Obama Administration.)
The second time they asked The People what kind of change we wanted. To balance the responses they created categories of requests instead of one big open poll. We overwhelmingly asked Barack Obama to legalize marijuana, making it the #4 question overall and #1 within the National Security category (as “end the war on drugs”). Obama didn’t even answer, but instead referred to the previous “No” and no explanation.
So now, the third time, Barack Obama’s Change.gov is opening up “the Citizen’s Briefing Book”, where once again, citizens can submit their policy ideas and vote on the ideas. Guess which policy idea is #1 again, with “44,950 points” (whatever “points” are) as of this posting?
Ending Marijuana Prohibition
I suggest that we step back and take a non-biased “Science Based” approach to decide what should be done about the “Utter Failure” that we call the War on (some) Drugs.
The fact is that Marijuana is much less harmful to our bodies than other Legal Drugs such as Tobacco and Alcohol. And for the Government to recognize Marijuana as having Medicinal Properties AND as a Schedule I drug (Has NO medicinal Properties) is an obvious flaw in the system.
We must stop imprisoning responsible adult citizens choosing to use a drug that has been mis-labeled for over 70 years.
Click over if you like and vote. It may get just as much notice as the first two times (none), but clicking is free and easy. The effect of having one of the most popular issues rise again and again, only to be ignored, is building this story in the media. We’ve got the people directly asking Obama three times to rethink the drug war, Change.org will present that same notion from The People tomorrow, and Congress had to resort to blackmail to get El Paso city leaders to shut up about it. The ONLY person who doesn’t want to talk about this is Barack Obama, and that’s going to become a deadly meme for the “open and transparent, change we can believe in, government responsive to the people, reliant on science” aura Obama wants to build in his Administration.
(I think a few “Why Won’t You Talk About The Drug War?” signs at the Inauguration would be a beautiful site to see, don’t you?)
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 4:46 pm | By: Radical Russ
I just received this email:
Could you please explain to the listeners (or at least me) how the sites Change.gov and Change.org relate to one another? Are both run by Obama and Co? You have links to both on your site and I find it very confusing. Also from going to the home page of either one, I find it hard to locate the marijuana topics, although they have lots of votes and are easily found through the direct links on your site.
Which is going to make Paul Armentano giggle, because we were just talking about this very confusion. Ready? Here goes:
Change.GOV is the official GOVernment site of the Barack Obama Transition Team. It is run by Barack Obama and asks citizens to submit questions to the new incoming GOVernment because Obama promised transparency in GOVernment. We asked Barack Obama to legalize marijuana at this site, assembled the most votes of any question on the site, and were summarily dismissed.
Change.ORG is NOT affiliated with Obama’s Transition Team. They are a nonprofit ORGanization that has assembled support from other nonprofit ORGanizations to ask the American people about their most crucial issues. This ORGanization (in partnership with the Case Foundation) is going to present the top ten issues to Barack Obama at the National Press Club this Friday. We’re telling Barack Obama to legalize marijuana at this site, assembling the most votes of any question on the site, and… well, regardless what Obama says, Change.ORG is pushing forward with national advocacy campaigns on behalf of the top ten ideas, so we’ll move The People without him, if necessary.
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 [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
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. […]
NORML’s Paul Armentano in AlterNet: Marijuana Reform Is Part of the Progressive Agenda, So Why Are Obama’s Drug Cops Already Making Pot Raids?
NORML’s Deputy Director 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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