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Hemp Headlines

1. Cannabinoids show promise in treatment of post traumatic stress disorder
2. Rebutting Change.org’s “Pot and the Safe Driving Myth”
3. Not Your Father’s Woodstock Booze: States push for higher potency beer

Daily Toker Tunes

• Medical Marijuana – “Medical Marijuana”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• Cannabis and driving – a scientific look

(Change.org Criminal Justice) Advocates for marijuana reform frequently argue that the drug should be legalized because it’s safe. This is generally true, and I support legalization for this and many other reasons. But when it comes to driving and safety, legalization advocates often go a step too far — claiming that driving under the influence of marijuana is not dangerous and that marijuana causes zero deaths each year. These misleading arguments are harming the reform movement.

In the next couple of paragraphs the author calls out the authors of “Marijuana is Safer”, so I’ll leave that to Paul Armentano to cover.  I’ve never claimed that driving under the influence of marijuana is not dangerous, though I have pointed out how it is safer than driving under the influence of alcohol or driving while text-messaging.

I also am increasingly perturbed by a society that thinks nothing of parking lots at bars and .08 BAC laws having zero tolerance for the notion of cannabis-using drivers.  The fact that we have a per se standard of .08 BAC for alcohol-using drivers means that at below .08 BAC, the state has to prove you were actually too impaired to drive, not simply that you’d been drinking.  We tolerate the idea that a big guy like me (6′0″ 260lbs.) might be able to drink one beer and be OK to drive, but the notion of driving after one puff off a joint is unthinkable?  We tolerate people driving their cars to bars for the express purpose of becoming impaired knowing full well that not 100% of them have designated drivers, but were supposed to worry that legalizing pot will lead to blood on the highways?

So, I want to say to the commenters who frequently write here and elsewhere that driving under the influence of marijuana is not risky: you’re wrong. Not only are you wrong, but you’re spreading a dangerous myth that could cause deadly accidents and will hurt the chances for marijuana reform in the United States. To those who cite that stat that alcohol causes 75,000 deaths each year in the U.S. and marijuana causes zero: you’re wrong, too. Marijuana causes far, far fewer deaths than alcohol (maybe 0.1%) , but the number is not zero. Fatal accidents like this one and this one confirm that.

It’s always funny to me how one or two stories of people being helped by medical marijuana are just anecdotes that don’t scientifically prove anything, but one or two stories of a person pleading guilty to a fatal marijuana DUI wreck proves how dangerous marijuana and driving are.

The author, I believe, is purposefully excluding the context under which most of us say “marijuana never killed anyone”.  I am always referring to marijuana being non-toxic and incapable of overdose.  I try to be careful and only cite the 35,000 alcohol deaths from chronic conditions like the 18,000 whose livers fail or the 4,500 who suffer strokes and heart attacks or the 2,200 who get cancer.  I try not to include the 40,000 whose alcohol use causes acute conditions like the 14,000 who wreck their car, boat, or plane or the 19,000 who fall, commit suicide, or are murdered, or the 2,200 who freeze, burn, or drown.

If we want to include all of the ways in which marijuana might lead to death of its users, then, indeed, it is false to say nobody ever died from marijuana.  First we’d have to add in all the people who’ve been shot by police, murdered by dealers, or died choking on their own vomit due to lack of medical marijuana in a prison cell.  We’d have to include people like the two drivers in the examples above, plus all the people who fell off a cliff because they tripped while stoned and the people who die of a heart attack from the obesity they got from the munchies.  As you admit, that number is still probably 0.1% the deaths compared to alcohol under all conditions, which is why we are also careful to say marijuana is not harmless, but it is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.  (Even that percentage is high, I think, as that would be 75 pot-related deaths per year.)

To show that we’re serious about responsible reform, marijuana reformers need to take a stand against driving under the influence of pot. Each of us can do our part.

Fine, I’ll take that stand: if your consumption of marijuana has led you to be as impaired as someone with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 or above, do not drive a car.  If you’re at a public event, wait to drive for as long as they force the beer drinkers to wait before you get behind the wheel.

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.

Read the whole post, Marijuana Reform Is Part of the Progressive Agenda, So Why Are Obama’s Drug Cops Already Making Pot Raids? on AlterNet.

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.

We are not welcome.

This website presents the most inclusive administration ever.  Pages of vision and specific policy proposals on Civil Rights, Defense, Disabilities, Economy, Education, Energy & Environment, Ethics, Family, Fiscal, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Homeland Security, Immigration, Iraq, Poverty, Rural, Seniors & Social Security, Service, Taxes, Technology, Urban Policy, Veterans, and Women, and we don’t even get a bone thrown to us in Additional Issues.

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!

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-01-19

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-01-19.mp3)

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.

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. 

via Rep. Beto O’Rourke: 70% now back drug legalization resolution – El Paso Times.

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.

Stasher Greg received the email from Change.org announcing their winners.  Here is the important paragraph:

We’ve tapped into this energy with our Ideas for Change in America, and today we held a press event at the National Press Club in Washington DC to announce the winners of the competition. The 10 winning ideas reflect the diverse interests of the millions of people calling for change across the country, and include ideas for securing universal heath care, LGBT rights, and sustainable green energy. All winning ideas can be viewed at www.change.org/ideas. 

Hmm.  Health care was #3 & #7, LGBT rights was #9, and green energy was #4 & #10.  Is someone working real hard here to avoid the elephant in the room?  Your #1 idea – legalizing marijuana – beat all other ideas by a minimum of 4,536 votes!  I can understand health care and green energy being mentioned, as there were two questions each in those general topics, and I’m fine with LGBT rights being mentioned, as it is a very hot topic right now.  

But how can you say  ”the Ideas for Change initiative has shown the widespread interest across the country in renewed civic participation and direct engagement in policymaking” and not mention the idea that garnered the most civic participation and direct engagement?  I’d dismiss this email as just a careless oversight, except that on the Change.org website they went out of their way to “present the top 10 ideas for change (in no particular order)” which you reach by clicking the link that during the voting showed you all the votes in descending order.

Why is it I get the feeling that at both Change.org and Change.gov, there is a lot of back-slapping over this fabulous direct civic engagement tool, but amidst the celebration, concerned Very Serious People are wringing their hands wondering what to do about all the “potheads” winning their surveys?

The final tallies are in at Change.org:

Winners of the Ideas for Change in America Competition

After 656,991 votes for 7,847 ideas, we present the top 10 ideas for change

1. Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana (19,530)
2. Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence (14,994)
3. Free Single Payer Health Care (13,928)
4. Make the grid green in 10 years (12,913)
5. Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties (12,285)
6. Save Small Business From the CPSIA (12,280)
7. Health Freedom IS Our First Freedom (12,062)
8. Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students (12,010)
9. Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT Couples Nationwide (11,889)
10. Develop & Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability (9,644)

Legalizing marijuana was the top idea at Change.org by almost 5,000 votes.  It beat the next closest competitor by 30%.  It took almost a full 3% of all the votes cast and 15% of the Top Ten votes.

Now, I’ve been scouring then net all morning to find reporting on this story.  I found a press release on MSNBC announcing the press conference, but no actual coverage of the press conference.  The first hit I pull up on the announcement was from media in the UK!

WASHINGTON, DC — (Marketwire) — 01/16/09 — Change.org today announced the winners of its Ideas for Change in America competition at an event at the National Press Club and attended by nonprofit leaders, grassroots activists, and members of the Obama campaign and incoming administration.

The ideas were accepted on behalf of the transition team by Macon Phillips, Director of New Media for the Presidential Transition Team, who spoke about the importance of citizen-led efforts like Ideas for Change in America for increasing civic participation.

Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org, followed the announcement by introducing the launch of a national advocacy campaign behind each winning idea in partnership with leading nonprofit organizations, including 1 Sky, Health-Care NOW, and The Peace Alliance.

“The crowd-sourcing of ideas through a nationwide voting process was only the first half of this project,” explained Rattray. “The second half will focus on mobilizing the grassroots energy behind each idea to translate it into policy. Our intention is not for these to be mere suggestions for the administration, but to represent an agenda for change that we will help drive within the administration and Congress over the next year.”

After the announcement, the event featured a panel of leading thinkers on how the government, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots groups can take lessons from the Obama campaign and initiatives like Ideas for Change in America to deepen civic participation. 

Change.org is an online hub and media network for social issues and collective action. The San Francisco-based social entrepreneurship venture operates a network of blogs covering more than a dozen major social issues and has partnered with more than 3000 leading nonprofit organizations to provide outlets for powerful action. Change.org was founded by two former classmates from Stanford, Ben Rattray and Mark Dimas, in 2006.

Marijuana law reform was the #1 issue at Change.org, the #1 question at Change.gov Round 1, the #4 question at Change.gov Round 2 (and 1st in “National Security”), and is currently #1 in the “Citizens Briefing Book” again at Change.gov (currently at 68,290 “points” vs. 58,910 for bullet trains in #2).  The notion of discussing legalization as a policy option has recently been broached by the Attorney General of Arizona, the El Paso City Council, and just this morning on my local progressive talk radio show by an incoming Oregon freshman legislator Jefferson Smith.

No wonder Change.org got blacked out in the US media – it’s not as if any Americans are talking about the issue of legalization.  Apparently a jet plane crash landed in the Hudson River.  Move on, nothing to see here…

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.

Change.org – Ideas for Changing America: Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana

I looked over at the sidebar widget and saw that our Change.org Idea for Legalization dropped to 1,074 votes!  What?!?  It was at over 8,800 last I checked!

Then I surfed over.  Don’t panic, all is well.  We’re at 10,749 votes, still the top-rated idea.  The problem is they didn’t program their Flash widget to handle five digits – too many votes.  We’ve overwhelmed them with “V10K”!

Surf over to Change.org and let’s push it up to “V20K” by the deadline, which is this Thursday @ 5:00PM Eastern.