Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 8:23 pm | By: Radical Russ
This is from a brilliant op-ed by the dean of the California State University system:
(SF Gate) During the budget debate, it became clear to me that something unthinkable has happened in California: Our fiscal meltdown has so distorted our legislative priorities that we are now a state that places a higher priority on prison than on higher education.
Last week, at the same time that the California State University’s Board of Trustees was approving drastic measures to manage unprecedented budget cuts, a tentative budget deal in the Legislature was unraveling because of outrage over cuts to California’s prison budget. How could the message to California students have been any clearer? You can cut higher education to the bone and you won’t hear a single statement of remorse from the Legislature, but start cutting into the prison budget and you’ll hear howls of protest from the Capitol.
It costs $49,000 per year to keep a prisoner behind bars in California. However, the state’s contribution per student at the CSU is just $4,600. This dichotomy is not just outrageous, it’s tragic. For such a relatively small amount of money, a young person could get a good education, secure a meaningful job and become a contributing member to the community and the economy. But instead of preserving this small investment in our young people, our leaders would rather spend 10 times as much to keep prisoners behind bars.
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Wow!  I just received a fax from McGraw Hill, the people who make college textbooks, among other publishing.  They happened on a piece I wrote for The Oregon Herald on 4/20/2005 (just two weeks before I met Madeline Martinez and started my career in marijuana law reform) entitled “Drug Testing Does No Good” and are asking my permission to reprint it in a college textbook entitled “Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Management” that will be published in August.  Yours truly even receives a fee!  For something I wrote and forgot about four years ago!  (Ain’t the intertubes wonderful?)
Here it is for your reading pleasure…
Recently, an RV manufacturing plant in Goshen, Indiana, made headlines because they had drug tested all 120 of their employees and found that nearly a third of them tested positive for some illicit substance.
What caused the company to drug test all of their employees? Was there a rash of accidents? Had productivity dropped significantly? Were there increasing incidents of absenteeism and illness? Did a supervisor notice any drug use occurring at the plant, or notice an employee obviously under the influence of drugs?
No. The only reason the plant spent the time, effort, and money to test their employees was due to a police tip that there was a drug problem at the plant. In other words, there was no reason for the company to believe they had a drug problem.
You would think that running a manufacturing plant with one third of your employees working under the influence would lead to some obvious problems. You’d be right. The problem is that a positive drug test does not indicate that a person is under the influence of drugs. It only indicates that a person has done drugs in the past.
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 6:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
TO: All CU-Boulder Students
FROM: Office of the Chancellor
DATE: April 15, 2009
SUBJECT: A statement from the CU-Boulder leadership to CU Students on the 4-20 gathering
Dear Students:
As another April 20 approaches, we are faced with concerns from students, parents, alumni, Regents, and community members about a repeat of last year’s 4/20 “event.”
Let us start by saying that we share their concerns. A gathering of thousands on our campus for the sole purpose of engaging in unlawful activity is contrary to everything that CU-Boulder stands for and is in no way condoned. This event only serves to harm the reputation of this great university and is comprised in large part of individuals with no investment in the university at all.
The increasingly large crowds that have gathered in recent years present safety risks for participants, whether students or people not affiliated with the campus. This activity violates a number of campus regulations designed to provide for the well-being of our campus and neighboring community.
On April 20, 2009, we hope that you will choose not to participate in unlawful activity that debases the reputation of your University and degree, and will encourage your fellow Buffs to act with pride and remember who they really are — part of a dynamic environment of teaching, research, learning, and service, nationally recognized for its unique and stellar academic programs, outstanding faculty, and proud students and alumni.
Sincerely,
Phil DiStefano
Interim Chancellor
Julie Wong
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
Deb Coffin
Dean of Students
Well, we certainly don’t want students and those with “no investment in the university at all” to be gathered together in one large public space and taking drugs. Think of the safety risks! Think of all those young people under age 21 who are taking drugs! Who knows what this could turn in to?
CU Boulder 4/20/2008 – from 420Magazine.com
Folsom Field, University of Colorado Buffaloes home turf. Seats 53,750.
CU’s Coors Events Center
Colorado Buffaloes Beer Opener
CU Tailgate Beer Opener
Limited edition Maker’s Mark whiskey custom dipped in CU black and gold and sold only in Colorado
CU Pilsner Glass
CU Beer Glass
CU Pint Mug
CU Shot Glasses
CU Wine Glass
CU Beer Bucket
CU Party Tub
Now to be fair, Colorado University no longer sells or allows alcohol at Folsom Field football games (for the cheap seats, see below) or Coors Event Center basketball games. However, you and I both know that, especially for the football games, thousands are openly consuming alcohol in the parking lot “tailgate” parties. Most of these alcohol paraphernalia are available at the student store to anyone of any age. One day a year free-thinking Coloradoans are exhibiting civil disobedience in support of pot, but 365 days a year Colorado University is profitting from promoting alcohol use.
[2007's] decision [to end alcohol sales at Coors Events Center] means Fat Tire, Coors Light, Coors Original and locally brewed Buff Gold — which cost $5 to $6 per plastic cupful — are all off the menu. CU also banned beer sales at Folsom Field for football games 11 years ago, except for those sitting in luxury suites or club seats.
By the numbers: $5 million -What the Adolph Coors Foundation paid CU in 1990 to rename the CU Events/Conference Center to the Coors Events Center; $1.3 million -How much Coors Brewing Co. will pay CU to be an exclusive beer sponsor through 2011
“The event center at CU bears the Coors name because of generous family support, not a brand-marketing sponsorship,” said Coors spokeswoman Kabira Hatland. “Coors Brewing Co. has long supported universities in their ongoing efforts to prevent the abuse of alcohol on campus.”
…which we accomplish by marketing our brand through corporate naming rights of the stadium where the students go to support their basketball team and see rock concerts. If there’s no marketing angle, why is it not the “Adolph Coors Center”, named after the man, instead of “Coors Center”, named after the beer? If it is just “generous family support”, why not a $5,000,000 gift with no naming strings attached?
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the decision to stop beer sales at the center will not affect a nearly $1.3 million sponsorship agreement between Coors and CU.
The agreement grants Coors the right to claim “exclusive malt beverage sponsorship of CU” through 2011, although it does not make Coors the sole provider of beer at CU events.
But it’s only about “generous family support”, so why the need to claim to be the exclusive sponsor of something that can’t be sold at the football and basketball games? This makes me think there are other CU events where Coors and other beers are sold
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm | By: Radical Russ
(RedandBlack.com) A club that sold a T-shirt with the image of Hairy Dawg smoking marijuana and sitting by the Arch is in trouble because of the University’s logo policy.A member of the Georgia chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws drew the picture of the University mascot during the fall 2008 semester. The group put the image, drawn by sophomore Greg Stone, on 50 t-shirts and its Web site.
NORML President Wojciech Kacowski said his organization was contacted via e-mail on Feb. 11 by Megan Janasiewicz, a program adviser for the Center for Student Organizations. Janasiewicz instructed NORML to remove the image from its Web site and to stop distributing T-shirts, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black.
If NORML didn’t follow the University’s instructions, the group’s status as a student organization would be in question, the e-mail stated.
Later in the week, Janasiewicz sent Kacowski an e-mail to notify him that the club could continue selling the T-shirts.
“We understand that this fundraiser probably supports your organizations initiatives and are willing to acquiesce in this matter,” Janasiewicz wrote, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black. “Please remember to have all future shirt designs approved by the University.”
But the matter was not resolved. On Monday, Kacowski received a contradictory e-mail from Joshua Podvin, assistant director of student activities and organizations.
Podvin wrote the Office of Legal Affairs asked the Center for Student Organizations to have NORML turn in all unsold T-shirts and to take the image off its Web site by today at 5 p.m., according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black.
I checked out the logo policy at University of Georgia and it appears the visage of “Hairy Dawg” is property of the athletic department. Â But if UGA NORML’s bulldog is supposed to be Hairy Dawg, then he’s lost his cap and collar and gotten a lot of Botox injections.
The arch is part of the UGA logo, however. But the UGA arch isn’t covered with marijuana vines and, in a somewhat M.C. Escher sort of way, that center column of the arch can’t possibly be footed along the same plane as the outer columns without embedding directly in Botox Dawg’s lower spine. I believe the center column actually rests behind the front face of the arch, thus rendering it a frame of a poorly-built lean-to.
UGA NORML sold out of the fifty shirts and the resulting controversy over a bulldog head and a weed-covered arch has informed people far outside Athens, Georgia, that there is a college NORML chapter there. Let this be a lesson to everyone involved. I’m not sure what the lesson is, though.
Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am | By: Radical Russ
“You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”
Today our nation honors what would’ve been this week the eightieth birthday of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of these United States. Â I was sixty-four days old when an assassin’s bullet cut down Dr. King in the prime of his life. Â Today I am six-hundred forty days older than Dr. King when he was killed. Â Tomorrow I will see something few people my age and older thought we’d ever see, yet something Dr. King had dreamed from the start.
There remains a grave injustice to be battled, the most unjust of laws to be disobeyed, a law that by its definition is not rooted in eternal law and natural law: the man made code that declares nature itself to be illegal, the prohibition on cannabis. Â Yet when I mention marijuana law reform in the context of the great civil rights struggles in America, so many are quick to dismiss me with snickers of derision. Â ”You just want pot legal so you can get high!” is a common refrain.
Proposal 1, which passed in Michigan in the Nov. 4 election, legalized the possession of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana with a valid prescription.
The section of [Northern Michigan University's] handbook dealing with drugs reads: “No students shall possess, use, distribute, sell or manufacture illegal drugs, or other controlled substances, in any building or on any property owned or controlled by the University, except as permitted by law.”
It is unclear whether medical marijuana would fall under this definition because, while legalized by the state of Michigan, marijuana remains a controlled substance by federal standards.
Other campuses across the country have come to widely varying conclusions on the legality of medicinal marijuana on campus.
Last year, a Colorado State student who was caught possessing a small amount of medical marijuana had university sanctions against him dropped after hiring a lawyer to defend himself. The student initially faced suspension from the school and mandatory drug rehab classes.
The University of California-Bakersfield, on the other hand, has decided that state medical marijuana rules do not apply to universities. The argument is that the universities receive federal funding and are therefore subject to federal laws regarding the legality of medical marijuana.
I think UC Bakersfield’s policy is bunk, because the California university system is under no mandate to enforce federal laws. Â Isn’t that the same argument that San Diego and San Bernadino are trying to make, and the courts have repeatedly ruled that California counties aren’t in the federal law enforcement business? Â Certainly San Diego and San Bernadino counties receive some forms of federal funding, too.
I think the Michigan universities and others throughout the medical marijuana states should treat marijuana like they treat Ambien, Percocet, or Vicodin: so long as the student has the legal right under state law and a doctor’s supervision and he isn’t giving them out to other students, leave him alone!
Between 2004 and 2006, just over 1,250 first-year undergraduate college students were interviewed to assess their inclinations toward attention-seeking behavior; their drug use history; and the relative degree to which they perceived prescription drugs (both analgesics and stimulants), alcohol, marijuana and cocaine to be harmful.
While approximately a quarter of all the students expressed the view that occasional non-medicinal prescription drug use involves little or no risk, just over a quarter said they thought that such use of stimulants and analgesics entails a “great risk.”
This risk perception fell far short of the danger the students attributed to the occasional use of cocaine, which more than 72 percent said involved similar “great risk.”
However, unauthorized prescription drug use was thought to be more risky than smoking marijuana or drinking five or more alcoholic beverages each weekend — each of which was described as similarly risky by approximately 7 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
72% of freshman think cocaine is risky, 25% think prescription drugs are risky, 17% think binge drinking is risky, and only 7% think smoking marijuana is risky.
I hate to have to tell them that they are wrong. Smoking marijuana in college is far more risky than popping pills or drinking… they won’t take away your college aid if they catch you with pills or booze. They won’t kick you out of student housing for pills or booze.
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Steve Bloom brings us the CelebStoner.com report on the Cheech & Chong Reunion Tour, Snoop Dogg’s bus bust, and the Princeton Review’s list of the top stoniest colleges.
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am | By: Radical Russ
Bard tops Cannabis College list - celebstoner
New York’s Bard College leapfrogged past Warren Wilson College to become the No. 1 so-called “Reefer Madness” school in the Princeton Review’s 2008 rankings.Last year Bard was second to Wilson, but the college immortailized by Steely Dan in “My Old School” can now claim the “widest use of marijuana” among its student body. The University of Colorado at Boulder climbed 12 slots to No. 3. The University of Vermont at Burlington and New College of Florida round out the Top 5.
A small school of 1,600 undergrads, Bard is located in the Hudson Valley, near Kingston, Saugerites and the Catskill Mountains – approximately 90 minutes from Manhattan. Among the alumni are Chevy Chase, Blythe Danner, Larry Hagman, Todd Haynes, Herb Ritts, Matt Taibbi and Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who met there in 1967.
In fact, Becker was busted at Bard for marijuana. “I was briefly imprisoned,” he recalls. “Every once in a while, about once a year in those days, they would bust 40 to 50 Bard College students. I spent a night in jail. It was the county jail. They arraigned us in Red Hook. I was not a student at the time. I just happened to be there playing a gig with somebody who was a student, sleeping at this guy’s house when the traditional sweep took place.”
Steely Dan refer to Bard, which is based in Annadale-on-Hudson, and the bust in “My Old School”:
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I remember the thirty five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine up to Annandale
It was still September when your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls in the county jail
I was smokin’ with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair…
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. […]
California values prisoners more than students
This is from a brilliant op-ed by the dean of the California State University system:
I checked out 
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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