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1. Congress considering new law that would criminalize conspiracy to break US drug laws in foreign countries, even if not illegal in those countries
2. Holland to require all cannabis at greater than 15% THC to be classified as a “hard drug
3. US Attorneys announce new crackdown on medical marijuana commerce

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• Rockin’ Friday: Lacero – “Justless”

CelebStoner.com Entertainment Report with Steve Bloom, co-author of Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide

• Did cannabis prohibition kill Steve Jobs?
• Latest Sports Cannabis Busts
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Grassroots Activism

• Karli Duran from San Antonio NORML with update on the 420 Smart Car

Federal lawmakers have reintroduced legislation to provide for additional and necessary legal protections for state-authorized medical marijuana patients.

House Bill 1983, the States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, would ensure that medical cannabis patients in states that have approved its use will no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies. It states, “No provision of the Controlled Substances Act shall prohibit or otherwise restrict in a State in which marijuana may be prescribed or recommended by a physician for medical use under applicable State law.”

The measure also calls for an expedited rescheduling review by the federal government that would reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act, recognizing the plant’s accepted medical use and streamlining the federal approval process for medical marijuana research.

Sixteen states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington — and the District of Columbia have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. Yet in all of these states, patients and providers still face the risk of federal sanction — even when their actions are fully compliant with state law. In fact, in recent months federal officials have stepped up their threats against state recognized patients and providers, stating, “The United States Attorneys Office … will vigorously prosecute individuals and organizations that participate in … activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law.”

It is time that we allowed our unique federalist system to work the way it was intended. Patients and their state representatives should have the authority to enact laws permitting the medical use of cannabis — free from federal interference.

Please write your members of Congress today and tell them to stop targeting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers. For your convenience, a prewritten letter will be e-mailed to your member of Congress when you enter your contact information below.

Thank you for assisting NORML’s federal law reform efforts.

Continued here:
Support the ‘States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act’

(FOX News) Newly sworn members of the House reading aloud the country’s founding document on Thursday didn’t recite every verse and article of the document because Republicans decided that the obsolete parts can be skipped since they’ve been superseded by amendment.

For instance, lawmakers did not read the 18th Amendment, which imposed prohibition on liquor in 1919. However, they did read the 21st Amendment, which repealed prohibition in 1933 and is still in force.

Republicans also left out the part about counting slaves and Native Americans as three-fifths of a person.

The Constitution does not have any deleted portions, merely amended portions.  To not read the archaic portions of the document is to not learn from the mistakes and misjudgments of our past.  It is an insult to all the activists who fought for civil rights to not recognize this country was founded by men who believed only white male landowners should be allowed to vote.

Not reading the 18th Amendment is also an insult, both to those who worked so hard to bring about the 21st Amendment and to our historical remembrance of the folly of prohibition.  The 18th marks the first time the Constitution was used to restrict freedom and to take away rights from the people.  The 21st is the only time an amendment has ever been repealed.  The fact that both had to happen regarding government’s prohibition of alcohol but no amendments have been required to prohibit cannabis and other drugs shows how twisted the interpretation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause has become.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Illinois medical marijuana bill may be voted on soon at the House, if passed, would go to governor for signature
2. Grand Rapids, Michigan, rejects the lone applicant for home growing under restrictive new restrictions
3. Boulder, Colorado, wants to limit how medical marijuana can be advertised

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• Groovin’ Thursday: hed p.e. – “The Meadow”

Southern California Scene with Hollywood Hemptress Tere Joyce

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Radical Rant

• The 112th Congress ought to read the Constitution, especially the 18th & 21st Amendment, as well as the Commerce Clause, regarding marijuana prohibition

Hour Two Bonus: Stupid Stoner Stories

• Salem, Oregon, man takes 1-year-old along on quarter pound pot deal in public parking lot.

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1. Maine activists submit initiatives to make medical marijuana more accessible and to legalize marijuana for all adults 19 and over
2. International report on countries with death penalty statutes for drug crimes includes China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and… USA?
3. The legacy of Lyster Dewey and the Arlington hemp farm buried below the Pentagon

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• Electric Tuesday: Lughmyrden – “Hashisan Dreams”

California Marijuana Report with Eric Brenner

• Part two of interview with Prop-215 co-author Steve Kubby

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• New study shows cannabis-using drivers perform no worse after smoking a joint than before smoking a joint
• Goodbye to rapid prohibitionist and “family values” Republican Congressman Mark Souder, who resigned in adultery scandal.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Congress allows DC to implement 1998 medical marijuana law
2. Los Angeles to cap number of dispensaries at 70
3. Czech Republic Allows 5 Cannabis Plants For Personal Use

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House and Senate negotiations for the 2010 Appropriations bill have been completed.  This is the huge federal budget bill and it just so happens that Washington DC is a federal district and its spending is controlled by Congress.

In 1998, DC passed a medical marijuana bill overwhelmingly, but Congressional drug warriors led by Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia prevented DC from spending any federal money to count the votes (that’s right, in our democracy’s capital, our leaders conspired to prevent citizens from counting votes in a legal election).  When that was deemed unconstitutional, they spent the money to count the votes, showing that 69% of DC supported medical marijuana.  So Rep. Barr created the “Barr Amendment” that prevented DC from spending any money to implement the medical marijuana program they had voted in.

Well, today’s 2010 Appropriations bill changes all that.  In addition to removing bans on abortion, domestic partnerships, and needle exchange, Congress has given the go-ahead to begin implementing DC medical marijuana!

(US Senate) Removing Special Restrictions on the District of Columbia: Eliminates a prohibition on the use of local tax funds for abortion, thereby putting the District in the same position as the 50 states. Also allows the District to implement a referendum on use of marijuana for medical purposes as has been done in other states, allows use of Federal funds for needle exchange programs except in locations considered inappropriate by District authorities, and discontinues a ban on the use of funds in the bill for domestic partnership registration and benefits.

DC’s medical marijuana bill was written with the same sort of open language as was passed in California… will we be seeing marijuana dispensaries on K Street anytime soon?

Sec. 1.  All seriously ill individuals have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes… [for any] other serious or chronic illnesses for which the recommending physician reasonably believes that marijuana has demonstrated utility.

So, no restriction to a list of cancer, AIDS, MS, etc. for medical marijuana, like every other medical marijuana state except California.  DC docs will be able to recommend for anxiety, depression, PTSD, insomnia, or any condition they think marijuana will alleviate.

Sec. 5 (a)  …In determining a quantity of marijuana that constitutes a medical supply, this act shall be interpreted to assure that any medical patient protected by the act shall have access to a sufficient quantity of marijuana to assure that they can maintain their medical supply without any interruption in their treatment or depletion of their medical supply of marijuana.

Similar to Washington State’s vague language of a “60-day supply”, which has recently been determined to be 24 ounces of usable medicine and 15 live plants.

Sec 6.  A medical patient may designate or appoint a licensed health care practitioner, parent, sibling, child, or other close relative, domestic partner, case manager/worker, or best friend to serve as a primary caregiver for the purposes of this act.  A designation under this act need not be in writing; however, any written designation or appointment shall be prima facie evidence that a person has been so designated. A patient may designate not more than four persons at any one time to serve as a primary caregiver for the purposes of this act.  For the purposes of this subsection, the term ‘best friend’ means a close friend who is feeding, nursing, bathing, or otherwise caring for the medical patient while the medical patient is in a weakened condition.

Four caregivers, all of whom are exempt from prosecution for marijuana!  Four people who need not be designated in writing!  Somehow I think anytime a medical marijuana patient in DC is confronted by police, the people in his car or home will suddenly be “best friends”.

Sec. 7  Residents of the District of Columbia may organize and operate not-for-profit corporations for the purpose of cultivating, purchasing, and distributing marijuana exclusively for the medical use of medical patients…. The Director of DCRA shall issues such corporations exemptions from the sales tax, use tax, income tax, and other taxes of the District of Columbia in the same manner as other nonprofit corporations.

So not only will there be dispensaries on K Street, they will be tax-free dispensaries! Imagine Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa or Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana forced to walk down the streets with legal marijuana users buying legal marijuana in legal dispensaries!  How will they continue to sell the scary threat of California pot shops when they’re forced to see how banal the shops are in practice?  And if we see, as I expect, DC violent crime stats to fall following implementation, their demonization of medical marijuana will sound even sillier to their constituents.

In other good news for our side, the drug czar’s ad budget was slashed by over a third:

National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: $45 million, $25 million below 2009 and the budget request, for a national ad campaign providing anti-drug messages  directed at youth. Reductions were made in this program because of evaluations questioning its effectiveness. Part of the savings was redirected to other ONDCP drug-abuse-reduction programs.

The “questioning its effectiveness” refers to congressional studies that showed that kids exposed to the ads were more likely to try drugs!

Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies (PDF; 920 KB)

Source: Congressional Research Service (via FAS/Secrecy News)

The issue before Congress is whether to continue the federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medicinal use of botanical cannabis products when recommended by a physician, especially where permitted under state law.

Bills that would make medical marijuana available under federal law for medical use in the states with medical marijuana programs and that would make it possible for defendants in federal court to reveal to juries that their marijuana activity was medically related and legal under state law have been introduced in recent Congresses and are likely to be reintroduced in the 111th Congress. Past proposals to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II of the CSA might also resurface in the current Congress.

The Obama Administration’s Attorney General has signaled an end to federal raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration of medical marijuana dispensaries that are operating in accordance with state laws, in fulfillment of a pledge to end such actions that was made by candidate Obama during the presidential campaign.

Thirteen states, mostly in the West, have enacted laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and many thousands of patients are seeking relief from a variety of serious illnesses by smoking marijuana or using other herbal cannabis preparations. Meanwhile, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration refuses to recognize these state laws and continues to investigate and arrest, under federal statute, medical marijuana providers and users in those states and elsewhere.

Claims and counterclaims about medical marijuana—much debated by journalists and academics, policymakers at all levels of government, and interested citizens—include the following: Marijuana is harmful and has no medical value; marijuana effectively treats the symptoms of certain diseases; smoking is an improper route of drug administration; marijuana should be rescheduled to permit medical use; state medical marijuana laws send the wrong message and lead to increased illicit drug use; the medical marijuana movement undermines the war on drugs; patients should not be arrested for using medical marijuana; the federal government should allow the states to experiment and should not interfere with state medical marijuana programs; medical marijuana laws harm the federal drug approval process; the medical cannabis movement is a cynical ploy to legalize marijuana and other drugs. With strong opinions being expressed on all sides of this complex issue, the debate over medical marijuana does not appear to be approaching resolution.

This report will be updated as legislative activity and other developments occur.

via Docuticker » Blog Archive » High Interest CRS Report — Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies.

This document is what your congresscritters requested in order to get the latest update on medical marijuana in America.

The issue before Congress is whether to continue the federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medicinal use of botanical cannabis products when recommended by a physician, especially where permitted under state law.

The federal government’s own IND Compassionate Access Program, which has provided government-grown medical marijuana to a select group of patients since 1978, provides important evidence that marijuana has medicinal value and can be used safely. A scientist and organizer of the California medical marijuana initiative, along with two medical-doctor colleagues, has written:

Nothing reveals the contradictions in federal policy toward marijuana more clearly than the fact that there are still eight patients in the United States who receive a tin of marijuana ‘joints’ (cigarettes) every month from the federal government…. These eight people can legally possess and use marijuana, at government expense and with government permission. Yet hundreds of thousands of other patients can be fined and jailed under federal law for doing exactly the same thing.

via WikiLeaks – CRS: Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies, November 10, 2008

Wow. I highly recommend you check out the linked .pdf as this shows you the continually perpetuated flawed logic given to our representatives in Congress. On the plus side, as an activist this gives you all the ammunition you need to counter anything your Congressman writes you in response to reform requests.

WikiLeaks has a treasure trove of these internal Congressional reports here. Fire one up, kick back, and be amazed at what your government is thinking.