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Hemp Headlines

1. Drug Czar Kerlikowske on National Public Radio
2. Iowa Sen. Grassley: Webb Commission will “do what we tell them to do” and not “recommend or study the legalization of drugs.”
3. Oregon Court of Appeals to decide 2nd Amendment rights of medical marijuana patients

Daily Toker Tunes

• DilloKing – “Marijuana Mountain”

Grassroots Activism

• Laura Kriho from Cannabis Therapy Institute on Colorado Medical Marijuana changes.

(New Scientist) IF THERE is one thing that politicians can and should do to limit the damage caused by illegal drugs, it is to take careful note of the evidence and develop a rational drug policy. Some politicians find it easier to ignore the evidence, and pander to public prejudice instead.

I can trace the beginning of the end of my role as chairman of the UK’s official advisory body on drugs to the moment I quoted a New Scientist editorial (14 February, p 5). Entitled, fittingly enough, “Drugs drive politicians out of their minds”, the editorial asked the reader to imagine being seated at a table with two bowls, one containing peanuts, the other the illegal drug MDMA (ecstasy). Which is safer to give to a stranger? Why, the ecstasy of course.

I quoted these words in the Eve Saville lecture at King’s College London in July. This example plus other comments I have made – such as horse riding is more harmful than ecstasy – prompted Alan Johnson, the home secretary, to say that I had crossed the line from science to policy. This, he said, is why I had to go.

But simple, accurate and understandable statements of scientific fact are precisely what the advisory council is supposed to provide. Why would any scientist take up some future offer of a government advisory post when their advice can be treated with such disdain?

The results of a government inventing its own reality and acting on it can be seen in the appalling consequences the George W. Bush presidency had for world peace, the environment and human rights. The message for the British government is a simple one: don’t exclude rational argument in order to exploit a visceral public response. Politicians have to win the hearts and minds of their electorate. If your policy is informed by an underlying moral imperative, be open about what that is, and don’t try to disguise it with a veneer of pseudo-science. We ignore scientific evidence at our peril.

David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was chairman of the UK government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he was dismissed last week by the UK home secretary

It’s a message President Obama needs to hear as well.  He promised to return us from the George W. Bush presidency’s disdain for rational thought and scientific evidence.  Obama promised to base our policies on sound science with respect to global climate change and other issues.  But stubbornly, this administration’s drug czar is still out parroting the completely unscientific falsehood that “the raw cannabis plant is certainly not medicine”.  Obama himself is laughing off the notion of marijuana legalization as having any economic benefit to cash-strapped states, despite the rational analysis by many prominent economists.  And despite the evidence of reduced social farms in the Netherlands, Portugal, and other countries that have experimented with drug decriminalization and tolerance, Obama continues to push a federal policy that relies heavily on interdiction and incarceration.

For over a century now, every time hard scientists, social scientists, economists, and policy experts gather to take a rational and scientific look at marijuana policy, they recommend decriminalization and tolerance or they recognize medical usage of cannabis, from the 1894 British East India survey to the 1942 Laguardia Commission to the 1972 Shaffer Commission to the 1999 Institute of Medicine study.  Cannabis can no longer be the exception to the “we believe in science” rule!

(Globe Gazette) DES MOINES — The White House’s drug czar said Monday that Iowa officials should look at the problems California has seen after allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes as they consider the idea here.

Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, specifically cited problems regulating the clinics in the Los Angeles area that dispense medical marijuana.

Kerlikowske recounted going to Venice Beach and seeing people holding signs advertising marijuana and ads in newspapers.

He also pointed to reports of robberies and assaults that have occurred in and around medical marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area.

“I would say that the recommendation for any state that’s considering moving to medical marijuana is to look very closely at what’s been occurring in California,” Kerlikowske said.

Kerlikowske, the former police chief in Seattle, reported better results for the medical marijuana law in Washington State.

“It was not as significant a problem for law enforcement as it was in, as it is in, Los Angeles,” Kerlikowske said.

We often hear the prohibitionists play the “Look at California” card when it comes to medical marijuana, ignoring the fact that the other twelve states with protection for medical users did look at California and crafted tighter regulations than the Golden State.  Rarely do we hear one bring up another medical marijuana state in comparison.  I’m sure Iowans looking to pass medical marijuana wouldn’t mind at all the protections of the Washington State law, which allows a patient to grow up to fifteen plants and store a pound and a half of marijuana.  Though they might want to look at the Oregon law, which allows close to the same limits and establishes a patient card registry that helps the patient identify his grow to law enforcement and avoid the arrest and investigation required in Washington to verify a patient’s status.

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Hemp Headlines

1. US Drug Czar Kerlikowske says marijuana legalization is “a non-starter”
2. UK Drugs Advisor Nutt sacked for being honest about marijuana
3. New Hampshire cop’s public stance on marijuana legalization costs him his job

Daily Toker Tunes

• Best of Music: The Tentacles – “Ganja Computer”

Southern California Scene with Tere Joyce

• January Thomas and Tere talk women in cannabis and Mary Jane Says

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Hemp Headlines

1. Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office punishes drunk driving deputy less severely than pot smoking jail nurse
2. Sgt. Northcutt’s Post-Iraq Nightmare – Support the Troops… unless they need medical marijuana
3. In Hannity’s America, “Damned disgusting pot smokers are the root cause of every evil in the world.”

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• Variety Tuesday – ‘Smokin and Drinkin’ by Howard Glazer and the EL34s

Government at Work

• ARCHIVE: Norm Stamper, former Seattle Police Chief, reacts to the appointment of his successor, Chief Gil Kerlikowske, as the nation’s new “drug czar”.

California Marijuana Report will appear tomorrow in lieu of Cannabis Science.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Drug Czar Kerlikowske: I meant “smoked marijuana” is dangerous and has no medicinal value
2. GA Rep. Tommy Benton replies to constituent letter concerning “caning” for marijuana users
3. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s prison plan: Jail the potheads, let car thieves go free
4. The Top Five States with Most Marijuana Use

California Marijuana Report with Eric Brenner

• A look at the California Gubernatorial Race and candidates’ stand on marijuana legalization
• Music from Buddy Miles

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• Variety Tuesday – ‘The Last Soul’ by Sticky Mouse

Government at Work

• Claire Sauer from the League of Women Voters in Southeast Connecticut on their plans to objectively examine the policy of marijuana decriminalization.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Drug Czar Kerlikowske: “Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit”
2. Cops stake out couple for marijuana, miss home invaders that murdered couple
3. ER doctor: “cannabis may be the most benign substance on earth”
4. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) on Marijuana Law Reform

Government at Work Special

• Chris Goldstein at the National Conference of State Legislators

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• Rockin Thursday! – ‘One Hundred Cone Billy’ by Herb Superb

Cannabis Conversations

• Jim Klein tells his story of breaking his back surfing and how medical marijuana helped him become active and lead an athletic life.

Remember, the man is legally required to say these things…

The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno.

The nation’s drug czar, who viewed a foothill marijuana farm on U.S. Forest Service land with state and local officials earlier Wednesday, said the federal government will not support legalizing marijuana.

“Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary, and it’s not in mine,” he said.

Dictionaries for Drug Czar Kerlikowske - click here to donate online to NORML and we'll remind Director Kerlikowske and President Obama that "legalization" needs to be in their vocabularies.

Kerlikowske said he can understand why legislators are talking about taxing marijuana cultivation to help cash-strapped government agencies in California. But the federal government views marijuana as a harmful and addictive drug, he said.

“Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit,” Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS — Save Our Sierra — a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County.

Officials say the marijuana-eradication operation will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the exact amount won’t be known until agencies can add up staffing, vehicle and other costs.

Stashers RevRayGreen (right) holding tin of federal medical marijuana delivered monthly to George McMahon (left)

It is amazing to make the statement that marijuana has no medicinal value in the state that has hundreds of thousands medical users and thousands of doctors recommending it for medical use for thirteen years.  Even more amazing when you know the federal government Kerlikowske works for has patents on the medical use of cannabinoids and continues to deliver tins of marijuana joints for medical purposes to four Americans.

Mr. Drug Czar, your pants are on fire!

Programming Note: NORML’s Paul Armentano and possibly also yours truly will be appearing on Rob Van Dam’s online radio show at http://blogtalkradio.com/rvdradio tomorrow night between 6pm-8pm Pacific Time.

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Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-06-30.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. Mother Jones explains how the Drug Czar is mandates to lie about marijuana
2. Rachel Hoffman’s Law goes into effect tomorrow in Florida
3. Cannabis has not shown “any evidence of increasing schizophrenia” in the UK
4. Two San Antonio women die from Fentanyl patches

California Marijuana Report with Eric Brenner

• Convicted dispensary owner Charles Lynch

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• 2009 AMMA Best Country Song – ‘Chickasaw County’ by Jimmy Aldridge

Government at Work

• Loretta Nall with an interesting tale of President Obama’s college friend, Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, asking people online during his gubernatorial campaign about which policies they’d like to see enacted, much like Obama’s “Open for Questions“.