Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 4:04 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Billings Gazette) The state this month issued its first license for an industrial hemp-growing operation to a woman who said she wants to develop a domestic market for the plant despite federal law barring its cultivation.
Laura Murphy, of Bozeman, was the first to apply for the two-year license since the state Legislature approved its commercial cultivation in 2001.
Federal law prohibits such activity, but the license issued by the Montana Agriculture Department on Oct. 14 could challenge whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is willing to override the state.
Montana applied to the DEA in 2002 for recognition of the state’s hemp growing law. The request was denied, but Montana Agriculture Department attorney Cort Jensen said it could be reconsidered now that a license has gone out.
“Obviously hemp is a little different than ordinary marijuana, but they have declined in the past,” he said. In the meantime, he added: “We will administer the state law.”
In her license, Murphy was warned by Jensen that “growing hemp is still illegal.”
“You still need to get permission from the Drug Enforcement Agency in order to grow it without facing the possibility of federal charges or property confiscation,” he wrote.
You know what I’d do if I were Laura Murphy? Plant just one industrial hemp plant. Local and state cops aren’t going to harass her since she now has a legal Montana license to grow it, and it would be fun to see if the DEA really wants to make a spectacle out of uprooting one non-psychoactive hemp plant, prosecuting her for growing it, and seizing her property over it. Or maybe just grow 99 hemp plants so she falls short of the five-year mandatory minimum threshold of 100 plants. In the context of the recent Obama DOJ memo telling federal prosecutors it is a waste of resources to go after medical marijuana users in states that have declared it legal, wouldn’t it also be a waste of resources to go after hemp producers in states that have declared it legal?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:05 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Denver Post) Demand for medical marijuana in Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that it has outstripped the production of legal “grow” operations and is now probably being supplied by international drug cartels, say some local sheriffs and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“Dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms,” said DEA special agent-in-charge Jeffrey Sweetin. “Now we have thousands of 20- to 25-year-olds carrying cards. And the cartels are getting rich off this law.”
Once again, our medically-trained law enforcement officers are able on casual visual inspection alone to determine that young adults do not suffer from cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, cachexia; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, or persistent muscle spasms. You know, we could just end this health care crisis and cut costs drastically by just having our police handle all medical screening from now on. Why bother with expensive scanners and tests when a DEA agent can just look at a 23-year-old woman and know she doesn’t have endometriosis, epilepsy, or an eating disorder?
Legal grow operations linked to dispensaries are limited to six cannabis plants each.
By contrast, most of the street pot comes from big, outdoor grows, such as the three operations — within a 5-mile radius of Chatfield Reservoir — busted by DEA officials last summer. Sweetin said one grow had 14,000 plants that averaged 5 to 6 feet tall.
He said the average illegal indoor grow is 100 to 200 plants averaging 3 feet tall.
“The numbers don’t seem to add up to me,” [said Sheriff Bill Masters of San Miguel County.] “It seems difficult to supply people with the number of plants allowed. My suspicions are that marijuana might be coming from other growers.”
“Supply (of marijuana) is not directly addressed in (state law), and we think it’s one of the areas that could lead to criminal elements being involved,” said Longmont city attorney Eugene Mei, noting that the city is seeking a 90-day moratorium on new dispensaries.
Let’s see, your demand from legal users is outpacing your supply from legal growers, a situation you deduce is sending profits to illegal growers. Well, the way I see it, there are two ways to address this problem:
Reduce the demand from legal users, or
Increase the supply from legal growers.
#1 is a fool’s errand we call the War on Drugs. Restricting the number of people able to get a medical marijuana card isn’t going to stop a medical user (or a recreational one, for that matter,) from going to the black market to score some cannabis. The people who have cards now were most likely using marijuana prior to having a card anyway, so the legal growers, even if they aren’t supplying the whole market, are taking a cut from the whole market that didn’t exist before.
#2, however, takes a direct bite out of the drug gangs’ pocketbook. You don’t want Mexican marijuana in Colorado dispensaries? Then let more Coloradans grow more Rocky Mountain marijuana!
Finally, if they think we’re buying schwaggy Mexican brick weed – the main product of the Mexican drug gangs – at Colorado dispensaries, they have never experienced the Colorado I know.
Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am | By: Radical Russ
WASHINGTON (Huffington Post) — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.
Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.
The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.
At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.
In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
"Rethink and Decriminalize..." Doesn't everybody want to be NORML? (credit K.B.)
This is your chance to tell the White House what you think about the Government’s long-standing refusal to acknowledge the medical benefits of cannabis and its obstruction of medical cannabis research.
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services must correct statements disseminated on federal websites and in the Federal Register that falsely declare that cannabis “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration must accept the Administrative Law Judge Bittner’s February 2007 Opinion and Recommended Ruling in the matter of Lyle E. Craker, Ph.D., Docket No. 05-16, to grant a competitive bulk-manufactures license to establish a privately-funded facility to cultivate cannabis exclusively for clinical research.
The U.S. Department of Justice must remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I controlled substances in light of a growing body of research, including four double-blind placebo controlled clinical trials, which supports the therapeutic use of cannabis and in accordance with DEA’s own 1988 Administrative Law ruling in which Judge Young opined that “the provisions of the CSA permit and require the transfer of cannabis from schedule I to schedule II.”
Tell Obama to Stand for Scientific Integrity in Medical Cannabis, Too!
“President Obama has made it clear that his administration will hold science over political ideology and value the input of people like you.
Last month, the President signed a Memorandum on Scientific Integrity affirming that policy decisions that are made are done so with facts and data, not political agendas. And now the Office of Technology and Science Policy (OTSP), the agency responsible for overseeing the scientific integrity pledge, created a way for you to provide feedback.
There is a scientific consensus that cannabis can control symptoms of serious and chronic illness. In the past decade alone, clinical research has demonstrated that cannabis and its constituents can safely and effectively treat nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, pain and spasticity. And a growing body of literature suggests that cannabis may hold the key to unlocking new treatments for HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, and many other conditions. Year after year, the research has been twisted or ignored to suit a political ideology.
The federal government is lying when it states that the therapeutic use of cannabis has no accepted medical value in treatment in the United States.”
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 12:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Some evidence for Mr. Hutchinson - support for legalization increases about 1% per year since President George HW Bush, and 6%-10% overall since Mr. Hutchinson was Drug Czar.
When it comes to the debate on legalization of marijuana, we can all have confidence in the greatness of our democracy. Ultimately the voters decide the direction of our country. Thus far there is no evidence that the public is in any mood to legalize marijuana or other currently illegal drugs.
Do you think the United States should legalize drugs?
No way
8%
242
Yes, all drugs
47%
1429
Only marijuana
45%
1353
Total Votes: 3024
In Arkansas, a few years back, a statewide ballot initiative could not even get on the ballot because the proponents could not garner enough signatures. Nationwide, recent ballot initiatives have focused on medical marijuana or enforcement policy.
The advocates of legalization are trying to chip away on the fringes of the legalization debate but they know there is not a sufficient popular movement for legalization.
Because a statewide ballot initiative cannot overturn a federal law. Who wants to put a couple of million dollars into a statewide initiative campaign that would be enjoined the minute it passes because of conflict with federal law? Medical marijuana, lowest-priority, and decriminalization aren’t “the fringes of the legalization debate”, they are the only possible tactics at the state and local level under an oppressive federal law.
Parents are in no mood to make another harmful drug more accessible and socially acceptable for the youth.
Uh, 84% of high school seniors say it is fairly easy to get pot. That means in a classroom of twenty seniors (don’t laugh, teachers, pretend our classrooms only have twenty kids per), seventeen of them can probably go out and get a baggie of weed within an hour. Is it your contention that a legalized marijuana market where adults have to go to an over-21 store and show ID will mean those other three hapless kids will finally be able to score?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 11:20 am | By: Radical Russ
Americans for Safe Access filed suit in San Francisco two years ago under the Information Quality Act, a federal law that allows members of the public to “seek and obtain correction” of false or misleading government information that affects them.
The organization said its members include seriously ill people who had been discouraged from using marijuana by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ long-standing position that the drug has no medical value. The department declined to respond to the suit, saying the Drug Enforcement Administration was still considering the advocacy group’s 2002 request to reconsider the status of marijuana.
Congress created “no judicially enforceable rights” when it passed the Information Quality Act in 2000, said [Justice Department] attorney Alisa Klein. She said the law requires only that a federal agency review such requests from members of the public; otherwise, she said, courts would be flooded with demands to second-guess government decisions on countless subjects.
The government’s position would make the law meaningless, argued Alan Morrison, the lawyer for Americans for Safe Access. Although some disputes are too subjective for court intervention, he said, others can be measured objectively – for example, “two plus two is four and not five” – and the law gives judges a role in keeping the government on track.
If I’m reading Ms. Klein correctly, she’s asserting that the law that says the people have a right to challenge the accuracy and validity of scientific information produced by our government is only a suggestion. The government will produce information and will also be the sole judge of its quality – that’s what you think the Information Quality Act is all about?
She really has no other tenable position. When the government’s position for 39 years has been that the emperor is wearing a resplendent outfit of the finest silk and cotton, you can’t really endorse a law that requires the government to point out he’s naked. While the previous administration was having an eight year Fashion Week of naked royal haberdashery (there’s no global warming, those Chinese toys are safe, Saddam caused 9/11, our skies are clear, our forests are healthy, we don’t torture, a wiretap requires a court order, the market is fine, there’s no housing bubble, etc.), the emperor’s nudity was easy to miss on the catwalk. But with the current administration pledging to “put science first” and address all the previously ignored “inconvenient truths”, that naked emperor stands out like Darth Vader at a Klan rally.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 9:40 am | By: Radical Russ
WASHINGTON — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration spent more than $123,000 to charter a private jet to fly to Bogota, Colombia, last fall instead of taking one of the agency’s 106 planes.
The DEA paid a contractor an additional $5,380 to arrange Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart’s trip last Oct. 28-30 with an outside company.
The DEA scheduled the trip as the nation was reeling from the worst economic crisis in decades and the national debt was climbing toward $10 trillion. Three weeks later, lawmakers slammed chief executive officers from three automakers for flying to Washington in private jets as Congress debated whether to bail out the auto industry.
If one of the agency’s jets isn’t available for official trips, the DEA can borrow one from another federal agency to avoid racking up unnecessary costs to taxpayers. However, [William Brown, the special agent in charge of the DEA's aviation division,]Â said that he didn’t consider seeking a loaner plane from another federal agency, although he said he had at least a week to schedule the flight.
Brown said the administrator couldn’t have taken a commercial flight because she and other officials who were traveling with her were under “specific” threat in Colombia at the time. He wouldn’t reveal details about the threat, saying only that it was of a “sensitive law-enforcement nature.” He added that the threat prompted him to conclude that “a government aircraft would provide a level of security not available on a commercial aircraft.”
A U.S. official in Colombia, however, said that officials there weren’t aware of any threat against Leonhart other than the general insecurity in the country due to the drug trade. The official wasn’t authorized to speak to journalists and asked to remain anonymous.
A private plane, contracted in a rush, for a Halloween week trip to Colombia? Â Did anyone think to check Leonhart’s bags for any suspicious white powders? Â You know, in the era of multi-billion-dollar “disappearances” of pallet-loads of $100 bills and multi-billion-dollar bailouts, $123,745 taxpayer dollars seems kinda quaint. Â I like to think of Michele Leonhart’s privilege to charter a private jet rather than use one of her own 106 planes or one of the federal government’s planes or even spending the extra dough to fly commercial first class as just one young American whose entire college education could have been paid for. Â (Did you know: the DEA’s budget was $2.3 billion in FY 2007?)
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 2:10 pm | By: Radical Russ
First CNBC, now MSN Money, the business-type media outlets are pushing this idea of making money from legalization. Â We are at a tipping point with this economic crisis and as I predicted to many of my progressive friends, it is the conservatives that are going to run point on this agenda – not the moralists who’ve claimed to be conservatives, but your Goldwater / Friedman / Buckley-type conservatives for whom economics is the first order of public interest and what you smoke is your own damn business.
Every year, about 2 million people in the U.S. are arrested for drug offenses, including using or selling marijuana, heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine. About a third of the country’s prisoners are held on drug charges or for crimes attributed to drug abuse.
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 10:17 am | By: Radical Russ
Tonight: Interview with Kerlikowske predecessor Norm Stamper on Drug Czar appointment – 4:20pm
Download today’s Daily Audio Stash at 4:20pm Pacific when I discuss the potential appointment of Chief Kerlikowske as Drug Czar with his predecessor, former Seattle Police Chief and current member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Norm Stamper.
(Seattle P-I) Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has accepted a job in the Obama administration, most likely overseeing the nation’s drug policies, according to sources familiar with the chief’s plans.
Kerlikowske, who has led the department for more than eight years, has told the department’s top commanders he expects to leave to take a top federal position, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t officially authorized to disclose the information.
Sources say Kerlikowske is expected to be named head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a Cabinet-level position otherwise known as the drug czar. The office, established in 1988, directs drug-control policy in the U.S. It’s subject to Senate confirmation.
Kerlikowske had also expressed an interest in the top job at the federal Drug Enforcement Administration but apparently has not been tapped for that post, one source said.
Kerlikowske won credit for stabilizing the police department after the stormy departure of Norm Stamper as chief in the wake of the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, as well as the department’s initial failure to unearth a detective’s alleged theft of money at a crime scene. A genial Kerlikowske reached out to citizens. In addition, crime rates dipped during his time as chief, reaching historic lows in recent years.
Kerlikowske lists one of his accomplishments as the development of less-than-lethal force options for officers, equipping dozens of officers with Tasers. He also oversaw the installation of cameras in the department’s patrol cars.
He has been an advocate of gun control and fought to pass the assault-weapons ban and has championed closing the background-check loophole at gun shows.
Kerlikowske’s possible role in shaping drug policy for the Obama administration was applauded Tuesday by local medical-marijuana advocates.
In 2003, Kerlikowske opposed a city ballot measure, approved by voters, to make marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, saying it would create confusion. But in doing so, he noted that arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use was already not a priority.
“Oh God bless us,” said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. “What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man.”
McKee said Kerlikowske knows the difference between cracking down on the illegal abuse of drugs and allowing the responsible use of marijuana.
Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney and advocate for medical-marijuana patients, said his first preference would be for a physician to oversee national drug policy.
But Kerlikowske would be a vast improvement over past drug czars, who have used the office to carry out the so-called “war on drugs,” Hiatt said.
Kerlikowske is a “very reasonable guy” who would likely bring more liberal policies to the job, Hiatt said.
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 8:48 am | By: Radical Russ
Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama’s campaign promises to stop the raids.
The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.
“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Mr. Obama is still filling key law enforcement posts. For now, DEA is run by acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, a Bush appointee.
Special Agent Sarah Pullen of the DEA’s Los Angeles office said agents raided four marijuana dispensaries about noon Tuesday. Two were in Venice and one each was in Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Ray — all in the Los Angeles area.
Agent Pullen said the four raids seized $10,000 in cash and 224 kilograms of marijuana and marijuana-laced food, such as cookies. No one was arrested, she said, but the raid is part of an ongoing investigation seeking to trace the marijuana back to its suppliers or source.
[Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access] said he is aware that Mr. Obama has not installed his own DEA chief but that new Attorney General “Eric Holder can still suspend these types of operations.”
The Justice Department referred questions to the White House.
Well, gee, it’s been two weeks now… having trouble finding someone to run the DEA who’s paid all their taxes, Mr. Obama?
This is the lamest cop-out since President Bush blamed Abu Ghraib torture on low-ranking reservists from West Virginia. Â You are the president. Â The Justice Department takes their orders from you, no matter who appointed them to the post. Â I don’t care of the DEA administrator was a Bush appointee or the putrid ghost of Harry J. Anslinger risen from the grave, you can write a simple memo to Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart:
From: Â POTUS
To: Â Acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart
Re: Â DEA raids on medical marijuana states
Date: Â January 20, 2009
Ms. Leonhart,
Regarding the Bush Administration policy of “smash-n-grab” raids of medical marijuana providers in California and the other 12 states that have legalized the medical use of marijuana: Â You will cease these actions and any planned actions immediately.
BHO
The fact that you can’t communicate such a simple order in two weeks shows how little respect you have for sick, dying, and sense-threatened Californians and the worth of your campaign promises. Â How many more raids will happen in the time it takes you to replace Leonhart? Â Every raid is a raid you had the power to stop and didn’t, sir. Â Obama, you’re doing a heckuva job!
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Adam: Oprah won't actually go off air for over a year, 2011 sometime. Maybe with here leaving the network soon, she'll be more likely to speak out about MMJ.
The Bluzguy: She promotes movies, turns books into best sellers overnight, and millions respect her opinion. Please contact her!
Missippi Hippy: I totally disregarded it Spof... My wife and I had 5 youngins
Adam: I'm rolling a fat joint, Everyones invited,Spof, Russ,MH,NORML, and MPP.
Missippi Hippy: Oprah announced her last show earlier this week
The Bluzguy: Campaign continuing...www.orprah.com/contactus Urge a show to discuss medical cannabis!
MrSpof: Oh, and about weed smoking hurting sperm motility? The wife and I are going to have to call bullshit on that one
Adam: @Russ, I take offence to the REMF's remark. Again, insulting remarks get us no where. I just don't understand why!
MrSpof: Much thanks for your kind thoughts to me and mine. And, as further good news, I think Russ has squared aware a good idea to dramatically boost the sound quality [...]
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. […]
First Montana hemp license issued, may challenge DEA ban
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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