Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 4:07 pm | By: Radical Russ
It looks like it is a “go” for me to appear at the Drug Policy Alliance’s International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It runs from Thursday, Nov. 12 through Saturday, Nov. 14, and my panel on “Marijuana’s Cultural Moment” takes place on Friday afternoon.
I still have yet to work out all the details. I’d love to set up a road trip where I give my presentations at stops along the way. I think a Boise – Salt Lake – Denver – Albuquerque – Vegas – Reno – Medford trip sounds like a lot of fun, and there are few NORML chapters along the way that could help with the organization. Would be a lot of fun… much more than flying again!
From Showtime’s “Weeds” to the cover of Fortune magazine, marijuana is being normalized and embraced by mainstream culture as never before. It is also an intimate part of various subcultures, artist communities, and political movements. Marijuana’s legitimacy is booming – but so are prohibitionist policies. Why is there such a schism in our society? What does American marijuana culture look like today? Where does pot culture meet pop culture? Who benefits from marijuana’s growing mainstream acceptance?
Facilitator: Russ Belville, National Outreach Coordinator, National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws
* Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director, National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws
* Deborah Small, Founder and Executive Director, Breaks the Chains, New York, NY
* Steve Bloom (invited)
* Ruben Whitmore (invited)
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm | By: Radical Russ
Oakland-based activists have filed a ballot initiative with the Attorney General that would legalize marijuana in California and allow counties to establish local systems to tax and regulate the plant and its products. Activists have 150 days from filing to gather 434,000 signatures to qualify for the statewide ballot in November 2010. The initiative is being spearheaded by medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University.
Within the last several months, California Assembly Member Tom Ammiano introduced a bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said marijuana legalization should be considered and debated, Oakland voters overwhelmingly adopted an initiative to tax medical marijuana, and for the first time ever in a statewide Field Poll, a majority of California voters – 56 percent – expressed support for legalizing and taxing marijuana. Outside the state, New York Gov. David Paterson joined Schwarzenegger’s call, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard suggested national policymakers debate marijuana legalization as a way to cripple both Mexican and U.S. gangs, and an ABC News/Washington Post poll found 46 percent of Americans nationwide now favor legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use, more than double its level 12 years ago.
The state Board of Equalization concluded that California would generate $1.4 billion dollars in new annual revenue if Assembly Member Ammiano’s bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol (AB 390) were adopted. According to the Attorney General, 74,119 Californians were arrested for marijuana offenses in 2007 (nearly 17,000 under the age of 18). 78 percent of all arrests were misdemeanors. Marijuana arrests in California increased nearly 25 percent since 2005 while arrests for all other controlled substances, and most violent crimes, fell. The Drug Policy Alliance estimates the costs incurred by California’s criminal justice system as a result of current marijuana prohibition laws to be nearly $260 million a year.
Richard Lee’s “Tax Cannabis 2010″ proposal is available online at http://taxcannabis2010.org. There’s another California initiative called “California Cannabis Initiative 2010″, spearheaded by lifetime NORML Legal Committee member Omar Figueroa and Joe Rogoway, available at http://californiacannabisinitiative.org.
Meanwhile, farther north in Oregon, NORML Board Member and Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez has filed the Oregon Cannabis Tolerance Act of 2010, a measure to legalize marijuana and distribute it through a state cannabis-store system, not unlike (but separate from) liquor stores, while the THC Foundation’s Paul Stanford has filed the revised Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2010 (http://cannabistaxact.org or http://octa2010.org) that seeks a similar solution but also adds specific definitions of hemp industry. Both OCTAs leave the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act intact and preserve the right of citizens to maintain personal non-commercial grows without taxation.
[UPDATE: Madeline's Tolerance Act is actually going to be presented to the Oregon Legislature to be filed as a citizen referendum. Paul's OCTA is going to be presented to the citizens as an initiative. Both are currently gathering the 1,000 signatures necessary to file the measures. I regret the errors. -- "R"R]
Drug Policy Alliance and others admit they’d rather see this sort of push in 2012 when there would be more support. Some feel to push in 2010 is too soon and a loss at the polls will set the movement back. I disagree. I always say, when we’re talking about it, we’re winning. Well, when we’re voting on it, we’re getting exactly what we want – a chance to have our voices heard! I don’t think it is ever too soon or inadvisable to vote for our freedom. The last legalization proposals in Nevada got 39% and 44% of the vote, so I would see any legalization proposal that clears 40% in California and Oregon as a success.
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 11:20 am | By: Radical Russ
The Examiner family of online newspapers is now featuring the retired locksmith (and thus, drug policy expert) John English as a regular columnist. It seems his entire series of columns is dedicated to pushing reefer madness.
Effects on the fetus, though scientifically difficult to evaluate, for a variety of reasons, the detection of metabolites in meconium establishes fetal drug exposure. The effects on the babies after birth is obvious.
Judging from his various cut’n'pastes from scientific articles I doubt he understands, I think his argument is that women who smoke a lot of pot while pregnant risk harming their babies, so we should lock them up. Wait’ll he sees the statistics on fetal alcohol syndrome!
In “Who Populates the Prison System“, John claims to debunk the idea pushed by “pro-drug advocates and their financial backers (Soros, Sperling, et al.)” that the prisons are filled with non-violent marijuana possessors:
# The massive numbers of people in prison for marijuana, are / were smugglers and distributors.
# These skewed facts ignore that when a person actually is incarcerated for simple possession, invariably it’s because they’ve cooperated and been allowed to plead to a lesser charge!
John doesn’t understand, though, that a “smuggler/distributor” of marijuana can be a pot possessor who made the mistake of keeping his two separate strains in two separate baggies, or keeps Ziploc sandwich baggies in his home, or owns a postal scale, or grew more than one plant, or keeps a legal firearm. He also doesn’t realize that folks on parole or probation who get busted for possession technically go back to prison for their original crime, not the pot possession, so they don’t show up in statistics as pot prisoners. But it is refreshing to see him admit that there are “massive numbers of people in prison for marijuana” as he beats up his strawman.
The marijuana user is in a constant state of depression interspersed with “short bursts of feeling almost normal again.” The user, when he’s reached out and achieved that “high,” he has a temporary reprieve from that constant, marijuana-induced state of depression, but it returns as the “high” fades.
That’s the cause, the scenario . . . ; users seek, the non-depressed state, they perceive as a “high”. They’re wrong; it’s the state they were in before – it’s the absence of depression. Over and over, they’re drawn into the ‘fog of marijuana addiction’ which has caused them to perceive it wrongly. The user has unknowingly, only taken a step down a rung, on the ladder of normalcy!
So I’ll bet when John learns that the suicidal/homicidal Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and just about every high-profile school shooting you can name in the past twenty years involved depressed teens who were prescribed SSRI anti-depressants, he’ll be eager to pump out a few columns about how we should be locking up people in possession of Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Anafranil, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, etc.
In “Addiction to cannabis and mental disorders“, John reveals the insidious evil of marijuana – the “potheads” are seducing our youth into their debauched lifestyle (I guess we’ve been borrowing strategy from the “gay agenda”):
The most convincing reason why potheads must remain criminals, why marijuana must remain illegal, is their targeting of children. That behavior in and of itself reveals that they suffer from a deep psychological insufficiency, a need to draw children into becoming like them – whether it’s a need to justify their own beliefs or some other motivation, it doesn’t matter! They’re damaging future generations and doing so intentionally.
You know who’s targeting children, John? Pot dealers who aren’t required to check IDs, a million of whom are teenagers themselves. You know who else targeted children? Alcohol and tobacco companies with their “Budweiser Frogs” and “Joe Camel”, but since those drugs are legal, we were able to set strong advertising restrictions on those products, create effective anti-youth drinking and smoking educational campaigns, and reduced teen drinking and smoking to the lowest levels ever recorded.
In “What is wrong with smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes“, John cites a video of “Nathan Edelman” (he means Drug Policy Alliance’s Ethan Nadelmann), which is actually video of former NORML Director Richard Cowan taken way out of context to illustrate our alleged secret agenda of telling pot smokers to lie about how marijuana helps them medically so we can legalize all drugs (and, naturally, recruit the children into our debauched lifestyle).
When considering at this question, one must take into account two related issues: 1) that the whole plan to make marijuana legal was published in “High Times.” They issued a call, compelling users to come forward saying that pot helped their suffering.
And there’s another part: 2) that a survey showed that medical marijuana cardholders had been smoking pot for an average of 17 years! That in itself, brings the whole system under more suspicion – - – for what if, marijuana does cause one to think their “medicine” helps their condition when it is instead, actually causing or contributing to it?
Then, there’s two further question that needs to be asked:
1) What weed is smoked without the particulate matter, tars, and (over 400 chemical compounds in the smoke) not causing harm? The doctor’s oath is “First, do no harm.”
2) If people who were already breaking the law using an illicit drug for 17 years before the system allowed this pseudo-legal use, do they have the credibility to allow us to believe this actually helps?
If you were nauseous, in chronic pain, spastic, prone to seizures, or were losing your eyesight to glaucoma, and you smoked a joint 17 years ago and found it helped you medically, would you choose to live in misery for another 17 years until it became legal to use, just so you could have some credibility in John English’s view?
You can read more of my responses to John English in the comments sections of his articles in the hyperlinks above. Feel free to leave some of your own comments, too.
On an entirely different issue, 46 percent of Americans now favor legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use, the most in data back to the mid-1980s and more than double its level 12 years ago. While 52 percent remain opposed, that’s down from 75 percent in the late 1990s and 78 percent in 1986.
The biggest changes in the past two decades are 29- and 27-point advances in support for legalization among Democrats and independents, to 49 and 53 percent, respectively. The slightest: a 10-point gain among Republicans, to just 28 percent support.
Also, tune in tonight to The Colbert Report on Comedy Central as Ethan Nadelmann from Drug Policy Alliance will be his guest.
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 5:56 pm | By: Radical Russ
Bursting with indignation, legions of legalize-marijuana advocates are urging a boycott of Kellogg Co., including all of its popular munchies, for deciding to cut ties with Olympic hero Michael Phelps after he was photographed with a pot pipe.
The leader of one of the biggest groups, the Marijuana Policy Project, called Kellogg’s action “hypocritical and disgusting,” and said he’d never seen his membership so angry, with more than 2,300 of them signing an online petition.
“Kellogg’s had no problem signing up Phelps when he had a conviction for drunk driving, an illegal act that could actually have killed someone,” said Rob Kampia, the group’s executive director. “To drop him for choosing to relax with a substance that’s safer than beer is an outrage, and it sends a dangerous message to young people.”
Also urging a boycott were the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Drug Policy Alliance. They encouraged their members to contact Kellogg to vent their views.
That’s exactly the message the general public needs to see – that a drunk driving conviction didn’t even merit a second thought, but a bong photo required immediate termination. This story is on the Associated Press now and it’s beginning to feel like that moment when the little boy cries out that the Emperor is naked. The company that makes pot smokers’ favorite munchies is dropping the world’s greatest athlete for smoking weed because the kids need the message that smoking weed will ruin your life. It’s really a hypocrisy wrapped in an irony wrapped in serendipity, isn’t it?
The reason this story won’t die (other than I won’t let it!) is because it’s vibrating on the same resonance frequency as the public’s overall rejection of this moralistic hypocrisy in general. We’ve suffered through a prostitution ring-busting governor of New York being caught with a prostitute, an anti-gay senator caught in a bathroom soliciting gay sex, and bankrupt CEOs throwing parties and paying bonuses off taxpayer bailout money while their companies tank and 3.6 million jobs have disappeared. No matter where you stand, conservative, liberal, or politically independent, there is some issue where you can no longer stand the hypocrisy. No matter where you vote, Democrat, Republican, or Other, there is someone in your own party representative of another hypocrisy.
Another thing that makes this story different than other athletes-caught-with-weed stories is that Michael Phelps, more than just about anyone in any sport you can name, is the Greatest Ever (sorry, Ali). Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burris may be stoners who caught the last two Super Bowl winning touchdowns, but nobody is confusing them with Jerry Rice (yet). Ricky Williams runs good, but nobody’s forgotten Emmitt Smith or Walter Payton. Josh Howard is pretty good on the court, but he’s no Michael Jordan (or, perhaps, LeBron James… in a few years…). When these guys are caught, somebody can always play the “I wonder how good they might have been” card with respect to weed smoking. What do you say to the pot smoker who follows up 6 gold, 2 bronze at age 19 with 8 gold and 7 world records at age 23? (”Don’t get caught!”)
And to follow this story up with a macho sheriff going after eight people for the bong misdeeds and another Major League Liar admitting to steroid use? Please, Universe, keep it comin’
Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 4:04 pm | By: Radical Russ
While the word on the street (yeah, Huggy Bear told me) is that former Minnesota Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad is going to be President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy (or “drug czar”), this petition to have Obama choose drug reformer and head of Drug Policy Alliance Ethan Nadelmann for the position is worth signing. For years we’ve had military generals and law enforcement types dealing with the medical issue that is drug abuse. It’s about time we had a drug law reformer who would base policy on science and medicine!
We the undersigned request the appointment of Ethan Nadelmann to direct the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (“Drug Czar”) of the United States of America.
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Whoa! No, you’re not in a time warp, this is yesterday’s Daily Audio Stash. I got it all recorded and edited and I set it to upload. It was uploading when I left to take a call. I come back today, it’s not uploaded. My internets got the hiccups or something. So now I’m posting it today.
This Stash features Tom Daubert from Montana Patients and Families United with great news about a state supreme court decision that allows people on probation or parole to continue using their cannabis medicine.
Then I’m breaking out more exclusive audio from NORML CON. Today you’ll hear Jenny Kern from the Drug Policy Alliance discussing random student drug testing during the Legal Marijuana Generation panel.
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It’s our special election roundup here on the Stash. We’ve got the experts here to give their take on state and local initiatives to be decided tomorrow:
Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance, on California’s Proposition 5 to move non-violent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail and decriminalize personal possession of marijuana;
There is also a measure on the ballot in Hawaii County (Big Island), Hawaii to end helicopter fly-overs to uproot marijuana plants, forbid county law enforcement participation in marijuana raids, and make possession of 24 ounces or less the lowest law enforcement priority. Learn more at Project Peaceful Sky.
It should go without saying, but don’t forget to
VOTE!
I know some of you think it doesn’t matter, they’re all the same, it’s hopeless, I hate ‘em all, whatever, but a cannabis consumer who doesn’t vote is like a battered spouse who keeps forgiving the batterer. Your voice matters! If people didn’t think voting mattered, California would never have passed Prop 215 and all the positive gains of the past dozen years may not have happened.
We can do this. There are literally millions of us. We’ve got the public mostly on our side; now it’s the politicians who need education. The winds of change are blowing and we may have the best political atmosphere for drug law reform yet – the perfect storm of progressive leadership, popular will, and fiscal need. Vote as if your freedom depends on it… because it does.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
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.
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
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. […]
“Radical” Russ to facilitate cultural panel at Int’l Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, Fri Nov 13
It looks like it is a “go” for me to appear at the Drug Policy Alliance’s International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It runs from Thursday, Nov. 12 through Saturday, Nov. 14, and my panel on “Marijuana’s Cultural Moment” takes place on Friday afternoon.
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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