Jack Herer holds his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" at Portland Hempstalk

(Salem-News) [November 1st], Jack Herer was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Eugene from the rehabilitation center where he has been receiving care. His breathing became more distressed throughout the afternoon, and finally he was rushed to the Emergency Room.

He was diagnosed with bronchitis, and given antibiotics to overcome the illness. Such prevention may not have been possible just a few days ago, when a “Do Not Transport” order was in effect. Because of a recent change in Jack’s care, they were able to get him appropriate treatment, which could literally have saved his life.

More good news, Jack has been responding well to Speech, Physical and Occupational therapy treatments administered at the care center where he’s residing in Eugene, Oregon. He is coherent. His speech is beginning to come back. He has no IV’s, no breathing tube, and though he has a feeding tube, they expect to remove it as soon as this week.

The bad news, is the breakdown within the ranks of Jack’s supporters. While Jack works to heal and rehabilitate, the world outside his room is swirling with controversy.

Much has been said as of late regarding the recent change of Jack’s care management, and the subject has seemingly taken on a life of its own. Jeannie Herer and others are unhappy with the new decision by the care center to acknowledge a Power of Attorney that moves authority of Jack’s care to Joy Graves and Chuck Jacobs.

Bonnie King is an excellent reporter I’ve had the chance to talk with many times.  She covers the medical marijuana beat for the Salem-News and I see her at every event.  Please continue to the Salem-News website for the whole report.

(JackHerer.com) This is Jack’s wife, Jeannie. Jack had a heart attack in Portland, Oregon on September 12. I was in California waiting for him to come home. I flew to Portland, went to the hospital and was told that a woman named Joy Graves had come to the hospital with a Medical Power of Attorney that Jack had allegedly signed, naming her and Chuck Jacobs as the people in charge of Jack’s medical care. It wasn’t complete and looks like someone forged his signature. The hospital’s legal team determined it was no good.

Jack is now in a skilled nursing facililty in Eugene. Joy Graves has taken the paper to them and they have accepted it until their legal team decides what to do. In the meantime, I am not allowed to see Jack or even get news about his condition over the phone. Jack has already been neglected in the nursing home. He fell out of bed there and hit his head shortly after being admitted. He had lumps on his head from it and bruises on his upper eyelids.

I’ve had to hire an attorney to deal with this. I don’t have much money but I’ll do what I can. I love Jack very much and can’t believe this is happening to him now, when he needs me the most.

Yes, I know when I’m in the middle of a hempfest, just about ready to go up and give a rousing speech, I make sure to sign over my medical power of attorney to somebody who is not my wife.

I’ve reached out to all my contacts in the Oregon cannabis community to see if I can get more on the story. I spoke with Paul Stanford from The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation who told me that Chuck Jacobs and “a lady with some different name” (i.e., could be Joy Graves, but using a pseudonym) brought Jack to Portland and had been traveling with him. Paul is looking up his records to find Mr. Jacobs’ phone number and I will follow up as soon as I have it.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Medical Marijuana in Oregon: Not the End of Reform, But the Beginning (Op-Ed in Eugene Weekly by Russ Belville)
2. Judge Jay “Torture Memo” Bybee & 9th Circuit Panel uphold 10-year sentence for Bryan Epis
3. Wall Street Journal on Taxing Marijuana in Oakland, California
4. Illinois Medical Marijuana Facing Reefer Madness Opposition

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• Daily Audio Stash EXCLUSIVE Interview with The Human Revolution (Human, Zahira, and Oliver), plus two acoustic performances, “Here in California” and “Kindness”.  Check out TheHumanRevolution.org (and ZahiraMusic.com).

April 30, 2009 Eugene Weekly Cover

Jim Grieg of Willamette Valley NORML just forwarded to me links to the new issue of the Eugene Weekly entitled “Reefer Medness” that coincides with the mayor’s proclamation of Medical Marijuana Awareness week in this college town, home to the University of Oregon Ducks. The cover story “The Politics of Prescription Pot“, details the inter-organizational battle this legislative session between the Stormy Ray Cardholders Foundation (working in coordination with Law Enforcement) versus every other Oregon marijuana advocacy organization (Oregon NORML, Willamette Valley NORML, Southern Oregon NORML, Voter Power, Oregon Green Free, and Mother’s Against Misuse and Abuse)

“The story you’re about to write is completely bullshit.” This is as good a place to start as any, with one of the first sentences spoken to me over the phone by Jerry Wade, who serves as secretary for the Stormy Ray Cardholder’s Foundation (SRCF). Wade was responding — in a kind of preemptive strike, since no specific questions had yet been asked — to a request that his organization respond to the scads of criticism leveled at SRCF by other organizations in the movement.

According to Wade, SB 388, which received a hearing in Salem April 20, focused exclusively on the needs and rights of patients who use medical marijuana. The bill, he said, sought to prevent abuses on the supply side of the issue by ensuring clear and legal access to well-regulated and well-defined marijuana producers who are growing pot solely for patients.

Now, as for the “bullshit”: Numerous individuals and organizations have claimed, in so many words, that SRCF is a puppet and a front for The Man; and that the organization, by working so closely with law enforcement and politicians, is a slave to power; and that it does not represent the collective interest of the medical marijuana movement.

Anthony Johnson of Voter Power said: “It is a shame that the Stormy Ray Cardholder’s Foundation, an organization with just a handful of members, has been propped up and used by the law enforcement lobby to pass laws that actually harm sick and disabled patients.”

The actual harm being done, Johnson claimed, is “by conning legislators that compromises are being made while patients are only going to be harmed by proposals that reduce the amount of medicine available and will lead to more resources being wasted on the arrest and jailing of patients and their providers.”

Koozer from WV-NORML said that the legalization movement in general is “appalled” that Ray has “worked her way into being the only group that law enforcement will deal with and speak with.” In general, Koozer added, it’s confusing that legislators are paying so much attention to law enforcement, which he called “addicted” to the money it makes waging the so-called War on Drugs. He warns further that it’s a dangerous thing when law enforcement is involved in the making of laws, a process typically, if not constitutionally, delegated to the legislative branch of government.

Among the travesties included in the Stormy Ray bill were provisions to limit grow sites to 24 ounces of medicine total, despite how many patients a garden serves, instead of the current situation where a grow site can have 24 ounces per patient served.  Since at least 20% of grow sites serve more than one patient, this would have immediately impacted patients because the growers could still have 6 mature plants per patient, and what grower would want to take the risk of taking on multiple patients when at harvest time, he’d be way out of compliance?  (And the 20% is DHS’ number; I think it is much higher because while 75% of grow sites only care for a single patient, DHS requires that patients list a grow site even if they aren’t growing.  Therefore a large unknown percentage of grow sites are “paperwork only”.  I’d bet at least 50% of grow sites serve more than one patient.)  In a time where the #1 complaint for patients is lack of access to medicine, Stormy Ray wanted to create disincentive to serve patients and more easier busts for law enforcement.

Similarly, Stormy Ray lobbied for a new limit for hashish, 2 ounces, where current law allows for 24.  They lobbied for DHS to be given the right to inspect grow sites at a moment’s notice and to forward violations found in inspections to law enforcement for immediate prosecution.  They lobbied for the printing of a “medical marijuana manual” that DHS would print (at considerable cost in this economic downturn) and require patients’ signatures for, which could then be used as another way to punish patients and growers who may later be investigated by law enforcement.  This is how Stormy Ray protects patients: by reducing the number of growers, the number of plants grown, the amount of medicine possessed, and empowering law enforcement’s ability to prosecute patients and growers.

See, that’s all it takes to bring together Oregon’s famously quarrelsome marijuana advocacy groups: one bad bill to fight and one bad actor to oppose.

I also got my op-ed published in that edition; the complete text follows after the break.

Marijuana Legalization In Oregon

Not the end of reform but the beginning

By Russ Belville

As we celebrate the 10 years of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, let’s reflect on a decade of compassion and success. We’ve seen the program grow to protect more than 20,000 seriously sick and disabled Oregonians’ use of the “safest therapeutically active substance known to man,” according to DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young.

Some 20,000 Oregonians no longer face harassment, arrest, and imprisonment by law enforcement for their medical use of marijuana as recommended by their doctor. The program is self-funded and has run a surplus that generated over $1 million for other state programs.

However, even with a medical marijuana program, patients still face enormous hurdles while trying to follow their treatment. There is no means of distributing marijuana — buying and selling it, whether they’re medical users or not, is still prohibited by state and federal laws. If a patient cannot grow their own, then they must acquire their medicine on the illegal black market, where it costs more per ounce than palladium or saffron. The expense of growing medical marijuana is not covered by patients’ insurance.

Marijuana’s illegality to the non-medical user means businesses will still urine-test their employees, with no exception for the medical users. Landlords may discriminate against patients in housing and child custody is endangered any time a patient is taken to court.

The illegality of marijuana for the majority of its users also has an impact on the effectiveness of medical use. The U.S. government recently denied a petition by Dr. Lyle Craker of UMass to grow a plot of marijuana for scientific and medical research, despite the recommendation by another DEA Administrative Law Judge, Mary Ellen Bittner, that he was qualified, the research is necessary, and he should be allowed to do it. This stranglehold on medical research also prevents investigation of differing marijuana strains and how their cannabinoid ratios may be effective in treating different conditions.

U.S. government statistics show nearly one in eight adult Oregonians use marijuana at least once per year, and so long as they represent a consumer demand for marijuana, there will always be entrepreneurs looking to provide the supply. The state spends an estimated $61.5 million per year enforcing a marijuana prohibition that 354,000 Oregonians per year ignore. Yet adult Oregonians have still consistently used marijuana for non-medical purposes at a steady rate of 6.5 to 8 percent monthly over the past decade.

Medical users of marijuana only represent a little more than one in 20 of all marijuana users in Oregon. Prohibition of marijuana to those 19 nonmedical users is costing taxpayer dollars in a proven futile attempt to stop their use while Oregon looks to cut school days and programs in order to save money in this economic downturn. Meanwhile that one medical user faces high medicine prices, lack of availability, job loss, home loss, family breakups, and a dearth of reliable scientific information about the medicine because we deem it illegal for the other 19 adult users.

The key to the illegality of marijuana for 95 percent of its Oregon users lies in marijuana’s Schedule I status. The federal government ranks drugs in ‘schedules” from I to V. Drugs rated Schedule II, III, IV, and V, which include cocaine, methamphetamine, opium, PCP, and anabolic steroids, are all prescribable drugs anywhere in the U.S., from the “dangerous” Schedule II drugs to the relatively safe Schedule V drugs. Marijuana is rated Schedule I, completely illegal even for doctors to prescribe, which means:

• “The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse” (despite the fact that only 9 percent of marijuana users develop dependence, compared to 15 percent for alcohol and 32 percent for tobacco).

• “The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” (despite the fact that 13 states now recognize marijuana’s medical use and the U.S. government holds patent #6,630,507 on the medical use of cannabinoids ).

• “There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision” (despite the fact the U.S. government currently sends 300 medical marijuana joints to five U.S. citizens every month , including Oregonian Elvy Musikka).

It is even more clear that marijuana is mis-scheduled when one considers the raw plant form of cannabis, which ranges from 4 to 15 percent THC (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana), is considered Schedule I, yet the pharmaceutical version of THC, the Marinol pill, at 100 percent THC, is considered Schedule III.

Medical marijuana is a wonderful change in Oregon, but only a beginning. Until marijuana is legal for all responsible adults, medical marijuana patients will continue to face these hurdles and never truly receive the treatment they deserve.

Russ Belville is national outreach coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and host of NORML’s Daily Audio Stash at http://stash.norml.org

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Hemp Headlines

1. FL House passes ‘Rachel’s law’ to protect police informants
2. Iowa Pharmacy Board must study whether marijuana is accepted medical use
3. Oregon NORML and medical marijuana activists kill restrictive Oregon Senate Bill 388
4. Eugene, Oregon mayor proclaims Apr 30 – May 6 “Medical Marijuana Awareness Week”

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• Message Monday – ‘Trees’ by Bonfire

Stash Special: PhillyNORML / NORML NJ 420 Freedom Rally

• Major Neill Franklin from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
City of Eugene, Oregon
PROCLAMATION

Official Proclamation of Medical Marijuana Awareness Week in Eugene, Oregon

WHEREAS: In November 1998, Oregon voters passed into law the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, allowing Oregonians suffering from debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana as medicine. Currently, nearly 25,000 patients are enrolled and over 2,900 doctors have provided recommendations for patients’ utilization of medical marijuana; and

WHEREAS: Thirteen states have passed laws allowing for chronically and seriously ill patients to use cannabis with the approval of their physicians; and

WHEREAS: On September 6, 1988, Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) own Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled that “Marijuana, in it’s natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known”; and

WHEREAS: There are over are over 17,000 published scientific studies on the therapeutic values of cannabis and cannabinoids in the National Library of Medicine, and, there are over 2,600 patents filed for the medical use of cannabinoids in the United States Patent office; and

WHEREAS: Pre-Clinical and Clinical trials indicate that cannabinoids are useful in controlling Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, G I Disorders, Hepatitis C, Multiple Sclerosis, Osteoporosis, Pruritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Sleep Apnea; and,

WHEREAS: Marijuana has a history of thousands of years of safe use without any recorded deaths attributed to its use, and, all citizens deserve to know the truth about cannabis,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Kitty Piercy, Mayor of the City of Eugene, Oregon, do hereby proclaim the Week of April 30th, 2009 to May 6th, 2009 as “Medical Marijuana Awareness Week” in the city of Eugene, and encourage all citizens to join in this observance.

Kitty Piercy, Mayor
Dated this 22nd day of April 2009

A huge public relations win for our chapter in Eugene, Willamette Valley NORML!  This is the kind of idea NORML Chapters around the country in medical marijuana states should try.  When we can say, “the mayors of X, Y, Z, P, D, & Q all recognized and celebrated medical marijuana” to legislators at the state house, it helps us convince them that this is truly a mainstream issue and they needn’t fear losing their seat in the next election for supporting medical marijuana.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Mexican President Calderón: US officials complicit in drug trade
2. LA Police Chief: why not regulate marijuana?
3. Why Marijuana Legalization is Gaining Momentum
4. Congressmen Ron Paul and Barney Frank talk Marijuana

Pot and Politics

• Perry Stripling from Willamette Valley NORML on 34 marijuana bills at the Oregon Legislature.

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• Message Monday – ‘Make Love Not War’ by Daddy Roots

Chapter of the Week – Inland Northwest NORML

• CHAPTER NAME: Inland Northwest NORML
• CHAPTER MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1691, Spokane, WA  99210
• CHAPTER WEBSITE: www.innorml.org
• CHAPTER EMAIL: kevin@innorml.org
• CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Kevin Oliver
• CHAPTER MEETING DATES: See website for details

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You can still win tickets to see 311 + Snoop Dogg in the Washington DC area this Sunday.  Click the button over on the right and enter the raffle for only $4.20.  Your donation benefits NORML’s advocacy to end adult marijuana prohibition, and you could win tickets worth approximately $100.  There’s a drawing every day this week and you must be 18 or older to enter.

Today we’re taking a look at the hempfest season with Dan Koozer, of the Emerald Empire (Eugene, Oregon) Hempfest. I’ll be appearing there at the Oregon NORML table, collecting signatures for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act and speaking onstage.  Stop by and say “high!”

Kelly Maddy from Sensible Joplin and Joplin NORML joins us to discuss his submission of over 6,000 signatures for an initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession by adults within city limits.

And we’ve got a great Stupid Stoner Story, even though the victim wasn’t really stupid, just a lousy dancer.

Roll up a blunt (but no tobacco, please) and sit back, it’s time for your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

This weekend: June 6th, 7th, & 8th – The NORML Aspen Legal Seminar in Aspen, Colorado.  The finest legal minds in drug law reform gather to present on the state of cannabis and the law in our country.  I’ll be there podcasting for our NORML Special Events, as well as hosting my own XM Satellite political radio show live from Aspen.

July 11th, 12th, & 13th – The Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, Oregon.  This isn’t really so much a hempfest as it a celebration of the hippie lifestyle created by Ken Kesey and the Further folks who settled in the Eugene, Oregon area.  It’s unique in that the whole festival grounds are permanent in a very natural setting that makes you feel like you’ve landed in a small town in Middle Earth.

July 18th, 19th, & 20th – The Emerald Empire Hempfest in Eugene, Oregon.  This town, home of the University of Oregon, puts on a great hempfest.  I’ll be tabling with Oregon NORML there and may even get a chance to speak onstage.  Come on by and visit!

August 2nd & 3rd – The Spokane Hempfest in Eastern Washington state.  I’m looking for more details on this event, currently its website is down.

August 8th, 9th, & 10th – The Northwest World Reggae Festival, between Portland and Eugene, Oregon.  Last time I attended this one, they had very-unOregon-like temperatures in the triple digits.

August 16th & 17th – THE SEATTLE HEMPFEST, or as I like to call it, the big-’un!  If you are serious about your cannabis activism, you cannot miss the Seattle Hempfest.  Your chance to meet the movers and shakers in the community is unparalleled and just being in a crowd of tens-of-thousands of like-minded consumers is life-changing.  I’ll be there tabling with both NORML and Oregon NORML, and once again broadcasting my radio show live.

August 23rd & 24th – The Olympia Hempfest just south of Seattle in Olympia, Washington.  I won’t be able to make this one, as I will be on my way to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention for NORML, Pam’s House Blend, and The Russ Belville Show.

September 6th & 7th – The Portland Hempstalk in my beautiful hometown.  We’re back on the river downtown on the Eastbank Esplanade.  We’ve got NORML Founder Keith Stroup as our special guest, and Jack Herer, and Seattle Hempfest favorites The Herbivores.  I’ll be there speaking and tabling as Oregon NORML is a major sponsor.