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Hemp Headlines

1. UC Santa Cruz vice-chancellor warns parents to “talk with your student about 4/20?
2. UK could save £14bn from drug legalization
3. Purdue NORML leads fight to equalize marijuana and alcohol penalties on campus

Reefer Madness

• MN Sen. Amy Koch (R-Buffalo) on Marijuana Law Reform

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• Preview of Dr. Earleywine’s new book on Substance Abuse and Treatment for the American Psychological Association.

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• Reggae Wednesday – ‘Piece of Ganja’ by Iriepathie

Cannabis Conversations

• NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre visits with Salon writer Glenn Greenwald on the success of drug decriminalization in Portugal.

“I think it’s bizarrely underappreciated what’s been done in Portugal,” said Salon writer Glenn Greenwald, who authored the report. Greenwald, who speaks fluent Portuguese, traveled to Portugal in 2008 to study the affects of drug decriminalization in the country.

Because drugs were not legalized outright in Portugal, violations of laws prohibiting drug possession for personal usage are now merely treated as administrative offenses and carry with them no criminal charges. Drug trafficking, however, continues to be prosecuted as a criminal offense in the country.

Greenwald said the strongest evidence in Portugal that supports drug decriminalization is the declining usage of drugs in the crucial 15-19 age group.

In every single drug category, with the exception of the new drugs that have come into popular usage since 2001, like ketamine and GHB, teen drug use has declined. The biggest drug category declines were seen in marijuana, which saw teen drug use slip from just over 10 percent in 2001 to 6 percent in 2006.

“Drug policymakers are ecstatic about this,” Greenwald said.

via – TheRawStory “Portugal’s drug decriminalization ‘bizarrely underappreciated’: Greenwald“

Decriminalization is an incremental step that does not place control of marijuana under state and federal regulation and oversight. It also does not remove  marijuana revenue from drug traffickers as the product is still illegal. That said, the statistics quoted in the article are pretty damned eye opening. Even with the marijuana market unregulated, teen use still declined in this category and all other ‘traditional’ drugs like cocaine and heroin.

At the Stash, we try to remind readers that while marijuana prohibition is rooted in racism and ignorance and that it is morally and Constitutionally wrong, legislators respond well to being shown evidence that that trying new directions in drug policy can be fruitful. Greenwald continues:

Greenwald said supporters of decriminalization in the U.S. have an “ideal moment” to talk about it as the political mood regarding decriminalization is now shifting in favor of reform.

Because there has been little debate on empirical grounds, which are verifiable and provable, on why drugs should stay criminalized, the “extremely unexamined” assumption that decriminalization would result in a massive increase of drug usage has become widespread and generally accepted, Greenwald said.

But with the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal, drug reformers can now point to empirical evidence that demonstrates that decriminalization has positive affects.

Torture Prosecutor Tops 70,000 Questions for Obama on Change.Gov
A whopping 70,000 questions poured into Change.gov over the past week, in response to the Obama transition team’s call for citizen queries to the President-Elect. After votes from about 100,000 people, the top ranked question asks Obama whether he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture and illegal surveillance by the U.S. government.

The national press corps has not raised this issue with Obama since his victory. (When it surfaced in April, Obama said he would order his attorney general to “immediately review” the potential crimes.) And while the leading question in the last Change.gov forum was dispatched breezily — Will you legalize marijuana? No. — this one is far more challenging, both substantively and politically.

The Times notes that Obama’s team has “not said” whether it will even answer [the torture prosecutions] question, though ignoring the question that came in first out of 74,000 would turn this exercise into a farce. A terse, evasive answer would be similarly unacceptable. After all, there would be little point in this online dialogue if it reiterates things we already know, (Obama is not in N.O.R.M.L.), and refuses to provide new information.

Yeah, let’s see if the call for Patrick Fitzgerald as an special prosecutor investigating allegations of torture gets this eleven-word response:

President-Elect Obama is not in favor of the investigation of torture.

I doubt it.  I believe it will get a very thoughtful, reasoned response, much like the other four questions that were answered in the first round.  Which just goes further in showing us how marginalized the drug war discussion is in Washington.

In his excellent opinion blog, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com analyzes the current Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip.

Not only does Rasmussen find that Americans generally “are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip” (44-41%, with 15% undecided), but Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose the Israeli offensive – by a 24-point margin (31-55%).  By stark constrast, Republicans, as one would expect (in light of their history of supporting virtually any proposed attack on Arabs and Muslims), overwhelmingly support the Israeli bombing campaign (62-27%).

He then notes that despite Democrats being against the offensive and Republicans for it, the leadership of both parties overwhelmingly support the offensive, and then Glenn asks:

Is there any other significant issue in American political life, besides Israel, where (a) citizens split almost evenly in their views, yet (b) the leaders of both parties adopt identical lockstep positions which leave half of the citizenry with no real voice?  More notably still, is there any other position, besides Israel, where (a) a party’s voters overwhelmingly embrace one position (Israel should not have attacked Gaza) but (b) that party’s leadership unanimously embraces the exact opposite position (Israel was absolutely right to attack Gaza and the U.S. must support Israel unequivocally)?  Does that happen with any other issue?

(Uh, do I even need to say it?  Why not.)  How about ending the harassment and arrest of responsible adult cannabis consumers?  Opinion polls show that (a) citizens are split almost evenly in their views about taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, yet (b) the leaders of both parties adopt identical lockstep positions which leave half of the citizenry with no real voice.  The polls also show that (a) Democratic voters overwhelmingly (68%) oppose arresting marijuana smokers but (b) Democratic leadership unanimously embraces the exact opposite position.