(AP) The Montana State University-Billings poll said 62 percent of respondents favored the overhaul of the pot law adopted by the Legislature earlier this year.

The Legislature’s crackdown on pot repealed the original medical marijuana statute approved by voters in 2004. It replaced it with a much tougher law that makes it more difficult to get a medical marijuana card and severely limits the supply of the drug.

Supporters of the new law argued it was needed to control an industry that was out of control.

The poll also found that 55 percent believe medical marijuana users should not be allowed to buy guns and ammunition. Recently, the federal government warned gun dealers not to sell to people holding medical marijuana cards.

Montana NORML and other supporters have worked hard to get the signatures to place a repeal of this new SB 423 “repeal lite” on the ballot in 2012.  Unfortunately, the poll shows that only 28% of those surveyed opposed SB 423.

But to see a majority in Montana support the federal government taking away the guns of law-abiding citizens… I never thought I’d live to see the day.  This goes to show you how deeply-set the hatred of hippies and pot smokers is when people who’ve been screaming that “the Democrats are gonna take yer guns!” are perfectly fine with that so long as you’re a stoner.

"So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed: 'From my cold, dead hands!'"... or, if I choose to use a non-toxic herb to treat my maladies.

A just-released memo from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is shocking medical marijuana advocates, gun rights advocates, and civil libertarians across America.  According to President Obama’s Department of Justice, if you are one of the 1.5 million estimated medical marijuana patients in one of sixteen states and the District of Columbia, you have no right to bear arms.

Therefore, any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition. Such persons should answer ‘yes” to question 11.e. on ATF Form 4473 (August 2008), Firearms Transaction Record, and you may not transfer firearms or ammunition to them. Further, if you are aware that the potential transferee is in possession of a card authorizing the possession and use of marijuana under State law, then you have “reasonable cause to believe” that the person is an unlawful user of a controlled substance. As such, you may not transfer firearms or ammunition to the person, even if the person answered “no” to question 11.e. on ATF Form 4473.

That’s right, your medical marijuana recommendation is a “reasonable cause to believe” that you are a drug addict and therefore ineligible for Second Amendment rights.  What else could be “reasonable cause to believe”… a NORML t-shirt or membership card?  Being a petition gatherer for a medical marijuana initiative?  Carrying around a Cheech & Chong lunchbox?  A picture of you attending a legalization march or hempfest?

Recently two Oregon sheriffs have been pursuing a case to the US Supreme Court to validate their claim that medical marijuana patients can be denied concealed handgun permits based on this very concept that a medical marijuana patient by definition is a drug addict and barred by federal law from owning a gun.  State courts up through the Oregon Supreme Court have held that the sheriffs are outside the bounds of their authority, as they are charged with enforcing state laws, not federal laws.  This would appear to be an attempt by President Obama’s Department of Justice to assert that the Oregon sheriffs are right.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So if you are a medical marijuana patient in most states, you have no legal way to purchase your medicine.  You must grow your own or conduct illegal commerce on a criminal market.  Now you must protect your home grow from invaders or approach black market dealers without the protection of a personal firearm.  Meanwhile, that same ATF that wants to take away guns from sick and disabled patients obeying state laws was coercing Arizona gun dealers to sell automatic weapons to known Mexican drug dealers as part of the vastly under-reported “Operation Fast and Furious”.

The West has always been at the vanguard of medical marijuana reforms.  Westerners are also quite fond of their firearms.  This will surely lead many potential and existing medical marijuana patients to forgo registering and return to criminal status and black market dealers.  All those years growing up in Idaho my Republican acquaintances used to warn that the Democrats were comin’  take away my guns.  I never thought I’d have to admit they were right.

(And since we’re “druggies”, don’t expect any help from the National Rifle Association.  They’ll be as receptive to getting involved as PETA was when the Missouri cops were shooting a man’s pet dog in his home during a raid.  Left or right, liberal or conservative, from the NRA to PETA your rights don’t mean a damn if you’re a cannabis consumer.)

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Hemp Headlines

1. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske speaks to the Seattle Times
2. Kentucky drastically reduces penalties for up to eight ounces of marijuana
3. Hash Bash Organizer Adam Brook busted on eight felony counts, drops lawsuit against city
4. Montana Senate Judiciary Committee hearing medical marijuana repeal bill on Friday
5. LA Dispensaries begin selling “Charlie Sheen” strain for $70 per 1/8th ounce

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Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Roots Monday: Lipbone Redding – “The Land of Drunk and Stoned”

Cannabis Conversations

• John Popper from Blues Traveler talks about driving 158MPH through Idaho, getting busted with marijuana and guns, and the need to legalize marijuana
• Bonus: Blues Traveler – “I Want to Take You Higher”

70% of the Mexican drug gangs’ profits are derived from trafficking marijuana to Americans who are not allowed to buy, sell, or grow their own.  I’ve written that numerous times on The Stash Blog… but sometimes some pictures are worth a few thousand words…

(LoHud.com) MAHOPAC — A Mahopac man faces charges after a town officer determined that he was hunting while high on marijuana, Carmel Chief Michael Johnson said today.

Michael Cassidy, 47, was arrested around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday after Officer Thomas Johanson saw him carrying a long gun while walking on New York City Department of Environmental Protection property on Washington Road.

Johanson stopped to talk with Cassidy because he appeared to be trespassing on New York City land, police said. During the conversation, Johanson could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from Cassidy’s clothes, police said.

Cassidy later admitted that he had just smoked a joint and that he had marijuana on his person and in his car, police said.

Johanson charged Cassidy with hunting while impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor, unlawful possession of marijuana, failure to carrying a hunting license and failure to wear a back tag, violations. Police then turned him over to state Department of Environmental Conservation police for further charges.

OK, I’m torn on this one.  On the one hand, I can’t believe the guy is so stupid as to admit breaking the law to a police officer.  So the cop says he smells a strong odor of marijuana coming from your clothes?  Great, it’s not against the law to smell like pot.  Tell him you smell the strong odor of Krispy Kreme donuts coming from his uniform.  (OK, maybe not.)  There is a reason the cop shows always show them telling the perp he has a right to remain silent… it’s because you have an inalienable right to a heaping dose of STFU when you’re dealing with police!  If he smells weed and uses that as probable cause to search you and finds weed, you’re just as busted as if you admitted you had weed.  However, he may not choose to search you and you’re home free.  If he searches you after you refused, your attorney may be able to throw out the search in court.  And most certainly, keeping your mouth shut prevents him from determining that you are actually high at the moment, because possession doesn’t equal impairment.

On the other hand, anything that impedes stupid high people with guns can’t be all bad.  I’m a big supporter of 2nd Amendment rights and hunting as part of my Idahoan DNA, but I take guns far too seriously to ever be around them and cannabis at the same time.  Smoking a joint and going hunting is most certainly not a part of NORML’s Principles of Responsible Use.

(KGW) PORTLAND, Ore. — A man and a woman were killed in a shooting at a Tualatin drug testing center Tuesday, according to Tualatin Police Department.

Police Chief Kent Baker said a man armed with a rifle entered the Legacy Metro Lab drug testing center at 7587 SW Mohawk St. and began firing.

A woman was killed. At least two others were injured. The suspect was later found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot, Baker said.

Baker could not say for certain how many people were in the drug testing center when the shooter opened fire.

The gunman’s motive was unknown. It was unclear what relationship, if any, he had with the lab or anyone there.

Oregon has some of the worst unemployment in the nation

Well, I have a theory. See if you can help me connect the dots:

• The US unemployment rate for September ’09 was a seasonally-adjusted 9.8%
• The unemployment rate for Oregon was 11.5%
• The unemployment rate for the Portland metro area was 11.7%
• Oregon’s home foreclosure rate is the highest it’s been since the 1980s
• Failing a workplace drug test can mean the loss of your job.
• Losing your job can mean the loss of your home.

Sure, the fact that the shooting happened at a drug testing facility may be just coincidence.  Maybe he’s been dumped by a woman who works there.  Maybe he used to work there and got fired.  But I’ve got my money on “working man with long career loses job because of drug test, returns to exact his revenge.”

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The right of Oregonians to use marijuana for medical reasons and also to obtain concealed handgun permits is being challenged by local sheriffs who say federal law prevents those people from packing heat.

Advocates for the state’s medical marijuana law countered Wednesday in the Oregon Court of Appeals that the sheriffs simply don’t like the program and are looking for ways to undermine it.

Both sides now are looking to the courts to say definitively whether there’s anything to prevent Oregon from issuing the concealed handgun permits to users of medicinal pot.

Sheriffs from Washington and Jackson counties say, though, that they want clarification from the court on whether federal gun laws prohibiting illegal drug users from possessing handguns applies to people who have permits to use marijuana for medical reasons. Marijuana is still classified as a controlled substance under federal law, they said.

Lower courts had twice ordered the two sheriffs to give weapons permits to people who had lost them because they are medical marijuana users, and both appealed those rulings.

I hope the Oregon court takes some guidance from the California Supreme Court and US Supreme Court rulings on San Bernardino and San Diego counties’ suit over registry ID cards.  The California counties, headed up by law enforcement ideologues that hate their state’s medical marijuana law, thought they didn’t have to enforce the state law that required counties to make ID cards because the federal law says all pot is illegal.  Both the state and federal supreme courts deferred to earlier appellate judgments that state and local cops are charged with enforcing state and local law, not federal law.

By that reasoning, I’d assume county sheriffs in Oregon are bound to enforce state law, and since Oregon’s medical marijuana law says it is to be treated “like other medicines”, unless the sheriffs are pulling concealed handgun permits from Vicodin and Oxycontin users, they shouldn’t be pulling them from medical marijuana users.

Furthermore, since this state has no dispensary system, patients are forced to grow their own or store large quantities of medicine, making them prime targets for robbers and home invasions – disabled people with lots of weed in their homes are the very people the 2nd Amendment was enacted to protect!

How tragic – we fund the Mexican cartels because we prohibit a plant that Americans demand, then we supply 90% of the firearms and ammunition the cartels use to terrorize police, but when the police run to us in fear for their lives, we won’t grant them asylum.

Which got me a prompt email from Stasher Tom:

You stated that the US supplies 90% of the firearms to the Mexican cartels, this is not true.  The US at the most supplies 33% and as little as 14% of the firearms used by the cartels. Russ please retract this misstatement, please do not muddy this movement for liberty with unevaluated quotes from anti-gun groups.

And I thought, hold on, I’m usually really careful with the numbers.  Did I unknowingly slip up?  I don’t recall gathering quotes from the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence or any other “anti-gun” group.  I’m actually quite a fan of guns and the 2nd Amendment (it’s that Idaho DNA – where I’m from, “gun control” means “use both hands”), even though I think we do a poor job keeping them out of the hands of the violent and mentally ill and our culture has a huge defect revealed in our love for shooting each other (according to the CDC, the ratio of US gun homicides to International gun homicides is 15.7:1)

So what’s the truth and what led your intrepid reporter to the “90%” quote?  Read on…First of all, there was February story from the New York Times entitled “U.S. Is Arms Bazaar for Mexican Cartels” where I think I first picked up on this theme:

George Iknadosian, will go on trial on charges he sold hundreds of weapons, mostly AK-47 rifles, to smugglers, knowing they would send them to a drug cartel in the western state of Sinaloa.

Mexican authorities have long complained that American gun dealers are arming the cartels.

Drug gangs seek out guns in the United States because the gun-control laws are far tougher in Mexico.

What is more, the sheer volume of licensed dealers — more than 6,600 along the border alone, many of them operating out of their houses — makes policing them a tall order. Currently the A.T.F. has about 200 agents assigned to the task.

The Mexican authorities say they seized 20,000 weapons from drug gangs in 2008, the majority bought in the United States.

In 2007, the firearms agency traced 2,400 weapons seized in Mexico back to dealers in the United States, and 1,800 of those came from dealers operating in the four states along the border, with Texas first, followed by California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Over the two years leading up to his arrest last May, he sold more than 700 weapons of the kind currently sought by drug dealers in Mexico, including 515 AK-47 rifles and one .50 caliber rifle that can penetrate an engine block or bulletproof glass, the A.T.F. said.

In March, we then get a joint statement to Congress from the ATF and DEA that gives us the money quote:

Because firearms are not readily available in Mexico, drug traffickers have aggressively turned to the U.S. as their primary source. Firearms are routinely being transported from the U.S. into Mexico in violation of both U.S. and Mexican law. In fact, according to ATF’s National Tracing Center, 90 percent of the weapons that could be traced were determined to have originated from various sources within the U.S.

This figure is pretty damning, but notice the caveat “that could be traced“.  Not all weapons are traceable, and not all weapons were turned into the tracing center.  This little detail got left out as the “90 percent” figure made the rounds.  In fact, the hearing with the ATF and DEA wasn’t even gaveled closed before Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Dianne Feinstein were ignoring the detail (thanks, FactCheck.org):

SEN. DURBIN: ”According to ATF [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives], more than 90 percent of the guns seized after raids or shootings in Mexico have been traced right here to the United States of America.”

SEN. FEINSTEIN: ”It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico used to shoot judges, police officers, mayors, kidnap innocent people and do terrible things come from the United States, and I think we must put a stop to that.”

The politicians and the news media then repeat the claim.  On March 26, Secretary of State Clinton was on the CBS Early Show and said:

“We have to recognize and accept that the demand for drugs from the United States drives them north, and the guns that are used by the drug cartels against the police and the military, 90 percent of them come from America.“

President Obama mentioned it during a press conference with the Mexican President on April 16:

“A demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business. This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.”

The news media repeated the claim, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, NBC, and others.  Then Reuters printed “Mexico cartels go bargain gun shopping in Houston” at the end of May, which at least bothered to add the important detail:

Mexican drug gangs looking for weapons powerful enough to stop a vehicle, penetrate a bullet-resistant vest or confront an army detachment need look no further than the Houston area’s 1,500 gun shops, where merchandise is priced to move.

Guns like the Barrett M-82 sniper rifle, the AK-47 and Bushmaster .223 are among those favoured by cartel hitmen that slaughtered some 6,300 people in Mexico border cities like Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana last year.

For example, the Belgian-made FN 5.7-calibre pistol is known to gangs as a “cop killer” because it can fire a round through a Kevlar bullet-resistant vest. It goes for $800 in the Houston area, compared to $1,500 in a border store, Webb said.

According to ATF gun-tracing data, 90 percent of the traceable weapons used in Mexican drug violence originated in the United States with Texas, Arizona and California the largest suppliers.

So the detail that’s important – guns that were submitted for tracing and could be traced – needs to be considered in light of all the guns, traceable and untraceable, submitted or not, that are seized in Mexico’s drug war.  FOX News decided to look at that and decided that the US share of Mexican drug war guns was 17%, not 90%:

There’s just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it’s a big one:

It’s just not true.

In fact, it’s not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced — and of those, 90 percent — 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover — were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.

FOX goes on to explain how guns come from illicit sources like China, Russian gangs, South American drug cartels, and the Mexican Army itself when its deserters took their firearms with them.

However, FOX is playing a little fast and loose with the details as well (and I am shocked, d’ya hear, shocked!)  In the Newell testimony FOX cited, he mentions 11,055 guns submitted in those two fiscal years of 2007-2008:

We can report that our efforts are paying off. Mexico has increased the number of firearms it has submitted for tracing from 3,312 in FY 2007, to 7,743 in FY 2008…

In fact, 90% of the firearms recovered in Mexico, and which are then successfully traced, were determined to have originated from various sources within the continental U.S.

Where FOX goes wrong is saying that “Close to 6,000 were successfully traced”.  This is a reference to the guns that could be directly traced to a specific US state.  When contacted by FactCheck.org, ATF reiterated that over 90% of the guns that were turned in for tracing could be traced back to the United States:

At our request, an ATF spokesman gave us more detailed figures for how many guns had been submitted and traced during those two years. Of the guns seized in Mexico and given to ATF for tracing, the agency actually found 95 percent came from U.S. sources in fiscal 2007 and 93 percent in fiscal 2008. That comes to a total of 10,347 guns from U.S. sources for those two years, or 36 percent of what Mexican authorities say they recovered.

So what we have here is this:  Mexican authorities seize 29,000 guns in the drug war.  11,055 of those guns are turned into ATF, 10,347 come from the US = 93.6% of Mexican drug war guns turned into the ATF come from USA. This leaves roughly 18,000 guns that are not turned into the ATF.  Now you might assume that Mexico only turns in obviously American guns to ATF for tracing, but this has not been confirmed.  How many of the remaining 18,000 guns came from the US is not known, but I’m willing to bet it is a non-zero number.

It’s a slippery stat, since we don’t really know exactly how many guns the Mexicans seize, we don’t know what guns the Mexican cartels still hold and where they came from, and we don’t know if the guns seized are an accurate representative sample of all Mexican drug war guns.  What we do know is that when our officials examine a sample of 38% of all seized guns, 93.9% of them come from America.  We do know that at the very least, 35.7% of all guns seized in the Mexican drug war are from the US, with an unknown number of the remaining 62% of unexamined guns coming from the US.  If even one out of four of the unexamined guns comes from the US, a fair estimate, I think, if over nine in ten examined guns are American, then over half of all Mexican drug war guns come from the US.

No matter how you slice it, the Mexican drug cartels are getting a large portion of their guns – at least one out of three and maybe half – from the United States.  I don’t present that as a “pro-gun” or “anti-gun” position; I present it to rebut the politicians’ and media’s 90% claim and FOX’s and the NRA’s 17% claim.

The Times’ solution to the problem? Here it is: “There should be enormous shame on this side of the border that America’s addiction to drugs is bolstered by its feckless gun controls. Firm federal law is urgently needed if the homicidal cartels are to be seriously challenged as a threat to national security.”

So, there you have it. The violence in Mexico is all the fault of those American drug users and gun purveyors. If only Americans would just stop ingesting drugs and if only the feds would finally clamp down on guns (like they’ve done with drugs), all the problems would just go away.

via Hornberger’s Blog – Legalize Drugs Instead of Banning Guns

You’re kidding me. Drug law reformers and the gun rights advocates are together on legalizing drugs. Could the federal government possibly get itself backed into a worse corner with marijuana prohibition? I can’t wait to see who comes on board next to end this senseless War on Drugs …

Examining the US-Mexico Gun Trade – International Business News – Portfolio.com
When Americans think about the border, they tend to picture undocumented workers or clandestine river crossings. They don’t think about war. But what’s happening in Mexico now is a war—no other word seems suitable—and the most gruesome battles are taking place within miles of the U.S.?So far this year, more than 1,350 people have been murdered in drug-trafficking-related crimes in Mexico. Last year, according to tallies kept by Mexican newspapers, 2,500 people died; since 2001, the number is close to 10,000—twice the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These killings have become such an everyday part of life that there’s a special word for them: narcoejecuciones, or narcoexecutions. The murdered include police, judges, prosecutors, soldiers, reporters, politicians, and innocent bystanders. Shootouts in broad daylight, mass executions, and public assassinations have become routine.

There are, in fact, two drug wars raging in Mexico. One is between drug-trafficking organizations—in particular, the Sinaloa cartel and its main rival, the Gulf cartel—over control of smuggling routes to the U.S.?The belligerence is easily understood, given the stakes. The U.S. government estimates that the cross-border drug trade was worth as much as $25 billion last year. According to Mexico’s attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, $10 billion worth of drug proceeds crosses from the U.S. into Mexico each year in the form of bulk cash.

The other war is between the government and the cartels. Mexican presidents have pledged to end trafficking before, but [President] Calderón, who took office in 2006, seems, in contrast to his predecessors, to be sincere, and his policies are having some effect. He has dispatched tens of thousands of troops, locked up hundreds of traffickers, and undertaken sweeping reforms of the police and judiciary. With each salvo, however, the violence intensifies. The wars aren’t just Mexico’s problem, either. The U.S., with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, consumes more than half of the world’s drugs; most of the marijuana and methamphetamine, much of the heroin, and 90 percent of the cocaine comes from or through Mexico. “U.S. consumers are already financing this war,” Medina Mora tells me, “only it’s on the wrong side.”

In late 2007, the Bush administration, which counts Calderón as one of its few friends in Latin America, announced the Mérida Initiative. If passed by Congress, it will provide Mexico with $1.4 billion in equipment and training over three years. But the initiative, with its unprecedented outlay of funds, is fraught with contradictions, since it would go to fight the flow of weapons coming in illegally from the U.S. More than 90 percent of the A.T.F.’s traces of guns seized in Mexico lead to the States. The Mexican ambassador recently estimated that 2,000 guns cross the border every day. Even if that figure is halved, it’s a trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

So prohibition of cannabis fuels the profit in trafficking marijuana across the border. With those profits, traffickers finance the flow of easily-purchased guns over the border. Our prohibitionary policies are funding the execution of innocent Mexicans and arming the executioners. Were it legal, Americans would buy, sell, and grow domestically and completely undercut the profits of these murderers as well as destroy much of their business. If Mexico followed suit their poor farmers could grow vast fields of industrial hemp or fine connoisseur cannabis, and some of those trafficking in the border drug war could turn into legit import/exporters.

But a prohibitionist will tell you the blood is on the hands of the US recreational marijuana smoker. Why, if only nobody smoked cannabis, nobody in Mexico would have to die! Because the prohibitionist sees the world in black and white and “Just say no” makes sense to him or her. The fact that humans used cannabis for thousands of years and will continue to use it despite all prohibitions doesn’t come up.  It’s evil and it must be eliminated, they think, and any idea of accepting evil in the name of harm reduction is unthinkable.

Besides, from a business point-of-view, unlimited funding for a project whose goal is to eliminate something that cannot be eliminated sounds like a pretty good profit-making venture for law enforcement, private prisons, and gun manufacturers.