Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 3:58 pm | By: Amanda
Thank you for contacting me with your views on marijuana. I appreciate your comments, and I welcome this opportunity to update you on the status of this legislation.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. While marijuana use is generally unhealthy and has negative social repercussions, it also serves as a gateway drug to more dangerous substance abuse. For these reasons, I remain concerned by the prevalence of drug abuse in our culture and the harmful consequences that are the result of this behavior.
As a career law enforcement officer, I saw firsthand the devastating effects that illicit drug use can have on both individuals and communities. While a member of the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, I initiated the Drug Abuse Resistance Effort (DARE) program to make children aware of the dangers posed by drug use. I made fighting drugs a top priority within the department and I will continue to do so in the United States Congress.
As you know, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts introduced legislation regarding marijuana use, H.R. 2835, on June 6, 2009. This legislation would limit the penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Specifically, it would prohibit federal penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use or for any not-for-profit transfer of marijuana. Possession of more than 100 grams of marijuana, or the transfer of more than 1 gram, would remain illegal. Shortly after its introduction, H.R. 2835 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee. While I am not a member of either committee, be assured I will keep your views in mind should this legislation come before the House for consideration.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your views with me. If you would like to learn more about my positions on issues important to you or receive regular updates on developments in Congress, please visit my Online Office at www.ellsworth.house.gov and sign up for my e-Newsletter.
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 4:09 pm | By: Dudemaster
When you read this article as it was written, you can easily detect the bias the so-called-journalist who wrote into it. If you were to transpose the word Marijuana with Coors or Budweiser, and the word smoking with the word drinking instead, you’ll easily see the difference too.
INDIANAPOLIS — Police have arrested a couple allegedly caught smoking marijuana while waiting in the drive-through line at an Arby’s restaurant with their 1-year-old in the back seat.
A restaurant employee noticed the aroma late Friday and called 911, then had the couple wait for their order of chicken as police sped to the scene.
Officer Brian Silcox said he smelled marijuana while approaching the car. He said both 27-year-old Marshall Chatman and 25-year-old Constance Payne told officers Chatman had been smoking a cigar.
Police also said a loaded handgun was found in the car.
Chatman and Payne were arrested on charges of neglect of a dependent. Chatman also was arrested on a marijuana possession charge. Child welfare officials took custody of the baby.
The couple’s first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.
It was idiotic for that family to smoke Marijuana while visiting a drive-thru, but it is reprehensible for the company Arby’s to have people arrested simply for smelling like Cannabis and buying their products.
The Manager represents the Arby’s brand and their policies, and it was the Manager of Arby’s who called and worked with law enforcement to have this couple placed in custody. Since the manager is an authorized representative from Corporate Arby’s, it became pseudo corporate Arby’s policy that people who smell like Marijuana need to be arrested.
How many late night tokers have frequented Arby’s over the last 30 plus years to satisfy a munchie craving? How much money does Arby’s make every quarter by serving people who choose a safer alternative?
The bottom line, if you are medicated or medicating and have the munchies – don’t go to Arby’s or they will call the police on you.
[Like I needed an excuse to not visit Arby's. Anybody so desperate for customers they have to call a roast beef sandwich a "roastburger" doesn't deserve cannabis dollars anyway. -- "R"R]
Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 9:20 am | By: Dudemaster
Sometimes one really should say NO to another toke, especially if one is driving directly behind a police car.
Steven B. Clarke
On Tuesday, April 21, 2009, Steven B. Clarke, 21, fell asleep directly behind a police car at a busy interception after toking on some Ganja. Â He apparently woke up after Police spotlighted him through his window and tapped on the glass.
Likely in a ganja-ridden Jeff Spicoli haze (reference to my favorite stoner movie of all time, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” with a very young Sean Penn in the staring role), he rolled down his window and exposed the officers to enough pot smoke that gave them probable cause to yank him out of his car and conduct a search.  After finding 45 grams from his pocket, Clarke was placed under arrest.  Although Clarke stated to officers, “I am from Jamaica and smoke a lot of marijuana,” officers weren’t persuaded in releasing him without charges.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Steven B. Clarke may have done something incredibly stupid by using his choice of medicine and driving, but the real crime is that will he will be paying for this mistake for the remainder of his life in this country.  In Evansville, Indiana, the penalty for possession of Marijuana greater than 30 grams is a misdemeanor and carries a maximum incarceration of 6 months to 3 years, $10,000 in fines, court costs and any possible diversion treatment he may be ordered to attend.  If the district attorney chooses to do so, they can escalate his charge to a felony.
Is anyone still laughing?  How about the hand picked audience who attended the town hall meeting where President Obama laughed at us for asking him to open a dialogue for science over politics, are you still laughing?
The ratio of prisoners to citizens in the wonderfully green and beautiful country of Finland is 50 incarcerations per 100,000, while the United States leads the bold charge of locking up a considerable portion of our citizens at a rate of 738 per 100,000. Â According to 2008 statistics, the United States ranks first in the world for the number of incarcerations per citizens with those evil Chinese prisons a DISTANT second. Â In America, 7.2 million people are either behind bars, on probation, or parole. Â More than 1 in 100 adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008.
Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 3:20 pm | By: Dudemaster
Two pupils, aged 10 and 11, have been caught dealing marijuana at school. They were arrested after police said they were caught conducting a marijuana deal at school. The incident happened at Brookview Elementary in Warren, Indiana. A school spokesman said a student told school officials he saw a classmate sell a “marijuana-like substance” to another student.
“We are getting to a state of emergency,” said the Rev. Byron Alston, director of Save the Youth, an Eastside social services program.
“When you have elementary students selling dope in the school, we’ve got a serious problem.”
Police said 1.88 grams of marijuana was recovered, enough for one or two joints.
Both boys were suspended from school pending an investigation. They were taken to a juvenile detention center.
There is nothing funny about young children in possession with any substance whether it be alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana. It is with the most sincere intentions in mind when we tell our community leaders and politicians, “Tax and Regulate Marijuana Now!”
I asked my 15yr old, who is attending high school near our home in Texas, to share a list of items she can obtain within 24 hrs notice at her school (actually purchase inside her school) and here is what she wrote down off the top of her head:
Marijuana (indoor Chronic of any flavor), LSD, Magic Mushrooms, Mescaline, Cocaine (in any form), Meth, Ice, and Heroin (in any form)
Hot Wheels Eliminator
What the list doesn’t contain is Cigarettes or Alcohol. When asked about the availability of those, she stated, “They are harder to get because you have to go to a store, present an I.D., and undergo a certain amount of scrutiny.” You see, in the State of Texas, if the clerk behind the counter knowingly sells a minor something they shouldn’t, they will be charged with a crime.
Just imagine if Marijuana were behind a counter and completely removed from the criminal element. I think those kids who were caught selling pot might be trading hot wheels instead. That is the kind of world I would prefer to live in.
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 8:58 am | By: Radical Russ
A Purdue University student group believes it now has leverage that could lead to changes in the university’s residence hall marijuana policy.
By a vote of 2,970 to 2,567 – a 54-to-46 margin – Boilermakers voted in favor of making the punishment for getting busted for pot in campus housing on par with being caught with alcohol.
The nonbinding student referendum was included on ballots during the Purdue Student Government elections held March 30 through April 1. Results were released late this afternoon.
“Now that we have the results, we’re wanting to sit down and have talks with the residence hall council,” said junior Sara Wislocki, president of Purdue’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. “… When we first contacted the residence halls, before speaking with us they wanted to know what proof we had that students would want this change.”
Currently, students caught with alcohol in residence halls face a range of penalties, which include referral to an alcohol education program or being kicked out of campus housing for continued violations.
But residence hall contracts are terminated the first time a student is caught with marijuana or other illegal drugs.
NORML worked with Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, a Denver-based group that is pushing colleges to reconsider policies around student marijuana use.
“We’re looking at it from the angle of marijuana being safer than alcohol,” Wislocki said. “Students causing the majority of problems are the ones who are too intoxicated. As a woman, I’d rather be around men smoking than those who are drinking – they have less aggressive behavior.
“Yet the university’s policy is more lenient toward alcohol.”
Let’s not forget that for Purdue students under age 21, a boilermaker is just as illegal as a bong hit. Nobody ever thinks of underaged drinking as “using illegal drugs”, but that is exactly what it is. It is illegal for a minor to even possess alcohol, let alone use it. Yet our society thinks of underaged drinking as some sort of “rite of passage”. “Senior keggers” in high school are given a pass by many parents. College drinking game parties are a must for new freshman and returning sophomores who are rarely 21 years old. And every semester, some college near you reports the sad death of a student from alcohol poisoning or a DUI crash. It’s time to let our young people make the safer choice of intoxicant – marijuana – and maybe save a few young lives in the process.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 11:19 am | By: Radical Russ
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is the only state that requires people to fill out an application and pay a fee before entering a bar.
But the shelf life of this law — enacted 40 years ago in a state where nearly two out of three residents are members of a religion that shuns drinking — appears to be dwindling.
In Utah, and across the country, governors and lawmakers faced with budget deficits are advocating loosening laws that restrict alcohol consumption in the hopes of boosting tax revenues.
– In Georgia, Connecticut, Indiana, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota, lawmakers are considering legislation this year that would end the ban on Sunday liquor sales. All but 15 states sell booze on Sundays.
– In Nebraska, a state lawmaker has proposed allowing beer to be consumed in state parks as a way to boost tourism.
– Other states, including Utah, are considering allowing the sale of liquor on Election Day.
Drinkers shouldn’t break out the bubbly just yet: Two dozen states, including California, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Virginia, are looking to help their budgets by raising alcohol taxes.
Earlier this month, distillers in Kentucky poured bottles of bourbon on the statehouse steps there to protest a proposed tax increase.
In Pittsburgh, a 10 percent tax placed on alcohol last year inspired an animated satire, resulted in some bars printing signs saying the tax’s architect was not welcome and one restaurateur challenging Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato to a charity boxing match.
Ben Jenkins, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council, said states would be better off if they simply made alcohol more accessible to meet consumer demand. States that lift the ban on Sunday sales see a 5 percent to 8 percent annual sales increase, he said.
Other states, meanwhile, are trying to eliminate much less onerous hassles associated with buying alcohol.
In Colorado and Kansas, grocery stores are fighting for the right to sell full-strength beer. Most of the opposition in those states isn’t coming from morality groups, but instead from liquor stores who like having a corner on the market.
A similar effort is occurring in Tennessee, where lawmakers are considering allowing the sale of wine in supermarkets.
In Alabama, a proposal to raise the amount of alcohol allowed in beer from 6 percent alcohol by volume to 13.9 percent is being considered, although some church groups fear it would result in people getting drunker quicker.
Incredible. Here you have a hard liquid drug that directly caused 21,634 deaths in 2005 just from poisoning the body’s organs, led to 11,754 fatal auto crashes in 2007, and addicted 14 million Americans, and the states are frantically trying to increase this drug’s use and available potency, even as we’ve been somewhat successful in reducing this drug’s use. And yes, alcohol is a hard drug. In my definition, “drug” = “manufactured intoxicant” and “hard” = “toxic and addictive”.
But nobody will speak about the elephant in the room — the untapped, untaxed marijuana market that kills and poisons no one. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University estimated that the revenue from taxation and savings from no longer arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning marijuana consumers would range from $10-$14 billion annually – and that doesn’t count revenues from spin-off industries like hemp and associated payroll and sales tax revenues. Dale Gieringer of California NORML estimates California alone would reap $8-$13 billion annually when all new jobs and taxes from legalized marijuana are realized.
I’ll never understand people who are afraid of legalized marijuana but accept bars with parking lots as normal.
Tyler R. Sutton, 18, pleaded guilty this morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 to three counts of operating a vehicle with a controlled substance causing death and feticide, all Class C felonies.
If Judge Thomas Busch accepts Sutton’s plea with the Tippecanoe County prosecutor’s office, at least two of those counts would have to be served concurrently – meaning the former North Montgomery High School student could spend up to 16 years in prison.
Toxicology tests taken after the crash showed that Sutton had marijuana metabolites in his blood, though Sutton’s Indianapolis-based attorney, Dennis Zahn, disputed in court that the drug was present in the teen’s urine.
Indiana law requires only that narcotic metabolites be present to establish impaired driving.
Though Sutton also admitted to smoking marijuana, he said today that it was his first and only time.
The teenager was 17 years old at the time of crash, but juvenile court Judge Loretta Rush waived him to adult court in March.
Indiana is one of the states with a per se DUID statute.  In layman’s terms, that means if you test positive for any drug metabolite, you’ve been driving impaired in the eyes of the law.  That’s metabolites, not the actual drug, as would be the case with someone failing an alcohol breathalyzer.
In the case of marijuana, inactive, non-impairing marijuana metabolites can remain detectable in one’s system for weeks days.  Tyler Sutton was no more [likely to be] an impaired driver than any other sober driver on the road; he just had the misfortune to smoke a joint a couple of weeks days prior to the wreck
[UPDATE: NORML’s Paul Armentano email’s me to say “No way marijuana metabolites are present in the blood two weeks later.  Huestis’s work documented residual THC-COOH metabolite levels in blood for 72+ hours (THC and 11-hydroxy THC were purged within hours), but two weeks?
Intelimmune LLC will focus on developing a more reliable and accurate diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of tetrehydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, said Fred Regnier, Purdue’s John H. Law Distinguished Professor Analytical Chemistry.
Jiri Adamec, research assistant professor at Bindley, said the current test for THC is based on unstable antibodies and fraught with problems. Intelimmune researchers hope to devise a process that’s much more precise and reliable.
“Law enforcement can use breathalyzers to determine whether a person is above the legal limit for alcohol use, and saliva is used to detect the presence of marijuana, or THC, in a person’s system, but that test isn’t reliable,” Adamec said. “We look to deliver a proven process that will vastly improve on the present-day test for marijuana.”
Adamec, who will serve as a technical officer for Intelimmune, said the process being developed by the company also is a saliva test, but it will not use protein-based antibodies. Instead, he said, it will employ a process known as “molecular imprinting,” in which an artificial antibody is used to capture THC. Results from this process also would be available in about five minutes, which is comparable to existing diagnostic tools.
For me, this is one sticky issue to cover. NORML always has called for the responsible use of marijuana by adults, and most certainly driving while impaired by cannabis is not responsible use. NORML has also opposed marijuana drug testing for impairment because testing for metabolites only proves prior use, not current intoxication.
However, from a political standpoint, a marijuana test that does accurately measure current intoxication presents some advantage. It might be easier to win votes for marijuana decriminalization or taxation and regulation if the public felt safer because there was an accurate way to catch DUIs.
The problems I see are these – setting a baseline “legal limit” on THC that would have nothing to do with impairment. What if you’ve smoked, waited two hours, then drove, but tested positive? Were you impaired?
I guess the same argument could be made for alcohol – some people at .08 are truly wrecks waiting to happen, but an alcoholic with a tolerance can drive quite functionally at .20. As a society, though, we set .08 (in most places) as the limit, figuring enough people would be wasted at that point to justify the limit.
Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 am | By: Radical Russ
The marijuana potency myth is like a zombie in a George Romero film – it. just. won’t. die!
Marijuana more potent than it used to be | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star
Think marijuana is the drug of yesterday? Think again. According to a recent article in Good Housekeeping magazine, not only does the intoxicating weed remain a drug of choice, it’s a lot stronger than it used to be. In 1970, the average level of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) was less than 1 percent. By 2006, it had risen to 7 percent. In addition, research shows that one joint can harm airways as much as five cigarettes. The reason: Marijuana cigarettes don’t have filters and the smoke is inhaled deeply.
Well, Good Housekeeping said so, so it must be true!
At least they do us the courtesy of only claiming a greater than 7x increase, instead of the “25-fold increase” Barbara Kay likes to throw around.
The lowest THC average in a meta-analysis of hundreds of studies of marijuana seizures in America and abroad, we find the lowest averages to be 2% and the highest averages to be 4% for marijuana seized from 1975-1983. Marijuana with 1% THC is otherwise known as “industrial hemp”, and smoking that will give you more headache than high.
THC levels have risen, to averages of 5% to 8½%. Some of the highest quality (and rarest) marijuana seized has THC levels of 33%. (Of course, these pale in comparison to synthetic THC in Marinol, which is 100% pure, but for some reason, considered a safe medicine.)
But with THC, an increase in potency is not an increase in harm. It is non-toxic, no matter how pure it is. You do not get any less or more high depending on potency, you just need more or less cannabis to get high.
Which leads to the point about “one joint = five cigarettes” (at least this time it’s not “twenty”) — if the smoking is so harmful, wouldn’t you want someone to have a joint with the 8% THC rather than the 2% THC? They’re going to only have to take a couple of puffs on the 8% joint, but they’ll probably have to finish the entire 2% joint for the same effect. Don’t you want less smoking?
But even that theory is bunk – one joint doesn’t equal any number of cigarettes, and in fact, may have helpful anti-tumoral properties. Or you could just take the commonsense approach and consider the hundreds of nasty chemicals pumped into the highly addictive legal cigarettes vs. the non-addictive dried flowers of an organic herb and note the millions who have died from lung cancer and cigarettes vs. the zero that have died from lung cancer and cannabis.
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.
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
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. […]
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) on Marijuana Law Reform
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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