Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 4:40 pm | By: Radical Russ
Medical Marijuana (the band, not the herb)
Masta G and Sack Daddy Flash (a.k.a. Kevin and Chris) from Glasgow, Kentucky make up the unlikely hip-hop duo, Medical Marijuana, and their eponymous tune featured today, “Medical Marijuana”.
Sack Daddy Flash provides the vocals while Masta G provides “everything else”, which consists of a lot of note-by-note, beat-by-beat programming on a “400 MHz computer and cheap-ass sound card” with mixed in samples from “Up in Smoke” and “Soul Train”. Their lo-tech approach turned out a really enjoyable, old-school-flavored hip-hop groove.
Check out Medical Marijuana on Garage Band by clicking here.
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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
LOUISVILLE (CN) – On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court limited the use of strip searches in the public schools, two young women filed an action in Jefferson County Court against a local middle school and several of its employees for using “grossly intrusive” methods to discover an alleged cache of marijuana. They were allegedly forced to unzip their pants, “lift up their bras … and jump up and down.”
Ashley N. Gaither and S.C., a minor, were 14 and 13, respectively, in 2005 when they say they were “arbitrarily singled out” while riding a Jefferson County Public Schools bus to Kammer Middle School in Louisville, and then subjected to a day-long interrogation and humiliating searches without being allowed to call their parents.
According to the complaint, the incident began when the bus arrived at the school and two employees boarded it in order to resolve a dispute in which the girls were not involved. The employees “smelled what they thought was marijuana,” the complaint states, and five girls seated at the back of the bus, including Gaither and S.C., were detained and searched.
During an interrogation that lasted the entire school day, and after being denied repeated requests to call their parents, the girls were required to “remove their shoes and socks, unbuckle their belts, unbutton their pants, and unzip their pants,” the complaint says. They also had their “waistlines physically touched and searched” by a male employee while their pants were undone, and were made to “lift up their bras while their shirts remained on and jump up and down.”
The searches were all performed behind closed doors and without the presence of police offices or female staff, the suit says. No marijuana was found.
This is your country on marijuana prohibition. Any questions?
I asked my cousin Kenny, a father of two almost middle school girls, for his take on these stories. He said he hopes I have a savings account with enough money to bail him out for the assault and battery charges he’d rack up for his special “interrogation” of school officials. I told him, “Don’t worry, I know A LOT of lawyers who’d take your case pro bono and about a quarter-million Stashers who’d kick a fin into the Tip Jar just to bail you out.”
I want a NORML chapter in all fifty states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. I want double the number of chapters. So I really need your help.
Just this last two weeks, I have received emails from budding activists (pun intended) looking to start NORML Chapters in Colorado, North Carolina, Alaska, Alabama, Florida (Miami), Missouri, Virginia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Mississippi, Vermont, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Kansas, as well as four new college chapter inquiries and inquiries from Australia, Japan, Guam, and Mexico (Cuidad Juarez).
I work to put the people in the same state in touch with each other because the hardest thing about forming a NORML Chapter isn’t finding the guy or gal to lead, it’s finding the other four people to form your board.
So Stashers, if you’re in one of the above-named states or countries and you’d like to get on board with a new local chapter, send me an email to stash@norml.org with the subject “Join a Chapter” and I’ll hook you up.
“In a last ditch effort to push the bad “zero-tolerance” DUI bill through the Kentucky Legislature, proponents of SB 5 have now attached this misguided legislation to yet another House bill – HB 315 – in the form of a floor amendment.  HB 315 SFA1 now joins HB 369 SFA1 as the vehicle for a horrible proposal that would punish the prior use of controlled substances like marijuana with an automatic DUI conviction, regardless of whether the driver was actually impaired.”
Once again we urge you to call your Kentucky legislators and let them know what a bad idea “zero tolerance” is and that this bill will guarantee that innocent people will be prosecuted.
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm | By: Radical Russ
Kentucky legislators continue to try and misuse the state’s traffic safety laws to target adults who use marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own home. Please help us stop them.
Several weeks ago we wrote you about Senate Bill 5, an act to criminalize anyone who operates a motor vehicle with any detectable level of marijuana in their blood.
On Tuesday, March 10, proponents attached SB 5 as an amendment to House Bill 369. Because HB 369 overwhelmingly passed the House, the amended version may enjoy enough support to pass the Senate; however, it must be called to the Senate floor for a vote before Friday or it dies.
If passed, this amendment would mandate criminal penalties for any person who operates a motor vehicle with any measurable level of THC in their blood. This proposal would improperly impact cannabis consumers because THC can remain detectable at low levels in the blood of daily marijuana users for up to 1 or 2 days after past use. In the case of chronic smokers, THC may be detectable in the blood for even longer periods of time.
Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver — at most — for a few hours, not days. To treat marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug’s effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair.
After you have sent your legislators an e-mail, please follow up with a phone call to your state senator and ask him or her to vote “no” on HB 369, Senate Floor Amendment 1. Â Time is of the essence, so please write and call today.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Kentucky.
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Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 10:12 am | By: Radical Russ
Nathan Miller from MPP informs us of some bad news from a member of the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers:
SB 5, the drugged driver bill, has been filed as Senate Floor Amendment 1 to House Bill 369. It is believed that HB 369 will be brought to a vote during the next three days, and that SFA1 will be called. The essence of the floor amendment is that it would allow for a conviction for DUI when a blood test taken within 2 hours of operation shows the presence of a controlled substance other than those few listed in KRS 218A.090(5). No impairment would have to be shown. This WOULD INCLUDE MARIJUANA and many many other substances such as adderol, ritalin, ambien, and numerous anti-depressants. By not requiring impairment, the bill would ensnare many innocent drivers. While the amendment would create a defense allowing for the showing of a prescription and compliance with restrictions, it would cause persons to be arrested, to have to post bond, to have to hire a lawyer, and go to trial in order to prove the defense.
Several other amendments to HB 369 have worsened the bill, such as increasing penalties for boating while intoxicating, and creating a gang theft section of the criminal syndicate statute which would reduce from 5 to 2 the number of persons constituting a “criminal syndicate” for theft of retail merchandise. The end result is that if 2 people conspire to shoplift, they commit a Class C felony even if the theft would otherwise be a misdemeanor.
The House passed HB 369 (before amendment) 98-0 and the Senate passed SB 5 34-1, so I am guessing that the chances of this bill making it through as amended are pretty good.
Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
Oppose Zero Tolerance ‘Drugged’ Driving Bill In Kentucky — House Judiciary Committee May Vote TOMORROW!
Kentucky legislators are trying to misuse the state’s traffic safety laws to target adults who use marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own home. It’s up to you to stop them.
Senate Bill 5, an act to criminalize anyone who operates a motor vehicle with any detectable level of marijuana in their blood, was recently approved by the state Senate and is now before the House of Representatives. It is possible that members of this Committee are planning on voting on this measure TOMORROW!
It is imperative that you contact your elected officials today and urge them to stop this misguided campaign against responsible cannabis consumers.
If passed, Senate Bill 5 would mandate criminal penalties for any person who operates a motor vehicle with any measurable level of THC in their blood. This proposal would improperly impact cannabis consumers because THC can remain detectable at low levels in the blood of daily marijuana users for up to 1 or 2 days after past use. In the case of chronic smokers, THC may be detectable in the blood for even longer periods of time.
Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver — at most — for a few hours, not days. To treat marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug’s effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair.
In addition, Kentucky already has laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle “under the influence” of illicit drugs. Senate Bill 5 creates a separate crime of “drugged driving” that is, potentially, divorced from impairment and that could jail motorists for simply having consumed an illicit substance at some prior, unspecified date.
Senate Bill 5 would mandate criminal penalties for any person who operates a motor vehicle with any measurable level of THC in their blood. This proposal would improperly impact cannabis consumers because THC can remain detectable at low levels in the blood of daily marijuana users for up to 1 or 2 days after past use. In the case of chronic smokers, THC may be detectable in the blood for even longer periods of time.
Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver — at most — for a few hours, not days. To treat marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug’s effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair.
In addition, Kentucky already has effect-based laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle “under the influence” of illicit drugs. This is a multidisciplinary standard that focuses on the totality of circumstances — most importantly, that the driver is visibly impaired — and rightly punishes motorists who drive while impaired from having recently used illicit drugs. There is no need for additional legislation.”
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Kentucky.
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.
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pm | By: Radical Russ
Once again, a bill that seeks to punish prior use of a controlled substance with an automatic DUI conviction is before the Kentucky legislature.
Like its predecessors, Senate Bill5 cleverly attempts to bootstrap an ill-advised rule regarding all drugs onto a rule created for the purpose of measuring alcohol impairment. Under SB5, a driver who tests positive for traces of marijuana can be convicted of “driving under the influence” even if that driver is unimpaired at the time of arrest.
While such laws do little to actually make roadways safer, they do send many innocent people to jail and saddle them with criminal records for the rest of their lives. Current Kentucky DUI law requires prosecutors to prove that a suspect was impaired while driving. SB5 seeks to circumvent current evidentiary standards by removing this requirement. If lawmakers want to clog court dockets, cost taxpayers more money and make it tougher for Kentuckians to find and retain employment, then this is the bill to support.
SB5 attempts to create the appearance of scientific reliability by requiring blood tests to be administered within two hours of operating a vehicle. However, the two-hour standard was developed decades ago for measuring impairment caused by alcohol, not drugs like marijuana.
Moreover, the test referred to in SB5 is not a test for marijuana impairment, but merely a test for marijuana’s presence, which is not what DUI laws are supposed to punish.
The effect and perhaps even the aim of legislation like SB5 is to punish prior drug use — predominantly marijuana use — by convicting drivers of DUI without scientifically reliable evidence that they were operating a vehicle while under the influence of anything.
“Zero-tolerance” laws are more than unjust; they are scientifically unsound, which is exactly why not one single state applies such a rule to alcohol. Furthermore, these laws are even less suited for marijuana, the traces of which are detectable by drug tests long after its intoxicating effects have worn off.
Marijuana impairment peaks within minutes of use and is seldom severe or long lasting, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Conversely, alcohol impairment peaks much later and lasts for hours, meaning there’s a true correlation between high alcohol levels and driver impairment.
A driver with high levels of THC (the active psychotropic ingredient in marijuana) in the blood may not be impaired in any manner if time has passed since the substance was last used. The inability to accurately measure marijuana impairment is why both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have stated that marijuana impairment testing via blood sampling is unreliable.
Driving under the influence of any substance is dangerous and should not be tolerated, but sending innocent people to jail for DUI using methods incapable of accurately measuring impairment is not the answer.
Lawmakers should reject SB5 as they have done in the past, instead focusing on finding real, scientifically valid ways to detect impaired drivers and get them off Kentucky highways.
Nathan Miller, a Kentucky native, is legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
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. […]
Music: Medical Marijuana – “Medical Marijuana”
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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