Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 12:42 pm | By: Radical Russ
Thanks to a tip from our friends at LEAP, I reported on Tuesday about Iowa Senator Charles Grassley offering an amendment to Senator Jim Webb’s prison reform bill that forbids the commission from recommending the legalization of marijuana or even studying what effect legalization might have on society. Well, thanks once again to the Tom Angell, blogging for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, we now have audio of Senator Grassley defending this censorship of science, even as he talks about putting “all options on the table.” (Catch the audio on tonight’s Stash.)
QUESTION: I hear there was an amendment to a bill tomorrow that would legally prevent some of the government’s top advisers from — according to some of the memos we’ve seen — even discussing the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing drugs.
Can you talk a little bit about that? I understand that you pulled that amendment, but, nonetheless, I wanted to ask you what your intent is with that.
GRASSLEY: Well, my intent on that amendment isn’t any different than any other amendments that are coming up. The Congress is setting up a commission to study certain things. And the commission is a — is an arm of Congress, because Congress doesn’t have time to review some of these laws.
And — and — and the point is, for them to do what we tell them to do. And one of the things that I was anticipating telling them not to do is to — to recommend or study the legalization of drugs.
Their — their program would be what we tell it it is. …
Senator Webb wants to understand why we have 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s imprisoned. Sen. Webb understands that the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs™ has a lot to do with it. Sen. Webb understands that discussion of marijuana legalization must be on the table. I’m not sure which concept is more misunderstood by Senator Grassley: science, democracy, free speech, or justice. Wait, maybe it’s compassion:
QUESTION: Would your amendment have even stopped the discussion of legalized marijuana for medical purposes?
GRASSLEY: I think that would not — let’s see. Yes, the extent to which it would be decriminalization, the answer is yes.
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 9:30 am | By: Radical Russ
Courtesy of our friends at LEAP:
As soon as this Thursday, November 5, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee could vote on an amendment that will legally prevent some of the government’s top advisers from even discussing the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing drugs as a solution to the failed “war on drugs.”
Yes, you read that right. The Senate just might censor its own policy advisers from giving science-based advice.
The censorship amendment’s author, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), is trying to attach the speech prohibition onto an otherwise positive bill that will create a blue ribbon commission to study our nation’s failed criminal justice and drug policies. The commission is supposed to make recommendations for ways to improve the system, but how can they do that with the blindfold that Sen. Grassley wants to put on them? Please take action below and tell your senators to oppose the censorship amendment!
Visit the LEAP site today to send your letter of protest against this amendment to your own Senator. Read past collections of Sen. Grassley’s dementia sativahere and here.
Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 5:57 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Union Leader) EPPING – A local police officer who claims he has been targeted because of his involvement with a group that wants to legalize drugs has been suspended from the force.
Officer Bradley Jardis said he was told Monday that he was being suspended with pay pending an investigation.
Police Chief Gregory Dodge would not comment on the suspension, but Jardis said he believes it resulted from his decision to go public with disciplinary action taken against him in July and claims that he has been ridiculed by certain Epping police personnel because he’s a member of an international organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
According to a letter from the town’s attorney, Philip Petis, the police chief adamantly disagrees that Jardis’ involvement with LEAP has anything to do with the disciplinary action.
Still, Jardis claims trouble began brewing in February when he was featured in a story in the New Hampshire Sunday News about his involvement with LEAP.
Three days after the story ran, Jardis wrote a letter to Lt. Michael Wallace asking that he be “protected from unlawful harassment” by Gallagher, who was then his supervisor. He claimed that on the day after the article came out, Gallagher referred to him as a “dark rain cloud over this place.”
I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My dad was an alcoholic and a drug addict. As I went through various “Al-Anon” type treatments as a teenager, I was taught that dysfunctional families revolve around the addict and they all try to cover for him and protect the family secret. If one family member exposes the secret, it is that family member, not the addict, who is vilified and shunned by the family.
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 1:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
Remember the days when the marijuana talk was two or three of them vs. one of us? Now it’s two of ours vs. one of them as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition’s Neill Franklin and NORML’s Founder Keith Stroup go against (Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Non-Tobacco) Drug Free America’s Queen of Reefer Madness, Calvina Fay on CNN:
I wish Keith could have gotten through at the end there. When Calvina says that the drug gangs aren’t going to just become law-abiding businessmen, I’d absolutely agree! They surely will continue trying to traffic cocaine and heroin and humans and otherwise behaving badly. But the point is they won’t have marijuana profits to fund all that! Sure, they’ll still be criminals, but they won’t be wealthy criminals. There are always going to be criminals, but we shouldn’t turn them into the kind of criminals who can afford rocket launchers and six-figure bribes.
She sure gives it her all with her little catchphrases, though. “Crude marijuana”, “selling drugs to our children”, “fooled into thinking marijuana is medicine” and so forth. It’s so refreshing to see her claim that there really is no change in administration policy because the Bush Administration never went after the sick and dying, just the big bad drug dealers, and to have two people smacking her down, followed by the host showing poll numbers demonstrating rapid increase in support for legalization and super-majority support for medical marijuana.
You cannot tell me Barack Obama made the Harvard Law Review without having “legalization” in his vocabulary. Â Director Kerlikowske, this dismissal of legalization as a worthy topic of discussion doesn’t just insult us, but also mocks the very serious state, national, and world leaders who have recently called for decriminalization and legalization as rational options for responding to your office’s 39-year-failure to have any serious effect on reducing the harm from drug use and the 100-years of manufactured harms from the policy of utter prohibition.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 1:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
When questioned about the escalating violence in Mexico due to the illegal drug trade to the U.S., [Iowa Congressman Tom] Latham said he hasn’t heard a serous discussion about the legalization of drugs to deal with the situation.
“That certainly could come up this year. The big concern today is securing the U.S. from overflow violence from Mexico along border communities. As far as the safety and security of Americans, it has not been a major issue,” he said.
If the violence associated with the drug trade continues, there could be some discussion of legalizing marijuana, but Latham said it would be difficult to gain support for such a measure, since the drug is a “precursor to methamphetamine, heroin and other very addictive forms of illegal drugs.”
Then Rep. Latham, how come there are 22 million annual marijuana using adults, yet only 350,000 heroin-using adults? Once again, slowly for the minds of Congressmen: Marijuana… does… not… make… you… want… to… do… other… drugs, any more than cigarette smoking leads you to drinking alcohol. You suffer from post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking – that one thing followed another thing doesn’t mean the first thing caused the second.
Most illegal drug users try marijuana first, but the only thing marijuana has in common with illegal drugs is illegality. Nobody notes that most illegal drug users’ first intoxicant is alcohol and then proclaims, “Aha! Alcohol is a gateway drug to heroin!” Rep. Latham, the Institute of Medicine debunked this gateway crap ten years ago, and every study since has confirmed the conclusion. Please update your reefer madness files accordingly.
When asked about a group of former law enforcement agents who support legalization, Latham said “they’re probably a bunch of old potheads.”
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is made up of current and former members of law enforcement who believe the existing drug policies have failed in their intended goals. LEAP’s mission is to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition.
Rep. Latham, are you suggesting that there are “potheads” working in law enforcement? And are you suggesting that anyone who supports legalization, like your colleague Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), is a “pothead”? Or do you just reflexively engage in ad hominem attacks against those with whom you disagree?
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
Adam: I'm rolling a fat joint, Everyones invited,Spof, Russ,MH,NORML, and MPP.
Missippi Hippy: Oprah announced her last show earlier this week
The Bluzguy: Campaign continuing...www.orprah.com/contactus Urge a show to discuss medical cannabis!
MrSpof: Oh, and about weed smoking hurting sperm motility? The wife and I are going to have to call bullshit on that one
Adam: @Russ, I take offence to the REMF's remark. Again, insulting remarks get us no where. I just don't understand why!
MrSpof: Much thanks for your kind thoughts to me and mine. And, as further good news, I think Russ has squared aware a good idea to dramatically boost the sound quality [...]
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. […]
Stash RSS Feed
Loading ...
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
Fresh Stash V RSS Feed
; is she incognito like me 
, or can...
