Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 1:46 pm | By: Radical Russ
I can’t do any better than MPP’s Bruce Mirken on this one:
(LA Times) Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project, ridiculed the effort. “Let me guess, they set a record number of plant seizures and marijuana has now been eradicated from California?” he quipped.
Mirken said the campaign has caused growers to move from private lands into wilderness areas. “This is an annual exercise in futility. Not only does it not do anything meaningful, it actually makes the problem worse,” he said.
It’s all part of California’s CAMP – Campaign Against Marijuana Planting – which over 27 years has been funding law enforcement to take helicopters into the hills so police can get paid triple time to pull weeds and then fly them all over the wilderness blowing their seeds across the land so the cops can go weeding again next year. According to the report:
Los Angeles County, which has seen a whirlwind expansion in medical marijuana dispensaries this year, has notched another marijuana milestone. The county has moved to No. 5 for the amount seized in the state’s annual eradication campaign, with 340,187 pot plants uprooted — more than a fourfold increase.
Statewide, the 27-year-old effort, known as the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, found and destroyed almost 4.5 million plants in 41 counties, up from 2.9 million seized in each of the two prior years’ growing season. The amount has climbed steadily since 1996, when California voters approved the nation’s first medical marijuana law.
State officials put the wholesale value of this year’s eradicated marijuana at $17.8 billion.
Let’s see, the standard California sales tax, minus any county or local taxes, is 8.25%, so that eradication represents about $1.46 billion dollars in tax revenues. Obviously marijuana has not been completely eradicated by CAMP and I think even the cops will tell you they’re only scratching the surface. Let’s be generous and suppose they’re pulling up 10% of California’s outdoor crop. That would be $14.6 billion in taxes going uncollected. It’s even more money if we include indoor grows and figure they’re catching much less than 10% of the crops.
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm | By: Missippi Hippy
Yes, the wall is crumbling. We are winning, but it’s not over yet. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady (can walk into a store in any state, county or municipality, show ID proving they are of legal age, purchase marijuana for recreational use, go home, roll a joint (fill a pipe, bong, vaporizer) fire it up, relax and then) sings.
Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Wall Street Journal) A schism has emerged among California’s pot-legalization advocates. On one side are those pushing to get a proposition to voters quickly, including activists such as Richard Lee, who last month began collecting signatures to put a pot-legalization measure on the state’s November 2010 ballot.
California NORML's Dale Gieringer says "wait 'til 2012"...
On the other side is a go-slow camp calling for a 2012 vote, including activists like Dale Gieringer, director of the California chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, or Norml. “I do think it will take a few more years for us to develop a proposal that voters will be comfortable with,” said Mr. Gieringer.
...but Oaksterdam University's Richard Lee bets $1,000,000 on 2010.
The 2010 ballot proponents say there is no time like the present, because California’s economic mess gives pot legalization an urgent fiscal appeal. Taxing pot could help reverse cuts in spending to education, health care and other services enacted this year, said Mr. Lee, who along with fellow activist Jeff Jones is gathering signatures for a 2010 measure. “We’re the answer for all of the things on the news,” Mr. Lee said.
Go-slow advocates say Mr. Lee’s camp doesn’t understand the California electorate and the subtle strategies of exploiting election cycles. “The demographics are clearly much better in 2012, and victory would therefore be much easier,” said Aaron Smith, California policy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national pot-advocacy group. “You have the younger, more progressive voters that get out in the presidential elections.”
I understand Aaron’s and Dale’s thinking: more young and progressive people come out for a presidential election year like 2012 than will come out for a mid-term election cycle like 2010. (Maybe MPP learned that lesson with a 39% legalization loss in the mid-term elections of 2002 and a 44% loss in mid-term 2006 in Nevada. Of course, their Alaska legalization failed with 44% in presidential year 2004, so maybe it really doesn’t matter.)
However, I’m with Richard Lee on the timing. We are in the perfect storm for legalization:
the floundering economy, especially in California, has voters desperate for revenue – shouldn’t we strike while that iron is hot, or at least before the economy improves?
the Mexican drug war is scaring the hell out of folks on the border; how many more Mexican civilians, cops, and officials get tortured and murdered while we wait for “the right time”?
the acceptance of medical marijuana nationally has not yet experienced a major backlash – but will it if the Wild West California dispensary atmosphere has three more years to generate negative headlines?
Whether Lee’s initiative is the right one for 2010 is still worth debating. But I don’t think the timing is wrong at all. You put marijuana legalization on the ballot with enough money to push it in the media and you’ll see a youth turnout unprecedented for a mid-term election. The regular political rules don’t apply to marijuana.
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 9:08 pm | By: Radical Russ
OK, before anyone slams me for context, let’s note up front that the medical marijuana ads produced by MPP were rejected for air on stations in California and New York, and the informercial named in the story below is airing on stations in the South that had nothing to do with the medical marijuana ads. So I’m painting with a broad WTF-brush on all television media here, got it?
That said, after this next story, I don’t ever want to read this lame excuse, as submitted by a Stasher from a WABC official:
As a broadcaster licensed by the government, if we accept advertising from one side of an issue, we are required to accept advertising from the opposing side, EVEN IF THAT ADVERTISING IS FALSE, HATE FILLED OR KNOWINGLY DISHONEST. We cannot refuse the ad because the law does not require it to be truthful.
The ONLY way ABC can prevent putting misleading issue oriented advertising on the air is to refuse to air any of it. Please note: In doing so, WABC loses the potential revenue from both sides of these issues, so in refusing the ads, WABC loses money. But the only option ABC has is to air all ads including the misleading and deceitful ones, or air none of them.
Got that? A TV station can’t air a 30-second medical marijuana ad because there is no way of guaranteeing the ad isn’t false, hate-filled, or knowingly dishonest. Keep that in mind as you read up on this 30-minute infomercial from the “birthers” that is airing in seven Southern states:
(TPM Muckraker) A new birther infomercial running on a CBS affiliate in Texas and elsewhere around the country tells viewers a “got a birth certificate?” bumper sticker can be theirs for the low price of $30.
For a $30 contribution, viewers also get a fax sent in their name to the 50 state attorneys general and Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that President Obama produce his real birth certificate.
[The infomercial] promises late-night viewers a “special look at where Barack Hussein Obama was really born.”"Today, you could join hundreds of thousands of other Americans and force President Obama to produce his birth certificate [*foreboding string music*].”
A logo on the screen during the infomercial features the outlines of the United States, the state of Hawaii, and the continent of Africa, with the red-white-and-blue-colored words “Where was PRESIDENT Obama BORN?”
That’s right, if you’re selling anything from the Sham-Wow to a subliminally-racist paranoid conspiracy theory that the president is a foreign-born Manchurian Candidate, there’s a half-hour worth of cheap infomercial time just waiting for you. But if you want to offer thirty seconds of people in pain asking not to be arrested for using a plant to gain relief, you can take that crazy issue-oriented advertising somewhere else!
Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm | By: Radical Russ
Show 001: Steve Fox (MPP), Mason Tvert (SAFER), & Paul Armentano (NORML) discuss "Marijuana is Safer" book; NORML Exec. Dir. Allen St. Pierre; MMA Fighter Toby "Tigerheart" Grear
I am thrilled to be hosting our debut show tonight at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. I hope you all make it a regular Saturday night ritual.
You can listen to the show live three ways (and no, regular terrestrial or satellite radio is not one of those ways… yet):
Point your web browser to http://live.norml.org and follow the links to Show 001. (Or use the link on the powder-blue BlogTalkRadio player you see there on the right…)
Point your mobile phone’s browser to http://m.blogtalkradio.com/norml. Click the link at the bottom of the page for Shows and Blogs. Click the link for Show 001. (I’m not completely sure the live show will play this way; it may only allow you to see the blog and comments. If so, try…)
Call 347-994-1810 on your mobile phone. (”347″ is a New York area code, so long distance charges, if any, would apply. Probably only an option if you’ve got unlimited minutes and free domestic long distance.)
The show will also be archived about one hour following the live broadcast. You’ll be able to hear it all week on the embedded player to the right or by subscribing to it as a podcast on iTunes.
In our 2nd hour, mixed-martial arts champion Toby “Tigerheart” Grear of True Warrior Fitness discusses being banned from fighting professionally in California because of positive tests for his legal medical marijuana.
We’re also taking your calls at the bottom of each hour. Dial 347-994-1810 to listen in on your phone and press 1 at any time if you’d like to speak to the host or guests. Your call will be screened and we remind you to have a question ready, keep it short and to the point, and avoid profanity (we’re not FCC regulated on the net, but if we want to take this to terrestrial radio, we need to act like it.)
Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 3:54 pm | By: Radical Russ
The Republican reported earlier this week that at a meeting packed by police officers there to defend their Quinn Bill money the West Springfield City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that will allow police the arbitrary power to enforce public pot consumption violations with either criminal or non-criminal disposition.
The criminal offense will bring a $300 fine. The non-criminal fines will be $150 for a first offense, $300 for a second offense. The fines will be in addition to the state fine of $100 for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.
So basically, in Massachusetts, following passage of MPP’s decriminalization bill* with a landslide 65% yes vote, you will not get a criminal record and you’ll only pay a $100 fine for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana. Unless you’re displaying it in public (a.k.a. “smoking a joint” or your baggie’s in “plain view”), in which case a cop in an increasing number of Massachusetts municipalities can decide on his/her own to arrest you, give you a criminal record, lock you in a holding cell, and fine you an additional $300 (or more in some locales). This is a lot like how New York State has decriminalized, but New York City is still the marijuana arrest capital thanks to “public display” being a criminal offense.
This is what happens when a well-funded Washington DC organization pushes aside local activists who’ve worked in their state’s system for thirty years because they’ve got the best and brightest legal and political minds and “former attorneys general” crafting a decriminalization bill that contains a gaping “home rule clause” loophole. You end up with “decriminalization” that still allows cops to treat pot smokers as criminals.
(Question 2, Section 2, Paragraph 3 – the local loophole) Nothing contained herein shall prohibit a political subdivision of the Commonwealth from enacting ordinances or bylaws regulating or prohibiting the consumption of marihuana or tetrahydrocannabinol in public places and providing for additional penalties for the public use of marihuana or tetrahydrocannabinol.
I spoke with MassCann’s Keith Saunders at Hempfest and he told me that the irony here is that before decrim, pot possession cases were usually sent up to the magistrate who would issue a $250 fine and no jail time. Now these same cases are going to cost the offender $400. The same criminal record but a larger fine when 65% of the voters chose no criminal record and a lower fine… thanks, MPP!
Let’s just hope the nightmare scenario I saw in Section 2, Paragraph 3 doesn’t come to fruition…
As used herein, “possession of one ounce or less of marihuana” includes possession of one ounce or less of marihuana or tetrahydrocannabinol and having cannabinoids or cannibinoid metabolites in the urine, blood, saliva, sweat, hair, fingernails, toe nails or other tissue or fluid of the human body.
…because to my non-lawyerly reading, that says failing a workplace urine screen for inactive metabolites means you just possessed and consumed marijuana in a public place, and nothing shall stop a political subdivision from enacting criminal penalties and fines above the $100 decrim fine. Yay, a criminal record and a huge fine for failing your pee test!… thanks, MPP!
I wonder how many pot smokers at Boston Freedom Rally will be arrested this year, thinking they are in the clear to puff a doobie on the Common because MPP passed a decrim bill, only to find themselves handcuffed in a squad car with a CORI record and a $400 fine?
*That’s funny, the “full text” link at SensibleMarijuanaPolicy.org is a 404. Might make one think they didn’t want anyone actually reading it…
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 8:20 am | By: Radical Russ
Marijuana legalization is the hottest topic in the media these days. MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FOX, NatGeo, and CBS News have presented special features on marijuana business, medical marijuana, and the marijuana legalization movement. Google Trends is showing double the interest in searches and news hits for the term “marijuana legalization”. Showtime’s hit series Weeds, about a suburban mom turned pot dealer, is entering its fifth season. Everywhere you look, corporate media are happy to profit from America’s most popular herb.
Unless you want to address marijuana’s illegality and the lives that are shattered by the effects of marijuana prohibition. In that case, the corporate media cannot have anything to do with you, even if you want to pay to broadcast the message of ending adult marijuana prohibition.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 3:46 pm | By: Radical Russ
Paul Armentano's New Book, with Steve Fox and Mason Tvert. Click to pre-order!
(Reuters) Tough marijuana laws are driving millions of Americans to a more dangerous mood-altering substance, alcohol. The unintended consequence: violence and thousands of unnecessary deaths. It’s time, therefore, for a serious public debate of the case for marijuana versus alcohol.
How dismally that effort has failed is not in doubt. Marijuana is so easily available that around 100 million Americans have tried it at least once and some 15 million use it regularly, according to government estimates. The U.S. marijuana industry, in terms of annual retail sales, has been estimated to be almost as big as the alcohol industry — $113 billion and $130 billion respectively. On a global scale, marijuana is the world’s most widely used illicit drug.
The case for adding a compare-and-contrast dimension to the debate is laid out in a statistics-laden book to be published next month entitled “Marijuana is Safer, So why are we driving people to drink?” The authors are prominent legalization advocates – Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Mason Tvert, co-founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation).
“The plain and simple truth is that alcohol fuels violent behaviour and marijuana does not,” Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief, writes in the foreword of the book. “Alcohol … contributes to literally millions of acts of violence in the United States each year. It is a major contributing factor to crimes like domestic violence, sexual assault and homicide. Marijuana use … is absent in that regard from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no causal link to be found.”
Columnist Bernd Debusmann has been a guest on the NORML Daily Audio Stash… and will be again!
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.
Exclusive interview with Corina Amato of Baltimore, Maryland, victim of a police terror raid where her dog was murdered in her bedroom and her entire home was demolished. Â No marijuana was found, but police were told there would be some by a snitch, and a judge signed off on the warrant.
RevRayGreen: MASS TWEET THIS -@ChuckGrassley Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer sadness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
RevRayGreen: @ChuckGrassley http://bit.ly/55Ejsi Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer madness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
SneakerPimp: one last thing Puff puff pass to any one who wants it
SneakerPimp: i wanna here about the imminent MiniSpof sounds like time for some
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
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. […]
Stash RSS Feed
Loading ...
sounds like time for some 
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
Fresh Stash V RSS Feed
, or can...
