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Hemp Headlines

1. US Drug Czar Kerlikowske says marijuana legalization is “a non-starter”
2. UK Drugs Advisor Nutt sacked for being honest about marijuana
3. New Hampshire cop’s public stance on marijuana legalization costs him his job

Daily Toker Tunes

• Best of Music: The Tentacles – “Ganja Computer”

Southern California Scene with Tere Joyce

• January Thomas and Tere talk women in cannabis and Mary Jane Says

(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.

Such is the nature of your average police force, a dysfunctional family addicted to the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs™.  So long as they all march in lockstep and protect the secret – in this case the addiction to the easy arrests that pad police résumés and the asset forfeiture that lines their pockets – the family continues on, maintaining the façade of normalcy.  But if one cop steps out of line and declares the drug war to be ineffective, cruel, inhumane, and unAmerican, he is a black sheep to be castigated, mocked, and shunned.

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Hemp Headlines

1. California debates marijuana legalization
2. New Hampshire Senate fails to override Lynch veto of medical marijuana
3. Pittsburgh firefighters OK random drug testing in new contract

Daily Toker Tunes

• Best of Music: Jet Baker – “I Like Pot”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• Discussion of study of maternal alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use
• Reply to questions about fetal drug testing

(Nashua Telegraph) CONCORD – The State Senate bowed to the will of Gov. John Lynch and blocked New Hampshire from becoming the 14th state to legalize possession of medical marijuana for chronically ill patients and their caregivers.

After three months of private lobbying, no minds were changed in the Senate as today’s 14-10 vote to override Lynch’s veto of the bill (HB 648) came up two votes shy of the mandatory, two-thirds majority.

Hollis Democratic Sen. Peggy Gilmour co-founded the state’s first hospice for the terminally ill and pleaded for the bill’s survival.

“It’s up to 16 of us in this chamber to look at those who are suffering to say, `I understand and I will help,’’ Gilmour said.

The leader of NH Coalition for Common Sense, Matt Simon, said he knew a few senators had told constituents they were capable of making the switch to backing the bill.

“You never give up hope so I’m disappointed. Now I’m not looking forward to making those difficult calls to people depending on the Legislature to relieve their unrelenting pain,’’ Simon said.

Earlier today, the New Hampshire House of Representatives had as expected voted to overrode Lynch’s July 9 veto.

The 240-115 vote in the House had cleared the two-thirds majority bar needed to advocate a bill become law over a governor’s veto. It marked the first time a legislative body took such a confrontational action since Lynch, a popular, three-term Democrat, first became governor in January 2005.

I’m happy to announce the newest NORML College Chapter to be formed at the University of Hew Hampshire.  UNH NORML’s contact is Nick Murray and you can reach him at npmurray@gmail.com if you’re interested in getting involved with the chapter.

First the good news:

CONCORD (AP) — Lawmakers will vote Wednesday whether to override Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a bill that would make New Hampshire the 14th state to legalize marijuana use by severely ill people.

Supporters are optimistic they have the two-thirds vote needed for an override in the House, but are less confident the votes are there in the Senate.

Then the bad news:

If the veto is overridden, the bill would establish three nonprofit “compassion centers” to dispense 2 ounces of marijuana every 10 days to severely ill patients whose doctors approve the drug’s use. The state would license the centers and issue identification cards to their staff, approved patients and their caregivers.

Why is that “bad news”?  No right to grow your own medicine, a three-center monopoly on medical marijuana, a ridiculous limit of two ounces every ten days, and if you have chronic pain, you must have tried other drugs for three months and found no relief from them before you can smoke the herb.  But, to be fair, that’s not bad news if you desperately need medical marijuana, it’s only bad news from the perspective of medical marijuana bills getting more and more restrictive as time goes on.

There is a lot to like about the bill, however, like protections for organ transplant candidates and reciprocity for other states’ medical marijuana patients.  So I hope they do manage to override the veto, and then work to improve the law once patients begin to point out these flaws.

Download link: NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-07-10

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-07-10.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. New Hampshire Gov. Lynch vetoes medical marijuana bill
2. Pot smoking, drunk driving, child endangering drug cop back on the job
3. Michael Phelps sets new world record
4. Steve Kubby out as CEO at Cannabis Science

High Times Magazine preview with Senior Editor Dave Bienenstock, author of The Official Pot Smoker’s Handbook

• Gear of the Year
• Canada’s Stoner Games
• Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards

• 2009 AMMA Best Rap Song – ‘Posted on the Corner’ by DJ Mercenary

Cannabis Conversations

• Eugene Davidovich, facing four felony counts in a San Diego courtroom on Monday, after a San Diego county cop lied to a doctor, presented a fake ID, and purchased from Davidovich’s legally-operated collective. Visit EugeneDavidovich.com to support and be at San Diego Superior Court Dept 11, 220 W. Broadway in San Diego on Monday at 8am if you can.

Just as in Minnesota earlier this year – the People support and the Senate passes a decent medical marijuana bill, then the Assembly/House hacks away at the bill, citing concerns that the governor who opposes medical marijuana will veto it.  (UPDATE: Paul Armentano reminds me that in Minnesota and New Hampshire, both the House and Senate passed the good bill, then under governor’s threat combined to hack away at it in conference committee.  I apologize for the implication – but the point still holds. — “R”R)

• They take away the essential patients’ right to grow their own medicine at home, because the governor complains about possible diversion of medical marijuana to the black market.
• They set limits so low few patients would have satisfactory access (2 ounces).
• They force patients to buy cannabis at black-market drug-dealer prices in a state-limited monopoly of non-profit “compassion centers” (because we can’t say the scary “d” word – “dispensaries”).
• They set onerous restrictions on purchases, tracking them in a database so patients can’t buy too often (every 10 days).
• They require criminal background checks and FBI fingerprinting of caregivers, who cannot be patients themselves nor ever convicted of a drug crime (like growing and possessing marijuana for their patient before there was a medical marijuana law).

So the Assembly legislature, backed by certain marijuana policy advocates, hacks away at the bill to soothe the governor’s fears, gives him all he could ask for and then some… and he vetoes the bill anyway.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Citing cultivation and distribution concerns, Gov. John Lynch has vetoed legislation that would have made New Hampshire the 14th state to legalize marijuana use by severely ill people.

Lynch had been critical of the bill from the start, but lawmakers made extensive changes in hopes of answering his concerns.

The bill would have established nonprofit compassion centers to dispense 2 ounces of marijuana every 10 days to severely ill patients. The state would have licensed the centers and issue identification cards to their staff, approved patients and their caregivers.

The bill passed the House 232-108 and the Senate, 14-10. Depending on attendance, the House may have the two-thirds support to override, but supporters need two more votes in the Senate.

If the governor is going to veto a bill anyway, why compromise?  Medical marijuana is enormously popular with the people.  After if gets by the Senate 14-10, if you leave the bill alone and test it in the House, maybe it doesn’t pass, but maybe it gets through with a lower vote, like 171-169.  Then the governor vetoes it anyway… but at least you wouldn’t be setting a precedent for statehouses across the country to take away essential patients’ rights!  What’s the plan for next year, present a bill that only lets one terminal cancer patient named Chet smoke <5% THC medical marijuana only between 2am-4am if he’s chained to a radiator in a locked basement closet?

After a dozen years and thirteen states, medical marijuana bills should be getting better, not worse. If we’re going to make a project out of setting medical marijuana policy, we shouldn’t be blackmailed by compassion to support bills that create 2nd-class patients more tightly regulated than Oxycontin patients.  These bills lately treat patients as just barely above criminals, bound to commit marijuana crimes unless they’re watched like parolees.

Now the third state in this round, New Jersey, is set to replay the same chorus, only this time with a governor who will sign the bill.  Again, I can never oppose a medical marijuana bill – how can I suggest a cancer patient should have to hit the streets for a dealer rather than a dispensary? – but I can strongly and loudly oppose the strategy of the project that puts forth these restrictive bills.  Once New Jersey passes the bill, that will set the bar for these other timid states to pass the same type of legislation, locking large portions of America into dispensary monopolies and handing absolute control over quality, diversity, and price from the patient to the middleman.

I only recently came forward because I strongly believe that HB 648, which recently passed the House and Senate, should become law in New Hampshire.

The bill would create the most tightly crafted medical marijuana law in the country, and it would probably be used as a model for other states that want to allow access but are concerned about ensuring accountability and security.

All legitimate concerns about how the cultivation and dispensation of marijuana can be controlled are addressed in the final version of the bill, which will soon make its way to Gov. John Lynch’s desk.

If this bill does become law, New Hampshire will have a medical marijuana program that is responsible and well managed. The senators and representatives who sponsored and wrote this bill have worked tirelessly to ensure that the program will work and should be commended for their efforts.

It is wrong to think that the compassion centers called for in this bill will be like the clubs in California, where abuse of their medical marijuana law has hurt efforts to provide access in the rest of the country.

via Nashuatelegraph.com: Republicans would be wise to support medical marijuana, too.

This is the frame being constructed all around the medical marijuana issue.  California = abuse.  Grow your own medicine = uncontrolled.  Abuse = hurting efforts to provide medicine to sick people. Home cultivation = insecure and unaccountable.

For years now I’ve been warning people that medical marijuana will turn out to be a political box canyon from which legalization cannot escape.  For years we’ve opened minds by appealing to hearts, saying that legalization of marijuana for sick people is the least a compassionate person could do.  Now they will turn it back against us, saying state control of cultivation of marijuana for sick people is the least a compassionate person could do.

If you’re curious about the precedent the New Hampshire law will set, becoming a “model for other states”, here are some details from SB648:

The Good:

• Compassion centers can accept medical marijuana from other states that are allowed to grow it (not sure how you get past the interstate trafficking part to get Oregon bud to New Hampshire, though.)
• Schools and landlords can’t discriminate against medical marijuana patients (…unless it offends the Feds, then all bets are off.)
• Organ transplant patients’ use of medical marijuana doesn’t count as a “controlled substance” for purposes of kicking them off the list.
• Employers can’t discriminate against patients for their card or for their marijuana metabolites on a pee test.
• Parents can’t be discriminated against in family law for their medical use of marijuana.
• Cardholders from other states are recognized by the law, so long as their condition is recognized by New Hampshire (sorry, Californians with PTSD or Oregonians who can’t “prove” their chronic pain – see below)
• Recognition that patient and caregiver records need to be HIPAA compliant

The Bad:

• The “chronic or terminal diseases” which will qualify are the usual set: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, or multiple sclerosis.  You can also get it for cachexia, spasms, seizures, nausea, and vomiting.  However, if you want medical marijuana for chronic pain, you have to prove that it “has not responded to previously prescribed medication or surgical measures for more than 3 months” (because we can all afford three months of oxycodone prescriptions or an inpatient surgery, right? because if you want to use the safest medicine available, you should have to take some dangerous addictive ones first and go under the knife first, right?)
• A caregiver has to be 21 years old, never been convicted of any drug offense, and lives in the patients’ home OR is a relative OR is a friend OR is a health care professional.  This caregiver may only care for one patient at a time (tough luck if both your mom and your wife need a caregiver – you have to choose just one.)
• Criminal background checks at the state and federal level for all caregivers and compassion center workers, including fingerprinting to be shared with the FBI.
• Patients aren’t allowed to grow their own medicine.  They must acquire no more than 2 ounces of it in a ten-day period at a licensed compassion center.  Underscore “a” compassion center, for the patient must designate the single compassion center at which they’ll shop, and may shop at no other.  This data is reported on monthly by the state which lists the particular patients assigned to a compassion center.

The Ugly:

• The department shall issue registry identification cards within five days of approving an application.  (Good luck with that one!)
• If a patient or caregiver changes address and doesn’t notify the government within ten days, they could be subject to a $150 fine.
• A compassion center may only store 6 plants, 6 seedlings (Oregon laws’ 12″x12″ non-flowering variety) and 2 ounces per patient who has registered at that compassion center.  Suppose you open with six patients, you’ve got 36 plants, 36 seedlings, and 12 ounces of medicine.  Day one, your six patients come in and each buy their 2 ounces.  Now you’ve got no medicine while you wait for your 36 plants to bud.  Ten days later your patients come in, but there’s still no medicine.
• Later, when the 36 plants bud and you’ve got four-to-six ounces per plant (Chris Conrad’s numbers, not mine), what are you going to do with that 132-to-204 ounces over your 12 ounce (six patients times 2) limit?  You’re forbidden by law to do anything but give it to another compassion center, which will also probably be over limit, and these compassion centers will be inspected by the state on a regular basis.  Compassion centers over the limit can be shut down immediately.  How is any compassion center ever going to survive harvest?
• Oh, and did we mention there will only be three such compassion centers and that new compassion centers can only open after two years, and then only two more will be allowed, if the state decides to allow them?
• All cultivation of marijuana by the compassion centers must be “in an enclosed, locked facility” which makes me wonder if a “roof” counts as part of “enclosed” and if this means all marijuana must be grown indoors.

So, if this is the “model” that is going to adopted by future medical marijuana states, look out.  You’ll have up to three dispensaries (let’s call a spade a spade, shall we?) with monopoly control over medical cannabis, where patients are locked into just one of those dispensaries to buy their $600-$900 worth of cannabis they’re allowed.  If 600 patients qualified and registered (Oregon’s first-year numbers), we’re looking at three non-profit organizations each growing 2,400 marijuana plants and selling a potential $120,000 – $180,000 every ten days.  If I don’t like the dispensary I’m signed up for, I have to go through changing my state paperwork and all that hassle to shop at a competitor.  With only two others to choose from, each with their own locked-in customers, there isn’t much incentive for them to be any better or worse than my dispensary, and any new competition is two years away, if the state allows it.  If I can’t afford $15/gram medicine, I can’t do anything about it.

These states will learn to regret their medical marijuana bills that don’t allow for home cultivation.

(USA Today) The New Hampshire Legislature has passed legislation allowing chronically ill patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription.

Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, said he would study the bill before deciding whether to sign or veto it. He has raised concerns about preventing marijuana cultivation and distribution. The bill prohibits users or caregivers from growing the plant, which would be dispensed in licensed “compassion centers.”

If the law is enacted, the Granite State would become the 14th state allowing medical marijuana and the fourth state to license dispensaries.

Gov. Lynch, if you sign this bill, it will still be the most restrictive medical marijuana law of the fourteen states that allow it – the first to not allow patients to grow their own, locking them into a state monopoly where they must pay black market prices in a dispensary.  Somehow neighboring Vermont, Maine, and nearby Rhode Island have allowed patients to cultivate at home and the world didn’t come to an end.  Rhode Island even enacted dispensary legislation this year without eliminating the right to grow.

When/if this is signed into law, you can bet every new medical marijuana bill and initiative introduced will duplicate the “no home growing / state-monopolized non-profit dispensary” system.  The prohibitionists have realized they cannot defeat medical marijuana, so their tactic now is to force the “medical” part into the strictly-controlled pharmaceutical system we use for dangerous drugs like Oxycontin.

While I’m glad to see seriously ill and disabled Granite Staters gain access to cannabis for medical use, I fear the precedent being set that marijuana is such a dangerous medicine that it must be controlled like an opiate and that those of us who use cannabis socially are akin to illicit prescription drug abusers.