Before we get started, let me make clear that this list is not “The Best People” or “The Worst People” or “The Most Important People”.  It is also not NORML’s official endorsement or condemnation of anyone listed.  This is merely my review of some of the personal stories in cannabis law reform, some whom you’ll recognize, others who appear briefly in a news report and are forgotten, that I felt needed recognition.  In fact, if you count them up, it’s more than ten people.

The Top Ten People in Marijuana in 2011 (audio mp3)

10. William Breathes – Journalism defeating unscientific and inaccurate DUID laws in Colorado

William Breathes, Denver WestWord's pot critic

When you say “medical marijuana” to most Americans, they will think “California”.  But Colorado has actually the most regulated and state-developed medical marijuana program in the country.  Per capita, Denver has far more medical marijuana dispensaries than Los Angeles or San Francisco/Oakland.  So I had no doubt that someone from Colorado would have to be included on this list.

Unfortunately, most of activism headlines out of Colorado in 2011 detailed the kind of immaturity and shenanigans that reflect poorly on marijuana activism.  2011 saw Miguel Lopez hectoring a legislator into dropping a patient privacy amendment, lecturing legislative committees, and accused of stealing and destroying legalization petitions.  Corey Donahue was jailed for disrupting a meeting organizing supporters of a legalization initiative, had his “Crazy for Justice” propose making April 20th a state holiday, and is accused of stealing documents from the state’s medical marijuana enforcement division (awaiting re-trial following mis-trial because Miguel Lopez was filming the jury selection).  Kathleen Chippi, Robert Chase, and Laura Kriho boasted openly about their active opposition to legalization efforts.

Thankfully, the “pot critic” of Denver’s alt-weekly, WestWord, comes to the rescue with an inspiring tale of one journalist’s use of the scientific method to help defeat bad anti-cannabis legislation.  Colorado had proposed a “5ng/mL per se DUID” standard, sort of the idea represented by a 0.08 blood-alcohol level to supposedly net drunk drivers.  The problem is that cannabis isn’t alcohol.  The science shows no reliable “impairment standard” for THC for every person.  Marijuana smokers can test above 5ng without displaying any impairment, and frequent consumers, like medical marijuana patients, can be way above 5ng with no recent consumption at all.

Breathes, a patient, took it upon himself to abstain from marijuana use for fifteen hours.  He was then tested and found to be at 13.5ng/mL, even as he was completely sober after a night of restful sleep.  This front-page news and subsequent support from new studies and a deadlocked task force of experts forced the Colorado legislators to kill the proposal.  Which, sadly, was then embraced by…

9. Alison Holcomb – New Approach Washington’s legalization adopts Colorado’s defeated DUID provision

Alison Holcomb of ACLU-WA

Washington State is poised in 2012 to have a marijuana legalization proposal on the ballot that stands a serious chance of winning.  Alison Holcomb, the Drug Policy Director at ACLU of Washington, has done a remarkable job lining up high-profile supporters, including travel guru Rick Steves, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, former US Attorney John McKay, and former FBI Special Agent in Charge of Seattle Division, Charles Mandigo; as well as securing the big-dollar funding an initiative needs to be successful.

However, controversy within the Washington marijuana movement erupted as activists got wind of the details within I-502, the Holcomb-sponsored marijuana legalization initiative.  ACLU’s polling showed the two biggest obstacles to legalization support among the public are “What About the Children?!?” and “Beware the Stoned Drivers!!!”.  To assuage the public’s fear of stoned teenagers, I-502 sets a 21 age limit and zero tolerance for any use by drivers in that age group.  More controversially, to mitigate the stoned driver fear, I-502 adopts the same 5ng/mL per se DUID standard that had just been defeated in Colorado.

That DUID standard has caused longtime legalization advocates, including NORML attorney Douglas Hiatt, NORML Board Member Jeff Steinborn, and Seattle Hempfest Director Vivian McPeak, to publicly condemn I-502.  (To their credit, none of them have been arrested for stealing from and disrupting their opposition, a la Colorado above.)  It will be up to the voters in the Evergreen State to decide whether a few innocent tokers jailed on DUID is worth the potential of all tokers being innocent of possession.

8. Willie Nelson – the case of the living legend and the evaporating marijuana

How do you turn six ounces into three ounces into just a pot pipe? Ask Willie!

Bless Willie Nelson, he’s been a lifetime supporter of NORML and voices many pro-legalization ads on our radio show.  He’s always been synonymous with pot smoking.  But this year, he was one of the 850,000+ arrests for marijuana possession.  The case of Willie Nelson in Sierra Blanca, Texas, shone a spotlight on the idiocy of marijuana prohibition.  In its prosecution, it highlighted the disparity of the “justice” system when it comes to drugs and the rich and famous vs. the poor and anonymous.  The fallout has been a nascent political movement and another successful year of touring for the 78-year-old.

In late 2010, Willie was busted by Border Patrol when his tour bus passed through Sierra Blanca, Texas.  Cops seized six ounces of marijuana according to the reports.  In response, Willie notified Steve Bloom of CelebStoner that he was calling for a “Teapot Party” to promote the cause of legalization, which in 2011 gained mainstream political coverage for endorsing Republican Gary Johnson for president, before backpedaling to account for the singer’s support of Democrat Dennis Kucinich.

As Winter 2011 gave way to Spring, the six ounces of marijuana somehow became just three ounces of marijuana.  The county attorney joked, “Between me and the sheriff, we threw out enough of it or smoked enough so that there’s only three ounces, which is within my jurisdiction.”  But the traditional media didn’t get the joke when they reported Willie would be able to get out of jail time if he sang “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” in court and pay a fine.  The judge confirmed the hoax and said Willie could just plead guilty by mail and pay a fine.

Also in the Spring of 2011, eleven hours’ drive across the state in Tyler, Texas, a jury sentenced Henry Walter Wooten to 35 years in prison (that’s 420 months; dig the irony) for the possession of four-and-a-half ounces of marijuana.  He did have two felony convictions from around two dozen years ago, one for having a gun without a permit and another for selling cocaine.  Most of all, he can’t sing “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” worth a damn.

This summer, prosecutors agreed to let Willie plead guilty not to three ounces of marijuana but just possession of paraphernalia, which put him out $780 in fines and court costs.  In that deal, there was no punishment or acknowledgement of possession of any marijuana.  But so far the judge isn’t accepting that, saying the singer doesn’t deserve “special treatment”.

7. Patricia Spottedcrow – Single mother of four imprisoned a decade over $31 worth of pot

Patricia Spottedcrow got ten years for selling $31 worth of marijuana.

Every year there are busts of marijuana consumers that tug at the heart strings.  This year, the tale of Patricia Spottedcrow in Oklahoma garnered national attention:

(AOL News) Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, a 25-year-old mother of four, and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold an $11 dime bag to a police informant in Oklahoma on Dec. 31, 2009. The informant returned two weeks later to buy $20 of marijuana. Spottedcrow, who worked in nursing homes before her arrest, told The Oklahoman she did it to get some extra money.

The women were charged with drug distribution and possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor, because Spottedcrow’s children were in the house during the transaction. They were offered plea deals of two years in prison but decided to enter a guilty plea instead, a gamble they took because neither had prior convictions and because the amount of drugs sold was so small.

The gamble did not pay off. Spottedcrow was given sentences of 10 years in prison for distribution and two years for possession, to run concurrently. When she was picked up to be taken to prison, she had marijuana in her jacket pocket, which led to another two-year concurrent sentence and a fine of nearly $1,300.

The judge in this story feels like she was compassionate in not sentencing the grandmother of Spottedcrow’s children, ages 9, 4, 3, and 1, to any jail time so she can raise the grandkids while mom is in prison.  Gee, thanks judge!  The family is so struggling to make ends meet they sell dime bags, so lets give grandma four mouths to feed all by herself.

But at least this high-level criminal mastermind is behind bars.  Oklahoma is safe now that $31 worth of weed was taken off the streets and an underpaid nursing home attendant is locked up.

6. Mackenzie Allen – Former cop’s legalization question tops Presidential survey

Continuing a theme he established even as a candidate, President Obama solicited the American people on their concerns on the most pressing issues facing America today.  In January, he utilized YouTube to have citizens ask video questions, to be voted on for response.  Mackenzie Allen, a retired law enforcement officer who represents LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) asked the top rated question, which garnered 13,842 votes – over 1% of all votes cast (people could vote for more than one question).  Of the 193,060 people who voted more than 7% voted for the LEAP question.  That’s about one in fourteen people who took the time to Ask Obama.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As a police officer, I saw how waging the war on drugs has cost a trillion dollars and thousands of lives but does nothing to reduce drug use. Should we discuss legalizing marijuana and other drugs, which would eliminate the violent criminal market?

As an honorable mention, our own Erik Altieri in September penned NORML’s legalization question which garnered the most votes in the “We the People” survey.  This latest incarnation of “Change.gov” / “Open for Questions” / “Citizen’s Briefing Book” / “Ideas for Change” / “Ask Obama” marked the ninth time the president has asked and the ninth time the American people have screamed, overwhelmingly, “legalize it!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy – One of four engaged in “crack down” on California medical marijuana

Laura E. Duffy, US Attorney for Southern District of California

The four US Attorneys in California, apparently acting without direction from President Obama or Attorney General Holder, moved to crack down on what they consider to be “abuses” of medical marijuana laws of California.  Referring to Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that excepted medical use of marijuana from criminal prosecution, Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney for California’s central district, said “What we’ve seen, unfortunately, is the Compassionate Use Act has really turned into the Commercial Use Act.”  (It remains unclear to me why federal US Attorneys think they have standing to evaluate what is and isn’t an abuse of state law, but I’m one of those weirdos who’s read the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution.)

But I’ve singled out Laura E. Duffy of the four because she went above and beyond her colleagues in not only ignoring her boss’s previous policy statements and the 9th & 10th Amendments, but in also threatening the 1st Amendment over medical marijuana:

(California Watch) Federal prosecutors are preparing to target newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets that advertise medical marijuana dispensaries in California, another escalation in the Obama administration’s newly invigorated war against the state’s pot industry.

U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy, whose district includes Imperial and San Diego counties, said marijuana advertising is the next area she’s “going to be moving onto as part of the enforcement efforts in Southern California.” Duffy said she could not speak for the three other U.S. attorneys covering the state but noted their efforts have been coordinated so far.

“I’m not just seeing print advertising,” Duffy said in an interview with California Watch and KQED. “I’m actually hearing radio and seeing TV advertising. It’s gone mainstream. Not only is it inappropriate – one has to wonder what kind of message we’re sending to our children – it’s against the law.”

4. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer – loves fed marijuana policy, hates fed immigration policy

To be fair, this ability is not uncommon among politicians.

There was no shortage of state governors I could have chosen for this spot.  New Jersey’s reprehensible Chris Christie has stonewalled every step of the way in implementing The (No) Garden State’s medical marijuana law, even trying to turn the mandated six dispensaries into only four, limited to growing but three strains statewide that measure less than 10% THC.  Montana’s quirky Brian Schweitzer won praise for vetoing an attempt to repeal medical marijuana, only to earn scorn for allowing “Repeal Lite” to pass without his signature.  Washington’s spineless Chris Gregoire line-item vetoed a legislative measure to establish regulated medical marijuana dispensaries on the pretense of protecting state workers, as did Rhode Island’s invertebrate Lincoln Chafee, when the feds sent a threatening letter.  But then Gregoire and Chafee petitioned the feds to reschedule cannabis so they could operate their dispensaries.  Maryland’s sensible Martin O’Malley signed an expansion of affirmative defense and Delaware’s compassionate Jack Markell signed his state into becoming the 16th medical marijuana state.  Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s vile Mary Fallin signed a law that could mean a life sentence for making pot brownies, but Connecticut’s reasonable Dan Malloy made his state the 14th to decriminalize personal possession by adults.

However, for sheer boldfaced unadulterated political hypocrisy, I have to recognize Arizona’s two-faced Governor Jan Brewer.  First she campaigned against Prop 203 but later said she “believed in the will of the people” who passed that medical marijuana initiative.  Then she was lecturing police that they didn’t do enough to campaign against Prop 203 while admitting that she was “too busy” to do more herself.  Then she was stonewalling on the issuance of dispensary permits that the “will of the people” approved, because she was suing to see that the “will of the people” be denied by a federal court.

In other words, if the people of Arizona pass a law to get illegal marijuana to Arizonans, because Washington DC is out of touch, then the “will of the people” be damned.  Gov. Brewer will sue in federal court to uphold federal law.  But if the people of Arizona pass a law to get illegal Mexicans out of Arizona, because Washington DC is out of touch, then the “will of the people” is sacred.  Gov. Brewer will sue in federal court to uphold state law.  (I have no word on the governor’s position on illegal Mexican immigrants who need medical marijuana, but I’ll bet it is confusing.)

3. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson – former Republican, now Libertarian presidential candidate

Former NM Gov. Gary Johnson with me (in low light)

On the other end of the governor spectrum we find former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.  The two-term Republican governor had been touting his “Our America Initiative” in 2010 and appearing at NORML Conference and other pro-marijuana festivals in full-throated support of legalization of marijuana for adult use.  His vocal support only grew in April 2011 as he announced his run as a Republican for the presidential nomination of the party, and not only continued to appear at pro-legalization rallies, and even had Willie Nelson’s Teapot Party (briefly) endorse his presidential run.

Alas, the Republican party and traditional media didn’t agree and denied Johnson all but a couple of chances on the national debate stage to state his case.  The marijuana issue was ignored despite strong public inquiry about it, even among Republicans.  Johnson continued to speak out on the issue to those who would listen.  But this week, he has abandoned his bid for the Republican nomination and taken up a presidential campaign for the Libertarian ticket.

To his credit, Rep. Ron Paul remains in the race for the Republican nomination and even comes in 2nd in the current polling in advance of next Tuesday’s Iowa caucus.  Paul, a longtime supporter of NORML’s mission, has also introduced The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011 and been a co-sponsor of other pro-marijuana federal legislation.  But the last time Rep. Paul spoke directly to an audience of marijuana activists was 1988.

2. Rep. Barney Frank – the lion of legalization retires from Congress

After sixteen terms in the US House of Representatives, liberal Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts is set to retire.  He’s sponsored or co-sponsored just about every pro-marijuana bill that has ever died in Congress.  He’s spoken directly to pro-marijuana audiences.  For me, though, my favorite Barney Frank moments are when he is chiding conservatives on their decidedly big-government, wasteful-spending, anti-states-rights support of marijuana prohibition:

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Steven DeAngelo – Harborside’s CEO rebukes recreational legalization on Weed Wars

Harborside CEO Steven DeAngelo and me

Last year I was very encouraged by one Bay Area medical marijuana entrepreneur.  In 2010, Richard Lee put 1.5 million dollars of his own money to legalize marijuana for adult use, regardless of the reason why someone might choose to use it.  For months, I had predicted that the longer medical marijuana was an “industry”, the more that industry would fight to protect itself, even from legalization.

In 2011, I have been discouraged to have been proven right by another Bay Area medical marijuana entrepreneur, Steven DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center, the world’s largest marijuana dispensary.  In January, the IRS was auditing the books of Harborside, building a case that the dispensary was in violation of IRS Section 280E, which explicitly bans any tax deductions related to “trafficking in controlled substances.”  The pressure on DeAngelo wasn’t surprising.  ”If 280E is applied literally and strictly,” DeAngelo said, “it has the potential to close down Harborside and every other medical cannabis dispensary.”

In an effort apparently calculated to steer the IRS away from any claim that Harborside’s business might not be serving strictly medical needs, DeAngelo began casting aspersions on Richard Lee’s legalization effort, which he had publicly supported the year prior.  ”I warned people who were pushing Prop. 19 that losing elections would have consequences,” DeAngelo said, “In large part what we’re seeing is the consequences of an overreach by our community.”  DeAngelo published a manifesto entitled “At the Crossroads, or Wellness, Not Intoxication”, where he chides the legalization supporters fighting for a right to recreational cannabis use, saying, “very little cannabis use is actually for recreational purposes, or intoxication. This truth is not negated by the fact that many users of cannabis buy into the misconception that their own use is recreational.”

Steven and his brother Andrew DeAngelo then became the subjects of a Discovery Channel reality show called Weed Wars.  In the press tours promoting the show, both brothers clearly said “I don’t believe that any psychoactive substance should be used for recreation“ and “we do not support the legalization of cannabis for recreational purposes.”  Activists were outraged and what followed from Steven DeAngelo were semantic explanations and rhetorical absurdities.

This all culminated in the fourth installment of Weed Wars closing with Steven DeAngelo saying “I don’t believe in legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes; I think cannabis should be used for purposes of wellness.”  Again, activists were outraged, pointing out DeAngelo was a lifelong legalization activist.  DeAngelo responded again with more rhetoric about believing nobody should be subject to criminal penalties for marijuana and justifications about promoting “wellness” and dissing “recreation” being just a strategy for achieving legalization (which he’s told the public he’s against).  He even tries to shift the blame to editing at the Discovery Channel, when his appearances on live TV show that he meant exactly what he said after editing on Weed Wars.

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1. Montana caregivers file suit on constitutionality of federal raids
2. California AB 1017 would decriminalize personal cultivation of marijuana
3. Oklahoma’s “life for hash” law would also cover pot brownies and kief screens
4. Connecticut is poised to move medical marijuana bill
5. Mexican citizens take to the streets demanding marijuana law reform

Daily Toker Tunes

• Irie Wednesday: Sun Salvation – “One by One”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

Radical Rant

• Denver Post’s reefer madness over failure of per se DUID bill

The governor of Oklahoma has signed into the law that offers a potential life-in-prison sentence for the manufacture of hash from cannabis.  But it is even worse than that.  Here are the scary parts of the new law:

SECTION 1.     AMENDATORY     <63> O.S. 2001, Section <2-509>, is amended to read as follows: …

D.  Knowingly violating the provisions of subsection B or subsection H of this section is hereby declared, as to the owner, or person in possession of such lands, to be a felony and punishable as such by a fine not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) and imprisonment in the State Penitentiary custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than two (2) years nor more than life. The fine provided for in this subsection shall be in addition to other punishments provided by law and shall not be in lieu of other punishment.  Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection B or subsection H of this section is punishable by a term of imprisonment twice that otherwise authorized and by twice the fine otherwise authorized. Any sentence shall not be subject to statutory provisions for suspended sentences, deferred sentences, or probation, except when the conviction is for a first offense. …

H.  Except as authorized by the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture or attempt to manufacture any controlled dangerous substance by cooking, burning, or extracting and converting or attempting to extract and convert marihuana or marihuana oil into hashish, hashish oil or hashish powder.

SECTION 2.  This act shall become effective <November 1, 2011>.

These brownies can get you the same prison time as premeditated murder

While this has been publicized as “life for hash”, take a moment and read the words of that subsection H.  Sometimes it helps to clear away some of the extraneous clauses.

Unlawful… to… attempt to manufacture any controlled substance by cooking, burning OR… converting to hash.

Pot brownies are a controlled substance that is cooked.  Two years to life and up to a $50,000 fine for Alice B. Toklas brownies.  If they catch you a second time, four years to double life and up to a $100,000 fine.

Unlawful… to… attempt to… extract… marihuana… into… hashish powder.

This grinder can get you the same sentence as a repeat child rapist

That’s kief, folks.  If you have one of those grinders with a kief screen, you are extracting hashish powder.  Two years to life for a grinder.

If you think this is insane, contact Tulsa NORML and Oklahoma NORML to get involved in making positive change in Oklahoma.

While I was out at the NORML Conference, this bombshell of a story exploded in Oklahoma:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Converting marijuana to hashish could land Oklahomans a life prison sentence under a bill approved in the Oklahoma Senate.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs spokesman Mark Woodward said the goal of the bill is to “send a message” that illegal drugs won’t be tolerated in Oklahoma.

Conviction of a first offense of cooking hashish would result in a prison sentence from two years to life in prison. Sentences would be doubled under a second offense, and those convicted would not be eligible for a suspended sentence or probation.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20110420_336_0_OKLAHO247887

Ah, yes, the OBNDD, the people who brought you the marijuana “fact sheet” that claims pot today is 30 times stronger than Woodstock Weed and it damages brain cells and reproductive organs.  Apparently, they feel hashish is so much more dangerous than raw cannabis that we must enact a life sentence for it.  Hash is much more potent than cannabis, so I wonder how the OBNDD will react when they discover Schedule III dronabinol (legal even in Oklahoma) is even more potent than hash?

When I read these stories about stiffer sentences for cannabis, I like to compare them to the sentences that most of us will agree are heinous crimes.  It turns out that if you make cannabis into hashish or if you serially and violently rape five adult women, you can get a life sentence in Oklahoma.

(Slane & Phillips) An Oklahoma City man who pleaded guilty to five charges of first degree rape in Oklahoma County District Court last October was sentenced late last week.  John Earl Stepney, Jr., 33, was given a life sentence without parole for each of the five rapes of which he was convicted.

Oklahoma County District Judge Kenneth Watson sentenced Stepney to life in prison without parole for each of the following Oklahoma City rape incidents:

• the November 17, 2008, rape of a woman who was asleep in her apartment
• the December 7, 2008, rape of a woman who was attacked as she walked home from work
• the December 23, 2008, kidnapping and rape of a woman who was shopping for Christmas at Penn Square Mall
• the January 5, 2009, rape of a woman who was doing laundry at her apartment complex
• the January 7, 2009, rape of a woman who was vacuuming her car at a car wash

Stepney is accused of forcing two of the women to withdraw cash from their bank accounts at ATMs.  He reportedly used a BB gun that looked like a handgun to threaten and coerce his victims.

But if you plead no contest to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy of a four-year-old girl, you may get by with one year in prison.

(USA Today) ALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Two state lawmakers are questioning a plea agreement that will allow a man to serve only one year in jail on a conviction for raping a 4-year-old girl.

Nineteen of the 20 years of a sentence against 64-year-old David Harold Earls were suspended as part of a plea agreement reached with Pittsburg County prosecutors.

Earls pleaded no contest on May 13 to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy. He has spent nearly nine months in jail already and is scheduled to be released Sept. 24.  He would serve the remaining 19 years of his sentence under supervised release and would have to register as a sex offender.

(News9.com) The daughter of a convicted rapist speaks out, saying he deserves more than one year behind bars. She says her father deserves a life sentence. David Earls’ rape conviction made national headlines this month after a Pittsburg County judge sentenced him to only one year in prison.

“My father is a monster and he needs to stay, he needs to stay in prison,” said Denise Earls.

Denise Earls says when she was young Earls raped her. She hoped he was finally going to get the punishment he deserved.

“Well I was completely outraged because it brought back all the memories that I went through as a child and just to know that he only got a year when I have a life sentence to deal with this,” said Denise Earls.

Maybe somebody can convince David Earls to make some hash so Oklahoma will seriously consider keeping him in a prison for life.

By the way, in case anyone thinks that hashish is somehow different or more dangerous than raw cannabis, it isn’t.  It is still non-toxic with low risk of dependency and tolerable side effects.  Here’s the basic difference between regular old pot and hash:

Pot = puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff… whoa, I’m high!

Hash = puff, puff… whoa, I’m high!

That’s it.  Hash is a concentrate.  It’s not “cooked”, it’s extracted.  It’s not transformed into something else.  Hash is to cannabis as a frozen can of orange juice mix is to an orange.  And for some patients who need extremely high dosages to achieve medical effects, there isn’t the time or lung capacity to take all the puffs of cannabis one needs.  For these most-vulnerable patients, hash is a medicine, pure and simple.

Oklahoma lawmakers will not have the opportunity this legislative session to debate Senate Bill 573, the “Compassionate Use Act of 2011.” This act sought to exempt physician-authorized consumers of marijuana from state criminal prosecution.

Under present law, the cultivation of even a single marijuana plant is classified as a felony offense, punishable by up to life in prison. Passage of SB 573 would have provided needed legal relief for patients who presently suffer under some of the strictest marijuana penalties in the nation. Unfortunately, Senate lawmakers did not believe that this important issue was worthy of even a legislative hearing. This is unacceptable.

At this time, NORML is coordinating efforts with the sponsor of SB 573 in hopes of convening a public hearing on the medical marijuana issue later this spring. We will keep you abreast of these plans as they become finalized.

NORML would like to thank the 400+ of you who took the time to contact your Senate lawmakers in support of this legislation.

Original post:

Oklahoma Lawmakers Decline To Hear Compassionate Marijuana Use Measure This Year

New Jersey - The (No Medical Marijuana) Garden State - coming soon to a state near you!

In 2010, New Jersey passed the first medical marijuana law that did not allow the patient to grow their own low-cost medicine, instead requiring them to pay street prices for cannabis sold through dispensaries.

The District of Columbia followed suit when setting up their rules, despite the fact that the initiative that passed by 69% back in 1998 allowed an “exemption for cultivation [which] shall apply only to marijuana specifically grown to provide a medical supply for a patient.”

Marijuana Policy Project then wrote Arizona’s new law which forbids home cultivation if the patient lives within 25 miles of a dispensary.  The reasoning given was that the dispensaries would need to be guaranteed a clientele in order to remain viable.

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So imagine you’re a 70-year-old glaucoma patient in Phoenix living on SSI.  A friend donates to you a small closet grow and you’re producing a few ounces for yourself at about $12.50/ounce.  Next month, an entrepreneur applies for and is approved to open a dispensary 18 miles away from your rent-subsidized apartment.  Your choices are to move seven miles farther away on your fixed SSI income and keep growing or to sell your grow equipment and start buying those $300 ounces at the dispensary that you can only get to after a lengthy bus ride.  Don’t worry, nobody on the bus or at the stop in your bad neighborhood will smell the ounces of weed on you as you bring them home every couple of weeks (you’re not allowed to stock up – two ounces per fortnight only).  Because we want to be sure a place that sells marijuana in a storefront doesn’t go out of business, since marijuana is such hard commodity to market.

We at NORML had warned that continued focus on medical without an eye toward full legalization would eventually lead to a “box canyon” where opponents say, “Oh, you want medical marijuana?  All right, we’ll make it medical. You don’t grow your own Vicodin, do you?” and begin to eliminate home growing provisions, the only protection cannabis consumers have against government and/or corporate overpricing, strain degradation, and pharmaceuticalization of cannabis into pills, sprays, and inhalers that will make possession of raw plant material by patients just as criminal as it is now for non-patients.

Two current medical marijuana states, New Mexico and Montana, face efforts to outright repeal medical marijuana.  Two current medical marijuana states, Arizona and New Jersey, don’t allow for home cultivation.  Now, New Hampshire, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, and New York have medical marijuana proposals that forbid home grows and require street-price dispensary shopping.  Proposals in Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia would be similar to the current thirteen medical marijuana states that allow registered home cultivation.

NORML supports all these proposals, because what kind of pro-marijuana organization could oppose protecting patients from arrest for marijuana possession, even if they had to buy it at a dispensary?  At least the dispensary is clean and safe and reliable and tested and secure compared to the streets.  But we remind all supporters of medical marijuana that only through legalization for the healthy will you ever get reasonable prices, peace of mind, and avoid the eventual box canyon the DEA and FDA want to steer you into.

Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, a 25-year-old Oklahoma mother of four, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling $31 of marijuana. (Oklahoma Dept. of Corrections)

(AOL News) Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, a 25-year-old mother of four, and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold an $11 dime bag to a police informant in Oklahoma on Dec. 31, 2009. The informant returned two weeks later to buy $20 of marijuana. Spottedcrow, who worked in nursing homes before her arrest, told The Oklahoman she did it to get some extra money.

The women were charged with drug distribution and possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor, because Spottedcrow’s children were in the house during the transaction. They were offered plea deals of two years in prison but decided to enter a guilty plea instead, a gamble they took because neither had prior convictions and because the amount of drugs sold was so small.

The gamble did not pay off. Spottedcrow was given sentences of 10 years in prison for distribution and two years for possession, to run concurrently. When she was picked up to be taken to prison, she had marijuana in her jacket pocket, which led to another two-year concurrent sentence and a fine of nearly $1,300.

The judge in this story feels like she was compassionate in not sentencing the grandmother of Spottedcrow’s children, ages 9, 4, 3, and 1, to any jail time so she can raise the grandkids while mom is in prison.  Gee, thanks judge!  The family is so struggling to make ends meet they sell dime bags, so lets give grandma four mouths to feed all by herself.

But at least this high-level criminal mastermind is behind bars.  Oklahoma is safe now that $31 worth of weed was taken off the streets and an underpaid nursing home attendant is locked up.

I can’t help but wonder what the sentence might have been if she were “Patricia Spencer”?

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Hemp Headlines

1. Illinois governor threatens complete defunding of all drug treatment and prevention programs
2. Oklahoma’s Patricia Spottedcrow, 25-year-old mother of four, sentenced to ten years in prison for selling $31 worth of marijuana
3. Seattle Times endorses HB 1550 and marijuana legalization

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Roots Monday: Smallfish Adventures – “Presidents”

Grassroots Activism

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• Justin Rivera from the Medical Cannabis Bilingual Show (in English and Spanish)

Radical Rant

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• A look at President’s Day – the Presidents history on hemp, cannabis, and prohibition

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Hemp Headlines

1. Hawaii Senate Lawmakers To Debate Bill To Reduce Marijuana Penalties
2. Bill To Defelonize Marijuana Possession Penalties Introduced In Arizona
3. Medical Marijuana Safe Access Act Reintroduced in Tennessee
4. Coalition Of Lawmakers Reintroduce Measures To Regulate Medical Marijuana In Maryland
5. Delaware Senate Considers Regulating Medical Marijuana
6. Oklahoma To Consider Compassionate Marijuana Use
7. Nebraska Lawmakers Consider Dangerous Drugged Driving Legislation
8. Bill to Reduce Marijuana Possession Penalties Introduced in Illinois
9. Legislation to Reduce Marijuana Possession Penalties Introduced in Rhode Island
10. Medical Marijuana Legislation Reintroduced in Connecticut Legislature
11. Bill To Reduce Marijuana Possession Penalties Reintroduced In Connecticut
12. Medical Marijuana Legislation Reintroduced in Illinois Legislature
13. Stormy Ray’s Co-op Bill Introduces in Oregon Legislature

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by John Doe Radio.com

• Groovin’ Thursday: R-Nuckle – “Stuck”

Southern California Scene with Hollywood Hemptress Tere Joyce

• Comedian Jeffrey Petersen
• The Multi-Dimensional Spirit Force of Gary Busey

Radical Rant

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• Why does Charlie Sheen get to keep his job, but tokers don’t?

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Hemp Headlines

1. Nevada reviewing policies allowing parolees to use medical marijuana
2. Montel Williams speaking in Maryland for medical marijuana laws
3. Washington lawmaker proposes legalization with cannabis sold in liquor stores
4. Stupid Stoner Story: North Carolina student busted in Oklahoma admits to police his $250,000 made selling cannabis over the past year

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Cure UK

• Electric Tuesday: Bhang – “Indican”

Government at Work

• Garret Overstreet from Tulsa NORML on Oklahoma medical marijuana bill

Radical Rant

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• Medical Soda Pot is latest media sensationalism about medical marijuana