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1. MillerCoors employee, medical marijuana patient, denied unemployment benefits because of positive drug test for marijuana
2. Paul Stanford, owner of the THCF Medical Clinics, accepts plea deal on personal income tax evasion, 18 months probation
3. Alert on new bill in New York to stem police abuses of “public view” arrests for marijuana possession

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• Irie Wednesday: Yuya – “Ganja Wise”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

Radical Rant

• 4th Amendment R.I.P. – Recent SCOTUS Decisions

Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012

Oregon will try once again to pass a legalization ballot measure. On Monday, a brand new initiative was kicked off in Portland as signature gatherers began the task of collecting 90,000 signatures by July 2012 for the measure to make it on Oregon ballots in November of 2012. Jennifer Alexander, the campaign’s manager was already hard at work collecting signatures at a Portland Mall on Monday.

The chief petitioner, Paul Stanford, isn’t new to the ballot initiative. He has tried more than once in the past to put the question of legalization into the Oregon voter’s hands.

He hopes even the name of the new proposed legislation, The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, will get voters to pay attention to the effort. If put on the ballot and passed, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would legalize marijuana for adults over 21 to buy at a state licensed store or grow it in Oregon.  Saving taxpayers’ money is the heart of the strategy this time around and the bills supporters believe that this time around, the message might work.

Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Begins Gathering Signatures

(Full disclosure: THCF used to be a prime sponsor of this blog and podcast and this blogger’s family have worked for THCF.  THCF has also been a past sponsor of some National NORML events and Oregon NORML events during my tenure as Associate Director of the Portland Chapter.)

Paul Stanford of THCF on Cannabis Common Sense

The government tactic of going after people it doesn’t like by scrutinizing their tax records is a time-tested method of imprisoning those it can’t catch through other methods.  Al Capone was not brought down for his bootlegging activities, it was tax charges that landed him in a cell.  Willie Nelson was famously hit with a $16.7 million tax bill, leading to his album, “The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories?”

Whether it is through purposeful fraud, like Capone, or complicated accident, like Nelson, everyone knows that the gub’mint revenuer is nobody to mess with.  Currently, two of the biggest and best-respected dispensary operations in California, Berkeley Patients Group and Harborside Health Center, are undergoing investigation for their tax issues.

So it is with disappointment that we report on the latest tax prosecution of an activist and cannabis businessman, Paul Stanford of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation, the broadest nationwide network of clinics specializing in medical marijuana recommendations, based here in Portland, Oregon and operating clinics in California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington.

(WWeek) Attorney General John Kroger today announced the arrest of the president of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation on allegations that he failed to pay taxes for two years.

“In these tough economic times every tax dollar is crucial, and we cannot afford to let people cheat on their taxes,” said Attorney General Kroger.

Paul Stanford was arrested March 7 on an indictment charging him with two counts of Failure to File Personal Income Taxes for 2008 and 2009.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 21 in Marion County Circuit court. Stanford is the president of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), an organization started in 1999 as a charitable 501(c)(3) foundation.

The indictment and arrest followed an investigation by the Department of Justice’s Charitable Activities Section and Criminal Justice Division.

A criminal indictment is merely an allegation. Every criminal defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

In 2010, the IRS announced that it had revoked THCF’s status as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.

THCF is also a prime sponsor of the Seattle Hempfest and Portland Hempstalk, two of the largest hemp festivals in the world, and produces through its political arm, CRRH, the cable access show Cannabis Common Sense that is seen throughout the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the country.

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Hemp Headlines

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Roots Monday: Bill Donicht & Momma’s Home Cooking – “Some of You People Been Smokin’ My Dope”

SPECIAL: Russ guest-hosts The Bill Press Show

• Paul Stanford on Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana
• Keith Stroup on 40 years of marijuana lobbying in Washington
• Robert Platshorn on serving 29 years in prison for marijuana
• Listener calls

As the fight to re-legalize cannabis heats up out here on the West Coast, I want to provide the opportunity for activists to get the word out to a national audience here at the Stash.  If you have a well-written essay you’d like to feature here, please send it to us at stash@norml.org.

“Why Should I Support the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA)?”

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”  – Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

by Jennifer Alexander
Board of Directors, Oregon NORML
4/20/10

Many Oregonians are proud to be citizens of one of the first states to have allowed the use of medical marijuana.  For many years, the federal government has led us to believe that marijuana had “no medical value” by retaining it in Schedule I and by continuing to plague us with propaganda that insists that marijuana is “dangerous.”   As of April 1, 2010, there are over 32,000 medical marijuana patients currently holding cards in Oregon that disprove the notion that marijuana has “no medical value.”[i] Marijuana remains among the safest drugs known to mankind.

Proven Medical Value

In recent years, our society is rediscovering the value of marijuana for a wide range of disorders, including AIDS, cancer, muscle spasms, chronic pain and many others.  The ongoing research is astounding and could demonstrate tremendous breakthroughs in our health and overall well-being.  Research continues to demonstrate that marijuana is not as dangerous as once believed, and far more beneficial than most ever thought it could be.  However, this research is still very limited due to the status of cannabis as a Schedule I drug.   This needs to change; sound clinical studies need to be done to determine more about the potential benefits and possible risks of using cannabis.

There have been multiple petitions to reschedule cannabis at the federal level (the latest was filed in 2002 by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis and is still under review[ii]).  Rescheduling cannabis would allow for further medical studies, but the process is either incredibly slow or completely stalled.  It has become clear to many that the prohibition of cannabis must end for our society to recognize the full benefits of cannabis and minimize the damage to our society that is almost exclusively due to its status as an illegal drug with “no medical value” according to our federal Controlled Substances Act.[iii]

NOTE: Due to the internal conflict in Oregon law present in Oregon’s Controlled Substances Act (classes marijuana as a Schedule I drug with “no medical value”) and the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (which is based on the medical value of marijuana according to doctors and patients), Oregon Senate Bill 728 was passed last year to reschedule marijuana to a schedule II through V in the Oregon Controlled Substances Act, and that is currently underway.[iv] The Oregon Board of Pharmacy will be accepting public statements on the rescheduling of marijuana through May 2010.

“Marijuana…Treated Like Other Medicines”?

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, approved by Oregon voters in 1998, states that “marijuana should be treated like other medicines.”[v] Support for medical marijuana has continued to grow, and recent national polling by AP-CNBC shows that large majorities of Americans support the medical use of marijuana across all age groups, ranging from as low as 50% to as high as 71%.[vi] It is clear that the vast majority of Americans accept the medical value of marijuana.

While medical marijuana is a step towards the end of prohibition, there is still much more work to be done.  Only 15 states recognize the legal use of medical marijuana, and even in those states, medical marijuana users are marginalized and discriminated against.  The most horrific part about this discrimination, however, is that it is supported by the government.

Oregon Supreme Court Validates Discrimination Against Medical Marijuana Patients

On April 15, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in Emerald Steel Fabricators Inc. v BOLI that medical marijuana patients are “illegal drug users” and therefore do not qualify for the protections awarded other disabled workers.[vii] In essence, they are saying that even though Oregon voters support the medical use of marijuana, Oregon Medical Marijuana Program Patients are not to be treated any differently than any other “illegal drug users,” with the exception of not being arrested by State officials.  However, they can still be arrested by federal officers, they can still be fired from their jobs, they can still be kicked out of their rental homes, have their children taken from them, and they can still be harassed in many other ways.  This is all because they are not considered “patients” under the law, but simply “illegal drug users.”

Medical marijuana movements have demonstrated that the truth about cannabis has been hidden from us for years.  We now know that marijuana does have medical value, thanks to those that championed the medical marijuana movements throughout the country.  However, the Emerald Steel v BOLI case highlights why medical marijuana laws are not sufficient to protect patients.  It is now time for Oregon to be at the forefront once again: legalizing marijuana is something that concerns us all – whether or not we choose to use cannabis products ourselves.

What can Oregonians expect from passage of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA)?

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA) is our chance to stand up for the liberty of those prosecuted and discriminated against for their refusal to accept the federal government’s lies about marijuana.  The OCTA ballot title reads: “Permits personal marijuana, hemp cultivation/use without license; commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation/sale.”  The full text of OCTA, sponsored by Madeline Martinez, Executive Director of Oregon NORML, and Paul Stanford, founder of THCF clinics, can be read at www.cannabistaxact.org.

OCTA is “a scientific experiment by the people of the state of Oregon to lower the misuse of, illicit traffic in and harm associated with cannabis and will set up voluntary studies of cannabis users under ORS 474.045 (b) and other studies.”  Some highlights of OCTA include:

• Recapturing the revenue currently lost to the “black market.” Currently, the high price of marijuana creates a lucrative source of revenue for illicit, “black market” businesses.  Under OCTA, sales of cannabis will be regulated through the Oregon Cannabis Control Commission (OCCC), which will be tasked with the sales and ensuring the quality of psychoactive cannabis products, minimizing out-of-state diversions and preventing sales of cannabis to minors.  OCTA distributes 90% of the profit from the sale of cannabis to the state General Fund, which primarily covers expenses for education, healthcare, and public safety.
• Minimizing minor consumption. In an unregulated market, there are no controls to prevent minors from acquiring marijuana.  Under OCTA, cannabis will only be sold to adults 21 and over.    Sale of cannabis to minors under OCTA will be a class B felony, and providing cannabis gratuitously to a minor is a class A misdemeanor.  A drug education program will also be funded to discourage minors from consuming any intoxicants while they are minors, and to encourage responsible use if, as adults, they choose to use intoxicants, while “emphasiz[ing] a citizen’s rights and duties under our social contract.”
• Promotion of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp has many uses, including fuel, fiber and food.  In 1938, Popular Mechanics referred to hemp as “The New Billion-Dollar Crop.”[viii] However, hemp production in the United States has remained illegal since the 1937 passage of the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act, and later the Controlled Substances Act.  The only exception to the legality of hemp was during World War II, when the Department of Agriculture encouraged hemp production to support the war effort when imports of hemp were interrupted.   Domestic production of hemp will minimize our imports of hemp raw materials from foreign economies and allow this domestic industry to flourish.  OCTA removes restrictions in the State of Oregon for hemp production and sets aside 2% of profits for promotion of the domestic hemp industry.

Further, instead of restricting industrial hemp to low-THC content strains, which are not necessarily the “best” strains for many industrial uses, OCTA takes a much more logical approach.  OCTA tasks the OCCC with defining the psychoactive content to qualify as psychoactive marijuana and defines all other cannabis as “hemp” and prohibits regulation of hemp.  This logical approach will enable the OCCC to regulate the intoxicating cannabis without impeding the industrial production of hemp.

NOTE: While Oregon did legalize the production of hemp as of January 1, 2010 under SB 676 – hemp production cannot begin until the federal government issues DEA permits, which do not appear to be forthcoming.   OCTA specifically states, “No federal license shall be required to cultivate hemp in Oregon.”

• Allows adult cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal, noncommercial use. Cannabis is used by many adults in social settings, much like many adults use alcohol or coffee.  OCTA will allow adults to determine to grow and/or consume personal, noncommercial marijuana without risk of civil or criminal penalties for doing so.  While some may be concerned about the social costs of legalizing marijuana for adult use for “recreation,” marijuana has not been shown to be the primary cause of a single death in the recorded history of its use – and legalization under OCTA will simply regulate cannabis and protect those that are ALREADY using marijuana.

OCTA is needed for Oregon to recapture control of its crime-rates, its economy, its healthcare and the liberty of all Oregon citizens.  While some may not feel that legalization within our state is “enough” to make the necessary changes, it is vital that our state, as well as others, stand up and proclaim to the federal government that we will no longer accept the irrational abuse of its citizens.  It is possible that the federal government may challenge OCTA; however, under OCTA, it will not be the private citizens (who have often lost assets to civil forfeiture) defending themselves against the federal government.  Instead, it will be the federal government challenging the state of Oregon.  This is the conversation on cannabis that is long overdue.

How You Can Voice Your Support for OCTA:

1. You can download and print the single-signature petition from www.cannabistaxact.org, sign it and mail it back to the OCTA office.
2. You can volunteer to gather signatures to ensure that OCTA makes it on the ballot.  We need about 125,000 signatures by July 2, 2010 to be certain that there are enough valid signatures to make it to the November 2010 ballot.
3. You can start an advocacy group for OCTA at your local college or within your community, or participate in running a booth at your local Saturday Market by contacting the OCTA office through the website.
4. You can attend the “Hemp Is Earth Medicine” concert series currently underway to support fundraising for OCTA, presenting John Trudell, Tim Pate and State of Jefferson.  More info available at the website.
5. You can attend the Global Cannabis March at Pioneer Square on May 1, 2010 from 10am – 5pm to show your support for legalization.
6. In November, when OCTA is on the ballot, VOTE YES!

For more information about the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, please visit www.cannabistaxact.org.

---

[i] Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), Statistics, April 1, 2010, accessed from: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/ommp/data.shtml on April 20, 2010.[ii] Petition to Reschedule Cannabis, Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, 2002, accessed from: http://www.drugscience.org/index.html on April 20, 2010.

[iii] 21 USC Sec. 812 01/22/02 accessed from: http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/csa/812.htm#b on April 20.

[iv] Oregon Senate Bill 728, accessed from: http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/sb0700.dir/sb0728.en.html on April 20, 2010

[v] Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, ORS 475.300, accessed from: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/ommp/docs/ors.pdf on April 20, 2010.

[vi] AP-CNBC Marijuana Poll, April 2010, accessed from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/36601126/page/3/ on April 20, 2010.

[vii] Emerald Steel Fabricators Inc v Bureau of Labor and Industries, Oregon Judicial Department Appellate Court Opinions, Filed April 14, 2010, accessed from: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S056265.htm on April 20, 2010.

[viii] “New Billion-Dollar Crop,” Popular Mechanics Magazine, February 1938, accessed from: http://www.jackherer.com/popmech.html on 4/18/2010.

I hope you don’t mind if your Stash is a little early. My beloved Twelve Time World Champion Mighty Green Bay Packers are playing the Vikings on Monday Night Football, and I’m right across the street from a fantastic sports bar where I will enjoy watching my defense go after their quarterback. In case you’re wondering, here’s what the people of Wisconsin think of #4 these days…

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Hemp Headlines

1. More information on Dana Beal 150lb bust
2. Wall Street Journal examines the 2010/2012 division among pot legalization advocates
3. Man dies from police taser after fleeing from arrest on marijuana warrant

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• “Scuba Snacks” by Baghdad SCUBA Review

Cannabis Community

• THCF’s Paul Stanford with a bedside update on the condition of Jack Herer, the Emperor of Hemp.

Show 005: Gary Storck, Jim Miller, & Jackie Rickert from Madison, WI; Paul Stanford in Oregon with Jack Herer update.

I hope you’ll join me tonight in the chat room and on the air for NORML SHOW LIVE, coming up at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.  I’m streaming from the University Inn on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in room 207.  There are young men staying in every room on the floor but me, and if tonight is like last night, they will be yelling and drinking and partying.  Should make for an interesting show.

My guests tonight will include Paul Stanford from The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation to give us an update on the health of the Emperor of Hemp, Jack Herer.  Paul has been at his bedside at Portland Emanuel Hospital and will squash all the internet rumors about Jack’s condition.  You can help by donating to The Jack Herer Fund at ANY US Bank location.

My very special guests on this 39th Annual Great Midwest Harvest Fest edition are Wisconsin activist Gary Storck (http://immly.org), New Jersey activist Jim Miller (http://cmmnj.org), and medical marijuana patient and activist Jackie Rickert, for whom Wisconsin’s medical marijuana bill is named.

Cannabis Karri will bring us the latest news stories and we’ll be taking your calls live at 347-994-1810.

(Durango Herald News) DENVER – Two doctors are responsible for referring more than a third of the patients on Colorado’s medical-marijuana registry, according to statistics from the state health department.

Of the approximately 10,000 medical-marijuana patients on the state’s registry, 75 percent received their recommendations from one of 15 doctors, whose names weren’t released because of state confidentiality laws, The Denver Post reported in Sunday editions.

“It’s a cause for concern,” said Jim Martin, executive director of the state Department of Public Health and Environment. “At least in any other area like this, we would want to be sure that the physicians are meeting the standards of care.”

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers suggested the state Board of Medical Examiners investigate the doctors recommending medical marijuana the most often.

“The health department can question whether it’s proper medicine to issue hundreds of certifications in one day and perhaps make some referrals to the medical board,” Suthers said, referencing a statement by the state’s chief medical officer during a recent hearing that one doctor signed for 200 patients in a single day.

This is a refrain we hear a lot in Oregon, where we have a similar stat (I think the law enforcement presentation said “ten doctors have made 75% of referrals” here.)  The idea here is to scare the public into buying the framing of  “medical marijuana is out of control”, “the voters meant medical marijuana for the dying, not ‘healthy people’”, and “medical marijuana is a sham because ‘pot docs’ are giving cards to everyone”.

Most people don’t understand the supply and demand for medical marijuana and doctors.  Many well-intentioned physicians still buy into the reefer madness as much as the general public.  A doctor who doesn’t think twice about handing out refillable Vicodin prescriptions will often still counsel patients against medical marijuana use.  Some doctors know the truth about medical marijuana, but for contractual reasons with their building lease, their practice, their HMO, or their hospital, they are forbidden from recommending “illegal drugs”.  So you end up with 10,000 people who can benefit from medical marijuana, but most of their personal physicians won’t recommend, so they go to the THC Foundation* clinic or another medical marijuana specialist.  (But 70% of the time that doctor will give you whatever pharmaceutical you ask for that you saw on a TV ad.)

They also don’t understand that in order to get the recommendation, most often two doctors have verified the qualifying condition.  First the patient has been visiting his primary care doctor who has made many examinations and written up the condition in chart notes.  Then the primary care doctor when asked says, “Oh, no, I won’t recommend marijuana for you – here, use this expensive side-effect-laden hepatoxic pharmaceutical instead!”  So the patient gathers up his medical records from his primary doctor and takes them to a clinic like THCF, where a second doctor reviews the chart, performs an exam, and recommends the medicinal use of marijuana.

Medical marijuana is a specialty, like a podiatrist or neurosurgeon, in that most general doctors aren’t educated or qualified in those niche medical sciences.  It is not surprising that there would be far fewer doctors in this new specialty than can handle the demand.  This is where medical marijuana referral clinics come in to satisfy the demand.  Think of it a bit like women’s reproductive health and Planned Parenthood – clinics that perform specialty services that are controversial to the public.  Colorado has only eleven clinics where a woman in the second trimester of pregnancy (past 14 weeks) can get an abortion, but we don’t get headlines like “85% of second-trimester abortions are performed by only 11 doctors statewide!” (imaginary stat for illustrative purposes; I don’t know what the real numbers are.)

Finally, in what other situation would 10,000 people getting safe, effective, affordable health care treatment be considered a bad thing?  Imagine Paul Stanford had opened a clinic providing health care that provided 10,000 people with flu shots or 10,000 kids with immunizations… I think the headlines would be quite different.

*Full disclosure: THCF is a prime sponsor of this blog and podcast.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Massachusetts’ decriminalization law’s huge loophole leading to local recriminalization of marijuana
2. 9th Circuit Court rules possessing gun while growing marijuana is a crime
3. The Taliban’s cure for marijuana “addiction”
4. Another former Hempfest speaker trashing Hempfest: Eric Sterling

Southern California Scene with Tere Joyce

• Rosalea Manzo discusses the opening of the new holistic Berkeley Clinic in Hollywood

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• Rockin Thursday! – ‘I See You Everywhere’ by Simon Bell

Cannabis Conversations

• Collage of six speakers at Hempfest (Elvy Mussika, Ed Rosenthal, George Rohrbacher, Paul Stanford, Madeline Martinez, and Vivian McPeak).