By "Radical" Russ Belville on March 24, 2011
As far as I’m concerned, all of the groups involved in marijuana law reform have an important role to play. It’s like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard – we have different jobs and different specializations in service of the same goal. Sure, we have internecine grudges and rivalries. Just as jarheads goad sailors, just as grunts tease flyboys, drug war reform groups may also grouse about each other, but when the rubber hits the road, we’re all fighting for the good ol’ U S of A.
Posted in ACTIVISM | Tagged Anne Davis, Arizona, asa, AZ4NORML, ben masel, Bill Panzer, california norml, Chris Goldstein, Clif Deuvall, Colorado, Colorado NORML, Dale Gieringer, Dan Viets, doug hiatt, Gary Storck, Idaho NORML, Isaias Valdez, Jackie Rickert, Jeff Blackburn, Joplin NORML, Kandice Hawes, Kelly Maddy, LEAP, Madeline Martinez, Madison NORML, Massachusetts, MassCann, Michigan, Michigan NORML, Mile High NORML, Missouri, MIssouri NORML, Montana, Montana NORML, MPP, New Jersey, NORML Legal Committee, NORML NJ, NORML of Waco, Ohio, Ohio NORML, Orange County, Orange County NORML, Oregon, Oregon NORML, Paul Armentano, Philadelphia, PhillyNORML, Phoenix, Playboy, Prop 19, prop 203, Prop 215, Russ Belville, SAFER, SB420, Sensible Washington, Texas, Tim Garon
By "Radical" Russ Belville on October 26, 2010
Ms. Pepper has been spreading disinformation, misinterpretation, and scaremongering about Prop 19 in an attempt to fool less-educated marijuana smokers into voting against their own best interests and maintaining prohibition of marijuana by voting no on Prop 19. Letitia touts her law degree and patient status as she uses confusing legalese to obfuscate the issues regarding Prop 19. She even calls me out personally on a double-sided, single-spaced, half-inch-margin letter-sized flyer she’s passed out to patrons of various California hemp expos.
Posted in ACTIVISM, GOVERNMENT, LEGISLATION, SOCIETY | Tagged California, Letitia Pepper, Prop 19, Prop 215, Stoners Against Legalization, Tossed SALAD
By "Radical" Russ Belville on September 28, 2010
This illustrates perfectly why Californians must pass Prop 19 in November. Obviously Prop 215 and SB 420 haven’t protected Jovan Jackson. However, this part of Prop 19 sure would have:
Section 11303: Seizure
(a) Notwithstanding sections 11470 and 11479 of the Health and Safety Code or any other provision of law, no state or local law enforcement agency or official shall attempt to, threaten to, or in fact seize or destroy any cannabis plant, cannabis seeds or cannabis that is lawfully cultivated, processed, transported, possessed, possessed for sale, sold or used in compliance with this Act or any local government ordinance, law or regulation adopted pursuant to this Act.
Posted in ACTIVISM, ECONOMICS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, LITIGATION, SCIENCE | Tagged Bonnie Dumanis, California, Jovan Jackson, Prop 19, Prop 215, San Diego, SB 420
By "Radical" Russ Belville on September 23, 2010
This is all just conjecture, of course, because Prop 19 does not change Prop 215 rights. Patients will still be able to grow, buy, and possess marijuana like they do now. But this exercise does serve to illustrate the thinking of the “I Gots Mine” crowd. Based on their belief that everyone would be limited to Prop 19′s regulations, they’re telling you to vote to remain a criminal, subject to a misdemeanor for possessing a single gram and a felony for growing a single plant, because five grams a day and four plants isn’t enough cannabis. They’re telling you nine out of ten marijuana consumers need to remain criminals so that a few of the one out of ten can have massive gardens and huge stashes all to themselves.
Posted in ACTIVISM, ECONOMICS, LEGISLATION | Tagged California, Cultivation, Prop 19, Prop 215
By "Radical" Russ Belville on September 23, 2010
There is no fun in the bud, he said; “all the use of marijuana is medical.”
“I don’t even understand what recreational marijuana is,” Peron said. “People say they feel high. What were you feeling before that? Not high? Low? In other words, you were depressed.”
Peron believes the way to decriminalize the bud is for all recreational users to acknowledge they are using pot as medicine.
“We already have legalization,” Peron said. “We just have patients not admitting it.”
Posted in ACTIVISM, ECONOMICS, ENTERTAINMENT, GOVERNMENT, LEGISLATION, SCIENCE | Tagged California, Dennis Peron, Prop 19, Prop 215, Tossed SALAD
By "Radical" Russ Belville on September 3, 2010
Well, welcome to Capitalism 101… this is how things work in a legal market. People get up early, commute to a place of business, work hard, price a product/service based on real market demands, pay taxes, follow regulations, make political and business connections, save capital, grow and expand. The days of sleeping til noon, tending a few houseplants, paying no taxes, following no regs, prohibition pricing, and making more from a harvest than a schoolteacher or fireman makes all year are over.
Posted in ABNORML NEWS, LEGISLATION | Tagged J. Craig Canada, Palm Springs, Prop 19, Prop 215, Stoners Against Legalization, Tossed SALAD
By "Radical" Russ Belville on August 24, 2010
Miss de la Luz, you are welcome on my show anytime you like to discuss why you think I should remain a criminal. Just email me at stash ‘at’ norml.org and we’ll set up an interview time. I will be fair and respectful, but I will be as tough with you as I am with any prohibitionist who wants to keep my pot smoking a criminal act.
Posted in ABNORML NEWS, ACTIVISM, GOVERNMENT, LEGISLATION | Tagged CA Proposition 19, California, Dragonfly de la Luz, Jack Herer, Prop 19, Prop 215, Stoners Against Legalization, Tossed SALAD
By "Radical" Russ Belville on July 17, 2010
I’ve spent the evening reading various blogs that have sprouted up in opposition to Proposition 19, California’s effort to legalize marijuana this November. These “Stoners Against Legalization” blogs confound me; they remind me of Sam Kinison’s line comparing “Rock Against Drugs” to “Christians Against Christ”.
Some of these blogs are based on the notion that legalization would be worse than “what we have now”. The assumption there is that if you smoke marijuana in California, you must already have your Prop 215 recommendation from a doctor, and you’d be losing your rights under Prop 19.
Most marijuana smokers, believe it or not, are healthy and aren’t comfortable spending money for a doctor to give them permission to use cannabis.
Posted in ABNORML NEWS, ACTIVISM, ECONOMICS, GOVERNMENT, LEGISLATION, SOCIETY | Tagged CA Proposition 19, California, Prop 19, Prop 215
By "Radical" Russ Belville on July 14, 2010
If you want to really understand what is going on here, look back to that alcohol prohibition and ask yourself how excited Al Capone was reading the headlines trumpeting its imminent repeal. It’s not a perfect analogy, as Capone was a murderous criminal thug and these dispensary owners are law-abiding businesspeople. And yes, dispensary owners, like Craig, often help destitute cancer patients for free, though one could counter that Capone and his gangs gave out free turkeys on Thanksgiving. My main point is that both are businesspeople dealing in a prohibited product.
Posted in ABNORML NEWS, ACTIVISM, ECONOMICS, FAMILIES, GOVERNMENT, LEGISLATION, SCIENCE, SOCIETY | Tagged CA Proposition 19, California, collectives, conspiracy theory, Dale Sky Clare, dispensaries, Huffington Post, Legalization, Los Angeles, Philip Morris, Prop 19, Prop 215, San Bernardino, Spring Gathering, TaxCannabis2010, THC Exposé
By Paul Armentano on January 21, 2010
“Whether or not a person entitled to register under the [2004 state law] elects to do so, that individual, so long as he or she meets the definition of a patient or primary caregiver under the CUA (Compassionate Use Act of 1996), retains all the rights afforded by the CUA. Thus, such a person may assert, as a defense in court, that he or she possessed or cultivated an amount of marijuana reasonably related to meet his or her current medical needs … without reference to the specific quantitative limitations specified by the [2004 state law.]“
Posted in ACTIVISM, LITIGATION, SCIENCE | Tagged California, Compassionate Use Act, People v. Kelly, Prop 215
