Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm | By: Radical Russ
(The Daily Titan) When Eden Gonzalez, 21, first arrived at California State University Monterey Bay, she wanted to take her doctor-prescribed medication. Her resident adviser said no. The reason? Her medicine was marijuana.
“The biggest problem we were having at CSUMB was the issue with Residential Life,” Gonzalez said. “Campus police were actually pretty cool and I’ve had friends whose med-stash was returned after showing medical proof. But with Res-Life, you can have your medical marijuana, but you can’t smoke it, which is the problem.”
Because of the dorm rules, Gonzalez had to either give up marijuana or her convenience of living on campus. She eventually moved out of the dorms and into an off-campus apartment nearby. Gonzalez now serves as the executive director of CSUMB’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Gonzalez is one of many students trying to figure out how state, federal and university law applies to the use of medical marijuana.
CSUF police continue to stop students from smoking marijuana,”It’s still a federal offense,” [Sergeant Nigel Williams of CSUF police department] said.
CSUF police Lt. Don Landers concurred with Williams, “it is in violation of campus policy and if students bring marijuana with or without a prescription it will still be confiscated,” Landers said.
CSUF police officers would probably not arrest a medical marijuana user. “However the individual will be subject to a judicial citation and referral to the judicial affairs officer on campus,” Landers said.
When asked why it would be a problem at all, Landers answered, “It is against federal law and the university receives federal funding, not just state.”
Isn’t nice to know the fine college cops of the California State University system have been entrusted to enforce federal law?
Oh, wait, they aren’t charged with enforcing federal law. See, this case called City of Garden Grove v. Kha was denied review by both the California and United States Supreme Courts, which let stand the lower court ruling, which, in a nutshell, said “it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws.”
Now if it is a violation of campus policy, then students, please, organize to change these campus policies! If you do not have a NORML chapter on your campus fighting to protect on-campus medical rights, then contact me at stash@norml.org and I’ll help you get started.
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 11:44 am | By: Radical Russ
(Santa Barbara Noozhawk) Santa Barbara residents showed up in force once again for an Ordinance Committee meeting Tuesday regarding the city’s marijuana dispensaries.
During 90 minutes of public comment, residents discussed ideas for revising the city ordinance, as well as opinions on the existence of dispensaries in Santa Barbara.
Misusing marijuana is a big concern among residents, but there isn’t much information available on how big a role dispensaries play in recreational and underage marijuana use.
I doubt dispensaries have more of a role in underage consumption than do the teenage marijuana dealers in every school in the country. The dispensaries at least require a check for state ID. As for the recreational use, the dispensaries require a doctor’s recommendation, so that point needs to be taken up with doctors, not dispensaries that are following the law.
Besides, just what the hell is “misuse of marijuana” anyway? If you have a headache and you smoke pot and you feel good, is that medicinal or recreational? Now let’s say you don’t have a headache and you just smoke pot to feel good, is that misuse? Somehow, it is only OK to smoke pot to feel good if you felt bad before smoking it? Why do we have such a puritanical need to make sure people aren’t experiencing joy without first feeling pain?
The use of medicinal marijuana isn’t recognized in the public school system, and police have both formally and informally cited many students for possession or use on campus, according to Armando Martel of the Santa Barbara Police Department.
The Santa Barbara School Districts have reported 178 suspensions from controlled substances, most from marijuana.
Superintendent Brian Sarvis told the committee Tuesday that one student told him the substance was so easy to get that it may as well be in the school vending machines, adding that Martel doesn’t think those cases have been traced back to dispensaries.
Before dispensaries, around 85% of high school seniors say marijuana is easy or fairly easy to get. Most can get it within the day, many within the hour. After the dispensaries, around 85% of high school seniors still say it is easy to acquire. Medical marijuana has nothing to do with teen access; teen access is rampant because of marijuana prohibition.
David Hughes spoke on behalf of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara and said the group requests a prohibition of dispensaries near residential zones and special-needs facilities, such as sober-living complexes.
State law bans smoking medical marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, recreation center or youth center. Although dispensaries don’t allow smoking or consuming on-site, there’s an anomaly in enforcement if the locations are within that 1,000-foot boundary — as many are, he said.
Residents also have expressed concern with dispensaries near residential areas, especially the pending dispensary at Paseo Chapala.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve read about the public’s concern about marijuana dispensaries in their neighborhoods, especially around schools. What amuses me is that the public seems so much less concerned about liquor stores in these same areas. The following maps show you bits of Santa Barbara, California. I’ve mapped out the location of schools and given you a 1000′ radius from them so you can see how many liquor stores and pharmacies are within that area. I mapped 34 liquor stores in my Googling, only the ones with Santa Barbara addresses, and I decided not to show grocery stores, where in California you can buy many spirits that would only be in liquor stores in other states.
Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 10:11 am | By: Radical Russ
From the folks at CHEAR (Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform):
Earlier this year, the House Education & Labor Committee passed a student aid bill with language to scale back Rep. Mark Souder’s infamous financial aid/drug conviction law (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/595/higher_education_act_HEA_drug_provision_vote). The new version of the law would only count sales convictions — a great step forward, though we still want full repeal. More than 200,000 students already have lost aid for college because of drug convictions.
Tomorrow, we’re told, Rep. Souder will offer an amendment on the floor of the House of Representatives, seeking to have this good language stripped from the final version of the bill. PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK THAT HE OR SHE VOTE NO ON SOUDER’S AMENDMENT TO THE STUDENT AID BILL. Students should not lose access to college because of drug possession convictions! The bill is called SAFRA, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, H.R. 3221.
To reach your Representative (or find out who your Rep is), call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. When the receptionist in your representative’s office answers the phone, politely say something like the following: “My name is _____ and I’d like Rep. ___ to vote against Rep. Souder’s amendment to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which would deny educational opportunities to students with minor drug possession convictions. Blocking access to education causes more drug problems and hurts the economy. Thank you.”
When you’re done, please forward this alert to all your friends, and please post it to sites like Facebook and Twitter too. Visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com for further information on this issue and the hundreds of organizations that support repeal.
Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm | By: Radical Russ
WASHINGTON (McClatchy) — College students convicted of illegal drug possession could get federal financial aid for the first time in more than a decade under legislation aimed at overhauling the student loan system.
The bill, which a House of Representatives committee approved recently and which the full House probably will consider after its August recess, says that those convicted of selling illegal drugs still would be barred from receiving federal financial aid.
However, students convicted of possession would be able to get loans, grants and work-study assistance.
The new provision is part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which passed the House Education and Labor Committee on July 21. It would increase the maximum Pell Grant, the primary federal need-based scholarship, and end the private sector’s role in student loans. Instead, the government would be the sole provider of student loans.
As of 2006, nearly 200,000 students who’d been convicted of drug charges — about 1 percent of students across the country — had been denied student aid under the law.
Under current law, students convicted of possessing illegal drugs are ineligible for federal aid for one year for first offenses, two years for second offenses and forever for third offenses. Those convicted of selling are barred for two years for first offenses and forever for second offenses.
In February 2006, Congress softened the law so that it would affect only those who were convicted of possessing or selling drugs while they were in college and receiving aid. Before, the law applied to prior convictions.
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) was the author of the 1998 bill that revoked student aid from those caught with cannabis or drugs. His reasoning was that if the government is going to pay for your college, the taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for subsidizing a student’s pot smoking or drug use. Because if you’re really trying to insure that a young person doesn’t get deeply involved with drugs, the best way to do that is to make sure they can’t get an education, can’t get a good job, and are forced to deal marijuana or drugs to make ends meet.
Oddly enough, Rep. Souder doesn’t seem concerned at all about alcohol binge drinking on campuses that actually kill students. He sponsored no legislation to make sure that students under age 21 lose their federal student aid if they are caught drinking, for instance. Somehow the drug that leads to the most drop-outs, date rapes, and death of any drug on campus was miraculously spared from his morality crusade and the safest substance of the group – cannabis – was not.
Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 3:20 pm | By: Dudemaster
Two pupils, aged 10 and 11, have been caught dealing marijuana at school. They were arrested after police said they were caught conducting a marijuana deal at school. The incident happened at Brookview Elementary in Warren, Indiana. A school spokesman said a student told school officials he saw a classmate sell a “marijuana-like substance” to another student.
“We are getting to a state of emergency,” said the Rev. Byron Alston, director of Save the Youth, an Eastside social services program.
“When you have elementary students selling dope in the school, we’ve got a serious problem.”
Police said 1.88 grams of marijuana was recovered, enough for one or two joints.
Both boys were suspended from school pending an investigation. They were taken to a juvenile detention center.
There is nothing funny about young children in possession with any substance whether it be alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana. It is with the most sincere intentions in mind when we tell our community leaders and politicians, “Tax and Regulate Marijuana Now!”
I asked my 15yr old, who is attending high school near our home in Texas, to share a list of items she can obtain within 24 hrs notice at her school (actually purchase inside her school) and here is what she wrote down off the top of her head:
Marijuana (indoor Chronic of any flavor), LSD, Magic Mushrooms, Mescaline, Cocaine (in any form), Meth, Ice, and Heroin (in any form)
Hot Wheels Eliminator
What the list doesn’t contain is Cigarettes or Alcohol. When asked about the availability of those, she stated, “They are harder to get because you have to go to a store, present an I.D., and undergo a certain amount of scrutiny.” You see, in the State of Texas, if the clerk behind the counter knowingly sells a minor something they shouldn’t, they will be charged with a crime.
Just imagine if Marijuana were behind a counter and completely removed from the criminal element. I think those kids who were caught selling pot might be trading hot wheels instead. That is the kind of world I would prefer to live in.
Allie Brody is a senior at Allentown High School in New Jersey and is one student that has had enough of being treated like a criminal.
I’ve written for my school newspaper, helped out with the production of musicals and even traveled abroad through a school club.
I was later inducted into the French Honor Society and the National Honor Society. Last year, I even co-founded the school’s first philosophy club.
But this year I am barred from participating in any of it. The irony is that my school has made me ineligible for any extracurricular activity for what they believe is my own self-interest. What did I do to deserve this punishment? I acted on my principles and stood up for fairness, privacy and dignity for me and my fellow students.
Student drug testing for extracurricular activity was pushed by the Bush administration as the panacea for high school drug use. Besides, what would convince more kids to stop doing drugs than to give them more time to use them. Allie Brody decided to take action.
Last year, when I found out my school board was considering a random student drug-testing policy, I immediately began organizing a student opposition group.
We worked to get the community involved: Students joined with parents and teachers, donning “Drug Testing Fails Our Youth” T-shirts as we filed into the school board meetings. We even brought a toxicologist to speak with the board about the unreliable nature of the drug-testing technology, the problem of non-professionals interpreting the test results, privacy and legal-liability issues and the general lack of research supporting student drug testing.
To us it seemed the school’s arguments in favor of testing were based more on emotional rhetoric than data. But, in the end, emotion carried the day, and random student drug testing went forward.
Allie didn’t simply accept the schools drug testing policy, and neither should you. Despite being terrible policy, it’s a total waste of taxpayers dollars. It’s an ineffective way to combat drug use and Allie does a great job pointing it out in the post.
In a policy statement, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) cautions that student drug testing is unsupported by scientific research and carries inherent dangers. Drug-testing programs break down trust between students and administrators. They also carry the inherent danger of motivating some students to switch to drugs that will leave the system quickly, like alcohol, or drugs that not show up in the tests, such as inhalants and herbal concoctions.
I commend Allie Brody for both the principled stand on the drug testing issue and for the willingness to sacrifice for a closely held belief. We are lucky to have teens of Allie Brody’s character in America, and as a society we become stronger for it.
History is written by those who show up. [And if I may add... Many of us have had the fantasy idea that if everyone just refused to take a pre-employment drug test, there would be no more pre-employment drug test, because there wouldn't be enough workforce. Alas, that is just a fantasy, because the reality of supporting families and mortgages comes into play.
But at a school... Imagine if every member of the football team or school band or drama club just outright refused to take the tests, what then? These are cases where the drug tester needs you much more than you need the drug tester. Imagine the headlines when John Hughes High School can't field a football team or a band or a play because kids finally had enough and stood up for privacy! They can't expel or suspend the kids for not going out for extracurriculars. The district will be paying the salary of a coach, a conductor, or a director with no students to teach. If everyone did it, there's no way to single out the "stoners" from the rest.
NORML does not at all support the use of marijuana by those under age eighteen except in medical circumstances as directed by a physician. But we do support the privacy rights of students not to be accused of being drug users for merely trying out for extracurriculars. C'mon, kids, show your elders a thing or two - just say no to school drug testing. --"R"R]
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am | By: Radical Russ
You will never find an activist quicker to jump on a media opportunity than Mason Tvert of SAFER. Yesterday I told you of the campus controversy at the University of Georgia, where our NORML chapter there made a “Legalize” t-shirt featuring the Georgia bulldog and the famous Arch (click link for pics). I hadn’t even considered the fact that UGA logos appear all over alcohol-related products…
ATHENS — Controversy erupted at the University of Georgia late Wednesday afternoon after university officials threatened to throw a student organization off campus for producing T-shirts that call for the legalization of marijuana and feature a drawing of UGA mascot Hairy Dawg smoking a marijuana cigarette. Students responded Wednesday evening by teaming up with a national non-profit organization to launch a “Stop the Hypocrisy” campaign in defense of the shirts and their political statement, and highlighting UGA’s use of its logo and mascot to promote alcohol use. More information is available at the campaign’s Web site.
Georgia NORML at UGA will hold a news conference and demonstration Thursday at 12:15 p.m. in front of the UGA Campus Bookstore in Tate Plaza, at which students will be wearing the controversial T-shirts and displaying examples of officially licensed UGA alcohol paraphernalia purchased by students in the campus bookstore.
Statement from SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert:
“Hairy Dawg is a public figure, and these T-shirts clearly constitute political satire. Surely UGA’s lawyers are aware of the sound legal precedent that protects the freedom to such political speech. The administration simply dislikes the marijuana-related content of that speech.
Every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far safer than alcohol both to the user and to society. Alcohol contributes to overdose deaths, injuries, sexual assaults and date rapes, whereas the use of marijuana does not. Why is it okay for UGA put its logos on shot glasses and other alcohol-related paraphernalia — and sell it to students and visitors at the campus bookstore — but not okay for Georgia NORML to depict Hairy Dawg making the safer choice to use marijuana instead?
UGA officials should leave Georgia NORML alone and stop sending a dangerous ‘alcohol-only’ message to students.”
Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 5:31 pm | By: Radical Russ
News of the World in the UK is reporting that Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps is one of us!
THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history.
In our exclusive photo Michael Phelps, who won a record EIGHT gold medals for swimming at the Beijing games last summer, draws from a bong.
And after sporting chiefs announced laws which mean four-year bans for drug-taking, Phelps’ dreams of adding to his overall 14 gold medal tally at the 2012 games in London could already be OVER.
Those dreams seemed the last thing on his mind when he puffed from the bong during two days of partying with students last November, a quiet time in the swimming calendar when athletes would not expect to get tested for drugs.
As he basked in his hero status, Phelps knocked back beers and shots of spirits. And when a student offered him the glass bong engraved with red writing, he did not hesitate, says our source.
Our source said: “You could tell Michael had smoked before. He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do.
“He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits. Michael ended up getting a little paranoid, though, because before too long he looked like he was nervous and ran out of the place.”
The US Olympics Committee, who have pledged to clamp down on drug use, refused to comment, as did USA Swimming and Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman.
More surprising still was the World Anti-Doping Agency’s refusal to comment, given that they introduced the four-year ban on sport’s drug users.
Spokesman Clifford Bloxham offered us an extraordinary deal not to publish our story, saying Phelps would become our columnist for three years, host events and get his sponsors to advertise with us.
In return, he asked that we kill Phelps’ bong picture. Bloxham said: “It’s seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World.”
So, you wanna explain to me how marijuana smoking will make one a lethargic, unmotivated loser who will never get anywhere in life? This should be fun, watching sponsors and Olympic and USA Swimming officials trip all over themselves. I expect to see a special exemption or a sudden new rule that lets firt time offenders skate with some sort of class and community service. Does anybody really think they are going to end Michael Phelps’ career, the greatest Olympian ever, and a huge marketing and endorsement cash cow, for a picture of him doing something that isn’t even criminal in thirteen states?
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm | By: Radical Russ
This just in from our friends at the Arizona ACLU chapter:
The ACLU is researching the viability of bringing a state constitutional challenge to random student drug testing in Arizona. One aspect of our research is the recruitment of potential plaintiffs. Do you know if NORML has contacts with students or parents in Arizona? We’re looking both for potential plaintiffs in a challenge to random student drug testing under AZ’s state constitution, as well as people who might be a few degrees of separation from potential plaintiffs. Any ideas? Of course, feel free to forward this to others at NORML.
If you’ve got a tale to tell and could help as a plaintiff, send me an email at stash@norml.org or leave your story in the comments with a contact email address. I’ll see to it the ACLU reads your story and will pass your contact info along. — “R”R
WASHINGTON – The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is conducting the latest in a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to begin drug testing students randomly and without cause – a policy unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health, including the Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers.
“Subjecting students to unsubstantiated searches flies in the face of the values taught in our nation’s classrooms,” said ACLU Legislative Counsel Jesselyn McCurdy. “Random drug testing is not only ineffective in preventing teen drug use, it’s counter-productive. We know that the threat of random drug testing can discourage students from participating in the very activities proven to reduce drug use, such as high school sports. It marginalizes already at-risk teens and undermines trust between students and educators.”
While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities does not violate the Constitution, many state constitutions provide stronger privacy protections, disallowing such testing schemes. For example, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found random drug testing of students unconstitutional under state law in 2003, and the Washington Supreme Court most recently declared it unconstitutional in March of this year.
In addition to exposing schools to costly litigation, studies have found that suspicionless drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use. The first large-scale national study on student drug testing in 2003 found no difference in rates of student drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. In addition, the results of a two-year trial published last November in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past month drug use and, in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that indicate new risk factors for future substance use.
RevRayGreen: MASS TWEET THIS -@ChuckGrassley Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer sadness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
RevRayGreen: @ChuckGrassley http://bit.ly/55Ejsi Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer madness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
SneakerPimp: one last thing Puff puff pass to any one who wants it
SneakerPimp: i wanna here about the imminent MiniSpof sounds like time for some
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Cal State University Fullerton: No medical marijuana for students
sounds like time for some 
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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