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June 11, 2009

Obama's Cruel Drug War

Yet another victim of the drug war goes to prison, now under the "progressive" Obama administration's auspices. When will folks on the left call on the administration to truly reverse decades of brutal and unconscionable drug war policies?

See the MPP press release below.

/KDR

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MPP Condemns Prison Sentence for Medical Marijuana Defendant Charles C. Lynch

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA —The Marijuana Policy Project strongly condemned today's federal sentencing of Charles C. Lynch, a California medical marijuana provider who worked scrupulously to follow state and local laws but now faces one year and one day in federal prison.

"Years from now, Mr. Lynch may well be remembered as the last American to go to federal prison for a mistake, the final victim of an already repudiated policy well on its way to the ash heap of history, but whose mean-spirited effects still linger," said MPP executive director Rob Kampia. "This sentence is a cruel and pointless miscarriage of justice. Mr. Lynch and his attorneys say they plan to appeal, and we hope they succeed. With federal law enforcement at the Mexican border so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, even one more penny spent persecuting a man who is not a criminal in any rational sense of the word is an outrageous waste of resources."

In February, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that henceforth the Drug Enforcement Administration would only conduct enforcement actions against medical marijuana defendants who were violating both state and federal law, reversing the Bush administration's policy of ignoring state medical marijuana laws.

Lynch's medical marijuana collective was licensed by the city of Morro Bay, and officials routinely inspected the facility to monitor compliance with state and local laws. But because federal law makes no statutory allowance for medical marijuana, all evidence related to California's medical marijuana law was barred from his trial.

With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

Posted by KevinRollins at 05:34 PM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2008

The True Cost of Being High

"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.

The above quote is from an AP wire article by Tracie Cone. The article tells the story of banned chemicals being smuggled in from Mexico to facilitate the unhealthy growth of pot plants in our national forests.

The story reaches hyperbolic dimensions of freaked-outedness:

"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, [High Sierra Trail Crew's] executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"

Whoa... that's heavy, dude. What *does* it really mean?

With all the Californication, we don't hear about the real cause of the pesticide use: the war on drugs.

If there was no war on drugs there would be no growing Mary Jane in the national forests. Just in private farms on private property, subject to EPA's imperial dictates. Safer, cleaner, more eco-friendly highs for all.

A more serious article would compare marijuana to alcohol, or hemp to cotton in terms of environmental impact. Tracie Cone's article is merely a vehicle of drug war propaganda.

/KDR

Posted by KevinRollins at 02:08 AM | Comments (4)

October 11, 2007

Are you going to arrest me, Governor Romney?

If you haven't seen the video of Mitt Romney turning away from a man with muscular dystrophy, coldly stating, "I don't support medical marijuana," you are missing out on a clear moment of truth about this man who is running for president.

It really boils down to that simple moral judgment -- should a sick man in wheelchair and his doctors who are trying to help him be put in jail for attempting to alleviate pain? Apparently Romney is okay with that. That is his morality.

If the reality of the man's suffering was discomforting to him, perhaps he should reconsider his policy position. Otherwise, Romney has to live with knowledge that his pursuit of power hurts the man in the wheelchair and that every step forward he makes, his campaign is furthering injustice and cruelty.

/KDR

Posted by KevinRollins at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

September 03, 2007

State Medical Marijuana Laws Under Attack in New Mexico

New Mexico passed a law protecting sick and dying people from prosecution under state law, but the goon squads sent by our imperial leader in Washington don't recognize state law, so they invaded the home of a paraplegic New Mexico man named Leonard French who lost the use of both of his legs in a motorcycle accident and seized...six plants, most of which were dead.

Mr. French suffers chronic pain and muscle spasms due to his spinal cord injury, and qualified as a medical marijuana patient under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act state law that passed earlier this year. Medical marijuana offers him relief with fewer side effects, he reports, than other pharmaceuticals that he's tried.

Posted by PaulGessing at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2007

The Right Kind of Flip-Flopping

Bob Barr was a Congressman from Georgia for 8 years during what might be called the "golden era" of the Republican Revolution. He was one of the impeachment managers during the Clinton Administration and he was an ardent drug warrior. He was also one of the staunchest advocates of privacy protection in Congress. Then, the Democrats redistricted Georgia and forced Barr to run against another incumbent Republican and he lost. The Libertarian Party ran ads opposing Barr and were gleeful when he lost.

My how the times have changed. Not only is Barr now a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party, but he recently joined the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization with the stated goal of legalizing marijuana.

Unlike the jokers running for President, I think it is pretty safe to say that Barr has changed his mind due to real introspection and thought rather than political calculations. Congrats Congressman Barr for willingness to change!

Posted by PaulGessing at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2006

55 Years for Weed?

According to the Marijuana Policy Project, last week, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand the mandatory 55-year prison sentence that a lower court imposed on a man who was convicted of carrying a handgun during three marijuana deals in Utah.

By refusing to hear the case, the U.S. Supreme Court ensured that 27-year-old Weldon Angelos will spend just about the rest of his life behind bars for selling three eight-ounce bags of marijuana to an undercover informant.

As his attorneys noted, the sentence he will serve is harsher than the sentence for raping a child — or the sentence for detonating a bomb aboard an aircraft.

Even the federal judge who was required to issue the mandatory minimum sentence called it “unjust, cruel, and even irrational.” Yet, the U.S. Supreme Court let the sentence stand without comment. You can read more about this abrogation of justice here.

Posted by PaulGessing at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)

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