Human Right
Usually, Curtis Thurmond is using his fork lift to pick up plywood. But, on Friday morning, investigators had other ideas. "They just came to ask me to give them a hand," says Curtis. "I had no idea what I was giving them a hand for at the time." That lift of his was picking up some of the 400 pounds of marijuana from a storage unit at the Flowing Wells Industrial Park in Martinez. "I was shocked to hear in this immediate area, we had that type of activity going on..." [Shocked!]
It has been nearly 40 years since President Nixon began the "war on drugs" in 1971. Its objective from the outset was to suppress the manufacture, distribution and consumption of illicit drugs. By all of those measures -- and by common agreement -- the multibillion-dollar effort has been a failure. Supply is plentiful, distribution sophisticated and consumption steady. Today, there is rare consensus among policymakers, law enforcement leaders and healthcare professionals: Our drug policy, they concede, is not working.
VANCOUVER — The Conservative government continued its law-and-order blitz Friday by reintroducing tougher penalties for drug offences. The changes came a day after Ottawa announced Criminal Code amendments aimed at gang violence. But a veteran defence lawyer gave the government's lock 'em up strategy a failing grade, saying it doesn't get at the roots of gangsterism — alienated young people and widespread demand for illegal drugs.
The list of athletes caught using marijuana is long. Could it be that drug warriors have been lying about marijuana's health impact? They've definitely been lying about the deterrent value of marijuana prohibition.
Will smoking weed soon be legal (for medicinal purposes only, of course) in the Garden State? New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine sure hopes so and he isn't alone. On Monday the New Jersey State Senate passed the "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" by a 22-16 vote. The bill proposed by Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) would permit terminally and chronically ill patients to get permission to grow, possess and smoke weed. In total patients could possess up to six plants and one ounce of weed, according to the bill.
North Coast medical marijuana growers and distributors offered guarded optimism to news that federal authorities are expected to stop raiding California pot dispensaries. "In general, we are very happy about it," said John Sugg, president of the Sonoma Patient Group in Santa Rosa. "It makes us feel better we're not going to be attacked just for political reasons." [Dream on! (What is he smoking? Oh, yeah....)]
The Temecula branch of Alternative Care Clinics opened four months ago, part of a growing network of Inland businesses connecting patients with medical marijuana. "We used to get a lot more questions," said Jonathan Arbel, ACC's director of operations. "Now it's just more recognized as a legitimate treatment." "It seems like it's a lot less of a negative thing now," said Tom Wiggins Jr., administrator for Inland Empire Cannabis Consultants of Temecula. The trend worries a local anti-drug organization.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California....
captured and tackled by a woman 50 pounds lighter than him. The woman we are told used a wedgie
Marijuana is California's largest cash crop. It's valued at $14 billion annually, or nearly twice the value of the state's grape and vegetable crops combined, according to government statistics. Indeed, a recent report pegged marijuana as two-thirds of the economy of Mendocino County, a ganja hotbed north of San Francisco. That's not surprising—it costs $400 to grow a pound of pot that can sell for $6,000 on the street. But the state doesn't receive any revenue from its cash cow. Instead, it spends billions of dollars enforcing laws pegged at shutting down the industry and inhibiting marijuana's adherents. Of course, there's a reason for that. Marijuana's social costs may include addiction and rehabilitation treatment and lost productivity. Yet these are minute compared with the extensive social costs of alcohol or tobacco.
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has accepted a job as the nation's drug czar in the Obama administration.... Kerlikowske, who was appointed Seattle chief in 2000 by then-Mayor Paul Schell, had worked the previous two years as deputy director of the Justice Department's community-oriented policing division during the Clinton administration. Sources said Kerlikowske established ties in Washington, D.C., and has a strong relationship with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton years....
/>Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign promises to stop the raids. The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers. [Yeah, sure.]
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