2010 Global Marijuana March Aftermath

Saturday May 1st 2010. The weekend outlook called for a cold rainy morning and afternoon but the weather man couldn't have been more wrong. The sun was shining, the air was warm and the buds were fresh as 100 local activists from Denver gathered in Civic Center Park.

The Denver Police were eager to march along with us as they outnumbered us 2-1 at 10:30 in the morning when we showed up. Our crowd like usual took a little while to arrive but everyone got there in time and the march left at 11am sharp!

The Denver Police issued 2 citations for smoking cannabis in public during the march after we were told that there would be no problems?!? They claimed to have warned use before the event that they would still be issuing tickets along the parade route but no time did we ever hear them say that at all. Everyone in the parade was smoking, even as the Denver Police video taped the crowd but they used "there discretion" as they were quoted saying and picked out a young lady from the crowd and who was walking a little slower and pulling up the rear of the march and gave her a citation for public consumption and let her go on her way.

Denver Global Marijuana March

Denver, CO -Join in the Denver Global Marijuana March on May 1^st, 2010, at 11am. Assembly will start at 10:30am at Civic Center Park and the March will commence at 11am. This is a permitted event with honorable police escorts that will be protecting our 1^st Amendment rights to free speech. The March will start at the Denver City & County Building; proceed down the middle of15^th Street, to Welton and 17^th Street, up 17^th Street to Broadway, and finishing at Lincoln Park on Colfax and Broadway in front of the Veterans Memorial. Entertainment and various speakers will follow at Veterans Memorial Park across from the State Capitol. Speak out, stand up!!

The Denver Global Marijuana March addresses many social issues, including Marijuana and the people around Marijuana Prohibition, Sexual Orientation Disparities, Immigration Disparities, Poverty Disparities, Health Care Reform, Economic Justice, Civic Engagement, Women's Rights, and other social issues. The March is key in uniting these groups through Marijuana. United we stand, divided we fall.

The Denver Global Marijuana March will feature speakers, education, and a plethora of information. The March will provide people with a voice and help them develop confidence to not be afraid of a stigma! The March is all-inclusive and also provides encouragement and support for Civic Engagement. Miguel Lopez the leader of the 420 Rally explains, "Through the Global Marijuana March, we will help these groups unite!"

The organizers of the March are asking all participants to wear white shirts. Protest banners, signs, etc. are permitted and encouraged at this event. The focus is on re-legalization with a priority for medical marijuana patients and those with medical conditions and debilitating diseases. Speak out and be heard!

This event is proudly sponsored by Rob Corry, Mile High Norml, and the 420 Rally/Miguel Lopez, Community Organizer. For more information, please contact either Tiny Martinez at 720.365.8187, or Miguel Lopez at 720.338.8766.

Our friends at Ganja Gourmet brought this to our attention earlier this week...

BOYCOTT Weedmaps!!! We need your help in telling Weedmaps they screwed up by shutting down the free listing for businesses who decided not to use the paid listings and features. There are now too many competitors for Weedmaps to get away with this! If you have a true story to tell about Weedmaps screwing with you because you wouldn't pay their extortion fees, then please join our group and tell your story! Please join the Weedmaps BOYCOTT Group! The Ganja Gourmet - America's First MMJ Restaurant & Dispensary, though only one month old, had already received seven great reviews by MMJ Patients that used the Weedmaps Reviews. The first week of the year a representive called the Ganja Gourmet and spoke to the webmaster and informed him that Weedmaps was going to have a new program where you could get a better listing than the free listing and it was only $295.00 per month. The Ganja Gourmet webmaster informed the Weedmaps rep that $295 was way too high a monthly price and it would not be paid and the free listing would be fine. A little more than a week later, the Ganja Gourmet can not be found via the Weedmaps' search engine and their Ganja Gourmet page is now 404! This is nothing more than extortion and no one within the MMJ community should put up with this! How can anyone in the MMJ community believe a "review website" if that website is swaying the information by the money it recieves by its customers?

Letter from Pat Steadman State Senator, District 31 to one of our members re: our Jan 14 Off the Steps and into the House Rally

Hello Mr. Chengelis:

Thanks for contacting me to advise me of this event. Several things you should know:

First, Thursday the 14th is the day of the Governor’s annual “State of the State” address. That’s why the media will be all over the building. It also means the House and Senate will be meeting in joint session that morning to hear his address, and we won’t be able to interact with constituents during the speech. The building is always quite crowded on the day of this speech, and security is heightened. Neither chamber usually conducts business on the floor after the conclusion of the speech, and the speech sometimes extends into the lunch hour. I’m not sure why you’ve selected this date for this event, but you’re going to face some logistical challenges and the news media will be focused primarily on the Governor and your event will likely be portrayed as a side-show. You’ll get press, but the event will likely be upstaged by other news.

Importantly, I’m a strong supporter of Amendment 20 and will be working to ensure that legislation to regulate caregivers, dispensaries and growers does not restrict access or violate the terms of our state constitution. I hope you will count me as an ally. I also support de-criminalization, but I don’t see the legislature going that far this year. Instead, I will be carrying sentencing reform legislation for drug possession offenses that eases some the criminal penalties by increasing the quantities that determine the severity of the offense (e.g. increases the amount that is a petty offense up to four ounces and a misdemeanor from 4 to 16 ounces). A small step perhaps, but in the right direction.

Finally, I appreciate your instructions to the people attending this event to be prepared to be respectful and professional. I hope that will be the case. I’m sensing a certain skittishness among many of my colleagues in the legislature about the topic, and I hope this event doesn’t push people in the wrong direction. At a time when the right to medical use is facing a serious threat, I worry about overloading the legislature with messages concerning legalization or hemp.

Hope I’m not coming off as too much of a Nervous Nellie, but I thought you might like to know the context for the event and the potential for it to not be effective, or worse, backfire.

I am the state senator for downtown, so please make a point to try and find me while you’re there next Thursday and introduce yourself. I’ll look forward to our conversation.
___________________________

Pat Steadman
State Senator, District 31
1257 Corona St.
Denver, CO 80218
303-866-4861 (Capitol)
303-861-1514 (home)
720-530-7047 (mobile)
http://www.PatSteadman.com

Happy New Year Colorado

Its has been a great first year and we would like to thank everyone who helped make this year such a huge success for us. 2009 was the most productive year by far for NORML and Marijuana Legalization across the Nation, but the outlook for 2010 appears to be shaping up to be a even better year and we plan on being there every step of the way in Colorado! And to close the year out a grand note, there was a huge victory for patients and caregivers throughout the state yesterday in the city of southern suburb of Centennial. Colorado newest city closed the doors of Canna Mart, a medical marijuana dispensary located on Arapaho Rd. late last year. Yesterday An Arapahoe County judge Wednesday barred the city of Centennial from shutting down any medical marijuana dispensary, saying the city had no right to use federal law as a pretext for doing so. "The city of Centennial cannot use the potential violation of a federal law to order a business legally operating under our state constitution to cease and desist its business," District Judge Christopher Cross said in his ruling from the bench...

A BIG Thank You goes out to District Judge Christopher Cross and his Ground Breaking decision yesterday!

Read Full Story

Where is America’s Cannabis Capital?

From NORML Blog

Because of the numerous media reports and typical Hollywood hype many close observers would immediately place the city of Los Angeles as America’s cannabis capital. Or maybe they’d guess that ever-cannabis tolerant San Francisco must be it. Possibly, ‘Oaksterdam’? but they'd be wrong...

Based on the size of the populations and number of reported medical cannabis dispensaries by each city’s respective City Council, America’s cannabis capital is….drum roll please, And the winner is

Denver Colorado


Los Angeles – 1,000 dispensaries for a population of 9,862,049 = 1 dispensary per 9,862 people

Denver – 198 dispensaries for a population of 598,707 = 1 dispensary per 3,023 people

Cannabis Hope for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

With articles like, Marijuana Damages DNA And May Cause Cancer and another article that stated "New Test Reveals Cannabis Damages Young Brains More Than Originally Thought, Study Finds Hardly anything that the website, Science Daily says is creditable and its usually a bunch of B.S. but every once in a while they'll post a little gold...

ScienceDaily (Dec. 21, 2009) — Chemicals found in cannabis could prove an effective treatment for the inflammatory bowel diseases Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease, say scientists.

Laboratory tests have shown that two compounds found in the cannabis plant -- the cannabinoids THC and cannabidiol -- interact with the body's system that controls gut function.

Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, which affect about one in every 250 people in Northern Europe, are caused by both genetic and environmental factors. The researchers believe that a genetic susceptibility coupled with other triggers, such as diet, stress or bacterial imbalance, leads to a defective immune response.

Dr Karen Wright, Peel Trust Lecturer in Biomedicine at Lancaster University, presented her soon-to-be published work at The British Pharmacological Society's Winter Meeting in London.

She said: "The lining of the intestines provides a barrier against the contents of the gut but in people with Crohn's Disease this barrier leaks and bacteria can escape into the intestinal tissue leading to an inappropriate immune response.

"If we could find a way to restore barrier integrity in patients we may be able to curb the inflammatory immune response that causes these chronic conditions."

Dr Wright, working with colleagues at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, has shown that cells that react to cannabinoid compounds play an important role in normal gut function as well as the immune system's inflammatory response.

"The body produces its own cannabinoid molecules, called endocannabinoids, which we have shown increase the permeability of the epithelium during inflammation, implying that overproduction may be detrimental," said Dr Wright.

"However, we were able to reverse this process using plant-derived cannabinoids, which appeared to allow the epithelial cells to form tighter bonds with each other and restore the membrane barrier."

The research was carried out using cell cultures in a dish but, interestingly, when the team attempted to mimic the conditions of the gut by reducing the amount of oxygen in the cells' environment, much lower concentrations of cannabinoid were needed to produce the same effect.

Dr Wright added: "What is also encouraging is that while THC has psychoactive properties and is responsible for the 'high' people experience when using cannabis, cannabidiol, which has also proved effective in restoring membrane integrity, does not possess such properties."

Science Daily

Doctors group backs marijuana for medical uses

Good Day, Hope everyone's weekend was fantastic and filled with cannabis!!!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. doctors group has endorsed using marijuana for medical purposes, urging the government to roll back a prohibition on using it to treat patients and supporting studies into its medical applications.

The American College of Physicians, the second-largest doctors group in the United States, issued a policy statement on medical marijuana this week after it was approved by its governing body, the group said on Friday.

The group cited evidence that marijuana is valuable in treating severe weight loss associated with AIDS, and nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy in cancer patients.

"Additional research is needed to clarify marijuana's therapeutic properties and determine standard and optimal doses and routes of delivery. Unfortunately, research expansion has been hindered by a complicated federal approval process, limited availability of research-grade marijuana and the debate over legalization," the group said. Reuters

Denver Safety committee hears Charlie Brown's latest pot proposal

Denver city councilman is back proposing his new medical marijuana regulation bill picking up where they left off two weeks ago on Dec2.

Since December 1st 194 medical marijuana dispensaries have filed for there city tax license and the city thinks that they need to step up regulate the area thinking themselves as pioneers creating an ordinance that other cities can follow.

First up was on-site consumption which I was personally interested because me and many others enjoy the fact that we can go into a safe and friendly place and medicate but the council members feel a bit differently Charlie Brown was quoted saying "I do not believe we should allow it," Brown says. "I do not believe that's what the voters had in mind in 2000 -- to have cannabis clubs on-site. Let's get ready for a big discussion on this one."

Patients can go to any number of dispensaries purchase there medicine and safely medicate on site out of the public view while they socialize with other patients, something that they may not have been able to do if they were got there medicine on the black market or the "streets" but councilman Brown would like to see this stopped, claiming that it is "dangerous to let them leave the site, while intoxicated, where they are likely to enter a automobile and maybe cause harm to or others and or themselves" That's when Councilman Chris Nevitt stepped up and mentioned that the city allows bars where patrons are able to leave after consuming at times dangerous levels and enter a auto no questions asked. Still the other council members didn't agree. They did agree to ban consumption on-site. Moving forward

Next on the agenda was the Buffer Zone. A date of December 1st was proposed but the date January 1st and 1,000 ft was approved. This means that a dispensary after Jan 1st will not be allowed to operate within 1,000 ft of a day care center, and level public school any libraries or city recreation centers, trying to keep them from eyes of children that use those facilities, even tho there is no restrictions on any Denver ordinances regarding restaurants that serve alcohol near any of these kinds of business. Irregardless the council approved the measure on a 5-4 vote. Moving on...

Up next was the smell. Now i know for a fact that no business in Denver is regulated by way of smell. I work hundred yards from the Purina Dog Food Plant in Commerce City and that is by far the smelliest place in and or around Denver. I can smell that horrible smell at my house downtown on some mornings if the wind is blowing in from the north. And finally the city council agrees with me. They dont regualte any other business regarding odor and they are not re-inventing the wheel here and there not going to start with the medical marijuana industry. "I don't think we do that for anyone else" Chairman Linkhart says and a spokesman from the Department of Environmental Health said "Odor is primarily a nuisance issue," he says. "We don't make a distinction as to the quality of the odor."

Next up was cultivation on site. Now this is where I tend to agree with the council members on this one. I dont like to see any kinds of grows on-site. First off if the Feds do come down on you and close the location they will not also close your grow down and then it also keeps the criminals who prey on marijuana clinics because they think there is a large amount of product or plants inside away from you and your customers but the item is removed from the proposal by Chris Nevitt proposes removing section H in 24-408, which refers to cultivation and Linkhart agreed and it was removed.

With that they concluded for the day and the year. The proposal will go to the Mayor/Council meeting next week, with a first reading at Denver City Council on January 4 and a public hearing January 11.

"In the meantime, members of the public are welcome to contact us," Linkhart concludes.

Please take the time out of your day and contact Councilman Brown and let him know what you think Charlie Brown Councilman 303-871-0601

Cannabis Holiday Health Fair

Yesterday at the Holiday Inn in Denver, over 40 Cannabusiness, 2 lawmakers and thousands of people gathered for the first ever Cannabis Holiday Health Fair brought us by the amazing and hardworking Laura Kriho of Cannabis Therapy Institute or C.T.I.

“It’s really exciting to nurture the little seeds and introduce ourselves to the community and show how professional we are and how important we are to the economy, I think we’ve done that very successfully.” Kriho told the reporter of Denver Daily News. One of the several news agency's in the city to cover the event

And even though they might not like each other personally, The two Colorado lawmakers who have been leading the push to regulate the industry — Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown and Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver — both made appearances at the fair.

Romer meet one on one with several patients and talked with attendees and defended his bill to an often-disagreeing crowd. Brown also made the rounds talking with businesses and attendees stopping at our table only only for seconds, to get an ear full of complaints regarding his city proposal's.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this an amazing event and one I hope to see every year here on out as we move into 2010 and another step closure to Freedom!

3 time Iditarod champ admits to using Cannabis

Have you ever seen the coldest sport on earth???

Three-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey may have to mush without marijuana in next year’s race.

Iditarod Trail Committee officials have announced plans to test mushers for drugs and alcohol in March. Officials haven’t decided who will get tested, or when, where and how it will be done. “It might be random. It might be a group of mushers at a specific checkpoint,” said Stan Hooley, executive director of the committee.

Alaska law allows for personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, provided the use occurs at home. In addition, Mackey, as a throat cancer survivor, has a medical marijuana card that entitles him to use the drug legally for medical purposes.

Mackey admits marijuana has helped him stay awake and focused through the 1,100-mile race, but he insists it doesn’t give him an edge... for the rest of the story please visit ohmidog.com

Update: End of the Year Meetings and Events

Hello NORML Friends!!!

The End of the Year is once again upon us and we have had great success early on, working several tables handing out free information, educating the masses, Plus helping organize the large gatherings on the last Saturday of every month at the Colorado State Capital over the past six months. We have had the privilege of working closely with The Denver 420 Rally Team, who have been out there gathering peacefully, over the course of several years, month in and month out.

1) We are having our Monthly Meeting, which is open to the public and all are welcome to attend on December 16th, 7pm at the Gypsy House 1279 Marion St (303) 830-1112 Denver, CO. Its easy to find and serve great food and herbal teas.

2) Our friends at the Mile High Wellness Center (6740 E Hampden suite 100 Denver CO 80224 720-382-8516 http://www.milehighwellness.net) are having a Charity Dinner to help raise money for a local orphanage in Denver this Holiday season. The event will be at Mile High Station, on Dec 17th. Cocktails will be served at 6 with dinner @ 7:30 and the silent auction will end at 9. Tickets can be ordered online for $30 at milehighwellness.net, semi-formal attire if you can help please bring any and all donations. They can be brought to the store or by contact us!!

3) Join Mile High NORML and the Denver 420 Rally Team on Saturday December 26th from 3-5pm on the West Side of the Capital Steps where we will be peacefully protesting the Criminalization of Marijuana, with local guest speakers, great music, vendors and dispensaries passing out educational pamphlets.

4) Join us January 14, 2010 from 11:00am - 2:00pm on the West Side Steps of the Colorado Capital as we address the Colorado General Assembly on the upcoming marijuana issues. List of confirmed speakers for the 14th:

Shawn Hauser: DU Law Student and President of the newly formed DU N.O.R.M.L chapter, Rob Corry: Stanford Law Grad, Most experienced criminal marijuana and civil liberties lawyer, Mason Tvert: Executive Director S.A.F.E.R. Member of Denver Mayors Marijuana review policy panel, Carlos Valverde: Executive Director Colorado Progressive Coalition, Dr. Robert J. Melamede: Ph.D. Chairman of the Biology Department of the University of Colorado Conducting Scientific research on Cannabinoids, Paul Saurini: Marijuana Radio Host, Shannon Smith: Metro State College Student plus several other noteworthy speakers Sean McAllister: Founder of Sensible Colorado , a drug policy reform nonprofit, Warren Edson Defense and Marijuana Law Attorney in Colorado , Brian Vicente, Miguel Lopez, Damian Lagoy, Larry Frieling and Dan Pope

Denver Councilman Charlie Brown presents his 'pot' proposal

Early today on a cold snowy morning, The Denver City Council Safety Committee meet today to discuss the blooming industry of Medical Marijuana and how to regulate them within the Denver city limits... Councilman Charlie Brown, not the famous Peanuts character has drafted a ordinance in which HE THINKS will help the city regulate the industry.

There are several things wrong with the councilman's proposal. I have highlighted some of the items that we here at Mile High NORML are most concerned with...

1) The council will not try to define the term caregiver. They will leave that up to the Colroado Dept of Health, they plan to define the defination there next meeting, Time TBA

2) In Sec. 24-403 section (a) On and after [March, 1, 2010] it shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise distribute any marijuana for medical use without obtaining a license to operate as a medical marijuana dispensary pursuant to the requirements of this article. This licensing requirement shall apply regardless of whether or not a medical marijuana dispensary has commenced operation prior to said date...

The only problem I for see in this is the price of obtaining the license itself 1. Application fee is $2,000 2. Criminal background check fee, per person checked 3. License fee, per year is $3,000

3) In Sec. 24-405 - Application (a) Application for a medical marijuana dispensary license shall be made to the director upon forms provided by the director for that purpose. In addition to the information required by Chapter 32 of this Code, the application shall include the following information: #'s 1 though 4 are basic standard application stuff all but number (4) Name and address of any manager or managers of the medical marijuana dispensary, if the manager is proposed to be someone other than the owner. The application shall also contain 24-hour contact information for the manager or managers of the licensed premises which shall be made available to the general public in order to provide a prompt response to public questions and concerns about the operation of the licensed premises

We are pleased to announce that this was slashed down after 10 minuets or so of debating. In no other buisness is there a need for the owner to have 24 contact info. If in the middle of the night something happens the police will not have any problems locating the owner/s of the building. Actually the whole Application section is filled with quarky things. They are just trying to make it as hard as they can.

4) In 24-408. Requirements related to licensed premises (a) No marijuana shall be smoked, eaten or otherwise consumed or ingested on the licensed premises....

FUNK THAT. We should be able to use our medicine where ever we fell the need.

in the same section

(g) The licensed premises shall be monitored and secured 24-hours per day including, at a minimum, the following security measures:

Just another cost that will be passed along to the consumer.

***They stopped only after 7 pages of simple debate and agreed to reconvine the meeting and discuss the rest of the proposal, two weeks from now on 12/16/09.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Denver Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licensing Ordinance
Amend Chapter 24, D.R.M.C. ("Health and Sanitation") by adding a new Article XI, to read as follows:

Article XI. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Sec. 24-401. Purpose and legislative intent. Although the possession and use of marijuana is and remains unlawful under Federal law, Section 14 of Article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution ("Amendment 20") provides an exception to prosecution under state criminal laws when marijuana is possessed and used for medicinal purposes by a patient who has been diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition and by the patient's primary caregivers. Amendment 20 does not, however, contain any provision for the lawful sale or distribution of marijuana to patients and, to date, the State of Colorado has failed to adopt laws or regulations to clearly explain how and whether marijuana may be lawfully sold or otherwise distributed to patients. As a result of this ambiguity in the State law, unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries have proliferated in Denver and elsewhere in Colorado. The purpose of this Article is to license and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the interest of public health, safety and general welfare. In particular, this Article in intended to regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana in the interest of patients who qualify to obtain, possess and use marijuana for medical purposes under Amendment 20, while promoting compliance with other state laws that prohibit trafficking in marijuana for non-medical purposes. Nothing in this article is intended to promote or condone the sale, distribution, possession or use of marijuana in violation of any applicable law. Compliance with the requirements of this article shall not provide a defense to criminal prosecution under any applicable law. Persons who cultivate, possess, sell, distribute, purchase, or use marijuana, whether for medical or non-medical purposes, do so at their own risk of prosecution under any applicable federal, state or local law.

Original Article Denver Westword

Marijuana Has Probably Has Been Studied More Than The Atom! Allen St Pierre NORML

Great News Today in the Denver Court...

Today Marijuana advacates all over Colorado celebrated today as Denver Judge Larry Naves took 2 hours to come to the conclusion that last weeks emegency Colorado Board of Health hearing was invalid and now void...

"By the evidence presented here today, I find that the defendants have violated the court order when, in November, there was a meeting without notice that complied with the law and the parties changed the rules," says Naves. "I find that there was no emergency. The justification for an emergency was a Court of Appeals decision that was not even final. And the Court of Appeals could not use the [Board of Appeals rule in question]...

"It appears from the transcripts from the meeting on November 3rd [that they] did not understand how Court of Appeals decision even worked, even though it was suggested here that the explanation was given off the record...

"Even though the Court of Appeals had an opportunity to say in the ruling that this new rule was in conflict with this decision, they did not do that...

"[I had a concern] two years ago, and it appears that the board did the exact same thing they promised not to do. One of the reasons they violated the rules is that they seem to forget the plaintiffs in this case. In the transcript, there isn't any mention of the plaintiffs in the case... These people have, without dispute, serious problems for which they have prescriptions for medical marijuana... There was no mention of the impact of this change on these people... There is no consideration of how plaintiffs and others who need medical marijuana would obtain it...

"So, again, I find that the board in their November 3rd meeting violated the law. Therefore the rule change they enacted is invalid and void....

The Drug War and the Constitution

I think I may have found the best argument on the web with regards the drug war and how it violates the very principles of our Constitution and The Bill of Rights. The Aurthur Paul Hager is the 2000 Libertarian Senate nominee of the Indiana Libertarian Party. Hager received 33,992 votes for 1.6% of the total vote.

I'd like to draw your attention to companion notes that I put together for this talk. They're located on the tables out back there, and I think that those of you who are doing CLE have them in your manuals.

Well, I'm going to attempt to descend into the murky depths of political philosophy and Constitutional analysis. At the outset, I do have a caveat: the arguments I am going to be presenting have never been endorsed by Congress or the courts and I hope that during the question and answer session we can get into this in a little bit more detail.

The thesis that I want to advance today is that the drug war and the laws that prohibit the private consumption of certain drugs are un-Constitutional. Prohibition laws, themselves, violate every tenet of limited government that is embodied in our Constitution.

To begin, let me pose a question: why was it necessary to amend the Constitution in order to prohibit the drug alcohol? And, while you are cogitating on that: how is it possible to prohibit other drugs without going through the formal amendment process? Well, I think, in order to answer these questions, it's necessary to take a look at what the Constitution is supposed to be.

At the recent confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas (uh, Clarence Thomas, by the way, -- he and I have at least two things in common: we're both ex marijuana users [chuckles from the audience], and we're both married to attorneys) -- in any case, there was a lot of discussion at the hearings about natural law and natural rights. Just about all of the participants seemed to agree that our system recognizes the existence of "inalienable" natural rights and that government exists to "secure" those rights for its citizens. It's just as well that they agreed on that -- the architects of our system of government, in fact, had that principle in mind, and they viewed the Constitution as being a blueprint for a limited government in which those powers that were to be made available to the federal government would be listed. If a power is not listed in the Constitution, it is not supposed to be available to the Federal government. Two hundred odd years ago, when the Bill of Rights -- which we're here to celebrate -- was being debated, there were those who opposed the Bill of Rights on the grounds that, uh, they're completely unnecessary. It's redundant -- the rights already exist and therefore they don't have a place in the Constitution. In fact, they made the argument that a Bill of Rights is dangerous because at some future point in time, people would get the idea that if a right wasn't to be found in the Constitution -- like privacy -- it did not exist. Perhaps the best articulation I've ever seen of this principle is to be found in The Federalist Papers...

The rest of this excellent article can be found at the Drug War Library

David Nutt: Governments should get real on drugs

IF THERE is one thing that politicians can and should do to limit the damage caused by illegal drugs, it is to take careful note of the evidence and develop a rational drug policy. Some politicians find it easier to ignore the evidence, and pander to public prejudice instead.

I can trace the beginning of the end of my role as chairman of the UK's official advisory body on drugs to the moment I quoted a New Scientist editorial (14 February, p 5). Entitled, fittingly enough, "Drugs drive politicians out of their minds", the editorial asked the reader to imagine being seated at a table with two bowls, one containing peanuts, the other the illegal drug MDMA (ecstasy). Which is safer to give to a stranger? Why, the ecstasy of course.

I quoted these words in the Eve Saville lecture at King's College London in July. This example plus other comments I have made – such as horse riding is more harmful than ecstasy – prompted Alan Johnson, the home secretary, to say that I had crossed the line from science to policy. This, he said, is why I had to go.

But simple, accurate and understandable statements of scientific fact are precisely what the advisory council is supposed to provide. Why would any scientist take up some future offer of a government advisory post when their advice can be treated with such disdain?

As well as ignoring its own advisers, the UK is falling out of step with international trends. When Portugal softened its drugs laws in 2001, drug use remained roughly constant, but ill health and deaths from drug taking fell. Decriminalisation quietly crept up the agenda in Vienna this year at a meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, where governments heard new, independent evidence on how the harms of criminalisation were outweighing the benefits. In August, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico approved a law decriminalising possession of small amounts of marijuana and other drugs. And just last month, Eric Holder, the US attorney general, instructed federal prosecutors to stop hounding medical users of marijuana in the 14 states where such use is legal.

No one doubts that heavy users of marijuana are risking trouble with their mental health. What I have simply pointed out is that we need a consistent policy, recognising that heavy users of alcohol and tobacco are more numerous and are causing themselves – and others – even more trouble through their indulgence.

Policies that ignore the realities of the world we live in are doomed to fail. This is true for just about all the biggest issues that we confront, from energy and climate to criminal justice, health and immigration. I'm not arguing that science dictate policy; considerations such as cost, practicality and morality also have a role. But scientific evidence should never be brushed aside from the political debate.

The current British government has said repeatedly that it wants its policies to be evidence-based, but actions speak louder than words. On ecstasy, for example, it made policy first, sought advice second – and cynically rejected the advice it was given. The result is shambolic policy-making which gives great cause for concern if that is how governments operate more generally.

The results of a government inventing its own reality and acting on it can be seen in the appalling consequences the George W. Bush presidency had for world peace, the environment and human rights. The message for the British government is a simple one: don't exclude rational argument in order to exploit a visceral public response. Politicians have to win the hearts and minds of their electorate. If your policy is informed by an underlying moral imperative, be open about what that is, and don't try to disguise it with a veneer of pseudo-science. We ignore scientific evidence at our peril.


Original Article New Scientist
David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was chairman of the UK government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he was dismissed last week by the UK home

THC: Think Hemp Colorado

There has been so much goings on in the past week and not only in this great state of Colorado but all across the country in regards to cannabis. I heard one reporter on FOX news no less, say that the memo released on Monday from President Obama and the D.O.J. was in comparison to the Berlin Wall falling in the mid eighty's. Having said this we here at Mile High NORML are rejoicing but we also think that its only the beginning and the final chapter has yet to be written.

On Tuesday the day after the historic memo was released. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers came out and lashed the president publicly using harsh words of criticism. Suthers thinks that the Federal Government should "stay out of Colorado affairs regarding medical marijuana" because the laws are so vague. He would like to see clarification in the subject but with Colorado's medical marijuana law a part of the state constitution it makes it nearly imposable to amend. Which is exactly how the authors designed it.

On Wednesday Dem. State Sen. Chris Romer announced plans to introduce a medical-marijuana bill next year clarifying regulations involving pot-using patients. Denver attorney Rob Corry, who handles medical-marijuana cases, was quoted in saying, he is leery of lawmakers adding more government regulations "But if Sen. Romer is approaching this from the perspective of making medicine more accessible to patients and at a lower price, I'm less concerned about it," Read the DP article on Sen Romer

I read the Denver Post everyday and everyday i see the stories regarding marijuana and i am not sure how i should take it. The DP editorials dept support medical marijuana but by the sounds of its writers Reefer Madness is in full effect. This week article by Mike Mcphee in the paper really showed the true intentions of the paper. DEA Claims that the Mexican Cartels are supplying the Dispensaries here in Denver "dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms" And whats it doing is trying to scare the public away from medical marijuana. Now I have meet several growers recently around here and none of them are Mexican nor do they have any ties with any cartels. And quite frankly the pure racism is incredible hard to swallow. Read the DP article on Cartels This is not the first time that the DP has made comments against Mexicans. Over the summer the DP reported that the Forrest service released a statement saying "If you come across people listening to Mexican music drinking Hecate and eating tortillas there is a good chance that they are Mexican cartel members growing marijuana illegally??? Really

And finally with over 12,000 documented studies on Cannabonoids archived by the U.S. Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health the US Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske on Fox Business High Noon yesterday he still said that there is no medical use for marijuana??? Really Gil Really???

Obama to sign new medical marijuana policy

AP NEWS BREAK - WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries — businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.

A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.

"This is a major step forward," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality."

At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.

In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.

And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.

The memo, officials said, is designed to give a sense of prosecutorial priorities to U.S. Attorneys in the states that allow medical marijuana. It notes that pot sales in the United States are the largest source of money for violent Mexican drug cartels, but adds that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources.

Medical marijuana advocates have been anxious to see exactly how the administration would implement candidate Barack Obama's repeated promises to change the policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.

Shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans.

AP NEWS BREAK

Another Stiletto Stoner Story: Elle Magazine on marijuana as anxiety relief

We are seeing a barrage of Main Stream News articles of the past few weeks regarding marijuana and here's the newest... First there was the Stiletto Stoners in Marie Claire followed by Coverage of the article on The Today's Show with Matt Lauer and now this. Elle magazine looks into the benefits of marijuana when suffering with or from anxiety. Elle Magazine

"Each time I went to pick up my dosage at a dispensary, I weighed the costs of medicinal marijuana. While the literal cost was roughly the same as street weed (on average, $55 for the standard 3.5 grams, known colloquially as “an eighth”), I did pay a price in that all of a sudden, my pot smoking was a habit to be discussed with others. My parents resisted the idea at first; my mom handed me more than her usual share of newspaper clippings on the harm smoke inflicts on the lungs or the latest DEA dispensary raid. I got good at relaying what I’d read in studies—that modulation of my cannabinoid system may alleviate anxiety disorder more quickly than SSRIs and with fewer side effects—to the point that people usually agreed to let me go about my own business, as long as it made me feel better."