Open thread

Heading to my Dad’s place for Labor Day – no wifi there so no posting, but I’ll be able to follow what’s going on.

If you’re on the road this weekend, travel safe.


bullet image Hernando County’s takeover of jail brings year of sweeping changes

Interesting article about a Sheriff’s office that has taken back a jail that had been privatized through the Corrections Corporation of America. Through some innovative steps, he looks to save $1 million the first year in operating costs compared to what it cost privatized.

Perhaps this will catch some people’s attention and slow the privatization trend.

I’m a strong opponent of private prisons. I don’t think the criminal justice system should be tainted by profit considerations. Cost considerations? Sure. But not profit.


bullet image Stupid headline award. Illegal Marijuana Operations Are Destroying Public Lands: Could Legalization Help?

Really? That’s like saying: “The cows are getting out and wandering all over. Could a fence help?” Well, duh.

How can this even be a debatable item? And I’m sure the writer, Joshua Frank, is trying to be a journalist or something, but being a journalist doesn’t mean you can’t say what is indisputably true. You don’t have to say “according to some advocates, the earth revolves around the sun.” He didn’t find anyone who disputed the notion that legalization would solve the grows on public lands issue; only some that didn’t want legalization because they were making money from it being illegal.


bullet image Because 25 Year for 25 Grams of Percocet Was Not Tough Enough – Jacob Sullum does a nice job discussing the new crackdown on “pill mills” in Florida.


bullet image Medical pot users say their needs are ignored as dispensaries closed
Interesting comments section (thanks, Nick) showing strong support for medical marijuana in Michigan.

I did find one comment unintentionally funny: “Though I am a hard core TEA party constitutionalist, I feel that pot should be legal.” Though? Though? Just goes to show how warped the tea party movement got through being co-opted by social conservatives. It should have been obvious that limited government tea party constitutionalists would of course support legalization.


bullet image UMass Amherst professor says he will appeal DEA denial for medical marijuana grow


bullet image Judge allows challenge to New York “stop and frisk”

[Thanks, Tom]
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59 Responses to Open thread

  1. malc says:

    Troy|9.1.11 @ 2:23PM|#

    “God this is one fucked country. To let a 97 year old woman suffer because she might become an addict.

    I dont exactly get what is wrong with being an addict. Assuming you can responsibly hold down a job and pay for your drugs, what’s the fucking point? I am pretty addicted to air, food, and water, and masturbating, but I am not inclined to kill people.

    Fuck you Florida, I hope you all get anal or testicular cancer. Stupid fucks.”

    Res Publica Americana|9.1.11 @ 2:46PM|#

    The compassionate thing to do, and the only one that isn’t morally reprehensible to a Satanic degree, would be to get the fuck out of people’s lives. Whether it’s DeShawn Johnson from the Projects fuckin’ bitches and doin’ crack, or Granny Gertrude getting addicted to morphine, it’s nobody’s fucking business.

    http://reason.com/blog/2011/09/01/because-25-years-for-25-grams#commentcontainer

  2. DdC says:

    So Much Fabulousness Along the Way
    Hippie elder and counter-cultural icon Carolyn Elizabeth Garcia (a.k.a Mountain Girl) fondly reminisces about the early days of the psychedelic movement and time spent with Ken Kesey and The Grateful Dead in this CC interview.

    Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place
    Behind the scenes at The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests: footage from Ken Kesey’s wild ride on the magic bus has finally been released as a documentary film from Magnolia Pictures.

    Thank God for Hippies

    Anita O’Day: Indestructibly Good
    The film Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer explores the performer’s high times and hard times being imprisoned for marijuana and struggling with heroin addiction.

    “All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it. Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it.”

    “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.”
    ~ Benito Mussolini,
    “London Sunday Express,” December 8, 1935

    “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”
    ~ Harry Anslinger,
    U.S. Commissioner of Narcotics,
    testifying to Congress on why marijuana should be made illegal
    (Marijuana Tax Act, signed Aug. 2, 1937; effective Oct. 1, 1937.)

  3. Cannabis says:

    Please watch participants Rohn Robbins, Rep. Jared Polis, Anthony Coulson, John W. Suthers and Ethan A. Nadelmann in the C-SPAN video Legalization of Marijuana which was recorded at the Vail Mountain School in Vail, Colorado on August 17, 2011.

    • Peter says:

      thanks for the post, cannabis…., it’s incredible how these tired old hacks like the colorado da can keep churning out the same discredited talking points that have been shot down a thousand time already….ethan nadelman was by far the most impressive speaker….the guy from the dea(?) was a complete non-entity and seemed to think he was taking part in a debate about border security, rather than the legalization of cannabis… he got shot down pretty effectively by the mexican audience member who complained about his racism…

      • Cannabis says:

        Did you notice that John Suthers has a tell? Every time he lies he touches his nose. Both he and Anthony Coulson use the word folks way too much as well. They both have a vested interest in keeping things the way that they are. I did like how Rohn moderated the panel.

  4. Cannabis says:

    There’s some interesting reading in the Al Jazeera Americas blog WikiLeaks: The five funniest cables about the ‘war on drugs”. You can search all of the cables here.

  5. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Well it looks like we’ve finally gotten the skinny on the munchies. Perhaps now we can put to bed that relatively new piece of hysterical rhetoric that potheads are all going to end up fat. I’ve found that meme quite annoying. Not only does it assume facts not in evidence, to the best of my knowledge it doesn’t even have any “pot will make men grow teats” dummied up research. Usually they at least some headlines backing their absurd assertions. This particular hysterical rhetoric seems to be wholly a PFTA affair.
    http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/09/marijuana_skinny_fat_study.php

    From time to time I wonder, will people are ever grasp that the best description of a plant derived cannabinoid compound would be the word “regulator”? It’s not anyway shocking to me to think that cannabis can cause skinny people to gain weight and fat people to lose weight. It also give insomniacs the blessing of sleep but will make the sleepy wake up, with cause the aggressive to mellow out but enable the wimpy to stand up for themselves, etc, etc.

    Well it’s only 6 years after the potheads managed to figure it out:

    http://www.marijuana.com/medicinal-marijuana/24819-weed-make-you-skinny.html
    http://www.marijuana.com/surveys-polls-questions/130382-why-everybody-so-skinny.html

    I’ve noticed that an awful lot of the prohibitionists suffer from male pattern baldness. I really, really think we need prioritize demonstrating that using whole plant cannabinoid medicine as a cure for male pattern baldness will work. I hear lots of bald guys would give their left nut to grow hair on their heads. The scalp is lousy with CB-2 receptors so it should work. But even better is that a topical salve used to introduce cannabinoids to CB-2 receptors doesn’t get you high. If I were balding I’d be giving it the old college try. Unfortunately it looks like I’ve gotten dad’s genes and will die with a full head of hair, so I just don’t have the opportunity.

    *in polite company, PFTA is derived from the phrase, “Plucked From Thin Air”. In less than polite company it stands for “Pulled From The A**”.

    ———- ———- ———- ———- ———-

    PBS is giving more air time to one of our very favorite Know Nothing prohibitionists, Dr. Eric Voth. It seems PBS either wasn’t aware of or didn’t think that his vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo in the war on (some) drugs important enough to mention. Does anyone else think it very strange that people who would scoff were NORML or MPP to post the assertion that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west for the foreseeable future consume and regurgitate with glee the blatant propaganda of a man like Dr. Voth? People are strange.

    Remember not to go to the Dr. Voth Dog & Pony Show website without taking an effective anti-nausea remedy previously. That place is a waste of good food. But cheaper than syrup of ipecac, no doubt.
    http://coloradoindependent.com/97427/video-pbs-looks-at-medical-value-of-cannabis

    • DdC says:

      From time to time I wonder, will people are ever grasp that the best description of a plant derived cannabinoid compound would be the word “regulator”?

      Thanks Duncan, a man after my own heart. I found the same conclusions a few years ago in the seemingly duel functions of the immune system of a patient. Slows it down when over producing joint lubricant or speeds it up when necessary to fight off infection and swelling. I’ve been giving Hemp Oil to patients with UTI’s and keeping them off strong antibiotecs. It’s also good mixed with Ganja extract for skin breakdowns. Stops a weeping wound in edema areas. I found nothing otc that worked. But I like your examples too. This old Nahas/NIDA bait and switch using data from one study to prove a point of another. The car can go and stop. You just can’t trust it! If you report on the brakes describing the accelerator as an example. The Great Balancer taking our cells back to where they once belonged jo jo. My temp is ok, no chills or fever, appetite good. Nice that one of your posts didn’t give me the vapors.

      Naha’s Prescription for Bloated Police Budges
      Incredibly, a famous study which found that cannabis reduces tumors (see Chapter 7), was originally ordered by the Federal Government on the premise that pot would hurt the immune system. This was based on the “Reefer Madness” studies done by the disreputable Dr. Gabriel Nahas of Columbia University in 1972.

      Cannabis – Facts and Myths (Official Thread)

      Q: How does cannabis augment human health?

      A: Cannabis strengthens the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is the primary regulating system for all the other systems in the body:

      * digestive system
      * musculoskeletal system
      * respiratory system
      * reproductive system
      * cardiovascular system
      * nervous system
      * immune system
      * lymphatic system
      * endocrine system

      Since the endocannabinoid system regulates and moderates all other systems within the body, it’s power is simply astounding. There is no other biological mechanism which affects so many aspects of our overall physical and mental well-being as the endocannabinoid system. It is the primary control system which maintains essential chemical, hormonal and electrical balance throughout the body. It does this on a cellular level, as a natural part of maintaining overall good health.

      Ganja regulates cells to their original parameters. High levels they suppress, low levels they stimulate…. Even just say no nothings know about the munchies, but it also suppresses the appetite in cases of obesity. Your censored school books and government suppression treating doctors like little kids is why ignorance still prevails in the schools and media. They can’t survive without lies and diversions. Quite disgusting. Such cowards protecting vested ignorance…

      Cannabinoids are in every living animal on the planet above Hydra and Mollusks, with the exception of insects. Bodies are homeostatically maintained by the Cannabinoid System.
      ~ Dr. Robert Melamede, Ph.D.

      Info on Cannabinoids

      Cannabinoids are even found in the white blood cells (CB2 receptors). The CB2 receptors are found predominantly on immunological cells and regulate the shift in the immune system to the anti-inflammatory mode.

      Drug warriors are not doing what they are doing to us because they are intentionally evil, but because they are more primitive(obtuse comes to mind). They look at the world with fear and hostility not cooperativity and understanding.

      Effects of cannabis
      Cannabis cofactor compounds have also been linked to lowering body temperature, modulating immune functioning, and cell protection.

  6. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Why the heck is there almost no cultivation of papaver somniferum in the US? I really like to have someone ‘splain it to me. There are only around half a dozen plants which can be successfully farmed in Afghanistan due to the very poor soil and harsh extremes of temperature. Opium poppies and cannabis are two of those crops. If you can grow it there, you can grow it anywhere. It sure isn’t because the price of seeds is prohibitive.

    http://www.bouncingbearbotanicals.com/opium-poppy-p-152.html

    From the Opium Poppy’s mid-Eastern origins, its use had spread throughout Europe by 2000 B.C. and by the 8th century AD Papaver somniferum was widely cultivated in India and China, and throughout mid-Asia.

    Opium poppy flower pods grow from a lettuce-like base, atop a single stalk, sometimes over 4 feet tall. The flowers are beautiful and grace gardens world-wide. The pods are very popular in dried flower arrangements, and the seeds are commonly used in baking.

    Sold in seed packs for $5. Each Opium Poppy seed pack contains 1 to 2 grams of seed or about 1,000 to 2,000 seeds.

  7. 2011 is the year Bolivia formally denounced the U.N. ‘narcotic’ treaty, yet the DPA won’t highlight the coca issue at its conference this November.

    http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/09/ignore-harm-reduction-of-highlighting.html

    How is downplaying the market perversion of coca into concentrated cocaine, let alone the complete neglect of the larger markets issue of Tobacco market protection, considered to be “Harm Reduction”?!

  8. vickyvampire says:

    Illegal Marijuana Operations Are Destroying Public Lands:Could Legalization Help? Yeah I don’t know how many times I have heard that headline over and over again,I guess no one is listening cause its not legal yet.

  9. darkcycle says:

    Nothing to say today except….It’s my son’s third birthday today. Happy Birthday Ashenafi!

    • allan says:

      3 is a great age – happy birthday Ashenafi! Enjoy your blessings of innocence. And may your dad leave you a better world than the one he inherited when he arrived…

  10. claygooding says:

    WA: State Investigates Medical Marijuana Authorizations At Hempfest
    @ http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/09/state_investigates_medical_marijuana_authorization_2.php

    A little discretion goes a long ways!

    Marijuana Is Going to Be Sold One Way or Another — Question Is, Would You Rather it Be Cartels or Regulated Businesses?

    @ http://www.alternet.org/story/152282/marijuana_is_going_to_be_sold_one_way_or_another__question_is_would_you_rather_it_be_cartels_or_regulated_businesses?page=entire

    Something to ask your leo’s when they support prohibition,,,,for the money

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      The problem with that clay is that many prohibitionists disagree with the aphorism that “if things were different, they just wouldn’t be the same.” There is a cohort of these dimwits who think if pot were legalized that the cartels would still be the suppliers, that they’re violent business disputes would still be the order of the day, that it would be distributed by yo boys standing on the corner in the dark side of town, that the one and only difference would be that they couldn’t arrest these actors for doing what they do today. You and I both know that nonsense is abject stupidity but I’m not aware of anyone that has come up with a method of explaining reality to the stupid. Especially when civil authority caters to and confirms the bias of the stupid. The belief that these business practices are part and parcel of the trade and would continue to no matter the legal environment is held by a not insignificant cohort of the Know Nothings. I must admit this has me baffled. How does one reason intelligently with the brain dead? Especially when they believe in the stupidity of “in denial” where trying to argue against their ridiculous beliefs is simply proof that they’re correct. If I swear that I’m not an armadillo does that prove that I am indeed an armadillo? I must be asleep and dreaming that I’m a human if that’s so. They’ll take my word for it if I say “it ruined my life and turned me into a junkie on welfare” but I’m completely out of touch with reality if I say that “enjoying cannabis enhances and enriches my life”. Go figure that one out. Please get back to me if you succeed. But don’t worry or hurry, I won’t be holding my breath in the meantime.
      ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———– ———–

      Labor day? Who the heck decided to celebrate hard work? Hard work may have never killed anybody, but why take a chance?

  11. claygooding says:

    Duncan,,,my understanding is that poppies do not produce opium unless they are above a certain altitude,,,as with
    the coca plant,,,,that is how a botanist friend explained it to me years ago.

    • Peter says:

      not sure that’s correct about altitude…here’s a piece from the daily mail about poppy/morphine cultivation in the flatlands of eastern england….
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468430/The-painkilling-fields-Englands-opium-poppies-tackle-NHS-morphine-crisis.html
      i am also aware of industrial scale morphine production along the french canal systems….

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      We’ve got plenty of land that’s considered high altitude in the US. I have heard that coca requires cultivation at an altitude higher than 1500 feet. It would take me less than two hours to drive to West Virginia or even places in western Maryland that fit the definition. I had decided that the reason that there’s no coca production in the US stemmed from the lack of seed availability but I must admit that conclusion was reached before the advent of the Internet. But with the exception of fully tropical the US has every other possible climate and altitude available, and tropical is easy enough to fake with a greenhouse in a sub-tropical environment.

      You should keep in mind that I was the idiot in high school that wouldn’t listen to reason when everyone told me that I couldn’t grow good pot anywhere that wasn’t within 5° or 10° of the equator, and was handsomely rewarded for that idiocy. For less than $20 it’s worth a try. I can’t even put in words how much I enjoyed Thai stick back in the ’70s. I’m definitely in favor of a nostalgic revival. If nothing else I should get some pretty flowers to enjoy.

  12. darkcycle says:

    Every year or so, in Seattle, authorities will haul in one or two little old ladies from the Asian community for growing poppies in their gardens. They used to have liaison officers go out every year to try to explain that those pretty flowers should not be harvested.
    My buddy Dave’s greenhouse was full of poppies last year, but he screwed up the extraction. I told him to use the traditional methods but he insisted on solvent extraction. End product was unusable.

  13. palemalemarcher says:

    The local paper in Syracuse is a stenographer for WOD. Beware whenever you read it. I believe in the first amendment, but I have nothing to say to them.

  14. DdC says:

    DC Approves More Than 50 To Apply for MMJ Licenses
    Washington, DC — Any one of these people could soon be your pot supplier: a former daytime TV talk show host, a competitive bass fisherman, a billionaire’s son or a Chinatown businessman. More than a year after medical marijuana became legal in the District, the competition to secure one of the 15 licenses to grow or sell cannabis is finally underway. This week, the D.C. Department of Health is slated to name more than 50 contenders that have been greenlighted to apply. The District plans to announce the winners in January.

    Red Tape Could Keep MMJ from Legal Users Till 2013
    Dover — Delaware’s new medical marijuana law is so loaded with red tape that experts in other states predict it could be at least 18 months before people who are seriously ill or suffering from chronic pain can obtain pot legally here. Experiences of advocates in other states who have ventured into the risky business of growing and distributing a drug the federal government still deems illegal illustrate the bureaucratic hurdles that lie ahead.

    And at the end of the day. No one is going to grow while the Commerce Act lists exchanging of cannabis as Federal jurisdiction. Only individuals can grow their own. Only individuals in states with initiatives or individuals will be busted by the state. In no form other than overturning the CSA will the Feds butt out. Nothing to do with priorities.

  15. denbee says:

    I am an old Vietnam vet and althought it has been many years since my affair with maryjane I do remember her fondly. While at war she helped me find meaning and humor in my terrified life. At home, in the real world, mj helped me calm a raging mind that couldn’t understand how a country could send their boys to war and not welcome them home when it was over. I found that mj helped me sleep when sleep was so hard to find. She reminded me to eat when I forgot to. She helped me to laugh again and trust again and be sociable again. She helped ease me back into a world that really didn’t have much room for war boys. And I wasn’t alone… Millions of young Americans were introduced to mj while in Vietnam and I am only one of many who can say I am a better person for having that small, intense, affair with mj 40 years ago. Sometimes I wonder if it didn’t save my sanity.

    • DdC says:

      To this day the best pot I’ve ever toked stateside was a pinroll that came from a Vet returning from Vietnam. I won the draft lottery and decided it was in my best interest to stay home. Most of the returning Vets I knew told me it wasn’t like the brochure. 40 years ago I started doing my part as a Patriot by toking on a daily basis. The last 20 sharing it with patients as a caregiver. It’s getting ridiculous. The dung worriers still act as if the internet doesn’t exist and they still control the entire message about Ganja. Maybe on the TV, Radio and Newsprints, but not in reality. We are so far ahead of the AMA treating patients it’s pretty near comical. They just say no and the patient suffers. We say yes and relieve symptoms. To profit on the persecution of American Seniors, Vets and the Hippies keeping it alive. It’s Domestic Terrorism no different than the demolition of a few buildings. 10 million have been put through the humiliating process of this Ganjawar Just Us Stism. One trillion dollars spent perpetuating a Police Action for profit, no different than the War in Vietnam they labeled a Police Action. Just so the corporations could profit without being tried as War Criminals profiteering or trading with the enemy. Iraq after “Mission Accomplished”, Korea, Kosovo and Colombia. On and on, sending kids to get shot as their duty, then putting them in cages for growing some pot. Insane. Time for more Vets and Soccer Moms to join in the chorus and end this stupidity for the profits of a few Koch Bros private prisons or crude oil for the tanks and trucks. I’ve never seen anyone on acid act as crazy as these dung worriers. I’m serious. The Neocons have no allegiance to the U.S, or the Political Parties or Americans. They kick down doors protecting the vested ignorance from competition. Big Pharma and Non-Psychoactive Schedule#1 Narcotic Hemp’s threat to the Fossil Fools. It probably wouldn’t be as bad if it wasn’t so damn obvious.
      Be well

      VMMA: Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access

      Many Veterans are the Enemy in the D.E.A.th War

      Cannabis, the Importance of Forgetting

      Ganja 4 PTSD & Depression

      Sam Stone came home. To his wife and family. After serving in the conflict overseas. And the time that he served. Had shattered all his nerves. And left a little shrapnel in his knee. But the morphine eased the pain. And the grass grew round his brain. And gave him all the confidence he lacked. With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back. There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes…
      ~ John Prine

      Rare Vietnam Brisk Tea
      “Acapulco Gold and Vietnam blend”

  16. “Fuck you Florida, I hope you all get anal or testicular cancer. Stupid fucks.”

    Something like that happened to the leader of the organization that runs Georgetown University (and hence the U.S. government), at the time just leading up to the start of the drug war via the 1906 US Pure Foods and Drugs Act:

    http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2011/01/luis-martin-sj-punishment-for-drug-war.html

  17. claygooding says:

    denbee,,,,welcome to the couch,,,you will find several VN
    Vets sitting around it during the day

    • darkcycle says:

      It’s the only thing that has ever helped me deal with those memories. Finally, more than thirty years out, I can ‘just stop thinking’ about that stuff. Instead of it being the entire focus of my day. The emotional load is off, they really are just memories now. Before that, the feelings of fear and the adrenalin would take over, and I would be paralyzed, unable to do anything but stay home and fight those same battles over and over and over in my head. Pot has returned the past to the past and allowed me to leave it there (most of the time).

  18. palemalemarcher says:

    On sidebar in Reason, I salute the libertarians for being honest about the deform of SS. The mainstream GOP would have the populace screened to collect it, the libertarians would just eliminate SS altogether. How a program with its own trust fund has anything to do with long term debt problems is another matter. Signed, ready for normalization.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      Between 2004 and 2006 I lived in Radcliff, Kentucky, which is just down the road from Fort Knox. When I was a wee lad in the 1960s Fort Knox was where they kept all the money. IIRC King Tut robbed Ft Knox in an episode of the Adam West Batman TV show, so I had this other worldy feeling over awe whenever I drove past. The feeling persisted even though I knew that all that is in the Ft Knox vault any more is a huge pile of IOUs.

      The government keeps the socialist security “trust fund” somewhere in West Virginia. But they just keep the Socialist Security IOUs in a filing cabinet. Why spend all that money on a vault and security just for a stack of IOUs? The interest those bonds are accrue are also paid with IOUs. It’s not like they’re bearer bonds, so why would anyone want to steal them?

      I have no clue why anyone would think that the Social Security “trust fund” is anything other than smoke and mirrors accounting that would make the former Enron accountants blush.
      ———-
      BTW Radcliff is in Hardin County which is a dry county. It amused me whenever I happened to go to Flaherty, which is
      located at the Hardin/Meade County line. They had three of biggest darn liquor stores I’ve ever seen.

      • darkcycle says:

        Exactly. As fast as they collect it, they “loan” it back out. It’s like a movie set. All false fronts.

  19. DdC says:

    Marijuana Smokers Are Thinner, Less Likely to be Obese Than Non-Smokers
    A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that people who smoke marijuana are less likely to be obese than non-smokers. full story

    US CA: Shasta High School District Drops Drug Testing Plan

    US CA: OPED: Student Drug Testing Receives a Failing Grade

    US IL: Editorial: Less Than Satisfactory Conclusion To Illini
    As it stands the 58 teachers currently in the Illini Bluffs Federation of Teachers will not be subject to mandatory, arbitrary testing, though they’re free to volunteer a urine sample, which borders on funny for all the participation that will encourage. However, any teachers hired after Aug. 15 of this year – no one has been so far – will be obligated to hand over a body fluid on the whim of the administration, which may very well make them unique among the more than 130,000 teachers who toil in Illinois. Alas, they always eat their young. The school district also can test for cause, the legitimacy of which no one really questions.

  20. undrgrndgirl says:

    “Medical pot users say their needs are ignored as dispensaries closed
    Interesting comments section (thanks, Nick) showing strong support for medical marijuana in Michigan.

    I did find one comment unintentionally funny: “Though I am a hard core TEA party constitutionalist, I feel that pot should be legal.” Though? Though? Just goes to show how warped the tea party movement got through being co-opted by social conservatives. It should have been obvious that limited government tea party constitutionalists would of course support legalization.”

    those “limited government” tea party-ers become “invasive government” supporters when it comes to your and my private lives (you know: sex, drugs, reproductive rights, marriage rights and the like)…

  21. undrgrndgirl says:

    thanks douglas, for the link. i’ve never heard of luis martin despite my years cannabis history research…

  22. You are welcome! Please see the links within- they’ll help in better under standing the political dynamics at work explaining such things as why Cannabis, Coca and Opium are illegal everywhere, yet alcohol and cigarettes unlabeled are AOK.

  23. wordsworth says:

    keep doing what you are doing . Thanks.

  24. Gary Floyd says:

    Its not just VN Vets, I served 11 yrs with the 1/75th regiment. After multipule tours back to back in the middle east, away from my wife and kids, having lost many a friend to combat, I smoke becuase the meds the VA puts me on can kill me and makes me into such a zombie I cant function. I have now been able to leave behind the leagle meds for something that works and makes my kids glad to have dad back. The nightmares will never go away but I can handle them in a better fashion now while getting sleep, oh yeah and now owning my own business that is still flurishing in these ecinomic times.

  25. Servetus says:

    The Dr. David Nutt debate on rescheduling drugs in Britain continues:

    “Canadian researchers Benedikt Fischer and Perry Kendall argue that there is no benefit to categorically knocking down the work of Nutt and his colleagues when current global drug control policy pays scientific evidence no heed. The primary problem at hand is to get governments to pay attention to the evidence for drug policies, not to develop more complex rankings that will be ignored.”

    http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-09/w-rtd090511.php

  26. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    I have no clue why the software decided to post this as a reply to a comment 10 or 15 posts:

    “Ga. Supreme Court fires pot-smoking, door-smashing judge”
    http://www.drugwarrant.com/2011/09/open-thread-255/comment-page-1/#comment-88563

    That story in the AJC is basically just reporting the facts. Judge Peters wasn’t even remotely acting as if he thought that he was Tommy Chong in 1978. On the other hand he certainly sounds like he’s an organic nutcake that needed to be removed.

    “…which include Peters’ weekly use of marijuana during a two-month period in 2010…
    ———- ———- ———- ———- ———-

    The cannabis use was about as relevant to the story and the reasons for his being cashiered from the Judgery weren’t predicated on his use, although the Georgia Supremes held that he should have gotten “treatment”. For smoking pot perhaps as many as 10 times. Yeah right.

    But in the spirit of never letting the facts get in the way of disseminating an effective piece of hysterical rhetoric, The Examiner, the Internet equivalent of a throwaway rag, specifically the Atlanta Crime Examiner was used as a venue to argue that “GA judge firing, behavior makes excellent case for saying no to pot legalization” by Ms. Radell Smith, who also fancies herself a profiler of unsolved homicides.
    http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-atlanta/ga-judge-firing-behavior-makes-excellent-case-for-saying-no-to-pot-legalization#comments

    There’s only one comment which is still being composed at this moment. I’m sitting on my hands because I want to write, “Radell, you ignorant slut…” because it seems that right now I’m channeling Dan Ackroyd from the early days of Saturday Night Live, but I’ll get over that soon enough.

  27. DdC says:

    US OK: Prohibition Not Helping
    Wooldridge, Howard Norman Transcript 04 Sep 2011

    Has Congress Officially Approved the Medical Use of Marijuana?
    Lawsuit Filed in Federal Court Seeks to Find Out Sep 5 2011
    Naming Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray as Defendants, a lawsuit filed by glaucoma patient and D.C. dispensary applicant Montgomery Sibley seeks a court order preventing the Department of Justice from enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in the District of Columbia until the legal ambiguity surrounding the District’s program is resolved.

    Where are the true leaders? Marc Emery
    Since 1969, when hash-smoking Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau assured the nation that decriminalization was imminent, we’ve had a succession of promises without action from Canadian political leaders. After Trudeau reneged on his pledge and ignored the recommendations of his appointed LeDain Commission (which recommended legalization), Prime Minister Joe Clark in 1979 failed to do the same after he committed to decriminalization.

    Map Shows Prices of Pot in the US Jeremiah Vandermeer
    How much do you pay for an ounce? Wired has published a cool “Infoporn” map showing the average price of marijuana across the United States.

  28. DdC says:

    US GA: Column: The Progressive Freedom Agenda

    And Rick Perry? Ten months ago, he said medical marijuana was OK for California but not for Texas. But he said the same thing about New York state and gay marriage, before the social conservatives revised him.

    What did Thomas Paine say about “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots” abandoning principle for political expediency? Rick Perry couldn’t hold firm for one lousy month.

    Legalize marijuana, reduce national debt
    Aug 30 2011
    THE GEORGE-ANNE: Let me preface this by saying this, I am in no way an admission or advocation of illicit drug use, but come on guys, just legalize it already.

    Bulgarian pensioners grow cannabis for cash Sep 5 2011
    The illegal cultivation of marijuana is booming in southern Bulgaria – cannabis is said to thrive in the temperate climate. Even pensioners are cashing in to boost their pensions.

    Cannabis Drug Sativex Given Cancer Trials in Manchester
    A cannabis-based medicine is to be given to advanced cancer patients in Greater Manchester.

  29. DdC says:

    CA City Councilman Killed Investigating Marijuana Grow
    420 TIMES: Aug 30 2011
    Under marijuana legalization, Fort Bragg, CA city councilman Jere Melo would still be alive.

    Feds Want to Ban Medical Pot References at Trial
    Federal prosecutors pursuing drug charges against Montana medical marijuana operators want to keep jurors from hearing any evidence at trial about the state’s medical pot law or whether the operators were complying with it.

    US CA: Column: How Police Officers Determine Impairment In DUI
    The objective systems of intoxication, be it from alcohol and or drugs, are displayed in various forms, such as red, bloodshot, glassy, watery eyes, slurred speech, general unawareness of one’s location, time, date. Other tips are the ability to remove your license from your purse or wallet, inability to stand still in one location without stepping to regain your balance. These are just a few of the many things an officer becomes aware of just by having a brief discussion with a suspected impaired driver.

    Shambhala 2011: The Music Took Me Higher
    The Shambhala Music Festival melted my brain. Cannabis Culture Editor Jeremiah Vandermeer discovers that Canada’s largest electronic music festival is more than the sum of its parts.

  30. Chris says:

    Michigan schwag tested by a lab: http://northernlabservices.com/uploads/The_Schwag_Report.pdf

    I wish my people I know who can’t get/afford anything else didn’t have to smoke any of this crap.

  31. ezrydn says:

    Denbee and Gary,

    I see we dated the same gal at some time. LOL It is written that “we will always hear the screams in the night.” We just don’t have to dwell on them, thanks to her. And I agree, Gary. I quit taking their slop. Woke up in a whole new world.

    It’s also fun to take what we learned and apply it to the reform movement. A hearty “Garry Owen” to you two and the other vets who are always welcome on Pete’s Couch.

  32. DdC says:

    DoseNation is going on indefinite hiatus. It’s been fun, but burnout from sitting in front of the computer has kept me from being able to maintain the blog the way I’d like. The site may be revived in the future, but for now this experiment has come to an end.

    Latest Studies Imply That Cannabinoids Are Protective Against Alcohol-Induced Brain Damage

    Arkansas Relaxes Marijuana Possession Penalties
    Judges can now opt for suspended sentences without creating a criminal record.

    Georgia High Court Ousts Pot-smoking Judge From Bench Sep 6 2011
    The Georgia Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion barred Catoosa County Magistrate Anthony Peters from ever holding another judicial office in Georgia, concluding he has done “nothing to show that he has any ability to live up to the high standard of conduct expected of members of the judiciary in Georgia.”

  33. DdC says:

    Wikileaks: Ghana’s Opposition Leader Likes To Wake ‘n’ Bake Jeremiah Vandermeer
    Wikileaks continue to spill online and spill the beans, this time on Nana Akufo-Addo, a presidential candidate and “flag bearer” of the opposition New Patriotic Party. Turns out he likes to smoke weed for breakfast.

    Will Julian Assange Be Arrested for Wikileaks Leak?
    By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd | Alternet

    The Erwin Rommel School of Law
    Your ability to use the American Legal System as a survival skill in our day
    equals our forefathers’ ability to use firearms as a survival skill in 1776.

    Burning Man 2011

  34. DdC says:

    Over 1200 arrested in Keystone XL protests

    Review: ‘To Live Outside the Law’ by Leaf Fielding

    Too Close to Schools: 58 Cannabis Cafes Set to Shut Down
    In total, 58 of the country’s 650 plus cannabis cafes break government rules on their proximity to schools and face closure, according to news agency ANP on Monday.

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