Who knew U.S. attorneys could be so funny?

This one really cracked me up.

WASHINGTON — U.S. attorneys have a message for California’s medical marijuana advocates: Don’t blame Barack Obama. After it was announced that the crackdown on medical pot establishments in the Golden State was a collective decision by the four U.S. attorneys in California and not the result of any directive from Washington, spokeswoman Lauren Horwood emphasized that the administration never even green-lighted the ramped-up enforcement actions.

Really?

Anyone who has ever worked within an organization with a charismatic leader knows that if that is actually true, there are very few possibilities now that the U.S. attorneys have made that statement.

  1. Barack Obama does, in fact, agree with the decision and can be blamed.
  2. Barack Obama does not, in fact, agree with the decision and the U.S. Attorneys either must stop what they’re doing, or they must stop what they’re doing while turning in their resignations.

So… which is it?

I mean, do they really think that they can somehow get Obama off the hook with the liberals who support medical marijuana with something that lame?

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55 Responses to Who knew U.S. attorneys could be so funny?

  1. allan says:

    havta add this one to Pete’s comedy theme:

    Medical Marijuana Protest Draws 200 to Obama Fundraiser

    near the bottom of this long piece by David Downs in the East Bay Express is this gem:

    This October, the White House asked citizens to create new ideas for the country, and if they received enough online votes, the White House would respond. The effort became a runaway success for marijuana law reformers.

    Which would be easily dismissible, because it happens all the time online. Except this time it was apparently enough to rile some drug warriors.

    On October 18, narcotics cops in Los Angeles used federal drug trafficking interdiction time and resources — tax dollars that could be spent making the streets safer — to try and lobby the White House for a continued drug war.

    According to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition — who obtained a leaked copy of the e-mail — on Tuesday at 9:36 a.m., the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area intelligence office called LA CLEAR e-mailed a huge group of cops, asking them to sign a pro-drug war petition. Here’s the full email:

    From: info@lacleartraining.org
    Subject: Petition Against Marijuana Legalization
    Date: October 18, 2011 9:36:30 AM PDT

    WE NEED YOUR HELP: The legalizers are totally dominating the White House “We the People” Web site — they have more signatures than every other issue combined.

    CADCA’s petition, supporting drug prevention and against marijuana legalization, is up to 1,000 signatures but we need every other network in the field to mobilize to help us get as many more signatures as possible in the next two weeks.

    -snip-

    Law Enforcement Against Prohibition member and former Los Angeles Police Department deputy police chief Stephen Downing said that never in his decades on the force did he spend his workday trying to gin up votes for a worthless online poll to save his job.

    Downing says it was and probably is against department policy to engage in politicking during work hours or in uniform during off-work hours.

    “Absolutely. You do not engage in politics period. That was the rule in our department, you don’t do it.”

    Six hours after LA CLEAR marshaled the drug war machine to battle the stoner vote, Sr. Deputy Director of LA CLEAR Eric Deroian blasted out a follow-up message saying they had messed up.

    “Earlier today an e-mail blast went out from the LA CLEAR Training Site. This e-mail was political in nature and should not have been sent out on or to governmental e-mails. Please disregard/delete,” Deroian wrote.

    • Francis says:

      That’s good stuff. Do we know how many signatures their petition ended up with?

    • kaptinemo says:

      One time when somebody realized that they were violating the Hatch Act. I guess it’s becoming clearer that in a time of near-universal fiscal collapse, with taxpayers becoming ever less tolerant of their money being wasted by their civil servants and are becoming politically active, the said civil servants realize what thin ice they’re walking on.

      But they should not be let off the hook. Nope, not this time, as we have the smoking gun, now. The Sr. Deputy Director of LA CLEAR knows his people did wrong. They’ve been caught red-handed violating the Hatch Act.

      Now, legally hammer them. Hard. Repeatedly. To get the message to all those civil servants who think they’re above their masters that we will not tolerate this anymore.

  2. C.E. says:

    To be fair to the US Attorneys, a third possibility is that President Obama just doesn’t give a crap what they do. In other words, he may or may not agree with them, but he’s leaving it to their discretion. If so, this speaks really poorly about the President.

    • Pete says:

      Ah, but he also gives a crap to whatever his campaign manager tells him to give a crap about. And if this affects votes, he gives a crap.

      • Ben says:

        Yeah, it’s total bulls#!t. The US Attorneys were not elected. Neither was the Justice Department. They are all under the purview of the President, who takes full responsibility for their actions, no matter what they claim.

        • kaptinemo says:

          There’s no ‘plausible deniability’ this time. Either Obama is in charge of the Executive Branch and the boss of those…’people’…or he isn’t President. Which is it?

          Things like this don’t happen in a vacuum. Orders were given…and acknowledged. These ‘people’ are saying that they acted on their own? They believe their own propaganda too much; they think we are as stupid as they evidently are. Because they’ve either admitted to the kind of ‘activism’ judges are often accused of…or they’ve just told the world that the Obama Administration cannot heel it’s own dogs.

          I smell a major lawsuit approaching, as well as yet another “Fast and Furious” type scandal for the Obama Administration about to break wide open.

    • Ed Dunkle says:

      He knows what’s going on. He’s trying to win the swing states and that, apparently means going tough on pot. I’d really like to see some polling on likely voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, and Florida on how they view medical marijuana.

  3. claygooding says:

    It is going to be a real interesting campaign this election as all these candidates ignore the turd in the punch bowl,drug policy and the cost of keeping it going.

    • allan says:

      the Dems and Obama need a good screw-tightening… I’m almost willing to bet the street action at the upcoming nomination conventions is gonna be interesting.

      When Obama wanted us he shucked and grinned and made his inhale joke. Well ya know what Mr. Obama? You won’t get my vote and I’ll be telling everyone I can not to vote for you either. You lied and tapped the hope that you were real. You lied and played on the hopes and dreams of those in need of change. Shame…

      Are we sure his name isn’t Barack H Bush?

  4. Cy Klebs says:

    Where is the Rosa Parks wing to the Fed correctional institute?

  5. DdC says:

    Here we go… The so called “decision?” was made by the Supreme Court in Gonzo v Raich. Obombo is irrelevant other than what he has claimed all along. Not a high priority for those in accordance with state law. He hasn’t busted any individuals for growing, nor has the state as far as I know. Selling pot makes it Commerce and not covered by the Compassionate Use Act meant for keeping users, especially sick people. Out of jail. If wishes were fishes no one would starve…

    • darkcycle says:

      Chris Barkowictz.

      • DdC says:

        Hey, I don’t like being right about this but chasing a rabbit down the same dead end hole is getting boring. Of coarse its bogus. Of coarse its everything opposite of what America is supposed to stand for. Of coarse the Supremes were wrong to include cannabis as Commerce. Or as a schedule#1 narcotic. But don’t shoot the messenger. This is also why no initiative involving an exchange will over ride the Feds. Except maybe Kubby’s if there is a provision to opt out of the CSA as some did the smoke a joint lose your license law. Losing highway funds but still exempt. If states can opt out then it might still be commerce but maybe not enforceable. I doubt it but there is always hope. My thoughts are that no law can stand on lies and the CSA is one big fat ugly one. If the integrity of Congress is such that they are OK with ends justifying means methods of coercing the public. Or sucking up to the corporate interests maintaining the Ganjawar and keeping renewable competition off the market. Then they are not worthy of the job. But who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters?

        Bartkowicz was violating state law because he was in possession of 224 marijuana plants for 12 registered patients

  6. tensity1 says:

    Last I heard, US Attorneys, and I’m presuming the AG of the US, serve at the pleasure of the President. So some lawyers have explaining to do or need to be fired. Or the Prez will be fired in 2012.

  7. Paul says:

    I’m sure this is all just a big mix up. Those attorneys must not have got the memo from the President telling them to lay off the medical mj industry. Right?

  8. Francis says:

    Hmm… that Phoenix New Times article you linked to the other day said this re: Obama’s approval:

    “Horwood also says it’s wrong to call it ‘Obama’s crackdown.’ She says the California U.S. Attorneys decided to take action on their own because the situation has grown out of control among recreational users. But she acknowledges that they received Obama’s blessing.

    • DdC says:

      But she acknowledges that they received Obama’s blessing.“

      Of coarse they did. Obombo has never ever claimed differently from the campaign. He made a common sense statement about individuals following state laws would be a lower priority. That in mho is wrong He has no jurisdiction over individuals following state law unless they give it away or sell it or have some exchange take place. If it is a reasonable amount a person would require for themselves then it is legal under the 10th amendment granting states all rights not listed under the Constitution. One other hypothetical scenario is that even tobacco in the field, not genetically modified but natural tobacco is a plant and not subject to Feds tax and raw Ganja still in the plant form growing, should also be tax exempt. The plants in the field should be exempt as Commerce until they are humanly adulterated from what nature has provided. Cigarettes are taxable but not the tobacco plant unless it is genetically modified the seed would be a human invention, not nature. So in theory as long as the plant was growing in the field the DEA has no jurisdiction Once its cut down or trimmed or bagged up then imo it becomes Commerce if it is over an amount one person could use, if its in a state authorizing individuals and if it is not exchanged. Again for the integrity of this country we should remove Ganja, RxGanja and Hemp from the CSA.

      Tree of Life

      Mercury’s Toxic Legacy
      Over 150,000 Native Americans lived in California prior to the start of the Gold Rush in 1849. By 1870 disease, forced relocations and massacres had reduced the Native population to an estimated 31,000. Miners dug up 12 billion tons of earth, and used [b]mercury[/b] to extract gold ore. The amount of [b]mercury[/b] required to violate federal health standards is equivalent to one gram in a small lake. Approximately 26,000,000 pounds of [b]mercury[/b] was used in gold mining Northern California. The amount of [b]mercury[/b] lost to the Northern California environment from the 1860’s through the early 1900’s is estimated at 11-13 million pounds.

      Hemp ‘Eats’ Chernobyl Waste
      CGP is an ecologically-minded multinational corporation which finances the growing and processing of sustainable industrial crops such as flax, kenaf, and industrial hemp. CGP operates in North America, Europe and the Ukraine. PHYTOTECH.com specializes in phytoremediation, the general term for using phyto (plants) to remediate (clean up) polluted sites. Phytoremediation can be used to remove radioactive elements from soil and water at former weapons producing facilaties. It can also be used to clean up metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and toxins leaching from landfills.

      Brown Vetoes California Hemp Bill, Criticizes Federal Ban
      California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has vetoed a bill that would have allowed farmers in select counties to grow hemp, saying it would subject them to federal prosecution, but in doing so, he lashed out at the federal ban on hemp farming in the US, calling it “absurd.”

      Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists

  9. Matt says:

    Please sign my petition:

    http://wh.gov/ToN

  10. Servetus says:

    “…the situation has grown out of control among recreational users” (?)

    When did the U.S. Attorneys notice this? The situation has been out of control since 1937 when marijuana was made illegal.

    • Francis says:

      Of course, it’s not “out of control” in any ordinary sense of the phrase. Recreational users of cannabis aren’t dying in the streets or committing acts of violence. They’re simply exercising–peacefully, quietly–their fundamental right to determine what goes in their own bodies. What the U.S. Attorneys really mean is that it’s out of THEIR control–and to a statist that’s simply intolerable.

  11. claygooding says:

    Please Servetus,,the prohibitionists never read history.
    And I think when you join an organization such as Drug Free America,,you must disconnect the logical part of your brain and think with your ass.

  12. Michael Hennigan says:

    Its Obamas watch. Its happening. He hasn’t stopped it. He loses my vote. One term is right. Go Ron Paul.

    • Swooper420 says:

      Can’t go for R.P….although he has the proper perspective on cannabis, his other positions (woman’s rights, social services, etc) suck rotten eggs. We would regret him, or any other rethuglian, gaining the WH this November. If you think we’ve got things rough now, wait till the party of “Law and Order” gets going.

      • DdC says:

        When a living wage is paid I will certainly join the Libertards in Utopia.

        Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists

        Latest Hypocritical GOPerversion, another Prohibition!

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        …and so people will just keep electing the same clowns over and over and over, and over. Thanks for not seeing alternatives. It’s specifically because of people like you that Mr. O knows he can get away with this bullshit.

        Thanks for contributing to the problem Swooper420.

        • DdC says:

          Duncan20903…
          …and so people will just keep electing the same clowns over and over and over, and over. Thanks for not seeing alternatives. It’s specifically because of people like you that Mr. O knows he can get away with this bullshit.
          Thanks for contributing to the problem Swooper420.

          Booshammy?

          Now for Obombo. He is finally stopping the Bush lie in Iraq, got Osama bush lost interest in, sadamn, gadaffi and hired Gilligan the Crime Dawg over another Walters the Zeolot. Has been obstructed every step by Paul and Neocon nazi’s. From health care to other anti fascist asshole things like clean air and water infringing on the rights of republicans to profit. Libertards and GOPerverts whining about the poor and not a mumbling word about Wall St bail outs, not paid back.

          ✔ Bush’s Faustian Deal With the Taliban
          ✔ Poverty? Dubya Says Blame the Hippies!
          ✔ Bush Crimes Against Humanity
          ✔ Anslinger-Bush-Hearst-Nixon-Hitler-Nalepka Déjà vu
          ✔ GOPerverts ARE the Oligarchy
          ✔ AWOL Bush
          ✔ The Enron, Bush, Baker, Rockefeller connection
          ✔ Sympathy for the Devil

          Screaming memmies about GM’s few billion they have paid back and created thousands of jobs. Or for assisting college kids forced into loans after Souder bastardized the HEA. Maybe blame those buying low interest housing? Damn them Americans wanting a home for their kids. Cayman Island Tax cheats never mentioned but lets deregulate more banks and factory emmission standards. Chumps…

          ✔ Bush Crime Family & LINX
          ✔ Bush. Religious drug treatment in Texas
          ✔ George Bush: Chapter -XV- CIA DIRECTOR
          ✔ Drug Kingpin George Bush Press Conference
          ✔ George Bush Crack Kingpin of the 80’s links
          ✔ George Bush does not deserve an honourary degree!
          ✔ Bush CIA

          Scumy Sarah letting Exxon rape and pillage Alaskians and all of us tax payers out of 99 billion to clean up their spill. While they lawyer up again to reduce their penny on the dollar responsibility. It puts them in dire jeopardy with only $47 billion profit whats a po corp tado? Fishing Industry can go fish. . Obama wants to create jobs and the GOPerverts broken scratched up record of tickle me down crap keeps blaring. Only the rich sons of a bitches can create jobs! True and knuckleheaded teabog dipshits squeeze into their miniskirts and cheer them on. Plenty of jobs created by outsourcing to India and China. They were right just missed the location, must of been bad in geography. Dow and Unemployment rise and no one notices? Oh what else did Obombo do while the Koch’s were selling jail space for pot growers.

          ✔ Looking behind the Bushes
          ✔ Reefer Madness,Anslinger,Hearst,Bayer,Farben II,Demonization
          ✔ CONFIRMED: Dubya not allowed into Canada
          ✔ DUBYA’s Driving Record
          ✔ 3 strikes and your out Mr Bush!
          ✔ I.G.Farben,Dupont,Ford,Hearst,Frankenfoods,Prohibition
          ✔ Same buSHT Different Day! Just Say No to Walters/Thugczar!

          Paying off two trillion for two Boosh wars and several Police Actions. To even suggest its not a GOP drug war is naive. Democrats may go along for survival from the propaganda but they don’t enthusiastically wage it. It’s still Nixon’s war and Obombo could be worse. Pies in the sky are as real as Rand Paul’s nonsense idealism without a reality base or time machine. Obombo isn’t on the stump busting stoners as subclass citizens. No closed door OPEC deals. Cheney allowing a petition at all, let alone acknowledging… what everyone knows anyway. He doesn’t brag about Wall St being his base. To even suggest he is as pungent and putrid as the boosh klans new weird odor shows your lack of spark. You settle for TV opinion. Sad. We can sculpt Obama if these mosquitos can be swatted. The asshole Trolls diverting, denying and degrading are holding up the curtain hiding the real puppiteers pulling the strings. Oh Lil Bo Peep, leave them sheep alone and soon they’ll come home wagging their tails behind them.

          ✔ bushandcheneysuck
          ✔ Busht: Timeline of Treason
          ✔ Bushladen and the Terrorists Carlyles Groups
          ✔ Bush Announces Tougher Line on Cuba
          ✔ Bush Family History with Nazism
          ✔ Bush Cabal Hides Patriot II Police State
          ✔ Busht Hypocrisy & Double Standards
          ✔ realchange[Bush Jr.’s Skeleton Closet

          Its OK to treat Boosh as the buffoon he was, because he was a buffoon. Because obama can’t solve 40 years of Nixonian GOPerversions in one term you think he’s Jesus in need of Crucifiction. That’s wither stm or blind allegiance to a party over your country. Neither I associated with America.

          ✔ Bushit or Sadamn? Flip a Coin
          ✔ THE BUSH-CHENEY DRUG EMPIRE
          ✔ Bush/Quayle/Lilly Pharmaceutical Sellout!
          ✔ Fellow Conservatives: Our Position Is Hypocritical
          ✔ ACTION ALERT::: Jeb Bush Fungus/Life of a Drug Lord

          ✔ GW Bush Has Executed 131 Inmates
          ✔ Bush/CIA/DEA Drug Smuggling
          ✔ GWBush Cocaine Cowboy 1 year gap in Bush’s Guard

          “If the people knew what we had done,
          they would chase us down the street and lynch us.”
          ~ George H.W. Bush to journalist Sarah McClendon

          ✔ Other Bush Parodies or Informative sites:
          ✔ GWBush Art
          ✔ Unauthorized Bush(Sr.) Bio
          ✔ Bush is the Antichrist (with a well-reasoned argument)
          ✔ The Bush Body Count
          ✔ GeorgeBush2000.com
          ✔ Thanks for contributing to the problem Duncan20903.

          ✔ LittleGeorgeBush.com

          Mr.Obombo, I am overjoyed. To meet you face to face. You’ve been getting quite a name. All around the place. Healing cripples. Raising from the dead. Now I understand you’re God. At least that’s what they’ve said. So you are the Prez. You’re the great Obombo Prez. Prove to me that you’re divine. Change my water into wine. That’s all you need do. Then I’ll know it’s all true. C’mon King of the US. Mr.Obombo you just won’t believe. The hit you’ve made around here. You are all we talk about. You’re the wonder of the year. Oh what a pity. If it’s all a lie. Still I’m sure. That you can rock the cynics if you try. . So if you are the Prez. Yes the great Obombo. Prove to me that you’re no fool. Walk across my swimming pool. If you do that for me. Then I’ll let you go free. C’mon King of the US. I only ask what I’d ask any superstar. What is it that you have got. That puts you where you are? Oh, ho ho. I am waiting. Yes I’m a captive fan. I’m dying to be shown. That you are not just any man. So if you are the Prez. Yes the great Obombo. Feed my household with this bread. You can do it on your head. Or has something gone wrong? Mr.Obombo, why do you take so long? Aw, c’mon King of the US.
          ~King Teabag

          ✔ BushCampaignHQ.com
          ✔ Another “questionable” Bush site
          ✔ Bushlite.net
          ✔ GeorgyBush.com
          ✔ TrimnBush2Shrub
          ✔ BushSuckz.com
          ✔ The Serial President
          ✔ Canada’s Supremes Cower Under DEAth Threats

  13. Ziggy says:

    When you have to go in through the back door to your own fund raiser in California, then right after you leave, you start hearing things from various factions that he’s “not behind this crackdown” you wonder if he did hear the message and now is backed into a corner unable to find a political way to save everyone’s face?

    Either heads roll, or Obama loses a very large funding base in Northern California. Which do you think it will be? If heads don’t roll, we’re looking at one term.

    • DdC says:

      Lesser Evil usually wins. Unless they cheat like Boosheney.
      I’ll go with Nader or hopefully Kucinich. Obombo as a what’s left vote.

  14. darkcycle says:

    C’Mon ONE TERM!
    Sooner this guy is gone the better. And AFAIC, I don’t CARE who replaces him.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      I shake my head in absolute disbelief. In 2008 you’d never have gotten me to even entertain the notion that Mr. McCain would have been the better man to run this country. Today you could get me to think that a 3rd term for Mr. Bush the lesser would have been better than electing Mr. Obama.

      • DdC says:

        I shake my head in absolute disbelief at your consistent short term memory loss. El Dorado? McCain bilking seniors out of their savings Or his wife the beer distributor busted for stealing drugs from a charity? Boosh junior is a wingnut nazi by himself let alone with the murdering thug cheney. Both servants to daddy Boosh. The entire infrastructure of evil you seem to disregard like a buffoon in heat. Pity the fools.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        I forgot to mention that hindsight is always 20/20.

        We still have time to form a voting block and “send a message” to the powers that be in the 2012 primaries. Some of us will have to hold our noses and do something that can be anywhere from mildly annoying to totally nauseating.

        I’m willing to hold my nose, change my registration to Republican, and vote for Mr. Paul in the primary even though there’s not even the proverbial snowball’s chance of me voting for Mr. Paul on the official ballot. I much prefer Mr. Johnson but the point isn’t who we vote for as much as it is to establish ourselves as a voting block.

        We could even write in Jack Herer if they allow write in votes in the primaries, and accomplish the same thing.

        Remember, primary balloting doesn’t elect anyone, except perhaps in places like San Francisco where the Democratic nominee would have to be proven to bar-b-cue babies for breakfast before possibly losing.

  15. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    The US News & (World Report)

    Debate Club

    Should federal authorities be able to close medical marijuana dispensaries in California?
    ———-
    “According to the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, placing it among narcotics like heroin, DMT, and Ecstasy in the country’s most serious drug classification. Still, research has suggested that compounds found within marijuana may have therapeutic use in treating ailments like multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, Parkinson’s disease, and even cancer. The FDA’s official stance on the medical efficacy of marijuana states: “Marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.”

    The story of medical marijuana in the United States began in 1978, when Robert Randall was arrested for using marijuana to treat his glaucoma. Randall sued the United States and won, and the ruling required the FDA to provide Randall with marijuana for medicinal use.”
    ———-

    1978? Required the FDA?? Oh well I guess a couple of years an a different spoonful of alphabet soup is just sniggling. Our good friend from the Urine industry, Peter Benzinger, Kevin Sabet formerly of the Incarceration industry (now unemployed), and John Redman, from the Anti-reality industry (Executive Director of Californians for Drug Free Youth) have all produced screeds for this debate.

    On the side of reality Paul Armenteno of NORML, Morgan Fox from MPP, Brian Vincente of Sensible Colorado, and Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access pummel the cretins about the face and head with facts and evidence. Unfortunately, it seems those on our side still haven’t gotten the message that blows to the head that would kill a human being don’t even phase a prohibitionist. These people need to be eviscerated, their heads are merely decorative so that they appear to be human. Like everything else about them it’s merely a facade. (see Potemkin village)

    http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-federal-authorities-be-able-to-close-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-in-california

  16. warren says:

    This propaganda would put the nazi regime to shame.

  17. Pingback: Who knew U.S. attorneys could be so funny? – charismaticleadershipblogs

  18. Jim Rogers says:

    U.S.Attorney’s are funny alright,just as funny as the Fed under Barack Obama.Just as the Justice Department is shelling out money to harm and harass peaceful demonstrators.The Fed likes to spend money to arm thugs to knock down innocent peoples doors,and ruin taxpaying businesses.
    I also voted for Obama in 2008.It won’t happen again.

    • DdC says:

      My rep is Sam Farr.
      It says Dear Representative Dan Lungren?
      Good luck with that fascist GOPervert bastard.
      I believe it was he and Wilson who murdered Peter McWilliams.

  19. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    If you sugar coat a turd, it’s still a turd.

    If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.

  20. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Re-legalizing cannabis is not just for retired cops anymore.

    …and the dominoes continue to fall:

    Legalize marijuana sales, say B.C. experts

    Prohibition benefits organized crime, group says
    Oct 27, 2011 10:01 AM PT

    A coalition of prominent B.C. police officers, health professionals, legal experts and academics is calling for the legalization and regulated sale of marijuana.

    The group Stop the Violence, which includes former B.C. Supreme Court justice Ross Lander and B.C.’s former chief coroner Vince Cain, has launched a high-profile political campaign to “end the cannabis cash cow of organized crime.”

    Panel member Dr, Evan Wood, of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, says marijuana prohibition is fuelling gang warfare, and school children now have easier access to pot than either alcohol or cigarettes, because of the reach of organized crime.

    “Instead of having a regulated market, we’ve turned things over to this extremely violent unregulated market controlled by organized crime,” said Wood.

    “Cannabis is more available to young people than alcohol and tobacco, and what we’ve seen in a government-funded surveillance system is that the price of cannabis continues to go down and the potency of cannabis continues to go up.”
    /snip/

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/10/27/bc-stop-the-violence-marijuana-coalition.html

    • Servetus says:

      Good news. I remember B.C. when it was B.H. (Before Harper). Some heavy drugs, but basically low-key, non-violent, a lot of open pot smoking and happy people.

      Channel in some Harper-style militant anti-drug enforcement and suddenly B.C. has ‘“this extremely violent unregulated market controlled by organized crime,’; said Wood.”

      Prohibition is a feedback loop. The cat is chasing its tail.

  21. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    So did everyone hear about the boy who smoked synthetic cannabis subsequently required a double lung transplant has passed away?

    From the “bald faced lies, half truths and hysterical rhetoric” category:

    Pa. boy, 13, who became ill after smoking synthetic pot and had double lung transplant, dies

    By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, October 27, 3:15 PM

    PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania eighth-grader who became ill after smoking synthetic marijuana and had a double lung transplant has died.

    Tonya Rice tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/tk0Vod ) that her 13-year-old son, Brandon, died Thursday morning at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at UPMC.

    The boy smoked the fake marijuana out of a plastic PEZ candy dispenser. The chemicals in the drugs caused extensive damage to his lungs. Brandon was put on a respirator in June and had a double lung transplant in September.
    /snip/

    Yeah, smoking plastic had nothing to do with it.

    • Francis says:

      Duncan, that’s nothing. Check out the following account of what real cannabis can do to you: “While under the influence of the drug, the subject thrust his hand through his hair, and found that his fingers passed through his crackling skull and into his warm, cheesy brain.”

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