Open Thread

I’m off in San Francisco and Seattle on vacation.


— Congrats to Shaleen Title for being named to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. Cannabis Control Commission ‘does not reflect the Massachusetts electorate,’ pro-marijuana group says

As Tom Angell says “As far as I know, this is the first time an advocate who helped draft a measure to end prohibition has been put in charge of implementing it.”


Political cartoon:

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105 Responses to Open Thread

  1. NorCalNative says:

    Pete, welcome to the West Coast Wall of Weed.

  2. jean valjean says:

    I suspect that Flanagan, Doyle and McBride get their orders on cannabis direct from the Pope. Hoffman? Linked to Bain Capital and Mitt Romney…orders via the Book of Mormon? Or maybe even the alcohol industry (there’s irony for you)?

  3. jean valjean says:

    Two mega-hurricanes in a month and now Trump’s Christian fundamentalist supporters are saying it’s the beginning of the Apocalypse. Well, that’s a more likely scenario to them than, heaven forbid, “climate change.” The lunatics really have taken over the asylum now.

    • Servetus says:

      Apocalyptics always pose the same excuse–tomorrow doesn’t matter. It means they’re too lazy to take a responsible, active part in being something other than an ape species that fouls its own nest. Desmond Morris wrote that such species are doomed to extinction, while referring in particular to the lifestyles of gorillas.

      Christian sects can be divided into millennialist and post-millennialist—referring to the return of Christ before or after the apocalypse respectively. Post-millennialists include Mormons, a belief culture that proclaims Christ will not return to the planet until all people in the world become Mormons. What that means to the sect is that anyone refusing Mormonism is evil—they postpone the apocalypse. Yes, it’s my fault and yours and anyone else who might reject Mormon apocalyptic beliefs. According to the saints, as they refer to themselves, such heretics are the evil ones standing in the way of humanity’s blissful heavenly existence.

      A more radical option was exemplified by the Heaven’s Gate incident 20 years ago that involved a mass suicide to hitch a ride on the passing Hale-Bopp comet. One problem remains with the method. There are too many idiots and too few comets.

  4. jean valjean says:

    ‘Cannabis can act as a “neurological laxative” for those suffering from anxiety.’

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/got-end-summer-blues-how-marijuana-can-help

  5. DdC says:

    Why do they want to bust dispensaries,
    for the patient list. How unscrupulous is that?

    California regulators apparently refused to share requested medical cannabis patient demographic data with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s National Marijuana Initiative.
    http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202797257073/Federal-Demand-for-Medical-Marijuana-Data-in-California-Raises-Privacy-Alarms

    So tired of lame cheetos inferences. Maybe now this can be put to rest.

    A study concluded that low doses of marijuana do not “affect sweet taste intensity perception and liking, nor does it influence food preferences in humans.”
    http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2017.0018

    • NorCalNative says:

      The CA state-ID for cannabis has been available for several years. I was “finally” considering getting one because next year, under legalization, it will offer some sales tax relief for patients.

      Now? Not so sure. I’ve got nothing to hide but fuck law enforcement’s perceived need for this info. Do you have one?

      BTW, the actual number of cannabis patients in CA is elusive for exactly this reason. I suspect fewer than 20% of legal patients have the state card, but that’s just a guess. Personally I don’t know anyone who has one.

      • DdC says:

        I got one in 2002ish when they were on paper signed by a doctor. Mostly for being covered helping patients get it. I stayed with local growers for personal use until about 2013 so I never needed one before the local dispensaries appeared, after the Cole Memo. I’ve had a card every year since so I can shop in dispensaries or online and have it delivered. I admit I’m spoiled and couldn’t have imagined the varieties and convenience it has provided. Civilization that we will fight to keep.

        Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) gave an impassioned 35-minute-long floor speech pledging to organize an effort to reject the rule for a government-wide spending bill if leadership blocks his amendment to continue protections for state medical cannabis laws. The House Rules Committee is expected to decide whether to allow a vote on the rider as soon as Wednesday, with floor action on the overall bill also expected this week.

        * “I ask the public to pay attention to how we vote… If the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment is not permitted, then a vote for the rule is a vote for giving money to the drug cartels, it’s a vote for eliminating the law as it is today — which is leaving it up to the states — and bringing the federal government back to our local and state areas in an enforcement mode. We don’t need that.”

        Rohrabacher also wrote an op-ed telling the story of a constituent who benefitted from medical cannabis, and urging colleagues to get on board with his amendment:

        * “[A] sympathetic doctor advised our young hero to see him in his private office, where he could prescribe medication derived from cannabis. The prescription worked. The seizures, for the most part, ceased… My colleagues should…return to Washington and keep my amendment intact, declaring themselves firmly on the side of medical progress. Failing that, the government will keep trying to eradicate the burgeoning marijuana business, thereby fueling and enriching drug cartels. Trust me: Hugs from grateful supporters are infinitely better.”

        The doctor issuing the cards told me it was kept private and they would not furnish the Feds any info on patients. Although the dispensaries have the info on file to make sure I have a doctors recommendation. Which isn’t really necessary under Prop 215 or a set reason for using. Its all private so far until the state does its tweaking over 64. I think it is a good system as it is and would be ok if it stayed as it is. Since Prop 215 Clinton tried busting doctors for prescribing and lost. The hospice Doctor several of my patients went to was Dr Leff who was part of the lawsuit. One problem states are having is with Fed programs like Ben Carson heading HUD or Organ transplants. Putting the patients on a data base for OiNkDeCePtions to enter is not a good idea. The latest Surgeon General is from Draconian Indiana. Time will tell…

        ☛ ‘Make American health great again’: Pence swears in new surgeon general Jerome Adams
        “Our nation is facing a drug crisis,” Adams said in his opening statement last month. “The addictive properties of prescription opioids is a scourge in America and it must be stopped.”

        ☛ U.S. Housing and Urban Development Sec. Ben Carson spoke out against marijuana law reform: marijuana can lead to lower IQs.

        ☛ Why You Think Weed is Bad (and Why You’re Wrong)

  6. FeelMeSparkMe says:

    The Philippine president’s son and son-in-law took part, earlier today, in a Senate committee inquiry concerning their involvement in a huge shipment of illegal drugs from China worth $125 million and rampant corruption at the Bureau of Customs.

    At the height of the Senate inquiry, Trillanes accused Paolo Duterte of being a member of the Chinese triad, an organized crime group, citing intelligence information he said was provided by a foreign government. The young Duterte, Trillanes alleged, has a tattoo at the back that is the mark of a triad gang member.

    Paolo Duterte acknowledged he has a tattoo during questionings by Trillanes but refused to show it, citing his right to privacy.

    Trillanes also said he has information that the two have separate bank accounts with huge cash deposits. The two refused to a sign waivers for Trillanes to investigate the alleged bank accounts.

    https://tinyurl.com/angEmUpDanno

  7. DdC says:

    MM: A bizarre email alert from prohibitionist organizations Smart Approaches to Marijuana and National Families In Action cites the horrors of Nazi human experimentation as a prelude to warning about informed consent in cannabis research.
    http://mailchi.mp/nationalfamilies/why-is-it-so-hard-to-grow-marijuana-for-research-23pb5fb88q

    Speaking of Nazi human experimentation…

    The U.S. House Rules Committee blocked floor consideration of several marijuana amendments, including one to continue existing protections for state medical cannabis laws.

    Other riders that won’t see a floor vote include measures to protect state full legalization laws, authorize banking, facilitate research, allow industrial hemp and give Washington, D.C. the ability to set its own marijuana regulations.
    http://blog.norml.org/2017/09/07/house-rules-committee-blocks-marijuana-amendments/

    GOP leaders at a House Republican Conference meeting on Wednesday seemed to indicate that the blocked the vote because they feared the measure would divide the party.
    http://thehill.com/video/lawmaker-interviews/349492-house-gop-blocks-vote-protecting-medical-marijuana-states

    The medical cannabis language is in the Senate version of spending legislation, and the matter will likely be resolved by the conference committee that merges the chambers’ proposals together. The provision — along with current federal funding — is set to expire on September 30, but news emerged Wednesday that a short-term extension through December 15 is likely as Congress finalizes Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations legislation.
    https://twitter.com/repblumenauer/status/905646818687455232

  8. allan says:

    b’day #66 and I get Pete as a present! He’s passing thru Eugene on Amtrak around lunch time so I’ma goin’ down to shake that man’s hand!

    • NorCalNative says:

      Happy Birthday you old hippie.

      OT.

      I have tried on three occasions, without success, this past week to enter a comment based on this idea: Psilocybin causes a reset or “kick-start” to the endocannabinoid system. Starting to think the Universe would prefer to keep this idea under wraps.

      My mood is down today as I’m looking at my outdoor girls soaked from rain. I’m growing plants susceptible to mold and I’m really apprehensive at what the next few days might bring.

      • darkcycle says:

        Up here the smoke has reduced the sunlight reaching our plants enough to make the P.M. take over. Anybody who hasn’t been spraying with compost tea or “Green Cure” weekly is losing plants. It’s an awful year….first the heat, now the smoke.

    • Hope says:

      @ Allan. Wonderful… and hope it’s been a happy one. Happy Birthday!

    • Hope you had a good birthday Allan!

  9. DC Reade says:

    meet the new Drug Czar nominee, same as the old Drug Czar nominee:

    Trump has re-nominated Pennsylvanian Republican Rep. Tom Marino as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/5/15358646/trump-tom-marino-drug-czar

    “…Marino’s voting record suggests he’s to the right of many of his Republican colleagues on the war on drugs. After he assumed office in 2011, he voted against a bipartisan measure (which ultimately passed) that blocked the US Department of Justice from cracking down on medical marijuana businesses in states where medicinal pot is legal. He voted against a bill that would’ve let Veterans Affairs doctors recommend medical marijuana to patients. He opposed loosening restrictions on hemp and CBD, both of which are nonpsychoactive but have promising, respectively, industrial and medical uses…”

    Citizens, as politely as possible, kindly inform your Senators that it would be a terrible mistake to confirm Drug War hardliner Tom Marino for that position.

    • DdC says:

      Name a sane “Drug Czar”.
      Harry Shearer @theharryshearer

      They’re all Bizarres

      Marino’s ECS produces Marinol.

      Donnyboy needs some Hempoil skin cream lotion.
      Dudes like a re-occuring rash…

      ☛ Report:
      Trump Dumps Pharma-Backed Drug Czar
      5.3,17

      This bellicose aimlessness will continue for the foreseeable future, after Trump reportedly had second thoughts on his initial choice for drug czar.

      The White House did not say why Marino was out of the running for the job, and a staffer for the congressman declined to comment to U.S. News.

      U.S. drug policy poised to take a step backwards in the Trump era 4.13.17
      Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), meanwhile, is poised to take over the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

      And what does Tom Marino bring to the table on drug issues? The Washington Post reported yesterday on the Pennsylvania Republican’s approach to the issue.

      As a congressman, Marino called for a national program of mandatory inpatient substance abuse treatment for non-violent drug offenders. “One treatment option I have advocated for years would be placing non-dealer, non-violent drug abusers in a secured hospital-type setting under the constant care of health professionals,” he said at a hearing last year.

      “Once the person agrees to plead guilty to possession, he or she will be placed in an intensive treatment program until experts determine that they should be released under intense supervision,” Marino explained. “If this is accomplished, then the charges are dropped against that person. The charges are only filed to have an incentive for that person to enter the hospital-slash-prison, if you want to call it.”

      Got that? If some non-violent adult were caught with marijuana, for example, Marino envisions a system in which that person would be locked up in a “hospital-slash-prison,” and subjected to “an intensive treatment program.” He or she would eventually be released, but be subjected to “intense supervision.”

      The GOP congressman added last year that he might consider marijuana legalization, if the science proved persuasive, and if the drug could be produced “in pill form.”

      Nazi human experimentation
      Nazi Physicians and their assistants forced prisoners into participating; they did not willingly volunteer and no consent was given for the procedures.

      Chronicle AM: Fed MJ Amendments Coming,
      Trump to Name Marino as Drug Czar,
      9.7.17

  10. FeelMeSparkMe says:

    All going to plan:

    The Ontario government will announce Friday that it will create a cannabis control board and open up to 60 storefronts to manage the sale and distribution of marijuana in the province, CBC News has learned.

    The plans include restricting marijuana sales to those 19 and older, a year above the minimum age recommended by the federal government’s cannabis task force report in December.

    The 30 to 60 stores selling marijuana to the public will not be housed inside existing LCBO stores as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had previously suggested.

    Illegal pot shops in Ontario would be shut down over the next 12 months.

    Ontario is Canada’s most populous province accounting for nearly 40 percent of the country’s population.

    https://tinyurl.com/420Rope

  11. DdC says:

    MM: A U.S. Government Accountability Office review identified 641 collateral consequences in federal laws and regulations that can be triggered by nonviolent drug convictions, including loss of employment, housing, access to education, professional licensing, family rights, civic participation and government benefits, among others.
    http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-691

    The latest results from the federally-funded National Survey on Drug Use and Health show adolescent marijuana use at its lowest level in years as legalization spreads. Cannabis consumption by people between the ages of 18 and 25 has risen slightly but has corresponded with a drop in alcohol consumption in that demographic, suggesting a possible substitution effect.
    https://www.samhsa.gov/samhsa-data-outcomes-quality/major-data-collections/reports-detailed-tables-2016-NSDUH

    Trump ally Roger Stone is lashing out at activists who succeeded in getting him kicked off a speaking slot at an upcoming marijuana conference, suggesting that still-speaker Rev. Al Sharpton has made anti-semitic comments, and saying:

    * “If Sessions cracks down on state legalized marijuana you can blame the Minority Cannabis Business Alliance for their short-sighted bigotry.”

    (The organization is actually called Minority Cannabis Business Association.)
    https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/906018248163917825

    Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) gave a floor speech decrying House leadership’s blocking a vote on his medical cannabis rider.
    https://www.c-span.org/video/?433519-2/us-house-takes-omnibus-spending-bill&start=3730

    His efforts to defeat the rule for the federal spending bill over the issue did not succeed; only three other Republicans joined in voting against the procedural move (along with every present Democrat, as was expected due to a number of issues in the legislation).
    http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll458.xml

    Health Newsweek
    Trump and Sessions Are At Odds Over Prosecuting Legal Marijuana States
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-sessions-odds-over-prosecuting-150559150.html

    SUNY New Paltz’s Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives released a new report summarizing research debunking the “gateway drug” theory about marijuana.
    https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2017/09/latest-benjamin-center-brief-debunks-marijuana-gateway-fallacy/

  12. Servetus says:

    The Society for the Study of Addiction asks, “Do we need to reform international drug treaties as more countries legalize cannabis?”

    The short answer is yes. The Society goes on to publish a set of recommendations for each class of drugs in the journal Addiction that discuss how an internationally decriminalized drug policy might work:

    Cannabis: This is the strongest candidate for national policy experiments on different ways of regulating its sale and use. This is happening in the USA, Uruguay and Canada. Rigorous evaluations of these experiments will be useful for other countries considering legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use.

    Party drugs, such as ecstasy, LSD, and novel psychoactive substances: The most important regulatory challenge for those who advocate more liberal policies is ensuring that drug manufacture and sale meet reasonable standards of consumer safety and consumers are well informed about the risks of using these drugs.

    Opioids: The best way forward may be a mitigated form of prohibition. Mitigated prohibition differs from a ‘war on drugs’ by expanding treatment for opioid dependence, reducing some of its serious medical complications, and reducing the number of opioid users who are imprisoned.

    Cocaine and amphetamines: There are no easy answers here. Proposed regulation via a modified prescription system seems unlikely to reduce harmful use. Prohibition may minimize use but it is not sufficient, because stimulants are very easy to produce illicitly. Stimulant policy needs better ways of reducing the demand for stimulants and more effective treatments for problem stimulant users.

    AAAS Public Release: Do we need to reform international drug treaties as more countries legalize cannabis? — Society for the Study of Addiction

    Left out of the recommendations are national drug policies that would require addressing specific drug health issues. For instance, substituting cannabinoids for opiates where suitable is an option. Seriously boosting science instruction in K-12 education would provide people with the needed technical training to make informed choices about recreational drug use. An improved drug education focusing on the technical and scientific aspects of drugs would curb drug overdoses and drug combination problems. Perhaps drug education in schools could finally imitate Drivers Ed. Rather than wrongly scapegoating drugs for social problems, the true and immediate instigators of societal problems can finally be addressed. Once prohibition is out of the picture dozens of better options become available.

    • Mouthy says:

      If we don’t destroy the international drug treaties, then our society is under a real threat of drug money funded North Korea selling their weapons to other people who have drug money. I trust Kim enough to not start WWIII, but I don’t trust him to not sell his weapons for cash. E.G. we know Osama Bin Laden attempted to purchase Yellow Cake in the Sudan. We now have Columbia helping to send American troops to Afghanistan because of cocaine use in Africa or Europe. It wouldn’t surprise me if one third of our national debt wasn’t directly related to the war on drugs and it’s aftershocks ranging from health care, trade/business, war, taxes, education, criminal justice, infrastructure, technology etc. The drug war is a black hole that has gotten bigger and bigger. If drug related gangs/crime and drug related punishment didn’t plague our inner cities, then that portion of society would generate more revenue from them, instead of wasting it on welfare and government housing. If it didn’t plague middle class America and rural America, there would be a spike in revenue and needed investments for the future and not a decrease. E.G. my state is a heavy-hitter for the drug war and drug related incarcerations and now kids go to school four days a week. This leads to reduced opportunities, which adds to the economic turmoil. The Drug War is leading us to the privatization of our military through DoD contract workers slowly taking over the job of the military–all because the cost of fighting drug money fueled enemies is unfathomable. And this long costly war helps to stimulate debt, which further divides our country, which in turn stimulates more debt. Any true lover of Hegel’s philosophy would be utterly opposed to keeping any mind altering drug illegal: Thesis plus antithesis equals synthesis.

      • Mouthy says:

        Tom Cruise is staring in a new movie about a pilot who worked for the CIA and smuggled in tons of drugs for them and our ally, Noriega. It’s called ‘American Made’.

        So, that was one international drug treaty that lead to the American military to invade Panama. Supposedly the Right Wing is against illegal immigration, so to support legalizing all drugs should be a Conservative Right Wing agenda. It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% of all illegal immigration is rooted in the Drug War: from refugees escaping violence to smugglers/gangs doing business Northbound. Imagine how much revenue could be saved by our country if we ended the war on drugs, which in turn drains Latin America of stability and revenue as well.

        • FeelMeSparkMe says:

          “It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% of all illegal immigration is rooted in the Drug War.”

          Far too low.

        • Mouthy says:

          ‘Far Too low’

          You are absolutely right FeelMeSparkMe. I always underestimate the amount so there will be plenty of space in being right. To overestimate the facts typically makes people go ‘yeah right’. I bet NAFTA gave the Mexican cartels a big boost, driving local farmers off their land who could no longer compete with American agriculture and Narco pesos.

          A scene from the new Tom Cruise movie shows him in custody at a small station in Arkansas. My guess is that his characters was busted at the famous small airport known for receiving loads of coke . . . an airport not only tied to the locals, but to the Clinton’s while he was governor. It also reminds me of all the stories you hear about how federal law prohibits U.S. soldiers from eradicating opium and marijuana. Funny, it’s actually illegal to cut down illegal crops, though simultaneously unlawful to not eradicate them as well. My unit told me stories about the jungles of Afghanistan where the narcotic and THC laden flora was not to be touched. God forbid the Taliban and ISIS not have money to keep U.S. militarily guarded Private Contractors inside the DoD’s pockets for extracting Natural Gas, gold, silver, copper and lithium.

          In Baghdad, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting an African Ugandan security guard with an M-16 doing base security on U.S. installations. First they’ll privatize the military and next they will privatize the police forces like they’ve done to prisons. The War on Drugs and fighting drug money in the middle east just makes running a proper government too expensive, so now they want to privatize everything.

        • FeelMeSparkMe says:

          “I always underestimate the amount so there will be plenty of space in being right.”

          I sort of guessed as much. Thanks for your extremely valuable input, Mr Mouthy!

  13. Rohrabacher-Blumenauer medical marijuana protections extended by debt limit deal https://t.co/r29bpoWDPF

    “We have at least three months of certainty now, but the fight isn’t over.”

  14. DdC says:

    Tell Chuck Schumer: Replace Dianne Feinstein as Senate Judiciary Ranking Member
    https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Replace_Feinstein?t=3

    The petition to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer reads:

    “Senate Democrats must do everything they can to block and resist Donald Trump, the white supremacist in chief. Dianne Feinstein has failed to use her power to fight Republican attempts to stack the federal courts with Trump’s extremist judges. Remove her as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and replace her with a Democrat who will commit to fully resisting Trump.”

  15. Ernesto Stern says:

    The bible says God will take away the druggies. We are in the end times; give your life to keep children off dope, and help Jesus Christ to enter your cosmic aura. Lest Enoch will cut of your root… Amen

    • DdC says:

      Hey Hope, Another one got loose.

      ☛ Archeology:
      Ancient Temple Hashish Incense!
      Did Jesus Inhale?

      ☛ With God on Our Side
      – Bob Dylan (5/7/65) Bootleg

      Then we have Genesis and the Tree of Life that was hidden but never banned from the garden dwellers. The Tree of Knowledge was prohibited because it is a knowledge of the destruction of all things created by God. Progress?

      Human creations that can only occur after killing God’s creations or removing that which has been buried. The eternal struggle of Man envy of God and his vanity that hinders evolutionary progression. The Tree of Life has the attributes of Cannabis and those who have prohibited it are liars, swindlers, and murdering thugs for profit.

      The other tidbit is that God hid the Tree of Life from Adam and Eve for if they discovered it, they would live forever as us Gods. Us?

      So eating from the Tree of Knowledge is what Conservatives do. How they define “value” as profits over community necessities. By abstaining from the Tree of Life they have developed larger fear centers in their brains. More apt to accept and covet authority for safety. More obedient to gain favor and not be cast out. Sheep grazing in green pastures provided as long as they don’t stray into individualism.

      12,000 years of known use of Cannabis and the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) getting supplemented by Cannabis for at least 12,000 years. The ECS regulates the other body Systems. After various times of Prohibitions, society became more ordered and regimented with disobedience punished. As the old hippie Jesus was for questioning authority many Alt Reich christians blindly follow.

      Cannabis was one of the first substances banned from the Church, the Nazi’s banned it. Fascist and Communist banned it. Gerbals have shunned it and continue to wish and pray for a death or some way to avoid letting the people have it.

      Then by the Industrialists in 1937 and totally Prohibited by Nixon in 1972. To punish his enemies, black radicals and the counter culture. Now in 2017 we know it is the Tree of Life actually rejuvenating brain cells. We know it has many preventive properties to supplement the ECS to bring the other systems back into the parameters of normal.

      Obesity or Wasting Syndrome. Lower high BP or raise low BP. Dilate capillaries in the lungs and brain while reducing stress and rage. Properties to assist the body in a natural healing from a plant that grows freely. Verses the new age of Profits as the Mother of Invention over riding Necessity that has been designated as a deterrent to whistle blowing or questioning authority.

      Killing the under the table jobs and flood the lake of unemployment. Less bartering power. Weed out the nonconformists with pisstasters yellow patches and Scarlet Letters. For metabolites that have no connection to impairment. Drug War pillaging by forfeitures, cash confiscations, robbing bank accounts on suspicion. 30 days to file a suit to get it returned. Secret searches and profiling by skin color and bumper stickers. Special laws to protect the guilty verdict while 90% plea bargain a guilty plea and strings attached for life.

      Mandatory Minimum sentencing for the 10% enacting their Constitutional protections if a jury finds them guilty. The jury can not hear the term medicinal cannabis even if the patient and the doctors say it works. A gag rule says you have possession or you don’t the same as a trafficker hauling in tons. Inhaling or not. Now the incentive is to fill profit prison cages. The need for easy arrests is filled with prohibition. More capital gained and more taxes on it arresting a minimum wage earner than what they contribute with their jobs. Scary eh? Depends on your definition of value. Quality of Life or Profits.

      As for the white powder Rx drugs. I don’t advocate them or use them or have an opinion on what anyone else does. It does seem logical that the same drugs prescribed by doctors from labs and quality assurance providing consistency and no adulterations would be safer and less menacing than letting the criminal justice system profit on their misery. Prohibition creates adulterated drugs killing kids. Banning test kits or inconsistent recipes.

      At the end of the day Prohibition is responsible for keeping competition from human creations bottom line and profits on “treating” prohibition with profit prisons, rehabs and pisstasters. Probably one of the reasons I stand with what Gandhi said over Pat Robertson. Although I believe Jesus would never accept a man made one up title such as Christ. He refused the title of King of the Jews. He over turned the moneychangers tables. Rome is the birth of Fascism and Christianity and their co-existence still exists. So I no doubt infringed on the copyright by changing Mr. Gandhi’s wording, but not the initial intent.

      I like your Jesus,
      I do not like your Christians.
      Your Christians are so unlike your Jesus.
      — Mahatma Gandhi

      This is what fear mongering brings…

      ☛ MM: A U.S. Government Accountability Office review identified 641 collateral consequences in federal laws and regulations that can be triggered by nonviolent drug convictions, including loss of employment, housing, access to education, professional licensing, family rights, civic participation and government benefits, among others.

      this psa brought to you via a
      super silver haze and sweet&sour diesel blend.

      • Hope says:

        I saw that Ddc. If I could help or educate him, I would, but I’m pretty sure that kind (ignorant and liking it) can’t be helped. He’s probably one that associates medicine or doctors with witch craft. It’s amazing how unlike Christ most Christians are. I agree with Ghandi’s opinion. Right now I’m so bothered by the Christians that like to stand up and say what they think God is punishing us all for. They don’t get the first basic principle. He’s not punishing us for anything! In my religion Christ took all the punishment upon himself to put an end to sacrifice and save us from any punishment that we might have earned. Arrgh. Shit happens and consequences of our behavior happen, but God is not sending storms or diseases to punish mankind. If you don’t believe Christ took the punishment for us all…that makes Christ a liar and he just wasted his human life, first rattle out of the bag. People that claim to believe in Christ, need to stop with the God is punishing us lie. It’s weather! There is terrible danger in this world. All kinds of danger and trial. You can ask for protection and guidance… but I refuse to believe God is punishing anyone or that he put Trump in office. Free will! The free will of the voters put him in office, and those of us that weren’t too cool with that choice can just pray that he doesn’t do us all too much damage. Chastisement? Yes. I know what that is. And the individual that experiences knows it when he sees it, too. Chastisement is like guidance. It’s not punishment. Aaaargh. That’s what I believe, and we all have the free will to believe whatever we want to, but don’t tell me the Christian god is punishing people. He is my God. I think he’s all about not punishing people, myself. And there, in my opinion, is no such thing as “Tough love”. That’s just a lie used to abuse people. I can tell Ernesto that liars are a real thing… and the term “Druggie” is just a human insult. I think God doesn’t think anyone is a ‘druggie’… but I’m pretty sure he’s aware of and he does know the term “Liar”.

      • Hope says:

        “Tree of Knowledge was prohibited…”

        Because it was “The knowledge of good and evil.”

        • Hope says:

          No. I don’t understand it… or what you said, yet. I’m trying.

          “Knowledge of the destruction of all things created by God?” Evil?

          Anyway, it’s apparently not for me to know. At least not yet.

        • DdC says:

          Hope
          September 12, 2017 at 6:12 pm

          There is nothing I can think of that humans “create” outside of more humans. Without killing God’s creations. What is in Nature for humans to exist doesn’t require killing it. You can eat the apple without killing the tree. But you can’t create paper from trees without killing the tree. Human products are a result of killing God’s creations or digging up what God buried. Steel is from iron ore and carbon, gasoline from crude oil. Furniture kills trees. Plastic from oil. Cotton requires human poisons while Hemp grows a season and when it dies after a happy life we create things. Still from dead things. Eating meat or building wooden homes takes killing what God created and again unnecessary using Hemp. So since “good and evil” are human terms, not of nature or God’s creations. Its without evidence, but then so is the entire story which has parts of other stories so it boils down to beliefs. I just can’t find anything humans have created without killing nature or digging up buried things. As a typical American I’m not judging or saying I don’t participate in the killing. Just a thought I don’t hear a lot about. The point being the Tree of Knowledge must not have been studied or had a glitz since it sure seems like humans still can’t figure out the difference between right and wrong or good and evil. Profits on misery created by profiteers to profit on treating misery sure seems evil. Prohibition seems evil. But the profits are the new Prophets so I guess its all good. Who is Us?

          Genesis 3:22
          And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

      • Hope says:

        Ddc. You have a far greater understanding of the mysterious stuff than I do.

        I think the “Us” could be aligned with the verse in the New Testament that says, “He was with him in the beginning”. Meaning Jesus, Jeshua The Advocate, The Counselor, Brother, or whatever you think of him as.

        I am a Christian. I’m glad I’m a Christian. I know a lot of people think it’s stupid. Including yourself, from time to time. It is crazy. I think it’s crazy and true and real.

        But, as far a religion and the principles of that religion, I disagree with some of the family of believers that are weaker in their faith. They are judgmental and spread fear, and not the joy, peace, and love that is the true Gospel of Christ.

    • WalStMonky says:

      .
      .

      When did they repeal the 9th Commandment?

    • Justice Department, ex-Obama lawyers duel over Arpaio pardon
      https://t.co/heVc7bfRVy

      “The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said a criminal conviction against ex-Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio should be dismissed as moot in the wake of a controversial pardon from President Donald Trump, according to a court filing.”

      “However several legal groups, including one staffed by lawyers who worked for President Barack Obama’s administration, urged an Arizona federal judge to deem the pardon an unconstitutional overreach of executive authority.”

  16. Servetus says:

    Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have discovered the genes that control the aging processes of a person’s brain. The process is programmed so that certain gene expressions occur only at certain ages. The genetic algorithm would explain the onset of schizophrenia being delayed until the early 20s in victims of the genetic disease:

    AAAS Public Release September 11, 2017: Scientists discover genetic timetable of brain’s aging process

    In an AAAS press release from scientists at the University of Bonn and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) on May 8, 2017, cannabinoids were found to stop the brain aging process in mice specially bred to age quickly:

    AAAS Public Release: Cannabis reverses aging processes in the brain: Researchers at the University of Bonn restore the memory performance of Methuselah mice to a juvenile stage

    • darkcycle says:

      Actually, an aside to this. It is becoming increasingly clear from research what many have suspected about schizophrenia all along. Namely, the timetable for the onset isn’t really about the disease, but of the overt symptoms we associate with it and use to diagnose it. The underlying thought disorder will have been present all along. It’s something in the combination of the onset of physical adulthood, and the increasing social expectations a person is subjected to at that stage of life that “unmasks” the symptoms.

  17. Servetus says:

    The persistence among prohibitionists to believe marijuana is toxic or otherwise harmful is a curious phenomenon when considering how very little the NIDA and other government entities have achieved in demonizing cannabis over several decades. The reason for this result focuses on the dynamics of belief itself, whether it’s applied to drug side effects, religion, or climate change:

    While in an fMRI scanner, participants were asked whether or not they believed in a number of statements.[…]

    …the scans clearly showed something that was more straightforward. Brain activation, overall, was much greater and persisted longer during states of disbelief. This is important because neuroscience has long shown that greater brain activity requires more mental resources, of which there is a limited supply. A cognitive process that demands little mental resources, such as believing, is less work for the brain and therefore favored.[…]

    This finding has great implications for understanding the factors involved in human behavior and decision-making. We all know that our beliefs strongly guide our actions and shape our moral and political attitudes. Since the brain tends to accept ideas rather than reject them, those raised in cultures that promote religious indoctrination of children at a very early age—long before they are taught science, if taught science at all—are more susceptible to holding fundamentalist beliefs later in life.

    Further evidence supporting the notion that the brain favors believing comes from classic psychology experiments with children. Many studies have shown the perhaps common sense idea that young children are prone to believe what they are told rather than reject it. The latter involves an evaluation phase that the former does not, which again places more demands on the brain’s limited resources. Suggestibility and gullibility, in a sense, come naturally.[…]

    http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/08/religious-fundamentalism-a-side-effect-of-lazy-brains/

    When Kevin Sabet, Patrick Kennedy, or Jeff Sessions speaks of marijuana, they speak of their own beliefs, not what is known. Their beliefs fail to incorporate thousands of hours of study in the neurological and biological sciences. No examination of relevant scientific publications ever occurs—they never point to any specific studies. None have any personal experience with marijuana. Owing to his religious beliefs, Kevin has never imbibed alcohol. The prohibitionists’ approach to medical marijuana and psychedelics makes it clear they would rather die than think.

    • DdC says:

      “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.”

      Just Say No…

      “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.”
      From Benito Mussolini,
      “London Sunday Express,” December 8, 1935

  18. Hope says:

    There are many comments at that Fox News article that need refuting. I think it’s a bunch of kids. Of course, I’m not sure.

  19. Will says:

    .
    .
    When you’re so mired in cheesy stereotypes while promoting your debunked propaganda, this is the kind of stupid stuff you do (I’m sure Kevin thought this was so clever);

    Anti-Marijuana Group Hands Out Cheetos With Bad Data

    http://tinyurl.com/y8w8fwuz

    [I’m guessing they’ve done this before, with more eye rolls this time]

  20. Servetus says:

    A piece in Rolling Stone magazine portrays ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio as an anti-government extremist with ties to organizations such as the Oath Keepers and the sovereign citizens movement:

    9-12-2017 — Arpaio helped found the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group of county-level law enforcement officers who believe that, because they are elected, the authority they hold in their counties exceeds that of both the state and federal government. Led by fellow former sheriff Richard Mack, CSPOA promotes a dangerously wacky interpretation of the Constitution in which sheriffs have the authority to determine whether a law is constitutional, to decide whether to enforce or obey it, and to order federal or state law enforcement officials who try to enforce the law out of their counties. Mack has written that “the greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our own federal government.”

    This unsupportable theory of county supremacy has its roots in the Posse Comitatus – meaning “force of the county” – movement of the Seventies and Eighties. The group was established to defend against perceived attacks on the rights of white Christians by the racist and anti-Semitic William Potter Gale, who went on to be a leader in the militia movement of the Nineties. Gale wrote – under the pen name Col. Ben Cameron, taken from a character in the infamous racist film Birth of a Nation – that “the county Sheriff is the ONLY LEGAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!” He went on to explain that the sheriff must form a posse made up of citizens in his jurisdiction and that anyone opposing such “Christian posses” should be considered a “domestic enemy.”[…]

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-favorite-sheriffs-and-growing-anti-government-extremism-w502513

    If the county sheriff is the only legal law enforcement officer, then I suppose we can toss out any drug arrest made by any other type of law enforcement, including the DEA.

    • Servetus says:

      Spencer Dew profiles Ex-Sheriff Joseph Michael Arpaio’s Maricopa County criminal activities while in office.

      Arpaio’s record is Trump’s idea of “law and order”—i.e., authoritarians don’t need no stinkin’ human rights laws:

      August 29, 2017…Arpaio saw himself, in the position of sheriff, as law incarnate, which is to say above the rule of law. Even outside of the tent prison he proudly described as a “concentration camp,” from which he broadcast a live webcast from the toilet of the women’s holding cell, he used his position to raid the homes of journalists who were critical of him and arrested activists “who applauded when someone made critical remarks about Arpaio at a Board of Supervisors meeting,” on charges of disorderly conduct. Arpaio even “had a private investigator follow the wife of a judge who had ruled against him.” This is what Americans would traditionally call criminal activity, with Arpaio as a vigilante at best and a thuggish mob boss at worst.

      Like Trump, he gained popular support as a peddler of conspiracy theories and through reality television, though in Arpaio’s case this involved teaming up with action star Steven Seagal for actual stunt raids. A celebrity self-promoter, obsessed with his poll numbers, his brand (all that was iconic at his “in-tents” jail—exposure to the elements, pink underwear, garbage food paired with televisions locked to the Food Network—was iconic of him), his solipsism was on display in a pre-interview clip from CNN where he fusses about his makeup and complains that he can’t even go out for pizza in New York without protestors complicating his night. In response to his pardon, he promptly took to Twitter to ask his fans for money.

      In pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio, President Trump is not only reaffirming a vision of law and law enforcement rooted in the world of celebrity narcissism and cinematic fantasy, he is also reaffirming his commitment to a model of unchecked political power. Both men are quick to equate Arpaio’s action with legitimate law enforcement.[…]

      http://religiondispatches.org/what-happens-when-an-american-president-believes-he-is-above-the-law/

  21. Speaking of tossing out the DEA, here is a story that showcases an example of the ridiculous situations being generated by the DEA and the federal government:

    “Indiana irony: Law allowing CBD oil sparked crackdown, restricting patient access” https://tinyurl.com/ybfsd5ep

    Here is the reality to it all – “Tens Of Thousands Of Lives Could Be Saved By Nationwide Cannabis Legalization: Study”
    https://tinyurl.com/yc4m46he

    The DEA and the prohibition of cannabis by way of the Controlled Substances Act does not save lives, it instead kills thousands annually, and wastes billions of dollars and lives to enforce.

  22. I would go as far to say that the drug war, specifically as it is represented by the prohibition of cannabis as a schedule one substance in the CSA is an act of oppression by a white supremacist US government against a population of the poor and immigrants and other people of color.

    The corporate pharmaceutical companies backed by congress have taken enormous profits from the exaggerated use of its legal opiates upon the population while at the same time criminalizing its use in society and preventing its treatment that would otherwise be dictated by the medical community.

    Building a wall makes a public statement of our dislike for foreigners. Canadians who have legalized marijuana will not be alllowed to travel to the US legally.

    We are becoming an isolated country run by a racist government of lawless ruffians whose disdain for the law is being replaced by authoritarian rule and intimidation. In place of a constitution and rule of law that represents our government of the people,by the people, and for the people.

    Racist corporate a**holes rule America backed by a congress of like minded representation residing in the majority rule of a Republican congress.

    America is becoming a spiteful, hateful, exclusively narcissistic country inspired by an administration who rules by imperial decree and twitter pronunciations to the masses.

    The 2018 election needs to mirror our demand for change. We as a country are on a bad path. The legalization of marijuana is no small thing and would go a very long way in righting these wrongs and saving many lives and public dollars.

    On a path to righting many wrongs the legalization of marijuana by removing it from the CSA would be a good first step.

  23. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    OK folks, hold on to your hats:

    GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch Pushes Medical Marijuana As Opioid Alternative

    /snip/
    But according to prepared remarks distributed by his office, he plans to say in a speech that “in our zeal to enforce the law, we too often blind ourselves to the medicinal benefits of natural substances like cannabis.”

    Interesting times, no doubt.

    • Bill Skates says:

      Links to Forbes articles simply don’t function.

      Just google the following: “But according to prepared remarks distributed by his office, he plans to say in a speech that”

      • DdC says:

        Sen. Hatch introduces medical marijuana research bill
        by John W. Yelland, KUTV September 13th 2017
        http://kutv.com/news/local/sen-hatch-introduces-medical-marijuana-research-bill

      • DdC says:

        Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch wants feds to allow medical marijuana research, saying drug can ‘change people’s lives for the better’
        Courtney Tanner The Salt Lake Tribune
        http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/09/13/utah-sen-orrin-hatch-announces-his-support-for-medical-marijuana-research-releases-new-bill/

      • DdC says:

        MM: U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said he will consider supporting the medical cannabis initiative that activists are working to place on Utah’s 2018 ballot. He also said he has “always been in favor of” medical marijuana.
        https://twitter.com/MattLaslo/status/908419110719180800

        Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) tweeted that “one result of our failed ‘War on Drugs’ is the staggering fact that 1-in-3 African Americans will face incarceration in their lifetime.”
        https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/908439464531386368

        The Arizona Department of Child Services updated its policy to make clear that people who use medical cannabis are not welcome as foster parents.
        http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-dcs-medical-marijuana-users-foster-parents-9683245

        Canada’s New Democratic Party is pushing the federal government to negotiate a deal with the U.S. to ensure that Canadians aren’t blocked from crossing the border if they admit to having used marijuana.
        http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ndp-pushes-for-agreement-with-u-s-to-prevent-lifetime-travel-bans-once-pot-is-legal

        A survey found that 66.7% of medical school curriculum deans said that their graduates were not at all prepared to prescribe medical marijuana, and 84.9% of residents and fellows say they received no education in medical school or residency on medical marijuana.
        http://www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/article/S0376-8716(17)30441-6/fulltext

        USAl Qaeda still terrorizing patients with empty threats.

        U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said that the Trump administration is continuing to weigh whether to keep, rescind or revise the Obama-era Cole Memo that generally protects state marijuana laws from federal interference.

        He added that cannabis is “more harmful than a lot of people anticipated, and it’s more difficult to regulate than I think was contemplated ideally by some of those states.”
        https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/09/14/justice-department-no-2-weighs-in-on-marijuana-legalization/

        • NorCalNative says:

          A survey found that 66.7% of medical school curriculum deans said that their graduates were not at all prepared to prescribe medical marijuana, and 84.9% of residents and fellows say they received no education in medical school or residency on medical marijuana.

          The journal, which is recent, uses the term “prescribe” twice. Since medical marijuana isn’t currently available by prescription, does this survey indicate an upcoming CSA Schedule change?

          If it’s a typo, then that’s some pretty lazy shit, not knowing the difference between MMJ “recommedations” and FDA-approved “prescriptions.”

          Interesting also, is how closely that survey tracks to one you’ve linked to on several occasions, about the endocannabinoid (ECS) instruction in medical schools.

          Can’t wait until I can ask my doc to hit me up with some Sativex. Sativex is whole-plant cannabis CO2 hash oil, and that 1:1 ratio is really good for lots of stuff. That’s one-of-two products of medical marijuana they’re talking about “prescribing” unless I’ve been asleep for the last decade.

          Epidiolex will likely be first out of the gate and help some kids, but it’s a small patient population compared to the off-label potential of Sativex.

          I don’t think the public has any clue on how devastating it is for public health when docs are IGNORANT, by and through institutional training, about the “master control panel for almost every physiological process in the human body.”

          Dated Doctors are DICKS! Talk about sperm swimming in circles (h/t Duncan).

        • DdC says:

          Hey NCN,

          I haven’t heard anything new. Doctors sued Clinton for the right to discuss it. I talked with an Orthopedist last week about a patient using CBD paste for inflammation and he said he has been telling his patients about it. He can’t write a script for it due to FDA not letting Big Pharma carry it. Hemp oil has an exemption from a lawsuit against the DEA trying to stop Hawaii’s Hemp crop during Clinton and the results are anything that can be grown here is still illegal federally but you can import Hemp clothing or seeds if they are sterilized as a concern to the pet shops always selling hemp seed for song birds. Or crushed seeds and oil. So its still state laws protecting patients.

          I’m considering a lawsuit against the DEA and Sessions daily terror acts threatening patients with killing the cole memo or their insane reefer madness. Patients have enough to worry about without added stress by a dimwit government.

          The past articles said no medical school had an ECS class or teachers and 13% “mentioned” it. A Neurologist once told me they have been discussing it at pain seminars for 40 years but nothing is official. 84.9% of residents and fellows say they received no education in medical school or residency on medical marijuana. That’s close to 13%.

          I laid my idea of cannabis as a supplement to the ECS since it seems to naturally bring the body back to normal, rather that just treat symptoms by tricking the body. Obesity or Wasting syndrome. He looked very perplexed as if he was happy to tell me about how great CBD works, and a patients x rays attested to that. But then went all blank and dumbfounded as if his great discovery was only the beginning. Sorta shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t know enough to comment. They’re trying. I gave him some slack. Not as if he disagreed with all things cannabis as most did before 215.

          GW stocks are still flakey, more hovering than going up. Between $high $90s and $107 the last couple weeks. Insy tanked. Epidiolex probably will be the first and classed S#2. Keeping prohibition alive and well. With Sativex approval here, it could give a reason to shut down the dispensaries since there would technically be an alternative. Maybe the people will stand up for the good guys and surprise me. Sativex is on the shelves in Europe and Canada and naturally the street version of the applicator hit about 5 minutes after GW approval. Whatever they can do we can do better and cheaper. Be well.

          No medical schools have a department of endocannabinoid science or an ECS director.
          http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/937
          None of them taught the endocannabinoid science as an organized course. Only 13% of the medical schools surveyed mention the endocannabinoid science to our future doctors

  24. darkcycle says:

    Going to do what I’ve waited for for twelve-plus years…
    Today me and Divadab will be heading down to the Big Time Brewery in Seattle to stop in and have a beer with Pete.
    A little dc backstory: I will say, Pete has wonderful taste in drinking establishments. The Big Time is one of my old regular haunts, as it was conveniently located right next door to the University Bistro. A now defunct Reggae bar where I used to bar tend and work the door. On breaks from the Bistro, we’d go over and have a beer, gratis, thanks to our mutually beneficial arrangement of no cover for Big Time employees. I do believe my old friend Armand still owns the Bigtime, although he hasn’t taken a hand in running it for a while. Looking forward to this evening!!

  25. Servetus says:

    Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, chair of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, has published in the journal Psychiatry Research the results of a limited study wherein people with existing psychotic disorders reacted differently to marijuana consumption than control subjects with no history of mental illness:

    13-SEP-2017 — …After smoking active marijuana, both groups had signs of intoxication and increases in heart rate and arousal relative to the placebo. However, only the high-risk group experienced transient increases in paranoia and anxiety, as well as disrupted sensory perception and cognitive performance, after using active marijuana. Neither group experienced these effects after using the placebo.[…]

    Jeffrey Lieberman… noted that this report “demonstrates the convergent risks of adolescence and expanding cannabis use for the development of psychotic disorders, as well as the opportunity for preventive strategies.”

    AAAS Public Release: Marijuana may produce psychotic-like effects in high-risk individuals

    I’m don’t think Dr. Lieberman or anyone else is surprised by the results of his study. For example, if someone gave cannabis to a dog with rabies the unfortunate animal would likely react differently from that of a healthy dog to a cannabis experience. If Lieberman is trying to extend his example to the risks of adolescence, he’s not going far enough. The issue isn’t limited to adolescents.

    Dr. Lieberman is one of those people who looks at a glass half-empty. If someone can’t handle their booze or their marijuana, it’s a clear indicator that some kind of mental or biological defect is present that might benefit by being looked at by professionals. With a glass half-full approach, marijuana might become a diagnostic tool for mental illness.

    • DC Reade says:

      People with “psychotic disorders” also tend to handle alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco poorly, not to mention other mind-altering substances.

      It’s possible to find entries for those linkages by doing keyword searches like [coffee psychosis] and [tobacco psychosis].

  26. Christ Came says:

    God never intended us to see sausage dogs in the clouds or be as high as a giraffe’s ass.

    Blessed are those who stay sober, for they shall need comforting.

  27. DdC says:

    A new study concluded that the rise in U.S. marijuana use over the last decade was not caused by state legalization of medical or recreational marijuana.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/09/14/study-rise-in-marijuana-use-not-caused-by-legalization/

  28. Servetus says:

    Carlos Muñoz Portal, a location scout for Narcos, a Netflix series based on Pablo Escobar, has been murdered in Hidalgo, Mexico.

    http://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/narcos-location-scout-killed-carlos-munoz-portal-1201877162/

  29. Dank of England says:

    Unrelenting Erban warfare in Central London.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD26FXTW5Ts&feature=youtu.be

  30. DdC says:

    It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is
    little known, and less fixed?
    — James Madison, Federalist Papers 62

  31. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    The provincial government New Brunswick Canada entered into an agreement with Organigram Holdings and Canopy Growth Corporation to buy a total of 9,000,000 grams of cannabis to stock the shelves of government run retail cannabis vendors. The deals were expected to generate gross sales revenues of between CAD60 and CAD80 million Canuckistani pesos.

    Newly Created Crown Corporation to Oversee Recreational Marijuana Sales in New Brunswick

    I guess I’m going to get to see if my pot stocks are still alive. They’ve just been laying there doing absolutely nothing for the better part of the last 6 months. I’m discounting the move in XXII as I just can’t bring myself to include a company dedicated to genetically engineering cannabis to produce no THC in the sector. Also the move is because they’re also genetically engineering tobacco to not produce nicotine and the FDA has announced that they’re going to prohibit tobacco with “addictive” (read any) levels of nicotine. The 22nd Century Group appears to be dedicated to removing the fun from life.

  32. DC Reade says:

    Not that I have any particular interest at stake, but I’m betting that the 2017 hurricane season will likely do more to interrupt the cocaine distribution networks on the East Coast of the USA than the Coast Guard, Customs, and the DEA combined. The cocaine market may be looking at a drought that lasts for months.

    The powder will continue to march through Mexico and on to north of the border, however.

  33. Servetus says:

    Hurricanes or not, the feds will still take credit for any drop in drug imports.

  34. Servetus says:

    GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS has struck another blow against the forces of evil, limited with nothing but the truth:

    19-SEP-2017…the panelists shared their views on topics ranging from what actions U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions might take, the business of growing and selling cannabis, risk of addiction, and whether patients should use cannabis to alleviate cancer pain.[…]

    Moderator Kyle Kazan, Co-Founder, AP Investment Fund, led a lively and informative discussion on issues related to cannabis at the interface of medicine, society, and government. Bringing to the conversation their broad-ranging knowledge and expertise were panelists Dr. Daniele Piomelli, Professor, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine; U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California’s 48th District; and Lori Ajax, Chief, Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Consumer Affairs.

    “To fully understand cannabis, we must look at it from the different perspectives of medicine, law, and society at large. This roundtable is meant to be a step in that direction,” says Editor-in-Chief Daniele Piomelli, PhD, PharmD, University of California-Irvine, School of Medicine.

    AAAS Public Release: Future of legalized cannabis focus of expert panel discussion in cannabis journal—Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

    Original:
    http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/can.2017.29010.kka

    The best weapon we have against prohibitionists is the truth, as truth is something that really exists, believe it or not.

  35. jean valjean says:

    A story of entrapment by the DEA. The real blame lies at the feet of prohibition.

    Storyville Silk Road Drugs, Death and the Dark Web Documentary 2017
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pACWVg5Y5zM

    • jean valjean says:

      Before the 60s you were lynched for being black and uppity. Now the lynching comes as a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for challenging the government and its drug war. Justice is a joke in the Land of the Free.

  36. Archie Klunker says:

    Prince William asks whether Britain should legalise drugs

    he Duke of Cambridge has entered the debate on whether to legalised drugs in Britain, saying it is now a “massive question” to be faced.

    The Duke, who was visiting a charity, asked recovering addicts whether they believed the law on illegal substances should be changed, calling them “the key people” to give insight on the “big dangers” surrounding drug use.

    Saying it “feels like a question I had to ask”, the Duke acknowledged the “growing pressure” to change the regulation of drugs use in the UK.

    https://tinyurl.com/BillyAsks

    • jean valjean says:

      Usually I groan at the over-exposure in the British media of the Windsor soap-opera, but I think in this case William can see the way his generation is going with this. I’m happy to see more staged questioning video by the princes as they struggle to find relevance in the 21st century.

  37. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    Emerald Health Therapeutics’ Scientific Advisors Publish Research Discovery of THCA Cannabinoid’s Neuroprotective Treatment Potential

    Yeah, I do own a double weight position in EMHTF. But this gives you the rare opportunity to put a smile on my face if you buy enough to bump it up a dime per stub. That might be a little too much for you but a nickle would give me a nodding, self satisfied grin. You won’t be buying any of my shares because I need at least $1.42/stub and that’s not likely for at least a couple of weeks and more likely a couple of months.

  38. Pennsylvania Democratic Party Adopts Marijuana Legalization Into Policy Platform https://shar.es/1VttvH

    I am looking forward to the day – soon- that more states can do this and we can all have a big pot party!

  39. UziCoin Breakout says:

    They promise to link income to bra size, kidnap the Turkish Prime Minister, and supply cocaine on prescription.

    https://tinyurl.com/HugeTitsParty

  40. Bertrum Birdie says:

    Duterte says his son will be killed if he is involved in drugs

    And he’s even promised to protect the police who do it.

    The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he would have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician were true, and that the police who carry out the hit would be protected from prosecution.

    Paolo Duterte, 42, appeared this month before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker that he was a member of a Chinese triad gang who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.

    https://tinyurl.com/BrutusDuterte

  41. DdC says:

    Kevin Abraham Sabet- Sharghi

    A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.
    — Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

    ☛ Nixon lied to schedule Ganja #1
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1650

    ☛ The Racist Ganjawar
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/297

    * “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum

    “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

    * Ehrlichman’s comment is the first time the war on drugs has been plainly characterized as a political assault designed to help Nixon win, and keep, the White House

    Has asset forfeiture gone too far?
    Truck seizure case sparks outrage, a call for change

    Kentucky judge dismisses challenge of medical marijuana ban

  42. UziCoin Breakout says:

    Did y’all hear about the dyslexic insomniac agnostic stoner? Poor guy lay awake all night wondering, “Like wow, man. I wonder if there’s a Dog?

  43. DdC says:

    The word of the day is Dotard
    Kevin Abraham Sabet- Sharghi acts like a dōdərd
    “A state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise”

    Where are all the tax and spend whiners? Millions of bucks to just say no?

    The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy announced 719 grants to community anti-drug coalitions across the country.
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/grants-programs

    U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify at Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on October 18.
    https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/10/18/2017/oversight-of-the-us-department-of-justice

    U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions claimed in a press conference that legalization leads to increased marijuana use, adding, “Federal law remains in effect.”
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/09/20/jeff-sessions-slams-marijuana-legalization-again/

    A study found that “despite the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana in some states…perceptions that marijuana would be very easy to obtain are on the decline among American youth.”
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28930065

    U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a speech that “just say no” is a key drug prevention strategy.
    https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-ge

    The American Legion is calling on U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Sec. David Shulkin to direct department personnel to stop blocking veterans’ participation in medical cannabis research.
    https://twitter.com/LegioninDC/status/910593574760255488

  44. DdC says:

    ☛ NFL players rip Trump on Twitter:
    ‘A–hole,’ ‘disgrace,’ ‘real life clown,’ ‘unacceptable’

    LeBron James Tweets Brutal Response To Trump’s Steph Curry Tweet

    @KingJames
    to @WhiteHouse
    U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!

    So the PotUS says the son of a bitch Kaepernick or anyone disrespecting a flag should be fired, yanked from the field.

    So the PotUS wants to harm humans for disrespecting the symbolic flag. MalWart’s plastic flags from Iranian and Iraqi crude oil. Made in Chinese sweatshops by kids.

    The symbol representing the human Americans right to state their grievances. Including not having respect for a piece of plastic paying for nuclear rods and bullets to shoot at American soldiers.

    While playing nuclear chicken with another Wingnut. Alt Reich Religionist Pence as an alternative, FL, TX & the Caribbean’s have been blown to Oz.

    But little Napoleon Jeffey wants to continue terrorizing sick people. Spend another few billion on DARE and Nanny Raygus Just say NO. Pulling wings off of flies, snickering like Peter Lori. Oy vey.

    ☛ More Marijuana Myths:
    Jeff Sessions Slams Legalization—Again

    “I’ve never felt that we should legalize marijuana,” Sessions said on Wednesday. “It doesn’t strike me that the country would be better if it’s being sold on every street corner. We do know that legalization results in greater use.”

    A new study contradicts the claim that legalization results in greater usage. The study was published in the journal Addiction last week.

    Sessions is a long-time antagonist to marijuana legalization. Earlier this year, Sessions called for the return of the stricter anti-marijuana “just say no” view on drugs from the 1980s.

    During the same speech, he continuously suggested that marijuana was the gateway drug fueling the opioid addiction crisis. He’s not even sold on the value of medical marijuana despite Trump’s promise to leave it up to the states.

    ☛ Marijuana Prevents People From Doing Hard Drugs, Claims Study

    ☛ Five Amazing Ways Cannabis Prevents Illness

    ☛ 77-year-old sentenced to 10 years for growing marijuana

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