David Simon, Baltimore, Drug War

David Simon has an outstanding interview with the Marshall Project. Nothing new to us here, but very well said…

David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish

I guess there’s an awful lot to understand and I’m not sure I understand all of it. The part that seems systemic and connected is that the drug war — which Baltimore waged as aggressively as any American city — was transforming in terms of police/community relations, in terms of trust, particularly between the black community and the police department. Probable cause was destroyed by the drug war. It happened in stages, but even in the time that I was a police reporter, which would have been the early 80s to the early 90s, the need for police officers to address the basic rights of the people they were policing in Baltimore was minimized. It was done almost as a plan by the local government, by police commissioners and mayors, and it not only made everybody in these poor communities vulnerable to the most arbitrary behavior on the part of the police officers, it taught police officers how not to distinguish in ways that they once did.

Probable cause from a Baltimore police officer has always been a tenuous thing. It’s a tenuous thing anywhere, but in Baltimore, in these high crime, heavily policed areas, it was even worse. When I came on, there were jokes about, “You know what probable cause is on Edmondson Avenue? You roll by in your radio car and the guy looks at you for two seconds too long.” Probable cause was whatever you thought you could safely lie about when you got into district court. […]

We end the drug war. I know I sound like a broken record, but we end the fucking drug war. The drug war gives everybody permission to do anything. It gives cops permission to stop anybody, to go in anyone’s pockets, to manufacture any lie when they get to district court. You sit in the district court in Baltimore and you hear, ‘Your Honor, he was walking out of the alley and I saw him lift up the glassine bag and tap it lightly.’ No fucking dope fiend in Baltimore has ever walked out of an alley displaying a glassine bag for all the world to see. But it keeps happening over and over in the Western District court. The drug war gives everybody permission. And if it were draconian and we were fixing anything that would be one thing, but it’s draconian and it’s a disaster.

I know that there’s a lot of push to simply call the problem in Baltimore racism, and racism is part of the picture, but the bigger issue is the drug war and the need for us to dramatically reform the criminal justice system in America.

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56 Responses to David Simon, Baltimore, Drug War

  1. Will says:

    Another example of how much the war on drugs has distorted relations between law enforcement and the citizens they are tasked to ‘protect and serve’, this, from Texas;

    Medical Marijuana Sort of Gets Its Day at the Texas Capitol. Not Really.

    http://tinyurl.com/npwepnx

    In short, the above linked article describes a hearing regarding…

    …”HB 892, which would legalize an exceedingly small subset of cannabidiol oils for use by an exceedingly small subset of patients who might benefit from medical marijuana treatment.”

    This bill “would only allow oils with 0.5 percent or lower THC content [incorrectly stated in the article as 5 percent] and would only allow them to be used by people with one condition, intractable epilepsy.”

    “It’s not a product you can get high on,” Representative Stephanie Klick assured the committee. “It has no street value.”

    However;

    Members of law enforcement, or at least those members of law enforcement that showed up to testify, were mostly opposed to the bill. One sheriff said that the attitude of his men would be “here comes the dopers.” Which seems reasonable when you’re talking about people with intractable epilepsy taking something from which it’s impossible to get high.

    The bill, as you might expect, was left pending.” [emphasis added]

    ———————-

    I’m not sure how long blatantly ignorant “here comes the dopers” like comments will be tolerated from members of law enforcement, especially with respect to potential medication for intractable epilepsy (most recipients would be children after all). But we can thank the war on drugs for the very notion that “members of law enforcement” feel justified — and comfortable — to even utter such a stupid comment. And apparently get away with it.

      • Windy says:

        Also this, it’s BS that the scammers are now entering the cannabis fray in Florida.
        http://naturalrevolution.org/exposed-cannabinoid-therapy-institute-cti-scamming-would-be-patients/

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .

        It’s only relevent if you mistakenly think that patent isn’t worthless. It’s also one of those things that you need to check hasn’t changed from time to time. The Feds haven’t owned 6630507 since 2011 when it was licensed to one of the companies engaged in the business of selling overpriced stock to the gullible to give the company a patina of legitimacy. Did you know that the Feds were the first owners of Marinol?

        It also drives me batshit crazy when people call it “the” patent on medicinal cannabis. If you search the USPTO data base for patents with the keyword cannabinoid you’re going to find over 10,000. Several thousand with much more compelling claims of medicinal utility. E.g. 8632825 for a range of organic THC:organic CBD concoctions as a curative for glioblastoma multiforme, a particularly nasty, treatment resistant and almost always fatal variety of brain cancer issued in December 2013.
        https://www.google.com/patents/US8632825?dq=glioblastoma+multiforme+gw+pharmaceuticals&hl=en&sa=X&ei=22JEVe-7LNDvggTh8YG4Bg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA

        So what, you don’t like GW Pharma? OK, but at least that particular patent is limited to organic THC and organic CBD. 6630507 includes HU-210 and HU-211.

        Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
        US 6630507 B1

        /snip/
        1,1 dimethylheptyl (DMH) homolog of [3R,4R]-7-hydroxy-Δ6THC (known as HU-210) is a superpotent cannabinoid receptor agonist with cannabinomimetic activity two orders of magnitude greater than the natural Δ9 THC. The HU-210 dimethylheptyl cannabinoid, has severe side effects, including fatigue, thirst, headache, and hypotension. J. Pharmacol. Sci. 60:1433-1457 (1971). Subjects who received this synthetic cannabinoid with a dimethylheptyl group experienced marked psychomotor retardation, and were unwilling or incapable of assuming an erect position.

        In contrast to HU-210, the (−)(3R,4R) THC-DMH enantiomer (known as HU-211) displays low affinity to the cannabinoid receptors, but retains NMDA receptor antagonist neuroprotective activity.
        /snip/

        I’d sure like to get people to understand that a patent is not a governmental imprimatur that the claimed benefits of any patents are valid. IIRC around 90% of patents expire having never been commercially exploited. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that patents held by the Federal government are a not insignificant percentage of those worthless patents. If the costs of registering 8362825 were typical of the cost of registering then it cost GW Pharm ~$50,000 just to get that registration with several thousands more for registration maintenance fees expected in the future. The Feds get to register their patents without paying those fees.

        The existence of 6630507 proves nothing about the validity of medicinal cannabis. FDA approval is a lot more significant evidence supporting the medicinal validity of an approved substance that a US patent registration is evidence supporting the commercial validity of a registered invention. Were the latter true we’d all have perpetual motion devices which were issued patent registrations which expired decades and decades and decades ago. Of course perpetual motion devices are strictly prohibited by physical law. Physical law is an even more stern task master than is Francis.

        • claygooding says:

          Not an attorney but if a person produces their own medicines and uses them then it is not a patent infringement until you barter or sell the medicine to someone else,,not sure if you “gift” the medicine if it is considered a patent infringement.

        • primus says:

          Clay: I believe you are mistaken; Patent even means production for self use.

        • darkcycle says:

          Absolutely. And let’s not forget, the patent is a funny animal. In order for them to make it enforceable, they would need to have profited, or been prevented from profiting from an actual product (they need to have been materially harmed). And they need a judge to agree that their patent is in fact a legitimate patent and not something that is in the public domain. I might successfully patent my process for treating grain dust and water with heat in an enclosed space in order to make it more palatable, but I would never find a judge to allow me to enforce my patent on bread. There is no way it is not the public domain. The patent office doesn’t make judgements, it issues documents used to make judgements…or not.

  2. Servetus says:

    Media exposures of drug enforcement’s inherent destructiveness are becoming increasingly intense. Every story I’ve been reading about the situation in Baltimore mentions the drug laws as an inciting factor. The current Baltimore revolt could represent a significant turning point in policing once the dust settles. One positive factor is the city is in close proximity to Washington, D.C., which means Baltimore isn’t as easy to ignore or dismiss as is some isolated, hinterland community like Ferguson, Missouri.

  3. NorCalNative says:

    Ending the drug war is an absolute requirement, but it doesn’t go far enough.

    It’s not well known but the endocannabinoid system controls open/close mindedness. This means people without well-performing endocannabinoid systems have trouble learning or adapting to new material or facts that may threaten their worldview.

    The ECS also controls the size of their fear center in the brain (the amygdala). Stress makes the amygdala increase in size and cannabinoids help shrink the brains fear center.

    Cops and politicians with under-developed endocannabinoid systems ARE THE PROBLEM.

    Until we replace those two groups with people with well-developed endocannabinoid systems WE WILL NEVER change this dynamic.

    We are literally electing people and hiring police without the biological components of true leadership.

    Fearful cops with large amygdala’s are often BRUTAL.

    Simply by using asshole Dupont’s pee testing industry to HIRE cannabinoid-comfortable cops INSTEAD of making it a firing offense WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING!

    You want better cops? Hire cops with well-developed endcannabinoid systems and SMALLER fear centers. Same with elected officials.

    Robert Melamede a professor at Colorado State University, Colorado Springs has some excellent YouTube video lectures on these topics.

    We NEED to stop electing and hiring those folks who have a distinct biological disadvantage. Sure it’s great for the status quo and predatory capitalism, but if we don’t move quickly kids, grandkids will soon be a thing of historical significance ONLY.

    Peace ya’ll, even to my Canadian Friend Primus. Go outside and play.

  4. Furball says:

    Sadly, here in the great state of Texas, I have many friends who have decided that my possession of an arrest record, as well as use of cannabis for PTSD (from OIF I/II), is all the cause that’s needed for our “protectors” to arbitrarily murder me for the crime of “looking at the cops and running.” Even when I point out that this belief says it’s okay, as long as I’m a statistical outlier, I get glazed looks of incomprehension and not recognition of the fact that Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Robbie Bolton (here in the Houston-area), Kathryn Johnston, Ryan Frederick and others are all humans. To many in our nation, we’re simply scum who deserve removal from the system.

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered if my survivor’s guilt is a punishment for some unknown sin, or if it means that I was too stubborn/stupid to die in the desert. If it was up to my fellow citizens, down here, it would seem that it’s a touch of column A, and a touch column B.

  5. O. B.Server says:

    re: “I know that there’s a lot of push to simply call the problem in Baltimore racism, and racism is part of the picture, but the bigger issue is the drug war and the need for us to dramatically reform the criminal justice system in America.”

    So true. I see huge attempts to use classic “divide and rule” techniques to fan flames of racial tensions. To divert attention from the police state itself, (where black and white people should form coalitions to end the drug war, opposing the police state), to an issue of black vs. white, instead.

    Divide and rule – divide and conquer. I wish people would not fall for that.

  6. DonDig says:

    .
    Since the beginning of drug prohibition, and later implementation via Anslinger and Nixon, was indeed racist (and economic) at its root, our troubled law enforcement in these cases seems to be a direct outgrowth of that racist and economic bias which enabled much of the poverty, poor education/support, and malaise in parts of our cities.

    There’s recurring discussion about this being a nation of laws. Well, this is a nation of people, and while there are certainly more than enough laws, they should serve us, not crush us for economic benefit.

  7. thelbert says:

    i think some cops in baltimore are in trouble that no amount of lies can get them out of: http://tinyurl.com/l6unv3s

  8. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    Boo-yeah! Start packin’ up the truck wife woman, we’re moving to Colorado!

    Video: John Hickenlooper Says Legalizing Pot “Not as Vexing as We Thought”

    Stick a fork in it….prohibition is done. Hey, aren’t we going to need a new POTUS next year?

    • Freeman says:

      “If you look back, it’s turned out not to be as vexing as some people like myself…. I opposed the original vote, didn’t think it was a good idea. But the voters spoke and we’re trying to make it work, and I think we are. Again, it’s not as vexing as we thought it was going to be.”

      Awesome! Nothing teaches better than hands-on experience.

      Missing from our little legalization experiment is Washington’s governor’s enthusiasm. I wonder why?

      “we might have to lower the taxes a little bit” in order to insure the destruction of the pot black market, because “drug dealers don’t care who they sell to,” including children…

      As opposed to kLieman’s preposterous suggestion to WA that they need to step up drug-war tactics in order to safely legalize weed, this guy Hickenlooper really gets it! He understands that drug-war tactics have ALWAYS consistently and utterly failed, that a regulated legal market is the best way we know to control access to intoxicants, and that over-taxation designed to maintain black-market prices will only undermine that effort while aiding and abetting the black market. No dummy, he!

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .

        I think it must be something in the water that makes Coloradans feel compelled to do the right thing. I’ve got to admit that I think that it sure seems obvious to me that there’s something different in their culture, their DNA, their ??? There don’t appear to be any Kleimans, SAMs, Sabets, Feinsteins, Christies, at least that hold any sway over the citizenry.

        Seriously, it was all that we needed, one State that would give it an honest try. I can’t even begin to verbally express the respect and admiration I have for Governor Hickenlooper. He’s earned it, for what it’s worth.

        Another example of Coloradans doing the right thing? Talk about good luck due to other people’s stupidity:
        Shane Ray Drafted By Denver Broncos Just Days After Getting Marijuana Citation

        • Windy says:

          Speaking of Sabet and SAM, how did we ever miss this article back in 2012?
          http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/26/addiction-treatment-in-america-not-based-on-science-not-truly-medical/

          Addiction is typically characterized as a disease by experts and government officials. Yet, unlike most known diseases, the treatment of addiction is not based on scientific evidence nor is it required to be provided by people with any medical education — let alone by actual physicians — according to a new report.

          The 586-page tome, which was published by Columbia’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), is based on large surveys of treatment providers, people who suffer from addiction and those in the general public, as well as a review of more than 7,000 publications on addiction.

          It finds that most addiction care is administered by “addiction counselors” for whom there are no national standards of practice. It finds also that 14 states don’t require any education or licensing at all for addiction counselors. The risks to those seeking treatment can be dire: California is one of the states that allows uncredentialed providers, for example. In a recent case in that state, a sexual predator was found to be offering “intimacy therapy” to addicted teenage girls; treatment consisted of sex with him. Without oversight, there’s no way to stop people from preying on vulnerable people under the guise of addiction care.

    • Matthew Meyer says:

      Yup, those are the same high taxes that Kleiman says will make pot prohibitively expensive for kids…nurturing a black market that sells to kids!

      WA should ask for its money back.

    • claygooding says:

      Bernie threw his hat in the ring,,not sure of his stance on cannabis yet but think he supports MMJ in states where allowed,,however he is anti-drug war and heavily into judicial reform,,unless he grows horns and starts carrying a pitchfork he is going to be a big splitting of the Dems,,until his anti-corporate stance forces Hillary too embrace anti-corporate and ending mass incarceration (drug war) in order to get elected.

      It is already becoming an interesting campaign that reminds me of this song so much:

      http://tinyurl.com/pd3zwkv

  9. Servetus says:

    It didn’t take long for Fixated News to hint that Freddie Grey was on drugs at the time of his death, thereby automatically explaining what happened.

    Fox commentator and former NYPD homicide detective Bo Dietl couldn’t possibly come up with any other explanation for a broken spine, as all injuries and deaths in the Dietl’s little world are caused by drugs. In the real world, there’s something called gravity. Gravity kills, but it can’t be that, because DRUGS!

    Officer Dietl is playing the drug card to discredit Freddie Gray, not realizing that most people don’t care if Freddie was taking drugs. People like drugs. They care that Freddie died while in police custody. If drugs were present, Gray should have been transported by ambulance while strapped to a gurney.

    Dietl’s drug theory pushes racist buttons in people’s heads the same way birther and Muslim accusations about Obama do. The autopsy lab results aren’t even available yet, making accusations of drug-taking in the Baltimore case clearly racist due to their timing. Dietl should apologize for his comments.

    • Windy says:

      This excellent article breaks down the likely timeline of the arrest and van ride: http://tinyurl.com/l6unv3s
      and this commenter did a great job, too:
      Seriously enough, these are clearly not injuries from the type of activity the police are claiming took place in the WaPo leak. There are no secondary injuries (as Shaun points out) that would necessarily be present if their story was even remotely accurate. There is also the nature of the injuries themselves, which are a matter of medical record and (thank goodness) unavailable for manipulation by the Baltimore PD.

      The very nature of Gray’s injuries is damning for the police, given that there is only one likely scenario in which he could have incurred them: a violent choke-hold (not that they aren’t all violent, but I mean one not meant only to subdue but to intentionally cause harm.) It is the explanation that Occam’s Razor directs us to, because it fits the known facts very well indeed, far better than any alternative. Here’s why:

      1) The lack of other external injuries means that it’s likely the police did not injury Gray with a “rough ride” tactic after his arrest, because that would have produced external injuries that they could now pass off as him harming himself (though that obviously disregards other problems with that story.) But those injuries aren’t present, so this other possible explanation of how Gray got the vertebral and spinal cord injuries is ruled out. Nor does the “rough ride” scenario account for the crushed larynx, which would be a very unlikely injury in that situation.

      2) Gray is obviously already injured in the videos of his arrest. That also tends to make the “rough ride” scenario unlikely. Instead, it points to Gray being injured while the police arrested him and before he ever was put into the van.

      3) The injuries themselves; a crushed larynx, broken vertebrae, and a partially severed spine are all consistent with direct, crushing, twisting force being applied to the neck. There is only one way this could have happened to Gray in the context of his arrest unless the police had found him trying to hang himself (which they clearly did not): a choke-hold applied with violent and twisting force.

      This is, essentially, the same thing that happened to Eric Garner, but with much more violence on a much smaller person. Simply put, Garner was too big and muscular for the cop to be able to break his neck that way, but Gray was not. Nor did the officer in the Garner case seem to be trying to deliberately injure Garner (not that this excuses him in any way, but it does account for the less-damaging but still fatal results.)

      My bet, if we ever actually learn the truth of what happened, is that all the delay on the transport by the cops was an attempt to figure out what they were going to do with the already-injured guy in the back of the van. One of their number had intentionally misused an already dubious subdual technique (the choke-hold) and injured Gray badly, probably worse than they intended, so they were driving around trying to figure out how to play it so they would be off the hook for what they’d done.

      The question now is, will their ruse prove successful despite it’s transparent falsity?

      • thelbert says:

        that makes more sense than what the police are trying to feed us. if true, all six perps are parties to murder or conspiracy. who knows how many other cops are part of this murder and the cover-up? it also means the driver of the paddy wagon might want the neck-snapper to own up to his actions.

  10. kaptinemo says:

    A perfect time to re-iterate: Nobody ever asked us if we wanted a DrugWar.

    Ask your family, your friends, ask your co-workers, ask acquantences: “Did anyone ever ask you if you wanted a War on Drugs fought in your name?”

    What do you want to bet that you won’t find a single (much less, an enthusiastic) ‘yes’ in the bunch? Fair warning, that’s a sucker bet.

    The next question digs even deeper: “Did anyone ever ask you if you wanted to pay for a War on Drugs with your taxes?”

    Still wanna dice with me? You know the odds are hundreds of millions to one, against, literally.

    The point? Most people think the War on Drugs has been around as long as the Republic. For most people not involved in reform, it seems unconsciously ubiquitous, like air, until you call attention to it.

    And until you call attention to the fact that the DrugWar is the font of most of the anti-police violence currently taking place.

    Just as the LTE campaign of last decade firmly fixed the connection between the failure of alcohol Prohibition and drug prohibition in the public’s mind, asking the above questions as often as possible, especially by those most affected by the laws, will serve to forge another such mental link.

    All of that can be summed up in one very simple demand made of our politicians: “End the DrugWar that we didn’t ask for!” Short, sweet, and to the point. Phrasing the demand in the way it has been leaves no quarter for argument. That those making that demand comprise over half the electorate gives it teeth.

    No need for debate, Mr. and Ms. Pol; the time for that is long past. You wouldn’t debate us, then, and even lumped reformers in with pederasts and murderers. And now, we don’t have to debate you. Just get it done…or your successors will.

  11. Servetus says:

    New research points to lowered IQs in children whose mothers were exposed to both material hardships and air pollution during their fetal gestation period.

    29-APR-2015 — The findings add to other evidence that socioeconomic disadvantage can increase the adverse effects of toxic physical “stressors” like air pollutants. The present results suggest the need for a multifaceted approach to reduce PAH exposure and alleviate material hardship in order to protect the developing fetus and young child.

    “The findings support policy interventions to reduce air pollution exposure in urban areas as well as programs to screen women early in pregnancy to identify those in need of psychological or material support,” says Perera, senior author of the paper.

    Being new data, adverse social and environmental factors were likely not considered by the researchers who concluded underage marijuana smoking contributed to a decrease in IQ among those studied. Autism has also recently been linked to air pollution.

    Despite the research findings, and despite the fact that conclusions were based on IQ testing, I don’t see prohibitionists as the type of people who will go out of their way to encourage citizens to buy electric cars. Nor would prohibs advocate for greater social equality, as that could put them out of business, what with no more poor people in Baltimore to arrest or kill for drugs. Science denial, bigotry, and social oppression dominates the culture of prohibition land.

  12. Irie says:

    Did any of you see this article? Here is the link,http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/04/police-just-arrested-man-who-filmed-the-freddie-gray-arrest/

    At the bottom is a phone number to call and demand a reason why they arrested these two men that filmed the arrest of Freddie Gray. I called, and the phone rang, rang, rang, rang until I got a recording “your call cannot be completed at this time, please hang up and call later”……am thinking maybe a few calls coming in regarding this article and the two men arrested??
    Hey if any of you couch mates call and get through, let me know what they say, am going to keep trying myself, and ask the 50 million dollar question, so don’t you think you have enough problems by not answering how Freddie Gray’s injurys came to be, that you have to harass these two men and arrest them for…..What???? Answers, demanding answers from ??professionals, or crooks? You tell me, am lost on this one.

  13. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    From the “res ipsa loquitur” category:

    Prosecutors Charge 6 Baltimore Officers in Freddie Gray Death

  14. darkcycle says:

    While it is really nice to see people with a public voice taking up this cause, and they are, it is somewhat frustrating to know that we have been hitting these same points all along. We have been at this for a decade here now, more or less. I hear these things in the media and I want to shout “That’s what we’ve been TELLING YOU!!”.
    Bugs me some that these ideas are still “new”.

    • kaptinemo says:

      “It always happens that when a man seizes upon a neglected and important idea, people inflamed with the same notion crop up all around.” – Mark Twain

      Believe me, I do know the feeling. We all do. Sometimes, when it comes to the ‘lag’ feeling I get, with the traditional media just starting to realize the potential political game-changer that re-legalization will be, I think I am being forced to watch a certain race over and over again. It’s like the LSM is a participant in that race, as far as this issue is concerned. I want to scream, too, sometimes.

      ‘Twit race’, indeed. It’s not as if the material was underground, like samizdat. Reformers have been publishing on the Internet since there was an Internet. Indeed, arguably, there wouldn’t be an Internet without stoners. This is our ocean; we swim, the prohibs drown.

      And the media that aided and abetted our oppression, that knew the truth was available. is now facing those it helped oppress. Who know it ignored the truth in favor of commercial gain. And who now hold the keys to their continued fiscal survival.

      Because it is not a good idea to piss off the present and future subscribers, is it?

    • DonDig says:

      .
      Tipping point?

      The energy has been building all this time, (and it obviously takes some time). We are approaching critical mass – the slingshot thing (I hope).

  15. DdC says:

    Happy May Day International Day of Protest.

    44 years ago this is where I scored the best bag of pot ever…
    http://i61.tinypic.com/aaukom.jpg

    Tomorrow Happy Global Ganja Gathering!
    2015 Global Marijuana March and 420 map
    http://cannabis.shoutwiki.com/wiki/2015_Global_Marijuana_March_and_420_map

    Global Marijuana March Community Organization
    https://www.facebook.com/GlobalMarihuanaMarch

    Hundreds of cities hold Global Marijuana March and 420 events each year.
    http://cannabis.shoutwiki.com/wiki/2015

    Global Marijuana March
    http://cannabis.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Global_Marijuana_March

  16. kaptinemo says:

    From the latest issue of Addiction:

    A case study on the obtuseness of the prohib mind: The difficulty of restricting promotion of legalized marijuana in the United States by Peter Reuter

    From the article:

    “Public health is not prominent on the list of factors discussed by the legalization advocates. Oddly enough, the findings linking marijuana and psychosis that emerged around 2005 have not generated much lasting concern. There is discussion of the need to prevent a large increase in the use of marijuana, but that has not been dominant.” (Emphasis mine – k.)

    Translation: “Our propaganda is not working. They don’t believe our schizophrenia BS. Our mouthpiece Kevvie has been the only voice forwarding our position, and it is not being treated with the usual arse-kissing deference by the media.”

    You might want to read the rest of the issue. Article after article is brimming with the usual Statist desire to use government as a hammer to beat and bash the square pegs of the population into the round holes of their prohibitionist paradise…while, of course, never envisioning that said populace might someday wrest that hammer away from their social engineering hands and do some pounding, themselves.

    • Servetus says:

      Public health was not prominent on the list of factors discussed by prohibitionists in 1974, when researchers discovered marijuana or its constituents might fight cancer. Quite the opposite. Oddly enough, such evidence was suppressed by both government and media. Instances like these demonstrate marijuana prohibition is not about helping people; it’s social control. It’s about oppressing or destroying minorities and dissidents.

      • jean valjean says:

        Servetus: A perfect riposte to prohibitionist hypocrisy and their wolf-crying “concern for public health.” Where the fuck is the mainstream media on this elephant in the room?

        • kaptinemo says:

          The LameStream Media is in the awkward position of realizing it must shift gears to be of relevance to a cannabis-savvy consumer/electorate…while avoiding the death-throes of the still-dangerous bureaucracy it once obsequiously toadied for.

          It can start by learning a new dance beat. It’s very simple, and goes like this: “Can-na-bis!” (clap) “Can-na-bis!” (clap) “Can-na-bis!” (clap)

          Once the media start referring to The Weed by its proper, scientific name (the one used by most reformers) and not the racist-intent slang term it was saddled with, you’ll know the LSM has gotten the message.

          In my former profession’s parlance, the economic butter is on our side of the bread, now. Does the LSM, already shown to have been willing accomplices in the BSing of America, really want to drop that bread on the carpet, knowing that? And…knowing that we know of their aiding and abetting of our oppression? That’s quite a gamble to stake one’s future economic viability on.

          IMNSHO, that’s why CNN allowed Dr. Gupta’s mea culpa. It knows which side of the bread that butter is on now, and you can expect to see other similar media outlets to follow suit. Or face irrelevancy…and eventual extinction.

        • jean valjean says:

          Surprisingly sympathetic DM report on grandma Linsay Sandiford, sentenced to death in Bali for importing cocaine. Noticed that even the victim of this barbaric government act believes in her own guilt for the “terrible crime” she committed, although I’m sure she has no choice at the moment.

          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3065615/British-grandmother-Bali-firing-squad-says-won-t-wear-blindfold-ll-look-eye-singing-Magic-Moments-shoot-me.html

          Kapt…. in Britain (and especially in the Daily Mail, see above) the word cannabis is always used. That has not changed the fact that the General Election on Thursday has been fought on a number of different issues, but none on the subject of whether we should continue paying to lock people up for using a plant. Really, not a word …

  17. darkcycle says:

    Well, this looks interesting…if only as a curio: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KD_PGlUb0aJVyoMCkolDefic4AiyFck5G5MSXA8gQQg/pub
    Feds free religious cannabis??

  18. claygooding says:

    Texas legislators let the MMJ bills die in committee which means two more years before they don’t do anything again and as much as I love TX it is time to go and let the drug war profiteers have the state.

    If any of my couchmates in OR know of a good residence cheap,,,please let me know.
    Will help in the garden,,,

    • claygooding says:

      I hate moving and transferring all the vehicle registrations,insurance.etc and just starting over again soooo,,I am picking up my medical records from the VA and coming to Oregon to get a recommendation written,,with it I do not believe a prosecutor,,even in TX will want it in a courtroom,,,legislators are paid to keep prohibition going,,jurors aren’t.

  19. It's a real war says:

    “MEXICO CITY — Gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter Friday in the western state of Jalisco, killing three soldiers, and set fire to buses, blocked roads, and attacked banks and gas stations in a sharp escalation of violence against the government.

    In recent months, the New Generation drug cartel has been ratcheting up attacks against the government, including an ambush last month that killed 15 state police officers. State authorities have worried that the federal government has left them ill-equipped to deal with an ascendant cartel trafficking heroin and methamphetamines.”

    http://tinyurl.com/prbp985

  20. Mr_Alex says:

    Funny cliff kincaid blames almost everything on cannabis, that guy is total one sided

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      Being unable to grasp the relationship between cause and effect is an absolute prerequisite for a person to become a prohibition.

      Anything bad that happens anywhere even remotely in the general vicinity of cannabis or a person who has been in the general vicinity of cannabis at anytime in the past was caused by the cannabis.

  21. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    Do you recall the mom who blamed her son’s suicide on consuming cannabis edibles just the other day? Well here’s another mom who wrote in her boy’s recently published obituary that her son’s suicide could have been averted if medicinal cannabis had been permitted by the Florida lawmakers:

    Years of anguish, suicide and medical marijuana
    by Karl Etters May 1, 2015

    Diana Holland got a call from her son, Jonmarc, on a Tuesday in early April. It would be the last time she would hear from him.

    “I can’t deal with all these problems,” Diana Holland recalled her 27-year-old son saying. “I’m just exhausted dealing with all my problems. The pain is just driving me crazy.”
    /snip/

    Three days later, Leon County Sheriff’s deputies found his body in a small ravine in a patch of woods next to the family’s North Tallahassee home after he’d taken his life April 7.

    “Jonmarc would be alive today if medical marijuana had been available to him,” his parents wrote in his April 24 obituary published in the Tallahassee Democrat. In an interview, they said the drug would have helped him cope with the plague of chronic pain and mental health problems.

    After being run over by his father’s car at age 4, Jonmarc suffered injuries to his urinary system and spine. He endured a lifetime of surgeries that left him dependent on catheters and an increasingly heavy regimen of narcotic medications to stem the pain.

    Diana and John Holland say when their son was able to get marijuana, although it is illegal, life was better. He was able to put the pain aside, if just momentarily.

    “It just got to the point where he couldn’t take it,” Diana Holland said in the living room of their quaint home surrounded by photographs of Jonmarc smiling and his colorful artwork.

    “Whenever he would have access to get marijuana, it just changed his life. It changed the way he thought. It lightened his mind. He always had such a heavy, heavy load on him.”
    /snip/

    I’ve got to admit that I wish I knew why she didn’t help him to relocate to a State where medicinal cannabis patient protection from arrest is available. I think it’s safe to presume that he didn’t have the needed funds. I really feel sad for this couple. I can’t even begin to imagine how it feels when Dad runs over the boy with his car and subsequently it takes 23 years to kill the boy. That last assertion of being run over as being the proximate cause of death is almost certainly academically incorrect but I also think that it’s almost certain that it’s what they are experiencing on an emotional level. It’s certainly what my sister and brother-in-law felt when they had to bury my nephew even though there was no evidence supporting the conclusion. Not even a mote.

    • darkcycle says:

      I read that. He didn’t relocate because he needed support to live, and his health issues made left him disabled enough that he wasn’t even able to attend school. He got a GED and tried unsuccessfully for one semester at college.

  22. jean valjean says:

    Google “cannabis uk elections”
    The silence is deafening…. this is a total non-issue in this coming election. The drug war will remain in full operation for the next five years… not even for medical use.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      UK voters just might surprise you. We’ve seen a lot of black swans in the quest for cannabis law reform. Did you see

  23. Bury it under racism, police brutality, sentencing reform, you name it, you can’t for long ignore the elephant in the room which is THE DRUG WAR – The weapon of choice in all the above.

  24. DdC says:

    Oh, the drug war was just a bad dream…

    Marijuana Company Funds Summer Job Program for At-Risk Teens
    https://shar.es/1pOOWc

    Congressmen Blame Baltimore Riots on Drug Prohibition. Do You Agree? http://bit.ly/1Jfco48

    Scientists Debunk Theory That Pot Is a Gateway Drug
    https://shar.es/1pOO0h

    HBO Planning to Deal Web Pot Sitcom ‘High Maintenance’
    https://shar.es/1pODDH

    Former NFL Star Says Marijuana Use Enhanced His Football Performance
    https://shar.es/1pODGp

    Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly I awoke, and there I lay, myself again.. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming that I am a man.
    –Chuang-Tzu, 3rd century BC

  25. TrebleBass says:

    This is unrelated, but the governor of Puerto Rico has signed an executive order making marijuana schedule 2.

  26. Mr_Alex says:

    Kevin Sabet is a intellectual fraud, he blocks people when his fantasy world of reefer madness is destroyed

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      You’ve got to have an intellect before you can be an intellectual fraud. Sure it’s possible that Kev-Kev is just pretending to be an idiot but I sure don’t think that it it’s bloody likely. Take a look at this classic quote from Dr Bobby Dupont when he threw in the towel:

      So lonely
      /snip/
      Such is the lonely lot of today’s pot opponent. Parents like McCormick, once heroes of the just-say-no 1980s, find themselves outgunned: The anti-marijuana movement has little funding or staff, little momentum and, it appears, little audience. […]

      “These guys are in a full-court press coming at you from every angle,” says DuPont, 78, who runs the small, Rockville-based Institute for Behavior and Health. He sounds exasperated. “They have a bench 1,000 people deep. . . . We’ve got Kevin Sabet.”

      I’ve just had a great idea! I’m going to get that quote carved in stone. How the heck could things not be different today than in the 1970s? Would I be able to get a warm fuzzy back then from quoting Dr. Bobby? Shoot, it was hard enough to keep from upchucking before I saw his statement of surrender. Now that’s what I call prima facie evidence.

      So Ronery sung by a Kim Jong-il action figure.

  27. DdC says:

    This Story Made Glenn Beck So Mad He’s Now Considering Supporting Marijuana Legalization 2015/04/23
    “These people are treating her like she’s some criminal. She’s at her house,” Beck said. “As a fellow citizen, I would first say, ‘Excuse me, could I have an ounce of respect and not smugness from you? I’m a fellow citizen. You come here and want to search my house. No. I know my rights. Second of all, I’m innocent until proven guilty. Can you turn down your smugness just a tad for me?’”

    “I’m about to go all Libertarian,” Beck continued. “I’m about to cross the Rubicon on this. Legalize marijuana. Legalize it.”

    “Yeah, I’m not there yet,” Pat Gray responded. “I won’t ever be there.”
    (Birmingham, Alabama newscaster, co-host of The Glenn Beck Program)

    Medical Marijuana Mom’s Son Seized After He Talks About Pot’s Benefits 2015/04/22
    The reality is this happens all the time in our country and it is a lesser-known atrocity of the drug war. Due to mandatory reporting requirements, the staff at the school may have been under a duty to involve Child Protective Services if Banda’s son admitted marijuana was in his home. This type of blanket approach is rarely in the immediate best interests of the child and reflects the immense amount of stigma associated with illicit drug use.

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