Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: Hendersonville Times-News (NC)
Copyright: 2009 Hendersonville Newspaper Corporation
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.blueridgenow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/793
Author: Jesse McKinlley
Author: JESSE McKINLEY

NOT-SO-SECRET HOLIDAY HINTS AT CHANGE FOR MARIJUANA ADVOCATES

SAN FRANCISCO  On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people
will gather for High Times magazine's annual beauty pageant, a
secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will "turn
the Big Apple into the Baked Apple and help us usher in a new era of
marijuana freedom in America."

They will not be the only ones partaking: April 20 has long been an
unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for
campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some
advocates of legal marijuana say this year's "high holiday" carries
extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward
acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.

It is the biggest moment yet," said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who
cited several national polls showing growing support for
legalization. "There's a sense that the notion of legalizing
marijuana is starting to cross the fringes into mainstream debate."

For Mr. Nadelmann and others like him, the signs of change are
everywhere, from the nation's statehouses  where more than a dozen
legislatures have taken up measures to allow some medical use of
marijuana or some easing of penalties for recreational use  to its
swimming pools, where an admission of marijuana use by the Olympic
gold medalist Michael Phelps was largely forgiven with a shrug.

Long stigmatized as political poison, the marijuana movement has
found new allies in prominent politicians, including Representatives
Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Ron Paul, Republican of
Texas, who co-wrote a bill last year to decrease federal penalties
for possession and to give medical users new protections.

The bill failed, but with the recession prompting bulging budget
deficits, some legislators in California and Massachusetts have gone
further, suggesting that the drug could be legalized and taxed, a
concept that has intrigued even such ideologically opposed pundits as
Glenn Beck of Fox News and Jack Cafferty of CNN.

Look, I'm a libertarian," Mr. Beck said on his Feb. 26 program. "You
want to legalize marijuana, you want to legalize drugs  that's fine."

All of which has longtime proponents of the drug feeling oddly
optimistic and even overexposed.

We've been on national cable news more in the first three months than
we typically are in an entire year," said Bruce Mirken, the director
of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, a reform group
based in Washington. "And any time you've got Glenn Beck and Barney
Frank agreeing on something, it's either a sign that change is
impending or that the end times are here."

Beneficiaries of the moment include Norml, the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates legalization, and
other groups like it. Norml says that its Web traffic and donations
(sometimes in $4.20 increments) have surged, and that it will begin a
television advertising campaign on Monday, which concludes with a
plea, and an homage, to President Obama.

Legalization," the advertisement says, "yes we can!"

That seems unlikely anytime soon. In a visit last week to Mexico,
where drug violence has claimed thousands of lives and threatened to
spill across the border, Mr. Obama said the United States must work
to curb demand for drugs.

Still, pro-marijuana groups have applauded recent remarks by Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr., who suggested that federal law
enforcement resources would not be used to pursue legitimate medical
marijuana users and outlets in California and a dozen other states
that allow medical use of the drug. Court battles are also
percolating. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
heard arguments last Tuesday in San Francisco in a 2007 lawsuit
challenging the government's official skepticism about medical uses
of the drug.

But Allen F. St. Pierre, the executive director of Norml, said he had
cautioned supporters that any legal changes that might occur would
probably be incremental.

The balancing act this year is trying to get our most active, most
vocal supporters to be more realistic in their expectations in what
the Obama administration is going to do," Mr. St. Pierre said.

For fans of the drug, perhaps the biggest indicator of changing
attitudes is how widespread the observance of April 20 has become,
including its use in marketing campaigns for stoner-movie openings
(like last year's "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay") and as
a peg for marijuana-related television programming (like the G4
network's prime-time double bill Monday of "Super High Me" and "Half Baked").

Events tied to April 20 have "reached the tipping point in the last
few years after being a completely underground phenomenon for a long
time," said Steven Hager, the creative director and former editor of
High Times. "And I think that's symptomatic of the fact that people's
perception of marijuana is reaching a tipping point."

Mr. Hager said the significance of April 20 dates to a ritual begun
in the early 1970s in which a group of Northern California teenagers
smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m. Word of the ritual spread and
expanded to a yearly event in various places. Soon, marijuana
aficionados were using "420" as a code for smoking and using it as a
sign-off on fliers for concerts where the drug would be plentiful.

In recent years, the April 20 events have become so widespread that
several colleges have urged students to just say no. At the
University of Colorado, Boulder, where thousands of students
regularly use the day to light up in the quad, administrators sent an
e-mail message this month pleading with students not to "participate
in unlawful activity that debases the reputation of your university
and degree."

A similar warning was sent to students at the University of
California, Santa Cruz  home of the Grateful Dead archives  which
banned overnight guests at residence halls leading up to April 20.

None of which, of course, is expected to discourage the dozens of
parties  large and small  planned for Monday, including the
top-secret crowning of Ms. High Times.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, where a city supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi,
suggested last week that the city should consider getting into the
medical marijuana business as a provider, big crowds are expected to
turn out at places like Hippie Hill, a drum-happy glade in Golden Gate Park.

A cloud of pungent smoke is also expected to be thick at concerts
like one planned at the Fillmore rock club, where the outspoken
pro-marijuana hip-hop group Cypress Hill is expected to take the
stage at 4:20 p.m.

You can see twice the amount of smoke as you do at a regular show,"
said B-Real, a rapper in the group. "And it's a great fragrance."
________________________________________________________

Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2009 Independent Media Institute
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Author: Nathan Comp

IS IT POSSIBLE THE WAR ON POT IS ON ITS LAST LEGS?

As a medley of border violence, recessionary pressure, international
criticism and popular acceptance steadily undermines America's
decades-long effort to eliminate drugs and drug use, the U.S.
movement to legalize marijuana is gaining unprecedented momentum.

Once derided and dismissed by lawmakers, law enforcers and the
law-abiding alike, marijuana reform is sweeping the nation, although
the federal government appears committed -- at least for the time
being -- to largely maintaining the status quo.

A week after Attorney General Eric Holder announced in March that
raids on state law-abiding medical marijuana dispensaries would end,
the Drug Enforcement Agency effectively shut down a San Francisco
dispensary, claiming it violated both state and federal laws.

But to paraphrase Victor Hugo, not even the strongest government in
the world can stop an idea whose time has apparently come.

Indeed, support for legalization is at an all-time high, and
continues to grow. In 1969, just 12 percent of Americans favored
legalizing marijuana, the Holy Grail of cannabis advocates; this
number had tripled by 2005, according to a Gallup poll. Barely three
years later, another poll showed 44 percent of Americans support legalization.

"If we continue on this curve -- and there is no reason to think we
won't -- we'll hit 58 or 60 percent by 2020," says Allen St. Pierre,
executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML). "We're seeing also that the government is
finally playing catch up with the people."

In February, a California state lawmaker introduced a bill to
legalize and tax pot, and marijuana reform bills are being debated in
at least 37 other states. (Last November, Massachusetts became the
thirteenth state to decriminalize adult possession, while Michigan
became the thirteenth state to legalize marijuana for medical use.)
All told, more than one-third of Americans now live in a state or
city that has legalized medical marijuana or decriminalized its
recreational use.

"It's the busiest period for marijuana law reform ever," says St.
Pierre. "Legalization is definitely on the political horizon."

Growing Calls for Reform

Arguments for ending the war on weed -- that marijuana is safer than
alcohol and that its prohibition leads to violence, exorbitant
enforcement costs, billions in lost tax revenue and infringements on
civil liberties -- haven't changed much since the 1970s.

But the arguments have taken on unusual gravity over the last year,
as drug-fueled violence along the Mexican side of border has excited
fears that the carnage and mayhem will spill over into American
cities. Testifying before a House panel in March, a top Homeland
Security official warned (PDF link) that the cartels now represent
America's largest organized-crime threat, having infiltrated at least
230 American cities. Already, police in Tucson and Phoenix have
reported a surge in drug-related kidnappings and murders.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently acknowledged that
America's "insatiable" appetite for drugs has helped fuel the
cartel-related violence. In fact, the Mexican cartels reap as much as
62 percent of their profits -- and derive much of their power -- from
American marijuana sales, which total $9 billion annually, according
to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

But Mexican weed represents only a sliver of America's annual
cannabis consumption. Each year, Americans spend a whopping $39
billion on domestically grown marijuana, and another $7-10 billion on
weed smuggled in from Canada. In short, untaxed and unregulated
marijuana is America's -- if not the continent's -- largest cash
crop, more valuable than corn and wheat combined, according to DrugScience.org.

The growing sense that America's marijuana policy is more harmful
than the plant itself is leading some cash-strapped states to rethink
the efficacy of locking up non-violent offenders and consider taxing
medical marijuana, despite the federal prohibition on doing so.
Several California cities are already taxing medical marijuana sales.
Oregon's legislature is debating whether to regulate and tax it as
well. (Last year a bill that would have allowed Oregon liquor stores
to sell marijuana failed.)

And in the first such step by a state government, New Mexico's
Department of Public Health is now overseeing the cultivation and
distribution of medical marijuana, brushing aside legal concerns that
state employees could face federal drug conspiracy charges.

Although marijuana reform has gained little traction in Congress,
last year Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) cosponsored a
bill to protect medical marijuana patients and decriminalize
possession of small amounts of marijuana. "It's no longer just
potheads who want this," says Bill Piper, director of national
affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "We're at the tipping point, in
that we're seeing the most sustained discussion ever by media and
policymakers."

Although President Obama jokingly brushed aside economic arguments
for ending marijuana prohibition during his March 26th online
town-hall discussion, a mounting body of research underscores their validity.

In 2005, Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron published a
report showing that legalization would save $7.7 billion each year on
enforcement, while generating as much as $6.2 billion in taxes. In
response, more than 500 leading economists wrote an open letter to
federal and state officials supporting a regime of legalization and taxation.

With increasing frequency, mainstream media outlets are also
advocating major changes to U.S. drug laws. In March, the Economist's
editorial board called for the legalization of drugs, and CNN, Time
magazine and other publications have published op-eds supporting an
end to marijuana prohibition or calling for an "honest" discussion
about legalizing drugs. Also earlier this year, the Latin American
Commission on Drugs and Democracy, which includes three former heads
of state, issued a report condemning drug prohibition and calling for
cannabis' legalization.

"[Cannabis] consumption has an adverse impact on the user's health,
including mental health," the 17 commission members wrote. "But the
available empirical evidence shows that the harm caused by this drug
is similar to the harm caused by alcohol or tobacco."

Given President Obama's penchant for pragmatism, Piper chalks up
Obama's dismissive response regarding legalization as a first-term
answer to a second-term question. "There is debate as to whether he
was even joking," Piper says, "because in many ways he's signaled
that this administration will take a different approach to drug
policy." The 'Vanguard' of Legalization?

American attitudes toward cannabis have softened considerably over
the last decade, yet they remain largely ambivalent about reform.
"Most people agree the laws are too harsh, but many of these don't
want to see it legalized, either," says Mason Tvert, who in 2005
co-founded SAFER Colorado, which promotes marijuana as a safer
alternative to alcohol.

Economic arguments like those supported by Miron's Harvard study,
says Tvert, are ineffective because the same could be said of hard
drugs like cocaine and heroin. Legalization, he says, will happen
only when people realize that marijuana is safer than alcohol.

"The problem is that people still have a perception of harm that's
been built up over many years," he says. "If marijuana were legalized
tomorrow, in 10 years these perceptions would be very, very different."

Tvert agrees that perceptions about marijuana are rapidly evolving
for the better. Earlier this year, when a picture surfaced showing
Olympic gold-medalist Michael Phelps smoking from a bong, many
expected the 23-year-old to lose many of his endorsements. But only
Kellogg's dropped him. Even more surprising, the move seemed to hurt
Kellogg's more than Phelps, as surveys showed the move injured its
brand reputation.

For those seeking higher office, past pot use is no longer the
political death knell it once was. When asked if he ever smoked pot
in 1992, Bill Clinton claimed he didn't inhale, and in 2005, tapes
surfaced of George W. Bush acknowledging past marijuana use after
years spent dodging the question. Remarkably, voters seemed largely
unconcerned by Barack Obama's candid admission that he once used both
marijuana and cocaine. "This is a huge turning point in people
admitting to past use and not suffering any consequences," says Piper.

With public acceptance growing and states increasingly at odds with
federal marijuana laws, how much longer can Washington remain
impervious to calls for reform? NORML's St. Pierre, who says there
are major chinks in the armor of blanket prohibition, believes
federal reforms are imminent.

"At some point, we'll have run the gauntlet of states that have
passed reform bills by popular vote," he says. "It's getting harder
for people to say we're going to hell-in-a-basket when the state next
door has had these laws for years without problems. This generation
is on the vanguard of legalization."
_________________________________________________________

Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Osprey Media
Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.thesudburystar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608
Page: 1
Author: John Law

PRO-MARIJUANA RALLY ATTRACTS BUS LOADS OF SUPPORTERS

420: Pot Smokers Unite In Falls For Annual Event

They came, they saw, they toked.

Pot smokers arrived by the bus load for Saturday's  annual Highway
420 pro-marijuana rally and for once  they didn't have to think twice
about lighting up in  public.

Despite an abundance of doobies, hash pipes and bongs,  the police
opted to look the other way.

"At the end of the day, it's not our job to rush in and  create
chaos," said one Niagara Regional Police officer  observing the rally
in his cruiser.

It's likely the only day of the year pot smokers can  spark up in
public without fear of arrests, as hundreds  gathered near the
intersection of Highway 420 and  Victoria Avenue before marching down
Clifton Hill to  chill out at Queen Victoria Park.

At exactly 4:20 p. m., much of the crowd lit up their  stash at once
while chanting "Free the Weed!" and  lashing out against a proposed
new Conservative bill.

The bill would impose mandatory jail sentences to  anyone caught
growing marijuana plants for the purpose  of trafficking.

Under Bill C-15, it would be six months in jail for 200  plants or
fewer. Between 201 and 500 plants would  warrant a year behind bars.

The bill is being pushed by Niagara Falls MP and  Canadian Justice
Minister Rob Nicholson, who wasn't Mr.  Popularity Saturday.

"He's probably a good guy, but he has bad policies,"  said Toronto's
Marko Ivancicevic, one of several  speakers at the rally.
"Eventually, (pot) is going to  be legal and people will realize they
wasted a hundred  years and billions of dollars fighting it."

It wasn't just reefer madness for Marge Groenendyk, who  attended pot
rallies in Edmonton before moving to  Brighton earlier this year.
She's prescribed medical  marijuana for her degenerative arthritis,
but she feels  it benefits her mind as well.

"It's stress relief, not just medical relief."

She started as a recreational user as way to deal with  years of
abuse from an alcoholic husband. Since then,  she has grown angry at
laws she feels target a harmless  lifestyle.

"We're here to educate," she says. "It needs to be out  there ... the
lies and all the things the government is  saying."

Proud toker Rob Neron, of Hearst, is down to half a  lung thanks to
Hodgkin's Disease. He admits it's "not  easy" making the trip to
Niagara Falls every April, but  the cause is worth the discomfort.

"It's very dear to me," he says. "It's to educate  people and it's
non-violent."

The march down Victoria Avenue drew plenty of stares,  including one
from a bemused priest.

Along Clifton Hill, tourists stopped and asked what the  fuss was about.

"Best party of my life!" yelped one toker to a  bystander.

Kingston's Terry Sauve didn't mind the blunt brigade as  they passed
by his kids. It's all part of their  education, he says.

"They learn about it in school ... at some point,  they'll make their
own choice."

Son Cale wasn't a fan, however: "They smelled."
________________________________________________________

Pubdate: Sun, 19 Apr 2009
Source: Aspen Times (CO)
Copyright: 2009 Aspen Times
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.aspentimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3784
Author: Ed Quillen

WHY CONTINUE WAGING A WAR AGAINST HEMP?

Historians of the future will doubtless marvel that a  great and
powerful republic, founded in part on  "liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" but now  suffering from difficult economic times would
waste  billions of dollars every year in a futile war against  a humble plant.

That plant, of course, is hemp -- source of oil, fiber  and a mild
psychoactive drug. It's so mild that in all  of history, no one has
ever died from a marijuana  overdose.

And those who used it in their youth, like the three  most recent
American presidents (Clinton claimed he  "didn't inhale," Bush was
"young and foolish" in his  jejune days, and Obama confessed that
"pot had helped"  during his youth), somehow managed to go on to
reasonably productive lives.

So why is the stuff still illegal?

For one thing, there's an immense federal bureaucracy,  the Drug
Enforcement Administration, which naturally  seeks to stay in
business. As long as pot is illegal,  the DEA has plenty of work. And
when the need arises  for a headline to show that the DEA is on the
ball, its  agents can always drive to some home that uses too much
electricity, shoot the dogs, kick in the door, and  announce that
American youth are protected because it  just seized plants with an
estimated street value of  $4.2 gazillion.

For another, there's our pharmaceutical industry, a  major source of
campaign contributions. The pill-makers  buy candidates so they can
protect their revenue  streams.

Now, it might be too much to expect the federal  government to move
sensibly here. There are, after all,  two wars and a crumbling
economy to contend with. But  Colorado could help itself by
legalizing the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana with
a  reasonable excise tax of $25 an ounce.

It would save money in several ways, like lower  law-enforcement
costs, as well as a reduction in the  prison population. Further, the
corruption and violence  associated with black markets should diminish.

More money would circulate in our state, as Colorado  hemp farmers
received money now going to Mexican drug  cartels. Profitable farms
mean that open space gets  preserved through market mechanisms,
rather than taxes  and zoning. Further, it might enhance tourism, at
least until other states catch on.

One possible snag is the federal government. No matter  how sensible
we make our state laws, there would still  be draconian and moronic
federal laws enforced by  federal agents.

So initially, the marijuana excise tax proceeds should  go to our
state attorney general's office, with  instructions that the money be
used to defend all  Coloradans charged with marijuana violations that
are  crimes under federal law but not under our enlightened  state law.

In other words, every "probable cause" for a search  warrant would be
vigorously contested. The chain of  evidence would come under intense
scrutiny. The  credibility of informants and agents would be subject
to brutal cross-examination.

Every such trial -- our tenacious defense teams would  never
plea-bargain -- would be a grinding ordeal for  the U.S. Attorney's
office. The federal Department of  Justice would soon move its
prosecutorial resources  away from pot and toward real crimes that
people care  about.

The downside? Maybe a few more lazy potheads munching  junk food. But
in today's economy, there aren't jobs  for them anyway, so where's
the harm to society?

Contrast that with the benefits of reduced spending on  cops and
prisons, a boost to Colorado agriculture, and  increased revenue for
our hard-pressed state  government, if we'd just give up on this
silly war  against a plant.

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

Ed Quillen is a writer in Salida, Colo., where he  produces regular
op-ed columns for The Denver Post and  publishes Colorado Central, a
small regional monthly  magazine.
________________________________________________________

Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: Kansas State Collegian (KS Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Kansas State Collegian
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://kstatecollegian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2850
Author: Sophie Siemion

HISTORY OF 420 EXPLAINED

The number 420 has represented cannabis culture for over 30 years.
But where did it come from, and has it always been related to marijuana?

The answer comes from a group of high school boys in San Rafael,
Calif., in 1971. Every day at 4:20 p.m., they would meet at a statue
of chemist Louis Pasteur on their campus. At first they used the time
to follow a map in search of an abandoned pot patch.

As time passed, the boys found use in "420" as not only a time to
light up, but also as a code around parents, cops and teachers. They
had no idea their code would become an internationally accepted term
for pot users.

"It's a way for this persecuted culture to talk to each other and not
to be exposed," said Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times
magazine, in an interview with ABC News in 2002.

In addition to being a reference to getting high on the date or time
of day, 420 has also taken a place in mainstream society.

The 420 Campaign is now a coined term that describes groups and
actions around the country involving the legalization of marijuana.
According to an article published in High Times magazine, "We want to
use April 20 as a focal point every year to concentrate pressure on
Congress to legalize marijuana until we get the job done.

"I think that we need to study why these things are happening, and
why is there so much violence in our culture."

The pros and cons of marijuana have been debated for years.

The largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States
is the Marijuana Policy Project. Its goals are to make marijuana
available for medical uses and also as a legally taxed and regulated
substance. The organization's activities include legalization,
lobbying Congress to approve medical marijuana and recruiting
celebrities for support.

The legalization movement is not just about the right to smoke, but
also wanting to work to make environmental and medical improvements.

The use of hemp as a replacement for items made out of petrochemicals
could potentially lower pollution, and using marijuana as a medicine
could be successful.

Another group fighting for legalization of marijuana is the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. It focuses on the fact
that marijuana is currently the largest cash crop in the United
States. NORML contends that if marijuana was added to the U.S.
economy as a legal cash crop, state deficits would be resolved and
raising taxes would be unnecessary.

While most nations consider the drug an illegal narcotic, its
consumption, distribution, harvesting and selling occur around the world.

Despite the fact that 420 is celebrating an illegal drug, it is still
considered a holiday by millions. And on 4/20, those millions gather
around the world to celebrate not only the use of marijuana, but also
the positive impact they hope it will have on the world.

So how are students celebrating 4:20 this year?

Student Marcus Gause said he planned to "leave early from work, and
hit the ATM machine up."
____________________________________________________


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