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MAPTalk-Digest Thursday, October 28 2010 Volume 10 : Number 052

001 Re: MAP: [FWD] YESON19
    From: "Ethan M." <>
002 Re: MAP: Seven Letters in the Wall Street Journal
    From: "Ethan M." <>
003 US: Web: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Canc
    From: Richard Lake <>
004 !! US CA: San Jose, public debate tonight on Proposition 19
    From: Allan Erickson <>
005 Fw: Soros on Prop 19
    From: Rick Steeb <>
006 2011 Cannabis Calendars
    From: Allan Erickson <>


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Subj: 001 Re: MAP: [FWD] YESON19
From: "Ethan M." <>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:16:00 -0700

In news:internal.mailing-list.drugs.map.talk, Richard Lake
<> posted on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:10:45 -0700 the
following:

> The latest polls show Proposition 19 only narrowly ahead.  We can do
> better than that.
>
> We can convince the undecided and win the hearts of the disheartened.
> Let's end this great travesty of justice by passing 19 by an
> overwhelming margin.
>
> I'm asking supporters everywhere to please help distribute our ad
> content in support of passage of Proposition 19.  Go to
> http://fightgreed.org/ for content.

I hope some of the people answering "no" on the polls are part of some
secret wave-maker attempt to say "no" in the polls, while they secretly
plan to vote "yes" on the actual ballot.  I'm probably fantasizing, but it
would be nice to see it pass with a surprising 85%.

I read something a day or two ago about a regular toker who wasn't even
aware that the marijuana legalization was going to be on the California
ballot next month.  I thought every pot smoker in the country would know
about that.

And I think they should lower the voting age, too.  People who are 10, 12,
15, 17 -- they have to live in this country, too.  Instead of adults
stealing their vote to vote on their behalf for "what's best for them" (as
if the adults actually know), they should just let kids have a voice in
the voting process, too.

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

Subj: 002 Re: MAP: Seven Letters in the Wall Street Journal
From: "Ethan M." <>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:41:07 -0700

In news:internal.mailing-list.drugs.map.talk, Richard Lake
<> posted on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:52:13 -0700 the
following:

> I am pleased to see that nine former DEA administrators point out
> California's legalization of marijuana would violate U.S. treaty
> obligations with other countries and runs counter to President Obama's
> antilegalization policy.

Obama's antilegalization position is bad.  But what makes it worse is when
he gets on national television and slugs down a beer with his friends.
That's like pissing in the face of pot smokers while laughing at them with
beer foam on his lips.

> The authors are pushing to get the Obama administration to speak out
> against California's medical marijuana legalization initiative, but I'm
> not holding my breath that any such thing will happen.  Marijuana
> advocates are planning on a big turnout of "yes" voters, but if the
> administration makes it clear that it will sue, if the initiative
> passes, on the basis of federal supremacy as it did in Arizona, and will
> enforce federal marijuana law in California, many potential Democratic
> Party voters will not bother to vote.

They should still vote to legalize.  If they don't, then the assumption
will be that voters in California don't care enough about legalization to
vote in favor of it, despite conflicts with the federal position.  It's
like saying, "Okay, keep me chained and keep whipping me."  Not voting for
legalization is a vote in favor of tyranny.

Furthermore, it's interesting how persecution of pot users plays out.  Man
will punish other men for doing things not even forbidden by God, but
somehow the prohibition laws seem to be in place for the sake of God. It's
very ironic that the plant that makes one feel closer to God is outlawed
by the government, I guess for economic reasons.  I don't really know of
any good reason to keep pot illegal.  But the prohibitionists certainly
don't know what they're doing.

While I know that even some people who love pot will laugh at this, as one
who has been on a 13-year-long search for immortality, I can say that both
"seek and ye shall find" and marijuana consumption go hand in hand.  If
all you're looking for is enhanced music, better-tasting food, or
whatever, you'll find that.  But if you don't think to find a way to live
forever, then you might miss that aspect until you think to try to find
it.  My experimentation has proven to me that finding immortality without
pot is quite possibly impossible.  When I think I'm doing fine without it
(the dry spells), the next time I take in even just a tiny amount (like
1/8th of a bowl with a dime-sized screen) I'm blown away by the rush of a
change of perception and stronger manifestations of physiological and
anatomical "shapeshifting".

Some will argue against that by saying that through thousands of years of
man's history using cannabis, nobody has been made immortal yet.  But it's
never been 2010 before, either.  The universe is larger, the conditions
are different, and the conditions are changing as time passes, making it
easier to understand how immortality works with phenotypical development
as you live, perceive, and analyze your experience.  So from my
perspective, the government is making it illegal to become immortal, and
they aren't even aware of it.

This might be a little ahead of its time because so many people still
trash their own magical experience of pot and just assume it's the
chemicals themselves introducing a lie into their experience that they
must ridicule as they instead choose the mundane side of life as the real
thing.  I did the opposite, instead diving into the eye of the psychotic
storm caused by the vast difference between mortality and immortality,
between the mundane world and the kingdom of heaven.  The latter is real.
It's only a matter of time before people discover this and, in shock and
bewilderment, bid a farewell to prohibition forever.

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

Subj: 003 US: Web: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? 
From: Richard Lake <>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:57:06 -0700

Newshawk: Medical Marijuana www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54
Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2010
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2010 Independent Media Institute
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Author: Mary Jane Borden
Note: Mary Jane Borden is a former marketing analyst for largest U.S. 
marketer of cancer chemotherapy drugs in the U.S. during the 1980s. 
She is now Business Manager for the non-profit DrugSense/MAP and 
Editor of the publication and website, Drug War Facts.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

COULD LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IN CALIFORNIA HELP CURE BREAST CANCER?

For 70 years, we've been taught that marijuana has no accepted 
medical use and that its high potential for abuse demands absolute 
prohibition. Medical research has been nearly impossible since 
obtaining the substance for legitimate studies is restricted by the 
federal government.

But for a moment, forget the anti-drug ads of stoned teenagers 
passing the bong and click instead on the National Library of 
Medicine's website,"Pubmed.gov." Look under "breast cancer and 
cannabinoid" and you will find studies in scientific journals like 
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment that should warrant immediate 
action: "Our data demonstrate the efficacy of CBD in pre-clinical 
models of breast cancer. The results have the potential to lead to 
the development of novel non-toxic compounds for the treatment of 
breast cancer metastasis..."

A study in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics says, "These results 
indicate that CB1 and CB2 receptors could be used to develop novel 
therapeutic strategies against breast cancer growth and metastasis." 
And this from the journal Molecular Cancer: "these results provide a 
strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based 
therapies for the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer." What's 
more, this basic research also extols the safety of potential 
cannabinoid therapies.

The science behind these studies finds that the human body contains 
its own internal system interrelated with molecules in the cannabis 
plant--AKA marijuana. A neurological signaling structure called the 
endocannabinoid system is now known to govern numerous bodily 
processes like appetite, pain, and even the birth of new brain cells. 
Cannabinoid receptors, called CB1 and CB2, are located in various 
cell membranes and activated by the body's own cannabinoid molecules 
(endocannabinoids), as well as those unique to the cannabis plant 
(THC, CBD) and synthetically-derived cannabinoids like MarinolRegistered .

And now, the latest research is proving that cannabinoids, as part of 
this bodily system, play a mitigating role in breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a frightening diagnosis that will confront about 1 
in 8 American women this year. Some 40,000 will die from it. An 
unusual lump in a breast can grow through four increasingly incurable 
stages and sometimes into other tissue. Therapies involve invasive 
surgery, heavy radiation, and toxic chemotherapy. Current anti-cancer 
drugs may kill cancer cells, but they also destroy non-cancerous 
tissue and damage heart muscle. Intractable nausea and vomiting 
comprise just one side effect. The disease may be worse than the cure 
but the cure can also kill.

But suppose some scientist has just come out of the jungle with an 
unknown plant that holds this much promise. It would be featured in 
the nightly news and on the front page of every newspaper. Well, we 
now have before us scientific clues that seem to point toward a 
revolution in breast cancer treatment, yet the government still 
manages to bury this amazing discovery.

Why? Politics. The "Devil Weed" has always been a favorite target for 
tough-on-crime politicians. Over the decades, they have assembled a 
labyrinth of governmental agencies with multi-billion dollar budgets 
that enforce marijuana laws, ignore the science, thwart clinical 
research--and constantly reinforce anti-pot stereotypes.

In the 70 years since Congress relegated marijuana to the dungeon of 
dangerous drugs, several administrative petitions have been filed to 
reclassify the herb and numerous lawsuits have challenged the U.S. 
Government's monopoly control over cannabis supply, yet even the few 
that made it to the Supreme Court failed to dislodge the federal 
government's iron grip on policy. While medicinal use of marijuana is 
now legal in 14 states, none except California ventures into 
research, even though opinion polls find rising public support that 
now includes organizations like the American College of Physicians.

While we dither, the clock is ticking for the 207,000 women expected 
to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. How much longer 
must those facing this disease wait for the federal labyrinth to sort 
out this issue?

There has to be a way to accelerate the clinical trials that will 
develop promising cannabinoid-based breast cancer treatments. 
Something simultaneously immediate, attention-getting, and 
policy-changing. Something that brings this issue to the fore, that 
can't be ignored, and hasn't been tried before.

Could legalizing marijuana in California help cure breast cancer?

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

Subj: 004 !! US CA: San Jose, public debate tonight on Proposition 19
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:32:08 -0700

between former San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara and Ron Allen of
the International Faith Based Coalition.

     (San Jose, CA) =97 A coalition of campus organizations at San Jose=20

State University are hosting a public debate tonight on Proposition 19=20

=96 the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 =96 between 
former
San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara and Ron Allen of the
International Faith Based Coalition.

     WHO: Joseph McNamara, former San Jose police chief & fellow at the=20

Hoover Institute vs. Ron Allen of the International Faith Based
Coalition

     WHAT: Public debate on Proposition 19

     WHERE: San Jose State University, Uhmunum Room of the Student Union

     WHEN: Tonight, Tuesday, October 26, 6:00 pm PDT

     =93I=92ve worked in law enforcement for 35 years, including 15 
years as
the police chief in San Jose. Over my career, I have seen firsthand how=20

misguided our marijuana policies are for our state and our country,=94=20

says former San Jose police chief Joe McNamara. =93California cannot
afford to continue the same failed policies of the past. We need to
pass Proposition 19 to tax and control marijuana like we do alcohol.
Controlling and taxing marijuana will generate over a billion dollars
in new revenue every year, in contrast to the current $14 billion
criminally-controlled market for marijuana, the largest cash crop in
California. This money will go to local communities, allow police to
focus on violent crimes, and put drug cartels out of business.=94

     Proposition 19 has the support of law enforcement officials,
judges, law professors, doctors, mothers, economists, politicians, the=20

SIEU and other major labor groups, the California NAACP, and the
California Council of Churches.

     Tonight=92s event will be hosted by Students for Sensible Drug
Policy, and co-sponsored by a broad coalition of organizations,
including the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union, the SJSU College Republicans, SJSU Democratic Caucus, The
Economics Club, The Sociology Club, Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science
Honors Society, and Students for Quality Education.

     The event is open to the general public. Admission is free and
refreshments will be provided.

ae
http://morningdonut.blogspot.com/
- ---=

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

Subj: 005 Fw: Soros on Prop 19
From: Rick Steeb <>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:38:02 -0700

- ----- Forwarded Message ----
From: George Soros <>
Sent: Tue, October 26, 2010 1:41:47 PM
Subject: Soros on Prop 19

 
  
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
 
Earlier today George Soros made a contribution of $1 million to support passage 
of California 's Proposition 19, which would legalize the recreational use and 
small scale cultivation of marijuana. He explains why in the essay below, 
published in today's Wall Street Journal. While public opinion polls indicates 
the measure is unlikely to pass, Mr. Soros felt it was important to raise the 
visibility of the issue both in California and nationally
 
All best,
 
MichaelVachon
 
 
Why I Support Legal Marijuana
We should invest in effective education rather than ineffective arrest and 
incarceration.
By George Soros
Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2010
Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good. The criminalization of 
marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal 
substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in 
extensive costs and negative consequences. 

Law enforcement agencies today spend many billions of taxpayer dollars annually 
trying to enforce this unenforceable prohibition. The roughly 750,000 arrests 
they make each year for possession of small amounts of marijuana represent more 
than 40% of all drug arrests.
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of 
dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of 
dollars in revenue annually. It also would reduce the crime, violence and 
corruption associated with drug markets, and the violations of civil liberties 
and human rights that occur when large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens 
are subject to arrest. Police could focus on serious crime instead.
The racial inequities that are part and parcel of marijuana enforcement policies 
cannot be ignored. African-Americans are no more likely than other Americans to 
use marijuana but they are three, five or even 10 times more likely--depending 
on the city--to be arrested for possessing marijuana. I agree with Alice Huffman 
, president of the California NAACP, when she says that being caught up in the 
criminal justice system does more harm to young people than marijuana itself. 
Giving millions of young Americans a permanent drug arrest record that may 
follow them for life serves no one's interests. 

Racial prejudice also helps explain the origins of marijuana prohibition. When 
California and other U.S. states first decided (between 1915 and 1933) to 
criminalize marijuana, the principal motivations were not grounded in science or 
public health but rather in prejudice and discrimination against immigrants from 
Mexico who reputedly smoked the "killer weed."
Who most benefits from keeping marijuana illegal? The greatest beneficiaries are 
the major criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere that earn billions of 
dollars annually from this illicit trade--and who would rapidly lose their 
competitive advantage if marijuana were a legal commodity. Some claim that they 
would only move into other illicit enterprises, but they are more likely to be 
weakened by being deprived of the easy profits they can earn with marijuana. 

This was just one reason the Latin American Commission on Drugs and 
Democracy--chaired by three distinguished former presidents, Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso of Brazil , CĂ©sar Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico 
- --included marijuana decriminalization among their recommendations for reforming 
drug policies in the Americas .
Like many parents and grandparents, I am worried about young people getting into 
trouble with marijuana and other drugs. The best solution, however, is honest 
and effective drug education. One survey after another indicates that teenagers 
have better access than most adults to marijuana--and often other drugs as 
well--and find it easier to buy marijuana than alcohol. Legalizing marijuana may 
make it easier for adults to buy marijuana, but it can hardly make it any more 
accessible to young people. I'd much rather invest in effective education than 
ineffective arrest and incarceration.
California's Proposition 19, which would legalize the recreational use and 
small-scale cultivation of marijuana, wouldn't solve all the problems connected 
with the drug. But it would represent a major step forward, and its deficiencies 
can be corrected on the basis of experience. Just as the process of repealing 
national alcohol prohibition began with individual states repealing their own 
prohibition laws, so individual states must now take the initiative with respect 
to repealing marijuana prohibition laws. And just as California provided 
national leadership in 1996 by becoming the first state to legalize the medical 
use of marijuana, so it has an opportunity once again to lead the nation.
In many respects, of course, Proposition 19 already is a winner no matter what 
happens on Election Day. The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated 
and legitimized public discourse about marijuana and marijuana policy in ways I 
could not have imagined a year ago. 

These are the reasons I have decided to support Proposition 19 and invite others 
to do so.
*** Please do not respond to this message. This email was generated 
automatically and responses are not monitored.   

© 2009GeorgeSoros.com | All rights reserved | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy  
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attachment: http://mapinc.org/temp/255NCo36tWTGo.html

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Subj: 006 2011 Cannabis Calendars
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:43:05 -0700

Hello folks/friends/fellow dpr types...

First, yes, this is a blatant self-promotion. But... it is a self 
promotion with a cause. With the help of my good friend and fellow 
activist Jim Greig, and new friend, fellow activist and accomplished 
farmer James Bowman (and his cohorts at High Hopes Farm) and the keen 
eye of my long time best woman friend Carol who did the photo 
selecting, this calendar is a true beauty. I'm proud - very proud in 
fact - of it.

In these heady cannabis days we've done yeoman's work on elevating the 
level of drug policy conversation. I believe one thing this calendar 
accomplishes successfully, is its showing that cannabis is a beautiful 
plant, in and of itself. I've already rec'd feedback from folks whom 
have never seen a real cannabis plant and declared "I never knew it was 
so pretty!"

http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6150790-calendar

What I'm proposing is that this calendar can be used by any org as a 
fundraising tool. Right now my per calendar cost is at just over $20 on 
the host site. However, should sufficient interest be generated A large 
print run could cut those costs almost in half and add some needed 
text. They are printed on heavy, quality stock, image reproduction is 
top quality and as far as the images themselves... I suggest you go 
look for yourselves!

I propose that profits get split 50/50 between myself and your 
organization. With a selling price of $20 - $25 and costs near $10, 
thats in the range of $5 profit each. Not a bad deal me thinks (Miss 
June and Miss November seem to be the faves so far).

If I'm wrong, please tell me. If this is an inappropriate use of this 
list, tell me that as well. As always, I'm trying to help the cause and 
feed my kids at the same time. Not an easy task, as many know.

Thanks for listening,

Allan
ae
http://morningdonut.blogspot.com/
- ---

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End of MAPTalk-Digest V10 #52
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