I'm writing regarding your editorial "Weeded out," Aug. 30. I smoked many a reefer in the alley next to the Backward Clock on Water Street. Procured from and shared with friends. Prohibition invokes the most cruel capitalism, the iron hand of prohibition. The harder the prohibition, the harder the drugs. Sellers of low-quality product will get less market share. I grew some great crops here in northern California, and have tossed many pounds into the stove due to mould caused by my ineptitude - very educational, that. While I am a big fan of the social joint in the alley, many other consumers are ill, immune-system compromised. If I made someone sicker with my mouldy weed, where would that put me in the line at the Pearly Gates? In closing, my heart's desire would be a grey sunset on Signal Hill, light wind, and a fat, legal, reefer. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Editor, Somehow I just feel that this should be printed in an American newspaper - the Philippine Star on July 27 reporting on the continuing drug war bloodbath: MANILA, Philippines - The United States has vowed to provide the Philippines $32 million to support the Duterte administration's intensified law enforcement efforts. Washington's support for law enforcement activities was one of the topics discussed by President Rodrigo Duterte and visiting US State Secretary John Kerry during their meeting Wednesday in Malacanan. "The US committed $32 million in training and services," presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing. ... Abella confirmed that Duterte had also briefed Kerry about his crackdown on drugs and crimes. [continues 421 words]
It is not an opiate problem. Neither is it a cannabis, meth, tobacco, alcohol, nor addiction problem. It is a prohibition problem. We slog ahead, making steady progress on tobacco, milder progress on alcohol. Progress is possible because these substances are not treated as criminal. Imagine the attendance at AA meetings if alcohol were criminal. Legalize it all. Provide truthful education and treatment on demand. It would be far less expensive in both dollars and blood. The drug prohibition is a hangover from our racist past and should be cast off for its immoral roots and proven futility. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Is not the purpose of having a government but to resolve problems that arise among the people? Good governance helps to resolve social issues that if left alone fester and erupt into angry wounds. Twenty years after the passage of California's Compassionate Use Act, finally, some regulation of cannabis comes. Since the day of Proposition 215's passage, opposition to any form of regulation has been provided by California's law industry. Immediately upon its passage by the sovereigns, the all-zones meeting occurred. All of the busters (all of the chiefs of city police, county sheriffs, district attorneys and federal folks) met and agreed to fight any battle in order to stop any statewide regulation, and to basically ignore the new law-leaving defendants to the courts. Divide and conquer has worked well. I rest assured that our law industry will continue in its efforts forward. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."-Upton Sinclair All I want is swinging-door cannabis cafes in Chico. I enjoy cannabis, and I'm a good person. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
With regard to cannabis, we are failing the test of self-governance when century-old racist and xenophobic views hold sway. Nuisance is the new code word for this despised group. I'm feeling elated about my promotion from drug criminal to mere nuisance. For our great leaders to define cannabis cultivation as a non-agricultural activity stretches my Orwellian power of doublethink. The divorce of plants from agriculture is sadly observed. Yet, I still look forward to swinging-door cannabis cafes in Chico. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Regarding Sunday's editorial, "Keep refining county's marijuana growing laws": The Enterprise's opinions on marijuana should be administered with several milligrams of salt. Their opinion that cocaine is "illegal, period" is incorrect. Cocaine is not illegal. It is a legal, regulated, schedule II substance. It has medical utility, I believe that I once had it for sinus surgery. It is also kinda fun - but due to our drug war policies, recreational cocaine is soaked in blood. The editorial board states that cannabis regulation is "complicated." It is. Like slavery, prohibition and other disastrous public policies gone before, the road to reform is intentionally complicated. Defenders of the status quo will not acknowledge the need for change, nor will they acknowledge their error. In the face of evidence contrary to their politics, they retreat to confusion. Such it has been since the passage of Proposition 215, decades ago. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
I greatly grate under the fact that cannabis is considered a nuisance in Butte County. There is no more reason to persecute cannabis consumers than there was to burn witches, gas Jews or lynch blacks. The foundations of this drug war are set in the quicksand of racism and xenophobia-not the sturdiest of footings. This drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels it by making flowers into gold. It is doublethink beyond Orwellian to hold the concepts of cannabis prohibition and legal alcohol in one's head at the same time, and have it make sense. Americans have been doing this for many decades now. It is time to end the prohibition. It will help the national psyche by allowing us to live with one less lie. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
It seems to this citizen that Jimmy always kept his (and our) affairs in order, so his doctors telling him to do so now will be no additional burden. I wish to thank Jimmy, on behalf of the cannabis-consuming community. He gave as hard a shove as was possible in his White House - to end our persecution. I'm hoping that he kept Willie Nelson's number. For his palliative care, it may be time to join us. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Re "Pot and pregnancy" (SN&R Editorial, July 16): Regarding the use of cannabis by pregnant mothers: There is research on this topic. It just fails to show any harm, so more research is required to find the elusive harm proclaimed by the prohibitionists. I would direct those with questions to the "Five-year follow-up of rural Jamaican children whose mothers used marijuana during pregnancy," available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1957518. The children of cannabis-using mothers apparently did better than the others. What about the children! Jay Bergstrom via email [end]
Another week in Butte county, another butane hash oil operation captured. Statewide - shocked, shocked I am to learn this week that our state's prison system is awash in drugs. After spending 40 years and a trillion dollars creating the largest gulag in history, it would appear that perhaps we are doing something wrong with respect to intoxicants. Of course, "American exceptionalism" will prevent us from even looking at the results of other approaches to this problem. Portugal and Switzerland provide examples that are studiously ignored by our leaders, as they toe the line that retains their seat on the drug war gravy train. I greatly enjoy cannabis, and I am a good person. Perhaps it is the cannabis addling me, but I vote every time. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
I think that Anchorage Assembly Chair Dick Traini has a good idea but it needs some follow-through. Treat cannabis as tightly as tobacco, yet as loosely as alcohol. That means places for social use need to be tolerated. Responsible tavern keepers want to provide what their customers want, and to discourage what their neighbors don't want. The same as any other business, cannabis cafes will succeed or fail on how they perform. But they must be allowed to perform, as a necessary shove to push prohibition into the past and regulation into the present. I miss the North. The grinning children beneath the northern lights in Barrow will never leave me. Please be careful with that Chukchi oil. A spill in Santa Barbara has wounded my heart. - - Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Proposition A upheld, slam dunk, weed is gone! Why is this substance illegal? It has nothing to do with promoting the general welfare, but instead the federal government's intent is to subjugate minorities. The drug war is nothing more than a jobs salvation/creation program necessitated by the end of alcohol prohibition. All those prohibition agents needed work. The drug prohibition gained a life of its own and is now a crowded gravy train. While the promoters of prohibition proudly carry their tired flag and cross, the truth has become clear to all but those who will not see - that once again, our government has promulgated a big fib. [continues 109 words]
My weed man, Dealer McDope, is very happy with progress here in Butte County. The more illegal his product is, the more money he can make from it. He reports that he could not support his hobbies if he had to deal in the San Francisco area, and statewide legalization has him terrified. He might have to learn algebra and get a job. Hats off to our governance for handling this so well. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Concerning the high-rise residents at Warwick Mount (The Argus, February 7). Has Warwick Mount no lost and found box? A box could be placed discreetly with a sharps disposal box in a corner with no cameras. Think health, people. Of course people are using drugs. Don't make it more dangerous for all, make it safer. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, California [end]
Another week, another honey oil "lab" explosion. If we were all 100 years old, we would remember the exploding stills during our experiment with prohibited alcohol. They went away, but not as a result of vigorous enforcement of the prohibition. They went away because it became legal to get alcohol at a store, produced and distributed by a regulated industry. We still have problems with alcohol, but turf wars, exploding stills, and drunk waterfowl are not amongst them. If repealing prohibition reduced problems with alcohol, it just might do the trick for cannabis. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Editor: Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes could put to good use a large harvest basket of revenue. I am sure that there are respected tribe members that smoke cannabis. They just have to be careful not to be captured or exposed. If the elders can be persuaded to see the wisdom in embracing this newly proffered liberty, the tribes can prosper on the capitalist playfield. It is a lot easier to educate your people on any harms of cannabis than to prohibit it. As there is nowhere in Wyoming where one may possess or use cannabis, one idea worth consideration would be the creation of a cannabis lodge/spa. Open to adults with ID, offering cannabis, garden tours, food, lodging and camping. JAY BERGSTROM, Forest Ranch, California [end]
Anything that helps move the ball down the field toward the goal of total re-legalization of cannabis will have my vote - and in this case that means voting no on A and yes on B. As our previous experiences with drunk waterfowl and exploding stills clearly taught, our ills will not depart until cannabis prohibition is six feet under, with a stake through its heart and maybe a couple of silver bullets for insurance. The price supports for cannabis provided by the prohibition will disappear. It will be only as profitable to grow as say almonds, rice, grapes or walnuts. A bit of regulation would help as well. [continues 89 words]
Your editorial ("Free medicinal pot - only in Berkeley," July 20) makes the assertion: "Reality check II: Regular pot can take a toll on motivation, judgment and attention to detail." That point should be rebutted by the likes of Michael Phelps, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama and Carl Sagan. I've done OK with a lifetime of cannabis use, starting five decades ago. My hopes are that the "cannabis community" can coalesce on one vehicle for legalization. They are a fractious bunch - medical, recreational, industrial ... "My weed, not yours." If we all pull on the same hemp rope, we can drag it across the line. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, Butte County [end]
Alcohol prohibition's historical complaints included: exploding stills, drunk waterfowl, children showing up to school drunk, drive-by shootings, and general disrespect for law. These issues largely resolved with the end of prohibition. Ask a centenarian if they think things got worse after legalization. The present prohibition's complaints include: stinky gardens, degraded environment, children using adult substances, black-market thuggery, and general disrespect for law. If our past is any guide to our future, these issues will resolve with legalization and regulation. If our governance is more just, more citizens will happily consent to being governed. Legalization is the only way out of this box canyon that we've been stampeded into. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Re: "Colorado sales tax on retail marijuana still below estimate," March 11 news story. If Colorado's tax revenue from cannabis is too low, the solution is obvious: Cut the tax rates. The increased sales will cover the desired taxes. Reagan approves, I am assured. Also, remove the limits on non-resident purchasers. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Kudos to Supervisor Bill Connelly for clearly elucidating his position regarding marijuana in Butte County. I hope his call for reform at the federal level is heard in Washington. I would wish that the entire board supplicated before the feds in the form of a resolution. If they'd get off the pot, we could go ahead with reasonable regulation. Our century-long experiment with prohibition of cannabis has yielded results: Turns out that the prohibition idea is not a good one. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Viva Uruguay! There, President Jose Mujica will soon sign legislation making his country the world's first to re-legalize cannabis. But you ask: What about all those lovely children? The children in Uruguay will grow up knowing that their government is not lying to them about cannabis, as is the case here in El Norte. I'm so glad to finally see these crumblings in the wall of global cannabis prohibition. I love the herb, and I'm a good person. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
Columnist Andrea Neal has quaffed heartily of the Prohibition Kool-Aid. Her column is major league jerky knee. If she is so miffed on smoking, perhaps she should peruse the writings of Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles, while eating a cannabis medible. This is not the end of western civilization; it is but our governance slowly catching up to reality. Don't smoke it if you don't want to. It's a free country and all. But please quit putting people like me in jail for our tastes, our appetites. It is not fair, and you know it. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Editor, The God-given plant cannabis has never killed a person; but our prohibition of it has just taken another life (May 24, "Stewart hanged himself with bedsheet, authorities say"). Humans friended cannabis millennia ago. Were there a downside, it would be well known by now. For a downside, our American prohibitionists have to gin up the wildest stuff. Our political leaders are still feeling too vulnerable to charges of being soft on drugs. Stewart and Francom share a cell in purgatory, awaiting the end of cannabis prohibition hereabouts. If only that could make any sense of their deaths. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Re "Suit says shops sell a dangerous inhalant" (Page A1, Jan. 3): Thank goodness that Jason Starn is getting his story out. I will surely remember this hazard next Thanksgiving, when I am in the kitchen preparing pumpkin pie for serving. It will add a bit to the giggle. And to think that up till now, I thought the only hazard was whipped cream out the nose. - -- Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Re "Pot-bust flashback" (Newslines, by Vic Cantu, Nov. 8): It would seem that DA Ramsey is not reading his mail. If he were, he'd be aware of the decision published on Oct. 24 by the state appellate court in San Diego. The People v. Jovan Jackson shows Butte County's decision to prosecute the Tognolis as nothing but vindictiveness. Jovan clearly states that storefront dispensaries are legal under certain circumstances. With Jovan, the county has no case against the Tognolis, but it does have the will to drag them through the courts, on our dime, obviously with hopes of further financially ruining them. San Diego may be a long distance from the courthouse in Oroville, but it is still within the same California. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
Reading your story of Deputy Mark Potts, and the suppression of his First Amendment rights by Trinity County, I was shocked and amazed by the actions of his superiors. His thoughtful constitutional interpretations on firearms, drugs, and county sheriff's jurisdiction should be welcome in a free country such as this. I'd hope that he wins declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as punitive damages from Trinity County. Trinity needs a sting to make the message real. Surely the county can ill afford more bills, but we the people can ill afford any incursions into our core beliefs. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Regarding Tuesday's story headlined "Police: Marijuana motive for most home-invasion robberies": Early in the last century, home invasion robberies of this sort started. Thirteen years later they stopped, along with the concomitant exploding neighborhood stills and drunk waterfowl along the Pacific flyway. Those years comprised the period of alcohol prohibition, which required an amendment to the Constitution to start and another to end. To all but those who will not see, it is obvious that after investing 40 years, much blood, and a trillion dollars, the path we've taken on drugs is not going where we heard it would lead us. [continues 69 words]
Regulation of cannabis in Butte County will remain not just unpleasant, but impossible, until the federal government relents on its prohibition. The most effective thing our Board of Supervisors could do, in the interest of the general welfare of our citizens, would be to petition the federales for change. Change as in legalization. With one voice, the board should tell them to get out of our way, we are trying to do some regulation here. Another approach might be to place such an issue on a future ballot. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
We are less than a month away from the June 5 primary, and one of the most controversial issues on the ballot in Butte County is Measure A. The initiative would limit where and how much medical cannabis can be grown in Butte County. Our county would be better served if our supervisors could find the wisdom to quit throwing money down the war-on-drugs rathole. I want more music programs, more library hours, improvement of the general welfare. This is not what we get when we traipse down the path of prohibition. [continues 70 words]
I'm glad this new year for a couple of things; that Bill Richardson is retired, and the fact that I never have to drive through Mesa. The drug warrior mentality espoused in his op-ed (Tempe must try to cut off drug cartel tentacles, Dec. 29) needs to be retired as well. Decades along, many lives and a trillion dollars have been invested in his way. The return on our investment? Drugs of all stripes are more available, more powerful, more affordable, for all in our society who would wish. Respect for law has been diminished. We are obviously, yet obliviously, on the wrong path. [continues 87 words]
Regarding Tuesday's editorial, "Clarify laws on pot as medicine": I wish our governance would indeed clarify the rules on pot. Not medicinal, but cannabis in general. This fool's errand of cannabis prohibition has endured for seven decades, and what do we have to show for our trillion-dollar investment? Higher quality cannabis is more available to all, while respect for law is diminished. Has the general welfare of Americans been promoted? Are we better off now than before the pogrom ensued? No, and No. Change will come from the streets, not from the palaces. I encourage readers to sign and support all of the cannabis legalization petitions that are coming for the 2012 elections. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
I think all Chicoans should ask their city councilors to file an amicus brief on behalf of Americans for Safe Access in their lawsuit charging the feds with violation of the 10th Amendment, requesting declaratory and injunctive relief from their recent attack on medical marijuana in California -briefs from the council, or as citizens, should consensus be unreachable. The council was moving toward regulated, safe access of medical marijuana, under state law, and was vetoed. The Supreme Court has opined that the feds do have the right to enforce their federal drug laws, as Diane Monson of Oroville and District Attorney Mike Ramsey can attest. [continues 59 words]
In response to Tuesday's editorial, "Full-court press in forest needed," yes, a full-court press is needed. Albeit not in our forests, but in our legislatures. We need to unshackle ourselves from this weight of the past, this mistake. Until we let go of the horse's tail, we are going to continue to get kicked in the head. There was nothing wrong with cannabis when it became prohibited, except those who prohibited it didn't like the people using it: Mexicans, stealing whites' jobs, and black musicians, luring white women for sex and getting otherwise "uppity." [continues 71 words]
All Those Years, and We're No Closer to Winning On June 17, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's announcement of his so-called "War on Drugs." It has proven to be our most colossal blunder since slavery. Nixon commissioned his secret army, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and applied it against his political enemies on the left: the non-white, as well as those pasty anti-war hippies. Also, he mounted the Shafer Commission to give some legitimacy to his efforts. [continues 329 words]
Reading Mary Ann Sieghart's fine article "A war we should fight no longer" (30 May) I remembered a quote from the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said, "We know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it". One hopes that the publication of the Global Commission on Drug Policy report will create more than a ripple in the prohibition force. For the good of my mates who keep getting incarcerated for cannabis, for the good of the suffering Mexicans, for the good of the Afghans, and indeed for all of us, let this report fall on open ears. Jay Bergstrom [continues 3 words]
Re. "Breckenridge youth raises issues with homegrown marijuana," SDN, Jan. 14 This story brought back some olfactory memories. Where I lived in Sacramento, the bakeries had to install scrubbers after they were determined to be stationary pollution sources. I've had to learn baking at home just to get the polluted stink I love so much. Walking or cycling around town has lost some flavor, for sure. But I am hopeful that the environment for all of us will improve. When cannabis is completely legal, its value will become comparable to roses. People do occasionally steal roses, but many more cannabis plants become the target of theft. Dealing with the scent would be one good way to decrease the risks growers are exposed to. Making its value that of roses would probably be the best. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
Regarding "Practice Makes Safety: 20 Agencies Coordinate for Mock Shasta Dam Attack" on Nov. 18 by Dylan Darling: First off, I am totally in favor of those responsible for our public safety being a highly trained cadre of professionals. To have an anti-terrorism drill at Shasta Dam is a good thing. But the premise of this drill was just plain offensive to a large group of folks. It would appear that we of the cannabis community are seen as fair game. Much like the Office of National Drug Control Policy media campaign of a couple years ago - where a kid smoking a joint was presented as supporting terrorism. [continues 175 words]
Pushing 60 now, I've long been tired of the cat-and-mouse game that using cannabis invokes. I totally lost any respect for the law at a tender age. Faith in government? What, the government that wants to see me in a cage? The prohibition has been quite corrosive on my and many of my comrades' patriotism. We can restore respect for law, and law enforcement, as well as faith in the American way by ending this prohibition. We could even end up like the Dutch--who've managed to make pot boring in the eyes of that country's youth and whose rates of use are but a small fraction of ours. [continues 141 words]
Your most sensible editorial moves my keyboard to click ("Red light for Green Harvest," Forum, May 31). I'd like to see the memorably great herb of pakalolo on sale in cannabis cafes across this land. And if it were legal, a lot of herbalists would not feel all that bad about dropping a dime on their butthead crankster neighbors. As it is now, they are all nominally comrades on the same, wrong side of the law -- perverse, but that's prohibition for you. [continues 109 words]
The Chico E-R reports, "When the trial resumes on Thursday, a UC Davis Medical Center pediatrician is expected to testify for the prosecution that the ingestion of marijuana by a child that age could result in great bodily injury or even death" ("Case centers on how kid came across pot brownie," Tuesday). Coma? Death? From cannabis? Perhaps if several bales fell from the top of the refrigerator, crushing the poor dear. Even an Oroville jury should laugh out of court anybody making prohibitionist claims as these. Where are the morgues full of dead kids? Or the wards full of comatose young cannabis victims? The prohibition of cannabis has been this country's greatest policy blunder since slavery. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
I am a graduate of Arroyo High School, Class of 1969. This is regarding the news article in your newspaper "Record year for pot seizures": In order to send the correct message to our young people, we have forsaken a billion dollars in tax revenue. The $14 billion marijuana crop harvested by Los Angeles County this season, taxed at 7.25 percent would have yielded more than a billion dollars in revenue. And that is only the detected portion of the crop. Cannabis is by far the leading cash crop in California, and the nation as well. What drives this profitability? Why prohibition, of course. The failed and utterly disproven notion of prohibition reaps its reward. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, CA [end]
I am a graduate of Arroyo High School, Class of 1969. This is regarding the news article in your newspaper "Record year for pot seizures": In order to send the correct message to our young people, we have forsaken a billion dollars in tax revenue. The $14 billion marijuana crop harvested by Los Angeles County this season, taxed at 7.25 percent would have yielded more than a billion dollars in revenue. And that is only the detected portion of the crop. Cannabis is by far the leading cash crop in California, and the nation as well. What drives this profitability? Why prohibition, of course. The failed and utterly disproven notion of prohibition reaps its reward Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch, CA [end]
Re: "Reefer madness" (Editorial, CN&R, Aug. 2): America's citizens are under attack by their government. Obviously the prohibition of cannabis has nothing to do with the safety or welfare of the citizenry. The issue is social control. Nixon found the drug war to be such an effective cudgel to wail on his political opponents that his successors took note and have all pressed it up. Why, after 70 years, does cannabis remain illegal? The roots of the prohibition lie in racism: Blacks seducing white women with jazz music and "muggles," along with Mexican invaders with their weird weed, provided the backdrop for the initial prohibition. Presently the "demon weed" remains identified with the counterculture of the past century. [continues 94 words]
Operation Alesia would be more accurately named Operation Sisyphus. When the thousands of illegal pot plants are burned I'd like to see Congressman Wally Herger toss a large bale of our taxpayer dollars onto the pyre. In the last century, we saw exploding stills in the national forests, and the Central Valley was besotted with drunk waterfowl, all thanks to the Noble Experiment of alcohol prohibition. The results of that experiment are in: Prohibition causes more problems than the prohibited substances. Shasta County would do well to follow the sensible lead of Mendocino County in urging state and federal lawmakers to legalize pot. Herger should be pushing legislation to legalize cannabis. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
Great pot is like great wine What a wonderful application of physics wrapped in grey matter - The Alaska Stable Isotope Facility in the Water and Environmental Research Center at UAF can and surely has furthered understanding of our Earth. Kudos to the folks on the hill overlooking Fairbanks, whom I've admired for years, and whose midweek speakers I enjoyed as an undergrad, once upon a fall semester. A fraudulent claim to be helping society is being made by UAF Police Officer Stephen Goetz. Furtherance of marijuana's prohibition is a non-rewarding end. Given our experience with alcohol prohibition, that cannabis prohibition is folly only follows; and drug prohibition in general is a colossal continuing failure, on the same magnitude as slavery. [continues 150 words]
The government that cries marijuana has reclaimed the cudgel; the scourge of prohibition is rearmed. The court's decision to refute claims that patients are entitled to the protection of our Constitution is most odious. They again become criminals in the eyes of Washington. Reopen Manzanar and fill it with medicinal cannabis users. A secondary effect of prohibition that should be of concern to all Americans is that with the government spreading false propaganda, the populace is required to swallow lies whole. The country that is trained in being led with lies will find misfortune. Had Jefferson, Washington et al. been here to see this, they would by now be unpacking the crates of AK-47s. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Re "Creeks fouled by pot farmers," Feb. 22: The headline should have read "Drug prohibition causing environmental disaster." Were these substances legal for adult use, their production would be in safe, regulated premises.This is a rerun of last century's alcohol prohibition, replete with the same problems: The Sacramento Valley's sloughs were full of toxic sludge from the ubiquitous stills and the skies were full of drunk waterfowl. With regularity, homes in residential neighborhoods went up in flames from exploding stills. The corruption of law enforcement was near total while the government spewed false propaganda. The drive-by shooting was invented. Consumers were fed adulterated products with often lethal results and the dealers of the day, like the dealers of today, never thought much of carding their clientele. The example that California has demonstrated with regard to tobacco is quite relevant. Major reductions in tobacco use have been effected without anybody being shackled or caged. Wise up, America. Legalize, regulate, educate and, one must add, tax. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Regarding the Feb. 11 article about Durham schools considering drug testing, one is tempted to suggest that the board be commanded to squat and pee in front of a stranger to prove their purity. But that path leads only to a more totalitarian society. The only way we can ever hope for one iota of control or regulation with regard to illegal drug use by our children is through legalization of responsible adult use. See Amendment 21. To swallow the lies required to prop up the pogrom of prohibition requires enormous skill in the practice of doublethink. A great measure of what is termed intelligence is that critters learn from experience. Societally, we are failing the test of self-government evidenced by the continued, escalating prohibition policies. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Re "Sentencings cap medical pot saga," Nov. 3: Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Wong and Deputy Tracy Grant prosecuted vindictively. They were just following orders to stymie the implementation of the people's will as expressed in the Compassionate Use Act. The immediate victims here are Robert and Shawna Whiteaker. When the state can put people in cages for a prohibited vegetable, the concepts of liberty and pursuit of happiness are diminished. Prohibition in the cause of a drug-free utopia is a titanic waste. Other means can be employed to reduce use - witness the decrease in tobacco smoking. Not one person had to be caged to make such impressive gains. There are more powerful tools than the law when truth is in your hand. Wise up America, legalize. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
