North Dakota legislators are urging Congress to make it easier for farmers around the country to grow hemp. But the state's congressional delegation won't be rushing to help. Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, all Democrats, are staying out of the congressional debate over industrial hemp. At issue is whether it should be treated in the same way as marijuana or whether commercial hemp production should be allowed. The North Dakota House passed two resolutions on the issue this week, urging Congress and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to allow farmers to grow the crop. The state last week issued the nation's first licenses to two farmers seeking to grow industrial hemp. [continues 448 words]
On one hand we have Ron Paul: A little-known, unorthodox, irreverent proponent of peace, individual freedoms and federal frugality. On the other we have every other White House wannabe. Dr. Ron Paul's druthers lie on sheets of cellulose amid an atmosphere of argon and helium, inside seven separate metal-and-glass encasements at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. These so-called charters of freedom - the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights - have guided the U.S. representative throughout his 31-year political career and now into a second bid for the presidency. [continues 626 words]
The Maverick Libertarian Republican Talks On War, Immigration, And Presidential Ambition Excitement spread like wildfire last week across the libertarian web: Ron Paul has entered the presidential race! Even the mainstream press took notice. As we'll see in the interview with Rep. Paul (R-Texas) below, the excitement may have been premature. The reason for the excitement is understandable: Ron Paul has been the most consistent successful politician advocating the limited-government principles that he sees embedded in the Constitution. Part of his appeal, to a voting base that we can safely presume isn't as libertarian as Paul is himself, is that of the very rare politician following his own conscience and mind with steadfast integrity. Indeed, Paul is not afraid of aggravating even parts of his libertarian constituency when he thinks it's the right thing to do, as on immigration (where he's against amnesty and birthright citizenship, and for increased border control) and his vote this month in favor of prescription drug negotiation. [continues 2068 words]
Giambra Ways It's Time to Try a New Approach; Others Say No When County Executive Joel A. Giambra floated the idea of legalizing outlawed drugs, critics responded as if he was on one. But Giambra is hardly alone. The idea of using the government to regulate and control banned substances in order to put the illegal drug trade out of business has gained ground in recent years, with support coming from surprising quarters: law enforcement officials. Their involvement is an example of how calls to revamp the nation's drug policies are no longer solely the province of the left, which has historically favored legalization. Conservatives such as William F. Buckley Jr. and former Reagan-era Secretary of State George Schultz support liberalized drug policies. So, too, does Walter Cronkite, known in his heyday as "the most trusted man in America." [continues 1417 words]
Republican Ron Paul missed out on the 19th century, but he admires it from afar. He speaks lovingly of the good old days before things like Social Security and Medicaid existed, before the federal government outlawed drugs like heroin. In his legislative fantasies, the amiable Texas congressman would do away with the CIA and the Federal Reserve. He'd reinstate the gold standard. He'd get rid of the Department of Education and leave the business of schooling to local governments, because he believes that's what the Constitution intended. [continues 1637 words]
Only one thing stands between Robert Durst and prosecution that could send him to federal prison, possibly for decades. That one thing is the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. That office, which exists to enforce federal laws in this part of the world, has for more than a year had compelling evidence that Durst committed three felonies when he bought the pistol with which he killed his elderly island neighbor, Morris Black. For more than a year, a Galveston police officer has been prodding federal prosecutors to seek charges against Durst in what that officer called a "slam dunk" case. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul's office recently joined the effort. [continues 1449 words]
Chronic pain management is officially part of the war on drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department have had such bad results with controlling the illegal importation and use of heroin and cocaine that both departments have turned their focus on pain-management clinics to get some "success" stories. With a growing population of people suffering from severe chronic pain, prescribing strong opiates such as Oxycontin, have risen. Oxycontin, a Schedule II drug, gives up to 12 hours of time released pain control. [continues 415 words]
Who would imagine that Rep. Gene Hahn, the conservative state representative from rural Cambria, is perhaps the biggest supporter in the Assembly of legalizing marijuana? Well, it's quite a stretch to say Hahn is a supporter of legalizing perhaps the biggest drug dogging police agencies in the United States. What he is in favor of, however, is industrial hemp, a potentially fruitful product also grown from the cannabis sativa plant. Despite hemp's potential uses, supporters say the material gets a bad reputation because of the close association the plant has with marijuana, the most notable symbol of the nation's drug culture. [continues 1099 words]
After reading "Willie Horton Multiplied" ("Taking Liberties" by Joel McNally, March 9) I looked at some Web sites for the Wisconsin attorney general race. Paul Bucher criticizes Kathleen Falk for wanting to legalize marijuana. Unfortunately, that's not true. In a 2002 interview Falk said she was "reviewing literature on that subject." Now carry this to its logical conclusion. Let's say Falk was reviewing an essay by congressman Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas, who said the federal drug laws should be repealed so that states can make their own laws. Maybe Nevada legalizes it and Alabama doesn't. This is what happened with liquor laws after the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933. [continues 100 words]
An appeal by an Allegheny County doctor convicted of trading prescription drugs for sex could be bolstered by the federal government's loss in a legal battle over assisted suicide. The U.S. Department of Justice in 2001 challenged an Oregon law legalizing physician-assisted suicide, saying the practice was without "legitimate medical purpose." But the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed this year, saying the Justice Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have no authority to determine "generally accepted standards of medical practice." [continues 1164 words]
Advocates Say It's Time U.S. Legalized Crop BRADENTON - Hemp. It's a fantastic product, says Elizabeth Western, a local clothing retailer who sells hemp purses, shirts and jeans at Chameleon Natural Boutique on Manatee Avenue. She'd like to see laws change to make it legal to produce hemp for clothing. The United States is the only developed nation in the world that doesn't produce hemp as an economic crop, according to NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. [continues 1099 words]
1) Don't Bogart My Closeup: The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and its fearless leader, drug czar John Walters, got slapped by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office in January when the GAO reported that Walters' band of merry narcos had violated a government ban on "covert propaganda" with its release of prepackaged video news stories, ready to air on broadcast news programs, that failed to identify the ONDCP as the source of the "news." 2) Man-Min Madness ... : In a 5-4 decision delivered Jan. 12, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the federal mandatory-minimum sentencing schemes enacted by Congress in the mid-Eighties in reaction to an increase in drug crimes, opining that, as currently applied, man-mins violate the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. [continues 799 words]
As the Market for Products Grows, Farmers Fight to Legalize Controversial Crop David Monson is a conservative Republican in North Dakota's legislature. He's also a farmer who believes that a new cash crop could revitalize his state's agricultural industry, which has been suffering from poor harvests and depressed soy and corn prices. The problem: The crop coveted by Monson and hundreds of farmers like him is hemp, the same species of cannabis plant as marijuana with virtually no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient in marijuana that makes users high. The federal government doesn't recognize that distinction, and bans the production of hemp in the USA. It does, however, allow manufacturers of cosmetics, clothing, paper and foods to import hemp fiber, seed and oil from Canada and Europe for use in their products. [continues 983 words]
By Drug Policy Alliance Nearly three million people have been displaced from their homes because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many have lost everything. Yet federal laws prohibit these victims from receiving welfare, food stamps, public housing, student loans and other benefits if they have a drug law conviction. People who have lost everything should not be denied public assistance just because they were convicted of a drug offense sometime in their past. The Alliance held a press conference today with Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Crime Subcommittee, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), ranking member of the House Immigration Subcommittee, to announce the introduction of the "Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act," which would temporarily suspend federal laws that deny public assistance to hurricane victims who have drug offenses in their past. If the bill is enacted, thousands of destitute families that would otherwise be denied food stamps, public housing and other aid because of prior drug offenses would be able to obtain benefits to help put their lives back together. [continues 373 words]
Changing our hemp and marijuana laws is a policy reform usually called for by Independents, Greens and Democrats, but now Republicans are calling for change too. You may recall that former Republican governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, was an outspoken opponent of marijuana and hemp prohibition. Just this June, Republican Rep. Ron Paul from Texas introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005 to Congress. The bill would once again allow the cultivation of industrial hemp in the United States, as was done by our founding fathers, including George Washington. Several other representatives have joined Paul in co-sponsoring this hemp legislation, and more co-sponsors are expected as more citizens ask their representatives to sign on. [continues 580 words]
A legislative amendment on which many medical marijuana advocates hung their hopes after last weeks U.S. Supreme Court defeat went up in smoke Wednesday, gaining more votes than ever before but still falling 57 short of passage. Advocates said having 161 House members vote to end federal arrests and prosecution of medical marijuana patients and providers in California and nine other states was a moral victory. An actual victory required 218 votes. Angel McClary Raich of Oakland, a plaintiff in the case decided by the Supreme Court last week, was in Washington, D.C., this week to lobby for the amendment. On Wednesday, she noted that Congress had voted to continue criminalizing her medicine on the same day that her 19-year-old son left for basic training at the U.S. Armys Fort Jackson in South Carolina. [continues 279 words]
Backers Say the Call to Legalize Use by Patients Grows Despite Court Decree Scooting around the grocery in a motorized wheelchair, Marcia Baker doesn't look like a criminal. But when she gets home to her Fort Bend County subdivision, the 41-year-old former accountant sometimes breaks the law. Most afternoons, she says, she eats brownies made with marijuana to help her cope with multiple sclerosis. Pot, she says, relieves the head tremors and stinging pain in her limbs without inducing the catatonic state typically caused by doses of Vicodin, baclofen, Klonopin and Neurontin her doctor prescribes. [continues 1173 words]
U.S. Supreme Courtjustices Uphold Federal Prosecutions Of Sick Patients Who Use Drug Under Doctor Supervision WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal authorities may prosecute sick people who use marijuana under their doctors' supervision, a bitter defeat for advocates of the medical use of the drug. The 6-3 decision, arising from a case in California, concluded that state laws cannot override a federal ban on the substance. The ruling ran counter to the wishes of voters and lawmakers who had adopted "compassionate use" marijuana statutes in California and 10 other states. [continues 276 words]
Do we have to wait for marijuana-smoking cancer patients to be rounded up, handcuffed and thrown in jail for Congress to take up the matter of medical marijuana use? Federal agents could start arresting terminally or seriously ill patients in 11 states who previously had the right to smoke marijuana under their doctors' supervision to relieve their symptoms. THE U.S. SUPREME Court ruled Monday that people who use marijuana to ease pain or symptoms of their illnesses can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws. That means that terminally and seriously ill patients who formerly smoked doctor-prescribed marijuana to relieve their symptoms could be arrested if they are caught using or, they would say, taking their medicine. [continues 447 words]
It is not often that this newspaper finds itself in agreement with U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor, three of the Supreme Court's more conservative members. But Rehnquist, Thomas and O'Connor were right to dissent from the court's wrongheaded decision to permit the federal government to prosecute sick people who use marijuana as a painkiller - even in states where voters and legislators have determined that such use is lawful. [continues 486 words]
