Attorneys for Oakland pot advocate Ed Rosenthal asked a panel of federal judges today to overturn his 2003 conviction for growing medical marijuana, while the prosecutors sought to have his one-day prison sentence thrown out because they thought it wasn't long enough. Rosenthal, 60, was arrested in 2002 for growing marijuana for the Harm Reduction Center, a San Francisco dispensary for medical patients. Rosenthal, who is well-known for his "Ask Ed" advice column for cannabis growers, was convicted a year later on federal cultivation and conspiracy charges. [continues 705 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - Attorneys for Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja" who has written books on how to grow marijuana and avoid getting caught, asked a federal appeals court to overturn his drug convictions. Rosenthal, convicted two years ago of growing and distributing hundreds of marijuana plants, says he was authorized to do so by the city of Oakland under a 1996 California medical marijuana law. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer refused to allow a jury to hear that defense, and Rosenthal was prosecuted and convicted of being a major drug supplier. [continues 690 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Attorneys for Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja" who has written books on how to grow marijuana and avoid getting caught, asked a federal appeals court yesterday to overturn his drug convictions. Rosenthal, convicted two years ago of growing and distributing hundreds of marijuana plants, says he was authorized to do so by the city of Oakland under a 1996 California medical marijuana law. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer refused to allow a jury to hear that defense, and Rosenthal was prosecuted and convicted of being a major drug supplier. [continues 417 words]
Oaklander Argues Even Light Sentence For Pot Convictions Too Harsh; Feds Want 2 To 5 Years More than two years after being convicted and sentenced for growing marijuana, Oakland's self-styled "Guru of Ganja" will make his appeal Tuesday for why even a slap on the wrist was too much. Ed Rosenthal, a renowned pro-marijuana author, activist and cultivation authority, claims he never should have been convicted of three marijuana-growing felonies. The government claims he not only deserved conviction, but he also deserved at least two to five years in prison instead of his one-day, time-already-served sentence. [continues 760 words]
Section 885(d) of the federal Controlled Substances Act entitles undercover police officers to obtain, handle, and sell illicit drugs. It states that "no civil or criminal liability shall be imposed" on any "authorized officer... who shall be lawfully engaged in the enforcement of any law or municipal ordinance relating to controlled substances." Section 885(d) applies to officers employed by cities, counties, and states, as well as to federal agents. After Prop 215 legalized the medical use of marijuana in California, an astute defense specialist named Amitai Schwartz suggested to Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op and his attorney, Robert Raich, that Section 885(d) might afford protection if the city officially endorsed distribution through the OCBC. Raich convinced the city council that 885(d) would apply if they deputized Jones to make the herb available to patients qualified to use it under California law. And so they did, by a unanimous vote on July 28, 1998. [continues 1262 words]
Recently, the medical marijuana movement suffered a one-two punch, beginning with a 6-to-3 decision of the United States Supreme Court that even personally grown marijuana consumed for medical purposes can subject a grower or user to federal criminal penalties. At the same time, local governments in California are calling for tighter regulations. The threat of federal prosecutions casts a long shadow over the efforts by states to develop new methods of marijuana control. Ham-handed federal intervention was the rule during Pres. George W. Bush's first term. At the justice department, former Attorney General John Ashcroft had the DEA target political activists and reformers who had organized the 1996 referendum that enacted the California medical marijuana program. These persons had literally spent decades persuading the public that patients should receive the benefits of marijuana. [continues 974 words]
Robert "Duke" Schmidt has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for growing and distributing marijuana. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer meted out the terms in his San Francisco courtroom July 7. Schmidt reports to the Bureau of Prisons Sept. 1. He is one of about 30 West Coast medical-marijuana growers, distributors and/or users whose cases had been put on hold pending the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Gonzales v. Raich. Schmidt first appeared before Breyer in March 2003, soon after Ed Rosenthal's widely publicized trial. [continues 1635 words]
Two greater Bay Area members of Congress seem likely to oppose a legislative amendment that medical marijuana advocates called their next best hope after Monday's U.S. Supreme Court defeat. The amendment -- by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach -- would forbid the Justice Department from using public money to raid, arrest or prosecute patients and providers in states with medical marijuana laws. It is expected to come up as early as next week, and Oakland's Angel McClary Raich -- one of the patients who brought the case decided Monday by the Supreme Court -- intends to go to Washington, D.C., to testify for it. [continues 818 words]
2 Area Reps Among Foes Of Bill To Keep Feds Off Medical Users' Backs Two greater Bay Area members of Congress seem likely to oppose a legislative amendment that medical marijuana advocates call their next best hope after Monday's U.S. Supreme Court defeat. The amendment by Rep. Maurice Hinchey,D-N.Y., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, would forbid the Justice Department from using public money to raid, arrest or prosecute patients and providers in states with medical marijuana laws. [continues 866 words]
2 Area Reps Among Foes of Bill to Keep Feds Off Medical Users' Backs Two greater Bay Area members of Congress seem likely to oppose a legislative amendment that medical marijuana advocates call their next best hope after Monday's U.S. Supreme Court defeat. The amendment by Rep. Maurice Hinchey,D-N.Y., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, would forbid the Justice Department from using public money to raid, arrest or prosecute patients and providers in states with medical marijuana laws. [continues 452 words]
Ed Rosenthal, the high priest of California's medical marijuana movement, will be the featured speaker Saturday at Houston 420 Fest, an evening of music and political advocacy sponsored by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Rosenthal, author of more than 12 books on the use and cultivation of medical marijuana, gained national attention two years ago when he was convicted of a federal charge for growing the drug for medical use in California. His prosecution came after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found the state's Proposition 215, which provided for such use of the drug, unconstitutional. [continues 113 words]
Here's a hint: It doesn't refer to April 20 Today's buzzword: 420 Pronounced: Four-twenty Definition: Time to get high Use in a sentence: "420?" (Want to get high?) "420." (I'm taking a break to get high.) "420 at Harold's house." (We're getting high at Harold's house.) This vocabulary lesson is for those who aren't going to a 420 party today and don't patronize the Houston 420 shops. And parents, you should know what those numbers mean if you see them on your kids' text messages. [continues 351 words]
As I write this column the United States Supreme Court is deliberating on the fate of over 32 individuals directly and many millions more by extension. I will dedicate my next column to my opinion of the legal aspects of the case and it's meaning within the overall debate on the use of marijuana as a medicine but for now I want to just introduce a few more facts. The case before the court is one stemming from a 2002 lawsuit filed by two medical cannabis patients, Angel McClary Raich, Diane Monson, and two caregivers, John Doe Number One, and John Doe Number Two who filed a complaint and motion for preliminary injunction against Attorney General John Ashcroft and former DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson. They asked Judge Martin Jenkins to issue a preliminary injunction during the pendency of this action and a permanent injunction enjoining defendants from arresting or prosecuting plaintiffs, seizing their medical cannabis, forfeiting their property, or seeking civil or administrative sanctions against them for their activities. [continues 567 words]
Violent enforcers of the drug cartels are rampaging on both sides of the Mexican/US border killing cops, journalists and innocent civilians. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are harvesting tens of millions of dollars each year from their control of the Afghan drug trade. Drug gangs in the US are responsible for needless and countless deaths, mutilations and other violent and reprehensible acts designed to ensure their sales turf remains intact. Each year hundreds of thousands of Americans contract HIV, Hep C or other deadly diseases because government policy will not allow for easy exchange or sales of hypodermic syringes. [continues 663 words]
Every day I write and report in numerous ways that "the emperor has no clothes" (and smells like week-old death.) I implore and cajole, I constantly yell "fire" in a burning theater and yet, most of you do nothing, nothing at all to end the madness of drug war. I see you in public venues, I take your calls and advise you as best I can and yet you do nothing. The drug warriors, those who thrive on eternal drug war refuse to debate me, to interview with me, to email or write me or to even talk with me in public. They are evil; they live in a fabricated world comprised of lies, pilfered profits and mutually protective rackets. To encourage you to grasp this truth, to make the leap of faith and take the initiative to DO SOMETHING to make the drug war dry up and blow away, following is a snapshot description of the evil these bastards bring to the table every day of the year: [continues 589 words]
What if the government finally managed to remove all illegal drugs from the streets of America? The crime rate would fall by almost 50%. Accidental overdose deaths would basically disappear and children would no longer have easy access to drugs. The prison industrial complex would boom like never before, with an annual influx of 2 1/2 Trillion dollars from government coffers. The unemployment rate would drop to zero as we staffed the thousands of new prisons with guards and support staff. More than 100 million US users of black market and redirected pharmaceutical drugs would be off the streets and behind bars. [continues 658 words]
365 days a year, a few thousand drug reformers work to ensure your freedom. Many of you understand that and appreciate the effort, the daily sticking of the neck into the noose for a "fitting". Most of you then pick up the remote and go to Orange County. You have been hypnotized, repeatedly raped, robbed and buggered in numerous ways then placed back on your living room couch (click) for home-brewed, individually designed, therapy "viddies". "Everything is broken..." As Mr. R. Zimmerman begins his umpteenth tour, we should once again heed his words. When it's all broken, the mind wants to shut down, to find a nice cave and do rituals designed to cover up and eliminate the dread and fear that current circumstance allows. If successful in destroying the lust for life and outgoing nature of the American "dreamers", the corporataucracy will have achieved world domination quite simply with the push of a button... a button they trained the populace to push in case of danger. [continues 585 words]
The owners of Advanced Nutrients beat back legal challenges even as they improve yields for B.C. bud Robert Higgins was juggling a dozen headaches. One partner was ill, the other was exiled indefinitely, a new bottling plant was about to come on line, the Australian market was heating up, and those goddamn lawyers . . . Unfortunately, in his view, Higgins has to deal with too many lawyers far too often. "Hey, the cops accused me of having 300 grow-ops -- I said, Come on, what do you think I am small time? It's got to be well over 700!" [continues 5286 words]
Pot Guru Ed Rosenthal Releases The Second Volume Of His Big Book Of Buds Ed Rosenthal sounds kind of sleepy over the phone. Which is no big surprise, considering his career choice. For over 30 years, Rosenthal has been a dispenser of vital wisdom to marijuana consumers, growers and cultivators everywhere, with almost 20 titles under his belt and two decades' worth of experience imparting advice in his High Times magazine Ask EdT column. Last month he published the follow-up volume to his 2001 The Big Book of Buds - a guide to "marijuana varieties from the world's greatest seed breeders." [continues 684 words]
Marijuana Growers Wait On Supreme Court Ruling To Determine If They Must Return To Prison A pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana patients and their caregivers could have far-ranging consequences for cannabis activists slapped with federal drug charges - and those wishing to limit the power of the federal government. At least 30 pending federal marijuana cases will be affected by the outcome of /Ashcroft v. Raich, /a case the Supreme Court heard Nov. 29 that debated whether the feds exceeded their constitutional powers by imposing national drug laws on the local, noncommercial use and cultivation of medical cannabis. A decision is expected by summer. [continues 923 words]
He Will Appeal Phil Leveque of Molalla is the first doctor in any of the states that have legalized marijuana for medical use to lose his license for approving it. The Board of Medical Examiners issued a formal revocation order Oct. 15. Leveque has 30 days to appeal, and will. The Board's action comes as Oregonians prepare to vote on an initiative to legalize cannabis dispensaries, increase the amount patients can grow and possess, and lower the cost of a state registration card. [continues 2750 words]
Adams' Public Defender May Not Test State's Medical Marijuana Law HAYWARD -- Former medical marijuana dispensary owner Cheryl Adams is beginning to give up on the idea of becoming Hayward's Ed Rosenthal. Adams, 31, who used to own the now closed Hayward Hempery and its dispensary in downtown Hayward, faces felony drug possession charges stemming from an arrest last December in Newark. She was allegedly driving with 29 separate small plastic bags of marijuana and 13 bags of concen trated cannabis, or hash, according to court records. [continues 750 words]
Activists Say 4,000 Plants in Warehouse Were for Medical Use Demonstrators planted small marijuana plants and scattered hemp seeds outside a California Highway Patrol office in Oakland on Tuesday to protest the recent arrests of four people for growing pot, supposedly for medical use. The 30 protesters, some openly smoking marijuana from a pipe and several in wheelchairs, denounced the CHP for calling in the federal Drug Enforcement Administration this month after a state officer discovered 4,000 marijuana plants growing in a West Oakland warehouse. [continues 403 words]
Congress' Power Over Marijuana Club Case at Issue A federal appeals court that has slapped restraints on the government's campaign against medical marijuana grappled Wednesday with its first criminal case on the issue, a Chico man's conviction and 10-year sentence for growing pot for himself and other patients. Bryan Epis' appeal is based on December's ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred the use of federal drug laws against marijuana grown in the state and distributed without charge to patients under California's medical marijuana law. Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce does not extend that far, the court said. [continues 586 words]
S.F. Cops Keep Busting Medical Marijuana Growers. One Prosecutor Is Trying to Develop Less-Arbitrary Guidelines. So Where Are the City's Political Leaders on an Issue They Claim to Support? GROWING MEDICAL MARIJUANA in San Francisco these days means never knowing when or if you'll get busted. State law and city policies purport to allow and even encourage growers like Patrick White to cultivate marijuana for the city's estimated 6,000 authorized users and 18 dispensaries. Yet the lack of clear guidelines defining when legal medicines become illegal narcotics has allowed the San Francisco Police Department - led by zealous narcotics officer Sgt. Marty Halloran - to decide when to destroy the garden and jail the gardener. [continues 3153 words]
Supporters Want Representative To Change Vote On Raids Activists today are marking the first anniversary of the conviction of Oakland's "Guru of Ganja" by protesting about 150 lawmakers nationwide -- including one near the Bay Area -- who voted against halting federal raids on patients, caregivers and cooperatives. Patients and caregivers plan to gather at 11:15 a.m. today outside U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza's district office at 445 West Weber Ave., Stockton, in an attempt to pressure Cardoza, a Democrat, into changing his vote when the matter is raised again this summer. [continues 442 words]
Supporters Want Representative To Change Vote On Raids Activists today are marking the first anniversary of the conviction of Oakland's "Guru of Ganja" by protesting about 150 lawmakers nationwide -- including one near the Bay Area -- who voted against halting federal raids on patients, caregivers and cooperatives. Patients and caregivers plan to gather at 11:15 a.m. today outside U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza's district office at 445 West Weber Ave., Stockton, in an attempt to pressure Cardoza, a Democrat, into changing his vote when the matter is raised again this summer. [continues 443 words]
Cardoza targeted for medical pot vote A Northern California congressman is among 150 lawmakers nationwide who will be pressured by protesters Friday to change their votes on an amendment which would halt federal raids on medical marijuana patients, caregivers and cooperatives. Patients and caregivers plan to gather at 11:15 a.m. Friday outside Rep. Dennis Cardoza's district office at 445 West Weber Ave. in Stockton. A spokesman for Cardoza, D-Atwater, didn't return an e-mail Wednesday. Charles Pringle, Cardoza's Republican challenger in November's election, said Wednesday he supports the amendment, and called Cardoza's vote against it "an assault on the doctor-patient privilege." [continues 387 words]
Medical-marijuana backers are targeting a bipartisan group of House members that they claim are hostile to patients who toke up to ease the pain. On Friday - the one-year anniversary of the sentencing of Ed Rosenthal, who was convicted for growing marijuana - hundreds of patients and others will descend on 100 congressional district offices to protest what they view as the mistreatment of medical-marijuana users. The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is coordinating the protests. Targets include Reps. Joseph Hoeffel (D-Pa.) and George Nethercutt (R-Wash.), both running for Senate and Reps. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and David Wu (D-Ore.). [continues 187 words]
One year ago, on June 4, 2003, something remarkable happened in a California courtroom: A judge who could have sentenced the defendant in front of him to 40 years in federal prison instead heeded the pleas of the jurors who had convicted the man, who said that their own verdict was wrong. The judge let the man walk free, sentenced only to time already served, and a tragic injustice was averted. Still, Ed Rosenthal -- who was simply obeying the laws of his state and trying to help sick people -- left that courthouse a convicted felon. Congress must make sure that such an injustice never happens again. [continues 544 words]
25,000 Plants Growing in Molson brewery On January 11th, 2004, over 100 police officers raided the largest grow operation in Canadian History. A vacant Molson brewery in Barrio, Ontario was housing more than 25,000 cannabis plants. There were even plants growing inside the old beer brewing vats! The operation was so sophisticated that it was run like a factory with shift workers. Ontario Provincial Police Supt. Bill Crate declared 'It's the largest indoor operation any of us have ever seen.' Nine people were charged in the bust. [continues 396 words]
Thousands of seriously ill Californians who rely on medical marijuana to relieve their pain, restore their appetite, treat their nausea or help with a slew of other symptoms are breathing a little easier this week as a result of a federal court order. In the case of County of Santa Cruz et al. v. Ashcroft, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from raiding the gardens of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM. The ruling allows the collective to resume cultivation free from the fear of further federal prosecution. This relief comes 18 months after a brutal Drug Enforcement Administration raid on WAMM in Santa Cruz, and a year after the collective's seriously ill members filed suit against the federal government to stop the law enforcement harassment. [continues 552 words]
Perhaps only someone as audacious as the "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal would file a small-claims lawsuit over a pot deal gone awry -- and maybe only in San Francisco could he win such a case. On Friday, San Francisco Superior Court Commissioner Catherine Lyons ruled that pot club owner Bob Martin must pay Rosenthal $4,500 for medical marijuana plants confiscated by the federal government in February, 2002 during a Drug Enforcement Administration raid at a Sixth Street medical pot club. [continues 479 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - Perhaps only here could someone go to court to enforce the terms of a marijuana deal gone bad. Ed Rosenthal, the Oakland "Guru of Ganja" who was convicted but avoided prison time on federal marijuana charges last year, was back in court Monday, but this time of his own volition. He was in small claims court in his lawsuit against Bob Martin, a man who has been involved with several of San Francisco's medical marijuana dispensaries. At issue is just how much protection the state's medical marijuana law affords marijuana providers -- marijuana costs money to produce, and if dispensaries must pay providers for plants, does the law ensure those payments will be made in good faith? [continues 411 words]
An HSU policy, unrevised since 2001, says that students can carry any doctor-prescribed medication on campus -- except marijuana. Campus policy says even 215 card-carriers can't carry pot An HSU policy, unrevised since 2001, says that students can carry any doctor-prescribed medication on campus -- except marijuana. Students caught with marijuana on campus can also lose their federal financial aid. However, a recent court decision reinforcing the validity and necessity of medical marijuana could mean that students and faculty with medical needs can carry their prescriptions on campus. "Marijuana is not legal. If a person has it on campus they may be disciplined or arrested following federal law," said University Police Chief Robert Foster. [continues 1049 words]
The Guru's Opinion - Renowned Pot Activist Ed Rosenthal Shares His Views Regarding UPD's Stance on the Issue. It was unfair to HSU's police chief Robert Foster to ask him to comment on either the law or society's relationship to marijuana. [Times Standard 2/19] His remarks showed how ill equipped he is to make any comments regarding the prohibition issue. First, he has been mis-educated by his police peers and has no other experience with the sociology of drug use. (Check out The CA Narcotics Police Officers Assn. Web site -Our Policies.) More importantly, his attitudes, typical of many law enforcement personnel, are colored by his fear that medical marijuana opens the gate to legalization of all marijuana. Members of the criminal justice system are opposed to medical marijuana because they figure it is the gateway to unemployment for the prohibition industry. Foster's failure to acknowledge his self-interest in maintaining the drug laws is very telling. [continues 565 words]
Not the one the government tries to sell, about marijuana leading to heroin. No, the gateway theory with teeth, is the one where the government itself encourages us to use heroin. The Bush economy, though supposedly becoming more robust for the stock market and corporate profits is a big dud when it comes to actual jobs for lower and middle class workers. I know, I have been unemployed for almost two years now. I have managed to get by on unemployment benefits and selling George Bush Voodoo Dolls. [continues 1358 words]
Prop. 215 Polls Better Now Than When It Passed Californians are higher than ever on medical marijuana. Proposition 215, the state's pioneering initiative that made it legal for doctors to recommend pot to patients, has gained significant support across all segments of California's population since voters approved it in 1996, according to a Field poll released today. The survey of 500 registered voters in the state found that 74 percent now favor legal protections for patients who use marijuana to cope with illnesses, compared with 56 percent who approved it on the ballot. And, the poll shows, support for Prop. 215 comes from all political, ideological and age groups. [continues 965 words]
Support Seen Throughout State's Population Californians are higher than ever on medical marijuana. Proposition 215, the state's pioneering initiative which made it legal for doctors to recommend pot to patients, has gained significant support across all segments of California's population since voters approved it in 1996, according to a Field poll released today. The survey of 500 registered voters in the state found that 74 percent now favor legal protections for patients who use marijuana to cope with illnesses, compared with 56 percent who approved it on the ballot. And, the poll shows, support for Prop. 215 comes from all political, ideological and age groups. [continues 765 words]
On July 29, 2003, Tehama County sheriff's deputies raided the Red Bluff residence of a 54-year-old woman named Cynthia Blake, who was cultivating 29 outdoor cannabis plants. Blake, a graphic artist with no criminal record, has been employed for 16 years by the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. She is on disability leave, with a well-documented medical condition. According to Blake's lawyer, Shari Greenberger, Blake and her "significant other," David Davidson -a retired businessman with a residence of his own in Oakland-had trimmed the plants in her Red Bluff garden only a few days before the raid and decided to conduct a novice growers' experiment, putting all the cuttings in the ground to see how many would root. [continues 1756 words]
OAKLAND -- An irrational-acting man found vandalizing a car early Wednesday at a West Oakland live-work space prompted police to seize at least $100,000 worth of marijuana and arrest the suspected grower. Joshua Betts, 47, claimed the 250 plants were for a medicinal marijuana club and some were for personal use, police said. "He said he was trying to make up for what (marijuana activist) Ed Rosenthal was not able to produce," said Officer Tim Bergeron, adding police have not been able to confirm if he was supplying the clubs. [continues 415 words]
California medical marijuana activists are outraged over the arrest last week of two medical marijuana patients who face potential life sentences on federal drug charges after being turned over by local authorities. David Davidson, of Oakland, California and his partner Cynthia Blake, of Red Bluff, California were arrested in a state courtroom in Corning, California on January 13 as they were seeking to dismiss state charges of marijuana cultivation and distribution. Davidson and Blake, both 53, have doctor's recommendations to grow and consume medical marijuana under California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215). While their defense attorneys were meeting in the judge's chambers to discuss the case with Tehama County assistant district attorney Lynn Strom, Strom announced that she was dropping the state charges because Davidson and Blake were being arrested in the courtroom on a federal indictment. [continues 732 words]
Read This Publication On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2004/ds04.n331.html * This Just In (1) Chief Justice Attacks A Law As Infringing On Judges (2) Punishment Sought In Medical-pot Case (3) SB-420 On Hold (4) Strip-search Ruled Illegal In Drug Arrest * Weekly News in Review Drug Policy (5) U.S. Will Ban Ephedra Early Next Year (6) General Roadblock Violated Fourth Amendment Rights (7) Worried Pain Doctors Decry Prosecutions (8) Parent Upset Over Undercover Drug Sweep (9) Fired State Worker Sues Over Random Drug Tests [continues 493 words]
WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William Rehnquist criticized Congress in unusually pointed terms Wednesday for a recent law that places federal judges under special scrutiny for sentences that fall short of those called for by the federal sentencing guidelines. The legislation, enacted last spring as a little-noticed amendment to the popular Amber Alert child protection measure, "could appear to be an unwarranted and ill-considered effort to intimidate individual judges in the performance of their judicial duties," the chief justice said in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary. [continues 478 words]
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist criticized Congress in unusually pointed terms on Wednesday for a recent law that places federal judges under special scrutiny for sentences that fall short of those called for by the federal sentencing guidelines. The legislation, enacted last spring as a little-noticed amendment to the popular Amber Alert child protection measure, "could appear to be an unwarranted and ill-considered effort to intimidate individual judges in the performance of their judicial duties," the chief justice said in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary. [continues 602 words]
Broadcasting 7 days a week, from the Gulag City of Planet Earth, I am the host of Cultural Baggage and the 4:20 Drug War NEWS. These programs air each week on KPFT, Houston at 90.1 FM, on the Sirius Satellite Network, on FM frequencies in 6 other states and one in British Colombia, Canada. My goal is to expose the "Unvarnished Truth" about the drug war. The war of terror is really just the war on drugs, with afterburners. The mechanism of demonizing those who might have chemical weapons has been used for a century in America to go after mostly men of color, with drug concoctions considered so dangerous as to be a threat to the continuation of our society. [continues 1314 words]
A Hayward medical marijuana dispensary owner plans to defend herself against felony drug possession charges in a case that could be one of the first tests of a related new state law. Cheryl Adams, who owns the Hayward Hempery and its Hayward Patient Group, was arrested at 12:20 a.m. Dec. 12 in front of the TownPlace Suites hotel at 39802 Cedar Blvd. in Newark, where she had been living. She allegedly was driving with 5.32 pounds of marijuana in 29 small plastic bags, said Newark police Sgt. Fred Zachau. [continues 662 words]
Medical marijuana advocates are celebrating more than just a little stash under the Christmas tree this week, as a recent ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may have ended federal prosecution of many prescription pot users in California. In a major victory for backers of Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana use in 1996 by a large majority of state voters, the three-judge panel ruled on December 17 that federal agents lacked the authority to bust two users in the case Raich v. Ashcroft. [continues 709 words]
After Several Successes, A Seven-Year Struggle By Advocates Nears A Critical Point In 2004. SACRAMENTO -- After struggling for years against the federal government's prohibition of marijuana, activists in the medical cannabis movement scored several victories in 2003 a*" and say next year could produce a key showdown in the legal debate over pot as medicine. In June, well-known medical marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal avoided prison in a case that received national attention. Eight jurors told a federal judge they would have acquitted the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja," had they known he was cultivating cannabis for the ill. [continues 930 words]
AS author of Oakland's original medical cannabis ordinance, I would like to share my thoughts about ways to serve all of our goals, including compassion and public safety. After California voters adopted Proposition 215 in 1996, legalizing medical cannabis through out the state, the city of Oakland showed great leadership by adopting standards to regulate medical cannabis to ensure safe access to patients in need. By authorizing medical cannabis dispensaries, our city showed common sense -- keeping cannabis and patients off the streets and out of the cross hairs of dangerous drug dealers. [continues 441 words]
