If the Telegraph accepts that the state court system is facing serious staffing and funding woes (Dec. 2 editorial: "Good law emerges from bad pot case"), accepts the production, sale and recreational use of alcohol, and accepts the notion of live free or die, then maybe The Telegraph will editorialize to legalize cannabis (marijuana) in the future.

While David Orde's case focused on his right to privacy, the overwhelming truth is that government should not be in the business of caging responsible adults for using or growing cannabis to begin with.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Legal substance mimics marijuana

Officials in Franklin are trying to ban the sale of a K2, a legal synthetic marijuana product that has popped up in gas stations and head shops across the country.

The city's efforts coincide with an announcement by the Drug Enforcement Administration that the substance will be banned for a year beginning this month while the agency investigates its use.

K2, along with other brands such as Spice, is a mixture of herbs and spices that is sprayed with a drug that mimics the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to the DEA. While the drug in K2, JWH-018, binds to the same receptors in the brain as THC, its chemical composition is different from that of synthetic THC.

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November's midterm elections included ballot measures in five states that would either legalize or decriminalize marijuana. Even though every measure failed, the results show that a substantial support base for marijuana reform may exist and perhaps is ready to be heard.

In California voters rejected the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana represented by Proposition 19. However, 46 percent of voters voted in favor of the measure.

Consider the 12 states that have already passed decriminalization legislation, which converts small marijuana-related offenses from criminal offenses to civil infractions or fines.

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As food was passed around the table at Thanksgiving, I passed on the asparagus.

I actually like asparagus; a lot really. But, I have found myself at increasing odds with the flowering perennial plant species. It began with my personal fight against pork-filled farm bills that help bloat our annual budget deficits and the our national debt. The national debt was darn close to $13.9 trillion as of 12:45 p.m. Thursday.

American taxpayers subsidize the growth of asparagus in more ways than one, as I recently learned. I did not ask the family if they knew where the asparagus was harvested, as it would have sparked fiery political debate, which can ruin any Thanksgiving meal.

[continues 838 words]

In support of Darryl Beymer:

A great teacher is a precious asset.

I don't know Darrel Beymer personally, and I've only recently become a resident of Keene. I've read the story, and I can only say this: Please do not persecute this man for growing marijuana for his personal use.

We all know that marijuana has been widely accepted for medicinal uses. In fact, it is legal in many states and the personal use of pot poses no threat to anybody.

[continues 186 words]

HOLLIS - As David Orde sees it, marijuana and it's legal status wasn't really the point of what happened to him, but it is now.

Orde, 55, owner of Lull Farm, spent some $150,000 to fight felony charges that resulted after police found more than a dozen marijuana plants growing in pots on the deck of his home at [address redacted].

On Tuesday, the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed Orde's conviction, finding that police overstepped their authority and violated Orde's constitutional right to privacy. The ruling clearly came as a relief and vindication, and Orde said Wednesday it was worth the fight.

[continues 655 words]

During the past few years, we have not been bashful about expressing our opinion on several marijuana-related issues that have come up before the state Legislature.

We support the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. We support the use of medical marijuana by the chronically ill, if recommended by a doctor. We don't support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes.

So you might think we were disappointed to learn Tuesday that the New Hampshire Supreme Court had overturned the conviction of David Orde, the well-known Lull Farm owner who was found guilty last fall after admitting to growing marijuana at his Hollis home.

[continues 612 words]

Marijuana is safer than alcohol. Let that little bit set in, and then let's open up discussion.

Note: You may want to open a web browser to check these facts for yourself if you are reluctant to take my word.

Alcohol claims 35,000 lives a year.

Marijuana?

Mary Jane is not a killer and has never claimed a single life. Ever. In history.

If that minute tidbit isn't enough to wrangle up some support, than how about this:

[continues 236 words]

California's cannabis legalization measure Proposition 19 failed to pass, even though it had the full force of the national cannabis law reform movement behind it - and the support of smart people on the outside of the fray, like Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron.

Post-election analysis will no doubt point to self-interested growers as the reason it didn't pass, since legalization would destroy the economics of a black market that has served illicit farmers well through the years.

The bigger picture is that cannabis law reform groups are locked in advocacy models that emerged during the darkest period of this war on noncommercial drug use. Their defensive initiatives - festivals to attract like-minded folks, baby-step negotiations with lawmakers, fact-filled books and emotional documentaries - do nothing to reach the vast majority of Americans whose view of marijuana is still based on last-century propaganda.

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CONCORD - Concord police were at the home of 13-year-old Frances Burke-Bevis yesterday to gather information for an official report after the youngster was bitten by a New Hampshire State Police drug-sniffing dog in her Warren Street neighborhood Thursday morning.

"It's about time," said Kelly Burke, the girl's mother. She said the police agreed to file the report only after it was suggested by her husband and Francis' father, Mark Bevis. Bevis is news director for New Hampshire Public Radio.

[continues 214 words]

June 29 - To the Editor:

Re: "'Reefer Madness' playing now in the Portsmouth budget," Mark Brighton and Ramona Charland's recent rant about the City Council, other city officials and the city budget, let me just say that as an author and editor, I appreciate the use of metaphor every bit as much as the next guy.

However, as a serious proponent of the legalization of medical marijuana in New Hampshire, the last thing I want to see is its trivialization in this fashion.

[continues 66 words]

A miracle from Heaven is about to become the answer to a Portsmouth politician's prayers. Eliot, Maine, is soon to open a medical marijuana clinic.

It is accepted that marijuana provides relief for pain and nausea. And there have certainly been enough of both in the current budget season.

Councilor Ken Smith has to be in excruciating pain from all the contortions he has gone through trying to slide out from under the promise he made to bring in a budget decrease. Yes, councilor, that would be a budget that is actually smaller than the prior year's. We have to admit that it was painful to hear him try to shift responsibility for the city budget to the state Legislature. After listening to him, we may find it necessary to slip across the river ourselves. No, wait, we have no idea what to do with a joint, or if it's even still called that.

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ELIOT, Maine -- Organizers behind a nonprofit entity looking to grow and dispense medical marijuana out of a locally based clinic cleared a substantial hurdle Saturday when town meeting voters shot down a proposed moratorium that would have allowed elected Eliot officials more time to study the issue before permitting such activities within the town.

Substantial debate over the topic preceded a simple hand vote that saw the proposed moratorium failing to pass muster, with some voters saying they didn't want to support a temporary ban that seemed too open-ended, with one resident arguing it would let selectmen study the issue "in perpetuity."

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Police Steer Clear of Smoking Crowd

About 50 people - one carrying an 11-day-old baby - gathered outside the State House yesterday, some smoking marijuana, to advocate the drug's legalization. It was a typical "420" event, except no one left in handcuffs.

And that meant no arrest footage for YouTube with headlines like one out of a recent Nashua rally: "Police Attack Freedom Celebration."

That was intentional.

On Monday, Concord police Chief Robert Barry said his department would treat the rally as "business as usual." If the station received a complaint about noise or drug use while the rally participants were on city property, officers would respond, he said.

[continues 608 words]

Regarding your March 30 editorial, "Governor too quick to snuff out pot bill," the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2008, there were 847,863 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis.

The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue step in the right direction. Taxing and regulating marijuana would render the drug war obsolete. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.

[end]

Thirteen years ago, Rep. Timothy Robertson, D-Keene, introduced legislation that would decriminalize possession of less than 11/2 ounces of marijuana from a criminal misdemeanor to a violation.

That 1997 bill (HB 118) -- the earliest such bill to be found in the state's electronic archives that date back to 1989 -- was referred to the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, where it was summarily stamped with the dreaded "inexpedient to legislate" tag by a 17-0 vote. The House of Representatives promptly followed suit by killing the bill on a voice vote.

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NASHUA -- Smoking a little weed is hardly the point of a series of protests on Library Hill that started a week ago, organizers said.

Those puffs of smoke are emblematic of larger qualms the protesters have with what they call government interference in their lives and violent tactics employed by police.

"Doing drugs is stupid. Stupid shouldn't be illegal," Eric Freeman said. "The ultimate point is we're peaceful people trying to prove a point, and (the police's) first response is violence."

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To the Editor:

When you cast your vote to increase access to medical marijuana, you were part of 59 percent of us who did so. Maybe you did so because you know someone who uses marijuana to alleviate symptoms of debilitating conditions or maybe because you have compassion and people should have the autonomy to choose their own treatments.

Maybe you voted for this because you realize marijuana is proportionately benign; especially in comparison to Oxycontin or other opiates that are actually physically addictive and have proven to be a blight on our society. Maybe you realized prohibition increases the black market and does very little to decrease use. Or maybe you really don't care what others choose to do in the privacy of their own lives. Regardless of your reasons, your vote was part of the 59 percent.

[continues 168 words]

While gambling schemes may deliver economic benefits ("Boost gambling to save NH way," by Scott Flegal), it's just more bread and circus -- entertainment venues that produce nothing of lasting value.

Gambling offers no direct benefit to rural taxpayers who choose not to work and play in that sort of economy. As a farm state struggling through this recession, New Hampshire would be better served by legalizing the cultivation of agricultural cannabis.

Industrial hemp (not marijuana) is a hardy, high-yield-per-acre crop that yields nutritious seeds, valuable oils, and superior fiber for paper, pressboard, cordage and cloth -- without heavy use of farm chemicals.

[continues 109 words]

GOFFSTOWN - A Weare couple whose son's alleged marijuana distribution ring got them and 11 other people arrested said before his arraignment that drug laws need to be changed.

James Cashman, 25, of 64 Burnt Hill Road, Weare, was arraigned in Goffstown District Court yesterday, where Judge Paul Lawrence set bail at $100,000 cash.

Police said Cashman sold marijuana out of the home for at least a year and had as many as 130 customers a week, many of them high school students. He's charged with nine counts of selling a controlled drug and one count of conspiracy to sell drugs, police said.

[continues 663 words]