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]
U.S. Attorney: Federal Memo Doesn't Change Legal Status of Pot Native American tribes on the Wind River Reservation are now able to grow and sell marijuana without federal prosecution after the release of a U.S. Justice Department memo last week that directed attorneys to stop prosecuting such cases. Christopher Crofts, U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming, said the Justice Department memo doesn't immediately change marijuana laws for the tribes or legalize marijuana on the Wind River Reservation. [continues 425 words]
Editor: Caging sick people for using the God-given plant cannabis (marijuana) is anti-Christian and vulgar("New group will regularly demonstrate for medical marijuana, industrial hemp," Star-Tribune, May 17). It's also time for free Wyoming farmers to legally grow hemp, just like communist Chinese farmers. It's clearly time for intelligent voters to end cannabis prohibition. Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
Editor: Why is it, to change the marijuana laws, criminal laws, you have to go through a political process to be secure from state police power which is unreasonable when it is not used to protect the rights of others? Why has the Wyoming judiciary declared the marijuana laws are a political question? Why is it the courts claim no fundamental rights are being deprived by the enforcement of the marijuana laws? Why do the courts declare the use of police power has a rational basis when due process of law requires the use of state police power to be either reasonable or unreasonable by the Fourth and Fifth Amendment? [continues 228 words]
There are three particularly absurd things about Wyoming's fight against marijuana: First: Wyoming is a state that proudly exports lots of air polluting fossil fuels, and uranium too, and we consider marijuana a "dangerous substance." Should the same standards be applied to all things, we wouldn't have anything to export. Second: Regarding Wyoming's relative position in the greater War on Drugs, we're about in the middle of the country. Consider the frequent newspaper accounts of cars being pulled over along Interstate-80. Let's say that the car has Ohio plates and is speeding. Officer Trap pulls it over and also searches the car and finds marijuana. The driver intended to buy pot in California and resell it in Ohio. California gets a small economic stimulus, Ohio gets nothing and Wyoming gets a big bill for law enforcement and the incarceration of someone who just wants to drive eastward and be done with us. In this case as outlined, Officer Trap should certainly write a speeding ticket, but then let the driver go with his cargo to become the problem (i.e., the expense) of some other state. I mean, what do we gain here in Wyoming? Nothing. We get a reputation for petty bullying. We're hurting ourselves to punish someone else. This is absurd. Couldn't we just send Ohio an e-postcard? I mean, there was the crime-of-a-purchase in California, and a hoped for crime-of-a-sale in Ohio, and we get stuck in the middle and with the bill! [continues 100 words]
Three Casper residents demonstrated for the legalization of medical marijuana and industrial hemp products Saturday, part of what they say will be regular demonstrations at Conwell Park. As people in passing vehicles stared or honked -- one person gave the group a thumbs-down sign -- demonstrators held signs that said "Help end marijuana prohibition," "Cannabis -- fuel, paper, food and medicine" and "Cannabis cures cancer." The demonstrators are part of the new group Wyoming Cannabis Activists. The organization had simultaneous demonstrations at the Cheyenne Depot in the capital city, at which 10 people showed up, and in Jackalope Square in Douglas, at which local resident and U.S. Senate Republican candidate Thomas Bleming demonstrated, said Marcia Stuelpnagel, co-founder of Wyoming Cannabis Activists. [continues 362 words]
Editor: Tim Casey is mistaken ("Pot prohibition isn't working," March 16) to believe cannabis (marijuana) prohibition isn't working. Historically, cannabis prohibition was orchestrated to discriminate against minorities, give law enforcement agencies job security and to allow some powerful people the opportunity to profit off of the dubious laws. For that, it is working properly as planned. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Decriminalize! It's obvious that prohibition isn't working. They want to call it a gateway drug but spoiler alert, the only gateway i experienced came from the people I had to see to buy pot. Hey dude, check this out: Try a dime's-worth, see what you think. When I started growing my own, my use of other drugs vanished. As far as violence, it is just like booze in that the violent people are that way without being high. I never became violent on pot. I was never an addict and I used it heavily for years only after my day was my own. When I quit, I had no withdrawal symptoms other than what to do with my library and equipment. Oh, and I destroyed lots of Polaroids of harvesting in the living room. I wish I had kept the issue of High Times that had a picture of my prize bud. What a rush! TIM CASEY, Casper [end]
Editor: Marijuana should be legal throughout the entire United States. Why would we not want to know that people are getting a good product at a fair price, create jobs (not prison guard positions), and apply a fair tax to the product. We know that a good portion of the public is using and going to continue using marijuana anyway. People can say it is a gateway drug and if indeed that is the case, then alcohol should be illegal as well. If you did a poll I am quite sure that most young people experimented with alcohol before they did with marijuana. Wyoming's Legislature is more worried about their "holier than thou" image than they are thinking about doing what is right. Let us be the first to legalize it rather than one of the last like we usually are. LU MARTINEZ, Gillette [end]
Editor: I'm writing in regards to Patrick Simonaitis' article titled "Marijuana-related rage, Smirnoff Ice lead to Casper man's arrest" (Jan. 28). I can't help but wonder why, in this city of 60,000-plus, this somewhat negligible event was determined noteworthy. I think it's more than just coincidence that a mundane household conflict would find its way to print with the title "Marijuana-related rage" at a time when there is so much happening politically with marijuana in our state and in Colorado. [continues 284 words]
Editor: Most of us have seen the long lines of people waiting to purchase legal marijuana from licensed facilities in Denver, Colo. The people in these lines are either unemployed, using vacation time, on their day off, or they are unemployable because they have tested positive for the use of marijuana. I wonder how many of these people are on some sort of public assistance because they are unemployable. Consider this. Marijuana can be detected by urine analysis for nearly a week or more after using it. Users will probably be unable to pass a urine analysis test if there employer requires routine testing, so how do they expect to keep their jobs and support their families? Apparently employers aren't as enthused about the new law as the residents of Colorado are and employers apparently don't want people that smoke marijuana working for them. [continues 175 words]
Thirty years ago, before he moved to Wyoming and became a Republican state lawmaker, Bruce Burns' mother asked him to come to Long Island, N.Y., with pot. Burns' uncle, a Jesuit priest who lived most of his life as a missionary in India, was dying of lung cancer. Burns was a dutiful son. He delivered the goods. His uncle's mood and appetite improved. The priest gained 15 pounds and was more comfortable when he died. Burns, now a state senator from Sheridan, became a believer in the medical benefits of marijuana. [continues 957 words]
Inside Wyoming
