My friends in New Hampshire say politics in Concord sometimes baffles them. No wonder. The state Senate, at the behest of its Democratic leadership and the Democratic governor, recently thumbed its nose at public opinion and sent a strange message to young adults. For a party in control of state government for the first time since 1874, it was hardly a profile in courage. The Senate killed a sensible reform of New Hampshire's anachronistic marijuana possession law. But the end came after a surprisingly long journey through the legislative process that demonstrated the courage of the citizen-based state House and the timidity of the politician-based state Senate. [continues 604 words]
Two very different men commit two very different crimes. When both violate probation, there are very different results: The robber gets life; the killer remains free. First came the poor man, barely 17 years old - too young to buy beer or vote, but an adult under the Texas penal code. He took part in a $2 stickup in which no one got hurt. He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was put on 10 years of probation. He broke the rules once, by smoking marijuana. A Dallas judge responded in the harshest possible way: He replaced the original sentence with a life term in prison. [continues 3796 words]
Some say the secret of life is to find what you love to do and do it as long as possible. I believe the center of all seen and unseen, the entity many call god, places a burning in your heart and if you clear away enough of the distractions from your mind you will see clearly what it is exactly that you are meant to do. The thing that will fill your heart with love and joy and peace from a job well done. Sometimes it may be nothing more than sitting on the porch petting your cat while enjoying a beautiful sunset. For some, when the air is still and the hustle and bustle of school or work subsides for a moment, the sound of despair fills their ears and becomes a call to action. I believe all living things are somehow connected and that true peace cannot coexist with blatant suffering but rather it is through the quest of reducing suffering that peace can be attained. There is something very human about the urge to ease another's suffering. The forces that oppose suffering are legion and do great things. Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross and others have millions upon millions of members and spend their time working to improve the human condition. [continues 1201 words]
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Bruce Crosby, the editor of this newspaper, informing me of a retired police detective's ride across America on a horse to protest this countr's war on drugs. At the time, it was believed he was coming through McCook and Bruce asked if I would be interested in sitting down and talking to this guy. Because I'm a former police officer as well and have long thought we were losing the war on drugs, I told him I would and used the contact information he provided me to introduce myself and to set up an interview. I received an immediate reply from Jack Cole, the Executive Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). [continues 1026 words]
As a Recreational Drug, Industrial Hemp Packs the Same Wallop as Zucchini. So Why Does the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Continue to Deny America This Potent Resource? Call It Reefer Madness. On an otherwise unremarkable day nearly 30 years ago, in a San Fernando Valley head shop, an ordinary man on LSD had an epiphany. The one thing that could save the world, it came to him, was hemp. Thunderbolts come cheap on LSD, but this one looked good to Jack Herer even after his head cleared. The world needed relief from its addiction to oil and petrochemicals. From deforestation and malnutrition. From dirty fuels, sooty air, exhausted soils and pesticides. The extraordinary hemp plant could solve all those problems. Herer was sure of it. Thus began his journey as a heralding prophet. [continues 4359 words]
Former state Police Superintendent Joseph Santiago clearly was a poor choice to head the state's elite law-enforcement unit. A roar of protest erupted when Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his appointment. No such uproar followed Saturday's announcement that Capt. Joseph E. "Rick" Fuentes, who has been with the State Police for 25 years, would be the new superintendent, pending state Senate confirmation. A key factor in the welcoming reception is the new nominee's upward journey through the State Police ranks, especially since a major objection cited by those who opposed Santiago was the fact that he was an outsider. [continues 300 words]
On Monday, November 5, the NYTimes Drug Policy forum hosted a special panel with four national drug reform activists. This panel was part of a series organized by the forum participants. Special Panelists: Hoover Institution scholar and former police chief of San Jose and Kansas City JOSEPH MCNAMARA is the author of the forthcoming book 'Gangster Cops: The Hidden Cost of America's War on Drugs.' Items by or about Chief McNamara are at http://www.mapinc.org/people/Joseph+McNamara [continues 3650 words]
By Tracey Rochelle Hayes (mmmtexas@hotmail.com), Joe Ptak (headsup@haysco.net) and Noelle Davis (nellybelle74@hotmail.com) - Texas Network of Reform Groups The experience of organizing the Tulia Freedom Ride was like experiencing a poem as it was being written. The apparent simplicity of the idea versus the reality of it's execution reveals the complexities involved in developing relationships with many individuals displaying a variety of motivational levels and aptitudes all at once. Consistently keeping our eyes on the goal, and adapting to rapidly changing circumstances with grace and humor, we achieved all of our short-term goals, placing us in perfect position to achieve our long-term goals. [continues 1817 words]
During the weekend I asked Jacki Rickert if she was smoking marijuana. "I don't think I should answer that," she said. Which just shows you how cruel and stupid life can be. Last week was the one-year anniversary of one of the most disgraceful busts in the war on drugs. You may remember the story. Rickert lives in Mondovi, southwest of Eau Claire. She is 49 years old and weighs about 90 pounds. She is in a wheelchair as a result of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, bone and muscle illnesses that keep her in constant pain and often unable to eat. [continues 899 words]
Drug Policy Forum of Texas: http://www.dpft.org/ Common Sense for Drug Policy: http://www.csdp.org/ Bookmark: MAP's link to Texas articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/tx For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm A caravan of marijuana legalization advocates rolled up to the Capitol steps Friday, calling for a cease-fire in the war on drugs and a legalization of medical marijuana. Journey for Justice, a procession of convicted drug offender's family members, medical marijuana patients and citizens, concluded its week-long tour that started in Houston and highlighted Texas' record number of non-violent prisoners. [continues 413 words]
AUSTIN -- Lawanda Smith and Gerrod Ervine say they were singled out for prosecution because they are black. Chandra Vancleave says she was targeted in the same drug sweep last year in the Panhandle town of Tulia because she's white -- and engaged to a black man. "There is so much racism out there, it's unbelievable," said Vancleave, 21, who was part of a 40-person demonstration on the Capitol steps at noon Friday. [continues 691 words]
Lawsuit Alleges Civil-Rights Conspiracy AUSTIN -- Tynisha Winkfield plans to move her family out of the tiny West Texas town of Tulia by the end of the year. As she cradled her 8-week-old daughter Dora while standing on the front steps of the state Capitol in Austin on Friday, the 22-year-old said she believes the town is no place for her or her family. Winkfield said that a 1999 drug bust -- which reportedly led to the imprisonment of 16 percent of Tulia's black population -- was unfair. [continues 944 words]
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday against law enforcement officials in the West Texas town of Tulia for their alleged role in a highly criticized undercover drug bust that resulted in the arrest of one in 10 of the town's entire black population. The lawsuit, which targeted the sheriff of Swisher County, a deputy and the district attorney, illustrates how the nation's war on drugs really is a war on blacks, an ACLU lawyer said Friday. [continues 403 words]
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A lawsuit was filed against two law enforcement agents and a district attorney for their role in an arrest stemming from a much-criticized drug bust that prompted allegations of racial discrimination in 1999. Forty-three people were arrested in the bust in Tulia, in northwest Texas. Forty were black, and the other three, two whites and a Hispanic, are said to have ties to the black community. About 40 residents of the community of 5,000 rallied Friday at the Capitol as Will Harrell, executive director of Texas American Civil Liberties Union, announced the lawsuit. [continues 237 words]
AUSTIN - Tynisha Winkfield plans to move her family out of Tulia by year's end. The 22-year-old mother said Friday that she thinks the town is no place for her or her family. Cradling her daughter, 8-week-old Dora, Winkfield said while standing on the front steps of the Capitol that a 1999 drug bust - which has imprisoned 16 percent of Tulia's black population - was unfair. The cases of Tulia blacks are at the heart of a civil rights lawsuit filed Friday in Amarillo by the Texas affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. [continues 823 words]
Suit Accuses Swisher County, Officials Of False Arrest AUSTIN A lawsuit was filed Friday against two law enforcement agents, a district attorney and Swisher County for their role in an arrest stemming from a much-criticized drug bust in Tulia in 1999. Forty-three people were arrested in the bust. Forty were black, and the other three, two whites and a Hispanic, are said to have ties to the black community. About 40 residents of the northwest Texas town of 5,000 rallied at the steps of the Capitol as Will Harrell, executive director of Texas American Civil Liberties Union, announced the lawsuit. [continues 396 words]
AUSTIN (AP) - A lawsuit was filed Friday against two law enforcement agents, a district attorney and Swisher County for their role in an arrest stemming from a much-criticized drug bust in Tulia in 1999. Forty-three people were arrested in the bust. Forty were black, and the other three, two whites and a Hispanic, are said to have ties to the black community. About 40 residents of the northwest Texas town of 5,000 rallied at the steps of the Capitol as Will Harrell, executive director of Texas American Civil Liberties Union, announced the lawsuit. [continues 491 words]
TULIA, Texas (AP) - A much-criticized drug sting that raised accusations of racism and prompted a tax increase has angered residents of this Northwest Texas town, with a number taking their protest to the state capital. The bust that landed 43 people - 40 of whom were black - in jail last year has also drawn interest by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A group of Tulia residents is leaving Friday morning for the noon CDT protest. [continues 429 words]
Bookmark: For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm TULIA - About 45 adults and children from Tulia who are upset with a drug bust that raised allegations of racism and forced a tax increase are leaving for Austin today to participate in a protest rally. ''The primary purpose of our trip is to empower the people of Tulia who have been directly impacted by the drug sting of 1999,'' said Tulia resident Alan Bean. [continues 581 words]
Notes: From MAP: Daily updates from the Journey by Kevin Zeese are being posted at these sites: http://www.csdp.org/j4jtexas/ and http://www.dpft.org/txj4jj.html Bookmark: For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm Hemp, weed, boo, marijuana, grass, Mary Jane, cannabis and mooch are all names associated with the illegal plant scientifically known as pistillate hemp, or Cannabis sativa , and it might be coming to a drug store near you, if a national group gets its wish. [continues 635 words]
Bookmark: For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm Cited: Journey for Justice: http://www.JourneyForJustice.org/ Common Sense for Drug Policy: http://www.csdp.org/ A handful of demonstrators from across the nation gathered Sunday afternoon for a vigil at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan to protest the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders. Kay Lee of Florida, founder of the group Journey for Justice, and others paced in a grassy area across from the prison in black-and-white striped prison costumes while passing out various marijuana literature. [continues 561 words]
It's in a big box on page 37 (actually page 5 of the Metropolitan section) together with an excellent vertical photograph, roughly 4.5" X 8", showing Kay Lee and Zeal's son Arlo and some other people I couldn't identify in the jail cell, with Kay holding one of those signs from the Philadelphia shadow convention that says JUST SAY KNOW www.drugpolicy.org The photo is by a guy named John Everett, and the caption below it reads: "With the Harris County Criminal Justice Center looming in the background, Arlo Hartin, 13, left, and Kay Lee, right, ride in a mock jail cell Friday to dramatize their opposition to the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders." [continues 80 words]
Prisoners Of The Drug War Tiffany Landreth of Dallas worries about becoming a "drug-war prisoner" if arrested for her medical use of marijuana for a chronic back injury from surgery. The 29-year-old woman, riding on an electric scooter, joined about 30 protesters railing against the country's punitive drug policies Friday during a Journey for Justice march through downtown Houston. For the next seven days they will travel to Huntsville and other cities until they end up in Austin next Friday at Gov. George W. Bush's mansion, where more than 100 protesters are expected. Accompanying the group is a flatbed truck carrying a mock jail cell filled with protesters. [continues 387 words]
Tiffany Landreth of Dallas doesn't think she should be a "drug war prisoner" and arrested for her medical use of marijuana for a chronic back injury. Riding on an electric scooter, Landreth, 29, joined about 30 other protesters today on a "Journey for Justice" march in downtown Houston. Landreth, who said she buys her marijuana from a physical therapist, said, "I would get the mandatory minimum of five years in prison if I'm ever arrested." [continues 157 words]
Three messages, three lines of thought: "I am a retired criminal investigator with 41 years and 10 months in the law enforcement profession," began one. "I was retired due to an injury received while arresting one of these `non violent' drug addicts and now can hardly get around due to an injured shoulder, spine and neck." The second was from a Vietnamese man who came to Houston in 1976. He sent a piece written by Wayson Choy, a professor of English at Humber College in Toronto. "Red Petals on a Faraway Grave," which ran May 2 in the Toronto Globe and Mail, was Choy's commentary on the execution of Nguyen Thi Hiep. She was 43, a Canadian citizen, and the mother of two sons. She was shot by a Vietnamese firing squad after being locked up for four years. [continues 656 words]
"I don't wear no Stetson, but I'm willin' to bet, son, that I'm as big a Texan as you are." -- from the song Amarillo Highway, by Terry Allen First, merely to establish some credentials, I'd like to mention that just one month after being born in Corpus Christi, I moved to Dalhart, clear up at the other end of the state. Also, I once had a narrow escape in a flash flood on the Rio Grande, and some time later got pitched off a jumping mule in the woods outside Como. I've enjoyed and loved Texas from top to bottom and side to side for more than half a century. And maybe you have, too. But let's not let our geographic pride keep us from cashing in on the current windfall of interest in our state. [continues 622 words]
Protesters Hope to Flood Philadelphia In a secret garage in Takoma Park, Md., called the Dog House--as in Wag the Dog, trick the system--the usual suspects are hard at work with paint, papier mache and progressive zeal. When last they convened, it was to protest global capitalism and clog the streets of the District around the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16. Before that, some of them were in Seattle for the World Trade Organization demonstrations. [continues 1722 words]
Ailing Mondovi Woman Now Fears Criminal Charges Jacki Rickert freely admits she smokes marijuana. The 48-year-old Mondovi woman, who uses a wheelchair because of debilitating illness, said marijuana helps her cope with excruciating pain. Now, she could be facing drug charges after Mondovi police on Tuesday searched her home and confiscated marijuana and drug paraphernalia that Rickert said she needs for medicinal purposes. The incident began when Rickert called police to report the theft of morphine from her home. When an officer came to her home about 11:30 p.m. Monday, Rickert admitted there was marijuana inside, so the officer got a search warrant and returned at 3 a.m. Tuesday. [continues 804 words]
Freedom Fighters of the Month Madison, WI - Fifteen medical-marijuana patients spent a week last September marching 210 miles from the small town of Mondovi to the state capitol here, in a follow-up to last May's "Journey for Justice" in Ohio. The march's arrival on Sept. 18 coincided with the introduction of a medical-marijuana bill in the state legislature by Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior). Boyle's bill would reschedule cannabis as a Schedule III drug - - equating it with Tylenol/codeine, rather than with heroin - and create a medical-necessity defense for patients with "acute, chronic, incurable or terminal" illnesses, if their doctors say conventional treatment "is either not effective or is causing severe side-effects." [continues 539 words]
MONDOVI, Wis. (AP) A 210mile hike by people wanting marijuana legalized as medicine began from a graveyard, led by a woman in a wheelchair and headed for a rally next week in the state capital. Jacki Rickert, who organized what she calls the Journey for Justice, uses a wheelchair because of a bone disease. ''We're just ordinary people trying to do an extraordinary thing,'' she said. With about twodozen participants from several states, the sevenday march began Thursday at a cemetary that contains the grave of a physician who Ms. Rickert said recommended marijuana for her health. [continues 396 words]
Editorial Let's separate health, politics Jacki Rickert suffers from EhlersDanlos syndrome and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, a mouthful of medical conditions that cause the Mondovi, Wis. woman to experience muscle spasms, nausea and loosejointedness. The bone disease that has taken over her life requires Rickert to use a wheelchair. And today she is rolling that chair onto the grounds of the State Capitol, ending a 210mile journey of protest against foolish and inhumane policies that have denied her doctors permission to prescribe a drug she needs to relieve her pain. [continues 206 words]
[boxed sidebar:] "The people who have shared stories and given me support have been unbelievable." Jacki Rickert, seeking legalization of medicinal marijuana Woman seeking to use marijuana gets support for Madison trip By Chuck Rupnow LeaderTelegram staff MONDOVI Jacki Rickert began her "Journey for Justice" this morning but said it will not end until people get the marijuana medication they're entitled to. "We're just ordinary people trying to do an extraordinary thing," Rickert said. Rickert and a number of supporters started a nearly 200mile trek to Madison, which is expected to culminate next week with the introduction of a legislative bill calling for legalization of marijuana medication. [continues 628 words]
Patients everywhere use marijuana to raise their quality of life. I am 53 years old and use cannabis therapy for arthritis. My friend is 47 and uses it for EhlorsDanlos Syndrome. The Clinton administration has labeled us a hoax, a Cheech and Chong movie, and worst of all, criminals. We, the patients, know better than any politician what makes us feel better. We've studied the history and know the plant is beneficial. We've tested the medicine and found it to be gentle, effective, and safe. Our grandparents knew it and our grandchildren will know it, because the truth doesn't go away. [continues 199 words]
Painful journey Woman aims to gain support for marijuana as medicine By Chuck Rupnow LeaderTelegram staff [Caption for front page top lead story color photo:] Friend Kay Lee helps Jacki Rickert get out of her Mondovi home. Rickert plans to roll her wheelchair from Mondovi to Madison in September to publicize her effort to get marijuana medication. The "Journey for Justice' is expected to culminate Sept. 18 with the introduction of a bill calling for legalization of marijuana medication. MONDOVI Jacki Rickert is willing to go that extra mile to get rite marijuana medication she thinks she's entitled to. [continues 1029 words]
Woman plans wheelchair ride to say she needs marijuana for her Associated Press MONDOVI, Wis. (AP) A 47yearold, wheelchairbound woman with a debilitating illness said she plans a 210mile trek to Madison to call attention to her need for marijuana. Jacki Rickert said she will roll her wheelchair from Mondovi to the state capital in midSeptember. She says a federal program allowing her to use governmentgrown marijuana cigarettes for medical purposes was cut in 1991. Ms. Rickert never received the treatments she said help ease her pain considerably. [continues 302 words]
To the contrary, there is no legal protection for medical marijuana users in Florida. But Ms. Musikka was not showing disrespect for either state's laws. Ms.Musikka is one of eight patients being supplied medical marijuana by the federal government, and has been for over eight years. She receives 300 cigarettes each month containing marijuana grown by the government at a farm in Mississippi, and uses them under the protection of federal law. Ms. Musikka has glaucoma, and to preserve her remaining vision, she must use ten marijuana cigarettes each day. Other medicine, to include a synthetic pill made from one of the substances found in marijuana, has proved ineffective. [continues 70 words]
COLUMBUS - Tiffany Landreth traveled from Dallas to join the trip. Dan Asbury of Oregon just rolled down his driveway for the excursion. Ms. Landreth and Mr. Asbury are wheelchair users who suffer from debilitating illness that they contend are eased by smoking marijuana. Yesterday they finished a 140mile road trip from Toledo to Columbus to dramatize their cause. Tired bodies and callused palms not withstanding, Mr. Asbury said the five day trip, which started Monday, is only the first of what he hopes will be several wheelchair excursions from points in the Buckeye State to the Statehouse. [continues 196 words]
Moving protest Activists to lobby legislators on medical uses for marijuana The "Journey for Justice" rolled into Tiffin Tuesday afternoon. The 140 mile trek from Oregon, in northwest Ohio, to Columbus is an attempt to call attention to those who use marijuana for medical purposes. The organizers feel legislators have little or no place in determining doctorpatient care. The idea for the trip came from Dan Asbury. Asbury is a quadriplegic who suffers from muscle spasms. He is serving two years' probation for growing marijuana for personal use. [continues 390 words]
As Elvy Musikka prepared to fire up a marijuana cigarette, she looked into a TV camera and said, "We have to break the law every day. [But we're] not criminals." Ms. Musikka, a Hollywood, Fla., resident who has glaucoma, says she smokes 10 marijuana cigarettes a day to ease her condition. In Florida it's legal to do so. In Ohio, it's not. That's why Ms. Musikka joined quadriplegic Dan Asbury of Oregon and six other people with debilitating illness in front of Mr. Asbury's Wheeling Street home yesterday. The group left for Columbus in a caravan that included two motorized wheelchairs, a scooter, and three support vehicles. [continues 165 words]
Quadriplegic Dan Asbury and at least nine other people plan to begin a 140 mile journey this morning from his Oregon home to Columbus in what they call a "Journey for Justice." The group three of whom will be in wheelchairs is protesting a decision by the legislature last winter to close a loophole in state law that provided a legal defense for ill people who use marijuana for medical purposes. Mr. Asbury is on probation for his conviction for growing marijuana in his backyard. [continues 455 words]
Disabled man to travel to Columbus in motorized wheelchair to urge legalization of medical marijuana OREGON: A quadriplegic who smokes marijuana to ease his aches and pains has spent the last few weeks preparing for his wheelchair trip to Columbus. Tomorrow, Dan Asbury, dressed in an oldtime black and white striped prison uniform, will begin his five day, 130 mile ``Journey for Justice.'' It's all part of his campaign to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Ohio. ``We have the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. It's the only thing that works for me,'' Asbury said. ``We're not hurting no one. Marijuana helps people who are in pain. But the state wants to make us criminals.'' [continues 332 words]
Journey for Justice
