Andrea G. Barthwell, a deputy despot from the office of the drug czar, shows up to propagandize, and the Press Journal follows along, calling all dissenting information "myths." Cannabis was in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia until 1940, when it was stuffed down George Orwell's memory hole by one of Barthwell's predecessors. The office of the drug czar commissioned the Institute of Medicine to report on cannabis. In 1999 they reported that it does indeed have significant medical uses. As with alcohol, prohibition is not the way to regulate anything. Prohibition yields up control of the market to the criminal underworld. District attorneys consistently upgrade charges against users to the status of distributors, and the prisons are indeed full of casual users. [continues 53 words]
Re "U.S. drug czar now a backer of prevention," Feb. 12: John P. Walters is correctly titled "czar." The despot's visit to Sacramento shows up-close that we have failed the test of self-governance.It is not the sound of the founders rolling in their graves that you hear, but the sound of the last nails being driven into the coffin of our freedoms. That the leaders of our community would gather around him is distressing. His lies will not be exposed, but are being promulgated. That the visit was protested should have been the news. [continues 95 words]
To the Editor: It is refreshing to hear a voice of reason among the din of prohibitionist zealots. Syracuse Auditor Minch Lewis hints at the painful truth: Legalization and regulation are the only way out. How legitimate can a law be when it is ignored by such a large percentage of citizens? The just powers of government derive from the consent of the governed, which has been withdrawn. The drug war continues at our peril as a nation. Jay Bergstrom Sacramento [end]
Re "Pot measure stuck at starting line," Dec. 26: Regarding our cannabis laws, it is quite clear that obfuscation, delay and deceit will continue to rule the day. The bad faith dealings will continue for the foreseeable future, or at least until all of the users are incarcerated or dead. Cannabis is harmless, yet even medical use is denied. This is truly reefer madness. It is cannabis prohibition that is lethal. California decriminalized cannabis in 1975 and then legalized medical use in 1996. These tepid moves have been effectively neutralized by prohibitionists dependent on the drug war for their paychecks. In a free country the right of a citizen to control what he ingests would be sacrosanct. But instead of freedom, here we have the appetite police in charge of our diets. "Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now." -- Thomas Jefferson Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento [end]
Re "Redding police fatally shoot 3," Sept. 19: What a sad commentary on our priorities to read that two of three people killed were shot while a multiple-agency task force cut down the local pot harvest. If pot were available in a local smoke or liquor store, it would probably not be worth $4,000 a plant, since prohibition perversely inflates the price of this weed to more than gold. Imagine the cost of mass-produced, controlled-climate plants at closer to $40 a plant, and the crop that the police ruined would sell at $1,334,160. Sales tax at around 7 percent on legitimate sales would generate $93,391 for the state, as well as providing someone currently considered criminal a legitimate job and a place in the community. [continues 88 words]
SWAT goons assault a domicile and kill the occupant. This is done in the middle of the night to maximize the TERROR. That is just what the war on drugs is, terrorism under color of authority, war crimes of an open culture war. I am sure that they all feel they are just following orders. How terribly un-American. And if history is any guide, when this war ends, they will all swing. All this for marijuana? Wise up America, LEGALIZE. Jay Bergstrom Sacramento, Calif. [end]
Re "Canada may decriminalize small-scale pot possession," May 28: It is most refreshing to see our neighbors to the north debating further steps toward ending cannabis prohibition. Last September's report recommended the legalization of cannabis, dismissing decriminalization as a timid half-measure that will only strengthen the black market. Then, members of Parliament, worried about being called soft on drugs, promptly recommended decriminalization. Canada's courts are removing stones from prohibition's foundation and are finding something called a Charter of Rights. Courts in three provinces hold that there exists no valid law against possession as drug war refugees from California make credible claims for political asylum in Canada. And Canada's Supreme Court has recently heard three full-strength cases and will render verdicts that affect this issue directly. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam dictates "reefer madness" propaganda war on cannabis consumers globally, and threatens to back it up with an economic/trade war. - - Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento [end]
RE "CRITICS: New pot law will bug U.S." (May, 1): Kathleen Harris' article quotes John Walters, U.S. drug czar, saying decriminalization makes little sense. "When you make the penalties minimal you get more drug use, you get more drug addiction, you get more drug production, you get more drug crime," he said. For the first time since Walters was named to the junta, he has spoken a speck of truth. But it is just a deke, as he follows up with one of the classic myths from the propaganda playbook, "you get more drug crime." No, the truth is you get more prohibition-related crime. Our experience with alcohol shows Walters' advice to be that of a fool. Your Senate's report clearly shows decriminalization is folly and makes little sense. Legalization is where the path leads. It is a goal attainable by free Canadians, covered by their Charter of Rights. Jay Bergstrom Sacramento, Calif. (This is one war the U.S. won't win) [end]
Dear Editor, (In regards to "Impounded drugs up in smoke" -- Mon., Feb. 10:) It is a good thing that the incinerator in Havana is filtered. We wouldn't want the good people of Tallahassee to be smelling the burning bales of their tax money represented by the "controlled substances." Jay Bergstrom [end]
Re "Drug gear seized; 55 charged," Feb. 25: Once again, under cover of a heightened terror alert, our authoritarian Drug Enforcement Agency moves out to defend liberty and freedom. Last time it was Ed Rosenthal (the big fish) whom they captured while terrorizing the medical cannabis community of Oakland. Again they hit the hated minority, those cannabis consumers, with totalitarian force right where they live this time -- their precious artwork as expressed in glass. These acts appear to be those of a police state executing a cultural persecution. Bongs don't kick your door down in the middle of the night; bongs don't shackle helpless patients to their beds. I see a pogrom, and I wonder if either of the superpowers really survived the Cold War. [continues 78 words]
To the editor: Re: Funeral For Young Hockey Player An Emotional Service, Dec. 2 by John McDonald. Just reading of the Ricciuti funeral thousands of miles away is a heartbreaking experience. As Jason's grieving parents would like to see a review of the suspension policy, I would like to see a review of the U.S. prohibition policy. It seems once again everybody is "just following orders" from above, or below, in this case. For the political gain of weak politicians this persecution continues. If I could apologize for the U.S. policy, I would. But it should most properly come from John Walters, our drug czar, who was recently in Vancouver. Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento, CA [end]
This is concerning your Nov. 19 editorial, "Petoskey changes tactics in war on drugs, alcohol." The change in tactics looks almost credible to me, until I see that the adults of the community have sold themselves short by continuing to support the prohibition for adults. If the rights of the adults in the community are not upheld, the welfare of the children matters not a whit. The rights of the adults to make their free choices is due all Americans. The children will mature into adults and make their choices. The cannabis prohibition treats adults as infants, unable to make a choice, or as slaves, under control. The prohibition can lead only to resentment and revolt. Wise up America, legalize. Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento Calif. [end]
I am moved by the frustration expressed by officer Don Pass in his Oct. 21 letter, "Dangerous marijuana" Pass should visit www.leap.cc, the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Web site, and see that he is not alone. The police are here to keep us from each other, not from ourselves. For that we have churches, parents and friends, thank you very much. Six years after our Compassionate Use Act became law, enforcement cries confusion while pressing forward the pogrom against cannabis. This refrain of "not sick enough" is heard from the cop on the street executing punitive persecution, to the likes of U.S. Judge Frank Damrell while sentencing Bryan Epis to 10 years in prison. [continues 60 words]
Re "Medical pot club is busted in S.F.," Photo, Feb. 13: Mullah John Ashcroft ascends the minaret on Feb. 12 and proclaims a day of extreme expected terror, double-plus extra alert. Sure enough, at 6:30 a.m., dynamite detonates in San Francisco, blowing the door off the Harm Reduction Center. When terror is dispensed at the dispensary in a political assault, can Kristallnacht be far off? Lead Puritan Bush has loosed his mullahs Asa Hutchinson of the Drug Enforcement Administration and drug czar John P. Walters to advance against California, and our state attorney general turns the other cheek. [continues 96 words]
Re "Seized files spur legal fight," Oct. 5: So, the friendly DEA men raided the office and home of Dr. Marion Fry and her attorney husband, Dale Schafer, directors of the California Medical Research Center in Cool, and seized the records of 5,000 clients. Orwellian terror under color of federal authority would be the deserved charges for those directing these attacks. The sick and dying are not going to be able to save recreational users. Should I need it someday, I justly expect medical marijuana to be available. Meanwhile, the best green bud in the world grows, and is suppressed, right here in upstate California. [continues 57 words]
After our rights are restored, the general and his ilk will stand in the dock for their heinous drug war crimes. There will be retribution, there will be reparations paid to victims. My rights to grow what I want in my garden, smoke what I want in my pipe are mine alone, not that of the police state that has squelched our liberty. Perhaps codification of this notion as an amendment to the Constitution would forestall the coming revolts. Perhaps not. Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n723/a04.html and http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n740/a07.html [end]
Re: "Couple found dead in garage," Nov 18. The drug warriors from President Clinton, his Czar McCaffrey, and right on down to all the local DARE kids are enriched in their position by their suicides. Rather than face the cruel and unusual prospect of life in prison for the crime of possession less than an ounce of MARIJUANA and a speck of speed they opted for death in their plea bargain. And oh my, what a powerful message for the children! Smoke a reefer and DIE! Our cowardly leaders need to stand up to the people and admit that the War is a mistake, declare a Victory for Democracy, and free the prisoners of war. A Truth commission as in South Africa should be constituted, and where appropriate, reparations paid to those owed. The tyranny expressed in this War will find it's parallel in our British colonial history. Just this sort of bumbling, arrogant malfeasance gives rise to holidays like Bastille Day and our own Fourth of July. Jay Bergstrom [end]
More than just following orders, they are necessarily true believers in their mission. Schools full of snitches, cafes and bars full of narks, children ratting off their parents. How many more suspected American dope fiends will end up dead prior to the conclusion of our Legislature's timidly proposed three-year study? Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento [end]
