Doreen Bishop may soon be able to legally smoke marijuana in Colorado. The 52-year-old was first in line when the state health department opened its doors Friday, the first day of Colorado's new medical-marijuana law. After submitting her paperwork and $140 application fee, Bishop should get her medical marijuana ID card in the mail in about a week. But Bishop, who says smoking eases the lingering pain from colon cancer surgery, won't be the first on the state's new medical-pot registry. [continues 466 words]
I think letter writer Dave McPherson needs to get his facts straight before he blindly spouts anti-marijuana propaganda. The entire gateway drug argument is a theory that medical science has debunked. It is a product of faulty logic and a government bent on keeping marijuana illegal. By the same logic, tobacco and alcohol can be classified as gateway drugs as they are almost always the first drug tried by teens. If McPherson had done anything but merely accept the U.S. government's biased reports on marijuana he might know that marijuana has many benefits to the human body and mind. Not only that, but the Draconian laws currently in effect make it extremely difficult to grow industrial hemp, which in many cases carries the same classification as marijuana. [continues 64 words]
The latest version of Jim Crow. America's apartheid. That's what this country's war on drugs has become, according to speakers at a drug policy conference Friday. And, seeing few brown or black faces among several hundred attendees, African-American and Hispanic speakers said change won't happen until their communities are drawn into the drug law reform effort. "There is an uncomfortable but very powerful truth," said James Forman Jr., an attorney and fellow with the New American Foundation in Washington, D.C. "For this movement to be successful it has to challenge itself ... to reach out to its natural allies, many of whom are not in this room." [continues 490 words]
As the issue of decriminalizing marijuana makes its way into the federal political arena, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin is the latest politician to get in on the action. Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark recently said that the time has come to explore the idea of decriminalizing pot. A federal multi-party committee has now been established to determine whether decriminalizing marijuana is the way to go. It's not the first time that Martin has expressed his view that people should not face criminal charges for minor possession of marijuana, as the Canadian Alliance (CA) MP has reintroduced a private member's bill for its second run through the House of Commons. [continues 523 words]
"I want to escalate the war on drugs. I want to renew it. I want to refresh it, relaunch it, if you will." -- Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, February 7, 2001 WASHINGTON, June 2, 2003 -- Celebrating the first anniversary of the successful conclusion of the war on drugs, President Bush and congressional leaders gathered yesterday in a Rose Garden ceremony to sign a bill designating June 1 "VD Day," for Victory over Drugs. Report from 2003: How the government finally won the war on drugs. (And you thought it couldn't be done.) [continues 1459 words]
Thank God the drug problem has finally been put on the national agenda after being ignored by previous governments. I applaud this government for paying close attention to this matter. I offer my encouragement and strong support to those who are trying to protect our future by taking strong action against drug producers and pushers. Simple economics tells us that if these pushers succeed in their business, current and future generations will have to pay a high price. For example, income will be diverted to buying drugs, not food or education. [continues 82 words]
When a small plane carrying US missionaries was shot down a few weeks ago in Peru, killing a young woman and her seven-month-old baby girl, it first seemed to be a tragic case of trigger-happy policing by the Peruvian air force. But as more details emerge from the Andean jungle, it is clear this apparently isolated incident has a far greater significance. The deaths have helped yank the covers from the secret side of America's billion-dollar drug war in Latin America. [continues 1370 words]
Parents Complain Over Party Leaflets AN ELECTION candidate who advocates legalising cannabis ran into trouble as his aides handed out leaflets and stickers to passers-by in Gentleman's Walk. A supporter of Alun Buffry, who is standing for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance in the forthcoming General Election, was spoken to by police for handing out a leaflet to a child. It came after parents complained to nearby police officers that their son, who was under 17 years of age, had been given a leaflet by a party worker who only gave his name as Trevor. [continues 186 words]
ALBUQUERQUE - Gov. Gary Johnson - who has been hailed as a hero by drug-reform activists at a national conference here this week - told reporters Friday that there are two more drug-related issues that have grabbed his attention. One is the issue of people who are out of prison on probation and get sent back to prison if they test positive for marijuana. Johnson said this creates a "revolving door" and serves no purpose. The other issue is the role of undercover police agents in drug arrests. The governor contended that many drug-trafficking cases involve drug users who are "hounded" by narcotics agents to sell. [continues 398 words]
