Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Judges asked to help seize almost $1 million in illegally possessed marijuana However, in this case, the ones possessing the marijuana illegally are law enforcement officers, who stole it from medical marijuana patients. As Reuters reports, "Californians want their marijuana back". SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A group of 38 California medical marijuana patients have filed legal motions asking the federal government to give them back their pot worth nearly a million dollars. .... "We've discovered a culture of resistance within law enforcement," said Kris Hermes, legal coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group, on Tuesday. "Many agencies across the state just don't comply with the law. Patients are being arrested or having their medicine seized in nearly every police encounter." The group filed a series of motions in California courts seeking a return of the marijuana valued at $970,000. Failing the return of the plants, they seek cash compensation. Libby at Last One Speaks has more. 10:48:33 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Time Magazine spreads B.C. Bud Reefer Madness hype The article by Anita Hamilton titled This Bud's For The U.S.: Canada's relaxed drug laws may be fueling a boom in marijuana exports to America repeats many of the drug warriors' standard deceptions, including: Although the actual potency of BC Bud varies from batch to batch, depending on how it's grown, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that as much as 25% of BC Bud is made of the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In contrast, the pot that the hippie generation smoked in the 1970s had only 2% THC content, and most pot consumed in the U.S. today averages about 7% THC. White House drug czar John Walters blames BC Bud in part for the increased number of pot-related emergency room incidents, which have more than doubled, from 54,000 in 1996 to 119,000 in 2002. Those incidents range from accidents and injuries to unexpected reactions to the drug. "Canada is exporting to us the crack of marijuana," Walters told reporters in April. These items have been debunked so often by all of us drug policy reformers that we're just plain tired of doing it. Then Anita sprinkles the story liberally with scare tales of violence (totally unrelated to the issue of Canadian decriminalization) such as: The body of the suspected ringleader of a trafficking group was found stabbed in the neck in a ditch in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November 2002. "It's still a dangerous drug," says James Capra, the DEA's chief of domestic operations. "People are killing each other over it." MAP has a Focus Alert on it. Why don't you stop over there and get tips on writing a letter to Time and set them straight? Time Magazine must learn that there is a cost to spreading the drug czar's lies. 10:34:54 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []