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Federal and State Police Conduct Marijuana Terrorism Drill [FEATURE]

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #660)
Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues

Northern California pot growers bomb a car and a bus, then take over Shasta Dam in a bid to free an imprisoned comrade. It sounds like the plot to a very cheesy Grade-B thriller, but it was actually the premise for a day-long terrorist attack drill conducted by 20 state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies Wednesday.

Shasta Dam (courtesy US Bureau of Reclamation)
According to an account published in the local paper the Redding Record Searchlight, the Shasta Dam scenario had the "Red Cell" pot grower/terrorists blowing up the car and bus to create a distraction and then taking over the dam. Holding three people hostage, the terrorist pot growers then threaten to flood the Sacramento River by opening the flood gates unless their imprisoned comrade is freed.

The drill was part of the US Bureau of Reclamation's Critical Infrastructure Crisis Response Exercise Program, which started in 2003. It identified six dams, including Shasta, the nation's second largest, as possible terrorist targets. Similar exercises took place at Utah's Flaming Gorge Dam in 2003, Washington's Grand Coulee Dam in 2005, and Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border in 2008. But none of those exercises identified pot growers as the putative terrorists.

According to bureau spokesperson Sheri Harral, the drill took 18 months of planning and cost the bureau $500,000. The other emergency and law enforcement agencies that participated paid their own expenses.

As of press time, Harral had not returned a Chronicle call asking why marijuana growers were selected as the terrorists. Northern California is home to thousands of pot growers, many of them doing it legally under the auspices of California's medical marijuana law. There are no known incidents of pot farmer terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure.

Dale Gieringer, head of California NORML and an observer of the state marijuana scene for decades, told the Chronicle he was unaware of any California pot grower terrorist cells—ever. "No, never," he said.

Nor was he impressed with the pot grower as terrorist scenario. "That was so stupid," he sighed. "I don't know what inspired it. I can see the need to do better pat downs for air travelers to make sure they're not holding joints in their underpants, but this? It sounds like something some yahoo red county sheriff would dream up."

Neither was the Marijuana Policy Project amused. "This is a classic example of law enforcement's utterly inaccurate stereotype of who is involved with marijuana," said the group's communications director, Mike Meno. "For decades, they have villainized users and people involved in the industry to such an extent that they now equate them with terrorists. It might be laughable," he said, "but it gives us real insight into the drug warrior mentality and what they think of marijuana people."

"Red Cell" plotter? No, just more Reefer Madness
"The whole idea that they would equate growers with terrorism is absurd and insulting," sputtered NORML founder Keith Stroup. "This is too ignorant to take seriously. It's hard to imagine that in this time of fiscal crisis, someone would have the nerve to propose spending money on such a ludicrous exercise. My goodness! Of all the potential violent criminals out there, the idea that they would focus on pot growers shows that this is a political game," he said.

"People will be laughing about this for decades," Stroup continued. "You have almost half the people in California voting for marijuana, and on the other hand, this. It's hard to believe this is going on.

At least, they could have called it the "Green cell."

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

 

 They Spent $300,000 when we are losing Law Enforcement Officers all up and down the state?

 

 

 I don't know about you but when I toke I like to walk in the woods or enjoy a movie and or music.

 The last thing i want is to plan a siege.,

 Are there pot smoking terrorists that when not High are normal people and when high become the Refer madness Crazed Lunatics of "Faster Faster?"  if So can I go to that party?  Should be funny.

 You know after 911 my lady friend who was visiting from another State ( State name and her named omitted just in case this is a McCarthy-ist ploy ) and I stopped to walk back and look at the water spilling from a small dam which the main road crossed over and was the site of a body dump in a famous serial killer not mentioned too because it might incriminate me.

 Anyway we get there and some guy comes out of the bushes with a rent-a-cop badge and perhaps even a gun on that over crowded tool belt of his.  Like a freaky moment in an other wise normal day we were told we couldn't be there.

 Now is that where we are going?  Living on that level of paranoia?

 

Are even the Rent-A-Cops drooling for some Terrorist action. 

 

I'd say I would not feel so all alone "Everybody must get Stoned."

 

Seriously we are funding all these wars and it is suggested to save us we need to cut multi-national corporate taxes and raise the retirement age to 69.

\

Maybe the real terrorists are bankers?

 

Ernst [email protected] a Grass Roots site that invites all of California to a "town Meeting on the State level" to discuss legalizing in 2012

 

 

 

 

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 9:10pm Permalink
Anna (not verified)

In reply to by Ernst (not verified)

correction: that is $500,000 they spent for this mock raid; not $300.000...imgaine the homeless shelter I could build with $500,000 ? what a waste of taxdollars...! like the other poster said; when I toke; I walk in woods; bird watching!

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 5:35am Permalink
Badboy7357 (not verified)

With the failure of Prop 19 still slapping the feds with such a large number of people for it...

I think they are going to "play with peoples feelings" and try and link us with terrorism. Expect to see a lot of visuals to the common person to condition them of an artificial threat.

Then the feds turn black booted Nazi and hits us hard...and the masses will be conditioned to think it is right.

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 9:51pm Permalink
Nedmorlef (not verified)

In reply to by Badboy7357 (not verified)

The branch davidians were demonized with propaganda and then murdered live on tv in front of the whole nation. Not one official was prosecuted for burning to the ground a Christian church full of parishoners.

 The gov't just kept changing it's accusation until one fit. First guns,then drugs, then child molestation. The funny thing is that, they killed the children too. Nobody raged except timothy laveigh whom blew up a gov't building all by himself. Just like Oswald killed Kennedy ...all by himself.

Recently in Georgia a preacher was gunned down by narcs. He was accused of drugs and prostitutes as he laid dead. Nothing.

Society is easily duped by the integrity of the badge. That's why when gov't says you got weeds in your lawn and that, they are confiscating your house, No one says a word.

Only 4% of this country votes outside the 2 party dictatorship we live under. They've been duped that, there is no other voice speaking for you. You're throwing away your vote or they just keep them off the ballot altogether. So they vote for the same ideology but, with a different face.

I wonder if we could pipe some smoke into the air conditioning of congress?Or maybe slip a tray of some of those medicinal cupcakes into the breakroom.

 Someone in Washington needs to grow a brain cell cause,this country gets dumber by the second.

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 1:05pm Permalink

The anti-marijuana crowd likes to portray marijuana users as Cheech & Chong stoner-types who are perpetually high and unable to function in society (as in Cheech & Chong's 1978 film, Up In Smoke). But now the Drug Warriors somehow think that pot smokers, during the depths of their THC-induced stupor, can suddenly develop and then execute a master plan to hold America hostage until their incarcerated comrades are freed? These two images are in conflict with one another. Either smoking marijuana makes you a lazy underachiever whose brain cells are all destroyed, or it makes you a drug-crazed "Reefer Madness" lunatic/terrorist/Super-Genius. But it can't be both.

Fri, 11/19/2010 - 12:36am Permalink
Anon (not verified)

No -- this is no joke.  This is the direction the government wants to go with marijuana.  They know that nearly 50% of Californians support legal marijuana; and they know that this issue is a "hot topic" that they need to eliminate.  You can see the 'war' brewing with the reform community having to defend themselves against insane prohibitionists who don't want to be reasonable.  This is the kind of things civil wars are made of.

The next phase the prohibitionists are going to do frame all marijuana people (especially reformers) as terrorists and use the media and all their power to turn the country against them.  Think marijuana policy is making progress today?  Tomorrow's Fed anti-marijuana movements could make the 1980s look like the 1960s.

Fri, 11/19/2010 - 11:08am Permalink
malcolm kyle (not verified)

It's time for us all to stop being ignorant hypocrites and start being TRUE conservatives!

Pragmatic libertarians (minimal-statists) and "true" Conservatives agree that many, if not most, of society's problems are caused by government usurping choices that could better be made by individuals and that government is just about the worst way of doing almost anything. Where libertarianism normally parts company with "fake" conservatism is over moral issues. But a true conservative would have no problem with agreeing, that what people do with their own bodies, and especially in the privacy of their own home, should be supremely their business, and that anything else would entail ignoring the basic tenet of limited government.

Fake-Conservatism on the other hand has much in common with socialism; Both Leftists and Fake-Conservatives appear to harbor the belief that nature does not exist and that any human can be anything he wants to be, or can for the "greater good", be "re-educated" into being. Leftists therefore think little boys can be conditioned into preferring dolls over toy soldiers, and similarly Fake-conservatives believe that adults can be coerced into choosing alcohol over marijuana. A true conservative, just like a pragmatic libertarian, would immediately reject both ideas as nonsense.

If you support prohibition then you are NOT a conservative.
Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:

1) Limited, locally controlled government.
2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
3) Free enterprise.
4) A strong national defense.
5) Fiscal responsibility.

Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.

It's all about the market and cost/benefit analysis. Whether any particular drug is good, bad, or otherwise is irrelevant! As long as there is demand for any mind altering substance, there will be supply; the end! The only affect prohibiting it has is to drive the price up, increase the costs and profits, and where there is illegal profit to be made criminals and terrorists thrive.

The cost of criminalizing citizens who are using substances no more harmful than similar things that are perfectly legal like alcohol and tobacco, is not only hypocritical and futile, but also simply not worth the incredible damage it does.

Afghani farmers produce approx. 93% of the world's opium which is then, mostly, refined into street heroin then smuggled throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of this very easily grown crop, which means that Prohibition is the "Goose that laid the golden egg" and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Only those opposed, or willing to ignore this fact, want things the way they are.

See: How opium profits the Taliban: http://tinyurl.com/37mr86k

or: A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/NarcsFundedTerrs_Extrems.pdf

Prohibition provides America's sworn enemies with financial "aid" and tactical "comforts". The Constitution of the United States of America defines treason as:
"Article III / Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."

Support for prohibition is therefor an act of treason against the Constitution, and a dire threat to the nation's civic institutions.

The Founding Fathers were not social conservatives who believed that citizens should be subordinate to any particular narrow religious moral order. That is what the whole concept of unalienable individual rights means, and sumptuary laws, especially in the form of prohibition, were something they continually warned about.

It’s time for us all to wise up and help curtail the dangerous expansions of federal police powers, the encroachments on individual liberties, and the increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the unworkable and dangerous policy of drug prohibition.

To support prohibition you have to be either a socialist, ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt.

* The US national debt has increased at an average rate of $3,000,000000 per day since 2006. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
* The unemployment rate has increased by 7300 per day since 2008.
* The loss of manufacturing jobs has been 1400 per day since 2006.
* Without the legalized regulation of opium products Afghanistan will continue to be a bottomless pit in which to throw countless billions of tax dollars and wasted American lives.
* The hopeless situation in Afghanistan is helping to destabilize it's neighbor, Pakistan, which is a country with nuclear weapons.
* The mayhem in Mexico has deteriorated so badly that it’s bordering on farcical.

There is nothing conservative about prohibition, which enlists the most centralized state power in displacement of domestic and community roles. There is everything authoritarian and subversive about this policy which has incinerated American traditions such as Freedom and Federalism with its puritanical flames. Any person seeking to insure and not further compromise the safety of their family and of their neighbors must not only repudiate prohibition but help spearhead its abolition.

We will always have adults who are too immature to responsibly deal with tobacco alcohol, heroin amphetamines, cocaine, various prescription drugs and even food. Our answer to them should always be: "Get a Nanny, and stop turning the government into one for the rest of us!"

Fri, 11/19/2010 - 4:11pm Permalink
Moonrider (not verified)

In reply to by malcolm kyle (not verified)

"To support prohibition you have to be either a socialist, ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt."  I agree with everything you wrote, except you left out one word in that quoted sentence -- EVIL!

I really want to spread your post far and wide, but there is no way to link to it, have you put it somewhere I can link to without making everyone read everything preceding your post?

Mon, 11/22/2010 - 2:55am Permalink
King Pothead (not verified)

In reply to by malcolm kyle (not verified)

Start being true conservatives?  You mean everyone should be an ignorant, uneducated bible-beater getting all information from talk radio?  Support for the paranoid, anti-government movement that is the libertarian/tea bagger agenda is an act of shear stupidity.  I really wish you would wake up to the fact that you don't represent the views of sensible americans.  All your movement will ever accomplish is to make life better for the ruling wealthy and the corporations through which they profit (while the masses suffer).   Please keep those f***ed up views off this site and down in that sh*thole known as Texas where they belong.  Believe it or not, you can speak out against the drug war without insulting educated progressives with your silly beliefs.  

And that term "pragmatic liberatarians?"  That is an oxymoron if there ever was.

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 11:52pm Permalink
jo13564 (not verified)

I'm in the UK so forgive me if I'm ignorant of the facts but I always understood that the majority of growers in northern Cali' have been there 20 years or more....surely if they were going to turn to terrorism they have done it whilst public attitude was against them....not in a climate where pot has almost been legalised? 

If this is all the powers that be have in their arsenal then it ain't much, gave me a damned good laugh when I read tho. 

Sat, 11/20/2010 - 11:02am Permalink

Of course this is over the top. But consider this.

Prop 19 lost, in measure, because a significant number of people in the marijuana industry and communities supported by the marijuana industry rejected a chance at legalization in favor of profit and resistance to regulation.

When a group involved in an illegal enterprise and motivated by self-interest to maintain illegality can influence the political process, we face a potentially serious development.

To work for legalization is one thing. Marijuana industry people forming and constituting a political bloc to maintain illegality is something else entirely. The government and even those who support overturning prohibition can find this troubling.

That is why I do not support the repeal of marijuana prohibition. I <b>demand</b> the repeal of marijuana prohibition. Marijuana must be legalized and the industry regulated like any other agricultural commodity, whether they like it or not. And without wishing to appear alarmist, before it's too late.

 

 

Sat, 11/20/2010 - 12:03pm Permalink
rita (not verified)

Seriously, no one disrespects cops more than I do, but even I'm not falling for this one.  The drug warriors involved in this exercise cannot possibly be stupid enough to believe this scenario.  The thing about drug warriors is that they don't mind acting stupid if it will further their cause.  Since they can no longer even pretend that pot is dangerous, they have to pretend the pot USERS are.  And pretend that they're actually going to protect the public.  Marijuana terrorism.  Boy, this is even better than exploding meth labs.

Mon, 11/22/2010 - 3:20am Permalink
kickback (not verified)

These cops needed something to do, justify their budgets , use that new equipment. So let`s stage a dam attack and call the attackers " pot growers". Blow up some stuff.  Why not? How about Hedge Fund swindlers? Pharmaceutical CEO`S? Because pot smokers/growers are the most fun, that`s why. Easy prey. Easy pay.

Mon, 11/22/2010 - 9:16pm Permalink
luke23 (not verified)

when i was in the navy i watched as they changed the line of accounting a number..like a bank account number to designate where the money comes from for operations in Colombia for an anti-drug account to an anti-terrorism number. the only thing that changed was the name of the pool of money that funded the operations. Of course after years of "anti-drug' efforts helicopters and bases etc. they shot back and thus became terrorists. here too?

Wed, 11/24/2010 - 8:56pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Big Brother is simply "getting ready" and "staying prepared" for anything. We can feel safe.

Big Brother is so watchful and ready, because Big Brother cares so deeply about every one of us:

1. Must-Fucking-See link to an ACLU list of fairly recent, documented known accounts of groups being spied on and infiltrated by our government (with a neat, interactive map of the U.S., so you can pick your favorite state and see if your “cause” has been spied on and by whom):

http://www.aclu.org/spy-files/spying-first-amendment-activity-state-state

2. Another-Must-Fucking-See link to “Surveillance and Society - The Rise of the Fusion-Intelligence Complex: A critique of political surveillance after 9/11” (incredible information describing how our beloved country is steadily becoming soooo stasi):

http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/fusion/fusion

And they are way up in the medical marijuana movement's arse and have infiltrated the medical groups in the states the permit the medicinal use of marijuana, especially California, Colorado and Michigan, but because the cannabis issue is so HUGE, it is more difficult to find and expose the rat-bastards, without losing life or limb..

People need to realize that our beloved Republic is already in lock-down, and many innocent citizens are indeed being watched, under the guise of protecting us from "terrorists."

Wed, 11/24/2010 - 11:44pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

I can't seem to get my second link  (to “Surveillance and Society - The Rise of the Fusion-Intelligence Complex: A critique of political surveillance after 9/11” )))))))   to work in my comment, though the same exact link continues to work fine in my document. So, here's the link again; I've tested it repeatedly before posting it, so I don't know why I keep getting knocked off internet explorer when I try to use the link. This one should work: 

http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/fusion/fusion

If the link doesn't work, try opening a new tab or copy and pasting the address to your browser, because this is a fascinating but scary document that needs to be read and shared.

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 12:24am Permalink
JR (not verified)

In reply to by Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Hi Sara,

You may be interested to watch this episode of Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory called Police State.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxfcM2vAiF8&feature=related

This episode has information on Fusion Centers, and Residential Centers.   Its scary stuff.  It made me reconsider how vocal I am. 

If any person reading this plans to protest, invest their time in a political campaign, or even be vocal on forums and sites like this you might want to think twice.  We have already lost our freedoms.  We do not have a right to free speech, nor do we have a right to peaceful protest.  Be very careful these days or you will end up locked up, broke, or worse.

Do not trust these pigs.

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 5:13pm Permalink
Nedmorlef (not verified)

Terrorists are violent. If you train against non violent ppl you are short changing your training. They'll end up with a boatload of dead narcs and the nightmare of a flooded city.

If they train against their perceptions of lazy,unproductive and forgetful again, they will be underestimating the enemy and will be soundly defeated.

So,let the morons train like they'll be fighting against a wayward special olympics team and they will get themselves embarrassed in the real conflict.

 

Besides,how do you profile a pot smoker or grower? They span every economic and social class. They must be training against americans. Which makes their training against freedom. Which makes them all traitors.

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 12:36pm Permalink

I HAVE a condition that causes me to wake up vomiting 2 or 3 times a week.

the only relief i get is from thc.

but because of drops i must submit to,...im forced to use k2 and such, instead.

FOR ALL I KNOW, THIS CRAP IS HURTING MY BODY SOMEWHERE ELSE !

THANKS SO MUCH MY FELLOW AMERICANS !

YOU MAKE ME SICK WITH YOUR STUPIDITY !!!

Thu, 11/25/2010 - 3:37pm Permalink
newageblues (not verified)

Those pieces of junk actually said, in the Angel Raich case, that even if your only alternatives are to use cannabis or to die, there is no constitutional right for you to use cannabis. They are really far gone fascists to make a claim like that. Their decision ranks in infamy right up there with the Dred Scott slavery case and similar findings regarding Native Americans, that neither group were persons, as defined by ye olde Constitution. They are basically saying that if you need medicinal cannabis you are not a person, because obviously people have the right to use the best medicine available to treat a serious or very serious medical problem.

I'm really sorry that these sadists (what else can you call them!) are causing you so much totally unnecessary pain. I wish they would just grow up!

Fri, 11/26/2010 - 12:26pm Permalink
maxwood (not verified)

One sneaky by-purpose of the above cited exercise was to publish its name or purport in such a way that a careless public would believe experts believe the link between cannabis and terrorism, seen by the fact that such link was worth spending $500,000 to defend against.

A similar recent tactic was to stage a historic huge $multi-million cannabis "bust" to hit the news right after November 2 so that if Prop. 19 passed, the bust would send the message "No matter, we'll still get you"--or if it failed, the "bust" would just pile a little more "terror" on top at a psychological moment.

Well publicized "busts" and sabotaging of large supplies of cannabis are aimed at driving UP the cannabis price to purchaser compared with (what else) tobacco.   If cannabis gets to be competitively priced with $igarettes, a world-wide $400-billion hot burning overdose market will crash and we'll find out if Philip Morris is Too Big To Fail. 

Cannabis: typically over $200/ounce

Tobacckgo $igarettes: in a high tax state like NY, $10 a pack, 2 packs = one ounce, $20/ounce.

If you swear off hot burning overdose "joints", at 25-mg. per single toke, one serving is about 20-25 cents compared to a 50-cent (700-mg.)$igarette in NY.

Fri, 11/26/2010 - 3:05pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Thanks for the link to Jesse V's episode on f. centers. I haven't linked to it yet, because I don't want my computer to crash...but i'll go to the library and check it out for sure.

For the record, I have no record whatsoever, am completely law-abiding, do not condone or support ANY violence, and have no history of mental illness, at all..

But when I began to write about medical cannabis several years ago and began to directly challenge the lies that major papers or media, like the Wall St Journal print regularly (not just writing editorials but writing tons of well-source medical info in discussion forums -- from the best medical organizations in the world -- and phone calling journalists and publishers of the biggest media outlets and sharing the real truth and picking apart their lies), I went through 6 computers in less than two years...all "completely fried and not worth fixing, as the problems were too complex" according to several computer experts...
 

And more than half the time I try to post comments in any media regarding medical marijuana, my computer crashes (and often dies completely)...though I virtually NEVER have a problem, as long as I don't write about medical cannabis or about our Supreme Law...And certain information causes the computer to crash about 90 percent of the time -- when I try to post mind-blowing information or links...like information from the DEA's law judge Francis Young, for instance...(i wrote this comment on a library computer and emailed it to myself, so i could actually successfully copy/paste and post it; my last small comment, with too many ))))s  took me about 1.5 hours to complete, because of the infected microsoft word). And of course I have very good virus protection and firewalls.

We know that Colorado is one of the worst states for gubmint spying on activist groups, and there are many documented cases of activists being spied on electronically and in-person...i began taking covert photos, and then realized that my computer wasn't the only thing possibly being watched or monitored.... for instance, I saw the same three guys in two different CO counties and in 6 different places -- in just 2 days (and it seemed like they didn't try to hide at all; and at first, they'd sit down or come right up next to me --  in remote, kinda dark, library stacks, for instance or sit right next to me at Starbucks, when the whole restaurant was empty and there were many other places to sit, which flies in the face of typical human behavior....)

After I directly asked one of them, politely, if and why he was following me, he refused to speak and quickly "pinged" his way to a blacked-out dark blue S.U.V. that had no license plates (vehicles with no plates is something that I've seen in Colorado a LOT, but never really witnessed this before). But after confronting him politely and saying that I had photos that I was going to turn into the police, the blatant in-person surveillance stopped on a dime, but the electronic "disruption" continues to this day...(and many local law enforcement are "bought," crooked and not to be trusted, so I don't know who to turn photos into....my guess is there's a strong possibility that going to the police would only worsen the attention)...

When  I started writing years ago, I knew that the medical facts and the medical truth might piss off some people like Rupert, but I felt morally obligated to share the facts, as medical cannabis has saved my life...and I saw that the media needed to be called out on printing blatant propaganda.

Certain media, like in MN, would drop 90 percent of my comments and remove whole articles from their papers and internet or just drop all the comments altogether and then not allow any comments... and while I would be writing in their discussion forums, my computer would crash over and over; and when I started to write in word documents and copy/paste to forums, my microsoft word went totally funky and turned all my quotations around and my cursor would jump all over the page and my page would fly up and down, as i tried to write (it could take an hour to get two sentences written, but I pushed on, concluding that the information that was blocked the most was the most important information to spread).

I've been very interested if CO law or ABC group or groups are the guilty bleeps, and I have some abc family and friend connections myself; but this has reached a really messed up and unbelievable point...and I'm not talking about the DWChrnicle not printing one of my comments, when I'm venting here or just being silly...I don't ramble when I'm writing for medical marijuana, out there, and I rarely express my opinion, just the opinions from the best medical organizations in the world.

Anyway, I totally realize that to many, my ramblings sound insane, but I needed to throw my history out there to see if other law-abiding citizens, especially in Colorado, who are exercising free speech are being disrupted or completely silenced...

My guess is people who share well-sourced information that challenges and exposes the Federal Gubmint's reprehensible stance on medical marijuana would be targeted before the person growing hundreds, if not thousands of plants, because the people who share medical facts are the ones who change public perception. The people in the "gold rush" with 1000s of plants enjoy the fact that the FEDS continue down their ugly path, because these big-time growers and owners benefit from the federal/state conflicts, as the price of medical cannabis continues to stay incredibly inflated...

and then there's the possibility that I am being targeted by the big-time marijuana forces that "meshed" with law enforcement decades ago and don't want med mj or general legalization to pass, as they make millions off its illegality, just like Capone.

thanks for reading. i'm very interested to see if other active patients are having similar experiences.

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 7:01pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Thanks for the link to Jesse V's episode on f. centers. I haven't linked to it yet, because I don't want my computer to crash...but i'll go to the library and check it out for sure.

For the record, I have no record whatsoever, am completely law-abiding, do not condone or support ANY violence, and have no history of mental illness, at all..

But when I began to write about medical cannabis several years ago and began to directly challenge the lies that major papers or media, like the Wall St Journal print regularly (not just writing editorials but writing tons of well-source medical info in discussion forums -- from the best medical organizations in the world -- and phone calling journalists and publishers of the biggest media outlets and sharing the real truth and picking apart their lies), I went through 6 computers in less than two years...all "completely fried and not worth fixing, as the problems were too complex" according to several computer experts...
 

And more than half the time I try to post comments in any media regarding medical marijuana, my computer crashes (and often dies completely)...though I virtually NEVER have a problem, as long as I don't write about medical cannabis or about our Supreme Law...And certain information causes the computer to crash about 90 percent of the time -- when I try to post mind-blowing information or links...like information from the DEA's law judge Francis Young, for instance...(i wrote this comment on a library computer and emailed it to myself, so i could actually successfully copy/paste and post it; my last small comment, with too many ))))s  took me about 1.5 hours to complete, because of the infected microsoft word). And of course I have very good virus protection and firewalls.

We know that Colorado is one of the worst states for gubmint spying on activist groups, and there are many documented cases of activists being spied on electronically and in-person...i began taking covert photos, and then realized that my computer wasn't the only thing possibly being watched or monitored.... for instance, I saw the same three guys in two different CO counties and in 6 different places -- in just 2 days (and it seemed like they didn't try to hide at all; and at first, they'd sit down or come right up next to me --  in remote, kinda dark, library stacks, for instance or sit right next to me at Starbucks, when the whole restaurant was empty and there were many other places to sit, which flies in the face of typical human behavior....)

After I directly asked one of them, politely, if and why he was following me, he refused to speak and quickly "pinged" his way to a blacked-out dark blue S.U.V. that had no license plates (vehicles with no plates is something that I've seen in Colorado a LOT, but never really witnessed this before). But after confronting him politely and saying that I had photos that I was going to turn into the police, the blatant in-person surveillance stopped on a dime, but the electronic "disruption" continues to this day...(and many local law enforcement are "bought," crooked and not to be trusted, so I don't know who to turn photos into....my guess is there's a strong possibility that going to the police would only worsen the attention)...

When  I started writing years ago, I knew that the medical facts and the medical truth might piss off some people like Rupert, but I felt morally obligated to share the facts, as medical cannabis has saved my life...and I saw that the media needed to be called out on printing blatant propaganda.

Certain media, like in MN, would drop 90 percent of my comments and remove whole articles from their papers and internet or just drop all the comments altogether and then not allow any comments... and while I would be writing in their discussion forums, my computer would crash over and over; and when I started to write in word documents and copy/paste to forums, my microsoft word went totally funky and turned all my quotations around and my cursor would jump all over the page and my page would fly up and down, as i tried to write (it could take an hour to get two sentences written, but I pushed on, concluding that the information that was blocked the most was the most important information to spread).

I've been very interested if CO law or ABC group or groups are the guilty bleeps, and I have some abc family and friend connections myself; but this has reached a really messed up and unbelievable point...and I'm not talking about the DWChrnicle not printing one of my comments, when I'm venting here or just being silly...I don't ramble when I'm writing for medical marijuana, out there, and I rarely express my opinion, just the opinions from the best medical organizations in the world.

Anyway, I totally realize that to many, my ramblings sound insane, but I needed to throw my history out there to see if other law-abiding citizens, especially in Colorado, who are exercising free speech are being disrupted or completely silenced...

My guess is people who share well-sourced information that challenges and exposes the Federal Gubmint's reprehensible stance on medical marijuana would be targeted before the person growing hundreds, if not thousands of plants, because the people who share medical facts are the ones who change public perception. The people in the "gold rush" with 1000s of plants enjoy the fact that the FEDS continue down their ugly path, because these big-time growers and owners benefit from the federal/state conflicts, as the price of medical cannabis continues to stay incredibly inflated...

and then there's the possibility that I am being targeted by the big-time marijuana forces that "meshed" with law enforcement decades ago and don't want med mj or general legalization to pass, as they make millions off its illegality, just like Capone.

thanks for reading. i'm very interested to see if other active patients are having similar experiences. 

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 7:05pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Thanks for the link to Jesse V's episode on f. centers. I haven't linked to it yet, because I don't want my computer to crash...but i'll go to the library and check it out for sure.

For the record, I have no record whatsoever, am completely law-abiding, do not condone or support ANY violence, and have no history of mental illness, at all..

But when I began to write about medical cannabis several years ago and began to directly challenge the lies that major papers or media, like the Wall St Journal print regularly (not just writing editorials but writing tons of well-source medical info in discussion forums -- from the best medical organizations in the world -- and phone calling journalists and publishers of the biggest media outlets and sharing the real truth and picking apart their lies), I went through 6 computers in less than two years...all "completely fried and not worth fixing, as the problems were too complex" according to several computer experts...
 

And more than half the time I try to post comments in any media regarding medical marijuana, my computer crashes (and often dies completely)...though I virtually NEVER have a problem, as long as I don't write about medical cannabis or about our Supreme Law...And certain information causes the computer to crash about 90 percent of the time -- when I try to post mind-blowing information or links...like information from the DEA's law judge Francis Young, for instance...(i wrote this comment on a library computer and emailed it to myself, so i could actually successfully copy/paste and post it; my last small comment, with too many ))))s  took me about 1.5 hours to complete, because of the infected microsoft word). And of course I have very good virus protection and firewalls.

We know that Colorado is one of the worst states for gubmint spying on activist groups, and there are many documented cases of activists being spied on electronically and in-person...i began taking covert photos, and then realized that my computer wasn't the only thing possibly being watched or monitored.... for instance, I saw the same three guys in two different CO counties and in 6 different places -- in just 2 days (and it seemed like they didn't try to hide at all; and at first, they'd sit down or come right up next to me --  in remote, kinda dark, library stacks, for instance or sit right next to me at Starbucks, when the whole restaurant was empty and there were many other places to sit, which flies in the face of typical human behavior....)

After I directly asked one of them, politely, if and why he was following me, he refused to speak and quickly "pinged" his way to a blacked-out dark blue S.U.V. that had no license plates (vehicles with no plates is something that I've seen in Colorado a LOT, but never really witnessed this before). But after confronting him politely and saying that I had photos that I was going to turn into the police, the blatant in-person surveillance stopped on a dime, but the electronic "disruption" continues to this day...(and many local law enforcement are "bought," crooked and not to be trusted, so I don't know who to turn photos into....my guess is there's a strong possibility that going to the police would only worsen the attention)...

When  I started writing years ago, I knew that the medical facts and the medical truth might piss off some people like Rupert, but I felt morally obligated to share the facts, as medical cannabis has saved my life...and I saw that the media needed to be called out on printing blatant propaganda.

Certain media, like in MN, would drop 90 percent of my comments and remove whole articles from their papers and internet or just drop all the comments altogether and then not allow any comments... and while I would be writing in their discussion forums, my computer would crash over and over; and when I started to write in word documents and copy/paste to forums, my microsoft word went totally funky and turned all my quotations around and my cursor would jump all over the page and my page would fly up and down, as i tried to write (it could take an hour to get two sentences written, but I pushed on, concluding that the information that was blocked the most was the most important information to spread).

I've been very interested if CO law or ABC group or groups are the guilty bleeps, and I have some abc family and friend connections myself; but this has reached a really messed up and unbelievable point...and I'm not talking about the DWChrnicle not printing one of my comments, when I'm venting here or just being silly...I don't ramble when I'm writing for medical marijuana, out there, and I rarely express my opinion, just the opinions from the best medical organizations in the world.

Anyway, I totally realize that to many, my ramblings sound insane, but I needed to throw my history out there to see if other law-abiding citizens, especially in Colorado, who are exercising free speech are being disrupted or completely silenced...

My guess is people who share well-sourced information that challenges and exposes the Federal Gubmint's reprehensible stance on medical marijuana would be targeted before the person growing hundreds, if not thousands of plants, because the people who share medical facts are the ones who change public perception. The people in the "gold rush" with 1000s of plants enjoy the fact that the FEDS continue down their ugly path, because these big-time growers and owners benefit from the federal/state conflicts, as the price of medical cannabis continues to stay incredibly inflated...

and then there's the possibility that I am being targeted by the big-time marijuana forces that "meshed" with law enforcement decades ago and don't want med mj or general legalization to pass, as they make millions off its illegality, just like Capone.

thanks for reading. i'm very interested to see if other active patients are having similar experiences. 

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 7:08pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Please print my comment, guys. This wasn't just a goofy comment. I posted the comment 8 times; no luck. Is it being blocked by DWC? or outside forces?

If you want to stop the drug war, then we need to explore all aspects of this very real war on our people, including government spying on law-abiding citizens.

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 7:14pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Thanks DWC, but you didn't need to print the comment repeatedly, just once. I posted it repeatedly, because it wasn't appearing. Usually, comments appear pretty immediately.

Last word: the forces trying to squash dissent are hoping we get all out of sorts and stop our writing or activism, but please don't give in...take photos if the robots are following you...and if you can afford it, a good computer forensic analyst can determine the reasons for any computer acting strangely....

if you don't think the gubmint is spying on innocent citizens, then you need to read at least the ACLU link above.

we must fight evil with factual information.

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 7:42pm Permalink
Shell (not verified)

 I think if you would just login you could post on this site when ever you want to , I thought something was wrong too , But I logged in and no more paranoia . Oh by the way the new recruits in the dea are so brain washed by the lies they have been told since they were 3 years old it will really take a lot for them to understand the truth about any drug and the truth about the drug war. This EVIL is not going to leave us easily fans but if they will continue to look around themselves and see the suffering they are helping to pass along to the victims of these laws and the people that are dieing in the all around the World maybe they will find the truth as it really is not as they are told , Here in Colorado we have been told that global warming is a farse but we have changed the atmosphere here in the last 30 years to where you can see the mountains every day even see downtown Too ! In the 70's that wasn't true we couldn't see downtown very often due to the smog and the mountains were almost invisible , but every day we can see. So when Rich Limbag says there's no global warming , remember that if he weren't so rich he would be in prison because of the little drug problem he had a few years ago ! I know 98% of his listeners would be in jail even though they are mostly white lower middle class.

P.S.

  Malcolm That was a great post

Sun, 11/28/2010 - 2:54am Permalink
sicntired (not verified)

I was watching Rio as tracers arced into the ghetto there as the drug police are doing another kill them all drug sweep.The shooting had been going on for 18 hours.I have seen a video of that ghetto and for every kid drug trafficker there are 5 innocent family members.Shooting heavy ordinance into a place like that is insanity.Meanwhile I heard that the Mexican police are at the scene of another slaughter.If you think the police here don't have plans for us just take a look at the map of prisons in the USA since 1960.They have so many more that the private ones are cutting costs to try to get contracts.Who do you think suffers from all the cuts they make?We are told so little about what goes on no one knows where this is going.I can say for sure that there's nothing the DEA would like better than to connect terrorists with pot growers.They already blame the Taliban for all the drug smuggling when it's common knowledge that Karzai's brother is the number one guy in the drug trade.You know air america is flying again.Now the local cops are saying poppy growing is a huge problem in the Vancouver area.Super low grade tea is evidently big with the east Indian truck drivers.When you start a war against plants you know you're a loser.That's one thing they'd be better to leave be.I can just see a line of sick truckers blocking the port.This drug war is a vicious,stupid travesty.

Sun, 11/28/2010 - 8:25am Permalink
Giordano (not verified)

Terrorists are people who vilify their cause by their violence and stupidity.  The terrorism description fits prohibitionists far better than the peaceful cannabis culture.  At least with cannabis, no victim exists until the law intervenes. 

I suspect much of the choice of cannabis terrorist for the exercise was part of the ongoing effort prohibitionists make to subliminally convince themselves that cannabis and its users are evil and must be eliminated.  Otherwise, without a lot of self aggrandizing propaganda in the form of war mongering, it would be far more difficult for police, prosecutors, judges and legislators to feel comfortable about imposing punitive drug penalties.

Giordano

Sun, 11/28/2010 - 12:30pm Permalink
Sara Benetowa (not verified)

Just for the record, I love the Drug War Chronicle/Stop the Drug War, and I feel they've gone way above and beyond and have allowed me to comment about all sorts of topics and issues, including goofy comments that seemed funny at the time and weren't really that funny later.

When/if something doesn't post here, I've always assumed there was some technical glitch, like not signing up (thanks for the tip); and I've always known too that I can simply call the DWC and they've always posted my comment. In fact, though I might give a "shout out" about a comment that doesn't post here, I know that DWC lets the facts, opinions and information flow -- even if it is heated or a little provocative, which is great. And I can compose my comments on this stie, without being repeatedly dropped form the internet.

But my experience with MANY more mainstream media has been truly terrifying (dropping all my comments after they successfully posted, for instance, or dropping me 100s of times off the web -- only when writing about medical cannabis -- like in Minnesota).

I hope people realize that my experience, if not too common at this point, may become more common as the FEDS continue to spout lies, because they will have to step up the "demonization" of both cannabis and its users to justify their lies.and to counter the steadily growing numbers of people who support access to medicinal cannabis or support general legalization.

My hope, like many others, was Obama would at least help increase access to medicinal cannabis, but he hasn't done a thing, except having Holder issue a worthless memo that has been blatantly ignored in medically-legal states across the U.S.

Sun, 11/28/2010 - 2:22pm Permalink
NotConvinced (not verified)

The reasoning behind this drill had nothing to do with pot growers. They could have been ComicCon nerds holding a rare green isotope. The point of this drill was HOW the fed and sister agencies deal with an attack on one of our more sensitive targets: the dam. While I'm certain that quite a few of you may be happy not to have to enjoy the 'evils' of electricity or fresh water; I would like to see the dam in continued operation.

Mon, 11/29/2010 - 12:46am Permalink
bigred (not verified)

I think the real reason the us is going to korea is to take the state of what is happening at home and shifting it to other places.

Maybe its time the U.S. people went to war with its own govt. and the people running the police forces and financial institutes.

It is these people who want to rule with an iron fist and have total control of its people, not so different from the North Koreans.

People have become so complacent with life that they have forgotten what their ancestors fought for, for freedom from oppression, and thanks to Wal-mart, they are going right back to those days of control and persecution over things that don't really matter in the big picture.

These things do matter to the people and they need to stand up, turn off the big brother shows and reality television and really wake up to reality and fight for your right to live freely and provide for your children and give them what you obviously don't have .......REAL FREEDOM.

Mon, 11/29/2010 - 9:13am Permalink
bigred (not verified)

bigredIbigreb think the real reason the us is going to korea is to take the state of what is happening at home and shifting it to other places.

Maybe its time the U.S. people went to war with its own govt. and the people running the police forces and financial institutes.

It is these people who want to rule with an iron fist and have total control of its people, not so different from the North Koreans.

People have become so complacent with life that they have forgotten what their ancestors fought for, for freedom from oppression, and thanks to Wal-mart, they are going right back to those days of control and persecution over things that don't really matter in the big picture.

These things do matter to the people and they need to stand up, turn off the big brother shows and reality television and really wake up to reality and fight for your right to live freely and provide for your children and give them what you obviously don't have .......REAL FREEDOM.

Mon, 11/29/2010 - 9:14am Permalink

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