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Feature: Schwarzenegger Trying to Gut California Methadone Funding in Budget Move

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to help balance the budget by cutting out almost all Medi-Cal funding for more than 35,000 methadone maintenance patients. The nicest thing opponents can say about that idea is that it's penny wise but pound foolish, and the legislature seems to agree. But the Governator can still wield the line-item veto, so the fight isn't over yet.
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Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy

"Jamaica Says It Can Win Its Drug War for $1 Billion," "Margaret Polovchak Wants to Put Cancer Patients in Jail," "Paul Armentano Talks Legalization on FOX News," "Aaron Houston is a Patriot and a Hero," "Mall Security Freaks Out Over Guy Wearing Marijuana T-Shirt," "Teachers Suspended for Showing Flex Your Rights Video," "WARNING: Recent Claims That the Drug War Is Over Are False."
Chronicle

Appeal: 2010 is Important in Drug Policy -- And So Are You

2010 is a critical year in the effort to end prohibition and the war on drugs. The StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) "Changing Minds, Changing Laws, Changing Lives" campaign is asking for you to pitch in -- your support is more important now than it has ever been before!
Blog

Jamaica Says it Can Win Its Drug War for $1 Billion

It's a strategy so ingenious, I can't believe no one thought of it before:

June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jamaica is seeking $1 billion in loans and grants to rid the country of “cancerous” drug gangs that have taken over poor neighborhoods on the Caribbean island and hurt economic growth, Finance Minister Audley Shaw said.

Someone should tell the Jamaicans that the U.S. has already tried the whole spend-a-billion-dollars-to-eradicate-drugs idea so many times that it's become a rather unfunny joke, and the only way the drug czar can even get the money anymore is if he pretends it's for something else, like treatment programs.

The last thing Jamaica needs is to owe a billion dollars back to a bunch of international banks for massive drug war that didn't work. Good luck accomplishing anything except an endless series of bloody gunfights that cripple your tourism industry.

If you want a reduction in drug war violence, begin by regulating and taxing the marijuana that's being sold by the handful all over the country. The thing I keep hearing about Jamaican herb is that no one can even finish the $20 bag they bought at the airport when they arrived. You could tax it at 300% and the tourists wouldn’t even notice. Now that's a billion dollar drug strategy.
Event
Event

Medical Marijuana Press Conference

On Friday June 4, 2010 at 1:00 pm local medical marijuana advocacy groups will hold a press conference at the State House steps in Trenton, NJ.
In The Trenches

Media Advisory: Medical Marijuana Press Conference at Trenton State House on 6/4/10 at 1:00 pm

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more info, contact: Ken @ (609) 394-2137

Medical Marijuana press conference at Trenton State House on 6/4/10 at 1:00 pm

WHO:     Patients, professionals and medical marijuana advocates

WHAT:   Plan a medical marijuana press conference

WHEN:   June 4, 2010 at 1:00PM

WHERE: Trenton, NJ State House – State Street entrance steps

WHY:       To urge the timely implementation of the medical marijuana law

On Friday June 4, 2010 at 1:00 pm local medical marijuana advocacy groups will hold a press conference at the State House steps in Trenton, NJ.  Doctors, nurses, potential medical marijuana patients, and supporters of the new law will address recent news of a proposed delay in implementing the program.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law in January 2010. As passed, the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) was to issue regulations in July and patients were anticipating access to the program by the fall.  Last week a request was made by the Christie administration for an additional 6 to 12 months before the medical marijuana regulations would be issued. The extension would require legislation.  Ken Wolski, a registered nurse and Executive Director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey said, “If the Department of Health cannot write these regulations in 6 months, there is no guarantee they will be able to write them in 18 months. There is no need for this delay.  Patients are suffering continuously as they wait for this program.”

Anne M. Davis, Executive Director of NORML-NJ said, “This is a law and there are no exceptions.  There are patients with chronic or even terminal illnesses that cannot get an extension on life.”

Wolski continued, “Marijuana is recognized as medicine in New Jersey and patients deserve timely access to it.  The recent trial and conviction of MS patient John Wilson in Somerville amply proves that patients desperately need regulated access to marijuana that is legal in the eyes of police, prosecutors, judges and juries around the state.”


Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, Executive Director

Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.
219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ  08618
609.394.2137 www.cmmnj.org   [email protected]

Additional contacts for further information:
Anne M. Davis: [email protected] 732 477 4700
Chris Goldstein: [email protected] 505 577 5093(cell)

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Margaret Polovchak Wants to Put Cancer Patients in Jail

Why? Because she thinks it will help save the children:

A discussion of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois is likely fueling an increase in the number of Park Ridge teenagers using the substance, the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation contends.

Margaret Polovchak, executive director of MCYAF, said increased dialogue about marijuana legislation in the state leads to a greater public perception that the substance is not harmful, resulting in a growing number of users.

It's wrong on so many levels, one scarcely knows where to begin. But I guess we'll start with the fact that teen marijuana use declined for 10 years straight after the national debate over medical marijuana emerged in the mid-90's.

You see, Illinois isn’t the first state where this conversation has taken place. There's actually an abundance of empirical data to consult before spouting off mindless speculation. Here, check out this helpful chart showing how almost every state that legalized medical marijuana experienced a subsequent decline in teen marijuana use.

Now you'll never find me arguing that passing medical marijuana laws makes kids less likely to try it. But the fact that rates of use have fluctuated similarly in states with and without such laws really just massacres the idea that having a public debate about marijuana policy somehow endangers children. If you want to see an endangered child, check out this video of a SWAT team shooting two dogs in front of a 7-year-old during a bust for a small bag of pot.

Anyone who's concerned about children getting mixed messages in the medical marijuana debate should stop lying about medical marijuana. You know it's medicine because the Institute of Medicine said so. You know it's medicine because its main ingredient is approved by the FDA and the manufacturer even marketed it as "legal marijuana." You know it's medicine because seriously ill patients continue to turn to it for relief, even when doing so places them at risk of being raided and imprisoned simply for trying to make their cancer suck a little less.

The effort to protect children from the dangers of drugs is a noble one, but taking medicine away from people who need it is one strategy that shouldn’t even be on the table.
Blog

Paul Armentano Talks Legalization on FOX News

Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch program continues to impress me. Paul does a great job, and the whole segment provides a good overview of the madness and hypocrisy of Obama's marijuana policy:


The fact that FOX has created a platform for these sorts of discussions is significant. I wouldn't have thought it possible even a couple years ago.
In The Trenches

We are all Arizonans

Donate Header AZ
  
Dear friends:

Can you help a "fellow" Arizonan out?

Since 1996, 14 states and the District of Columbia have passed effective medical marijuana laws. Whether you live in one of these states or not, you can certainly appreciate the benefits enjoyed by patients who do. And we hope this appreciation makes you care as much as we do about adding another state to that list.

As it turns out, a golden opportunity to add another state is before us. Yesterday, the Arizona Secretary of State informed the MPP-backed Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project that its medical marijuana initiative has qualified for the November ballot! This initiative would establish a system of 120 dispensaries throughout the state, ensuring that patients have safe and reliable access to the medicine they need.

Each time another state makes medical marijuana legal, we get closer to a day when it becomes generally accepted and legal across the country. So if Arizona wins, we all win. With that thought in mind, through November of this year, we are all Arizonans in spirit.

As an honorary Arizonan, your help is needed. Specifically, the campaign needs to raise funds for a basic expense: yard signs. Each sign costs approximately $2.50, so a contribution of $10 will put 4 signs on the ground and a contribution of $25 will cover 10. Even $5 will pay for a couple of signs that hundreds of voters will see! Please visit the AMMPP campaign site and make a contribution to our yard sign fund to help us reach our $5,000 goal.

Thanks,Steve FoxDirector of State Campaigns
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.		Donate Image AZ2

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