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COPs on the Hill

Stories from the week of July 30, 2010

The wine is sweeter today:  This week the House passed by voice vote (no one heard a nay) the Webb Criminal Justice Commission bill. The commission will study drug prohibition and make recommendations to the Congress on whether to keep all of it, some of it, none of it, etc. The Senate is expected (but don’t hold your breath) to pass it in September. Medium sized step..

As a bonus the House passed and it now goes for Obama’s signature a bill to reduce the disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1. This an 82% improvement not based in science (in which case it would be 1:1).  Still this will allow thousands to dealers to go free and act as a model for the states to adopt the federal standard. Some states have already gone 1:1.

As my LEAP colleague Tom Angell pointed out, it was very significant that the Republicans did not demand a roll call vote on either bill. “Soft on drugs/soft on crime” has been used by the Rs for decades to hurt the Dems. On this day, they allowed good legislation to go forward without a recorded vote.

Karen and I start a week long vacation today, so no letter next week.

www.mapinc.org considered this the best published LTE a  few weeks ago.  It was in my hometown paper.

 LETTER OF THE WEEK

LOST WAR ON DRUGS AND ITS CASUALTIES

When you lie down with dogs, often you will get up with fleas. Yet another in my profession (Megan Mattingly) has been tainted by the enforcement of drug prohibition. Add her to the many, many thousands who have been corrupted or killed, or who have committed suicide after being corrupted. And for what? We in law enforcement know that every drug dealer arrested is replaced within days. The nine suspects released (or even if they had gone to prison) are meaningless.

A trillion tax dollars spent and 40 years of serious effort have resulted in a Maryland free of drugs? No. Quite the contrary. Drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available to our teens.

Please tell this reader again why you support this Bridge to Nowhere policy.

Howard Wooldridge

retired detective/officer

Buckeystown

Source: Frederick News Post (MD)

Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jun 2010

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n000/a017.html

 COP stats since August 2009:

 443  presentations to Congressional Staffers 

7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)

37 published Letters to the Editor 

Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended.  C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing. 

12  radio shows 

8  TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision, NBC, cable)

Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year.  Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. Go to: www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or check.

PLEDGE DRIVE (1 Wk) FOR Drug Truth Network, Sun Aug 8, 6:30-7:30 PM... please email pledge or call 1-877-9-420-420, incentives include Oaksterdam's Marijuana Growers Guide, Oaksterdam T's, Sweats

Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS  *  Time 4 Hemp

Note:  We now produce a segment each Friday at 11:45 PM Central for Time 4 Hemp on American Freedom Radio (dot com)

Cultural Baggage for  08/08/10 29:00 Sanho Tree of Institute for Policy Studies regarding travel to Bolivia and Colombia + MJ Borden of Drug War Facts & Fox reporter for ending drug war?

LINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3019

TRANSCRIPT:  Tue

Century of Lies for  08/08/10  29:00  Bill Quigley, legal director of Center for Constitutional Rights on racial aspects of drug war + powerful Cannabis-Lasagna recipe from Sandy Moriarty, instructor at Oaksterdam University

LINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3020

TRANSCRIPT: Monday

4:20 Drug War NEWS, 08/09 to 08/15/10  Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin -

Sun - Fox debates cannabis use for autism Sat - Michael Krawitz, a US veteran on Fox regarding VA rule to allow use of cannabis Fri - Bill Quigley, legal director of Center for Constitutional Rights on America's caste system utilized in the drug war Thu - Sanho Tree of Institute for Policy Studies on ultra violence in cocaine trade Wed - Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "Does decrim work?"

Tue - Sandy Moriarty cannabis-lasagna recipe 2/2 Mon - Sandy Moriarty, cannabis chef at Oaksterdam University gives recipe for some powerful lasagna 1/2

Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM.  You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org

-  Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT

-  Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT

Who's Next?":  TBD 

Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and now at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.  http://www.bakerinstitute.org/dtn

We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates.  You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org  and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420 420. 

The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00  "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net .  We currently have 91 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations.  With a simple email request to [email protected] , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge.

Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker  Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform.  "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981, www.drugtruth.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                 

AUGUST 6, 2010

D.C. Unveils Draft Medical Marijuana Regulations

Mayor’s Order Stalls Implementation Until January 2011, Advocates Say Delays Come at Cost to Patients

CONTACT: Dan Riffle: 202-905-2026 or [email protected]; Mike Meno: 202-905-2030 or 443-927-6400

WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to a series of proposed regulations released today by Mayor Adrian Fenty and the City Administrator, various agencies tasked with overseeing the District’s recently approved medical marijuana law will not have the authority to begin licensing providers or accepting patient applications until January 1, 2011. That means patients suffering from conditions such as cancer and HIV/AIDS will be unnecessarily forced to wait even longer for relief. The District still needs to consider and license potential applicants to manage medical marijuana dispensaries before patients can legally obtain medical marijuana to alleviate their symptoms. Under the District’s law, qualified patients will only be allowed to legally use marijuana that comes from a licensed dispensary. 

         “It was 1998 when District residents overwhelmingly approved Initiative 59, and the District Council has been considering this legislation since February, so there’s no reason for the mayor’s office to be dragging its feet,” said Dan Riffle, a legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project. “Patients in the District who could benefit from medical marijuana have already had to wait 12 years for this law. Why should they be needlessly forced to wait another five months?”   

         Nearly 70 percent of District voters passed a referendum on medical marijuana in 1998, but Congress blocked its implementation until this past year. The D.C. Council approved an amended initiative in May, and last month Congress declined to take action to block the bill. 

         “The proposed regulations released today are detailed and comprehensive, but there are several issues that we hope are addressed before they are finalized,” Riffle said. “For example, the draft regulations call for applications from prospective dispensary or cultivation center owners to be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, which could lead to the first applicants being awarded licenses, rather than the best applicants. Also, the lack of a competitive, scored application process—such as those utilized in Maine and other medical marijuana jurisdictions—raises questions of transparency and fairness. However, patients will benefit from the regulatory prohibition on the use of pesticides or contaminants, and the detailed packaging and labeling requirements for medical marijuana products.”

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

####

For Immediate Release: August 5, 2010

Police Raid of Medical Cannabis Dispensary Puts Patients at Risk

Yesterday, Cannabis as Living Medicine (CALM), one of the most well- established medical cannabis dispensaries in Canada, was raided by police in Toronto for the second time in five months. In the last couple of months, a dispensary in Guelph, another in Iqaluit, and several in the province of Quebec were also raided.

Canadians for Safe Access, a national patient advocacy organization, is denouncing these raids. The result is that thousands of Canadians suffering from MS, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, arthritis and other critical and chronic illnesses have lost an important source of their medicine, laments Rielle Capler, a researcher and co-founder of the organization. They will have to go to the streets or suffer without their medicine. Capler adds, Rather than leave these dispensaries vulnerable to police raids, CSA is calling on Health Canada to work with them to develop regulations that would ensure their protection as well as the highest quality of care for patients. Our government should be supporting patients to access the best possible medicine, and supporting the organizations that are providing this vital service."

While the use of cannabis for medical purposes is constitutionally legal in Canada, the Federal Governments program, which provides licenses to patients for legal possession of cannabis, does not provide an adequate legal source of this medicine. Government statistics show that only about 800 of the 4000 licensed medical cannabis users access the governments supply, which is considered by many to be inferior. Research indicates that over half of license holders acquire their cannabis from dispensaries, which currently supply high quality medicine to an estimated 20,000 Canadians with critical and chronic medical conditions.

Medical cannabis dispensaries, also know as compassion clubs, have played a vital role supplying safe access to cannabis for the critically and chronically ill in Canada for over 12 years. These organizations provide access to a variety of high quality cannabis strains and preparations that can effectively alleviate pain, muscle spasms, nausea, anxiety, and other serious symptoms. Compassion clubs are also at the forefront of academic peer-reviewed research on medical cannabis in Canada. Well-run dispensaries are appreciated by patients, accepted within communities, and their work has been lauded by various court  rooms across the country.

Contacts:

Rielle Capler 604-818-4082- [email protected] Philippe Lucas 250-884-9821 [email protected]