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Chronicle Book Review: "The Pot Book" and "Cannabis Policy"
We review two books on marijuana -- one a comprehensive anthology, the other, a studious work on changing pot policy.
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Marijuana Is Serious Business, But Leno and Conan are Hooked on Bad Pot Jokes
Although cannabis has been known to give people the giggles, there isn't exactly an abundance of amusement to be found in U.S. marijuana policy. Even as the nation moves towards a more sensible approach to the drug, our top comedians are still looking for laughs and coming up short.
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New England Swings... On Marijuana Law Reform [FEATURE]
New England has emerged as a hotbed of marijuana law reform. Why is that?
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This Week in History
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Pot Politics on Capitol Hill: Proponents Aim to Shift Industry's Image
Supporters of decriminalizing marijuana are hoping to build momentum on Capitol Hill after a historic election that saw the politics of pot take center stage in four states. The marijuana industry's public relations campaign has so far been limited to states, especially California, where a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana almost passed in November. But today, the National Cannabis Industry Association, launched in December to represent the interests of legal marijuana growers and distributors, will hold the first congressional lobbying day in the nation's capital, hoping to shore up support for an industry they say could bring billions of dollars in revenue to the government.
the fruits of drug prohibition in Mexico (Image via Wikimedia)
Mexico Drug War Update
It was a rough week on the highway between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey, and that's not all, not by a long shot.
Authorities in Awe of Drug Trafficking Organizations' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs
For decades, Colombian drug trafficking organization have pursued their trade with amazingly professional ingenuity, staying a step ahead of authorities by coming up with one innovation after another. When false-paneled pickups and tractor-trailers began drawing suspicion at US checkpoints, the traffickers and their Mexican partners built air-conditioned tunnels under the border. When border agents started rounding up too many human mules, one group of Colombian smugglers surgically implanted heroin into purebred puppies. But the drug runnersâ most persistently effective method has also been one of the crudest â semi-submersible vessels that cruise or are towed just below the oceanâs surface and can hold a ton or more of cocaine.
Prohibition's filthy lucre is too much for some to resist (Image via Wikimedia)
This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
It was a relatively quiet week on the crooked cop front -- not including officers who've gone astray but haven't been caught -- but we've still got us a trio of law enforcement miscreants.
First Federal Agency to Acknowledge Medical Marijuana Removes Anti-Tumor Information from Database
Last week, The American Independent was first to report that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) had added a section on medical marijuana to its treatment database, making it the first federal agency to formally recognize marijuanaâs medicinal properties. Now, for reasons unknown, NCI has altered the page by removing any mention of the evidence that marijuana can diminish and even reverse tumor growth. The American Independent is awaiting reply from NCI on the reasons for the change.
28 Raids in 24 Hours!? Tell Attorney General Holder to Stop Federal Raids of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (Action Alert)
Tell Attorney General Holder:
Stop federal raids
of medical marijuana dispensaries
Friends,
28 raids in 24 hours.That's the unfortunate reality for medical marijuana patients in Montana and California.
Federal agents shutdown 26 dispensaries across Montana and 2 in the medical marijuana sanctuary city of West Hollywood, California this month in their latest attack on patients and legitimate businesses.
The DEA isn't even supposed to be conducting these raids in the first place. In 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memo ordering an end to federal raids of medical marijuana dispensaries. Yet, despite his memo, federal agents have continued these operations sporadically for years, without regard for patients', states' or business' rights.
Attorney General Eric Holder clearly doesn't have control of his own cavalry. This assault on patients rights has to stop now.
Click here to sign the letter: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/fedraids
But is Holder being dishonest and hypocritical? Or does he simply lack strong leadership among US Attorneys General?
A memo issued on February 1st by US Attorney Melinda Haag (who, ironically, represents Northern California) directly contradicts Holder’s edict. She declares that ANYONE engaging in the buying or selling of marijuana, regardless of their protection under state laws, will be punished by the federal government.
That doesn’t just mean dispensaries and the patients who rely on them, but goes as far as to include landlords, financiers and property owners as well. It’s a full-court press designed to intimidate supporters of reform and ostracize patients seeking their prescribed medications.
This attitude puts lives in jeopardy and undermines our democratic institutions by foiling state attempts to provide solutions for their own people. We need to put an end to the federal harassment of medical marijuana patients now.
Click here to add your name: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/fedraids
This kind of official hypocrisy at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens is a disgrace to the notion of basic human rights everywhere. Thank you for standing up for a patients’ basic rights to treatment.
Thanks for all you do.
Brian Sonenstein
Just Say Now.com
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