The 3 R's

The honorable David WU (D-OR) Member of Congress 110th U.S. Congress Office of National Drug Control Policy Drug Enforcement Agency Does anybody in this country have any common sense when it comes to this issue? These are not Rambling Rantings of Rhetoric but an essay on the Reality of Regulation for Revenue; just as The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, as well as Australia and Canada are now realizing and recognizing the full ramifications of the failure of prohibition. HEROIN was a hard to get “problem” when I was growing up but my younger brother of six years was a addict because it is easier to get and cheaper than POT. I challenge anybody to prove I am wrong... (He died 31 May 2004 from an overdose at age forty-seven). Addiction is a medical condition best treated by doctors; not the police and criminal justice system. And despite the attempt to erase, and, re-write history (REEFER MADNESS 1936), we know that Geo. Washington, and Thom. Jefferson, and Benj. Franklin grew HEMP a.k.a. CANNABIS or MARIJUANA. And Jesus (as in Christ) was a user of cannabis extracts... As a young man I was entrapped (maybe enlightened?!) by LSD that cost me my military tour; which did not help my already dysfunctional familial self image and ended up losing a Postal career because of alcohol effected thinking. This is a LIE you are putting to the public NOT facts so why is the truth so hard to come out; maybe this is the funding the CIA needs, or was that TAXPAYER money spent in the beginning of the War on Terror and aL-Qaeda and Taliban, in Afghanistan and IRAQ? Even their farmers know it is a living to grow OPIUM as opposed to poverty growing any so called commercial crops. And that OPIUM has been servicing a true SUPPLY and DEMAND market The Human (maybe biological) Condition. And we the United States are the TERRORISTS in Latin America. I challenge your information and say you are causing more damage. Where are these “studies” you cite? Cigarettes and alcohol are the gateway drugs. When I was young heroin was impossible to get but now it is every where and cheaper. Marijuana has become the “rich man’s drug”. I will reference your own agency literature; “...During the past (five) decades, the demand for psychoactive drugs (has) spawned a rising incidence of illicit clandestine laboratories. Clandestine Laboratories have proliferated because of the ease of production and the limited skill needed to operate them. Equipment, chemicals, and the facilities are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain. No great skills are needed to follow the manufacturing procedures (which are now easily obtained via the Internet). In fact most laboratory operators employ or are themselves “cooks” rather than trained chemists. The overall risks are minimal despite sporadic fires and explosions and the threat of discovery and arrest; and the potential profits from these enterprise can be enormous.” (REF: Drugs of Abuse, DEA “USGPO 1985 482 711”) Even the venerable MARK TWAIN (1835-1910) had worked on a HEMP farm in his youth where he met Black Folks whom would leave an influence on his life more profound than any plant would. You can read it for yourself on pages thirty-four and ...five, in his book titled “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians” published after the success of those first two books. That was left out of Ken Burns 2002 documentary on PBS. Also for reference, on page 209 of “Black Postcard Price Guide” (Mashburn, 1999 ISBN: 1-885940-06-8) is a Asheville NC, Carolina Card Co. #10724 which is titled “In a Southern hemp Field” early twentieth century. And in Portland Oregon (Little Beirut) on the Willamette River Eastbank Esplanade at the Oak street marker for Municipal Terminal No.2 is information and a picture of HEMP bales for rope and paper in a warehouse circa 1924. The Volstead Act was the cause of Organized Crime, with the profits from Prohibition being used by the criminal element; this was a Constitutional act with a full two-thirds of Congress i.e. House of Representatives and the Senate, plus a majority of States at three-quarters for approval. The repeal fourteen years later too was a Constitutional act. Yet alcohol was sold openly prior to the legal repeal of prohibition. Respect for the LAW? But the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was only a Congressional law or an example of ENABLING LEGISLATION. Not of the People, or by the People, and NOT for the People. And just like the Savings & Loan and ENRON debacles, Congress through “enabling legislation” did determine the outcome prior to the fact. Presented for your thoughtful consideration the EMIT drug testing here in this land of “...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” as the actual chemistry is not addressed just its search. Picture if you would a time frame of thirty-two years less one hundred six days; now what we are seeking is twenty to fifty seconds within that period. The active ingredient in marijuana “delta-nine TetraHydroCannabinol” alkaloid molecule is that we seek at twenty parts per billion for a first time user whom after only fourteen seconds will be detectable for six days with one “toke”. Heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD, and pharmaceuticals will dissipate within seventy-two hours; Binge Friday night but be able to work on Monday without repercussion. Pee into the jar freely. Alcohol metabolizes in twenty-four hours with a working liver. The U.S. left VietNam after sixteen years and more than 58,000 dead at a cost of more than ONE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE BILLION DOLLARS; In February 1909 Shanghai, China was the site of the first international conference on Opium by the United States for the beginnings of a “Drug War”. As of December 2001 the United States has spent over FOUR HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS since 1971, jailed over 13,000,000 citizens and how to calculate those who have died either in Law Enforcement or user? (Colleen Waibel 1998 Portland OR police and Amy Donovan 2004 of Austin TX police). The hypocrisy of “Legal” tobacco & alcohol (420,000 deaths annually plus 53,000 by second hand smoke and, 75,000 deaths Alcohol related in 2003! Prohibition failed but now we have “Organized Crime”). The Narco-Economy in 1999 made over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS and has profits exceeding most of the 192 United Nations member nations GDP. OIL funds terrorism and the National Rifle Association enables those intent on doing harm to the public with a total refusal to regulate weapons by manipulating the Department of Justice. Marijuana does not kill, it is innocuous and an expectorant, anti-nausea and an appetite stimulant (good for cancer patients). Glaucoma patients can relieve ocular pressure with medical marijuana. HEMP is a viable and low sulfur RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE; I and the HEMP lobby propose this source for energy as METHANOL and its twenty-four barrel (1000 gallons) per acre; or the 875 LB’s of fiber per acre; and is a dual seasonal crop; a Low SULFUR ten ton bio-mass per acre and low maintenance high yield plant that can be harvested at least twice yearly and is DIOXIN FREE with a seventy-seven percent cellulose content. Iowa CORN ETHANOL has only a seven to ten barrel (300 to 420 gallons) high labor and intensive fertilizer for a higher cost annual yield per acre. Reference: “Opium: A History” by Martin Booth 1996 ISBN: 0-312-18643-6 "Cannabis: A History" by Martin Booth 2003 ISBN: 0-312-42494-9 “The Politics of Heroin” by Alfred McCoy, U of Wisc. 1991 ISBN: 1-556-52125-6x “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer 1985 (revised) ISBN: 1-878-12502-8 Heroin does not kill but the life style will REF: British Public Health Service Heroin was a 1898 trademark of Bayer (as in aspirin) of Germany made with OPIUM Acetic Anhydride and the SODA POP ingredient “Sodium Carbonate”. Heroin and Cocaine belong in the hands of medical doctors, not drug traffickers. By a different approach the drug dealers and drug lords will be put out of business; and drug users could be better monitored. At the least a medical overview and REGULATED at a cost of less than ONE DOLLAR per dose plus the social cost would still be less than either the criminal and law enforcement costs combined at present. And a new respect for the Police and all Law enforcement could-would evolve. And the erosion of LIBERTY which is also eroding respect for all law here in The U.S. and because of “Zero Tolerance” tells of our failure so it is time for a change. The three R’s have evolved to REALITY-REGULATION-REVENUE. If you can not dazzle us with brilliance do not try to baffle us with BS. Stop using “children” as an excuse to justify your job, instead actually protect them as they know a lie eventually will be found out. The only truthful thing you said was “...parents, talk to your child. Communicate and Listen.” And parents please take responsibility. FACT: The Census of 2000 counted more than two hundred eighty-one million citizens with a Gross Domestic Product of TEN TRILLION DOLLARS and a total National “Public” Debt of $8,900,000,000,000.00 (July 2007) facing up those children’s future, and part of the American Dream they may not afford. Are you afraid of the truth? Want to discuss the issue? DARE I say prove me wrong? United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, Vienna, 2008. If you know history then you know that John Jay our first Supreme Court Justice in 1794 said that a jury has the obligation to “...determine the law as well as the facts.” and the Ninth Amendment of “Rights retained by the People” infers “...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And do not forget the 1942 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture film of fourteen minutes “Hemp for Victory”… Long ago when these ancient Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen ropes and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable. A 44-gun frigate like our cherished “Old Ironsides” took over “60 tons of hemp for rigging”, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumference. The Conestoga wagons and prairie schooners of pioneer days were covered with hemp canvas. Indeed the very word canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days hemp was an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined. But now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipment of jute from India curtailed, American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as our industry. In 1942 patriotic farmers at the government's request planted ‘36,000 acres’ of seed hemp, an increase of several thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is ‘50,000 acres’ of seed hemp. In Kentucky much of the seed acreage is on river bottom-land such as this. Some of these fields are inaccessible except by boat. Thus plans are afoot for a great expansion of a hemp industry as a part of the war program. This film is designed to tell farmers how to handle this ancient crop now little known outside Kentucky and Wisconsin. Hemp is not hard on the soil... For fiber, hemp should be sewn closely, the closer the rows the better... Hemp for fiber is ready to harvest when the pollen is shedding and the leaves are falling. In Kentucky, hemp harvest comes in August... In Wisconsin, hemp is harvested in September... The length of time hemp is left on the ground to ret depends on the weather... In 1942, ‘14,000 acres’ of fiber hemp were harvested in the United States. The goal for 1943 is ‘300,000 acres’ of fiber hemp... Hemp for Victory. USDA “When you see contradictions then check your assumptions.” Ayn Rand “Atlas Shrugged” “Those willing to sacrifice ESSENTIAL LIBERTY for a little TEMPORARY SECURITY deserve neither.” Benj. Franklin “I come from where we think it is the right of every American to go to hell and be damned if he wants to.” C. E. S. Wood (1852-1944) “The American republic will endure until the politicians are able to bribe the people with their own money.” De Tocqueville, ‘Democracy in America’ "I may not agree with what you say but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire Semper Fidelis, Wesley M. Ellis Portland OR a.k.a. “Little Beirut” [email protected] September 2007