Cannabis Freedom

No, no, you're thinking G-13. I'm talking about the TV station G4. All their shows today are related to the cannabis culture.

Read more 420 news at G4 TV.

Thank you to all who work so hard and risk so much so that smokers might be able to enjoy a little bit of God's creation. Have fun and be safe today. See you all at Shelby Farms for Earth Day.

May your buds be dank and your smoke be cool. Happy 4/20!

I'm thrilled with Barney Frank's social Libertarian leanings. Maybe Ron Paul can persuade him to the light side of the force. There is still good in him, I feel it.

For Immediate Release: April 18th, 2008

Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act Introduced Yesterday in Congress

HR 5842 would reschedule marijuana for medical use, end federal interference in state laws

Washington, D.C. Congressional Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the "Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," HR 5842, yesterday, a bill co-sponsored by Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Sam Farr (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Ron Paul (R-TX). The act would change federal policy on medical marijuana in a number of ways. Specifically, HR 5842 would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug, which cannot be prescribed, to a Schedule II drug, which would recognize the medical value of marijuana and create a regulatory framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana. The act would also prevent interference by the federal government in any local or state run medical marijuana program.
Full text of the release.

Its about damn time! People should have a right to medicine. It is the right to life. The most fundamental of all rights.

It only took a few weeks but I've already scooped the New York Times in my coverage of the lead tainted cannabis in Germany. The NYT article is worth reading, even though it is old news by now. :) Yeah, me!

Normally a medical study touting the dangers of cannabis would throw up all kinds of red flags with me. This one is a direct consequence of the drug war.

A New England Journal of Medicine report describes a mysterious rash of unexplained cases of lead poisoning in Germany.

After 8 weeks, we detected a common pattern: the patients were young, were unemployed or were students, had a history of smoking, and had body piercings. On questioning, all the patients eventually conceded that they were regular users of marijuana smoked in "joint" form or with the use of a water pipe.

Turns out the dealers, in order to stack some extra paper, were dusting their weed with lead powder. Now I'm going to assume that this wasn't malicious, rather it was a couple of thugs not realizing that they were poisoning people, not just ripping them off.

What pisses me off about this is that people will use this story to convince people that cannabis is bad for you. The truth is, things would not happen like this if people were able to buy cannabis freely without fear of having their door kicked in. Because selling cannabis is illegal you can't get it from a legitimate merchant. Instead you have to go to a dangerous thug who will poison you.

It is inhumane that some people would rather see cannabis users be poisoned than be altered.

Too much cannabis news over the past 24 hours:

Radley Balko, my favorite blogger, has a Kathryn Johnston update. It seems like the police in Atlanta have a problem with fudging to get a search warrant.

In related news D.C. police are going to start going door-to-door to enforce their unconstitutional gun ban. ( I don't own guns but I've received extensive firearms training and believe in the right to bear arms.) Barry Cooper of Never Get Busted fame recommends that you never ever never open the door to a police officer at any time. If they have the authority to be in your home then let them kick the door in. Opening that door will open a up a whole world of trouble. Nothing good can come of it. The officer will either see something or smell something that he doesn't like and that gives him probable cause to enter your house, even if there's nothing to smell.

The bureaucrats have responded to the passing of New Hampshire state legislature's (weak) decriminalization bill. The people who speak the loudest are the ones with the most power to loose. 1/4 oz of cannabis is a minuscule amount. There are medical cannabis users that can use this much in a day or two. That much basil doesn't make pesto sauce for 2. I'll go into what a good decrim bill would accomplish in a future post. The most egregious claim made by NH State Commissioner of Safety, "marijuana is a dangerous, addictive substance that can ruin lives and harm the quality of life in our communities" is completely without merit.

• Cannabis is not dangerous. It is impossible to overdose and doesn't cause any of the serious health conditions that legal drugs like alcohol do.
• Cannabis isn't addictive. 1/4 of the people forced into treatment by the courts have not used cannabis in the 30 days prior to their admission. Most people quit without assistance by their 30th birthday. Cannabis doesn't exhibit addictive properties, it has a long half-life and is stored in the cells for about a month, curbing withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and hard drugs.
• Cannabis will not harm your quality of life, far from it. Cannabis helps people. It is the act of getting caught with cannabis that will harm your life. You can loose financial aid, your kids, your home, your car, your job, your family. Getting caught means prison, a criminal record, a lifetime of mistrust and ostracism. The war on drugs causes far more harm than the drug itself. With a title like "State Commissioner of Safety" this bureaucrat should be looking at harm reduction not the tyrannical enforcement of unjust laws.

Somewhat-hypothesis found a story from Reuters. Now US police departments want to police our skies with War on Terror style UAVs. These drone aircraft could keep us in check just like would-be tyrant, Hugo Chavez', version. Chavez's drones are Orwellian blimps with propaganda messages. What would they say in Memphis? "Big Willie is Watching", perhaps.

I haven't posted in a few days. I had an extremely busy weekend. A child was tasered to death, by a non-lethal taser, but he had weed in his socks and was black so it must have been ok. </sarcasm> Something tells me had this been a white Collierville High school student you may have heard about it by now.

The mayor quit, then unquit, now he might be quitting again. What a narcissist! How much will the special elections cost the city when he gets done making up his mind? Meanwhile the city's infrastructure and schools are falling apart and cops are shooting up bars.

I'm sorry I haven't spoken up about SCSD Sergeant Chris Jones' violent murder of Karaoke Jockey Donald Munsey at Windjammer on Brookhaven Circle. I've taken my wife to the Windjammer several times before. It's always been a clean, safe atmosphere. I never thought my life would end there.

Now a couple of Memphis blogs are starting to speak up about the police needing to police themselves. If there are officers with psychological problems on the MPD or the SCSD then the public needs to know about it. We don't allow people (in theory) to purchase firearms when they have psychological problems. We certainly shouldn't allow them to have badges, too. The public safety depends on it.

I'm not saying that these officers are bad people. I'm saying if they need help then they need a vacation, too. These people certainly shouldn't be working undercover or serving narcotics warrants.

The media has gone strangely silent on this murder. Despite Chris Jones track record ($3.5 million worth) of civil rights abuses and emotional problems, he was on the West Tennessee Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force. I think that every case, bust, conviction Deputy Jones was involved in, where there was a hint of police misconduct, ought to go under review immediately. The Commercial Appeal and the TV outlets are asleep at the wheel. Unless Mike Fleming or Ben Ferguson of AM 600 talked about it last Monday they haven't said a word either.

I met Officer Tate at the old Highland Cue. The guy scared and creeped me out. He gripped my hand so tightly when he shook it I thought I was going to have to try and pull away before it broke. He was a big dog pissing on his territory and everyone knew it. Every officer I talked to said they knew that he was dirty. Hearing about the Chris Jones incident, although I've never met him, was like deja vu all over again. Tate was a K9 officer and I wonder how many dog bites were inflicted out of his sadistic impulses.

It's getting warmer in Memphis. High tomorrow 69 F, cloudy but not as windy as today.