tagged w/ Cannabis
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Ian Layfield prefers his marijuana fried in oil for four hours, then swallowed in cannabis-infused gel caplets.
Either that or mixed in with a topical cream he massages onto his left foot.
Both forms of medical marijuana numb the pain and tightness caused by severe arthritis that began after a road grader in Layfield’s city of Victoria, B.C., pinned his foot, crushing bones, tendons, muscles and soft tissue.
That was in October 2006, but it wasn’t until after self-medicating with tequila and pot, 18 months of rehab needed to walk again, daily doses of the narcotic pain reliever OxyContin and hydromorphone pills, did Layfield gain the consent of his family physician to turn to medical marijuana.
In May 2009, Layfield received his federal licence to grow 98 plants and use marijuana for medical purposes.
“I had never tried heroin before, but (OxyContin) is the synthetic version of it and if this is anything like what the street drug is, I wouldn’t want to touch it,” said Layfield, who didn’t want to take the highly addictive opioids, but had no choice because his doctor felt he had to exhaust all conventional medications before contemplating using medical marijuana.
That rigidity, Layfield said, can be dangerous for patients.
“I weaned myself off of that over a year ago and now it’s just been trial and error with different cannabis strains,” said Layfield, 33.
Since then, he hasn’t had to deal with the stomach pains sparked when he was in withdrawal from his legal opioid use; his stomach cramped whenever it didn’t have any of the highly addictive drugs dissolving inside.
Layfield also doesn’t have to deal with the dangerous haziness produced by the opiate that prevented him from driving.
A few weeks ago, Layfield took a doctor’s letter to the superintendent of motor vehicles in Victoria to notify the government office he was consuming nine grams of cannabis each day.
The office asked Layfield to take a road test to determine the effects, since physicians don’t recommend pot users get behind the wheel.
“I passed with flying colours and I was just issued my new pink card,” Layfield said. “People can be able to keep their licence and still medicate and drive.”
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Painful+battle+worth+fight/5838030/story.htmlIan Layfield prefers his marijuana fried in oil for four hours, then swallowed in... more
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Margaret Marceniuk inhales her medical marijuana through a pharmaceutical puffer and a head-shop pipe.
Tamara Cartwright vaporizes her pot with a machine called a Volcano, then inhales three to four bags of the vapour while locked away in her bedroom, away from her toddler.
Ian Layfield in Victoria swallows cannabis-infused oil capsules he makes himself, frying olive oil with pot leaves, then straining it with cheese cloth and pouring it into gel caps. He also mixes cannabis into a topical cream he rubs into his left foot and ankle, which was crushed in October 2006 after being rolled over by a grader.
Todd Kaighin, an HIV patient in downtown Toronto, largely smokes traditional joints, while Janice Cyre outside Edmonton presses her marijuana leaves into steeped tea. Many users also nibble on the odd brownie or cookie baked with cannabis leaves, pot-infused oil or canna-butter.
All have their federal licences to legally take medical marijuana to help dull pain, boost appetite and curtail nausea or diarrhea associated with multiple sclerosis, colitis, severe arthritis, HIV or fibromyalgia. But all laugh disdainfully at the dried marijuana grown by the federal government in a mine in Manitoba, describing it as “dust” or “catnip in a bag” that has little therapeutic benefit and brings headaches.
They either buy their medical pot illegally through compassion clubs or legally grow their own plants in their basements, with some occasionally and reluctantly forced to buy from street dealers
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Wide+range+medical+marijuana+users+find+relief+despite+doctors/5838022/story.htmlMargaret Marceniuk inhales her medical marijuana through a pharmaceutical puffer and a... more
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Chris Hillier’s life arc bottomed out in a Vancouver back alley, across the country from his Newfoundland home and a world away from the war zone that broke him.
Homeless, penniless, and addicted to crack cocaine, Hillier slept behind a community centre, at the intersection of Hastings and Main, the notorious epicentre of the city’s drug trade.
Three years earlier, Hillier was in the midst of a successful military career, serving his country as an air force firefighter aboard HMCS Preserver in the Middle East in the months after the 9/11 strikes on the U.S.
His tour with Operation Apollo took him to the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. But the constant stress of working in a theatre of war left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he believes was worsened by conventional pharmaceuticals prescribed by military doctors.
Today, Hillier is off the streets and clean because, he says, of a treatment that few in the Canadian military like to discuss: medical marijuana.
Hillier, 35, is one of just a handful of veterans who are treating their PTSD with cannabis and getting it paid for by Veterans Affairs Canada.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Medical+marijuana+elevates+former+soldier+from+rock+bottom/5838194/story.htmlChris Hillier’s life arc bottomed out in a Vancouver back alley, across the... more
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If you thought cannabis investment was only a teenage pastime, think again. Hemp and medicinal cannabis are both tried and tested money-making industries, and both are moving at a fast pace. For those on the lookout for unusual investment opportunities—particularly in construction and pharmaceuticals—this could be a growing market.
Although industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent of the psychoactive component THC, in the United States the stigma attached to its hallucinogenic elements have hindered its development.
Production there ended in 1957 after prohibitive laws were passed, but while US legislators continue to debate the issue, 30 countries around the globe are cultivating the crop, including China and Australia.
(more at link)If you thought cannabis investment was only a teenage pastime, think again. Hemp and... more
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Avior
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It's Just a Plant is a picture book about marijuana for younger readers, written and illustrated by the illustrator of Go the Fuck to Sleep.
It's Just a Plant is a children's book. About cannabis. Written and illustrated by Ricardo Cortés, whose lovely illustrations were recently seen in the book Go the Fuck to Sleep, it was first published in 2005 and has been recently reissued. It follows Jackie, a girl whose twitching nostrils lead her to her parents' bedroom one night where they are smoking a joint. The following day, her mother takes her on an educational journey – they meet a farmer, a doctor, a police officer – to learn more about marijuana.
What right-on parents: they cycle, they have cool art and psychedelic carpets, they get their vegetables for their vegetarian dinner direct from a farmer (Bob, who has a nice sideline growing pot plants), they are politically active, if a little too optimistic. "Any government can make a bad law," says Jackie's mother, explaining why marijuana was banned. "Luckily, where we live people can work together to fix unfair laws." Cortés is staunchly pro-legalisation – this summer, he printed and distributed illustrated pamphlets to try to convince people on jury duty to practise "jury nullification" – returning a not guilty verdict regardless of evidence – in all criminal drug cases in protest at the law.
Many politicians and columnists have criticised Cortés's sympathetic look at cannabis, claiming that he was encouraging children down an evil road of drug abuse. But perhaps it will have the opposite effect. Although you may agree with much of Cortés's message, anything so self-consciously liberal is usually more than a little cringey. If there's one thing that might put children off drugs, it's reading about these groovy parents taking them.It's Just a Plant is a picture book about marijuana for younger readers, written... more
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Could the chemicals found in marijuana prevent and even heal several deadly cancers? Could the tumor regulating properties of cannabinoids someday replace the debilitating drugs, chemotherapy, and radiation that harms as often as it heals? Discover the truth about this ancient medicine as world renowned scientists in the field of cannabinoid research explain and illustrate their truly mind-blowing discoveries. QUOTES: "What If Cannabis Cured Cancer summarizes the remarkable research findings of recent years about the cancer-protective effects of novel compounds in marijuana. Most medical doctors are not aware of this information and its implications for prevention and treatment. If we need more evidence that our current policy on cannabis is counterproductive and foolish, here it is." -Andrew Weil, M.D. "A hugely important film" - Julie Holland, M.D. NYU School of MedicineCould the chemicals found in marijuana prevent and even heal several deadly cancers?... more
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As the Leveson Inquiry looks at media standards, we should investigate the lies written about cannabis in the British press.
By Peter Reynolds
In the mid 1930s, after the end of alcohol prohibition, Harry Anslinger, former assistant commissioner at the Bureau of Prohibition, was settling into his exciting new job as head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and working on his next campaign.
"This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with negroes, entertainers and any others," he wrote in one of Randolph Hearst's newspapers. Hearst was behind the organised campaign against cannabis hemp, then one of America's most successful crops, by timber, oil and paper interests. The strategy was to slur the plant with the racist term "marijuana", demonise it, outlaw it and wipe it out.
Come forward about 80 years to the present day. In the US there is the White House drugs czar Gil Kerlikowske and the head of the DEA, Michelle Leonhart. In Britain we have James Brokenshire, the Home Office minister. These people are faithful in style and message to their role model Anslinger. They use arguments and propaganda of exactly the same type and value but adjusted to politically correct 2011 terms. Their weapon is deceit and their strategy is intransigence. The prejudice, discrimination and media scaremongering continues. As Anslinger had Randolph Hearst's media empire, so Brokenshire has the Daily Mail.
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The Mail came out all guns blazing last week in response to the Global Initiative on Drug Policy Reform and the ex-head of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller, calling for legal regulation. Despite the furious propaganda war it has waged against cannabis and cannabis users the issue won't go away. Why? Because millions of British citizens regularly use and enjoy cannabis with no ill effects and many find it of enormous therapeutic benefit for conditions such as chronic pain, MS and Crohn's disease. Also, because this war on cannabis is just another war on people. It is futile, expensive and causes far more harm than it prevents. It has created the modern phenomenon of rented property being destroyed, electricity being stolen with human trafficked gardeners and intensive production of high potency cannabis.
(much more at link)As the Leveson Inquiry looks at media standards, we should investigate the lies... more
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AN ACT TO AMEND THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE OF CALIFORNIA:
I. Add Section 11362.6 to the Health and Safety Code of California, any laws or policies to the contrary notwithstanding:
1. No person, individual, or corporate entity shall be arrested or prosecuted, be denied any right or privilege, nor be subject to any criminal or civil penalties for the possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of cannabis hemp marijuana, including:
(a) Cannabis hemp industrial products.
(b) Cannabis hemp medicinal preparations.
(c) Cannabis hemp nutritional products.
(d) Cannabis hemp euphoric products.
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1016_11-0073_%28hemp_legalization%29.pdfAN ACT TO AMEND THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE OF CALIFORNIA:
I. Add Section 11362.6 to... more
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Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive constituent of cannabis, has been reported to induce neuroprotective effects in several experimental models of brain injury.
Cannabidiol improved locomotor functional recovery and reduced injury extent, suggesting that it could be useful in the treatment of spinal cord lesions.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21915768Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive constituent of cannabis, has been reported to... more
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By Bill Boyarsky
One of the most striking inconsistencies of President Obama’s administration is its odd stand on the use of marijuana to relieve the suffering of those stricken with cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, migraines and many other debilitating and painful ailments.
In 1996 California voters approved a law permitting the growth, sale and possession of marijuana for such conditions on the recommendation of a physician. Oregon and Washington state, also by popular vote, legalized medical marijuana. In the past 15 years, a total of 16 states and the District of Columbia have adopted such laws. Ten of them were by popular vote.
But in October, four federal prosecutors in California announced a crackdown on the growers and dispensaries that distribute marijuana in the state. Laura Duffy, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, said she and her colleagues acted because the medical marijuana business was “turning more and more into a retail for-profit industry.” Andre Birotte Jr., the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said, “Marijuana sales—most often to individuals who have obtained sham doctors’ recommendations for no purpose other than to engage in recreational marijuana use—are the basis of a massive commercial industry.”
The U.S. attorneys, the legal arms of Obama’s Justice Department, have gone far beyond that. Despite state and local laws authorizing growers and distributors, they have sent letters to local officials and to owners of properties which house the marijuana distributors, warning they are violating federal law. Letters have been sent to more than a dozen dispensaries and their landlords, as well as to city officials approving or contemplating approval of such operations.
No matter what Duffy, Birotte and the other U.S. attorneys said at their news conference, their letters do not acknowledge the state’s stand for medical marijuana. To them, it seems that marijuana is marijuana—all bad.By Bill Boyarsky
One of the most striking inconsistencies of President... more
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Cancer patient Briana Bilbray—the daughter of Congressman Brian Bilbray—and local medical marijuana cooperatives on Monday filed for an injunction to stop a federal crackdown on marijuana sales.
Attorney Matt Kumin, who filed for the injunction, said the goal is for the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. attorneys "to stop threatening folks who are in compliance with state law."
The filing comes a month after the Justice Department pledged to crack down on California's commercial marijuana cooperatives and dispensaries.
Plantiffs in the case include four medical marijuana cooperatives from across San Diego and 25-year-old Imperial Beach resident Briana Bilbray. Bilbray's brother, Brian Patrick Bilbray, is an Imperial Beach city councilman and her father, Brian Bilbray, is a U.S. Congressman representing California's 50th District and a former mayor of Imperial Beach. The congressman's district includes Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos and 4S Ranch.
Briana Bilbray has Stage 3 melanoma cancer and opposed the city of Imperial Beach's efforts to restrict medical marijuana cooperatives earlier this year.
"Before I had cancer I thought it was people just trying to get it legalized," she said. "That changed pretty much once I realized that it really did work and it was a legitimate way to get nausea to go away."
Ultimately, she would like to see more discussion on the federal side about marijuana's medicinal benefits.
Bilbray said she also chose to "stand up for it" to ensure she and other patients have access.
"My cancer has a 40 percent chance of reoccurrence and I'm really nervous I'm not going to be able to get it [marijuana], cause the nausea's just unbearable," she said.
Speaking before the Imperial Beach City Council in July, Bilbray said she bought $200 worth of nausea-reducing medicine that provided her no assistance. In contrast, she said one dose of medical marijuana relieves her for an entire day.
"You have no idea. It is like the difference between night and day for chemo patients," she said. "Not only are you infringing on my right as a California resident to obtain the medicine I need, but you are punishing me by making it more difficult to get the one thing I really need.
http://ranchobernardo.patch.com/articles/congressman-bilbray-daughter-on-opposite-sides-of-medical-marijuana-debateCancer patient Briana Bilbray—the daughter of Congressman Brian... more
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A state lawmaker in Florida filed a joint resolution this week that would allow Floridians to decide for themselves in the 2012 election whether they want to legalize medical marijuana with a constitutional amendment. At this point, the Republican-controlled Legislature is all that stands in the way.
The resolution, HJR 353, "Medical Use of Cannabis," filed by state Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth), would create an article in the state constitution that would "allow medical use of cannabis by citizens and allow Legislature to implement these provisions by general law," reports Ashley Lopez at The Florida Independent.
"That's a compassion issue," Clemens said, reports Whitney Ray at Capitol News Service. "It's an issue of people in this state that are going through tough times and a lot of physical pain and if they want to use this particular drug as opposed to a more heavy prescription narcotic I don't think there's any reason why we shouldn't let them."
"With 81 percent of Americans supporting allowing medical marijuana, it's time Florida stops jailing its most vulnerable citizens for possessing and using a relatively harmless substance recommended to them by their physicians," the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) said in an August statement about the proposed constitutional amendment.
In March, a poll found that a big majority of Florida residents -- 57 percent -- support the legalization of medical marijuana. The survey was done by Republican pollster Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, the same firm that conducted polls for Florida Gov. Rick Scott's campaign.
The problem, as pointed out by Matthew Hendley at the Broward Palm Beach New Times, is that both the Senate and the House have to pass the resolution by a three-fifths majority for the amendment to make it to the ballot.
Once it clears those two huge hurdles, the measure would still have a tough fight. Under Florida's election rules, such a referendum would require 60 percent of the state's voters to approve it before it became law.
If the issue does make it to the ballot and is approved by Florida's voters (who, according to the polls, are friendly to medical marijuana), it would take effect on July 1, 2013.
Clemens' eight-page resolution gets into some of the details of how Florida's proposed medical marijuana program would work. Its language says that a patient must have been diagnosed with a "debilitating medical condition" by two doctors and can't have more cannabis that "legislatively presumed to be medically necessary," without explicitly setting that limit.
Patients aren't allowed to "affect another person's health or well-being" with their cannabis smoking, and patients would be prohibited from medicating in public. Workplaces would not be required to accommodate medical marijuana patients as employees, and patients would have to be at least 18 to participate, unless parental consent is given.
Patients with children wouldn't have their kids taken away just for using medical marijuana -- unless their "behavior creates an unreasonable danger" to them.
Caregivers would not face arrest, prosecution or disciplinary action from any professional licensing board for assisting with a patient's use of medical marijuana.
If state or local law enforcement officials confiscate medical marijuana in the event of an arrest, the weed would have to be kept safe and never destroyed, and must be returned to the patient "immediately" if the person isn't prosecuted, the charges are dismissed, or the defendant is acquitted.
A reality check is in order: The Florida Legislature is controlled by Republicans who aren't very good at listening to the wishes of their constituents when it comes to medical marijuana.
Clements already introduced the resolution a few months ago during the 2011 session of the Legislature, but the bill failed to get a hearing, according to the MPP.
To read HJR 353 in its entirety, click here.
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/10/resolution_introduced_to_legalize_medical_marijuan.phpA state lawmaker in Florida filed a joint resolution this week that would allow... more
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In Wake of US Attorney's Ominous Statements Regarding Alt-Weekly Medical Marijuana Ads, Notorious Publisher Jim Holman Implements "Hemp-Based" Back Pages.
"Let's give them something to investigate."
STARING AT THE SALMON-PINK WALLS OF MY CUBICLE, MARVELING AT THE WONDER OF IT ALL - As the Federal Government continues the Great Medical Marijuana Panty-Bunching of 2011, concerns have arisen at alt-weeklies all over the state about the potential loss of ad revenue brought on by a crackdown on pot dispensaries.
In preparation for such an event, Reader publisher Jim Holman today announced his paper's plan to make the paper's medical marijuana ads "a little more user-friendly, if you know what I mean. Instead of printing the ads on expensive glossy stock, we'll be switching over to a more practical paper made from hemp and, um, other natural products.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/almost-factual-news/2011/oct/18/emsan-diego-readerem-announces-new-smokable-ads/In Wake of US Attorney's Ominous Statements Regarding Alt-Weekly Medical... more
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"When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do" is an educational documentary concerning the facts about cannabis. In this feature length documentary we explore everything there is, from industrial hemp to medicinal cannabis use, from the origins of cannabis prohibition to the legality of growing equipment.
A film by Seth Finegold and presented by Luke Bailey.
Featuring Interviews with:
Professor David Nutt (Head of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs)
Mr Peter Reynolds (Head of CLEAR UK, formerly the Legalize Cannabis Alliance)
Ms Sarah Martin (Medicinal cannabis patient)
Find out more at:
http://www.blogtopus.tv"When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do" is an educational documentary... more
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"A ban on some foreign tourists has come into force in the cannabis-selling coffee shops of the Dutch border city of Maastricht.
City authorities say the influx of tourists buying soft drugs is threatening public order and causing major traffic problems.
Coffee shop owners say the ban won't work and will hit the local economy.
However, the ban does not apply to visitors from Germany and Belgium who are the majority of foreign customers.
The move comes ahead of a proposed nationwide crackdown being discussed in the Dutch parliament.
The BBC's Anna Holligan says the ban is being seen as a test case that could be implemented in other Dutch towns and cities.
There are about 700 coffee shops in the Netherlands. The cultivation and sale of soft drugs through them is decriminalised although not legal.
An estimated 6,000 people visit Maastricht's coffee shops every day - most making the quick trip across the border from Belgium and Germany.
But from Saturday, anyone who doesn't hold a Dutch, Belgian or German passport will be told to leave."
for more please go to link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15134669
Just as the United States becomes more lenient.. the mecca of cannabis tourism tightens up their policies. it's a messed up world..."A ban on some foreign tourists has come into force in the cannabis-selling... more
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https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/legalize-and-regulate-marijuana-manner-similar-alcohol/y8l45gb1
The White House launched a petition page this morning. If the petitions get 5000 or more signatures the President will address it. The first petition is to legalize Marijuana.https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/legalize-and-regulate-marijuana-manner... more
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Avior
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Avior
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The prevalence of obesity in the general population is sharply lower among marijuana consumers than it is among nonusers, according to an analysis published online this week in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Investigators at the Louis Moureir Hospital in Colombes, France analyzed cross-sectional data from two representative epidemiological studies of US adults age 18 and older: the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication. Combined, the surveys included over 50,000 eligible respondents. Authors controlled for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, including age, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, and tobacco use, but they did not factor into account subjects' physical activity or diet.
"The prevalence of obesity was significantly lower in cannabis users than in nonusers (16.1 percent versus 22 percent in the NESARC and 17.2 percent versus 25.3 percent in the NCS-R)," researchers reported.
They added, "The proportion of obese participants decreased with the frequency of cannabis use" -- noting that respondents who reported using the substance 'three days per week or more' were least likely to be obese compared to those who reported 'no cannabis use in the past 12 months.'
Authors concluded, "[E]ven if cannabis consumption increases appetite, people using cannabis are less likely to be obese than people who do not use cannabis."
The study is the first large-scale trial to evaluate the association between cannabis use and weight in the general population.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the prevalence of obesity is approximately 34 percent among adults in the United States, contributing to 13 percent of total US mortality.
Full text of the study, "Obesity and cannabis use: results from two representative national surveys," appears online in the American Journal of Epidemiology.The prevalence of obesity in the general population is sharply lower among marijuana... more
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by Theo Spielberg
Peter Tosh, an original member of the Wailers and gifted solo artist, left behind a legacy of political consciousness after his 1987 murder. The estate of the groundbreaking reggae artist announced on Tuesday, Aug. 9, that it will be launching a series of partnerships with Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
A campaign is already underway with Amnesty International, which will give away his solo version 'Get Up Stand Up' (which he co-wrote with Bob Marley) in order to drum up support for Mexican human-rights defender Lydia Cacho. The Cancun-based journalist has received numerous death threats after she exposed a government-backed child-pornography ring, and anyone who signs up to "stand up for Lydia" will receive the free MP3.
In the coming weeks, Tosh's music will also be used in campaigns by Greenpeace International, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and the Marijuana Policy Project, and will highlight music from his solo albums 'Legalize It' (1976) and 'Equal Rights' (1977). The SSDP is hosting a video contest in which people can submit a PSA on the them of "What 'Legalize It' Means to Me," in support of the first-ever marijuana legalization bill in Congress. The winner will have their video featured in the effort and receive a "Legacy Edition" of 'Legalize It.'
http://www.spinner.com/2011/08/09/peter-tosh-greenpeace-amnesty-international/by Theo Spielberg
Peter Tosh, an original member of the Wailers and gifted solo... more
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