Legalization // Current TV

Emperor - Chapter 12

Cannabis Drug Use in 19th Century America Although by 1839, cannabis hemp products... more

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Emperor - Chapter 13

PREJUDICE: Marijuana and the Jim Crow Laws Since the abolition of slavery, racism... more

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The Official Story - Debunking "Gutter Science"

After 15 days of taking testimony and more than a year's legal deliberation, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young formally urged the DEA to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana. In a September 1988 judgment, he ruled: "The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision . . . It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record. In strict medical terms, marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

Yet former DEA Administrator John Lawn, his successor, Robert Bonner, and current DEA Administrator John Constantine - non-doctors all! - have refused to comply and have continued to deprive persons of medical cannabis, according to their own personal discretion.

Wasting Time, Wasting Lives

More than 100 years have passed since the 1894 British Raj commission study of hashish smokers in India reported cannabis use was harmless and even helpful. Numerous studies since have all agreed: The most prominent being Siler, LaGuardia, Nixon's Shafer Commission, Canada's LeDain Commission, and the California Research Advisory Commission.

Concurrently, American presidents have praised hemp, the USDA amassed volumes of data showing its value as a natural resource, and in 1942 the Roosevelt administration even made Hemp for Victory, a film glorifying our patriotic hemp farmers. That same year, Germany produced The Humorous Hemp Primer, a comic book, written in rhyme, extolling hemp's virtues. (See appendix I of the paper version of this book.)

Yet even the humane use of hemp for medicine is now denied. Asked in late 1989 about the DEA's failure to implement his decision quoted above, Judge Young responded that administrator John Lawn was being given time to comply.

More than a year after that ruling, Lawn officially refused to reschedule cannabis, again classing it as a Schedule I "dangerous" drug that is not even allowed to be used as medicine.

Decrying this needless suffering of helpless Americans, the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Family Council on Drug Awareness quickly demanded Lawn's resignation. His successors, Bonner, and now Constantine, retain the same policy.

What hypocrisy allows public officials to scoff at the facts and deny the truth? How do they rationalize their atrocities? How? They invent their own experts.The Official Story - Debunking "Gutter Science" After 15 days of taking... more

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Emperor - Chapter 16

The Emperor's New Clothes - Alternatives to Prohibition In conclusion, we see... more

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Emperor - Chapter 14

More than Seventy Years of Suppression & Repression 1937: Hemp banned. Only an... more

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Ont. restaurateur may take medical marijuana feud to court

TORONTO - A Burlington Ont. restaurant owner facing a human rights complaint for... more

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Raiding California - Update - Fed Case

UPDATE: The public is encouraged to attend the trial of Charlie Lynch: U.S.... more

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Is All Marijuana Use Medical?

The July 28 issue of The New Yorker includes a subtle, honest, and absorbing account... more

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Voters may get a crack at pot plan

Lawmaker wants to let residents decide fate of marijuana measure Letting voters... more

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Drug legalization debate, 6/26/08, aired across Europe and the Middle East

Click here to view the full one-hour program on presstv.com. David Borden did not... more

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Group urges total drug legalization

OMAHA, Neb. -- A group visiting Omaha has called for the legalization of drugs, saying... more

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Magic Mushrooms & Spirituality

Hallucinogenic mushrooms, long valued by Central American cultures for their mystical... more

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Toke up before boarding?

Air travel is a total hassle, man, and marijuana advocates in Denver say everyone would find the normally excruciating process a lot more pleasant if they could enjoy a few bong hits before boarding. It might even help solve a few of the problems that airlines have been experiencing lately. The way they see it, if people can knock a few back before a flight, they should be able to spark one up. They're calling on airports nationwide to install marijuana lounges.

"All we're saying is, in light of the fact drunk and disorderly incidents on airplanes are becoming more common, it really makes sense to allow adults the choice to use marijuana," says Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the organization calling for the lounges. "There's no rational reason our government would allow people to use alcohol and not use marijuana."

Well, except for the fact the feds classify marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, putting it alongside heroin, mescaline meth and acid on its list of Drugs That Definitely Are Evil.

Tvert says many travelers consider flying stressful, so they'll have a drink - or two, or three, or... - before boarding. That can lead to problems, such as the case last week where a JetBlue passenger allegedly lit up a cigarette and socked a flight attendant. She blamed the crew for serving her three vodkas. U.S Attorney Troy Eid told the Rocky Mountain News the feds are seeing a record number of passengers - often drunk - misbehaving on airplanes. "I think sometimes people think this is a joke," he says. "They think it's funny. And they're going to find out otherwise as we do more and more of these cases."

SAFER says giving people the option of smoking a joint before their flights would relax them without making them unruly. But don't expect the feds or the airports to go along with the idea. Chuck Cannon, a spokesman for Denver International Airport, told the Denver Post he doesn't foresee marijuana smoking in the airport. "Marijuana is illegal isn't it?," he says. "All the bars and restaurants are concessions and they sell what they sell. I do not know that we are going to tell them what they can sell. Alcohol is legal and tobacco is legal and marijuana is not."

Tvert said he doesn't have a problem with alcohol being sold in airports -- although some people do, and say it should be banned -- but says people should have another option. "It is irrational and potentially dangerous policy to continue allowing passengers to get drunk before and during flights while prohibiting them from simply making the safer choice to use marijuana prior to boarding," Tvert says.

Air travel is a total hassle, man, and marijuana advocates in Denver say everyone... more