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Former smugglers now legit at medical pot convention
LOS ANGELES – Three decades ago, Bruce Perlowin was smuggling hundreds of thousands of pounds of Colombian marijuana to California in fishing boats passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. His childhood friend, David Tobias, was trafficking dope across turquoise Caribbean waters to Florida and Georgia.
On Saturday, at a Los Angeles medical marijuana trade show teeming with entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on California's legal pot market, the two chums were reunited as business consultants marketing "solutions for an emerging industry."
Their Medical Marijuana Inc. booth is one of scores of competing exhibits at Hemp Con 2010, a three-day event promoters say will draw 30,000 visitors to the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend. The once unfathomable expo signals the reach of California's fast-budding cannabis economy and the intense lure of both pot seekers and entrepreneurial dreamers to get a toke of the action.
Inside the 70,000-square-foot exhibit space Saturday, an Azusa sheet metal worker and his cousin, a former cultivator, were marketing $35,000 to $105,000 Tow and Grow trailers for growing medicinal weed.
A Santa Ana leasing agent was pitching retail space for marijuana dispensaries in a glistening new building. A retired Los Angeles lawyer was marketing a home delivery company for medical cannabis users. A communications specialist was selling a telephone service that gives driving directions to get any marijuana patient, anywhere in California, to the closest pot store.
"Thousands of jobs are being created in this industry overnight," exulted one convention speaker, Michael Lerner, publisher of the Kush pot magazine in Southern California and operator of dailybuds.com, a site billed as "the Facebook for medical marijuana."
"The movement has happened. We're not stopping now," he said.
Amidst it all, marveling at this new, seemingly wide-open business world were Perlowin and Tobias, chairman and vice president of Medical Marijuana Inc. The Orange County firm sells training seminars in marketing, accounting and tax compliance for people running marijuana dispensaries or cultivating the crop.
Two guys who each served nearly a decade in prison for pot smuggling – Perlowin in California and Tobias in Georgia – are now telling newcomers in the trade how to go legit.
They even developed a special "tax remittance card" that pot shop employees can scan to make sure they pay California sales tax on all marijuana transactions. And their company is publicly traded with an over-the-counter stock – listed as MJNA – for "Mary Jane Non-Alcoholic."
"This is a lot less stressful," said Perlowin, a purported Northern California pot king who authorities said was once raking in $16 million a year from marijuana trafficking. "I'm not a fugitive. And I don't have to hide."
While no longer involved in any marijuana distribution, Tobias wonders if their past misdeeds as pot smugglers could have helped pave the way for today's medical marijuana market. Voters approved the Proposition 215 medical use law in 1996. Dispensaries sprouted in abundance over the past year as the federal government signaled it wouldn't target outlets serving pot patients in states that allow medical use.
"Really, without guys like us," Tobias mused Saturday, "it may have never come to this."
John Lovell, a lobbyist for the California Peace Officers Association, a group gearing up to fight a marijuana legalization initiative expected to be on the California ballot in November, found little about the massive trade show amusing.
"I think it shows the fraudulent nature of the medical marijuana law," Lovell said. "When people voted for Proposition 215, they thought they were voting to ease the pain of the terminally ill. But it was creating a subterfuge in order to sell dope.
"The fact they're holding a trade show at the convention center really underscores that reality."
Convention promoter Edwin Kwong, whose Mega Productions firm previously staged tattoo expos and computer, home and auto shows, said he knew he had a sure-fire convention draw with medical pot. He spent $200,000 in advertising, posting 15 Hemp Con billboards along Los Angeles and Orange County freeways and running 700 radio and 40 television spots to promote the event.
"I'm always at the forefront of a new trend," he boasted.
Cousins Rick Probsti, 42, and Nick Parks, 37, are hoping they're ahead of the market as well. Probsti runs an aluminum fabrication shop. Parks says, discreetly, that he knows a little bit about marijuana cultivation.
Together, they led convention attendees Saturday through a demonstration trailer bathed in hydroponic lights and meticulously equipped with growing trays, irrigation and air filtration systems. They have sold two units since starting their business in October.
The cousins say they have no interest in cultivating pot themselves. Instead, they see themselves as outfitters for California's marijuana rush – just as earlier entrepreneurs made fortunes clothing and supplying gold-seeking 49ers long ago.
"We don't want to be the gold miners," Probsti said. "We want to be Levi Strauss."
http://www.fresnobee.com/1148/story/1830406.htmlLOS ANGELES – Three decades ago, Bruce Perlowin was smuggling hundreds of... more-
- copperdragon
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- 23 days ago
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Vancouver 2010: Google changes doodle for Winter Olympics opening ceremony
The Google logo appears in front of a stylised drawing of the opening ceremony which – unusually for a themed doodle – stretches right the way across the screen.
The logo also boasts an Olympic flame in place of the letter "l", and a small print of the Olympic rings.
This is not the first time that the search giant has used its doodle to mark the Olympics. For Beijing 2008 it released a doodle showing the five mascots of the Games carrying an Olympic flag.
Google also produced a doodle to mark the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
It was announced this morning that Shelley Rudman will carry the British flag in the opening ceremony at the BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
Rudman won a silver medal in Turin four years ago and is a strong medal contender for the skeleton competition in Whistler.
She said: "It's a huge honour for me to have been chosen to represent our team, and ultimately our country, in this way.
"There are some wonderful athletes here, and I will be so proud to be the person who leads them into the stadium."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7220012/Vancouver-2010-Google-changes-doodle-for-Winter-Olympics-opening-ceremony.htmlThe Google logo appears in front of a stylised drawing of the opening ceremony which... more-
- copperdragon
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Former Mexican Official Urges Legalizing Marijuana
The United States and Mexico should both legalize marijuana in an attempt to break the power of the Mexican drug cartels and end the spiraling violence south of the border, a former Mexican foreign minister said Tuesday.
Jorge Castaneda, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said marijuana "should be legalized in both countries," and said it is ridiculous for Mexico to try to stop marijuana from entering the United States when it's legally sold for medical purposes in California.
"The Drug Enforcement Administration says that 60 percent of the Mexican (drug) cartels' profits come from marijuana. If we start with that, it's a big chunk," he added.
"We can't do everything overnight ... and we can't do it in Mexico if the U.S. doesn't do it at the same time."
Castaneda strongly criticized Mexican President Felipe Calderon for declaring war against the drug cartels, a war that has cost as many as 17,000 lives since he took office in December 2006.
In the past month alone, 900 people were killed -- a new monthly record, he said. Sixteen students died in what's thought to be a drug-related massacre in the border city of Juarez over the weekend.
"It's hard for me quite honestly -- and I think for many Mexicans -- to accept that the more deaths we have, the more successful the strategy is," he added.
"I think President Calderon rushed into this, and now we're paying the consequences."
CONTINUED>>>
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/02/us.mexico.marijuana/
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/02/04/Former-Mexican-Official-Urges-Legalizing-MarijuanaThe United States and Mexico should both legalize marijuana in an attempt to break the... more-
- copperdragon
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- 1 month ago
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Snow and record-freezing weather blankets Europe, North America and Asia
Thank goodness for global warming. Think how cold it WOULD have been.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240319/As-Britain-told-expect-snow-10-days-rest-world-coping-Arctic-weather.htmlThank goodness for global warming. Think how cold it WOULD have been.... more-
- richjm
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- 2 months ago
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Canadian PM Harper Accused of Shutting Down Torture Probe
"Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has temporarily shut down Parliament until March, after the close of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The move shuts down all parliamentary committees, including a probe into whether Canadian troops turned over Afghan prisoners to Afghan authorities to be tortured. Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale accused Harper of padlocking Parliament and shutting down democracy. Goodale said, “Three times in three years and twice within one year, the Prime Minister takes this extraordinary step to muzzle Parliament. This time it’s a cover-up of what the Conservatives knew, and when they knew it, about torture in Afghanistan."
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/31/headlines
(Scroll down at the link... above is a photo of Stephen Harper with Obama)"Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has temporarily shut down Parliament... more-
- ninthstate
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- 2 months ago
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Sex, Lies And Asperger
University of Pennsylvania Clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Riggs Cohen, and her former patient, Jacob Heinz, share their thoughts about what it means to live with the silent disability called ASPERGER SYNDROME (ALSO CALLED HIGH FUNCTIONING AUTISM), a neurological disorder of the brain. Jacob Heinz was jailed in 2006 in a Bensalem, Pennsylvania Police Department sting operation via myspace.com where officers posed as a 13 year old girl and had sexual conversations. Given the skyrocketing autism epidemic bedeviling the United States, are adult men and women with asperger syndrome more likely to commit sexual crimes than others?University of Pennsylvania Clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Riggs Cohen, and her former... more-
- rconcep1
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- 3 months ago
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Alberta Health Services to borrow $220M
Alberta Health Services is borrowing $220 million from the Royal Bank to help ease a $1.2 billion budget crunch — a move approved at a meeting of the amalgamated provincial health board Thursday.
"We're able to cover our deficit at the moment," said Stephen Duckett, chief executive officer of AHS. "But obviously, if we continue on our current trends, we'll have to borrow some more, which is what we said at the start of the year."
Duckett said the projected deficit does not include the cost of the swine flu vaccination program, estimated at between $100 million and $150 million.
The agency has announced plans to cut costs by leaving 660 vacant positions unfilled and encouraging eligible staff to take early retirement.
More trimming is in the works, Duckett said.
"We're looking at consolidation of pharmacy distribution," he said. "There's a whole lot of other strategies that we're still examining, because as you will appreciate, finding savings of this kind while still protecting access and quality, it requires rigor and requires us to work through this in a systematic and serious way."
The amalgamation of regional health boards into one provincewide "superboard" has made a mess of Alberta's health care system, said Liberal MLA Kevin Taft.
"They're now off on the market borrowing from the Royal Bank and taking all kinds of activities that suggest they're more and more thinking of themselves as a single big corporation, and I think the logic of this playing out through time is pretty unnerving," Taft said.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/12/03/edmonton-health-borrowing.htmlAlberta Health Services is borrowing $220 million from the Royal Bank to help ease a... more-
- copperdragon
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- 3 months ago
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Canadian Senate Committee Passes Bill C-15
C-15 has been passed by the Senate Committee with minor amendments.
It now proceeds to the Senate for a final vote. After that, the bill only requires a signature by the Governor General to become law.
This unfortunately means we will be unable to delay C-15 any further, and short of rejection by the Senate (highly unlikely), we will face passage of this bill before, or shortly after, the Winter break.
The amendments are as follows:
The Senate Constitutional and Legal Affairs committee today voted to remove under 201 plants from C-15's mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, so long as the production occurs outside of residential areas and in properties owned by the grower.
Let me be clear:
If you produce 1 plant in a residential neighbourhood, C-15 still prescribes a 9 month sentence.
If you produce 1 plant in a rented property, C-15 still prescribes a 9 month sentence.
If you produce 1 plant in a house that you own, C-15 still prescribes a 9 month sentence.
If you produce 200 plants on a farm that you own, C-15 does not apply.
Unfortunately, the Committee was missing the two most prominent critics of C-15 during the clause-by-clause debate today, and were unable to propose ammendments to remove 1-201 plants in residential or rented properties.
This was a victory today, but a small one, that primarily effects rural areas, leaving urban areas under the thumb of these ridiculous mandatory minimum sentences.
The only way to move forward is together, and the only way to defeat this drug war, is with everyone.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/canadian-senate-passes-bill-c-15C-15 has been passed by the Senate Committee with minor amendments. It now proceeds... more-
- copperdragon
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- 3 months ago
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Cannabis, Tobacco and Alcohol Use - Comparing risks of harm and costs to society
Health-related costs per user are eight times higher for drinkers than they are for those who use cannabis, and are more than 40 times higher for tobacco smokers, according to a report published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal.
According to the report, “In terms of [health-related] costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user.”
The review, authored by researchers from the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia at the University of Victoria and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse at the University of Ottawa, stated: “Alcohol is used by a very large number of people with the vast majority of these using in low- or moderate-risk ways. Conversely, cannabis and tobacco are used by far fewer people. The majority of cannabis use is low- and moderate-risk, however, while the majority of tobacco is high-risk.”
The study reported that social costs applicable to marijuana are primarily “enforcement-related.”
The authors concluded: “The harms, risks and social costs of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco vary greatly. A lot has to do with how the substances are handled legally. Alcohol and tobacco are legal substances, which explains their low enforcement costs relative to cannabis. On the other hand, the health costs per user of tobacco and alcohol are much higher than for cannabis. This may indicate that cannabis use involves fewer health risks than alcohol or tobacco.
“These variations in risk, harms and cost need to be taken into account as we think about further efforts to deal with the use of these three substances. … Efforts to reduce social costs related to cannabis, for example, will likely involve shifting its legal status by decriminalizing casual use, to reduce the high enforcement costs. Such a shift may be warranted given the apparent lower health risk associated with most cannabis use.”
According to a recent Rasmussen national poll of 1,000 likely voters, Americans believe by more than two to one that alcohol is “more dangerous” than marijuana.
http://blog.norml.org/2009/11/17/do-the-math-tobacco-related-health-costs-800-booze-related-health-costs-165-pot-related-health-costs-20-any-questions/
http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publications/cannabis/bck/7Health-related costs per user are eight times higher for drinkers than they are for... more-
- copperdragon
- added this
- 4 months ago
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- 34 comments
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Journalist murders in Mexico hit new record
According to a tally by El Universal, the country’s top-selling newspaper, 12 reporters, photographers, editors and radio hosts have been slain this year — two more than in the previous worst year of 2006. The deaths — all of Mexicans working for local media — make the country the most dangerous for the trade in the Western hemisphere.
There have also been dozens of cases of journalists being threatened, beaten and having offices attacked with gunfire and grenades.
Particularly concerning is how the murders have become so frequent they now fail to grab much attention — either in Mexico or in the United States. Antuna’s slaying gained only scant coverage, lost in a sea of more than 5,000 apparent drug-related killings here this year.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/mexico/091110/journalist-murders-mexico-hit-new-recordAccording to a tally by El Universal, the country’s top-selling newspaper, 12... more-
- andyjoe
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- 4 months ago
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Jodie Emery November 13, 2009
Jodie brings us up to date on what's happening with Marc, as we try to get him out on bail. Also news about the vigil, outside his prison and more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdIDrgqVF8Y&feature=player_embeddedJodie brings us up to date on what's happening with Marc, as we try to get him... more-
- copperdragon
- added this
- 4 months ago
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- 1 comment
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Marc Emery Rallies at MP Offices Across Canada
CANNABIS CULTURE - Supporters of Marc Emery showed up at their member of parliaments' offices last weekend to protest the pot activist's extradition to the United States for selling seeds.
Protesters waved signs and chanted at offices in several Canadian cities including Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Calgary Southwest riding and NDP leader Jack Layton's Toronto—Danforth riding.
We encourage supporters to protest at your MP offices ANYTIME! This is an effective way to bring attention to the issues of marijuana law reform and Marc's imprisonment! We need to keep the pressure on our Members of Parliament. Click here to find out other ways to help Free Marc Emery!
Marc Emery is a marijuana activist imprisoned at North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C. awaiting extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds and using the profits to fund pot activist groups.
Click here to find your Member of Parliament's office.
Click here to find Free Marc Emery signs and posters.
Click here to read more about Political Prisoner Marc Emery.
Click here to go to the "Free Marc Emery Rally @ ALL MP Offices Across Canada" Facebook Page.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/marc-emery-rallies-mp-offices-across-canadaCANNABIS CULTURE - Supporters of Marc Emery showed up at their member of... more-
- copperdragon
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- 4 months ago
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5 weeks ago was our last full day together
It's almost 11pm on Sunday, November 1st. Five weeks ago, Marc and I were spending our last night together, counting down the 11 hours until his court appearance and incarceration on Monday, September 28th.
We spent our last Saturday and Sunday nights staying late at the office with our friends/employees, smoking a lot of cannabis and talking about good memories. Marc signed the last sets of "Prince of Pot" DVDs, large and small "FREE MARC" posters, and copies of CC #57 (printed the day of the raid, and released with a warning sticker on the final seed catalogue).
We took some photos of everyone together in our store/office those nights, and cherished every moment, knowing that we would soon be torn apart for what could be five long years...
I'm crying now, remembering how precious and important those last few days were. It was hard to come to terms with the fact he was going to jail. We knew it was coming and we accepted that, but it doesn't make being separated any less painful. We tried to do everything as we would normally do, but also take time out to just love each other, and had a beautiful final few days together (though every day we spent together was wonderful, and the last few months especially so).
Everything seems much more intense lately. I cry almost every day because I miss Marc so much, and sometimes I cry when reading the newspaper because I'm just so sad and concerned about the way our country is changing. The Stephen Harper Conservative government is taking Canada in a very scary direction -- they've doubled the prison budget, introduced laws to eliminate parole and early release, passed laws that take away the double time credit for pretrial imprisonment, restrict prisoners' rights and rehabilitation programs (no more farming or animals, fewer in-person visits, and possibly even taking away voting privileges like in the USA), and spending undisclosed billions of dollars on the military... Those are just some parts of the overhauling of Canada, and there is so much more everyone should know...
Marc wrote an incredible review of the Conservative Party's terrible impact on Canada called "Stephen Harper and The End of Days (of Canada as we know it): Revelations about the Conservative Party's direction for Canada", and it can be heard on his fourth "Prison Pot-cast" audio report (click here to listen). You should also listen to his other "Prison Pot-cast" recordings, as it gives you a look into his daily life and thoughts while behind bars.
It's difficult accepting what has happened but I'm staying very strong, and I'm learning a tremendous amount running every part of our organization and business, and managing various campaigns. I get through each day with a lot of support, and Marc calls me at least 4 times every day. I get to visit him every Sunday; in fact, I saw him earlier tonight. Visiting Marc is one of the best parts of my life -- seeing him, looking into his eyes, examining his face and remembering what it was like to kiss and touch him...
The glass barrier and awful little metal sound grate prevent us from being able to make any physical contact, but we put our hands up to the glass and stare into each others' eyes. I so cherish that one hour together each week... I can't imagine what it'll be like to not see Marc this often. I don't know if I'll be able to visit him in the USA, as he might be far away in Florida, Georgia, Texas, or wherever there's space in the federal prison system, and I might not be able to make it to his facility...
I wish he could just serve his time in Canada. People should be contacting the Justice Minister and asking him to have Marc charged for the same crimes in Canada -- after all, selling seeds is against the law, the Vancouver Police investigated Marc in 2003 (but the Crown refused to lay charges), Marc conducted his activities in CONTINUED> http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/20407It's almost 11pm on Sunday, November 1st. Five weeks ago, Marc and I were... more-
- copperdragon
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- 4 months ago
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Passing of Bill C-15
A vote was carried out yesterday to amend Bill C-15 What will this mean for Canadians?-
- copperdragon
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- 5 months ago
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STOP BILL C-15 Mandatory Minimums Pass House With Support of Liberals
CANNABIS CULTURE - Controversial drug bill C-15, which includes mandatory minimum jail sentences for small amounts of marijuana, passed the Canadian House of Commons with the support of both Liberal and Conservative parties. The bill now moves to the Senate for a final vote.
Health experts and activists criticized the bill for including mandatory sentences, which have been proven ineffective and destructive time and again in studies.
Despite a backlash from the NDP and some Liberal members in the days before the final vote, the majority of Liberals supported the bill, which passed with a vote of 194 to 54. The bill needs only Senate support to become law.
"I think it is really bad news," Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East (NDP), told Cannabis Culture, "the evidence shows very, very strongly - overwhelmingly - that mandatory minimum sentencing is not an effective policy when it comes to drug crime. My fear is that we are going to see more people in jail, and more people fighting charges because they know they will be facing a mandatory minimum sentence. That means more court time and more backlogs."
With Canada's prison system already overstretched to the breaking point, experts say the bill could create a create a dangerous influx of new inmates.
"We are now going down a path the Americans went down 25 years ago," said Kirk Tousaw, a criminal lawyer and executive director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation. "A path they are now abandoning because of the incredible devastation that these kinds of sentences have caused to their criminal justice system and to the social fabric of their communities."
If passed, the bill would enact a number of minimum sentences for drug crimes, including an automatic six month jail term for as few as five plants. The bill has been lambasted for targeting first time drug offenders and small-time dealers and users, instead of focusing on high-level producers and distributors.
"Mid and upper-level traffickers will get no particular increase in punishment, because a major dealer would already get six months or a year for any kind of trafficking," said Vancouver marijuana activist (and CC editor) Marc Emery. "What we’re going to see is people who wouldn’t normally go to jail, they’re going to be the people affected. Largely young people in schoolyards - because if you are dealing around a school, it’s an enhanced penalty. The enhanced penalties of six months, a year, two years, are going to affect, almost exclusively, people under the age of twenty-five."
If passed, the bill will undoubtedly fill Canada's already overtaxed prison system with non-violent offenders, and demand more police for proper enforcement.CANNABIS CULTURE - Controversial drug bill C-15, which includes mandatory minimum jail... more-
- copperdragon
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- 5 months ago
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The Solution to Our Environmental Woes is to End Prohibition
The best solution to our environmental problems is to end prohibition. There is no other viable option short of the immediate end to military conflict that will have the same positive impact on the ecosystem.
Our first step towards a sustainable existence should begin with cannabis. Its assimilation into our civilization is the safest, simplest, most efficient immediate solution that we can implement in time to prevent an ecological catastrophe.
Cannabis is a plant, and its use is as old as civilization itself. It has thousands of immediate and potential applications. Its cultivation rejuvenates the soil, it can replace wood products, it’s medicinal, and it can be used as building material, textiles, paint, plastic, fuel, paper, food and body care. It is one of the most important bounties of nature. It’s a plant that we were meant to use.
So what’s the hold up? The short answer is America’s “War on Drugs”. The United States started a legislative war on this plant genus almost a century ago and they do not want to give up the fight.
The war on drugs is not a war between nations; it’s a corporate war on people, irrelevant of their nationality or ethnicity. It is a war against citizens of the United States and those of other nations. It’s a war without borders. It has gone through multiple mutations and over the last few decades grown into the monstrosity that it is today. It is a one sided war declared by nations on their citizens. A conflict not reciprocated by the citizens. It is a war that is sustained entirely do to ignorance, fear, and greed.
If there is such a thing as a just war, then the war on drugs is on the other end of the spectrum. It is the most unjust war that has ever been. It is a war exclusively waged for money. Every other war throughout history has had at least one other fathomable pretence. The war on drugs doesn’t.
The irony is that this war and the destruction that it unleashes can be brought to an end within an instant, if it was so desired. All that is required is to end prohibition, to repeal one law.
We know that the end to prohibition will have positive effects for our society because precedent for this has already been set. When prohibition of alcohol ended, so did most of the violence associated with gang warfare, as did much of the corruption in government. When prohibition ended, precious resources were made available again and a major source of revenue and employment was established through the sale of alcohol and its associated paraphernalia.
These same results have also been observed in Portugal’s experiment with drug decriminalization. The United Nations has also confirmed these findings in its annual report on the state of global drug policy, and many countries have been paying-heed and following Portugal’s example. Decriminalization is sweeping through major parts of Latin America as well as numerous municipalities and States within the United States of America.
The only reason that America’s Federal “War on Drugs” still continues to this day is because its so-called adversaries, criminal organizations and certain sectors of government, don’t want it to end since its continuation guarantees them flow of funds.
All of the above is common knowledge to anyone who has remotely researched this topic, or for that matter, even thought about it. After all, who in their right mind would ever approve of a war on nature, a war on a plant, a war on a plant that’s not even poisonous, a war on a plant that is actually beneficial for us, our society, and the ecosystem? You would have to be deranged to do such a thing. But this is exactly what we have done. We have been waging a war on a plant for almost a century. We have been waging a war on cannabis that spans the globe, costs trillions of dollars, destroys millions of lives, and consumes precious resources.
On the behest of certain corporations and a small minority that profit from prohibition, we have been CONTINUED>>>The best solution to our environmental problems is to end prohibition. There is no... more-
- copperdragon
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- 5 months ago
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Report on weed use prompts call for legalization
A report released Thursday that shows the number of pot smokers in the world has grown to more than 160 million people has Canadian advocates renewing calls for legalization of the drug.
An Australian study, citing United Nations data from 2006 and published Thursday in the journal Lancet, found that about 166 million people aged 15-64 — or an estimated one in 25 in that age range — reported using cannabis. That's up from about 159 million people in 2005.
"It's not going away. So should one in 25 people be criminalized for smoking pot?" asked Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa professor and spokesman for the Canadian Foundation For Drug Policy. "What this number says to me is the world is not drug free. Some people prefer alcohol over cannabis and some people prefer cannabis."
The foundation is urging the Canadian government to legalize and regulate marijuana, by allowing people to grow their own and taxing sales the way it regulates alcohol or tobacco.
While the Australian study found pot use was greatest in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, followed by Europe, another report — from the United Nations — shows marijuana use in this country is actually the highest in the industrialized world.
That 2007 report, by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, found 16.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 64 smoked marijuana or used other cannabis products in 2004. That's the most recent year for which statistics were cited.
"I'd say 70 or 80 per cent of my university students smoke pot and they are perfectly normal people," said Oscapella. "If you've ever tried it you know its no big deal. So why are we using criminal law to deal with this behaviour? That's the real issue."
Other figures — from Statistics Canada — show the number of Canadians using cannabis is on the rise, from 6.5 per cent of Canadians in 1989, to 7.4 per cent in 1994 and then to 12.2 per cent in 2002.
The largest concentration of marijuana use in Canada is in British Columbia, while residents of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan had lower-than-average rates.
B.C. also leads the country in marijuana production with 40 per cent of Canadian cannabis produced there. That's followed by Ontario at 25 per cent and another 25 per cent in Quebec, the UN report said.
Unlike Canada, in Australia and New Zealand — where eight per cent of the population use cannabis — the numbers there are declining, the Australian study says. It says a similar trend is also happening in western Europe.A report released Thursday that shows the number of pot smokers in the world has grown... more-
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Prisoners of Ideology
The Harper government has ignored reams of research and conclusive evidence about prison policy in favour of slogans and pandering.
The federal government's quiet reform of the country's prison system might have gone unnoticed by many Canadians if not for the work of Graham Stewart and Michael Jackson.
Stewart, former head of the John Howard Society of Canada, and Jackson, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, have released an illuminating review of the direction in which the Conservative government is taking the corrections system.
Their critique, A Flawed Compass: A Human Rights Analysis of the Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, accuses the government of -- surprise! -- favouring ideology instead of data, and ignoring the human rights of prisoners, when it comes to developing corrections policy.
These are serious concerns that need to be addressed.
They contend that the Harper government has ignored reams of research and conclusive evidence about prison policy -- some of it produced by government employees -- in favour of slogans and pandering. They fear that the resulting direction the government is taking -- based on the 2007 report Roadmap to Public Safety -- will not only be extremely costly, but will fail to make the public safer.
The Harper government has long talked a good game on law-and-order, promising to get tough on crime. Problem is, crime rates have been dropping across Canada, so in order to win public support for its agenda, the government has had to rely on emotion rather than facts. And the government is happy to admit it. Critics "try to pacify Canadians with statistics" Prime Minister Stephen Harper told an audience last year. "Your personal experiences and impressions are wrong, they say, crime is really not a problem."
It is true that statistics matter little to individuals who have been personally victimized. But empirical evidence should matter to policy-makers. Crime rates are one piece of evidence about what is and what is not working in the corrections system. Ignoring research and statistics is a formula for producing bad policy.
Among the key recommendations the government has adopted is ending "statutory releases" after prisoners serve two-thirds of their sentences, in favour of earned parole that is tied to following a corrections plan. The 2007 panel said the shift would improve public safety.
But experts such as Stewart and Jackson say it would have the opposite effect because, instead of being supervised in the community, prisoners would serve longer and then be dumped into communities with no conditions. Ending a program that might be perceived as offering early release to prisoners may be good optics, but is it good policy?
The Harper Conservatives consistently confuse the two. One need not be a university-based criminologist to see how releasing prisoners with no conditions and no support might actually make the public less safe than earlier release that comes with conditions and support.
The Harper government would move the country's correctional system closer to the U.S. model, which would see more prisoners incarcerated for longer periods, thanks to mandatory minimum sentences and the elimination of gradual release. The plan would see the construction of U.S.-style super prisons.
But is the U.S. really any safer as a result of its jam-packed prisons? The Canadian government might find it useful to talk to some American criminologists, who are horrified about the politicization of their corrections system, before taking us down the same path.
- Article from The Ottawa Citizen.The Harper government has ignored reams of research and conclusive evidence about... more-
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Law and Order Ottawa: Bill C-15 is Wrong Approach to Drugs
Mexico has recently decriminalized possession of small amounts of most illicit substances. Portugal is reporting success with similar reforms. Former Latin American leaders are calling for ending drug prohibition and implementing legally regulated markets.
It seems that radical drug policy reform is catching on, but the current Canadian government is moving backwards by attempting to implement mandatory minimum sentences (MMS) for drug offences in the form of Bill C-15.
Bill C-15 moved through the House of Commons quickly this past spring, where a very deferential Liberal party supported the Conservative motion, with the Bloc Québecois and NDP opposing. Bill C-15 will prescribe mandatory minimum sentences (MMS) for drug crimes, meaning that certain offences will trigger automatic jail or prison sentences.
For example, growing between six and two hundred marijuana plants will result in six to nine months of imprisonment, or two years if youth are around. Producing or selling drugs such as cocaine and heroin with the involvement of organized crime or violence has a penalty of a one year minimum sentence. Doing the same in a prison or involving youth results in two years in prison. The Bill is part of the Conservative’s larger anti-crime strategy, an unabashedly ‘tough on crime’ strategy, light on supporting evidence, but heavy on divisive wedge politics.
Making Canadians safer, or making bigger profits for organized crime?
But is Bill C-15 going to make Canadians safer, as its defenders claim? Not likely. A 2002 Department of Justice study concluded drug consumption and related crime seem to be unaffected by MMS policies. The day to day of the illicit drug markets will hardly be affected. Since the risks of the drug trade will increase, prices likely will rise as well, resulting in higher profits for those we are trying to punish with this bill.
Liberal MP Brian Murphy stated in the House of Commons that it would be a good thing even if the organized criminals were not deterred and the only people caught and deterred by C-15 were ‘mom and pop’ marijuana growers. Recently law enforcement officials in California stated that the mom and pop operations in that state are diverting significant amounts of market share away from Mexican cartels. Responsible growers are the biggest competition for organized crime, yet we want to lock them up?
The trouble with Bill C-15 is that it still addresses the issue of drugs with a war-on-drugs mentality. Illicit drugs are seen as something that can be removed from our society, when in reality they are a lucrative commodity and have been part of societies since the beginning of time. Without responsibly and sensibly addressing drugs in our society this Bill will be another failed attempt at maintaining a criminally enforced drug prohibition in a society that won’t sustain it.
For many, Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs) are the silver lining of Bill C-15, but experts have already warned that they are not a viable option for many who will be facing charges under Bill C-15. DTCs are expensive to build and few Canadian cities already have one. Treatment centers and services have long waiting lists. For those who do get access to the DTCs, success rates are low and generally short-term.
Liberals choose ‘tough on crime’ over ‘smart on crime’
In April 2009, members of CSSDP descended upon Parliament Hill to speak to MPs about Bill C-15. Our position, like the majority of witnesses, was that the Bill should be dropped in its entirety, and replaced with a sensible, evidence-based drug policy.
Many of the Liberal MPs we met with agreed with us that MMSs were not going to make Canadians safer, or curb the illicit drug market, or change the fact that roughly 70 per cent of resources go to enforcement rather than treatment, education or harm reduction. But then we heard what really mattered to them; if the Liberal party voted against Bill C-15 the Conservatives will paint them CON'T>Mexico has recently decriminalized possession of small amounts of most illicit... more-
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Poll shows Canadians split over extradition of 'Prince of Pot'
Canadians are divided on the extradition of Marc Emery to the U.S. to face five years imprisonment for selling marijuana seeds.
In an online survey of a representative national sample of Canadians, 46 per cent of respondents agree with extraditing Emery, while 48 per cent disagree.
Surprisingly, 52 per cent of respondents believe Emery and other Canadians should be extradited even if the punishment they face abroad is more severe than the punishment meted out in Canada for the same crime. On this question there are sizable majorities in Alberta (58 per cent), British Columbia (56 per cent) and Quebec (54 per cent). Still, 41 per cent disagree.
But many believe the five-year sentence for manufacturing marijuana that Emery faces is too harsh. Forty-five per cent (including 53 per cent of British Columbians), take that view. One-third (33 per cent) think the sentence is correct, and 16 per cent deem it too lenient.
The B.C. Court of Appeal said last year that the appropriate sentence for someone like Emery convicted of selling marijuana seeds by mail was a month or two in jail, and a year's probation.
In the questions designed to gauge awareness of four high-profile court cases involving extradition, a surprising 44 per cent of respondents stated that they did not know who Emery was.
Ronald Allen Smith -- the Red Deer, Alta. native now on death row in Montana for slaying two people -- had an even lower level of name recognition, with 56 per cent not knowing who he is.
Only 13 per cent of Canadians, by comparison, did not know of Omar Khadr, the Canadian held at the Guantanamo Bay on terrorism charges.
Just 11 per cent say they do not know of Roman Polanski, the film director who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1978 and who was detained last month in Switzerland on an outstanding warrant.
About two in five (44 per cent) would only send Canadians to face trial and jail time in a foreign country that does not have a corrupt justice system.
Angus Reid Strategies conducted the online survey from Oct. 1 to Oct. 2 among 1,286 randomly selected Canadian adults who are panelists for the company.
The margin of error -- which measures sampling variability -- is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The breakdowns for B.C. are based on a sample of 407 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
The pollsters oversampled in order to get a much better take on the issue than the standard survey would allow.
The results were statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada.
Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
Emery was indicted four years ago by a U.S. federal grand jury on charges of money laundering and distributing marijuana seeds.
He has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge -- of manufacturing marijuana -- in a Seattle court in exchange for a five-year prison term.
The self-styled Prince of Pot is in custody awaiting the expiration of a 30-day appeal period after which the federal justice minister is expected to sign the removal order to transfer him to the U.S.
imulgrew@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver SunCanadians are divided on the extradition of Marc Emery to the U.S. to face five years... more-
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