Prohibition // Current TV

California to legalize weed for everyone

There is an initiative in the works that could end up on the November ballot that... more

JackHerer
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3 years ago
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29 comments

POT vs TOBACCO - Tobacco Contains Ionizing Radiation

Prohibitionists scare people with comparisons between marijuana and tobacco smoke.... more

JackHerer
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Marijuana? Legal? Taxable? Downright Good for the Economy?

New York Times Video Clip describes how marijuana production and consumption has... more

TheILLest
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3 years ago
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1 comment

YouTube - Jack I'm Mellow

Is'nt prohibition fun? It still doesn't work .... Trixie Smith performing... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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3 years ago
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Drug possession for personal use is not a crime, Argentine court rules

In a decision that could bring the question of whether drug possession is legal or not in Argentina to that country's Supreme Court, a judge in the in the province of Buenos Aires has ruled that a tough provincial law penalizing drug possession violates the South American republic's constitution. Penalizing drug possession for personal use is barred under the constitution's privacy provisions, Court of Guarantees Judge Luis Estaban Nitti ruled in the last week of January. A second provincial judge has since followed in Nitti's footsteps.

While drug laws have traditionally been the bailiwick of the federal justice system in Argentina, a move last year toward "defederalization" allowed provincial governments (and their police forces) to get involved in the drug war. In Buenos Aires province, which surrounds the capital city, hard-line provincial Gov. Felipe Sola engineered a tough provincial drug law that went into effect in December. That law was passed in the context of an anti-rave campaign conducted by provincial Health Minister and sub-secretary for the Prevention of Addiction Claudio Mate. It was also apparently aimed at the hordes of young people who visit the province's Atlantic Coast beaches in the Argentine equivalent of spring break. Since December, police in one provincial town alone, Pinamar, have arrested at least 180 young people on drug possession charges, according to the Buenos Aires newspaper Pagina 12. According to figures released this week by the provincial Supreme Court, more than 1,700 people have been arrested province-wide on the new drug law.

"Up until last year, drug crimes were punished only under federal law," said Silvia Inchaurraga of the Argentine Harm Reduction Network (ARDA), which has been a leading force pushing for drug law reform in the country. "But in Buenos Aires province, they decided to create their own provincial drug law. ARDA demonstrated against this law last year, saying it would only increase the repressive power of the state and lead to corruption in the police force, which is already known to be corrupt. We also said that this law would only broaden the persecution of drug users."

The provincial Supreme Court statistics suggest that Inchaurraga and ARDA were correct. In its review of Buenos Aires province drug arrests, the court found that 84% were for simple drug possession and 86% were busted for marijuana. "This evidence shows that it's not true that the law is helping police catch the big drug dealers, just punishing more drug users," she said.

Follow link for the full story.In a decision that could bring the question of whether drug possession is legal or not... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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3 years ago
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16 comments

This Bud's For You--And I Don't Mean Beer

It's generally believed that the number one product from California's number... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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3 years ago
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2 comments

STUDY SHOWS MARIHUANA USE NOT A THREAT

Augustana sociology professor Geraint B. Osborne is of the opinion that people who use marihuana are no more a criminal threat to society than are alcohol and cigarette users.

"Some people argue that drug use leads to crime, and that somehow those who use drugs are in such an altered state they don't know what they are doing and have to go out and hurt someone or get involved in acts of vandalism," said Osborne, whose study, Understanding the Motivations for Recreational Marihuana Use Among Adult Canadians, was published in the spring edition of the journal Substance Use and Misuse. "What I found in the research, with the people we talked to, was that doesn't happen. It doesn't make you want to go out and do those types of things."

The study surveyed 41 employed Canadians ranging in age from 21 to 61, including 25 men and 16 women, whose use of the drug ranged from daily to once or twice a year. They were predominantly middle class and worked in the retail and service industries, in communications, as white-collar employees, or as health-care and social workers. Sixty-eight per cent of the users held post-secondary degrees, while another 11 survey participants had earned their high school diploma.

Osborne was assisted with the study by former Augustana student Curtis Fogel, who went on to do his MA work at Memorial University in Newfoundland, and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Calgary.

"The reason for doing it was largely influenced by my reading of the report on the Senate special committee on illegal drugs, which had looked into the decriminalization and legislation of cannabis back in 2001 and 2002," said Osborne. "A lot of their research focused on people who abused the drug: people from socially marginalized backgrounds who used the drug in almost an addictive manner. Not a lot of ethnographic or qualitative research had been done on recreational marihuana use, or how the rest of the population might be using it."

In conducting the interviews, Osborne found that most adult marihuana users regulate use to their recreational time and do not use compulsively. Rather, as he stated in the study, their use is purposively intended to enhance their leisure activities and manage the challenges and demands of living in contemporary modern society.

"Generally, participants reported using marihuana because it enhanced relaxation and concentration, making a broad range of leisure activities more enjoyable and pleasurable. That most participants made rational decisions to enhance recreation through moderate use, and reported no dependency or addictive problems, is probably related to their middle class status: they are well educated, gainfully employed, can afford to be engaged in a host of hobbies and interest, and as one participant put it, 'have more important things to do than just sit around stone all day.' In other words, there was nothing in their immediate social environment to suggest that they were using marihuana as a way of escaping or retreating from any significant social or psychological ills."

The majority of users also indicated they employed certain rules that many of us employ when it comes to the use of alcohol. Most said they wouldn't drive while intoxicated from alcohol or marihuana, that they wouldn't use it around children, and that they would only use it in the privacy of their own home.

"Some said they would use it in public but only in a concert situation, where others were using it as well," said Osborne.

Follow link for the full storyAugustana sociology professor Geraint B. Osborne is of the opinion that people who... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Cannabis less dangerous, less addictive than Starbucks lattes

Dr. Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician,... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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4 years ago
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11 comments

Pot smokers light up in Toronto street march

http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-33388120080504... more

yai
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4 years ago
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14 comments

200 cities rally to end pot prohibition

Hundreds gathered for the Seattle rally, where marchers gathered at Volunteer Park on... more

uroborus8
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4 years ago
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39 comments

Man denied liver transplant for medical marijuana use died

Doctors at the University of Washington [and Harborview] Hospitals denied Tim Garon a... more

uroborus8
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4 years ago
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36 comments

Film Takes On America's War On Drugs

A documentary movie called "American Drug War" looks at the Drug War. The... more

Future_America
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4 years ago
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0 comments

Japanese schoolkids need a 'taspo' to buy cigarettes

Even though Japan has a legal smoking age of 20, schoolchildren in need of a nicotine... more

mattbrawn
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4 years ago
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0 comments

Q&A: Peter Christ, Co-Founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Ex-police lieutenant Peter Christ, co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition... more

mfarrell1
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4 years ago
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2 comments

House Subcommittee Passes Marijuana Reform Bill

House Subcommittee Passes Marijuana Reform Bill
NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy
1 603-391-7450
info@nhcommonsense.org
www.nhcommonsense.org
02/14/2008

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE â The effort to reduce marijuana penalties in New Hampshire took a step forward in the legislature today, as a subcommittee of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee approved HB 1623 in a 3-1 vote.

Sponsored by Reps. Jeffrey Fontas (D-Nashua), Andrew Edwards (D-Nashua) and Charles Weed (D-Keene), HB 1623 would reduce the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana from a class A misdemeanor to a violation punishable by a maximum fine of $200.

"Today's vote reflects a growing consensus among legislators that New Hampshire's penalties for simple marijuana possession are unnecessarily harsh," explained Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy. "These representatives have taken an honest look at the facts, and they've agreed to support punishments which come closer to fitting the offense."

After over an hour of discussion, which included supporters and opponents of the bill, legislators chose to amend the amount covered by the legislation from 1.25 ounces to .25 ounces. The subcommittee also corrected the drafting error that would have removed penalties for selling marijuana in small amounts. This error had been identified at the bill's Jan. 22 hearing by Karin Eckel of the Attorney General's office. It has been clear throughout the process that the sponsors did not intend to remove penalties for selling marijuana.

Fontas, who serves on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, was accepting of the result.

"Compromise is the instrument of politics," he said following the subcommittee work session. "Ultimately the process worked, and the conversation continues."

Rep. John Tholl (R-Whitefield), a police chief in the town of Dalton, chaired the subcommittee and voted in favor. Reps. David Welch (R-Kingston) and Ellen Neilsen (D-Claremont) also voted in favor, with Rep. Delmar Burridge (D-Keene) opposed.

In voicing his vote of opposition, Burridge said "I'm Nancy Reagan: 'Just Say No.'" House Subcommittee Passes Marijuana Reform Bill NH Coalition for Common Sense... more

ivyleague28477
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4 years ago
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2 comments

Rick Steves smokes pot!

PBS Travel Writer Rick Steves is teaming up with the ACLU of Washington State, to... more

uroborus8
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4 years ago
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11 comments

More digression, steps backwards and a complete insult on our intelligence

How about some education?

Jube
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4 years ago
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1 comment

US: Absinthe Re-legalized.

Absinthe has just been decriminalized in the US for the first time since 1912. No... more

joshuaheller
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4 years ago
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12 comments

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