A group of civilly-disobedient hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested Tuesday morning while digging up the lawn to plant industrial hemp seeds at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
David Bronner, the president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a more than 60-year-old company that does tens of millions of dollars of business annually, was among those arrested.
Bronner buys the hemp used in his soaps from Canadian farmers. He was arrested outside the DEA museum, which shares space with the headquarters.
"Our kids are going to come to this museum and say, 'My God. Your generation was crazy. What the hell is wrong with you people?'" he said as Arlington County Police handcuffed him and walked him to a waiting car.
The group was arrested for trespassing.A group of civilly-disobedient hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested Tuesday... more
This how to go green guide contains mature content that might be unsuitable for younger readers.I did not know sex could be green
Editor's Note:
This how to go green guide... more
In California Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor, who has had to cut services to handle a $24 billion budget deficit for the coming year, has suggested that legalisation should be considered.
The smell gives the game away. A sweet herbal scent wafts from the medicines inside the smart display cases in the Harborside clinic in Oakland, California.
This is a marijuana dispensary, where the prescriptions have names like Super Silver Haze and Purple Trainwreck and customers need a “recommendation note” from a doctor.
Medical marijuana has become big business in California and the drug is approved for a range of conditions and for “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief”. In these straitened financial times, booming sales and healthy tax revenues mean that full legalisation of cannabis may be just around the corner.
The Harborside Health Centre — opened by Stephen DeAngelo, 51, in 2006 — alone employs 77 people, has 30,000 registered patients and brings in about $20 million (£12.4 million) annually in revenue.
Related Links
* Is this really a good time for a spliff?
* Super High Me: secrets of a stoner
Across California there are an estimated 2,100 dispensaries, co-operatives, wellness clinics and taxi delivery services in the sector known as “cannabusiness”. That is more than all the Starbucks, McDonald’s and 7-Eleven outlets in the state put together.
These dispensaries, with names like My Green Heaven Ministry, sell marijuana in bud and resin forms and offer other cannabis products, including hash cookies, cooking oils and bottled drinks.
In some high-end stores, there are pastry chefs to ensure the highest-quality cannabis baked goods. Most cannabis co-operatives, which produce their own plants, also sell potted plants and seeds for patients to grow their own medicine.
“People are choosing to become legal cannabis consumers because they don’t want to go out on the corners and deal with thugs and gangsters to get their medicine,” Mr DeAngelo told The Times.In California Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor, who has had to cut services to... more
EL PASO -- Legalizing marijuana in the United States would weaken Mexico's powerful drug cartels, panelists at a War on Drugs conference said Tuesday.
"If you take away half of their money, it will hurt them," said William Martin, a sociology professor at Rice University who studies drug abuse and government policy. "You are not going to break them, but you will hurt them."
By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times
..... more at linkEL PASO -- Legalizing marijuana in the United States would weaken Mexico's powerful... more
Contrary to previous reports, Jack Herer is still alive. The Oregonian is reporting the activist is in critical condition at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland Oregon. In addition, celebstoner has retracted their announcement of Herer's death. In light of these facts it is with pleasure the Portland Progressive Examiner retracts an earlier report of Herer's death.
Jack Herer, much beloved Emperor of Hemp and marijuana hero collapsed backstage on Saturday, September 15, at "Hempstalk 2009" in Portland, Oregon. Herer had just given a fiery speech to the crowd on the future of hemp when he suffered a heart attack and a significant loss of oxygen.
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Story has been updated, apparently Jack is not dead. Sorry for the confusion.Contrary to previous reports, Jack Herer is still alive. The Oregonian is reporting... more
Cannabis Legalisation Rally in Sydney, Australia
There is a Cannabis Legalisation Rally to be held on the 7th September 2009 at the Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo.
further information will be posted on http://cannabisrally.yolasite.com/Cannabis Legalisation Rally in Sydney, Australia
There is a Cannabis Legalisation... more
Celebrity environmentalist and pot activist Woody Harrelson talks frankly about marijuana and hemp.Celebrity environmentalist and pot activist Woody Harrelson talks frankly about... more
A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there.A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on... more
Richard Nixon left office in shame, but his shameful policy remained. The war on cannabis has remained and harmed us in so many ways. It is time for change! It's time to change Richard Nixon's war on cannabis hemp. Facts matter!
After Richard Nixon flattened the Democrats as soft on crime in the '68 election, the President-elect faced a dilemma. There's not much the White House can do to impact crime. The thugs people are afraid of — burglars, robbers, rapists, murderers — are the business of state courts. Then somebody mentioned drugs.1*
In a textbook example of fear manipulation, Nixon warned the country that a plague of unimaginable proportions was about to engulf the nation. “The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency,” he said. 2 To fight the pushers on their own terms, he would need emergency powers — preventive detention, unorthodox strike forces, more freedom to search, wire tap, and arrest.
For scientific support, he appointed former Republican Pennsylvania Governor Ray Shafer to head a National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. He told Gov. Shafer to treat marijuana just like heroin despite the "obvious differences between marijuana and other drugs."3 He was even more direct withchief of staff Bob Haldeman. "I want a Goddamn strong statement about marijuana...that just tears the ass out of them."4
But after months of testimony from academics, medical experts, lawmen and health professionals, the facts overwhelmed the myths. The report was devastating:“Marijuana use, in and of itself, is neither causative of, nor directly associated with crime...”5 It found no basis for the gateway theory. Alcohol, it said, was probably a greater danger, and the report concluded that personal use of marijuana should no longer be a crime.6
The President hit the roof. He complained to Haldeman, "...every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish."7 In the face of the shooting war in Vietnam the Shafer Commission was quickly forgotten but the consequences of that cover-up are with us still. Since the 1972 release of that official report recommending legalization, we have arrested more than 14 million Americans8 at a cost of over $100 billion9 and the use of marijuana is undiminished.10
Oregon’s House of Representatives voted last Monday night to legalize the cultivation of hemp, becoming the sixth state to do so just this year. The move is part of a rapidly growing nationwide trend to liberalize laws relating to marijuana. Hemp is a botanical…Oregon’s House of Representatives voted last Monday night to legalize the... more
Paul Benhaim's "Fields of Green" cd, including "The world's first hemp plastic CD tray and hemp [paper] card insert."
Hemp Plastics & Biocomposites
Henry Ford used hemp-and-sisal cellulose plastic to build car doors and fenders in 1941. On video Henry Ford demonstrated that his hemp cars were more resistant to blows from a sledgehammer than steel-bodied cars were.
The basic building block of plastics is cellulose taken from petroleum, but toxic petrochemical compositions are not the only way to derive plastics.
Plastics can be derived from plant cellulose, and since hemp is the greatest cellulose producer on Earth (hemp hurds can be 85% cellulose), it only makes sense to make non-toxic, biodegradable plastic from hemp and other organics, instead of letting our dumps fill up with refuse.
A recent technological advance with biodegradable plastics made from cornstarch has led to a new material based on hemp. Hemp Plastics (Australia) have sourced partners who have been able to produce a new 100% biodegradable material made entirely from hemp and corn. This new material has unique strength and technical qualities which have yet to be seen before, and this new material can be injection or blow-molded into virtually any shape using existing moulds, including cosmetic containers, Frisbee golf discs, etc.
Hemp hurds may be processed into cellophane packing material, which was common until the 1930s, or they may be manufactured into a low-cost, compostable replacement for Styrofoam.
Zellform (Austrian) has created a hemp-plastic resin called Hempstone, for use in musical instruments, loudspeakers, and furniture. This material can be carved into any desired form.Paul Benhaim's "Fields of Green" cd, including "The world's first hemp plastic CD tray... more
Starting today Anderson Cooper will be taking a close look at cannabis and its use in the United States. He asks, is there a case for legalization? He wants to hear from people on all sides of the issue. What are your questions? 10:00 PM every night this week, Anderson Cooper will be making the case for and against cannabis on CNN.
Let's see if he keeps them honest. Will all sides really be heard? I guess I'll be watching CNN this week, how about you?Starting today Anderson Cooper will be taking a close look at cannabis and its use in... more
Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful House Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced a bill Thursday to allow states to make their own medical marijuana laws free of federal interference.
The bill would also move marijuana from the FDA's Schedule I to Schedule II. Its current designation indicates that it has no medical value, a high risk of abuse and is extremely harmful. By keeping marijuana in Schedule I, the federal government makes research into its medical benefits nearly impossible.
Moving marijuana to Schedule II would recognize its medical value, make access to it for research purposes easier and would facilitate the creation of a regulatory framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana.
The bill is HR 2835.Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful House Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced a bill... more
• The United States has 5% of the world's population, yet possesses 25% of the world's prison population;
• More than 2.38 million Americans are now in prison, and another 5 million remain on probation or parole. That amounts to 1 in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release;
• Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980, up from 41,000 to 500,000 in 2008; and
• 60% of offenders are arrested for non-violent offensives--many driven by mental illness or drug addiction.
Numbers only tell part of the story.
While heavily focused on non-violent offenders, law enforcement has been distracted from pursuing the approximately one million gang members and drug cartels besieging our cities, often engaging in unprecedented levels of violence. Gangs in some areas commit 80% of the crimes and are heavily involved in drug distribution and other violent activities. This disturbing trend affects every community in the United States.
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. This legislation, which I originally introduced in March, creates a Presidential level blue-ribbon commission charged with conducting an 18-month, top-to-bottom review of our nation's entire criminal justice system, ultimately providing the Congress with specific, concrete recommendations for reform.
The goal of this legislation is nothing less than a complete restructuring of the criminal justice system in the United States. Only an outside commission, properly structured and charged, can bring us complete findings necessary to do so.America's criminal justice system is broken.
How broken? The numbers are stark:... more
The worse the economy gets, the better marijuana looks—not necessarily for its psychedelic properties, but for its revenue potential. As more cities and states face budget deficits, the idea that legal, regulated marijuana could reel in a bounty of taxes is gaining traction. This development has confounded legalization advocates, rendering their FAQs nearly irrelevant and plunging them into an unfamiliar debate: OK, say we legalize pot. How should we tax it?The worse the economy gets, the better marijuana looks—not necessarily for its... more
Commenting on the new report, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said, "Were U.S. drug policy to be guided on science and objective harms rather than on ideology and cultural stereotypes, it is clear that the focus of America's so-called 'war' on drugs would be on Americans' widespread misuse of potentially deadly pharmaceuticals rather than on adults' occasional use of a relatively nontoxic plant that is incapable of causing human overdose."
Washington, DC: More Americans report misusing prescription opioids than trying pot, according to a study released last week by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to the report, a record 2.15 million Americans over age 12 reported misusing prescription pain relievers for the first time in 2007 (the last year for which data was available). By comparison, the study found that 2.1 million Americans reported using cannabis for the first time.
The study reported that the total number of unintentional deaths involving prescription opioids increased 114 percent from 3,994 in 2001 to 8,541 in 2005, the most recent year for which nationwide data was available.
Violent crime associated with the diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical painkillers has increased steadily over the past five years, the study's authors found. Researchers concluded that Americans' misuse of prescription opioids now costs taxpayers over $72 billion annually.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the report, The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment, is available online at: http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs33/33775/index.htm.Commenting on the new report, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said, "Were... more
Find a job working in a medical marijuana dispensary. If that's the craziest thing you heard? Economy is dead and people don't have jobs, medical marijuana dispensaries are filling that void.Find a job working in a medical marijuana dispensary. If that's the craziest thing... more
"How bad do things have to get before all solutions are considered?"
If Cannabis agriculture and an end to prohibition are the most effect ways of resolving fundamental global imbalances such as global warming, global broiling (by increasing UV-B radiation), food insecurity and malnutrition, then what will it take for our world "leaders" to reverse their thinking on the true value of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade.
This spring 2009, I am exercising "essential civilian demand" for Cannabis, as provided for in Executive Order 12919 (Clinton 1994). Legally empowered by the fact that drugs don't make seeds, and that God gave us "every herb bearing seed," it remains for our generation to reclaim protection under existing laws, beginning with Article One, our "freedom of religion."
Please look for more videos by "projectpeace" on You Tube, and contact me to learn more about the fundamental challenge of our time, and the urgency of resuming Cannabis agriculture in the U.S..
Thank you."How bad do things have to get before all solutions are considered?"
If Cannabis... more
I know the cops must be mad. Cannabis Career Institute will hold classes in Fresno - that can't be good for the biggest mafia in Fresno. But, whether the cops like it or not, people will learn how to safely own a medical marijuana business.I know the cops must be mad. Cannabis Career Institute will hold classes in Fresno -... more
