Hightimers 420 Community

Why Obama Really Might Decriminalize Marijuana

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:40:00 +0000

The stoner community is clamoring to say it: "Yes we cannabis!" Turns out, with several drug-war veterans close to the president-elect's ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama's second term -- or sooner.
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Famously, Franklin Delano Roosevelt saved the United States banking system during the first seven days of his first term.

And what did he do on the eighth day? "I think this would be a good time for beer," he said.

Congress had already repealed Prohibition, pending ratification from the states. But the people needed a lift, and legalizing beer would create a million jobs. And lo, booze was back. Two days after the bill passed, Milwaukee brewers hired six hundred people and paid their first $10 million in taxes. Soon the auto industry was tooling up the first $12 million worth of delivery trucks, and brewers were pouring tens of millions into new plants.

"Roosevelt's move to legalize beer had the effect he intended," says Adam Cohen, author of Nothing To Fear, a thrilling new history of FDR's first hundred days. "It was, one journalist observed, 'like a stick of dynamite into a log jam.'"

Many in the marijuana world are now hoping for something similar from Barack Obama. After all, the president-elect said in 2004 that the war on drugs had been "an utter failure" and that America should decriminalize pot:

In July, Obama told Rolling Stone that he believed in "shifting the paradigm" to a public-health approach: "I would start with nonviolent, first-time drug offenders. The notion that we are imposing felonies on them or sending them to prison, where they are getting advanced degrees in criminality, instead of thinking about ways like drug courts that can get them back on track in their lives -- it's expensive, it's counterproductive, and it doesn't make sense."

Meanwhile, economists have been making the beer argument. In a paper titled "Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," Dr. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard argues that legalized marijuana would generate between $10 and $14 billion in savings and taxes every year -- conclusions endorsed by 300 top economists, including Milton "Free Market" Friedman himself.

And two weeks ago, when the Obama team asked the public to vote on the top problems facing America, this was the public's No. 1 question: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

But alas, the answer from Camp Obama was -- as it has been for years -- a flat one-liner: "President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana." And at least two of Obama's top people are drug-war supporters: Rahm Emanuel has been a long-time enemy of reform, and Joe Biden is a drug-war mainstay who helped create the position of "drug czar."

Meanwhile, in 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, 782,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana-related crimes (90 percent of them for possession), with approximately 60,000 to 85,000 of them serving sentences in jail or prison. It's the continuation of an unnecessary stream of suffering that now has taught generations of Americans just how capricious their government can be. The irony is that the preference for "decriminalization" over legalization actually supports the continued existence of criminal drug mafias.

Nevertheless, the marijuana community is guardedly optimistic. "Reformers will probably be disappointed that Obama is not going to go as far as they want, but we're probably not going to continue this mindless path of prohibition," NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre tells me.

Some of Obama's biggest financial donors are friends of the legalization movement, St. Pierre notes. "Frankly, George Soros, Peter Lewis, and John Sperling -- this triumvirate of billionaires -- if those three men, who put up $50 to $60 million to get Democrats and Obama elected, can't pick up the phone and actually get a one-to-one meeting on where this drug policy is going, then maybe it's true that when you give money, you don't expect favors."

Another member of that moneyed group: Marsha Rosenbaum, the former head of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance, who quit last year to become a fundraiser for Obama and "bundled" an impressive $204,000 for his campaign. She said that based on what she hears from inside the transition team, she expects Obama to play it very safe. "He said at one point that he's not going to use any political capital with this -- that's a concern," Rosenbaum tells me. And the Path to Change will probably have to pass through the Valley of Studies and Reports. "I'm hoping that what the administration will do," she says, "is something this country hasn't done since 1971, which is to undertake a presidential commission to look at drug policy, convene a group of blue-ribbon experts to look at the issue, and make recommendations."

But ultimately, Rosenbaum remains confident that those recommendations would call for an end to the drug war. "Once everything settles down in the second term, we have a shot at seeing some real reform."

Still, a certain paranoia prevails. Rumors about Obama's choice for drug czar have lingered on Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad. "He's been a standard anti-drug warrior for the whole time he's been in Congress," says St. Pierre. Another possibility is Atlanta police chief Richard Pennington, who raises fears in the legalization community of more of the same law-enforcement model. Another prospect stirring the bong waters is Dr. Don Vereen, the chief drug policy thinker on the transition team. "He's really a believer in prohibition and he can excite an audience," says Rosenbaum, who says a friend on the transition team refused to hint at final contenders for the drug czar pick. "I'm joking with him, 'I'm going to have to open up the New York Times for this, aren't I?'" His answer: "We're going to send out smoke signals."

Marijuana Legalization Tops List of Questions for Obama in Online Poll

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:15:44 +0000

Tim King Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - I am not surprised that the number one thing Americans are asking President-elect Barack Obama is whether or not he is going to legalize marijuana. Generations are changing and evolving and the taboos around cannabis are slowly falling away.

American industries can harness the power of this multi-billion dollar, still mostly black market business. The attitude of people in this country is in a mode of great anticipation and change. Barack Obama is already on the record saying he does not want to use the Justice Department to bust state operated medical marijuana dispensaries.

People submitting questions in this Online event seem to identify the legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana overall, as a top priority.

I included the top ten and a link to the page that allows you to see all of the other questions that people seek to have answered by Barack Obama.

Other hot topics are Wall Street, Stem Cell Research, and for a lack of better terms, retribution against the Bush Administration for things like illegal wiretapping and the authorization of torture.

Since its launch Wednesday, the "Open for Questions" tool processed over 600,000 votes from more than 10,000 people on more than 7,300 questions.

Voting came to a close Friday, December 12th, at 12:00 AM Eastern Time, so that the team can prepare answers to some of the most popular questions.

Pilot projects like "Open for Questions" depend on feedback from users to better understand how to make participation intuitive and productive.

Obama's team stated, "Participation in Open for Questions outpaced our expectations, and we're looking forward to rolling it out again next week. We're tremendously excited about the promise of tools like this that offer Americans a level of access that has historically been hard to come by."

By voting questions up, users have been able to convey to the team which major issues -- including the auto industry, health care, ethical standards, and others -- are the most important to this community.

As one of the only essentially mainstream news organizations Online that covers legal medical marijuana seriously, Salem-News.com has earned a worldwide and national reputation as the only Website that offers an experienced doctor who is an expert on the subject, for question and answer interviews based on visitor's questions.

Dr. Phillip Leveque is a World War Two veteran and his education, background and experience in multiple specialties, places him among the most qualified doctors in the nation. He writes from the perspective of an Osteopath, Pharmacologist and Toxicologist.

I am glad to see the value of this natural herb gaining acceptance for its potential value as a legal and taxable commodity, and we do not consider this as any kind of an underground or taboo subject when we report about it. Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon and many other places, and the patients have very few places to turn. We are glad to fill that void.

Over the next few days, some of the most popular questions selected by the Change.gov community will be answered by the Transition team, and their responses will be posted on their site.

The Questions Americans are Asking Barack Obama

Currently in the lead: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"
- S. Man, Denton

Second place question: "What will you do as President to restore the Constitutional protections that have been subverted by the Bush Administration and how will you ensure that our system of checks and balances is renewed?"
- Kari, Seattle

Third place question: "What will you do to establish transparency and safeguards against waste with the rest of the Wall Street bailout money?"
- Diane, New Jersy

Sixth place question: "Will you lift the ban on Stem Cell research in your first 100 days in office?"
- James_M, Nashville, TN

Fifth place question: "What will you do to promote science and mathematics education to Elementary and Middle School students?"
- JasonWyatt, Raleigh, NC

Sixth place question: "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor - ideally Patrick Fitzgerald - to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"
- Bob Fertik, New York City

Seventh place question: "13 states have compassionate use programs for medial Marijuana, yet the federal gov't continues to prosecute sick and dying people. Isn't it time for the federal gov't to step out of the way and let doctors and families decide what is appropriate?"
- Greg, Minnesota

Eighth place question: "What do you plan to do to our food industry to make it more sustainable? Will there be changes to our farming policies?"
- Jentry, Lincoln, NE

Ninth place question: "What will you do to end the use of mercenary forces (ie Blackwater) by our military?"
- Betsie, Mtn Home, AR

Tenth place question: "What will you do first to reduce pollution/waste and incentivize greener behavior across the country?"
- Diane, Boston, MA

To learn what others are asking Obama, visit the Website "Open for Questions" and read many more inquiries for President-elect Barack Obama. That Website can be found at: change.gov/page/content/20081211_openforquestions

'Santa Bob' pleads guilty in marijuana case

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:57:41 +0000

By Nick Madigan | nick.madigan@baltsun.com
1:02 PM EST, December 10, 2008
A 62-year-old ecologist, Christmas-tree merchant and former Bel Air town commissioner pleaded guilty today in Baltimore County Circuit Court to growing marijuana and possessing psychedelic mushrooms on his 7-acre Harford County farm.

Robert C. Chance, who children buying Christmas trees know as "Santa Bob," was arrested in May during a raid on his farm, where detectives and investigators from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found 19 marijuana plants growing, more than a pound and a half of packaged marijuana in freezers, and about 33 grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Chance had been charged with five counts, including possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Under an arrangement with prosecutors, he was able to plead guilty to two of the lesser charges in exchange for a recommendation that he serve no more than six months in prison.

Had he been convicted of all five charges, Chance faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Robert C. Chance This morning, Judge John G. Turnbull II -- to whose courtroom in Towson the case was transferred after Harford County judges recused themselves because they are acquainted with the defendant -- agreed that he would give Chance no more than six months in jail, but postponed sentencing until March 9 so that he can consider a pre-sentencing report.

Standing before the judge in a trim goatee, reading glasses and black blazer, Chance firmly answered, "Yes, sir," to a series of questions from Turnbull as to whether he understood, among other things, that he was waiving his right to a trial by jury. Asked what his level of education was, Chance replied, "Two master's degrees."

"So you understand the English language," the judge responded.

2,700 year-old Marijuana Stash Found

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000

OTTAWA Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.

The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.

"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.

Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.

The 18 researchers, most of them based in China, subjected the cannabis to a battery of tests, including carbon dating and genetic analysis. Scientists also tried to germinate 100 of the seeds found in the cache, without success.

The marijuana was found to have a relatively high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage.

Researchers also could not determine whether the cannabis was smoked or ingested, as there were no pipes or other clues in the tomb of the shaman, who was about 45 years old.

The large cache was contained in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife.

"This materially is unequivocally cannabis, and no material has previously had this degree of analysis possible," Russo said in an interview from Missoula, Mont.

"It was common practice in burials to provide materials needed for the afterlife. No hemp or seeds were provided for fabric or food. Rather, cannabis as medicine or for visionary purposes was supplied."

The tomb also contained bridles, archery equipment and a harp, confirming the man's high social standing.

Russo is a full-time consultant with GW Pharmaceuticals, which makes Sativex, a cannabis-based medicine approved in Canada for pain linked to multiple sclerosis and cancer.

The company operates a cannabis-testing laboratory at a secret location in southern England to monitor crop quality for producing Sativex, and allowed Russo use of the facility for tests on 11 grams of the tomb cannabis.

Researchers needed about 10 months to cut red tape barring the transfer of the cannabis to England from China, Russo said.

The inter-disciplinary study was published this week by the British-based botany journal, which uses independent reviewers to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of all submitted papers.

The substance has been found in two of the 500 Gushi tombs excavated so far in northwestern China, indicating that cannabis was either restricted for use by a few individuals or was administered as a medicine to others through shamans, Russo said.

"It certainly does indicate that cannabis has been used by man for a variety of purposes for thousands of years."

Russo, who had a neurology practice for 20 years, has previously published studies examining the history of cannabis.

"I hope we can avoid some of the political liabilities of the issue," he said, referring to his latest paper.

The region of China where the tomb is located, Xinjiang, is considered an original source of many cannabis strains worldwide.

CA medical marijuana advocates concerned about Obama appointments

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Capitol Weekly: The Newpaper of California Government and Politics
By Malcolm Maclachlan
Thursday, November 20, 2008

In this years presidential election, medical marijuana advocates in California were pretty clear on which candidate they were rooting for. On multiple occasions, Democrat Barack Obama has pledged to end the federal raids that have bedeviled the states dispensaries for years under the Bush administration.

But some of their relief has turned into concern as the incoming president has begun to consider appointments to key posts. Obama will reportedly appoint two men who have been fierce critics of medical marijuana: Eric Holder, rumored to be Obamas pick for attorney general, and Donald Vereen as transitional co-chair of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

If confirmed to run the Justice Department, Holder would have wide authority to set policy and priorities for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Under President George W. Bush, the DEA has conducted dozens of high profile raids on medical marijuana dispensaries that are allowed to operate openly under California law. Officials have frequently referred to their operators as criminals and drug dealers.

Holder has a long history of past positions that appear to be closer to current policy than to Obamas campaign pledge. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, he proposed stiffening federal marijuana penalties in 1997 while serving as Deputy Attorney General under President Bill Clinton.

He was criticized by NORML again the next year for failing to take action against the Washington State Lieutenant Governors office for using federal funds earmarked for drug enforcement to create a website about the dangers of medical marijuana while voters of that state were deciding on a medical marijuana initiative. Holder has been acceptable enough to conservatives that he was nominated to a Washington, D.C., judgeship by Ronald Reagan, widely considered the biggest proponent of the drug war among U.S. presidents.

He certainly does not appear to have the best drug policy stances, Kris Hermes, media relations at Americans for Safe Access, said of Holder. But its fairly difficult to tell what positions he will take if confirmed.

Vereen appears to have taken even stronger anti-medical marijuana positions. He served as the deputy director of ONDCP from 1998 to 2001. In the April, 1999 issues of Psychiatric News, the Journal of the American Psychiatric Association, he called doctors who prescribed marijuana irresponsible and advocated arresting medical marijuana patients.

He has also frequently gone on record essentially claiming that marijuana cant be thought of as a treatment because its usually smoked and because dosages are difficult to control. This position has just as frequently been mocked by advocates, who note that there is not a single documented case of a person dying from a marijuana overdose.

Of most concern to advocates may be Vereens opposition to a medical marijuana initiative which passed in Michigan this year. Speaking in his role as the director of Community Based Public Health at the University of Michigan, he said the initiative puts young people at risk.

But Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, noted that public opinion polls and votes are trending his groups way.

In Michigan, I cant help but notice that medical marijuana outpolled Obama by six points, Mirken said.

Obama got 57 percent of the vote in the key Midwestern swing state. But Proposal 1, which will allow patients or caregivers to possess up to 12 plants and 2.5 ounces of dried marijuana, got 63 percent. Pre-election polls suggested the outcome was never really in doubt.

Mirken went on to note that the three western states Obama flipped to the blue column from 2004Colorado, Nevada and New Mexicoare all medical marijuana states. There are now 13 such states, the others being Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont. These states cover one-quarter of the US population, and represent 124 of Obama 365 electoral votes.

Both Hermes and Mirken said that any relaxation of federal enforcement is likely to be a done without much fanfare, at least in the short term. Obama is unlikely to step into the kind of public relations scandals that plagued the first two years of the Clinton administration, such as the gays in the military brouhaha.

But Hermes said his group will be using medical marijuanas growing clout to make sure Obama keeps his word. A pair of other early presidential candidatesRepublican Ron Paul and Democrat Dennis Kucinichhave been very supportive of medical marijuana, he said, and even Hillary Clinton took more liberal positions than Obama on the issue.

Hermes went on to say his group will participate in a grassroots campaign to break the federal governments monopoly on medical marijuana research and push for a national policy on the issue.

Well certainly be holding his feet to the fire, Hermes said.

Mirken said federal pressure has really prevented most medical marijuana states from fully implementing laws approved by votersa situation that is particularly notable with Californias Prop. 215, passed with 56 percent of the vote in 1996. California has been Ground Zero, he said, because we have these openly-operating dispensaries that present ready targets for federal enforcement.

Other states have sidestepped this problem largely by not being directly involved in the administration of policies.

Its hard to set up a system when any information you collect is potentially evidence in a federal trial, Mirken said. There really isnt anyone in charge.

Holder and Vereen are not the only appointees of concern to advocates. Vice President-elect Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of the war on drugs in the Senate. While he also opposes federal raids on dispensaries, at a May campaign stop in Connecticut he said of pain management that Theres got to be a better answer than marijuana.

Hes been a prominent figure in the war on drugs for several years, said Zack Risner, media relations for the Cannabis Club Network, of Biden. That doesnt mean its going to be a direct relation to Obamas policies.

Obamas new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and another ONDCP appointee, Christopher Putala, have also been openly critical of medical marijuana. But Mirken said that is would be difficult for Obama not be an improvement over Bush.

The way the Bush administration has operated, they just made stuff up, Mirken said. It will be nice, if it happens, to have the federal government re-enter the reality-based community.

Medical pot-smoking driver sues DMV to get her license back

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:48:58 +0000

San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008

MERCED -- A Merced County woman with back and neck pains and a clean 37-year driving record is the latest California medical marijuana patient to have her driver's license yanked by the Department of Motor Vehicles, says an advocacy group that has sued on her behalf.

The voters who passed Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing Californians to use marijuana for medical purposes with their doctor's approval, "did not intend for the DMV to have authority to strip medical marijuana patients of their licenses," Joe Elford, a lawyer for Americans for Safe Access, said Thursday.

Elford filed suit Wednesday in Merced on behalf of Rose Johnson, 53, whose license was suspended in July. Although there was no evidence that Johnson had ever driven under the influence of marijuana, the suit said, the DMV told her she was unfit to drive because of "addiction to, or habitual use," of a drug.

Americans for Safe Access has received similar complaints from marijuana patients in seven other counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa and Sonoma, said spokesman Kris Hermes. He said the DMV appears to have "a practice or policy, whether written or unwritten, of scrutinizing medical marijuana patients' status and (in some cases) suspending or revoking licenses because of that status."

The advocacy group has represented patients in three of those cases and persuaded the DMV to reinstate the licenses, Elford said.

DMV spokeswoman Jan Mendoza said the department treats medical marijuana "like any prescription drug, anything that could possibly impair your driving."

If a law enforcement officer or someone else notifies the DMV that a driver takes such medication, Mendoza said, a state safety officer looks into the driver's medical condition, record and use of the drug and decides whether the person is fit to be behind the wheel. She said the department does not automatically revoke medical marijuana users' licenses.

Johnson, who lives in Atwater, was injured in 1990 when her car was rear-ended and uses marijuana to reduce her pain, Elford said. When she went to the local DMV office to renew her license in April, the lawyer said, a clerk saw her moving slowly because of her injuries and recommended that the department re-evaluate her license.

At two DMV hearings, Johnson testified that she used marijuana only before bedtime and never before driving, and a hearing officer observed that she had an excellent driving record, her suit said. It said the department nevertheless concluded she was unable to drive safely and suspended her license indefinitely.

The suit said the suspension violated both Prop. 215 and "the constitutional right to control the course of one's own medical treatment."

Johnson seeks a court order restoring her license and prohibiting the DMV from suspending licenses of medical marijuana patients "based solely on their status."

Whitefish Officials Pleased With Policy, Montana Schools Warm to Random Drug Testing

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Flathead Beacon
By Myers Reece, Guest Writer
11-16-08

Across the nation thousands of schools, including a handful in Montana, have adopted random drug testing for students. Just this fall, Colstrip and Anaconda implemented random testing policies for extracurricular activities, while here in the Flathead, the Whitefish school district has looked into a similar plan, and is still considering it. Meanwhile, the district has implemented a suspicion-based policy that applies to all students, not just athletes.

Whether shifting to random testing or other methods, its clear that school officials are actively looking for new ways to combat what they perceive as a growing drug problem, and the trend is picking up steam in Montana.

Thus far, Whitefish Superintendent Jerry House has been pleased with the results of the suspicion-based policy. House said only four students in the whole district, including a third-grader caught smoking marijuana, were disciplined under the new policy through the first quarter of the school year, which ended on Nov. 5. That number is less than a quarter of last falls total of 18.

Am I saying (drug and alcohol use) has stopped? No. I dont care what high school youre in, thats going to continue, House said. But now theres more teeth in the policy: Whitefish school districts not going to put up with it. So yeah, you should have a lower number. I would sure hope so.

The Whitefish school board approved the suspicion-based policy in August, while tabling a proposed random testing policy for students involved in activities. With the suspicion-based program, a student who is suspected of drug or alcohol use is called into a meeting with one of four trained interventionists at Whitefish High School: the activities director, principal, school nurse and assistant principal.

If the interventionist, who has been trained to identify signs of intoxication, concludes that reasonable suspicion exists, then the students parents are asked if a drug test can be administered. If the parents refuse, then the student is automatically suspended for three days on first offense. A student who takes and fails the test enters counseling but is not suspended. Additional offenses result in suspensions.

The big difference is that we wanted to change our student culture where its not OK to drink and its not OK to do drugs, but keep in mind the school cares about you, House said.

House said he has heard little complaint over the policy, though the districts random testing proposal last spring was met with considerable opposition. House said the school is still discussing that policy, but not actively pursuing it at this time. But other Montana schools are, following in the footsteps of schools around the country that have taken advantage of two significant U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that schools have the right to randomly test athletes, even if they are not suspected of drug or alcohol use. Then in 2002, the court expanded its language to include all voluntary activities like cheerleading, band and debate. Following those rulings, thousands of schools around the nation have implemented random testing for students in activities, often with the federal financial assistance.

Since 2003, the Department of Education has awarded $40 million in grants to implement or expand random testing policies in schools, and the Bush Administration has also set aside millions more for similar grants, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

This fall, Colstrip and Anaconda joined a short list of Montana schools that have random testing for students in extracurricular activities, while Butte has considered it. Anacondas Superintendent Tom Darnell worked previously in Missouri where he said many schools already have random testing. He believes the system is long overdue in Montana.

In my opinion, theres not a school district in the state that shouldnt have this policy, Darnell said. Theres everything to gain from this and nothing to lose.

Darnell conceded that the process is not cheap. Anaconda receives no federal grants and pays for the testing through its regular budget. And he said the policy has received some opposition, but countered: The view point I take with parents is if your child is using drugs, why would you not want to know that?

A first-time offender faces a 30-day suspension from activities, a second-time offender gets 40 days and then the third offense means expulsion from all activities.

Third strike youre out, Darnell said. Youre done forever at Anaconda High School.

Colstrip has had a random testing policy for extracurricular activities since 2003, Superintendent Harry Cheff said, but the district switched from using saliva samples to urine samples for high school students this year. Middle schoolers still do the saliva test. Cheff said the urine sample is considerably more effective.

Cheff said several parents have expressed concern over the urine testing, but for the most part there has been little opposition. He noted that Colstrip is unique in that the major employers of the town are PPL Montana and Western Energy, which have mandatory drug testing policies. So the majority of the population, he said, is already accustomed to the process.

The district respects privacy issues, Cheff said. Only the superintendents office has access to the students records and law enforcement isnt notified. Coaches are told of a kids drug or alcohol use only in the case of suspension. Administrative officials, including Cheff, also are tested.

I feel its helped students from making unhealthy decisions, Cheff said. Because during the year theres that chance that theyre going to be picked.

Though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of random drug testing, local courts havent always been in agreement. A prominent example is Washington, where the states Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that random drug testing in schools isnt allowed under the states constitution. Also, when Montanas three Democratic candidates for attorney general held a forum in Kalispell in May, each candidate, including eventual winner Steve Bullock, expressed skepticism that such a policy would stand up in the states Supreme Court if challenged.

It remains to be seen when, and if, Whitefish will seriously consider random testing again, but discussion is sure to continue. Meanwhile, school officials in Colstrip are set to review its policy again in December, but Cheff is happy with how the program has worked so far.

Ill knock on wood, but as of today we havent been legally challenged on this, Cheff said.

Michigan Voters Legalize Medical Marijuana, Massachusetts Loosens Penalties

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Hidden within the historic presidential election were two referendums that represented a victory for marijuana reform activists. The first was proposal 1, which legalized marijuana in the state of Michigan for medical use. It was passed despite a smear campaign from opponents that claimed that marijuana dispensaries would open near schools and playgrounds.

The law, however, does not allow for the creation of licensed dispensaries. It only removes penalties for cultivation and buying of marijuana by severely ill patients.

The law goes into effect on December 4th, at which point nearly a quarter of the US population will live in one of the 13 states that allow access to medical marijuana.

In Massachusetts, voters chose to decriminalize the possession of one ounce of marijuana or less, and the crime will no longer be a punishable by time. The offence is now punishable by a citation, a $100 fine, and the confiscation of the drugs.

If the offender is under the age of 18 they must complete a drug awareness course or face a harsher $1,000 fine.

Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, spoke about the two victories. "Tonight's results represent a sea change," he said and, "Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of 'Reefer Madness."

Japan Frets Over Growing Marijuana Problem

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:20:00 +0000

www.buzzlecom.com
Published 11/3/2008

The revelation that students at the country's most prestigious seats of learning enjoy an occasional joint is hardly the stuff of headlines - unless that country is Japan.

Judging by recent coverage, Japan is in the midst of a marijuana epidemic that is ensnaring everyone from students to suburban housewives and sumo wrestlers.

A slew of arrests for drug-related offenses among elite scholars has sparked widespread indignation that more youngsters are choosing to while away their university years in a fug of marijuana smoke.

While police once focused their attention on amphetamines and other stimulants, recent statistics show a dramatic increase in cases involving cannabis. In the first half of this year the number of cases in which suspects were questioned or arrested stood at 1,202, a 12% increase on the same time last year. The number of cases involving the cultivation of cannabis at home was up by almost 50%, the national police agency said.

A record 2,423 violations were recorded in 2006, but police expect that figure to be beaten with ease this year.

Recreational marijuana use hit the headlines this summer when three Russian sumo wrestlers were kicked out of the sport for allegedly smoking the drug. In recent months newspapers have reported arrests for dealing, cultivating or possessing marijuana at some of Japan's best universities.

Daytime TV shows, meanwhile, blame foreign suppliers for corrupting gullible Japanese teenagers and, increasingly, bored housewives, as they move out heavily policed city centers into the suburbs.

The Mainichi Shimbun, often a progressive voice on other issues, devoted part of its front page yesterday to a fuming editorial warning of the potential ruination of Japan's finest universities by the evil weed.

Noting that students of the 1960s concerned themselves only with "world peace", the paper derided their modern-day counterparts' unhealthy obsession with attaining a different kind of tranquility.

Of the recent campus arrests, it says: "It is rational to believe that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, and that 'drug pollution' at university campuses is more widespread than generally thought."

There does not appear to be a problem with supply. In July, police in Tokyo seized 180kg of cannabis - Japan's biggest haul - with a street value of ?720m (?4.6m).

Smokers who prefer not to risk buying from dealers - who charge, on average, six times the going rate in the Netherlands - are growing their own. Accordingly, the number of people arrested for growing the plant at home, many with seeds bought on the internet, has risen fivefold over the past 10 years.

Japanese law takes a dim view of the recreational use of soft drugs. The 1948 cannabis control law calls for prison terms of up to 10 years and hefty fine for anyone found importing, exporting, growing, selling or buying cannabis.

Its use for medical purposes, permitted in some other countries, is also banned.

Japanese activists are pushing for a change in the law to permit the use of cannabis among sufferers of diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's.

"Cannabis is harmless compared to alcohol and tobaccos, but still the government overreacts and ruins the lives of anyone found with it," Koichi Maeda, the founder of the Japan Medical Marijuana Association, told the Guardian. "We asked the government to provide evidence of the harm they say marijuana causes, but they couldn't."

Maeda, who runs a hemp restaurant in Tokyo, believes recent media coverage of the issue shows how far public attitudes towards dope smoking in Japan lag behind those in Britain and parts of Europe.

"The authorities use the media to peddle their claims that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder substances, and the media are too stupid to check if what they are being told is true," he said. "All the newspapers do is run sensationalist articles based on what the police tell them. It makes me so angry.

Surprise pot in pocket is trouble for student

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:32:24 +0000

By Diana Bubser
Issue date: 11/6/08

On Oct. 24 at 12:30 a.m., Campus Police was dispatched to Townhouses South on a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) complaint.

Upon arriving at the building, an individual was seen in a second-story window with a fan on the windowsill.

The officer knocked on the front door three times and a first-floor resident opened the door. He did not detect the smell of smoke downstairs and proceeded upstairs.

The officer knocked on the door to a room and opened the door, when he immediately detected what he believed was the smell of marijuana.

The officer identified himself to the person inside and informed him he was dispatched to this location to investigate a complaint of marijuana burning. The student said he did not know about anyone smoking marijuana.

The officer then proceeded to a different student's room on the same floor and asked if he could step inside.

When asked about the smell of marijuana in his room, the student said he had smoked some marijuana earlier in the evening but none currently was in his room.

The officer asked where the marijuana came from, and the victim said a small bag in his pocket.

The student proceeded to remove one empty clear baggie and one baggie containing approximately one ounce of a green, leafy substance the officer believed to be marijuana from his right front pants pocket.

The student then said he did not remember the bag containing the marijuana was in his pocket.

The student was placed under arrest for possession of CDS and was taken to the office of Campus Police for processing.

He was later released on a Ewing Township summons for possession of 50 grams or less of marijuana.