Yearly Archives: 2011

Chicago May Decrim Possession Of Up To 10 Grams Of Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 28, 2011 Legislation, News

Ten grams of pot is not much to be decriminalized — but it’s a 10-gram improvement over what Chicago has now.

Cannabis users in Chicago may soon be able to stop worrying about jail. Well, at least if they don’t have more than 10 grams at the time.

Several city councilmen on Thursday said they plan to introduce a city ordinance decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana in order to cut enforcement costs and free up police to go after more serious crimes, reports AFP.

More than 23,000 Chicagoans are arrested every year for marijuana possession, according to the Chicago Police Department. The misdemeanor carries up to six months in jail, a $1,500 fine and a criminal record.

Movement Starts To End Abuses Against Formerly Incarcerated

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 28, 2011 Culture, News

Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted Peoples Movement

The damage of the War On Drugs continues long after the original arrest and incarceration. Discrimination against formerly incarcerated people lasts a lifetime, in the form of reduced employment opportunities, removal of the right to vote, and economic hardship.

“The War on Drugs is the biggest cause of disenfranchisement,” said Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted Peoples Movement co-organizer Pastor Kenny Glasgow. In 2008 Glasgow won a groundbreaking lawsuit restoring the voting rights of the currently incarcerated and those convicted of drug crimes in Alabama.

Activist Legend Avoids Marijuana Sentence — With Heart Attack

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 27, 2011 Culture

Free Dana Beal

Dana Beal to Toke of the Town: “They had to let me go, ’cause I up and died on them”

Exclusive Interview: Dana Beal

Longtime marijuana activist Dana Beal has had a rough year. Back on January 6, he was charged with possessing 169 pounds of marijuana after being pulled over in Dodgeville, Wisconsin for a broken taillight and missing bumper — and he was already facing charges involving 150 pounds the previous year in Nebraska. On September 20, he got a five-year prison sentence for the newer charges.

It seemed a foregone conclusion. Beal — with an ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence, Beal, a founding member of the Youth International Party (Yippies) along with the legendary Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, Beal, who’d been involved in every major social justice movement since the early 1960s — was going to be spending some time in the Big House. His sentence was a “half and half,” where he’d have to serve the first 2.5 years and be paroled for the second half.

But Dana’s life has never been, and probably never will be, a boring one, from the 1960s to being in his 60s. In 1967 he was charged with trying to sell acid to an undercover cop; he went on the run but eventually ended up serving a year on that rap. In 1972 he founded, then edited, the Yipster Times (later to become Overthrow) which published until 1979. His efforts to promote the use of ibogaine to cure addiction to heroin, cocaine and alcohol through the organization Cures Not Wars have resulted in thousands of people being able to walk away from hard drugs.

Medical Marijuana Advocates Sue Obama DOJ Over Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 27, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Marylanders 4 Safe Access

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy organization, filed suit in federal court on Thursday challenging the Obama Administration’s attempt to undercut local and state medical marijuana laws in California.

ASA argues in its lawsuit that Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has “instituted a policy to dismantle the medical marijuana laws of the State of California and to coerce its municipalities to pass bans on medical marijuana dispensaries.”

The DOJ policy has involved aggressive SWAT-style raids, criminal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and providers and threats to local officials for merely implementing state law.

“Although the Obama Administration is entitled to enforce federal marijuana laws, the 10th Amendment forbids it from using coercive tactics to commandeer the lawmaking functions of the state,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the lawsuit Thursday in San Francisco’s federal District Court.

U.S. Atty. Claims Obama Didn’t Order Med Marijuana Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

U.S. Department of Justice

Rogue U.S. Attorneys? We are being told California’s four federal prosecutors: from left, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District), U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy (Southern District), U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag (Northern District) and U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte (Central District), went off on their own, unauthorized by the Obama Administration, and announced a federal crackdown on medical marijuana. If that’s really true, the next we hear from these morons should be their resignations — or their mugshots.

After California’s four U.S. Attorneys announced a medical marijuana crackdown in that state, a howl of protest went up from patients and advocates. After all, the Obama Administration had said that going after patients and providers who were following state law would “not be a priority.” Now, a spokeswoman for one of the four federal prosecutors involved claims that Obama didn’t order the crackdown, and in fact wasn’t involved at all.

Is it just me, or does that “revelation” lead to mental images of a headless beast thrashing about, dangerously and inexcusably out of the control of any leader who can be held to account? Is anybody in charge here?

Are we really to believe that four rogue U.S. Attorneys have actually staged a medical marijuana coup of sorts in California, forging off on their own and writing a new federal policy 180 degrees opposed to the President’s previous position?

If that’s so, then the next we hear from these four ass-clowns should be their resignations — or their mugshots.

In any event, the outpouring of rage and dismay from the medical marijuana community must be making an impact for this sort of ridiculous announcement to be seen as necessary.

DPA To Host Drug Policy Reform Conference In L.A. Nov. 2-5

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Culture, News

The Weed Blog

Conference Will Spotlight Devastating Impact of Drug War on Mexico, Latin America and U.S. Latino Communities

More than a thousand activists, experts, health professionals, elected officials, students and law enforcement will gather in Los Angeles November 2-5 for the 2011 International Drug Policy Reform Conference.

Among a broad range of topics, part of the conference program will focus on the destructive impact of the drug war on Latin American and Latino communities, and the urgent need for a new and more effective approach. Several panels and roundtable discussions – featuring prominent scholars, activists, journalists, human rights defenders, peace movement leaders and current and former officials – will address the failure of current drug policies for Latin Americans and Latinos, and the possibilities for critical reforms in the future.

Toke of the Town Welcomes World-Famous Cartoonist Aboard

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Culture, News

Jerry King

We’re excited to welcome world-renowned, award-winning cartoonist Jerry King to the Toke of the Town team.

King is one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today, with his work appearing in thousands of greeting cards, magazines, websites, books and newspapers.

His client list includes Disney, American Greetings, the United States Golf Association, and many others.

His magazine credits include work for Better Homes & Gardens, Golf Digest, the Saturday Evening Post, National Enquirer, Woman’s World and hundreds of other publications worldwide.

Amazingly, Jerry has also created nearly 2,000 greeting cards for more than 25 different companies.

Former President Bill Clinton mentioned one of Jerry’s greeting cards in a USA Today article. His work has also been recognized by former President George Bush.

Brit Reefer Madness: Paper Claims 1 Joint Causes Schizophrenia

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Global, News

Addiction Inbox

The sad tradition of inaccurate, sensationalistic cannabis reporting continues in the United Kingdom’s tabloid press. Deeply clueless reporter Tamara Cohen at the Daily Mail plumbed new depths of silliness on Tuesday with the breathless headline: One cannabis joint ‘can bring on schizophrenia’ as well as damaging memory.

Never mind that, even as cannabis usage rates have skyrocketed, the ratio of schizophrenics in the population has remained constant at one or two percent for the past 60 years. Never mind that no human beings were involved in the tests, and never mind that no marijuana was used, either.

Denver Medical Marijuana Patients Win With Toke Daily Deals

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

Toke Daily Deals

$20 of merchandise for $10? Count me in.

Denver Westword, an alternative weekly owned by Toke of the Town‘s parent company, Village Voice Media, has launched a dispensary promotion called Toke Daily Deals through which medical marijuana patients can receive discounted medicine.

“Toke Daily Deals works like this,” Westword tells us. “We email you one terrific deal on the best dispensaries in your city. If you’re interested, you buy the deal. If you’re not, you don’t.”

Simple enough, eh?

10 Years of the PATRIOT Act: Bait and Switch for the Drug War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Culture, News

Sweeping Surveillance Law’s ‘Sneak-and-Peek’ Provision Primarily Used In Drug Cases, Not Against Terrorists

Ten years ago today, on October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act. Congress had brushed aside constitutional concerns and overwhelmingly passed the law just weeks after the 9-11 attacks. The law gives the FBI vastly increased powers to collect information in cases that involve “national security.”

In the decade since this steaming pile of Constitution-shredding nonsense was passed by a gutless and lemming-like Congress, civil liberties groups have pointed out that the PATRIOT Act goes too far by gathering too much data and violating peoples’ right to privacy.

One of the worst parts of the PATRIOT Act (PATRIOT stands for Providing Appropriate Tools Required [to]Intercept [and]Obstruct Terrorism) is Section 213, its “Sneak-and-Peek” provision, which allows authorities to search a home or business without immediately notifying the target of an investigation that they have been searched.

Of course, the idea that Sneak-and-Peek would only be used against potential terrorists was quickly left in the dust, as the provision became a key tool in the federal government’s War On Drugs. Sneak-and-Peek is now primarily used for drug cases and minor crimes, NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported on October 26.

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