Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

OR Legalization Measure Yes On 80 Announces ‘8-for-80 Money Bomb’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 25, 2012 Legislation, News

Seizing on recent endorsements including former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and State Ways and Means Co-Chair Rep. Peter Buckley, Oregon’s Yes on 80 marijuana legalization campaign is launching its first ‘8 for 80 ‘money bomb’ online fundraiser with the goal of raising $8,000 in a 36-hour online and phone fundraising blitz.

The “money bomb” online fundraiser will start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Sep. 26, and run for 36 hours, until 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sep. 27.

To participate in the money bomb, supporters must go to www.Vote80.org and click on the orange “Donate” button.

Big Romney Contributor Founded Abusive ‘Drug Rehab’ Program

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 25, 2012 News

The Straights dot com

Mel Sembler still brags that the abusive Straight Incorporated “drug rehab” was a “remarkable program”

How Did Sembler Make His Fortune? Abusing Kids

Republican financier Mel Sembler, a major donor to the Romney presidential campaign who formerly chaired the GOP’s finance committee — and that of Mitt himself — made his fortune founding “drug rehab” facilities which are notorious for abusing teenagers.

The 82-year-old Florida shopping mall multi-millionaire switched his political affiliation from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1979 — because of his opposition to marijuana use, reports Lloyd Grove at the The Daily Beast.

“Jimmy Carter made me a Republican,” Sembler said. “And when Carter was dong all this pot smoking and stuff in the White House, I found it terribly distasteful.”

Cannabis To The Rescue: Saving The Family Farm

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 25, 2012 Culture, Growing

Sharon Letts

Humboldt Stories

“It’s not Weeds, it’s Real.”

By Sharon Letts

Nick turned off Myrtle Ave onto Park Street, and down a dirt road. Caitlin had been living in a trailer on someone’s property since leaving Jake. Today, they were traveling together to an historic apple orchard he was looking to restore, with an eye on good medicine.

“Why shouldn’t cannabis be grown with food,” he argued to a circle of self-righteous, back-woods growers. “Why shouldn’t farmers be allowed to include Cannabis and Hemp?”

“Because they will throw your ass in Federal prison,” someone responded to howls of laughter.

Caitlin was waiting at the end of the road, smiling and waving as he pulled into the drive.

Medical Marijuana: What’s Wrong With Euphoria, Anyway?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 Culture, Medical

realmagick.com

By Maggie Slighte

Gma Maggic 420

Euphoria

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary entry for “euphoria” is thus:

eu·pho·ria noun yü-ˈfȯr-ē-ə

: a feeling of well-being or elation

Synonyms: cloud nine, elatedness, elation, ecstasy, exhilaration, heaven, high, intoxication, paradise, rapture, rhapsody, seventh heaven, swoon, transport

Antonyms: depression

Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines euphoria as:

1. A feeling of well-being, commonly exaggerated and not necessarily well founded.

2. The pleasure state induced by a drug or substance of abuse.

The definition I perhaps like the most, comes from the Merriam-Webster’s student dictionary.

Main Entry: eu·pho·ria

Function: noun

: a strong feeling of happiness

Happiness.

I seem to recall a document that was required reading in school with that term in it… it said something like “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. “

Happiness. Euphoria.

Is it only to be pursued, never achieved?

Documentary Offers Disturbing Look at Impact of War on Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 Culture, Products

Film Affinity

Danny Glover and Director Eugene Jarecki Will Hold Advance Screening of The House I Live In, Winner of Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, in San Francisco on Monday, Sept. 24

Filmmakers Teaming Up with Advocacy Groups, Law Enforcement, Elected Officials across Country to Educate and Mobilize to End Disastrous War on Drugs

A special screening of the thought-provoking documentary, The House I Live In, will be held Monday, September 24, at 6 p.m., in San Francisco. The Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU of Northern California, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, and Californians United for a Responsible Budget will host the screening.

Immediately following the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the director, Eugene Jarecki, who is partnering with a vast array of advocacy groups, legislators and law enforcement to spread the film’s message about the disastrous consequences of the failed War On Drugs.

San Diego Medical Marijuana Campaigns Score Endorsements

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Citizens For Patient Rights

The campaigns to allow and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in Lemon Grove, Del Mar and Solana Beach, California (Propositions T, H and W, respectively) have recently received the endorsements of political parties in San Diego County from across the political spectrum, including the San Diego County Democratic Party, the San Diego County Libertarian Party and the San Diego County Green Party.

“These endorsements show just how mainstream, and broad, the fight for medical marijuana access has become,” said the group Citizens for Patient Rights in a press release. “Unlike other political issues, which tend to clearly divide conservatives and liberals, the rights of the citizens of the State of California to allow qualified patients access to marijuana medicine has clearly united compassionate voters on all sides of the aisle.”

Other prominent endorsements for these initiatives include:

UK Multiple Sclerosis Patient: Cannabis Treats My Symptoms

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 Global, Medical

Clark French

U.K. multiple sclerosis patient/cannabis activist Clark French: “Police time is wasted on cannabis”

Multiple sclerosis patient Clark French is one of thousands of patients in Britain and the world over who use cannabis to help with their medical conditions. These conditions include multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, HIV/AIDS, and Crohn’s disease. Trials are currently being conducted to determine if cannabis can stop the growth of cancers.

French, one of the founding members of NORML UK (National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), will be appearing on Channel’s 4 4Thought program, to discuss his medical use of cannabis.

Cannabis has become increasingly prominent in the United Kingdom in last few years, as more people and politicians have realized its therapeutic benefits and the harms produced by the black market. A July 2012 YouGov poll for The Sun showed that 45 percent supported at least decriminalization of cannabis, and that 25 percent of the population do not believe that cannabis is harmful at all.

The Young Turks’ Show ‘The Point’ Covers Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 Culture

What is behind the war on cannabis — both medicinal and recreational? Will marijuana ever be legalized?

The Young Turks’ show “The Point” takes a look at these questions this week, with political comedian John Fugelsang leading the panel. He discusses cannabis with comedian Cornell Reid, The 420 Times editor Dave Brian, and Perennial Holistic Wellness Center owner Sam Humeid.

It was my honor to kick off the panel discussion with the first “point” of the show, 90 seconds on the rich, 12,000-year history shared by cannabis and the human race.

Drug Czar Ignores Failure Of Marijuana Prohibition To Curb Use

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 News

Opposing Views

Drug Czar Gil Kerlkikowske adamantly refuses to consider rational policy alternatives that don’t involve criminal penalties, according to the Marijuana Policy Project’s Morgan Fox

Marijuana Use Rises in 2011 While Alcohol and Prescription Drug Use Decline

In a press conference Monday morning, representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the release of the latest results of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As is their custom, the federal officials used the event — and the survey itself — as an opportunity to decry the use of marijuana in the United States and focused on perceived risk as a driving factor for increased use.

Marijuana use has slightly increased in the past year, while alcohol use has declined.

Why The Music Industry Should Boycott the State of Texas

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 23, 2012 Culture

Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office

Fiona Apple’s mugshut

(Except the Jonas Brothers… That’s Your Punishment, Sheriff West)

By Angela Bacca

Special to Toke of the Town

Last week, singer-songwriter Fiona Apple’s tour bus passed through west Texas’s Hudspeth County, where it was stopped by local law enforcement and searched for narcotics. The search turned up about an ounce and a half each of marijuana and hashish. Apple was taken to jail where she spent a night before being released on $10,000 bail.

Now, according to Alternet, she faces a minimum of two years — and a maximum of 10 — in federal prison for the offense.

Blatantly pro-marijuana musicians Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dogg) and Willie Nelson both got away with a hand slap — but not until after Willie Nelson was pressured to perform “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in he Rain,” for a judge to have his charges dismissed.

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