No More Ashcroft

[barman]

For many of us, the motivation to vote against G W Bush finally being elected President is our desire to put John Ashcroft out of business and send him home to Missouri where he can practice his right wing wacko religous beliefs in a way that does not destroy the lives of other Americans.

Here's a great advertisement that's running in California right now. While you're at the link, check out the other smart ads from CSDP.

Questions, comments about the topic in general are always welcome to me via email. If you would like info on how to help end the War on (some) Drugs in your own state, I can assist.

Cheers!

http://www.csdp.org/ads/angel.htm

 

[KMAN]

You want to get rid of Ashcroft because he told this lady no???????

Is that the only reason?

 

[barman]

It's not the only reason. I have several others. They each have names. They are friends of mine who were charged by Ashcroft for using medical marijuana and then jailed for 10+ years with no chance of parole.

Their average age is over 50 and they were otherwise law-abiding citizens.

They are imprisoned for exactly the same charges which the 9th Circuit ruled are unconstitutional (in the ruling noted above), but the ruling came too late for my friends.

Because they chose to use medicine that is legal in their own states, but that Ashcroft disapproves of, they are now caged with violent criminals for what is likely the remainder of their lives.

I also have friends who run hospices in California that cater soley to terminally ill cancer and AIDS patients. Ashcroft ordered SWAT teams of DEA agents into these hospitals and shut them down. He stole all of the medicine, leaving hundreds of patients without adequate access to supply.

He has seized thousands of patient records in states where medical pot is legal in order to prevent peer-reviewed medical data on marijuana to be assembled and properly catalouged.

We need a competent and strong Attorney General who will take decisive action against those people who break laws which harm other people and/or their property.

We do NOT need a religous whacko Attorney General who utilizes military style raids on hospitals against American citizens.

 

[chonce]

Barman,

That is a sad story. It is also not uncommon. I am sorry to hear it.

Let the patients take thier medicine.

I fear that the patriot act could someday be streched to include drug violaters as well. The government may try to link drugs and terroism, in the same way those absurd commercials did last year.

I am not a fan of Ashcroft at all.

 

[KMAN]

That sucks if that story is true.

Unfortunately, from past experiences with liberals I never know what is true and what is made up.

 

[Massmilwaukee]

K,

Do you think it is made up that marijuana helps terminally ill patients? Do you think it is made up that it doesn't have any side effects as other pain medications? Do you think it is made up that Ashcroft doesn't believe in the medicinal values that marijuana has? Do you think it is made up that States should be able to regulate, legislate, and police their own borders?
I am not sure which you believe is untrue.

 

[barman]

KMAN, I'll take you at your word and presume you are serious when you ask for cites.

Here's a news story of the DEA's raid on a Santa Cruz, CA medical hospice. It's the one I reefered to in previous post.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1673/a10.html?24378

Here's a summary of last year's SCOTUS ruling that struck down Ashcroft's attempts to block medical doctors from even DISCUSSING the topic of medical marijuana with patients.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1595/a05.html?24376

Ashcroft and fellow zealot John Walters (The U.S. Drug Czar) are hysterical about marijuana, because it's evident that some 20-30 million Americans use it responsibly. With each successful doctor/patient medical record that is established, there is continuing evidence that the government sponsored reefer madness is just that - madness.

Ashcroft and Walters know that simple possession marijuana arrests account for more arrests than for all violent crimes combined in the United States (almost 700,000 last year). To allow legal marijuana for responsible adult use would remove literally 20% of the current criminal court docket.

There's literally billions of dollars in the business of Prohibition.

 

[Wynn]

Barman, you think Clinton's AG was any different in her handling of the Branch Davidians in Waco or Elian Gonzales in Miami?

Ashcroft has performed his duty well in enforcing the law. You can't hold him responsible for laws he did not create.

 

[barman]

Considering that the federal laws fill literal rooms in libaries, any AG has a massive amount of discretion as to where they focus their enforcement efforts.

Putting medical patients in prison for their choice of medicine is unconscionable and cannot be defended on any basis.

As for Janet Reno, she indeed was no friend to drug policy reformers. Marijuana possesion arrests from 1993-2000 surpassed the entire previous 12 years of Reagan and Bush.

However under Ashcroft the level of enforcement at the federal level has increased, especially against medical patients.

 

[Railbird]

I am against marijuana, marijuana is a religious cult, with satanic roots.

 

[KMAN]

barman - I don't know what to tell you.....If they broke the law, they broke the law.

How would you go about making marijuana legal for some and not for others? That could open up a whole new can of worms.

Don't get me wrong..... It sucks for the terminally ill, I'm sure marijuana makes them more comfortable but IMO we can't legalize marijuana.


It's just like these people giving marriage licenses to gay couples. They are breaking the law.....If they don't like the law they should try to change it instead of breaking it.

 

[barman]

The law has been changed - in eleven different states.

California was the first to legalize marijuana for medical use with a doctor's recommendation.
Ten other states have followed suit over the past seven years. Between three and six more will do likewise this coming November.

The Attorney General of the United States has massive discretion as to where and what he will target enforcement of laws, given that there are of course far more laws than there is manpower to police them.

Selecting as one target the sick and the dying in medical hospices is obscene, especially given that federal marijuana laws call for mandatory prison time with no chance of parole.

The average federal marijuana prisoner (and there's well over 150,000 now, it's the fastest and largest growing sector of the federal prison population) is serving between 5 and 10 years, in many cases 2-3 times the level of time for someone convicted of violent crimes.

And when such a prisoner is a terminally ill cancer or AIDS patient, to name two examples, only someone without a conscience could defend such a priority for the A.G.

Thus the need to fire Rev. Ashcroft as stated in original post.

 

[newbie666]

so finally who got the balls?...

 

[xpanda]

Barman: I have a question for you ... how much marijuana were your friends in possession of when sentenced to 10 years in prison? Is there a notable distinction between simple possession and traficking? Also, what are the sentences for harder drugs such as cocaine or heroin?

I wish there were a way that Canadian hospices could take in American patients who request medical marijuana. We're tabling the issue of decriminalising it for everyone, but it is already recognised for medicinal purposes.

It's amazing to me that a company like Monsanto is still in business, but puffing a doob so you can withstand the effects of chemotherapy is jailable. My father recent sufferred from colon cancer and had to undergo 12 months of chemo. It was horrible. After watching this for two months, I brought him a huge bag of pot, with a 'don't ask me and I won't tell you' requirement. At 61, my father isn't exactly a pothead. What I did isn't legal, but there's no way we'd be going to jail for it.

 

[JudgeWapner]

Ashcroft scares the shit out of me.As a side note:Railbird is an idiot.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Innkeeper,

Thank God for the blessed herb. The old Lt. had a bout of Orange Poisoning and was put on chemo.For those of you who have never gone through this therapy, there are times when you wish that you would die in order to avoid the next session. This was the only "drug" that helped me w/ the side effects. I often had to go underground to score a lid depending on where I was at the time. I guess I am a criminal.

Never be afraid to speak out for what you know is just and true! BTW, I have often spent winter R&R in Largo, I was down there in January. It is a very nice area. Good luck w/ the war!

Semper Fi,

Lt. Dan

 

[barman]

Xpanda, the amounts varied from a few plants to in some cases, several hundred.

But understand that California law, created by the passage of Prop 215 in 1996, does not specify a limit to the amount legal caregivers can have.

Here's a link to a recent summary of events in California. At the bottom you'll see a link to California's most active group on the MMJ issue.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n104/a01.html?25014

If you bookmark the site, you can use it anytime to find up to date information on drug policy news and opinion. We archive about 100 news clippings daily and have an excellent Search engine.

Oh, the sentencing for other controlled substances you mentioned is not much different at the federal level. In all cases, mandatory minimum sentences usually kick in, all with no chance at parole.

Stay tuned for some other Topics on this subject. I'm an educator on this subject and enjoy answering questions or if I don't know answers, directing people to those who do know.

 

[Caesar]

i always use my own "100 year rule" in situations like this. look back 100 years and see what the laws were and see how many people were in jail for crimes that arent even illegal now.

then try to think forward 100 years and predict what will be legal that is illegal today.

it is pretty clear to me that marijuana will be legal in 100 years so we need to start focusing on the best ways to make it legal, starting with the people who it helps medicinally.

the question i want to ask of others is this. with those "silly" commercials airing this past year dealing with marijuana, it only solidifies what each individual thought all along. if you thought marijuana was straight from the devil then you thought the commercials were a public service. if you were a casual user, those were the funniest commercials you ever saw because they have very little bearing on reality. so who do those commercials benefit? NO ONE

2nd question: is marijuana a gateway drug for the harder stuff like cocaine and heroin ? ive always believed the biggest gateway drugs were alcohol first and nicotine 2nd. but anheiser busch and phillip morris know how to solve public perception problems; "who should i make this check out to"

it appears to me that what needs to happen is have a giant drug company patent a form of marijuana that is the most beneficial to patients, then make huge donations to either party, and the problem will be solved like 99% of other political problems.

i just hope the war on terror goes better than the war of drugs of the last 20 years because if it doesnt medical marijuana will be the least of our troubles

 

[barman]

C: "....is marijuana a gateway drug for the harder stuff like cocaine and heroin?"

BM: No. The suggested 'gateway' effect is a failed logic. Demonstrating that a specific behavior may have occurred before another behavior provides only a correlation. It does not neccesarily provide a causation.

Most all cocaine and heroin users at an earlier time in life regularly used peanut butter, or cow's milk. "Over 90%!!!" But neither peanut butter or milk produced a Cause for the later use of the listed drugs.

If there is a 'gateway' effect, it is the gateway that is created by Prohibition.

When criminals control distribution of marijuana, it's not unlikely that they will also have on hand other substances which are even more risky and dangerous. They will either directly ply these wares to their pot buyers, or in cases where the pot has run out, they will offer the other products as a substitute.

C: what needs to happen is have a giant drug company patent a form of marijuana that is the most beneficial to patients

BM: It's already happening.

See: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n175/a06.html?25242

 

[Sodium Pentethol V]

You are so pucking dimwitted.

Ashcroft is largely talk and little action.

Suppose a guy like Spritzer who is mostly action and less talk is preferable?

He is a likely Kerry choice idjit.