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Advocates for legalizing marijuana tout the benefits at Hempfest
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) ^ | August 21, 2006 | MIKE LEWIS

Posted on 08/21/2006 5:54:00 PM PDT by Know your rights

Former Seattle police Chief Norm Stamper doesn't have dreadlocks, a Zig-Zag T-shirt or a single Phish album. He just sounds like it. "It's laughable when people say we are winning the drug war," said Stamper, who had just finished a main-stage speech to the crowd gathered Sunday at the Seattle Hempfest in Myrtle Edwards Park. "The people who are prosecuting the drug war are invested psychically and financially. It's a holy war for them.

"We should legalize all drugs."

While the comments might be unusual for most law enforcement careerists, they are nothing new for Stamper, who was Seattle's top cop from 1994 to 2000. That is why organizers brought him in for the popular two-day, pro-pot festival.

Organizers estimated 150,000 people flowed into the waterfront park, which for the weekend turned into a dense village of food booths, stages, arts-and-crafts sellers, hemp product manufacturers, leafleteers, hackysack circles and picnickers.

Now in its 15th year, Hempfest is at its core all about decriminalizing marijuana. So is Stamper, especially after years of witnessing firsthand what he sees as the futility of the federal drug war.

The drugs are winning, he said. It's time to change tactics.

"Police should be focused on violent crime," he told the crowd.

Stamper, a member of pro-legalization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said many of his peers agree with him but will only say so privately. He told a story about a recent chat with a police chief in a "major American city" who had read Stamper's 2005 book, "Breaking Rank."

In it, Stamper advocates legalizing and regulating drugs as a way to reduce collateral problems such as addiction, violence and property crime.

"He came up to me after a talk and said he agreed with the chapter on drugs," Stamper said. "I asked, 'Can I quote you publicly?'

"He said, 'What have you been smoking?' "

Stamper saw similar reticence Sunday, as he preached to the choir in the sunny, 90-degree heat.

Waiting for hand-dipped ice-cream bars in the festival's munchie midway, Seattleites Tony Witherspoon, 31, and Neil Toland, 28, said they don't see pot as a rip in society's fabric.

"I wouldn't think a little weed is going to hurt anybody," Witherspoon said.

Added Toland, "There needs to be a little space for (pot)."

Creating that political space is what the festival is all about, chief organizer Dominic Holden said.

Hempfest has matured over the decade and a half it's existed, he said. Initially, it went unnoticed by local police. Then, Holden recalled, it became tense and even adversarial between organizers and police in the late 1990s -- at a time when Stamper was chief.

"For a while there, it seemed like it would go downhill," Holden said. "They were doing backstage raids looking for pot. They didn't find any."

Since then, the political landscape has changed, Holden said.

First, state voters approved medical marijuana. Subsequently, Seattle residents said they are not worried about pot as a law enforcement issue.

Now, he said, the relationship is much more mellow.

"We all want it to be a safe festival," Holden said. "The police have been great. Very collaborative.

"This might be our biggest festival ever."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: humorless; knowyourleroy; leroyknowshisrights; marijuana; onetrickpony; potheads; seattle; warondrugs; wod; wodlist
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To: winston2
"Wow! - I know a lot of citizens who enjoy cannabis - but - I don't know any of the people you are referring to"

Personally, I don't regularly associate with law-breakers.

I am sure that pedophiles, sex deviates, burglars, and others who ignore the law because it interferes with their interpretation of what should be allowed have the same sense of "the law is wrong", etc.

Selective law-breaking under the guise of "individual rights infringement" is sometimes referred to as Anarchy.

101 posted on 08/24/2006 4:09:11 AM PDT by traditional1
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To: winston2
"the war against citizens who enjoy cannabis - except that it does cost the nation somewhere near 20 billion dollars per year"

The federal ONDCP budget is nearer to $12 billion and that's for ALL drugs.

That's less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget and covers drug education, anti-drug advertising, drug treatment, overseas interdiction, and domestic border patrol. Which of those programs would you like to eliminate?

102 posted on 08/24/2006 6:34:31 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: tpaine
"I spend entirely to much time explaining constitutional realities with people who don't care about our constitution."

Don't flatter yourself.

You spend entirely too much time whining about the constitutional realities. Your posts consist of nothing more than complaining that justices are old and senile, courts are wrong, decisions are poorly made and unjustified, we have no control over Congress, the U.S. Constitution doesn't mean what it says, blah, blah, blah.

You lost touch with reality long time ago. You're living in a fantasy world now, amigo.

103 posted on 08/24/2006 6:44:00 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen
You're living in a fantasy world now, amigo.

Yes indeed, we are all living in the new fantastic world created by socialists like you, paulsen. --- Your factions 'majority rule' policies have lead to a Congress out of control, court decisions are poorly made and unjustified, the U.S. Constitution doesn't mean what it says; ---- and "-- blah, blah, blah --", once again shows us your disdain for that document.

Prohibitionists lost touch with reality long ago, by thinking that repressive laws & big brother gov't are solutions to political problems.

104 posted on 08/24/2006 7:41:04 AM PDT by tpaine
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To: tpaine
Prohibitionists lost touch with reality long ago, by thinking that repressive laws & big brother gov't are solutions to political problems.

Touche! I enjoy your posts and have learned much from your referenced quotes especially on the banglist. Thanks.

105 posted on 08/24/2006 8:47:29 AM PDT by beltfed308 (Nanny Statists are Ameba's.)
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To: traditional1
Ah, the ol' inductive reasoning attempt....and the "jackboots" rant?

It is called reality. During prohibition, the cops could not break the doors down at speak easies, they had to announce themselves and get let in. Now they do no-knock searches with M5 machine guns.

How many people have been killed when a pothead head-ons them on the street while driving stoned?

I've never heard of one. Most people killed like that are using a perfectly legal substance.

You either live within the law, or don't bitch about the cost of enforcement....people who have no self-control and partake of illegal activity have no reason to complain abou the cost of the law enforcement whatsoever.

Anyone that pays taxes can complain about the cost and priority of law enforcement. I do not do drugs myself, except alcohol, but nanny state laws against people doing things that are noone else's business are tyrannical and should be oppossed by all freedom loving people (which excludes you). True Americans support the Constitution and fight against the mob rule democracy provides.

In the words of Emiliano Zapata, "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees."
106 posted on 08/24/2006 2:45:25 PM PDT by microgood
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To: robertpaulsen
The federal ONDCP budget is nearer to $12 billion and that's for ALL drugs.

That's less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget and covers drug education, anti-drug advertising, drug treatment, overseas interdiction, and domestic border patrol. Which of those programs would you like to eliminate?

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Let's start with chopping the propaganda -

---------------

Drug Czar on Anti-Marijuana Crusade -- Threatens Canada, Unleashes New Propaganda Offensive 9/20/02

Drug czar John Walters is a busy man these days. Between engineering yet another installment in the Office of National Drug Control Strategy's (ONDCP) bizarre series of ads linking marijuana users to terrorism and violence, trotting out a new offensive aimed at curbing teen pot use, trying to put out brush fires in places like California and Nevada, and threatening to disrupt cross-border trade with Canada if marijuana were legalized there, Walters appears to have a full-blown case of marijuana mania.

THE NEW AD CAMPAIGN:

Beginning this week, TV viewers around the country are being treated to the latest version of the notorious Superbowl "drugs aid terror" commercials, this time targeting marijuana. The text of one ad is as follows: "This is Dan. This is the joint that Dan bought. This is the dealer that sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the cartel that uses the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. And this is the family that was lined up by Dan's cartel and shot for getting in the way."

A second ad features teen pot-smoker "Stacey," then shows an image of her dealer, then moves up the chain to the person who supplies the dealer. But the final image is of a bed-ridden woman: "This is Carla, who was hit by a stray bullet from Stacey's supplier and paralyzed for life," the voiceover intones ominously.

Walters, who recently had to announce that earlier ONDCP propaganda campaigns had flopped, said this one was different. "These ads are different," he told Good Morning America as part of his media blitz. "We toughened up the behavior not only to look at the harms drugs can do to young people, but using their idealism, their drug buying to things they care about."

But Good Morning America also talked to young people about the ads, and some of their responses cannot be encouraging for Walters. Elisa Roupenian, a college student interviewed on the program, said her friends objected to linking drug use here to violence in other countries. "It made people mad because they pointed the finger at teenagers," she said. "Some people think that if the government didn't create the war against drugs that made such a huge black market, the terrorists and the drug cartels wouldn't be able to make such a tremendous profit," she said.

Nevertheless, expect more such ads to follow. The drug czar has a $1 billion propaganda budget for the next five years.

Propaganda Offensive

107 posted on 08/24/2006 2:45:50 PM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: winston2
"Some people think that if the government didn't create the war against drugs that made such a huge black market, the terrorists and the drug cartels wouldn't be able to make such a tremendous profit," she said.

Priceless. It is encouraging that the kids are significantly smarter than the drug czar and the Federal Government.
108 posted on 08/24/2006 2:54:22 PM PDT by microgood
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To: traditional1; robertpaulsen
"cost the nation somewhere near 20 billion dollars per year"(winston2)

That's the cost of the potheads to the taxpayers.

Additionally, the losses for crime committed by potheads, and injuries to others, is not even included in that number.

Wow! - I know a lot of citizens who enjoy cannabis - but - I don't know any of the people you are referring to.

I have a different view of the breakdown of the billions of dollars in cost.(winston2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(snip)Marijuana addiction is a phenomenon experienced by more than 150,000 individuals each year who enter treatment for their proclaimed addiction to marijuana.(snip) NARCANON

I really don't know what this "treatment for proclaimed addiction to marijuana" costs, but conservatively - I'd say $5,000 per case. That would total to 3/4 of a billion dollars per year that can get paid for by our health insurance companies. We are all paying for this.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(snip)Marijuana is physically addictive. Each year, 100,000 teens are treated for marijuana dependence.(snip)

Marijuana use among Teens

The fact is that cannabis use is constantly going up - even as the cost of the propaganda war increases.

A relatively hidden fact is that the majority of "treatment for marijuana dependence" cases are simply a way of avoiding less comfortable quarters at juvenile detention centers for teens. For adults the "treatment" choice usually has much to do with trying to keep one's job.

(more later)

109 posted on 08/24/2006 3:35:20 PM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: winston2
Let's see....if we didn't have to incarcerate ANY law-breakers, or did away with ALL law enforcement, we wouldn't have this cost to bear, either.

That's the logic of the pot proponents, who just think it's okay to have NO LAWS that govern THEIR desires.......

Anarchy don't work..

110 posted on 08/24/2006 3:38:14 PM PDT by traditional1
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To: traditional1; All
Let's see....if we didn't have to incarcerate ANY law-breakers, or did away with ALL law enforcement, we wouldn't have this cost to bear, either.

That's the logic of the pot proponents, who just think it's okay to have NO LAWS that govern THEIR desires.......

Anarchy don't work..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's far from what I am saying.

The thing is that our nation has a finite amount of money to spend. (How many trillion dollars national debt is it now days?)

For every marijuana arrest - the police effort could be spent on assault and property events (which are cases in which there was actually a victim). The next time you give up on police apprehending the person who beats up some nice lady or stole your stuff - thank the people who waste your money trying and failing to stop citizens from smoking a joint.

111 posted on 08/24/2006 5:17:33 PM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: winston2
to stop citizens from smoking a joint.

Illegal drug use should be ignored, you think? Maybe speeding is a waste of police time, or traffic violations, or DUI? Which laws should we ignore? Just the ones you don't like? Should each person breaking any law not be entitled to "equal protection", in that they can say "the police ignored the speeder, and picked on me for smoking pot"? Where does it end?

112 posted on 08/24/2006 5:31:47 PM PDT by traditional1
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To: microgood
Priceless. It is encouraging that the kids are significantly smarter than the drug czar and the Federal Government.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An interesting thing about children - They are quite good at spotting insincerity and it makes them distrustful of the source.

As adults - we sometimes refer to insincerity as BS government propaganda.

113 posted on 08/24/2006 6:46:07 PM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: traditional1; All
The next time you give up on police apprehending the person who beats up some nice lady or stole your stuff - thank the people who waste your money trying and failing to stop citizens from smoking a joint.(winston2)

Illegal drug use should be ignored, you think? Maybe speeding is a waste of police time, or traffic violations, or DUI? Which laws should we ignore? Just the ones you don't like? Should each person breaking any law not be entitled to "equal protection", in that they can say "the police ignored the speeder, and picked on me for smoking pot"? Where does it end?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When automobile accidents that are caused by alcohol use are reduced by half - come back to see me.

In brief - we should punish persons who cause risk or actual harm to others. Someone who grows a cannabis plant and consumes it in privacy does not deserve punishment.

What you think?

114 posted on 08/24/2006 6:58:21 PM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: winston2
You seem to be short on the reality of the risk to others (let alone potheads themselves)

• Marijuana affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination, and reaction time—skills that are necessary for safe driving. A roadside study of reckless drivers in Tennessee found that 33 percent of all subjects who were not under the influence of alcohol and who were tested for drugs at the scene of their arrest tested positive for marijuana.

• Research shows a link between frequent marijuana use and increased violent behavior.

• Young people who use marijuana weekly are nearly four times more likely than nonusers to engage in violence.

• More than 41 percent of male arrestees in sampled U.S. cities tested positive for marijuana.

115 posted on 08/24/2006 7:28:21 PM PDT by traditional1
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To: traditional1
You seem to be short on the reality of the risk to others (let alone potheads themselves)

LOL....actually they have toned down the lies since the Feds first started lying about it and outlawed it in 1937 so I thought I would show you why it was outlawed from the nation's first drug czar, Harry Anslinger:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

Bottom line: the Federal and State governments have no credibility on the issue of marijuana. They have lied about it for 80 years and continue to lie about it. I think you must be the only person that actually believes them, since they do not even believe it themselves.
116 posted on 08/24/2006 9:28:55 PM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
RE: your post # 116

!

!

High five!

117 posted on 08/25/2006 4:57:41 AM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: microgood
I suppose it never occurred to her that if she and her generation stopped using drugs it would also have the same effect.

Smarter? No, dumber. Just more adept at making excuses.

118 posted on 08/25/2006 5:01:34 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: All
I have pain in my neck, shoulder and spine that the Md's have never been able to give me any help for.

Smoking marijuana helps relieve the pain and allows me to do some yoga exercises that reduces the pain through the rest of the day.

119 posted on 08/25/2006 5:03:16 AM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: winston2
"For every marijuana arrest - the police effort could be spent on assault and property events (which are cases in which there was actually a victim)."

Do you have anything to support this ridiculous statement? Can you point me to one story where the police could not respond to an assault or a property event because they were too busy with a marijuana arrest?

Gee, what about all the "victimless" traffic stops the police make? Many more than drug arrests. How many domestic distubances (not ending in an arrest) are they involved in?

Yet you want to focus on drugs.

120 posted on 08/25/2006 5:08:38 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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