Marijuana activist dies following explosion

Ottawa Citizen ^ | November 1, 2003 | James Gordon

[HamiltonJay]

Don Appleby died of his injuries suffered in an Oct. 12 explosion while he was trying to make a concentrated oil using marijuana and butane.

This guy's a DARWIN AWARD WINNNER on just so many levels...

[ellery]

Heh -- good one. :) No, I suggest not jailing nonviolent drug offenders. Fine them instead. Have them pay into the fund pool rather than help to drain it.

[Hildy]

If they're paying for medication for a medical problem, then YES. Whether or not the government pays for medical care is not the issue in this article.

[cinFLA]

"Don Appleby died of his injuries suffered in an Oct. 12 explosion while he was trying to make a concentrated oil using marijuana and butane."

You would use the gestapo to close down the meth lab next door. What about marijuana labs????

[xrp]

You would.

[ellery]

Criminalizing butane? Hardly.

Why not? According to your link, it can be used to procure drugs.

But knowing this, I will not be voting for the legalization of hemp, will you?

I didn't realize such a vote was pending. Is this on a federal level? Or state?

[robertpaulsen]

"And jailing nonviolent drug offenders doesn't affect the rest of us."

Violent, nonviolent -- makes no difference to me. They're being jailed for drugs, not whether they were violent or nonviolent.

It does affect the rest of us ... in a very positive way. It takes them off the street, and sends a message that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

Yes, the "prison" pays for it. And if the taxpayers didn't want the "prison" to pay for it, they would change the law.

[mugs99]

You think the government should pay for it?

We are paying for meds now for people who can't afford them. If the pot is cheaper than the alternative, why not?
I'm thinking of glaucoma, where pot is the only substance that will prevent blindness. Don't know about aids.

[Conservative til I die]

I don't know what any of this has to do with anything, but....

Faith is what saves us from eternal separation from God. Works are worthless...

"Faith without works is dead." Make of it what you will.

If you drink a martini, toke a bong, puff a cigar, or hit a punching bag out of anger, you may be guilty of something. But it is the ernest desire of the heart to follow God that will override any noxious behavior.

That's a dangerous viewpoint. It allows for moral ambivalency and disrespect for God's law by saying "I'm a good person and that's all that matters." You'll hear gays use that all the time, for instance.

Jesus did endorse drinking to excess.

Oh really? Show me where Jesus endorsed drunkenness. Was Jesus a drunkard as well?

[robertpaulsen]

"I didn't realize such a vote was pending. Is this on a federal level? Or state?"

Mostly at the state level. I look forward to your "no" vote.

"Hawaii Representative Cynthia Thielen, however, sees hemp as the eventual savior to Hawaii's eight- year economic slump. Thielen introduced in the state Legislature a bill to permit growing industrial hemp; it recently passed the House and Senate. The governor is expected to sign it into law next month. The bill calls for test plots, which would be monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration."

"Other states are pushing hard for hemp. Last month, North Dakota became the first state to make growing and selling industrial hemp legal. (Growers will apply for DEA permits to do so.)"

"Pro-hemp legislation has either passed or is brewing in at least 11 additional states. (No hemp legislation is pending in California, although the Democratic Party passed a measure endorsing industrial hemp last month at its annual convention.)"

[Conservative til I die]

So I expect that you'll be calling for Rush Limbaugh to do about 15 years in the state penitentiary, yes? Or does your hard-ass views on drugs only apply to dirty hippies who probably vote Democratic anyway?

[robertpaulsen]

"not jailing nonviolent drug offenders. Fine them instead."

Fine nonviolent drug dealers? This will deter them?

Words fail me. I really thought you were smarter than this.

[jmc813]

What's your issue with hemp? You can't get high off of it. What's the problem?

[fat city]

Forced to buy marijuana himself and pay rent, his friends say Mr. Appleby was reduced to scrounging through dumpsters to find the food he could no longer afford.

Sounds like my old college days in the 70's. And I had to go to class. And buy beer.

[freedumb2003]

And buy beer.

Lucky Beer with the rhebuses under the bottlecaps - $5 a case (in 1977)! Mac and Cheese! Home made furniture frome bottle crates, spools and scrap lumber!

In retrospect, the happiest days of my life.

[robertpaulsen]

I may have missed that particular story on Rush. Did he commit a crime? Has he even been charged with a crime? What crime is it, exactly, that I'm to be calling for 15 years?

Where in the f$%^ do you get off with a statement like that?

"Conservative 'til you die" my a$$. What kind of conservative calls for 15 years in the state pen for a man who hasn't even been charged with a crime, much less had a chance to defend himself in a court of law and confront his accusers?

He hasn't been found guilty by a jury of his peers, nor sentenced to ANY jail time, much less 15 years.

Nazi 'til you die is more like it.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"while he was trying to make a concentrated oil using marijuana and butane. "

Sounds like something from Miller's 'real American heroes' commercials.

Sounds like he was using butane to separate the MJ alkaloids from the impurities.

[robertpaulsen]

"What's your issue with hemp? You can't get high off of it. What's the problem?

Did you read my linked article? It appears that you can.

That's the problem.

[jmc813]

So you feel that there will be an epidemic of desperate stoners blowing themselves up if indistrial hemp is legalized? That's almost as silly as wanting to ban butane.

[robertpaulsen]

Oops. Bad link. Here's the correct one.