Free Republic

A proposal to legalize marijuana use in private by people older than 21 has become the first initiative approved for the 2004 general election ballot. Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, a public opponent of legalization, announced Tuesday that he has certified the 28,783 petition signatures required to place the initiative before voters. With less than a week left before the 2004 initiative deadline, only two of six petitions still outstanding are expected to show up on time with the requisite number of signatures, said Tom Godkin, a supervisor in the Division of Elections.

With pot and porn outstripping corn, America's black economy is flying high Illegal migrants provide the muscle for US black market Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday May 2, 2003 The Guardian Marijuana, pornography and illegal labour have created a hidden market in the United States which now accounts for as much as 10% of the American economy, according to a study. As a cash crop, marijuana is believed to have outstripped maize, and hardcore porn revenue is equal to Hollywood's domestic box office takings. Despite laws that punish marijuana cultivation more strictly than murder in some states, Americans spend...

< snip > We already know that regular use of cannabis is associated with an increased incidence of mental illnesses, most notably schizophrenia and depression < / snip > Comparing cannabis with tobacco Smoking cannabis, like smoking tobacco, can be a major public health hazard Britain now has 13 million tobacco smokers. This number has been steadily decreasing due to public awareness of the harm caused by tobacco smoking. At the same time the number of cannabis smokers is increasing. Between 1999 and 2001, the number of 14-15 year olds who had tried cannabis rose from 19% to 29%...

In a little noticed hearing of the House Government Reform Commnittee last week, Indiana Congressman (my homeotwn's Congressman actually) and longtime drug warrior Dan Burton made some stunning comments. In a hearing entitled "America's Heroin Crisis, Colombian Heroin and How We Can Improve Plan Colombia," Burton stopped just a hair short of advocating the decriminalization of drugs. Watch the video here (cut forward to 1 hour, 18 minutes into the hearing). Here's the transcript: Dan Burton: I want to tell you something. I have been in probably a hundred or a hundred and fifty hearings like this at various times...

Illicit drugs are in the news again, with talk of creating safe injection sites in major metropolitan centres, and the potential decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. These discussions cause me a certain amount of personal turmoil. I have written in this space before about my own negative experiences with substance abuse, as well as my belief that all drugs should be decriminalized and regulated. I continue to struggle to reconcile these apparently opposing views on illicit drugs. I'm not a believer of the 'harmless' theory of marijuana use. I'm one of those guys whose...

A Traverse City judge who admitted smoking marijuana at a Rolling Stones concert is scheduled to begin hearing cases Monday. District Judge Thomas Gilbert has been on voluntary leave since November sixth. He was in a 28 day alcohol rehabilitation program. Gilbert will hear only civil cases such as small claims and landlord-tenant disputes in his first week back. After a two week vacation, he'll begin hearing criminal cases but not those involving drunken driving or marijuana. Gilbert has called the incident at the October 12th concert in Detroit the stupidest thing he's ever done. Both the local bar association...

Eugene, Oregon's, Whiteaker neighborhood sounded like a war zone around dawn on October 17, and residents are fighting mad. It wasn't a terrorist attack, though, just another example of a drug war run amok. Police serving a search warrant for an alleged marijuana grow enlisted an armored personnel carrier and 45 SWAT team officers armed with shotguns and automatic rifles to raid a cluster of houses in Whiteaker. But after throwing flash-bang grenades, kicking in doors, and handcuffing four people -- including one nude woman and one woman dressed only in underpants and a t-shirt -- for hours in a...

High Court Marijuana Case in Limbo The Supreme Court of Canada judges have written a letter questioning whether they should proceed with a federal government case against marijuana smoking today, given that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he is going to decriminalize the drug. As soon as the judges read about Mr. Cauchon's announcement earlier this week, the court wrote lawyers for the federal government and three marijuana enthusiasts, asking whether the case should be put on hold in light of the developments. At the same time that Mr. Cauchon is planning decriminalization, his own Justice Department lawyers are scheduled...

Bradley Nowell of the band Sublime sang of smoking two joints in the morning and smoking two joints at night. George Mcmahon, a medicinal marijuana user, smokes 300 pre-rolled joints a month and it is perfectly legal. After suffering a lifetime of pain, Mcmahon is now one of only five citizens in the United States to receive federal medical marijuana. Mcmahon feels he is one of the lucky ones and wants to get the message out that marijuana can be beneficial to patients in need, and sometimes is a better cure than many painkillers prescribed today. Each month Mcmahon receives...

OTTAWA - The federal government will introduce legislation decriminalizing marijuana within the first four months of the new year, Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister, suggested yesterday. Mr. Cauchon said that should the House of Commons committee on illegal drugs recommend decriminalization in its report this Thursday, the government will respond quickly. The committee is expected to recommend that growing pot for personal use should not be a crime. A member of the committee said the report will probably suggest a 30-gram limit for personal use. "I mean, we'll see what will be the recommendations of the report," Mr. Cauchon told...

Physicians can discuss the pros and cons of medicinal marijuana with their patients without worry of the Drug Enforcement Administration cracking down on them, a federal appeals court ruled in October. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco unanimously ruled that a 1996 federal policy that said physicians could lose their DEA numbers if they discussed the issue tramples on First Amendment rights that allow a doctor and patient to discuss medical issues. The policy had some physicians fearful of discussing the issue with patients who have cancer, AIDS or other debilitating diseases...