Free Republic

Excellent speech by Ex-Drug Warrior Sheriff Bill Masters. Sheriff Bill Masters is a veteran of the "Drug War." He was so good at it that he won an award from the Drug Enforcement Agency. As the years passed, however, Masters began to harbor misgivings about the drug war. A few years ago, Masters came to the conclusion that the drug war is itself an addiction —and that drug prohibition is more damaging to the fabric of American society than drugs could ever be. Masters has served as sheriff of San Miguel County, Colorado, since 1979 and has become America's first...

Click on the link

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...

<p>A Great Falls man whose 10-year-old son allegedly led the babysitter to his marijuana stash has lost his job and resigned as president of the Rotary Club. Gregory A. Hughes, 50, 1100 23rd Ave. S.W., was fired from his job as vice president in the Wells Fargo Trust department. He had worked for the company more than 25 years.</p>

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...

The drug czar is ready for pro wrestling. He already has the name, and now he's got the prefight talk down cold. In every speech he makes in Nevada, where Bush appointee John Walters has traveled to fight an initiative that would legalize marijuana, he calls out his three sworn enemies as if he were Tupac Shakur. The czar has a problem with billionaire philanthropists George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling, who have bankrolled the pro-pot movement, and he wants everyone to know he's ready for battle. At an Elks lodge meeting in Las Vegas, he ticks off their...

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2001 Second Highest Ever Despite Feds' War On Terror, FBI Report Reveals Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 723,627 persons for marijuana violations in 2001, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the second highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprises nearly half of all drug arrests in the United States. "These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said Keith Stroup, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "In fact, the war...

<p>In the latest show of defiance against the federal government's crackdown on medicinal marijuana, San Francisco could get into the business of growing and distributing pot for sick people under a first-in-the-nation proposal on next month's local ballot.</p> <p>San Francisco's Proposition S would direct city officials to explore cultivating and dispensing the plant in light of the federal government's crusade against medical-cannabis clubs.</p>

A new statewide survey shows that 53 percent of those asked support allowing those with a doctor's recommendation to get up to 2 ounces of marijuana a month free from the state Department of Public Safety. For everyone else, Proposition 203 also would reduce the penalty for possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense, punishable by no more than a $250 fine. [No -- 33%, Don't know -- 15%; http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=49912]