Can Adam Assenberg’s Story Help Change Federal Medical Marijuana Policy?

By Adam Assenberg

Please let me introduce myself to you,

My Name is Michael ( ADAM ) Assenberg and here is my story,

Even with me not living in your State my STORY will have impact on anyone in any state who needs MEDICAL MARIJUANA.

I used to be a Security Guard for a Company down by Riverside, California back in 1985 and on Jan. 25, 1985 was a day that would change my life forever. I was Guarding a place in Corona, California called the 3-m plant and they had TNT on the site. Well, while on patrol I went and checked the “shack” like I always do on my drives and found a white pick-up by the shack, as I started to drive up to them they spotted me and started driving to the back of the complex where they ran out of road and tried to cross a train bridge in there pickup truck. They started driving half way across and stopped in the middle.

As they acted this way I knew there would be trouble so I took my night stick in one hand and my Mace in the other ready for action if needed. I wanted to get a good look at them so I could give the police the best info, while I talked to them a number 3 man came up from behind and hit me in the middle of my back with a baseball bat, then pushed me backwards off the train bridge 15 feet down into a dry riverbed full of boulders.

I did not black-out when I hit but I acted like they killed me as I knew if I moved they would end what they started. After they left I tried to get up and found that I could not move from my waist down so I crawled up a 45 degree embankment and 2.5 miles on my hands and elbows to get to a phone where I called 911. Next thing I remember is waking in the hospital.

I ended up with breaking nine bones in my spine and crushing my Cervical Process at the base of my neck. It took six months to get some feeling back into my legs and seven years to walk again. Now I suffer INTRACTABLE PAIN 24 hours a day seven days a week. After years of different treatments and medications I have tried everything known to mankind. A friend of mine in 1987 told me about the GREAT benefit he gets from the Medical use of Marijuana, I tried it and the PAIN SPASMS and the blackouts stopped just about over night, When it became legal under STATE LAW under the 10Th Amendment that Doctors are to be allowed to act in anyway that a STATE so deemed fit to have them act, signed my paper under Washington State LAW I-692 and I became legal to use MEDICAL MARIJUANA.

Now, unlike California that has it legal to have ” Clinics ” for people needing Medical Marijuana, Washington state has it to where you need to find it on your own. Or you are allowed under State LAW to grow up to a TWO MONTH SUPPLY. Also it is also written into Washington State LAW that few people know about that it is legal for the police to give out MARIJUANA that they get from grows that are not from medical users to the sick that need it. The ONLY TRICK is they wrote it in the law that they MUST wait for the FEDERAL GUIDELINES for passing it out and that we all know will not come unless we fight for what is right. Reference: WA State Initiative – 692.

Now in 2004 my Mother passed away from Cancer and there was no one Left that was around to worry about me or for me to care about, so in Nov. of 2004 I made up my mind to end the suffering of going through what looks like GRAND MAUL SEIZURES, all RELATED to the level of PAIN I was SUFFERING from. I go through at least a dozen of them a day all related from pain when I don’t use the Medical Marijuana. The way I went about trying to end my life may seem shocking to some but to them I say, ‘you have never suffered the way I do each and every day of every week.

I stabbed myself in the heart four times and one of those times was in front of many police officers. They tried to ‘tazer’ me with three of their guns. The pain I suffer is far greater then anything those can pump into me so, I pulled the wires off of me and took the 4Th plunge, I only had a 20% chance of pulling through, The Doc’s evaluated me and found The ONLY reason I did this is due to pain. Now, without the use of Medical Marijuana, each and every day is a living hell even with the doc’s giving me 500MG of Morphine a day as well as 60MG of endocet a day for pain.

Now here is where my story is going to hit EVERY STATE that has MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS.

In March of the following year I was living in Tacoma, Washington and was on the Internet where I met this Wonderful woman and two Children who lived many miles away from me in Anacortes, Washington. She had raised these children since they were babies all by herself.

Then she meets me and we fall in love and the kids just about right away start loving me like I have always been there dad, Well she ends up asking me to move in with her and her two children. TheresaMcCallum the Director of Anacortes Housing Authority gets wind that I have a legal service animal plus I use Medical Marijuana with a doctor’s note under I-692. She asked me about it and I gave her my Doctors Statements. After she has these letters from my doctor she still gives us an eviction for using a controlled substance plus the use of a service animal and she said this exact thing on the eviction letter.

I fought this eviction in Federal Court and Federal Judge Lasnik, with our right to a Jury trial even with the power of what my doctor statement said about my medical need, said that no matter how much a person suffered they could not use marijuana for medical reasons, what about the right to a life or a right not to live in never-ending suffering? The way I suffer amounts to nothing less than torture without the medical use of marijuana. Another item Lasnik overlooked when he tossed out my case, without a Jury Trial, is the right not to live in Torture and without the Federal Government allowing for my Medical use amounts to the Federal Government Torturing me for as long as I live.

With the power of my doctors statement it is very clear that, no matter what our Federal System has to say about MMJ, all levels of the Federal and State Government will not allow the medical use of Marijuana for any reason, no matter how sick or disabled a person is.

My case should be a ‘wake up’ call to all people that our ‘votes’ do not count anymore. When I called the Governor of Washington State and informed them of what was going on, they hid behind the AngelRaich case. Even the Attorney General would not help protect the rights of what was voted into State Law. Judge Myers, out of Mount Vernon ‘STATE’ Court said, in open court, he does not believe in the State Law, even with him being informed of the State laws that Housing was violating by throwing my family out onto the street, said he does not feel I-692 was a good law and was not going to up-hold State Law. At the end of this letter is the case numbers if you wish to look anything up.

Also at the bottom is my phone number and web site should anyone wish to contact me. Considering this is an election year and with it being about throwing out a family over the Medical use of Marijuana with the power of my doctors statement it could kill Medical Marijuana for everyone, Everywhere. As we all know Marijuana is not legal in the United States for use in any way, under Federal Guidelines. This came to be in 1937. Schedule I drugs have the highest abuse potential and have no accepted medical use. Now, if this is the case then why, from 1850 until 1942, was Marijuana prescribed for various conditions including labor pains, nausea, and rheumatism listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia?

Now Marijuana dates back way before that even. Take a look at the Chinese medical compendium, traditionally considered to date from 2737 BC. Marijuana use spread from China to India and then to N. Africa and reached Europe at least as early as AD 500.

Not only has Marijuana been used as Medicine from way back but also as a intoxicant, giving the non-medical user a feeling of euphoria, Marijuana in all this time has never contributed to killing anyone. Can the same be said for drinking alcohol? If we take a look at the reasoning the Government gives for it’s ban on Marijuana, why aren’t Cigarettes, that are full of additives that get you hooked, as well as alcohol, banned by the Federal Government? If you want to argue that the reason the latter two are not banned is because they are not drugs, then look at the listing of chemicals that are used to make Cigarettes.

If you take a good look at the things that Marijuana is helping with today, you need only to look at the States who are helping the sick and disabled right now. Take a good look at California, at Proposition 215, The People of California voted in Medical Marijuana to help the sick in their State. Since the Federal Government did not like what California did they, the Federal Government, have chosen to give many of the sick a quicker death sentence, like they did to McWilliams who choked to death on his own vomit, because the Government did not allow him access to his Medical Marijuana. Now I don’t know about you but, how would YOU like it if the Federal Government gave your Father, Mother or your Child that sentence?

THAT sentence HAS been given to me, by a STATE judge who did NOT OBEY the LAW under I-692 Washington’s Medical Law. PLUS again by a FEDERAL JUDGE who did not allow for a JURY trial with respect as to how powerful my doctors statement was that MEDICAL MARIJUANA WAS the ONLY thing that really worked for me and that I would suffer a great deal more without it’s use.

The ONLY reason Marijuana is still listed as a Schedule I drug today is because Congress is getting ‘Donations’ from pill manufacturers. They and not looking at the facts that Marijuana helps the sick. Congress in DC is no longer for WE THE PEOPLE and the US Department of Justice is hiding behind Congress. The FDA is unwilling to act on behalf of the people. Looks like poli-tricks is the norm in DC.

You don’t have to go far to read about scandals going on in DC. While the folks in DC sit back with their donations, WE THE PEOPLE suffer to the point of wanting to die. All because money was more important to the Government than the lives of WE THE PEOPLE. Money is the ONLY reason that Marijuana is not legal in the United States under Federal Law. In California, Marijuana is listed as Medicine for: Cancer, Anorexia, Aids, Chronic pain, Spasticity, Glaucoma, Arthritis, Migraine or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.

In Oregon Marijuana is used as medicine for: Cancer, Glaucoma, positive status for Human Immunodeficiency Virus or acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or treatment for these conditions, Cachexia, Severe pain, Severe nausea and Seizures, including but not limited to seizures caused by Epilepsy, and Persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to spasms caused by Multiple Sclerosis.

There are 11 states in the United States that have accepted marijuana as medicinal. We are now waiting for the Federal Government to acknowledge that marijuana has medical properties. If you were to look at the Law in Washington State, where I live, it’s used for: Chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, AIDS Wasting Syndrome; severe Muscle Spasms, associated with Multiple Sclerosis and other spasticity disorders, Epilepsy, Acute or Chronic Glaucoma and some forms of Intractable Pain.

I suffer from Intractable Pain. Every pain medication that can be used for me has been tried. During a twenty-four hour period, there is not a moment that I don’t suffer. The pain is so intense that it feels like my head wants to rip off my body and by the bottom of my spine it feels like a 500 pound weight is sitting on my back. I feel like this 24 hours a day, 7days a week, etc. So if you look at these few States that I have listed you will see that there is plenty of accepted medical use. ONLY at the Federal Level is it still a crime to use Marijuana.

When have the Members of Congress started becoming doctors? All you need do is look at the money trail. How much have manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry donated to the Members of Congress?

Look at the congressional corruption going on with Abramoff and the sleazy way the Superior Court in California hid behind the Commerce Clause, stating that the private growing of Medical Marijuana would upset the market on Marijuana sales. Well first off, there are two items wrong with the choice the Court made. The First mistake is that there is NO legal market for the sale of marijuana so how can a market be said to be upset when there is no legal market. Plus the fact that if the person growing it for medical reasons has the grow operation in their own home and it never hits the street, then how is it adding to the market of sales be it legal sales or the black market?

The Second mistake: with all the congressional corruption, how can the Government be trusted to do what is right by the American people when so many people are sick and/or suffering and being mis-led by OUR Government?

Anacortes Housing Authority is trying to hide behind the Gonzalez v. Raich ruling of June 6, 2001 over my use of Medical Marijuana. The Gonzalez v. Raich ruling is about the Oakland Marijuana club and NOT about end users like myself. If our State Government from the Governor’s office on down the line will not protect the laws that WE THE PEOPLE put into effect then at that point we then live in a dictatorship as is VERY clear in this case.

Another item to note, when we were thrown out of our home we had to move across Washington State into Eastern Washington because I am so sick that no shelters were willing to take me in. Since our move to this side of Washington, I have NOT found any doctor that is willing to sign my paperwork. Since I am so willing to stand up for my rights, I am forced to drive to Anacortes to see the one doctor on the other side of WA that signed my paperwork.

Now by state law, with the Medical coupons I have, they are to pay to get me to my doctors appointments. At this point in time, I am having to drive to my doctor appointments on the other side of the state with out help from the state. I am now fighting that battle as well. I think it it is very important to point out that I took this to Federal Court under the right to life, Right not to have to live in Intractable pain and the right for a doctor to act in accordance with State Guidelines. ALL of which Federal Judge Lasnick as well as State Myers turned down.

Another item of interest to readers of ALL Medical Marijuana States, is that because I lost the first round in Both Federal Court and State Court I am getting ready to file a Multi-Billion dollar Class Action Lawsuit for violating what the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled we have a VERY BASIC right to above all other laws and that is a right to LIFE in ANY way that needs to be met for that person to be able to live a basic life.

This has been violated in all lower Courts all with the Court System never allowing me a Jury Trial. I am asking for anyone in Any State that would like to take part on this Class action Suit to give me a call as soon as they can. I file this suit Dec. 1, 2006 and after that I will not allow anyone else in on the suit that I am filing. The ONLY reason for that rule is that I am doing all the paperwork myself without the use of a Lawyer.

Because Washington State, starting from the Governor’s office and on down, has not supported I – 692, and because of the State and Federal Governments not supporting this law, I now have to file in Federal Court the right to end my life due to the Federal and State Government forcing me into a life of Intractable pain and daily torture, without being able to use Medical Marijuana as was guided by my Doctor under article 10 of the United States Constitution. My family also suffers from my disability, (the pain I go through, the spasms, etc) because of the Federal Governments decision.

Case numbers,

1st Federal case # Case No. C05-1836RSL ( Now in the ninth circuit court of appeals )

State Case Number No. 06-2-00999-4

2nd Federal Case # No. CV06-0987 ( Soon to be in the ninth also. )

To get a hold of me by phone please call 509-288-0830 or check out his website: http://www.marijuanafactorfiction.net/

Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal

Drug warriors often contend that drug use would skyrocket if we were to legalize or decriminalize drugs in the United States. Fortunately, we have a real-world example of the actual effects of ending the violent, expensive War on Drugs and replacing it with a system of treatment for problem users and addicts.

Ten years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs. One decade after this unprecedented experiment, drug abuse is down by half:

Health experts in Portugal said Friday that Portugal’s decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked.

“There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

The number of addicts considered “problematic” — those who repeatedly use “hard” drugs and intravenous users — had fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people, Goulao said.

Other factors had also played their part however, Goulao, a medical doctor added.

“This development can not only be attributed to decriminalisation but to a confluence of treatment and risk reduction policies.”

Many of these innovative treatment procedures would not have emerged if addicts had continued to be arrested and locked up rather than treated by medical experts and psychologists. Currently 40,000 people in Portugal are being treated for drug abuse. This is a far cheaper, far more humane way to tackle the problem. Rather than locking up 100,000 criminals, the Portuguese are working to cure 40,000 patients and fine-tuning a whole new canon of drug treatment knowledge at the same time.

None of this is possible when waging a war.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/07/05/ten-years-after-decriminalization-drug-abuse-down-by-half-in-portugal/

5th Grader Turns in Pot-Smoking Parents

Parents Arrested After Fifth Grader Turns Them In For Having Marijuana Joints; Kid Inspired By L.A.-Founded D.A.R.E. Program

D.A.R.E. ensares parents who smoke — gasp — joints.

​ You gotta love D.A.R.E., the anti-drug program created by late Los Angeles police Chief Daryl Gates in 1983. It’s done a great job of eradicating drugs in schools. More importantly, it’s made snitches out of children who have been taught by cops to turn in their parents.

That’s what happened last week in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, where an 11-year-old elementary school kid brought a few joints to campus and turned them in, saying they belonged to mom and dad.

This, of course, was after the good officers at D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) came to school to give their anti-drug lecture.

Matthews police Officer Stason Tyrrell told WBTV the 5th grader did the right thing:

“Even if it’s happening in their own home with their own parents, they understand that’s a dangerous situation because of what we’re teaching them. That’s what they’re told to do, to make us aware.”

The dad, age 40, and the mom, age 38, were arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia — misdemeanors.

The dad, who’s name was withheld by the TV station, told WBTV it’s “no one’s business” how the 11-year-old got a hold the joints, and that “I don’t give drugs to my kids.”

D.A.R.E. has been widely criticized as ineffective, a product of the Just-Say-No ’80s. But its L.A.-based proselytizers carry on as if Nancy Reagan is still the first lady.

What’s ironic is that, had this case happened in D.A.R.E.’s hometown, the parents very well could have had a prescription for their weed, and the cops might have had to lay off.

Marijuana Decrim Headed To The Ballot In Miami Beach

Graphic: CSMP

​Miami Beach, Florida voters may get a chance to vote on decriminalizing marijuana this fall, making it the first city in South Florida to reduce the penalty for pot to a $100 fine instead of criminal charges.

Sensible Florida (Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy), a group which works to legalize cannabis, said it has collected more than double the number of signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, reports Tim Elfrink at Miami New Times; normally, doubling the required number all-but-ensures that enough valid names are present to qualify.

The group said it will present 9,000 signatures at Miami Beach City Hall on Wednesday, July 13.

Photo: The Lead Miami Beach

Ford Banister, Sensible Florida: “It’s a great day for the marijuana legalization movement in Florida”

​ “It’s a great day for the marijuana legalization movement in Florida,” said the group’s Chairman Ford Banister. “For the first time, Florida voters will soon decide a marijuana related question.”

Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, the director and producer of Cocaine Cowboys and Square Grouper – a film about the South Florida marijuana trade in the 1970s and ’80s — has contributed thousands of dollars and publically backed the efforts of Sensible Florida, reports Perry Stein at The Miami Herald.

Spellman said the vote will be a chance for Miami Beach residents to decide if they want to stop pursuing a “failed war on drugs.”

“Is it in the public interest to arrest, detain and process somebody in the system for small amounts of marijuana?” asked Spellman. ”Is that what we want cops, prosecutors and investigators to be focusing on?”

Victory Rally Planned for 4:20 Wednesday, July 13, Miami Beach City Hall

If at least 4,300 of the group’s 9,000 signatures are valid, a citywide vote on the issue will take place in November.

The group is staging a victory rally at Miami Beach City Hall at 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We are working to generate a huge crowd for this historic event,” said campaign organizer Eric Stevens of Sensible Florida. “We need to get as many people as possible at the rally.”

“One of our plans is to have planes with banners flying all around Miami Beach to let people know that this is happening,” Stevens said. “Imagine how cool it would be to see a plane flying overhead announcing a marijuana rally at City Hall on Miami Beach as we work to present the voices of thousands of people who signed the petition to change the marijuana laws!”

Florida NORML, People United For Medical Marijuana (PUFMM), Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Sensible Florida Miami Beach, and others have all worked hard for more than a year to make this event happen, activist/Black Tuna Diaries author Robert Platshorn, one of the 1970s marijuana smugglers featured in the film Square Grouper, told Toke of the Town on Monday.

What: Rally to support petition submission to decriminalize marijuana on Miami Beach

When: July 13, 4:20 p.m.

Where: Miami Beach City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive (on the corner of 17th Street & Convention Center Drive)

Fireworks Offer A Bit Of Insight In Legalizing Marijuana

For the next week or so you’ll be serenaded with rogue fireworks bursting in air.

It is more than irritating given the fact Manteca allows safe and sane fireworks sales and discharge for a full 168 hours from noon today until midnight on Monday.

Critics of the 2006 Manteca City Council decision to allow non-profits to sell fireworks said something like this would happen. There were right – to a degree.

While there hasn’t been a big bump in fireworks-related fires and injuries, there has been an uptick in illegal fireworks. The skies over East Manteca in the Cowell School have lit up like the Fourth of July for the past several years as June comes to a close from someone launching aerial fireworks. That’s just one example.

The big difference today as opposed to 10 years ago is the city isn’t making criminals out of people who use safe and sane fireworks.

Manteca’s fireworks experience provides some lessons to those who embrace the outright legalization of drugs such as marijuana that they contend are essentially the “safe and sane” version of controlled substances.

Legalizing marijuana will not result in a drop-off in the use of more dangerous drugs such as meth. It might even increase their consumption. That would mean the attendant impacts such as health care costs and putting strains on the safety net when drug use diverts needed money from food and such will go up somewhat. It also would likely mean they’d be an increase in property crime as more people finance their habit.

As for marijuana itself, about the only benefit to society that can be measured for sure would be the fact it would stop making a criminal out of people who might otherwise be law-abiding citizens. It would free up law enforcement resources to try to keep more dangerous drugs in check.

There are other issues with marijuana that can’t be ignored that are in the same category as alcohol abuse. If they were treated the same as alcohol, it means those who use them would be subject to a wide variety of penalties much like those who abuse alcohol. If you test positive for marijuana at work an employer should have the absolute right to terminate you without penalty just like if it were alcohol. Sorry, but there can be no margins for being a “little buzzed.”

Having said that, technology can be developed that distinguishes between marijuana being in your system for 30 days versus two days.

If you are under the influence while driving you get the full treatment as if you were consuming alcohol when you were tested.

Adults who supply marijuana to anyone under 21 should be subjected to the same criminal prosecution and fines – as well as liability – as someone who serves or sells alcohol to a minor. And if someone is high, relaxed or whatever when they cause an accident after someone gave them more marijuana when they were already under the influence, then they can be sued for damages by victims.

As for arguments that making all controlled substances legal will somehow lower the price and reduce crime, good luck proving that one.

Do you think if those shooting off illegal fireworks spending $100 to buy four mortar-style rockets would still get only four if the price was cut to $50? The odds are they’d still spend $100 and have double the thrill.

Human nature being what it is it would probably work the same in most cases with the hardcore drugs.

Prohibition per se rarely works nor does lifting prohibition cure you of your ills. If you doubt that just consider what has happened in this country since alcohol was again made legal. A lot of the crime generated by criminal gangs has gone to the wayside but alcohol-related deaths from intoxicated driving and domestic violence induced by alcohol abuse haven’t exactly retreated. Nor have health-related issues that cost society tons of money.

Legalizing isn’t a panacea whether it is with safe and sane fireworks or marijuana.

In both cases they do end the criminalization of behavior that has relatively low risk compared to the more potent abuse of hardcore illegal fireworks and hardcore illegal drugs.

U.S. Can’t Justify Its Drug War Spending: New Reports

Graphic: Break The Matrix

​Name one government program that for 40 years has failed to achieve any of its goals, yet receives bigger and bigger budgets every year. If you said “the War on Drugs,” you’ve been paying attention.

The Obama Administration is unable to show that the billions of dollar spent in the War On Drugs have significantly affected the flow of illicit substances into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government’s growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate coca fields, and operate surveillance equipment in the battle against the expanding drug trade in Latin America over the past five years, reports Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times.

“We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released on Wednesday.

Photo: Colombia In Context

Professor Bruce Bagley, University of Miami: “I think we have wasted our money hugely”

​

“I think we have wasted our money hugely,” said Bruce Bagley, an expert in U.S. anti-narcotics efforts. “The effort has had corrosive effects on every country it has touched,” said Bagley, who chairs international studies at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Florida.

Predictably, Obama Administration officials deny reports that U.S. efforts have failed to reduce drug production and smuggling in Latin America.

White House officials claim the expanding U.S. anti-drug effort occupies a “growing portion” of time for President Obama’s national security team, even though it doesn’t get many Congressional hearings or headlines.

The majority of wasted American counter-narcotics dollars are awarded to five big corporations: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT and ARINC, according to the report for the contracting oversight committee, part of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Counter-narcotics contract spending increased by 32 percent over the five-year period from $482 million in 2005 to $635 million in 2009. Falls Church, Va., based DynCorp got the biggest piece of the wasted pie, a whopping $1.1 billion.

Photo: Politico

Sen. Claire McCaskill: “We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return”

​

These contractors have plenty of ways to waste your tax money. They train local police and investigators in anti-drug methods, provide logistical support to intelligence collection centers, and fly airplanes and helicopters that spray herbicides to supposedly eradicate coca crops grown to produce cocaine.

The Department of Defense has wasted $6.1 billion of tax money since 2005 to help spot planes and boats headed north to the U.S. with drug payloads, as well as on surveillance and other intelligence operations.

Some of the expenses are “difficult to characterize,” according to Senate staff members, which is government-speak for “OK, you caught us wasting money again.” The Army wasted $75,000 for paintball supplies for “training exercises” in 2007, for example, and $5,000 for what the military listed as “rubber ducks.”

The “ducks” are rubber replicas of M-16 rifles that are used in training exercises, a Pentagon spokesman claimed.

Even the Defense Department described its own system for tracking these contracts as “error prone,” according to the Senate report, which also says the department doesn’t have reliable data about “how successful” its efforts have been. Go figure.

In a separate report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, there is the conclusion that the State Department “does not have a centralized inventory of counter-narcotics contracts” and said the department does not evaluate the overall success of its counter-narcotics program.

“It’s become increasingly clear that our efforts to rein in the narcotics trade in Latin America, especially as it relates to the government’s use of contractors, have largely failed,” Sen. McCaskill said.

The latest criticism of the United States’ War On Drugs comes just a week after a high-profile group of world leaders called the global Drug War a costly failure.

The group, which included former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and past presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, recommended that regional governments try legalizing and regulating drugs to help stop the flood of cash going to drug cartels and other organized crime groups.

James Gregory, a Pentagon spokesman, demonstrated his willingness to lie his ass off by claiming the Defense Department’s efforts against drugs “have been among the most successful and cost-effective programs” in decades.

“By any reasonable assessment, the U.S. has received ample strategic national security benefits in return for its investments in this area,” said Gregory, who seems to inhabit a particularly improbable alternate reality.

Back in the real world, the only effects most objective observers can see run along these lines: Backed by the United States, Mexico’s stepped-up Drug War has had the unintended effect of pushing drug cartels deeper into Central America, causing violence to soar in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Another effect has been the vast expansion of Orwellain surveillance technology, supposedly to combat drugs, but ever-so-useful to the authoritarian regimes in Central America (and in the United States) in suppressing dissent.

The U.S. is currently focusing on improving its efforts to intercept cellphone and Internet traffic (of “drug cartels,” yeah right) in the region, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During a visit to El Salvador in February, William Brownfield, the head of the State Department’s anti-drug programs, opened a wiretapping center in San Salvador, as well as an office to share fingerprints and other data with U.S. law enforcement.

California Rejects Plan To Reduce Cannabis Cultivation Penalties

Graphic: disinfo.com

​The California Assembly on Friday rejected Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s bill, AB 1017, to reduce marijuana cultivation from a mandatory felony to a “wobbler,” which would have allowed discretion on charging a misdemeanor. The vote was 24 yes to 36 no.

The bill had been supported by the district attorney of Mendocino County, but was opposed by the state D.A.’s association.

“The state Legislature has once again demonstrated its incompetence when it comes to dealing with prison crowding,” said disappointed California NORML Director Dale Gieringer.

“With California under court order to reduce its prison population, it is irresponsible to maintain present penalties for nonviolent drug offenses,” Gieringer said. “It makes no sense to keep marijuana growing a felony, when assault, battery, and petty theft are all misdemeanors.

Photo: California NORML

Dale Gieringer, California NORML: “Legislators have once again caved in to the state’s law enforcement establishment”

​

“Legislators have once again caved in to the state’s law enforcement establishment, which has a vested professional interest in maximizing drug crime,” Gieringer said.

Numerous liberal Democrats failed to vote, with some of them actually opposing AB 1017, among them Sandre Swanson of Oakland, Jerry Hill of San Mateo, and Mike Feuer of Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Chris Norby of Orange County was the only Republican “yes” vote in the entire Assembly.

Subway sandwhich worker sells pot to undercovers

Subway sandwich worker sold pot to customers who ordered ‘extra meat’: cops

BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 5:15 PM

Seth Aenig/AP

A Subway sandwich worker in Florida was busted for slipping baggies of weed to customers who ordered ‘extra meat’ on their subs.

St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office

Elizabeth Hunt, 47, sold weed to two undercover cops this month.

A South Florida Subway restaurant worker was busted for slipping bags of marijuana to customers who requested “extra meat” with their sandwiches.

Elizabeth Hunt, 47, was busted on Thursday after she sold dope to an undercover cop who used the code words during two stops at the St. Lucie County sandwich shop this month, police said.

Cops said customers who wanted their subs with a side of green would say the password while ordering and then drop $10 into Hunt’s tip jar.

“The ‘extra meat’ was a baggie of marijuana that Hunt slipped into the sandwich bag,” Sheriff Ken Mascara told Central Florida‘s News 13.

She faces drug selling and possession charges and was being held on $55,000 bond.

With News Wire Services

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/06/05/2011-06-05_subway_sandwich_worker_busted_selling_weed_to_customers_who_ordered_extra_meat.html#ixzz1ORb9lh4c

Going On A First Date High

I’ve been on several first dates completely fucking high.

Of course, most people usually start a date sober and work their way to being stoned but I was never one for being normal (especially when it comes to dating). I once met a dude at a bar across the street from my place and in lieu of a drink, we stopped by the medicinal marijuana store on my block, walked back to my apartment and smoked a joint on my balcony. Turns out, pot was pretty much all we had in common but that doesn’t matter when you’re both giggling at a squirrel.

I’ve been on two other first dates with two different guys who offered me ecstasy ten minutes into our date (both dates were at nightclubs, so at least the atmosphere was appropriate). One date ended with us having with really fantastic sex. The other guy I ended up dating for half a year and I was always worried about how many liberties I’d have to take if we had children and they asked how mommy and daddy met. “Well, Xander,” (yes, my imaginary son’s name is Xander) “It was a Friday night and Daddy offered Mommy MDMA before learning her last name. We tripped balls well into Sunday morning. It was so very romantic. The parts I can remember, anyway.”

Since those dates worked out successfully, I tried it yet again.

I had a huge fight with my then-roommate, who tried to convince me to wash the dishes by putting the contents of the entire sink on top of my bed. I was furious and in a horrible mood. This was all right before a big first date I was really looking forward to. My quick-fix solution? I downed a couple of ecstasy pills and met him at the Arclight cinemas for a showing of Spiderman 3.

My mistake was going on a date with a man who occasionally has a second beer if he’s feeling “randy”. Turns out he was clearly not a let’s-get-high-on-a-first date kind of guy, as I surmised from the confusion on his face when I couldn’t stop rubbing my hands all over his corduroy jacket, yammering on about how pretty the moon looked while dancing in the concessions line to music playing only in my head.

My energy had to be explained, so I told him I had a long day of work and drank three Redbulls. Did he buy it? Probably not, since he seemed fairly freaked out by me the whole night. Hey, at least I had a pretty sweet time even if my date didn’t. And Spiderman 3 is actually pretty good if you’re rolling while watching it!

So what’s the downside to all this? Drugs make for a pretty awesome date, but too bad it’s with somebody imaginary.

When your drug-filled stupor clears, you’re left with somebody you don’t really like or even know. And that makes it extra awkward when you’ve already made plans to meet his parents or have sworn your love for each other.

Next time, save yourself some trouble and wait at least for date two to whip out the illegal substances.

Patient Advocates Back 3 Medical Marijuana Bills in Congress

Graphic: Rebels With Just Cause Award

Steph Sherer, ASA: “This kind of policy shift is a no-brainer and should garner the bipartisan support of Congress”

Three medical marijuana bills introduced in Congress on Wednesday have the support of patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA). The most significant of the bills is one introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), which reclassifies marijuana from its current federal status as a dangerous drug with no medical value.

Another bill, introduced by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), will allow banks and other financial institutions to provide services to medical marijuana businesses without being subject to “suspicious activity” reporting requirements.

The third bill, introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (D-CA), changes the federal tax code “to allow a deduction for expenses in connection with the trade or business of selling marijuana intended for patients for medical purposes pursuant to State law.”

Photo: Étienne Fontan/Eye Times Photography

Steph Sherer, ASA: “We are urging passage of the Frank bill in order to take advantage of all points of leverage”

​ “All of these bills will have a positive effect on hundreds of thousands of Americans and only a negligible impact on the rest of the country,” said Steph Sherer, executive director of ASA, a medical marijuana advocacy group. “This kind of policy shift is a no-brainer and should garner the bipartisan support of Congress.”

To shore up support for these and other local and state medical marijuana bills, ASA is launching a new advocacy program.

ASA is equipping patient advocates with new tools to lobby state, local and federal governments. The group on Wednesday unveiled a new program establishing a “Medical Cannabis Think Tank” to provide activists the support they need to analyze pending or proposed legislation and to lobby for the best laws possible.

To support the lobbying effort, ASA also unveiled its new “Online Training Center,” with more than four hours of educational streaming video and more than 400 pages of instruction manuals and worksheets.

ASA’s program also includes an improved “Raid Response Center” to better prepare for aggressive federal interference.

As part of the “Sick and Tired” campaign, ASA and others filed a writ Monday in the D.C. Circuit to compel the federal government to answer a nine-year-old petition to reclassify cannabis. The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) argued in the writ that the government has unreasonably delayed an answer to the petition in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.

“The Drug Enforcement Administration has the opportunity right now to address the needs of patients across the country by reclassifying cannabis,” Sherer said. “However, since Congress can also reclassify cannabis, we are urging passage of the Frank bill in order to take advantage of all points of leverage.”

If passed, the Frank will would not only recognize marijuana’s medical value, but also provide a medical necessity defense in federal court, a right not currently afforded to patients and caregivers who are in compliance with their local and state laws.

The Frank bill would also usher forth greater research into the therapeutic properties of cannabis and create incentives for the development of new cannabis-based medication.

Advocates hope the Polis bill, if passed, will end the current ban on banking services for medical marijuana businesses by financial institutions like Wells Fargo, CitiCorp and Bank of America.

The Stark bill has the potential to end dozens of medical marijuana dispensary audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently taking place, and settle once and for all whether the IRS can demand tax on gross or just net proceeds.

More Information

Rescheduling bill (Frank) [PDF]

Banking bill (Polis) [PDF]

IRS bill (Stark) [PDF]

ASA Think Tank

ASA Online Training Center

ASA Raid Response Center