via The Associated Press: Egyptian lawmakers want to ban fake hymen. (no, I’m not kidding)

HT: Radley Balko

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Prohibition (still) doesn’t work. Someone should tell Egypt.

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A Colbert Christmas: Willie Nelson Sings

Willie Nelson tells the story of a plant that smokes more sweetly than either frankincense or myrrh

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Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

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… Luke Scarmazzo, 28, was sentenced to 262 months in prison — 21 years, 10 months — in U.S. District Court in Fresno. His co-defendant, Ricardo Ruiz Montes, 28, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Both were convicted in May of manufacturing marijuana and distributing the drug, as well as operating a continuing criminal enterprise. The two men operated a medical marijuana dispensary known as the California Healthcare Collective that was raided by law enforcement officials in September 2006.

The Modesto Bee | 22-year prison term for Modesto marijuana seller.

My questions to the government: Where is the victim? What harm was done? If there is no victim, there is no crime. The incarceration of these men is simply unjustified kidnapping. The drug warriors are using the violent aggression of force to enforce an arbitrary moral code. A moral code that believes violence is justified to prevent someone from slightly altering their consciousness and feeling mildly euphoric by using the medicine that naturally occurs in a plant. Some day we will look back on these crimes against humanity as another American holocaust. God help America.

My wife wanted to ad: Why doesn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger do something to stop the US Government from interfering with California law? The governor has a duty to uphold the rule of law in California and if that means throwing the DEA out, then that’s exactly what he should do.

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Four Decades of Imprisonment for Medical Marijuana

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• Michigan’s medical marijuana referendum passed 63% to 37%.
• Massachusetts decriminalizes possession of up to one ounce of cannabis 65% to 35%.
• Fayetteville, AR, home to the University of Arkansas votes to make marijuana prohibition the lowest law enforcement priority 66% to 34%.

I want extend personal congratulations to the people at the Marijuana Policy Project. No one organization has done so much for cannabis law reform in such a short amount of time. Sensible Fayetteville deserve honors for their work in Fayetteville, Arkansas. If we reformers can score 2 to 1 margins in the deep south I see hope for ending marijuana prohibition completely. We’re winning!

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The People Choose Cannabis Freedom

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I was disenfranchised by broken Diebold machines today. The ballot was incomplete and left off the local referendums including the one that would bring Instant Runoff Voting to Shelby Co, TN (Memphis). After I was turned away from the polls, I got back in my car, listening to the volunteer radio station WEVL. They were playing the bluegrass gospel song, Daniel Prayed. The second verse started like this:

The cast him in the lions den because he would not honor men.

Now I don’t know if God sill talks to humans or not, but I think that message was too profound for me to ignore. I think the institution called government is broken by its very nature. No man has moral authority over any other man. I think natural laws rule the physical world as well as our interactions with each other and the choices we make. We see natural consequences of our actions all the time. Economist call these “market forces.” If people would allow their neighbors to be ruled by the natural consequences of their own actions the world would be a peaceful and prosperous place.

Some people say that anarchy is chaos, but that statement ignores the existence of natural law. It is the violent force of government that has always disrupted human tranquility. For this reason I am compelled to no longer participate in the system. If it is true that government rules by the consent of the governed then I hearby withdraw my consent. I do this under my nom de plume as to avoid hostility from the violent people that work to secure the institution of government. From now on anytime I do consent to government authority I do so under duress, for fear of loss of life or liberty, or to protect the life or liberty of another voluntary participant.

I don’t know if divine providence kept me from voting today or not. I do know that my decision is not reactionary. It is based on principle and humanity. I do not believe in the use of force, violence, or coercion to achieve political or social goals. Government by its nature is force monopolized.

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The Invisible Hand Kept Me From Voting Today

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For decades law enforcement agencies including local police, DEA and U.S. Customs have used what is known as “presumptive field drug-test” kits to confirm that suspected materials are illegal drugs. The tests, which use powerful acids to react with suspected substances, change color to indicate the presence or absence of drugs. However, there is now conclusive evidence the field drug tests falsely indicate the presence of drugs when used on numerous natural products such as soap, soy milk, essential oils and chocolate. Developed over 60 years ago, these tests are made by the giant homeland security company Armor Holdings, a subsidiary of BAE Systems. At a cost of less than five dollars each, the field drug tests can be found in nearly every police car, border checkpoint, jail and in most schools.

Government’s Drug War Test Kits Give False Positives on Organic and Natural Products.

HT: Drug War Chronicle, et al.

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Field Test Kits False Positive on Organic Products

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Obama and Biden also want to revive the Byrne grant drug eradication program, another block grant initiative. At a speech last month in Florida, Obama promised to ensure funding for the Byrne program, adding that it “has been critical to creating the anti-gang and anti-drug task forces our communities need.” Although Byrne has not failed to achieve its stated goal (reducing the availability of illicit drugs), it has made drug policing more aggressive and militaristic and less accountable. And by prioritizing raw arrest statistics, the program tends to focus police efforts on low-level offenders instead of major distributors.

Because they tend to be multijurisdictional, no sheriff or police chief oversees the investigations of Byrne task forces. They are “effectively accountable to no one, least of all the communities they purportedly aim to serve and protect,” says Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law Reform Project for the ACLU, which has documented abuses by Byrne-funded task forces all over the country.

Obama’s bad criminal justice ideas. – By Radley Balko – Slate Magazine.

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Obama’s Drug War – Politics as Usual

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In Los Angeles, a former Long Beach police officer was sentenced Monday to eight years and one month in federal prison for participating in a series of home invasion robberies staged to look like legitimate drug raids. Joseph Ferguson, 33, was convicted of three counts in January, including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Ferguson was part of a ring of Los Angeles and Long Beach police officers who committed more than 30 home invasion robberies, using stolen LAPD vehicles to rob homes where they thought drugs or cash were stored. Of the 19 members of the ring, 15 have pleaded guilty, two are fugitives, and two, Ferguson and his brother, another Long Beach cop, were found guilty at trial.

So when people like Cory Maye or Ryan Fredrick are raided before the crack of dawn, they’re not only supposed know that its the cops at their door and not thieves, they must also be able to ascertain that the police are there under legitimate pretenses.

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When is a Drug Raid Not a Drug Raid?

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The Reason Magazine blog has now mentioned the tragedy. I wonder if the story will get any traction.

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Remembering Brittany Zimmermann

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I Scooped the Old Gray Lady!

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A New England Journal of Medicine report describes a mysterious rash of unexplained cases of lead poisoning in Germany.

After 8 weeks, we detected a common pattern: the patients were young, were unemployed or were students, had a history of smoking, and had body piercings. On questioning, all the patients eventually conceded that they were regular users of marijuana smoked in “joint” form or with the use of a water pipe.

Turns out the dealers, in order to stack some extra paper, were dusting their weed with lead powder. Now I’m going to assume that this wasn’t malicious, rather it was a couple of thugs not realizing that they were poisoning people, not just ripping them off.

What pisses me off about this is that people will use this story to convince people that cannabis is bad for you. The truth is, things would not happen like this if people were able to buy cannabis freely without fear of having their door kicked in. Because selling cannabis is illegal you can’t get it from a legitimate merchant. Instead you have to go to a dangerous thug who will poison you.

It is inhumane that some people would rather see cannabis users be poisoned than be altered.

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Unintended Consequences – Lead Poisoning

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My favorite question: “Can you get a little bit high?” Wow, the ignorance propagated by the drug tyrants never cease to amaze me. I really like the answer. To summarize, if cannabis were legal there would be a full range of preparations ranging from super potent hashish to mild teas and salves, much like you can buy alcohol in forms ranging from O’Douls at less than 1% to Everclear at 95% alcohol.

Cannabis is so expensive and rare right now virtually the only economical form is unprocessed smokable bud. Users don’t experiment with preparations because the risk of messing things up and loosing it are too great. Manufacturing preparations brings a whole plethora of legal risks, like additional charges if discovered. You could feasibly make a pain relieving salve that doesn’t intoxicate you at all but that wouldn’t make much since unless you could afford those risks.

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Reason Magazine Jacob Sullivan Interview

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Now we’re getting warnings that a Mexico is gangland territory due to violent thugs armed to the teeth with guns purchased with obscene black market drug profits.

News of gun battles between Mexican soldiers and drug cartels in border cities are keeping tourists away and prompting many parents to dole out a stern warning: “Don’t go to Mexico.”

That’s bullshit mang! Instead of keeping cannabis safe and legal, we’re fueling third world tribal wars. Instead of allowing cannabis cultivation here we’re outsourcing the job to violent criminals in Mexico, that even makes less sense than outsourcing computer phone support to countries that don’t speak understandable English.

There is another consequence to this insane policy. Do you really think that good ole Jose’ is going to want to raise his babies in the midst of a civil war. I’d hightail it across the border where its safer and my job prospects are a lot better. Is it possible that the illegal immigration problem is really a refugee problem fueled by the war on drugs?

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Drug Lord Fear Reigns in Spring Break Fun

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What Not to Wear – Stoner Edition

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First, it seems that the assumption is made that cannabis is somehow worse than alcohol. Secondly, the report doesn’t seem to address if there were any sociological problems associated with the substitution of alcohol for cannabis. Was there increased violence? Was there an increase of theft? Was there an increased suicide rate? Probably the converse is true.

If not for western influence, cannabis would probably be the “drug of choice” for the indigenous people. Who are we of European ancestry to tell the tribes how they should live their lives? We’re on there homeland! It’s our influence that destroyed their way of life, not their self-determination.

You can also look at this story from another perspective. The conventional wisdom is heroin is worse than cannabis, is worse than alcohol. Following the prohibitionist’s own logical fallacy wouldn’t cannabis prohibition contribute to increased heroin use? Of course I believe alcohol is far more deadly than cannabis, but doesn’t this show the lack of logic and compassion in their drug policy?

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Does Cannabis Really Destroy the Aboriginal Culture?

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