Monthly Archives: September 2011

September 17th — Lifestream for X Cannabis shared 09/11/11 Mary Jane Borden. 09/11/11 Mary Jane Borden Reverend Ryan published Daily Digest for September 10th. September 10th — Reverend Ryan published Daily Digest for September 3rd. September 3rd — Reverend Ryan shared Daily Digest for August 27th. Daily Digest for August 27th Reverend Ryan shared Veterans [...]

Nationally, there were 1,638,846 drug arrests reported to the FBI, with 52.1% of those arrests for marijuana charges. Last year, 51.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana, showing a slight increase in marijuana as the majority of all drug arrests. The last time marijuana made up a majority of the "War on Drugs" was 1985, when 55.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana.

"The role of the federal government when it comes to drugs is not to go after users," Mercer said. "The focus of the U.S. attorneys in the country and the focus of the DEA … is to go after those big organizations."

Mercer believes the federal government would be comfortable with a medical marijuana system in a state if the law was written so a very narrow slice of people, only those who would truly benefit from it, could legally use marijuana.

They see medical marijuana as a "last resort", a dirty dangerous criminal thing we can make an exception for if you’re really, really, really suffering. Any commerce in cannabis, any storefronts and ads, and god forbid, accumulation of money and power to run friendlier Sheriff candidates, is to be feared, because it legitimizes cannabis. If granny has to get her glaucoma joint by asking her grandkids to score some weed in the park, it remains that dirty dangerous criminal thing we can use to bust young people and seize property for the department. But if granny can go to a clean, upscale club and reimburse a grower at below-street-market prices for above-average cannabis, marijuana becomes an interesting profitable natural thing that makes people wonder why we don’t treat it that way for healthy consumers, too, and make a bundle of money for the state?

A new study by the RAND Corporation takes a look at the effect of the recent closure of numerous Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries. Opponents of dispensaries, most notably law enforcement, have long argued that marijuana dispensaries increase crime in their neighborhoods. However, the data revealed by RAND today shows the opposite:

(Los Angeles Times) In a study of crime near Los Angeles dispensaries — which the investigators call the most rigorous independent examination of its kind — the Santa Monica-based think tank found that crime actually increased near hundreds of pot shops after they were required to close last summer.

New York is a "decriminalization state" where possession of personal amounts of marijuana is a non-arrestable, ticketable offense. But New York City police are trained to tell young black men "if you show me what you’re holding it will go easier on you", leading the possessor to take out their bag o’ weed. That is a different crime, "use or possession of marijuana in public view", a misdemeanor which gives the cops the latitude to cuff and stuff the possessor and send them to an overnight stay in a jail cell. Or the cops forgo the part about asking and just stop-and-frisk young men and take the marijuana right out of their pockets.

• Gary Johnson:
  Says the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.3 million inmates, and the majority of Americans are imprisoned because they sold small amounts of drugs.
• Gary Johnson:
  "We’re bankrupt."

The debate, streamed live on YouTube, was the first to feature both Gov. Johnson and Rep. Paul, two candidates who have strongly denounced the "War on Drugs". During breaks for the candidates, the coverage featured analysts who presented data from Google on search engine trends. One feature, a "word cloud", showed the prevalence of terms used in the questions submitted by Americans for the candidates. As the debate entered the segment on "Social Issues", the word cloud showed three words most prominently: gay, marriage, and marijuana. The analysts pointed out the "social conservative" / "libertarian" divide in the Republican Party.

Click the full story to watch the video.

• What is family
• Marijauna and religion, does it apply to Utah laws and moral standards?