From George Washington to Barack Obama, over the course of the United States' history no less than eleven Presidents grew and/or used cannabis (hemp and marijuana).
For these Presidents (to be) cannabis filled economical purposes (as was the case with many of the Founding Fathers), medical purposes (JFK) and cannabis was used as an agent for personal pleasure (Lincoln and Obama).
Argentina and Mexico have taken significant steps towards decriminalising drugs amid a growing Latin American backlash against the US-sponsored "war on drugs".
Argentina's supreme court has ruled it unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption, an eagerly awaited judgment that gave the government the green light to push for further liberalisation.
It followed Mexico's decision to stop prosecuting people for possession of relatively small quantities of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Instead, they will be referred to clinics and treated as patients, not criminals.
Brazil and Ecuador are also considering partial decriminalisation as part of a regional swing away from a decades-old policy of crackdowns still favoured by Washington.
"The tide is clearly turning. The 'war on drugs' strategy has failed," Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former Brazilian president, told the Guardian. Earlier this year, h
Toyota Motor said it was developing
anti-drunk driving equipment that would lock the ignition of a vehicle
if high levels of alcohol are detected in the driver.
The system features a hand-held breathalyser, equipped with a digital
camera, that detects alcohol consumption and photographs the driver's
face for identification, a company statement said.
Five members of a relatively new Arizona Department of Public Safety
unit are responsible for confiscating nearly 15,000 pounds of pot, more
than 300 pounds of cocaine and about 20 pounds of heroin in the past 18
months.
The officers are part of a DPS unit - the only one of its kind in
the country - that combines the talents of some of the agency's more
successful drug-interdiction officers with the technical skills of
those who understand the smallest of details involved in commercial vehicle enforcement, said department director Roger Vanderpool.
This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a
few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle
and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive
drugs.
Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin
on Friday — a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst
of the government's grueling battle against drug traffickers.
Prosecutors
said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico's corruption-prone
police from shaking down casual users and offers addicts free treatment
to keep growing domestic drug use in check.
"This is not
legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater
legal certainty," said Bernardo Espino del Ca
The law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also
including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those
quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution when the law goes
into effect Friday.
Pfc. Michael Jackson
Apodaca, 18 who was arrested Monday, is accused of working as a paid
hit man, and assassinating a member of the Juarez Cartel who had become
an informant for U.S. authorities.
[money maker] Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing
number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate
tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars
normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff;
the seed cost him $9.
Middle aged baby boomers are still turning on to illegal drugs forty years after Woodstock, doubling the rates of illicit drug use by the previous generation, according to a government study released on Wednesday.
The rates of people aged 50 to 59 who admit to using illicit drugs in the past year nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007 while rates among all other age groups are the same or decreasing, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.
"These findings show that many in the Woodstock generation continue to use illicit drugs as they age," said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick. "This continued use poses medical risks to these individuals and is likely to put further strains on the nation's healthcare system -- highlighting the value of preventing drug use from ever starting."
Baby boomers are the post World War II generation born between 1946 and 1964. The data used in the study cam
I was watching Freedom Watch, and I came across this story. This is unbelieveable. The story of a sherrif in Canada, who is an American citizen, finding out his fellow cops are dealing drugs, and he uncovers it, and loses everything.
This industrial city, hard hit by the recession, found a new,
low-budget way to fight crime: Park an unmanned, armored car bristling with video cameras in front of troublemaker's dwellings.
"... meant to be obnoxious and to cause shame," says Police Chief
The Obama administration has concluded that Mexico
is working hard to protect human rights while its army and police
battle the drug cartels, paving the way for the release of millions of
dollars in additional federal aid.
The Merida Initiative, a three-year, $1.4 billion assistance program
passed by Congress to help Mexico fight drug trafficking, requires the
State Department to state that the country is taking steps to protect
human rights and to punish polic
Banknotes from more than 30 cities in five
countries, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, and
Japan, had "alarming" evidence of cocaine use in many areas.
U.S. and Canadian currency
had the highest levels, with an average contamination rate of between
85 and 90 percent, while Chinese and Japanese currency had the lowest,
between 12 and 20 percent contamination.
"Cooperation with Mexico" involves changing culturally entrenched social hierarchies and dynamics that date
to pre-Columbian times. Unfortunately, it's easier and less
disruptive to the existing power structure perpetuated by Mexico's
ruling elite to wage a war against the cartels than it is to
revolutionize a society that denies the vast majority of its members
legitimate opportunities for socioeconomic advancement.
State Republican lawmaker Tommy Benton
(31st House District) favors “caning” minor marijuana offenders and
“executing” those who sell the drug, according to a recent
correspondence sent by the representative to a constituent.
The DEA, FBI, Internal Revenue Service, Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department, Los Angeles Police Department, Torrance Police Department
and Culver City Police Department took part in the raids.
Before Washington ramps up yet another losing war on drugs, it should take a clear-eyed look at how its current strategies are affecting the supply and demand of drugs. Congressman Eliot Engel (D) of New York has introduced a bill to do just that.
Washington would be wise to back Congressman Engel's initiative because there has not been a thorough, frank evaluation of the fight against drugs in decades. The drug czar office's annual report is not enough. Recommendations by an independent commission, however, could generate the consensus and strategy we sorely need.
50 Afghans believed to be drug traffickers with ties to the Taliban
have been placed on a Pentagon target list to be captured or killed,
reflecting a major shift in American counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan, according to a Congressional study to be released this week.
Jurors have the ability to acquit a defendant if the jurors have no
sympathy for the government’s position in a particular case. Jurors
may acquit even if they believe that the defendant is guilty of the
crime charged. The jury “nullifies” a law it thinks is immoral or
wrongly applied to a particular defendant.
American drug policy has been a central component of U.S.–Mexican
relations, and of Mexican drug policy, at least since 1969, when
Richard Nixon unleashed Operation Intercept at the San Ysidro-Tijuana
border, inspecting every vehicle that crossed the border with the hope,
not of finding any drugs, but of pressuring the government of
then-President Gustavo Díaz Ordáz to expand Mexican drug enforcement.
Since that time at least, the United States has followed a policy of
criminalization, interdiction, and de facto drug-consumption
acceptance, given that American society has been reluctant to pay the
price of a full-fledged attempt at zero tolerance. This has transferred
a significant share of the burden of drug enforcement to the supply
side of the equation, and in consequence, to the foreign policy domain.
Libertarians
who fight for marijuana rights should never compromise on rights. They
should never meekly beg to be legalized and taxed and regulated. They
should never give in to the state. It's the state, after all, who's in
the wrong, so make the state give in to you.
Marc J. Victor in studio. Marc is a Criminal Defense attorney and a frequent news commentator on the Drug War. Marc is also the co-founder of the Freedom Summit with Ernest Hancock.
O'Reilly
recently invited a couple of pert blond Republican strategists to
frighten Fox viewers about Amsterdam's lax pot laws, which have made
the city a "mess," and "cesspool of corruption." The video above was made by a citizen of Amsterdam who used
real statistics about drug use in his city compared with drug use in
the US.
Calderón is under growing pressure to overhaul a U.S.-backed
anti-narcotics strategy that many political leaders and analysts said
is failing amid spectacular drug cartel assaults against the government. [12,000 dead and climbing]
These provisions were crafted by
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and pushed for by
then-czar Barry McCaffrey, best remembered for being somewhat comically
obsessed with the evils of medical marijuana.
Just wanted to let you know that Marc will be on FOX 10 News, Wednesday July 29th at 9:00 PM.
He will be arguing why we should LEGALIZE MARIJUANA. If you know Marc like I do, you should know it will be a great show and he'll do an AWESOME job.
Hello
Everyone!
If
you all have been wondering what Marc J. Victor has been up to? Guess what,
nothing has changed. He is still hassling the government and still fighting for
FREEDOM.
Just
wanted to le
Kerlikowske’s 39-year-old son Jeff is in jail in Florida for parole violations stemming from marijuana-related charges. Kerlikowske said he has not spoken to or seen Jeff in over a decade. Melissa Etheridge pictured
Watch Streaming Broadcast Live:
LRN.fm
DLive
Live Chat Telegram
Share this page with your friends
on your favorite social network: