Cannabis News Marijuana Policy Project
  Senate Panel Narrowly Approves Marijuana Bill
Posted by CN Staff on April 11, 2007 at 06:15:10 PT
By Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune 
Source: Star-Tribune  

medical Minnesota -- After hearing reservations from police and county attorney organizations concerned about making marijuana more easily accessible, the key law-enforcement policy committee in the Senate narrowly passed a medical marijuana bill Tuesday.

The bill would allow doctors to recommend the use of medical marijuana to patients suffering from such things as severe nausea, seizures or intractable pain.

The measure, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 5-4 vote, closely matches a House version. Supporters said it now contains several compromises to address concerns from law enforcement, including prohibiting medical marijuana from being grown in the home. If the bill becomes law, only a registered nonprofit organization could grow the marijuana.

In an often emotional three-hour hearing, law-enforcement officials said the law would send the wrong message about the dangers of marijuana use, is in conflict with federal law and would be hard to enforce.

Under the bill, users who received a doctor's recommendation would receive a state-issued registry card with a photograph, indicating the person is the qualifying patient. But provisions allowing for a registered primary care giver to obtain and distribute the marijuana raised concerns about potential abuse.

"In my world I don't think we're going to be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys," said Bob Bushman, president of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which opposes the bill.

Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, who said he became a sponsor of the bill after witnessing the pain his father endured as a cancer patient, said that the legislation would apply to only a small group of people and that concerns about abuse are overstated.

"We can listen to the Henny Penny crowd about [large-scale abuse]. It is not going to happen," Murphy said. "I'm bucking the system on this one because traditional medicine hasn't worked for them."

Eleven other states have medical marijuana laws and New Mexico recently adopted a measure that has not yet taken affect.

Both the House and Senate versions await action in respective finance committees, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he opposes the measure and will veto it because of concerns that it sends the wrong message about marijuana use, particularly to young people.

Note: Supporters said it would properly regulate medical marijuana, but critics argued it would be hard to enforce.

SF345: http://tinyurl.com/3b475z

Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Author: Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune
Published: April 10, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Star Tribune
Contact: opinion@startribune.com
Website: http://www.startribune.com/

Related Articles:

Over Police Objections, House OKs MMJ Bill
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22779.shtml

Student Questioned About Dad's Use of Pot
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22729.shtml

Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Reality
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22706.shtml


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Comment #55 posted by FoM on April 23, 2007 at 14:16:49 PT
Related Article About The Minnesota MMJ Bill
Medical Marijuana Bills Curling Through Legislature

***

By T.W. Budig, ECM Capitol Reporter

Monday April 23, 2007

Medical marijuana bills are curling through the Legislature, a Senate bill last week clearing yet another committee.

But state law enforcement opposes the legislation. And their support is critical. Medical marijuana initiative has advanced previous sessions but never so far.

Supporters depict the illegal drug as offering pain relief to the terminally ill and those afflicted with chronic pain.

A number of state health care organizations, including the Minnesota Nurses Association and Minnesota AIDS Project, support access to medical marijuana.

The legislation boasts bipartisan support — representatives Chris DeLaForest, R-Andover, Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, and Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, back the House bill.

The Senate bill is authored by Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Redwing, and has the backing of Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, Health and Human Services Finance Committee chair, and a powerful figure in the Senate DFL caucus.

The House bill, too, carries clout.

Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, House Health Care and Human Services Finance Committee chair, is the House author and the bill has the backing of former House Speaker Rep. Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, friend of Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, Minnesota County Attorney Association president-elect, has repeatedly testified at the Capitol in opposition to the medical marijuana legislation.

Marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug — a federal Schedule I Controlled Substance, he testified.

Many other medical substitutes — one product derived from marijuana — can be used to control the symptoms medical marijuana is suppose to alleviate, he argued.

“The simple fact of the matter is that this law will harm more people than it helps,” he said.

The bill creates a “safe haven” for drug abuse, Backstrom opined.

Bill critics have characterized marijuana as a “gateway” drug, one easing the step of drug abuse from one to the next.

But backers argues there’s no evidence that legalizing medical marijuana increases crime.

They’ve indicated in committee that perhaps 200 Minnesotans — a number critics cite as vastly underestimated — might be prescribed medical marijuana should the bill becomes law.

Senate bill author Murphy backhanded the “gateway” drug argument in committee..

A recovering alcoholic, Murphy said alcohol, not marijuana, is the real gateway drug.

“We legalized the biggest gateway drug,” he said of alcohol.

Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes, DFL-Winona, spoke of the wisdom of legislation such as medical marijuana coming up from the grassroots.

“I don’t mean to make a joke about that,” Ropes, a nurse, said in Senate committee, of the unintended pun.

Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, in committee said he respectfully disagreed with Backstrom.

DeLaForest, a conservative Republican, is comfortable backing medical marijuana.

“I think medical marijuana is a conservative issue,” he said.

In states that have legalized medical marijuana, and things have gone fine, said DeLaForest.

Minnesota would have strictest medical marijuana laws in the nation, said DeLaForest.

The medical marijuana initiative, he opined, is an example of the laboratories of the state at work.

And there’s the human element.

“What about compassion?” DeLaForest asked.

Another conservative Republican lawmaker, Rep. Tom Hackbarth of Cedar, is coauthoring the House bill.

He’s witnessed too many of his friends and relatives die of cancer, Hackbarth explained..

“That’s why I signed up on the bill. And that’s the only reason,” he said.

Hackbarth said some of the friends and relatives he lost — Minnesotans — used medical marijuana during their illness.

“Of course it’s illegal — but ya,” he said of the use.

Pawlenty wants a positive consensus among state law enforcement on medical marijuana before he’d be willing to sign a bill.

But that doesn’t seem likely to happen soon.

Bill Gillespie, of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association — an association with about 8,500 members — explained the association does not support the legislation.

They’re cops and they don’t compromise on principles, an association newsletter reads concerning medical marijuana.

“(There’s) no room for movement,” said Gillespie of the association’s stance on medical marijuana.

Backstrom, too, suggests an unbridgeable gulf between backers of medical marijuana and the law enforcement community.

“There’s no way the bill can be changed for the county attorneys’ association to support it or for state law enforcement to support it,” he said.

Law enforcement opposes the bill.

They will not be neutral on it, he said.

If the bill passes the Legislature, Backstrom hopes the governor will veto it.

Law enforcement is sympathetic to the suffering of people in pain, Backstrom explained.

“Many of us have seen our friends and family suffering,” said Backstrom of the victims of cancer or HIV.

But medical marijuana is not the solution, he opined.

http://hometownsource.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1220&Itemid=29

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #54 posted by whig on April 15, 2007 at 11:56:11 PT
rchandar
Maybe he does. Who knows? Jeff Gannon?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #53 posted by rchandar on April 15, 2007 at 09:31:50 PT:

whig
I'll add an old one, I'm not sure how much this one has been in circulation: Bush can suck my (Dick) Cheney.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #52 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 12:30:39 PT
Dankhank
That is great news!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #51 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 12:22:39 PT
Dankhank
Wow.

Tower B, coming down.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #50 posted by dankhank on April 12, 2007 at 12:20:24 PT
drug squads ...
re: comment 45, I searched briefly for a story on the web about your comment and found that we 'lost" one here in Ok, too ...

http://www.fox23.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=b67b4c02-e18b-4562-a0d8-1e7a9d58900b

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #49 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 12:05:36 PT
whig
I think it's a good thing that you will vote in the Primary. I don't know if my state's primary will matter as far as who gets the nomination. I don't know how it all works.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #48 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 12:00:51 PT
Hope
They could but I don't think they will. You never see anything in any paper about marijuana arrests. I guess this drug task force was formed back in the late 80s and I didn't even know there was one.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #47 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:53:51 PT
FoM
I registered because I found I could give my mailing address if I used the form at the DMV. They need to know your home address if you do that, but they should not publish it. My state identification is the same way, I gave them both my home and mailing address and the id card has just the mailing address on it.

This is really important to me because political violence happens in some places and if you express yourself very openly in one forum someone can decide to take it out on you if they find out where you live. There is no real point trying to hide that from the DMV, if they will protect it from others, unless you are so afraid that you won't take a state identification at all. Some people may not wish to do so, but it is more difficult. I won't tell anyone what to do in this regard. I did not want one for a long time, and still question the possibility of abuse if we do not manage to control the government, if we let it control us again.

But as for me and here now, in California, with a new secretary of state that actually cares about ensuring fair elections, with a legal protection for use of medical marijuana, with an anti-war member of congress representing my district, with all of the things in microcosm that I would like to see spread into the macrocosm, I registered and I expect to vote in the primary.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #46 posted by Hope on April 12, 2007 at 11:49:47 PT
Yay! "Task Force Dissolved"
Cept they'll regroup and call it something else...but "Yay!" anyway.

DEA needs to be dissolved, too.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #45 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 11:46:22 PT
Headline Locally: Drug Task Force Dissolved
What a nice thing to see on the front page of our local paper today. Big letters and all!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #44 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:44:34 PT
oops, wrong date
February 5.

Wikipedia has more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_primary

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #43 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:40:10 PT
not for everyone
But New York and California, I know are having their primaries on that day.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #42 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:39:35 PT
FoM
Richardson is really starting to pick up support, too. It's still very early, and if the primaries were not so soon we wouldn't be thinking much about front-runners at this point. They moved them up to an early date, I mean... February 4.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #41 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:37:47 PT
Hope
Glad you liked it.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #40 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 11:36:15 PT
whig
I know what you mean. I read most of the comments on Obama's Blog and then I go check out Hillary's Blog and the contrast is remarkable. I don't follow the blogs that are covering about everything because what I am following keeps me interested and thinking. The Internet will be very important in who becomes our next president.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #39 posted by Hope on April 12, 2007 at 11:36:03 PT
Video
I put this on another thread...but I'll post it here, too.

Go to http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the posting called "We're Winning the War on Drugs" and play the video and music. Play it loud. Play it again.

I do love a fiddle.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #38 posted by Hope on April 12, 2007 at 11:26:42 PT
Comment 36
Busted flat out squealing laughing out loud.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #37 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:21:39 PT
Words and Music
164 yellow plastic solo cups spell IMPEACH! on a chain link fence at Santa Barbara City College, in California.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejWI2x9xGjI

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #36 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:18:52 PT
FoM
May I use a little profanity here, because it expresses rather concisely what we are doing on the progressive blogs and how it is transforming the Democratic party....

We fucketh not around.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #35 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:17:41 PT
what we're saying
We can run away from government, or we can make it conform to our democratic will. Some of us are doing one, some the other, some a little of both. I saw what was happening with the government falling into corruption and corporations were on the brink of having ultimate control, a perfect fascist state for a thousand year reich, so I decided that running was no longer an option.

The concentration camps are not only built, they are being filled, with "illegal immigrants" and including the children, they are being put in prisons run by PRIVATE CONTRACTORS.

Impeach.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #34 posted by FoM on April 12, 2007 at 11:14:30 PT
Whig
I am amazed at what is going on in the Democratic Party. It's like they have been called names for so many years and been repressed by the right wing that they are not interested in taking it anymore. That is a very good thing in my mind.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #33 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:10:29 PT
thing is
I don't think the Republicans have a chance of nominating Paul because the party is so corrupt and it would take an internal revolution to change it.

The Democratic party is currently undergoing internal revolution, by the way.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #32 posted by whig on April 12, 2007 at 11:09:15 PT
Toker00
Wouldn't it be something if the Democrats nominated Richardson and the Republicans nominated Paul?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #31 posted by goneposthole on April 12, 2007 at 06:30:49 PT
Marijuana in Minnesota
I lived on a farm in Minnesota in the early seventies while working in southwest Minnesota for a short period of time.

There were wild hemp plants growing in the shelter belt. It was also found at a nearby state park... it was everywhere.

I'll bet the farm that there is cannabis for sale in Minnesota by the ton year in and year out.

Cannabis is everywhere for sale to smoke for enjoyment.

Try as they may with all their might, the US gov cannot stop cannabis. It cannot stop cannabis no matter what they do.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #30 posted by Toker00 on April 12, 2007 at 05:40:22 PT
Just testing.
Paul/Richardson. Paul/Kucinich. Viceversa.

It will take both a military mutiny and a peole's revolt to stop Bush. We MUST stop him. Them.

Toke.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #29 posted by Toker00 on April 12, 2007 at 05:36:00 PT
Oh My!
Ron Paul has met a Major qualification for my vote! So far...: ). TRUTH. Remember, TRUTH has NO party affiliation. This man has put it in black and white print. TRUTH.

Ok. Now. Everyone who has awakened, please turn to one person who you KNOW has been blinded by Deception, and go to work. Don't stop till that person has had the blinders removed. Draw from the Well of Truth and give your Brothers and Sisters a drink! If they reject it, re-offer it. Even if they say: "I wouldn't believe it even if it WERE TRUTH."

When they say: "Oh my God, you mean...", embrace them and give them the second thing necessary for the movement of God. Love. Tell them you love them. I have been doing this to people at work and they have been LOVING it. Try it. Of course, I have been adding Brother or Sister. Then, after you have given them TRUTH and LOVE, work together for the third ingredient in God's movement, PEACE. We are standing on the threshold of Eternal Life.

Sorry guys. I know I'm over Dramatic most of the time. But to me, Life is Drama.

Toke.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #28 posted by ekim on April 11, 2007 at 19:21:46 PT
Snoop --
maybe will connect with others that want to end this madness

rnold says he will be on pimp my ride for earth day

hey Dog get with tree huggers and mmj'ers and the recks and show them what green means

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #27 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 19:09:56 PT
Bill Richardson said today...
"if I were President today, I would withdraw American troops by the end of this calendar year. I would have no residual force whatsoever."

http://tinyurl.com/yubwaw

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #26 posted by mayan on April 11, 2007 at 18:22:55 PT
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Both the House and Senate versions await action in respective finance committees, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he opposes the measure and will veto it because of concerns that it sends the wrong message about marijuana use, particularly to young people.

If this bill makes it to his desk and he signs it he'll lose the confidence of his petro-ceutical pimps. If he vetoes it he'll be exposed as a fascist a**hole and his political career will be in serious jeopardy. We must keep up the pressure and let these dolts know that we will NEVER quit!

Our quest for truth will overpower their lust for money.

Ron Paul 4 Prez...

Presidential Candidate: U.S. In Danger of Dictatorship: http://www.infowars.net/articles/april2007/110407Paul.htm

THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...

New Victim's Family Supports Search For 9/11 Truth: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/110407familysupports.htm

9/11 Family Members File Petition with NIST: http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2007/04/911-family-members-file-petition-with.html

To 9/11 “Conspiracy Debunkers”: I’m Calling You Out…Show Up or Shut Up! http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=597

'Improbable Collapse' 9/11 Truth Northeast Tour: http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=2007041075216573

Is The Suggestion of an Attack in Montreal Worse Than 9/11 Genuine or Fabricated? http://911blogger.com/node/7768

9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB - OUR NATION IS IN PERIL: http://www.911sharethetruth.com/



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #25 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 17:50:43 PT
If prone to lose faith completely...
There is Patrick Fitzgerald, who did his job.

And by the way, George Bush is looking for a new "war czar" -- in other words, he wants to appoint a new Commander-in-Chief, i.e., he wants to resign now.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #24 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 17:48:11 PT
E_Johnson
It must be hard to be a good cop. I'm sure they exist, I had a friend (now deceased) who was a local cop and also worked police security at an amusement park.

It was a terrible accident. He was working on his car, and it backed up into him. That's what the police say.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #23 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 17:36:55 PT
Sam Adams
Forward progress is good, though. I agree we don't have all the language we would want and a lot of people are still at risk despite being caregivers and patients who do no harm.

I don't see any other national politicians that have given us forward progress and I don't think that Bill Richardson could have done more in the New Mexico legislature than he did.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #22 posted by E_Johnson on April 11, 2007 at 17:28:37 PT
A very telling comment
""In my world I don't think we're going to be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys," said Bob Bushman, president of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which opposes the bill."

That's right dude -- you're a very morally confused bunch of people.

But why should I suffer for that? I know I'm a good person and so do the people around me.

Why should I have to suffer just because YOU are so easily confused?



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #21 posted by Sam Adams on April 11, 2007 at 17:24:01 PT
New M.
OK, I looked up the bill - I was mistaken, it's definitely better than nothing:

http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/07%20Regular/final/SB0523.pdf

The short version: Basic legal protection for possession of cannabis. No protection for cultivation. So it definitely is a big improvement. But cultivation is critical. DPA is camped out in NM for a while, maybe they can move forward next year on this.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #20 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 16:56:19 PT
Sam Adams
What are you objections to the bill? As I understand it, since it has only just been signed into law, it hasn't really impacted anyone directly yet. So? Are you saying it won't?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #19 posted by Sam Adams on April 11, 2007 at 16:49:48 PT
richardson
what can I say? I wish he'd let the bill die. Did it help any of the patients in NM? I wasn't aware that it actually did.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #18 posted by laduncon on April 11, 2007 at 15:21:37 PT
Comment #16
Agreed.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #17 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 13:57:52 PT
Paul #11
Right on, and Amen brother.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #16 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 13:54:31 PT
For what it's worth
Right now, Bill Richardson is over in North Korea negotiating for the United States. He's a competent diplomat and one of a very few I would trust to negotiate with a new nuclear power.

What has any other politician done at the national level that compares to Bill Richardson? Ron Paul might be our friend, but he's never passed a bill to help us, and no realistic probability he could do so. Richardson did, at least in New Mexico. He passed and signed legislation that would have been dead without his support, which was already dead before he resurrected it, and demanded the legislature pass it. Medical marijuana could use more friends like Bill Richardson.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #15 posted by whig on April 11, 2007 at 13:50:11 PT
Sam Adams
Bill Richardson has done nothing for us?

Come on, Sam. What is he supposed to do? Bleed?

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #14 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 11, 2007 at 13:30:06 PT
MPP, NORML, SAFER should hire Rick Berman
We should hire this guy and put him to work for us!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/05/60minutes/main2653020.shtml

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #13 posted by ekim on April 11, 2007 at 12:04:05 PT
Arnold on C-Span saying he sees the future
Gov. Arnold was just on talking at Geo Town U. about being on the cover of Newsweek. His biggest line and laugh was when he said that the tipping point is being reached about the environment, it use to be like Prohibitionist at a Frat Party -- the crowd went wild. He talked about how CA is leading the way on working to prevent Global Warming and going green.

I just wish at the QA someone would have had the wherewithal to ask Arnold if he would end the Prohibition on Cannabis -at least sign a HEMP BILL.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by FoM on April 11, 2007 at 11:23:55 PT
Paul
Thank you. We must keep the faith. We've come to far to turn back now.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by paulpeterson on April 11, 2007 at 11:00:38 PT
Keep the Faith, People
True: These seem like baby steps, and our people continue to languish in fear, and trepidation, and with goons agooning. And yes, the vicious drooling federal drug dragoons keep trumping rank and file.

But people, we are seeing slow steady progress, right here in the very heart of our nation, the "Bible belt", with strong action in key states here. ND has a good hemp initiative getting press, Illinois has a full court press going right down court, and Minneasota just chimed in with a resounding gong and it's not even half-time yet.

Each one of these inititatives gets press, and on top of that both coasts have major ground fires burning (just a metaphor, folks).

And remember what just happened in SF. Angel lost her case, but sent a setup right back over the net for Ed-now a "medical marijuana defense" has been inked in by a federal judge. And Ed's judge, Breyer, just told that US attorney he maybe should reconsider sending Ed back to court-in light of the VINDICTIVE PROSECUTION the guy rubbed out (those tax and money laundering charges the DOJ tried to add in after Ed beat him to the net).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, out East, Breyer's brother just heard from the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case that has brought the RELIGIOUS RIGHT right on board with us, (and thanks to that brave Alaskan lad that lit the lamp with that word JESUS that he didn't take in vain-rather he just STRUCK A VEIN and this has Jesus' blood spilling all over Washington right now).

And we're seeing action in NH, Conn., Alabama, and other places nobody has ever heard from before.

And remember Bush (not the burning one, a few thousands ago, I'm talking about the president), who's plane has a few engines burning right now, and his people are parachuting like flies right now, while he tries to call "may-day", but nobody is listening, right? (Just metaphors, people). And thanks to Patrick PERJURY is now on parade, and in the news, and that's news, because I've been trying to get Patrick to investigate PERJURY in Illinois for years, and now that DA in NC is facing his own rap sheet, for rapping some LaCrosse players, and don't I love to see prosecutors squirm, eh?

I mean, Gonzo goes to Congress 4/17/07, to 'splain hisself, for lying the last time, that Sampson caught him on, and those big 8 guys that got fired to try to shoot some wind out of the sails of Patrick Fitzgerald, but that just has got to be choking off the air to the SF guy that just got told off by Breyer, for "vindictive prosecution", of Ed, and Gonzo got some more 'splaining to do about that fresh scandal way down in Texas, where the DOJ was trying to cajole their way out of burying that sex slave scandal, for all the lost boys, that got caught with a little green, and then turned into slaves, and isn't Texas also considering some marijuana reform way down there in ranger territory? And remember, that Gonzo's own Monica (the Goodling one) has now claimed the 5th Amendment, which means a high ranking DOJ attorney has just admitted, to the crowd, no less, that if she answers honestly, under oath, she would be admitting to crimes of deception, or whatnot, and whynot make her answer anyway, now that she had to resign in discrace (just like Sampson that followed da lying Scooter, and folks, I couldn't even script this better if I hadda done it myself).

I'm saying that with Bush mired in the mud of that vicious civil war over in Baghdad-land, he is using up all his risk cards and although I never like to see or hear about carnage, anywhere, anytime, at least I can see the silver lining on this here grey cloud, and it is that the drug war is fading out, and just keep the faith, here, baby, OK?

And I'm done now, and thanks for listening, folks. PAUL PETERSON, behind enemy lines in Northwest Iowa.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #10 posted by museman on April 11, 2007 at 09:41:22 PT
the painful, but hopeful truth
"I'd say we've already won this war on every front except removing the liars from power."

But isn't that really the real conflict? Isn't that the core of a very big rotten apple? You knock one down, there's a thousand climbing over each other to get their little piece of the putrid pie.

Eventually we will be able to get various grades of poor quality herb at current prices - paid to the pharmas who are working on their patents right now. Then watch the immoveable walls of power use that compromise as a justifiable means to keep all other aspects of cannabis (except hemp) under strict control, and still illegal for the common man to grow or possess. - because it was never a health issue in the main, it's a freedom issue, and freedom is just as much a commodity these days as anything else. Free thinking cannot be taxed, so therfore it must not be allowed. Free action cannot be directed towards corporate profits, so therefore it must be strictly controlled and negated wherever possible.

This battle has been waged for 70+ years, with many many casualties. Inches of ground have been won on the 'field', but the power is well entrenched. The people have got to see how all their freedoms and liberties are nothing more than pretty words in the mouths of the 'liars.' The people have got to once and for all ESTABLISH that this country is OF THE PEOPLE, or give up and go back to work serving the opulence of the power wealth, selling their lives for slave wages, pretending that the vote does anything other than piss off the power-war-money mongers that sit in the offices of state.

The hope is in the truth. If enough people can be shown the truth, then eventually, with much more casualties, the lie may be displaced - but not while the interests of these monsters with makeovers are being upheld by the backbone of the people -which is currently bowed in subservience.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on April 11, 2007 at 09:41:20 PT
sigh, another loss
I'm just somewhat disturbed that in NM and MN we seem to be back-sliding toward the 80's and early 90's, when many useless med MJ bills were passed.

These bills won't do anything with the current federal regime in place. I'd be very surprised if any state licensed non-profits to start growing. This seems like a big waste of lobbying money and time to me.

And I hate to see politicians like Bill Richardson take credit for this issue, when they've done absolutely nothing for us. I would not work with them at all until they call off the police from attacking patients who grow herbs for medicine.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 11, 2007 at 09:36:00 PT
BGreen
Thank you. Very good. LOL!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #7 posted by BGreen on April 11, 2007 at 09:26:38 PT
Some definitions of DUST
1) the substance to which something, as the dead human body, is ultimately reduced by disintegration or decay; earthly remains.

2) anything worthless.

3) disturbance; turmoil.

4) ashes, refuse, etc. (British)

5) junk (British)

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I'd say you hit the nail on the head, FoM. LOL

The Reverend Bud Green

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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 11, 2007 at 09:15:58 PT
BGreen
You are so right. My problem is it is spring time. When spring arrives (even though it is very cold here) I want to open the windows and let the dust blow out like my mother use to say. I think of most Republicans as that dust. Now you know I'm weird. LOL!

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Comment #5 posted by BGreen on April 11, 2007 at 09:00:17 PT
You're welcome, FoM
I'm not a Pollyanna thinking everything is hunky dory on the home front, but I've been a part of this "free our cannabis" movement long enough to have see some seemingly insurmountable opposition fall to the side because of the truth in our message.

I've also gotten to know the people on both sides a heck of a lot better in the past few years and I can say with complete certainty that our side wins when it comes to moral character, truthfulness in our message and true Christ-like compassion for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, the downtrodden, those not fortunate enough to be born into wealth and especially those who won't screw their fellow humans to acquire such wealth.

I'd say we've already won this war on every front except removing the liars from power.

The Reverend Bud Green

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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 11, 2007 at 08:10:18 PT
BGreen
Thank you for the reminder. You're right.

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Comment #3 posted by BGreen on April 11, 2007 at 08:06:34 PT
Remember when?
Do you remember when we would have given anything just to have a bill introduced, let alone get far enough to have the governor show his utter contempt for the sick and dying by vetoing it?

Baby steps, Brother Ray, we're just taking baby steps but at least we're moving forward.

The Reverend Bud Green

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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 11, 2007 at 07:26:24 PT
RevRayGreen
I agree.

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Comment #1 posted by RevRayGreen on April 11, 2007 at 07:24:44 PT
What good is it
if Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoes it ? :(

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