cannabisnews.com: John Ashcroft Declares War On Non-Terrorists 





John Ashcroft Declares War On Non-Terrorists 
Posted by FoM on November 17, 2001 at 08:55:41 PT
By M. Derek Care, Columnist
Source: Pitt News
For some politicians, the great thing about a war is that people are not paying attention to things that don’t involve fighter jets or ground troop invasions. Bad ideas, such as building a missile defense shield or giving $100 billion in tax rebates to politically powerful corporations, can be advanced simply by labeling them “part of the war effort.” Even worse, some politicians advanced their own personal agendas because they are not part of the war effort. 
Anything that does not fight terrorism or boost the economy is not newsworthy, and so is more likely to sneak under the radars of the media and public perception. No one has been enjoying this more than Attorney General John Ashcroft. Not only has the war given him leeway to infringe upon rights like attorney-client privilege, but it has also given him free rein to advance his own personal, religious agenda. More specifically, the war on terrorism has allowed Ashcroft to declare his own mini-war: the war on the terminally ill. It’s little secret that Ashcroft is staunchly pro-life, both religiously and politically. This belief applies not only to abortion and stem cell issues, but also to assisted suicide and right-to-die issues. Defying both his party’s belief in state’s rights and his own oft-made promise to not allow his religion to affect his enforcement of the law, Ashcroft recently tried to overturn an Oregon state law, twice-approved by voters, that allows doctors to assist in the suicide of terminally ill patients. On Nov. 6, Ashcroft, declaring that assisted suicide is not a “legitimate medical purpose” for prescribing or dispensing lethal medications, authorized federal drug agents to revoke the license of any doctor who prescribed lethal drugs for their patients. Not only is this action hypocritical for Ashcroft, who is usually a firm believer in state’s rights, but it also takes power out of the hands of those who understand this issue far more clearly than any politician ever could: terminally ill patients and their physicians. Ashcroft is also not content with just simply away the rights of dying patients. Being a good conservative Christian and not letting hypocrisy stand in the way of ideology, he apparently also wants these patients to suffer. Ashcroft recently sent federal agents to raid a Los Angeles center that supplied marijuana to desperately ill people under a California state law allowing that drug’s use for medical purposes. The center’s customers were terminal AIDS and cancer patients, and have now been denied a source of pain relief for the sake of the ever pointless, ever harmful war on drugs. They now have the option of suffering in excruciating pain or switching to far more addictive and potent medications such as morphine and oxycontin. The Justice Department could be dealing with the Sept. 11 investigation, but has instead been threatening physicians who try to show compassion. The Justice Department could be dealing with anthrax attacks, but has instead been stripping the rights of patients with life-threatening diseases, patients who should be most exempted from petty politics and personal beliefs. These actions seem to be a response to all the criticism the Justice Department has received for its lack of results in the terrorist investigations. Pursuing easy targets in Oregon and California may be a way for the Justice Department to offer quick results to conservative politicians and voters while serving the personal beliefs of the Attorney General. After all, it’s much easier to bust a compassionate physician or a marijuana using cancer patient than it is an elusive terrorist operating in the shadows. The Justice Department’s behavior demonstrates the lowest form of government laziness and pandering. It’s a shame that the big issues of the war and economy have been so able to eclipse these little issues, allowing small men and their motivations to operate so freely. M. Derek Care dislikes hypocrisy just as much during wartime as he does during peacetime. Source: Pitt News (PA)Author: M. Derek Care, ColumnistPublished: November 16, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Pitt News Contact:  pittnews pitt.edu Website: http://www.pittnews.com/ Related Articles:Pot Club Crackdown - Mother Joneshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11360.shtmlLatest Showdown Over Assisted Suicidehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11344.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by goneposthole on November 18, 2001 at 09:20:23 PT
light years 
funny, I mean hilarious.
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Comment #12 posted by Silent_Observer on November 18, 2001 at 07:56:33 PT
Sorry...
just kidding on the past perfect thing - hey, this is light years ahead of being "misunderestimated".
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on November 18, 2001 at 06:22:55 PT
past perfect
Yes, thank you.
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Comment #10 posted by Silent_Observer on November 18, 2001 at 06:16:08 PT
You mean...
"chosen"?
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on November 18, 2001 at 05:51:35 PT
ah shucks
"have to chose" should read "have chose".
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Comment #8 posted by goneposthole on November 18, 2001 at 05:40:52 PT
the meddlesome many
There is great hope for the 'Great Unwashed' out here in Hicksville, USA. America will move forward with US and because of US.There really is no hope for the powers that be. They are beyond hope and help. They have to chose the choices they have made. The bed they have made is getting hard to sleep in to get a good nights rest. I do feel sorry for them, though they know not what they do.If marijauna has ever damaged anything, it would be their ability to develop a sane drug policy. It is evident that it is driving them insane. Poor babies. 
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Comment #7 posted by Rainbow on November 17, 2001 at 23:24:47 PT
To me..
SO and others remember that ashcroft could not win an election even running against a dead man.
The people of his state knew what he is and decided to relieve themselves of him. The problem is now he is everyones problem even the sheeple.
Cheers
Rainbow
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Comment #6 posted by 7777 on November 17, 2001 at 21:51:05 PT
Actual fear rating
As a citizen of the US,I find Ashcroft,and his network of anti-terror freaks,to be way more scary than the "terrorists",or "terrorism",that they claim to be fighting against.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on November 17, 2001 at 16:15:19 PT
QcStrt 
Good article. Thanks. Here is the one on C News.Kind Bud By Christopher Largen 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10156.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by QcStrt on November 17, 2001 at 15:27:57 PT
Marijuana Use
Week of June 27 - July 3, 2001Uncle Sam's Medical Pot Project Is Light on Research, Heavy on Compassion
Kind Bud
by Christopher LargenAfflicted with a rare neurological disease, George McMahon, age 50, is the fifth United States citizen to receive legal medical marijuana from our federal government. He gets 300 joints a month, courtesy of the little-known Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program, run since 1978 by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA's "compassionate" approach hasn't been available to many. The agency implemented the program under Jimmy Carter, following a lawsuit by Robert Randall, a glaucoma patient who demanded that the government acknowledge the medical necessity of his marijuana use. He was soon joined by cancer patients and people with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries, who smoked federal pot for relief from nausea, pain, and muscle spasms. 
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0126/largen.php
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Comment #3 posted by Silent_Observer on November 17, 2001 at 13:56:12 PT
Dr.Z..
To be honest, I doubt that its the WOD that drives Ashcroft so much as the hunger for power, and the desire to control, abuse and manipulate at all costs. 
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Comment #2 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on November 17, 2001 at 12:59:36 PT
Menace to Society
John Ashcroft is a very scary man. He is not playing around. Unlike you or me, HE has too much freedom..and political power.He is clearly willing to impose and inflict great suffering on sick, dying, poor, and weak in the furtherance of his arcane religiosty. This makes him, essentially, dangerous.Mr. Pitts is to be commended on his article. I heartily agree with him.However, even this article shows the ravages of the "war on Druuugs" and the associated propaganda and media irresponsiblity.Its not the war on "Druugs" that is at issue so much as a vast war on a simple plant with remarkable industrial and medical applications. Since Republicans reprsent Oil and Chemical companies (pharmaceutical companies produce chemicals..ok?) whose astronomical profits fund the takeover of Superpower Governments, they have little choice but to persecute and suppress cannabis culture.It is the war on the weed that brought Ashcroft into california with DEA raiding parties. But it is an all-out assualt on personal soverignty that encompasses both the war on weed and Ashcrofts interference with Oregons' death with dignity law.In both instances the ability of competent individuals to make decisions for themselves, to meet their own needs, even to have recourse to the democratic process to alter and enhance those freedoms, is what's at stake. Both medial cannabis and the death with dignity law were approved by the vote of the PEOPLE of those states. Ashcroft, with total approval from Bush, I am sure (if his decisions actually do matter - I still think he's the hood ornament) is seeking to establish supremacy of the Federal government over states rights. In doing so they are trashing the 10th amendment, savagly taking powers that have been reserved to the states and/or the people, respectively. Terrorists leveled the world Trade center, attacked the pentagon, dispersed anthrax through the mail and that's all been an amazing and treacherous series of events. But allowing the Bush Administration to step-up efforts to dismantal the Constitution is a much greater threat, really. Terrorists can kill and damage, and , as the shrub keeps saying, they can't take our freedoms.Only the Bush administartion can do that.FREEDOM ENDURES
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Comment #1 posted by Silent_Observer on November 17, 2001 at 12:01:14 PT
To me..
John Ahscroft is the biggest flunkie of them all.
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