cannabisnews.com: San Francisco Resists Medical Marijuana Raids 





San Francisco Resists Medical Marijuana Raids 
Posted by FoM on February 14, 2002 at 13:05:37 PT
By Ann Harrison, AlterNet
Source: AlterNet
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration touched off a firestorm of protest in San Francisco this week when DEA agents raided a medical marijuana club and arrested three medical marijuana activists. An arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth activist who is currently in Canada and may seek political asylum there if the U.S. attempts to extradite him. The arrests underscore the ongoing conflict between federal and state laws which regulate medical marijuana in the U.S. 
The federal Controlled Substances Act prohibits the growing and consumption of marijuana. But California's Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215) permits seriously ill patients to consume marijuana for medical purposes and allows marijuana plants to be grown for medicinal use. Eight U.S. states have passed medical marijuana laws. The San Francisco DEA operation took place on Feb. 12, the same day as President George W. Bush unveiled his administration's new anti-drug strategy aimed at cutting use of illegal drugs by 10 percent over two years and 25 percent over five years. Top DEA official Asa Hutchinson was heckled by audience members when he outlined the government's anti-drug agenda during a speech in San Francisco later that evening. San Francisco has declared itself a sanctuary for patients who use marijuana to treat the symptoms of serious ailments such as glaucoma, AIDS and cancer. Hutchinson was condemned by city officials and San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who supports medical cannabis. "The voters should be outraged," Hallinan told a crowd of chanting protesters gathered outside the hall where Hutchinson spoke. "This is the federal government trying to make a point in opposition to the voters of California." The raided medical marijuana club, known as the "Harm Reduction Center," is one of approximately 30 such clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is the center of the medical marijuana movement in the U.S. A temporary injunction against another Bay Area club, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC), was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. The court determined that the club could not use a "medical necessity defense," but it chose not to address constitutional issues. Robert Raich, an attorney for the OCBC, has filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dissolve or modify the preliminary injunction against the club based partly on a federalist interpretation of states rights. San Francisco city supervisor Mark Leno said he spoke with Hutchinson the day after the arrests and expressed his concern about the DEA operation. Leno says he is authoring a resolution to put before the board of supervisors on Feb. 18 urging the DEA to reconsider their action and "refamiliarize" themselves with the city's medical cannabis identification card program. He says the government should focus on the more serious problems of heroin, cocaine and crack instead of targeting medical marijuana. "I believe this to be a direct assault on the public health of San Francisco as well as a direct assault on the voters of California, who by nearly 70 percent approved Prop. 215 in 1996, allowing for the compassionate use of medical cannabis," said Leno. "Our city, including the board of supervisors, mayor, city attorney, district attorney and law enforcement will continue to support the right of every patient to safe and affordable medical cannabis." Hutchinson told his San Francisco audience that the DEA is compelled to follow federal drug laws which are set by Congress. Richard Meyer, a spokesperson for the DEA San Francisco Field Division, noted that under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is classified as a Schedule One substance with no medicinal value and high potential for abuse. Meyer said the investigation did not initially target the marijuana clubs, but was focused on marijuana trafficking and smuggling. The Harm Reduction Center, which has been closed, was one of eight locations in the San Francisco Bay Area that was searched on Feb. 12. Meyer said 8,135 marijuana plants were seized from the sites. Computers were also taken from the club, but Meyer said no patient records were removed. The Rev. Lynnette Shaw, founder and owner of a Bay Area medical marijuana club called the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, says she is concerned about her club being raided by federal authorities. "This is an abhorrent violation of our civil rights in America," said Shaw. "This is not just about four people sitting in jail, this is about a thousand patients today who have no medicine and they will just get sicker." In affidavits in support of the search warrants, DEA agents allege that Kenneth Hayes, who operates the Harm Reduction Center, heads an organization that cultivates and distributes large quantities of marijuana, imports and distributes marijuana from Canada, and launders drug proceeds in the U.S. and Canada. According to the affidavit, an informant claimed to be selling marijuana from British Columbia to the club. A second informer alleged that the club was selling to non-patients and allegedly purchased marijuana from club employee Richard Watts at Watts' home using DEA funds. The same informer allegedly returned to the club to buy more marijuana and 400 young plants from Hayes. Hayes and Watts, the son of philosopher Alan Watts, were both charged with two counts of cultivating more than 100 marijuana plants after DEA agents found over 600 plants growing in the club. The charges carry a maximum penalties of 40 years in jail and $2 million in fines. They were also charged with a third count of maintaining a place for the purpose of cultivating marijuana, for which they could face 20 years in jail and a $500,000 fine. Edward Rosenthal, author of the Marijuana Growers Handbook, was also charged with cultivating more than 100 marijuana plants and maintaining a marijuana cultivation site in Oakland, CA. He faces similar penalties. The DEA claims that Rosenthal produces marijuana for Hayes and Watts. "The Controlled Substances Act, which was passed in the 1970's, was based on judgment and information ... that is thirty years old," said Rosenthal's wife, Jane Klein, at his bond hearing. "We need laws that are based on current research." In a separate complaint, James Halloran of Oakland was charged with one count of cultivating more than 1,000 marijuana plants, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $4 million dollar fine. He also faces another count of maintaining a place to manufacture marijuana. According to the affidavit, Halloran came to the attention of authorities after a paid DEA source pointed agents to his cultivation site in Oakland. It is unclear whether any of the defendants are medical marijuana caregivers who are permitted to grow for patients under California state law. The DEA alleges that it received a complaint from a patient and a medical marijuana dispenser named Father Nazarin that the Harm Reduction Center was selling marijuana out the back door to non-patients. The DEA also alleged that one of its agents was able to get a medical marijuana recommendation from a San Francisco doctor without showing a prescription or medication for his condition. OCBC attorney Robert Raich notes that if clubs were found to be importing cannabis from Canada, it would undermine a possible Commerce Clause argument which asserts that Congress has no power to prohibit the production and sale of medical marijuana inside California. Watts is still in custody. Rosenthal and Halloran both posted a $500,000 bond on Feb. 13 and have been released. Hayes was arrested in Canada on Jan. 12, after he allegedly chartered a small plane to land in a remote airfield south of Vancouver with $13,000 in U.S. currency hidden in his clothes. According to the DEA, he was held by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which conducted thermal imaging of his Vancouver residence to detect cannabis cultivation. The DEA says he was deported by Canadian immigration to the U.S. Customs Service to face a pending U.S. arrest warrant. But his Canadian lawyer, John Conroy, says Hayes was charged on Feb. 12 with one count of production of marijuana under Canadian law. Conroy says Hayes, who uses medical marijuana for a chronic pain condition, was interviewed by Canadian immigration authorities and released without bail for a six-month visitor's stay. The case may take up to a year to settle during which time Conroy can remain in Canada. If Hayes is found to have been cultivating marijuana for his own medical purposes or for a "compassion club," Conroy said he would likely get an "absolute discharge," in which his conviction would be overturned and purged from police records. Conroy said Hayes initially intended to apply for political asylum, but U.S. authorities have yet to request his extradition. If an extradition warrant is served, Conroy says his client will seek bail, await an extradition hearing, and plead his case all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. The San Francisco U.S. Attorney's Office, which has until March 5 to indict the defendants, would not comment on whether they would seek to extradite Hayes. "At any time in this process if there is an attempt to take him to the border and deport him or if the extradition is made, we will make a refugee claim based on a well-founded fear that if he is returned to the U.S., he will be persecuted," said Conroy. "He is from a well-defined group that is being persecuted in the U.S., the medical marijuana community." Ann Harrison covers technology and politics from San Francisco. She can be reached at: ah well.comSource: AlterNet (US Web)Author: Ann Harrison, AlterNetPublished: February 14, 2002Copyright: 2002 Independent Media InstituteWebsite: http://www.alternet.org/Feedback: http://www.alternet.org/discuss/Related Articles & Web Site:DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Clubhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raid.htmPetaluman Faces Pot Charges After 2-Nation Bust http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12007.shtmlDrug Czar To Get S.F. Invite To Pot Clubs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12003.shtmlFeds vs. S.F. on Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12002.shtml
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Comment #20 posted by goneposthole on February 17, 2002 at 22:19:00 PT
touche'
An aids infected needle 
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Comment #19 posted by kaptinemo on February 17, 2002 at 12:01:49 PT:
You are welcome to your opinions
As am I. And mine are that the thugs we are up against have no respect for us at all. They see us precisely as the aformentioned SS men did. For exactly the same reasons. I strongly suggest that anyone who doubts this take a look at Richard Miller's Drug Warriors and Their Prey and read in their own words why they hold us in such contempt.With regards to Constantine, the dates are not important; the point was that it was political expediency, not ethics, that spurred his actions to change what desperately needed changing. That change was also spurred by other concerns as well...such as all hands, Christian and Roman Pagan, needed to defend Rome against the onslaughts of eastern tribes bent of wreaking it. What was done was done because of Realpolitik, not agape.I refuse to 'turn the other cheek', anymore...if that is what Yeshua really said to do. Seeing as some of the Apostles were armed I understandably have my doubts. (Remember, who cut off Malchus's ear when Yeshua was assaulted as Gethsemane? An Apostle armed with a sword. They weren't a bunch of peaceniks, those Apostles; like us, they lived in dangerous times of civil unrest and were being persecuted by a government hardly prone to live and let live. Rather like the one we have now, eh? Rather funny that they, Jewish mystics, were following Scipio Africanus's injunction that "To have peace, be thou then prepared for war." The Apostles were went about plenty prepared, it seems.) We have spoken words of sweet reason, begging them to relent, to show mercy to the sick...and they laugh and close the clubs, dooming the aformentioned sick to fates where death might be preferable becaused of the pain. (Got to cull the herd of the useless, the sick, and the lame, don't we? Only good genetics...and economics. Can't have so many 'useless eaters' running around, sucking money from the dwindling coffers of equally dwindling social programs, now can we?) We have asked them to look at the evidence of the medicinal efficacy of cannabis...and they snicker and say they have all the evidence they need...and continue their depredations unconcernedly. They won't stop until they get payment in kind. Consider this: If every arrested activist at a protest had a clean, unused syringe in their pocket, point up, the cops would hesitate to manhandle them while searching them. They wouldn't know which one would be the dirty, AIDS-infected needle that has 'their number' on it...so they'd be far less likely to mess with our people in the future. Now, is the syringe being used to attack the officer? Uh uh, it's in the guy's pocket. The officer makes the move, not the activist. If he asks you if there's one there, say NOTHING. Let him guess if you have his lucky number. Make him sweat, for once. They do surveillance on shops that sell grow equipment and track the destinations of those who purchase items there; how about following John Law home and then leaving a postcard in his mailbox, asking him politely to stop arresting patients? Never mind candledlight vigils in front of the clubs; go in front of the houses of the DEA agents and hold your vigils. You're just expressing your First Amendment Rights, no?Such tactics send precisely the kind of message...the only kind of message...that they seem to understand. Serving the criminal organizations that are persecuting the sick does not grant you any anonymity; you may cowardly wear a mask with your SS-wannabe uniforms, but your residence is known. As one old instructor of mine said again and again, talking about unconventional warfare, "If it isn't made personal, it's pointless". They have singled out activists for search warrants solely on the basis of writing LTE's condemning their precious War on (Some) Drugs; that's making it personal. It's long past time we returned the favor.
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Comment #18 posted by goneposthole on February 16, 2002 at 05:03:01 PT
incorrect
Emperor Constantine died in 337 AD.Feed me to the lions and the hyenas.With the knowledge that Lady Justice is now draped with birqua cloth courtesy of the 'true' Christian, John Ashcroft,
getting thrown to lions and hyenas would be like a walk down primrose lane.I was mistaken about when he died. He was also baptized on that day.
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Comment #17 posted by goneposthole on February 15, 2002 at 21:02:11 PT
Emperor Constantine
He did not become a convert until the day he died.People who lived as Romans, but in truth were Christians unbeknownst to the Roman authorities, owned land and had money. When they were found out, everything was confiscated and they then were thrown into a prison. Nero used their fat for torches and blamed them when Rome burned. An sly political manuever, or so he thought.None-the-less, they could forgive their oppressors. Before and after they were taken into custody, and before they were fed to an overstuffed hyena, it was not a matter of convienence. The act of forgiveness was more important than damning those who were doing the oppressing.They had it all, lost it all because of their beliefs. Emperor Constantine did away with all that in 317 AD. He died in 375 AD.He allowed people who were Christian the freedom to worship and were given back what had been taken from them. A bit more compassionate than the latter-day Romans of today (John Ashcroft being a 'modern' Christian, who in the hell can tell the difference?).When all was said and done, who endured longer, the Romans or the early Christians? The Christian church is a different story. The oppressed became the oppressors, such is life.What they could learn from their early ancestors, if they would just understand what really was endured.As for M. Villian and other villians who have followed, they can't see the forest for the trees.At this stage of whatever it is that is going on, to 'mix it up' is darn near sewercide. Discretion is the better part of valor.The DEA and the US gov't have lost both along the way, and will lose everything just by continuing their ridiculous nonsense.Maybe like the Roman thugs. 
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Comment #16 posted by kaptinemo on February 15, 2002 at 10:51:47 PT:
Talk about forgiveness *after* we've won
...and not before.Jacques Villain was once quoted as saying; "When you are in power, you are merciful, because that is your way. When I am in power, I am ruthless, because that is my way." I doubt very seriously whether anyone in the DEA and the Feds in general ever heard of M. Villain. But they seem to understand his teachings all too well.I'm sure all those Christians who, with certainty of their martyrdom and seat at the right hand of Yahweh, went meekly and piously into the Colloseum to become Lion Chow probably thought they were doing the right thing. Lovingly forgiving the very people who laughed at them for sacrificing themselves for their faith. But Rome didn't stop murdering them until an Emperor became a convert...and that, for political reasons, only. Faith had nothing to do with it - and expediency, everything. Until then, the lions and hyenas had a very well-rounded diet, indeed.As do the modern-day lions and hyenas wearing DEA black. They may not be munching bones, marrow, and various other materials, but they 'feed' in other ways...like forfeiture. And prison construction.The question is, what might have happend if Christianity had defended itself instead of allowing itself to be nearly murdered at it's birth? How much sooner would have Christianity risen? How many fewer Christians might have wound up in the alimentary canals of big hunting cats grown fat and slow by not having to chase their prey? I leave you to ponder that question, then ask yourself this:What might happen if the group at the protests outside the club had mixed it up with the police, instead of impotently standing by and shouting slogans? It would certainly have received a good deal more coverage than it has. We are dealing with latter-day Romans who see our peaceful protests in the same light as the SS viewed the Jews who went quietly and meekly into the death camps; we are rabbits unworthy of respect, only off-handed slaughter. They respect nothing but force. Now, understand me: I AM NOT ADVOCATING THE INTITIATION OF FORCE.But we must make the realization that these people will not stop until they have been on the receiving end of their own treatment. They are threatening the lives of those sick people in particular by denying them their medicine and forcing them to seek relief from the street....and they are indirectly but no less so forcefully threatening the lives of all cannabis users with their mad attack-dog tactics of enforcement.It is a sad fact that after the riots of the 1960's the various social programs under the umbrella of the Great society were born...after, mind you, after huge sections of major cities were put to the torch. Prior to that time, pols only gave lip service to people like Martin Luther King. Afterwards, they sought him ought and actually listened. If only because of expediency. In this case, just as with the Emperor Constantine's 'conversion', neither ethics nor faith had nothing to do with it.It's been said here that it would take Bush the equivalent of a Constantine-like 'conversion' (a.k.a. "Only Nixon can go to China.") to stop the madness. Maybe. But to paraphrase what Solzhenitsyn had said, if the DEA goons at the club raid were not going to be all that certain of coming home to their beer and pizza later that night instead of spending it in a hospital, they might have thought twice about attacking sick people...We will be merciful after we win...whereas they've shown no interest in being so inclined right now. Villain is laughing from his grave...but at whom? 
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Comment #15 posted by eco-man on February 15, 2002 at 02:18:12 PT
AlterNet forums, and San Francisco Indymedia. 
San Francisco Indymedia (part of the well-known, international, Indymedia network) for ongoing reports on the DEA raids. BE THE MEDIA. Anybody can post info there: 
http://sf.indymedia.org/ Fast search engine for San Francisco Indymedia site archives. 
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/search/ *AlterNet Discussion Forums [New ones]. 
http://forums.alternet.org/guest/motet?home AlterNet forums info: 
"To link to a Web site, just type its URL. Motet automatically detects 'http://' (as well as ftp://, gopher://, news:, and telnet://) and assumes that the set of characters that follow are an URL. Do not include any spaces in the URL, as Motet will only include the characters up to the first space it reaches." Anybody can read the messages, but you must register to post. Once registered one can change the settings to withhold one's name and email address from everybody. One's posted forum name can be deleted and left blank, or it can be anything one wants. Can post plain text or html. There is a checkbox for html. Full html (except for headers) can be accepted. Use the preview function since posts can't be edited after posting. 
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Comment #14 posted by goneposthole on February 14, 2002 at 19:22:24 PT
Do not drink booze or smoke tobacco, they kill.
I would hope that expressing anger could be a constructive, healthy communication.After all, the DEA dynamited the doorway of the of the Harm Reduction Center.Who is doing the harm?Did a glad and happy crowd gather and thank the DEA?Did any of the members of that drug task force stand and cry afterwards?Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbors. Anybody ever heard of that one before?Love thy neighbor as thine own self. How about this one? They do, those DEA guys and gals, they love to hate. It is not their fault nor are they to blame.If they would just get down on bended knee and implore their maker for guidance to do the right thing.They are unable to because they can only answer to a lower, evil authority, the high and mighty US Government.I will forgive them for they know not what they do. They have never been taught what is right or wrong.They refuse to do the right thing, it is a crying shame. What part of 'wrong' don't they understand?They know no better, those guys and gals of the DEA. They are old enough to know, but not old enough to know better. They are outstanding in their field, and much to their surprise, they are reaping a bitter harvest.I can't help it. Their maker will judge them, I hope not too harshly.They can lay down their swords and join the marijuana movement anytime they wish. If they would answer to a higher authority, they would do the right thing and do so. They can't possibly be happy with what they are doing now. Not at all. What does the DEA do? They use crushing violence to undermine any and all of it, no matter what.They cannot possibly be doing the right thing. Not a one of them can possibly be happy.
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Comment #13 posted by p4me on February 14, 2002 at 15:30:51 PT
police discretion
There has always been a thing called discretion, not that it would bother me if they gave everyone that went one mile over the speed limit a ticket. Of course the DEA is inept as well as the perpetuator of the Schedule One Lie.I think if I was writing the article, I would have described when the word "liar" was hurled at Hutchinson and what he actually said that got the most heckling. Then again I do not analyze prohibitionist coverage of events to closely. I might start to think in a constant state of confusion.VAAI
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Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on February 14, 2002 at 15:21:41 PT
I'm so tried of expressing anger
We all have many other valuable feelings that could be harnessed for the cause.Let's not make anger our only message here. What are we trying to say about the soundness of our own value systems?They are trying to make out like we are people with no values, they are trying to pass the message that marijuana robs people of faith hope and love.By acting angry all the time, we risk confirming that stereotype.Of course keeping us angry is their strategy.So there's really only one way to escape that trap.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on February 14, 2002 at 14:58:29 PT
Prayer Vigil
That's a very interesting idea EJ. I know some people get upset when God or Church are mentioned but it didn't upset me. Maybe this will make sense but maybe not. I've believed all along that we need to get the clergy to understand. If we slam religion they won't listen and they need to open their ears and hear so being proper or kind can only help. I don't want to change people's way of believing or living but we need to make them understand that we feel that we are God's children too. (if we believe that way)
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Comment #10 posted by goneposthole on February 14, 2002 at 14:58:25 PT
500 pound gorilla
A 500 pound gorilla in the room gets ignored.A 500 pound bale of marijuana doesn't.
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Comment #9 posted by Jose Melendez on February 14, 2002 at 14:58:00 PT:
The cat is out of the bag
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n255/a08.html?397
We, in fact, no longer have much drug-related violence; we only have prohibition related violence. It is well past time that the news media started telling the truth on this subject. We cannot solve the problem if we don't look at it from the correct point of view. Drugs do not cause violence; prohibition causes violence. No doubt we have a few skeptics out there, so let us look at the evidence. 
A study by researchers at the Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies at the University of California at Riverside based on a detailed review of the scientific literature on drugs, alcohol and violence found that " ....Despite a number of published statements to the contrary, we find no significant evidence suggesting that drug use is associated with violence,". 
The study looked at amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and PCP ( phencyclidine ). None of the violence "associated" with these drugs was found to be caused by the pharmacological action of any of the drugs. What violence there was was thought to be caused by the expectations of the users and their environment. In this respect, alcohol is the drug most often connected with violence. According to crime victim reports 10 percent of all assailants were using an illegal drug while 25 percent were using alcohol. In fact, murders are overwhelmingly associated with alcohol. 
Robert Nash Parker, the study's principal author, has said: "If you really want to have an effective policy related to substance abuse, if you want to have fewer bad outcomes in terms of health, welfare, and violence, the substance you want to focus on is alcohol. The evidence is pretty powerful and pretty convincing if someone is willing to look at it." 
from:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n255/a02.html?397
Contrary to Sen. Tim Ferguson's Jan. 30 letter ( "Ferguson against medical marijuana operated by state" ), the medical marijuana bill I am sponsoring in Annapolis does not provide legal shelter for drug dealers. 
The only individual who can legally provide medical marijuana to a patient under my bill is that patient's primary caregiver, and a primary caregiver is not authorized to do anything related to marijuana that is not necessary for the patient's specific, authorized medical need. 
The bill requires that patients and their caregivers obtain ID cards issued by the state health department. It is not reasonable to think that drug dealers will be voluntarily providing their names and addresses to the state government. It just won't happen. 
If drug dealers claim to be protected by this bill, they will be subject to even greater criminal penalties. And I have full faith and confidence in the ability of our courts and police to distinguish between legitimate patients and drug dealers. I would not be advocating for this legislation if it contained loopholes that protected drug dealers. 
Let's do the right thing and pass this conservatively drawn, narrow piece of legislation that only protects patients, their doctors and their registered caregivers. 
DONALD E. MURPHY, Maryland state delegate, Catonsville 
And from:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n255/a08.html?397
Drug War Is Costly 
So Bill O'Reilly believes that drug use is incompatible with patriotism ( "Drug use and patriotism incompatible,"  issue, Feb. 11 )? 
What O'Reilly ignores is that the ability to provide this massive funding through the drug trade is due to the artificially high profits to be made precisely because drugs are illegal. Many drugs ( pot, cocaine and heroin ) derive from plants that could be grown easily and cheaply in a legitimate climate; others can be manufactured cheaply in a laboratory. The street value of these drugs is many times the true cost because of the heavy penalties associated with trafficking in them. This additional profit of trading in a black market provides the funding for terrorist or other criminal enterprises. 
Regardless of the legality, some people will consume drugs ( as some will consume alcohol ), whether legal or illegal. The real issue here is not whether there will be drugs; the issue is who will control that market. And the decision to put that market in the hands of the morally unfit has not quelled the use of drugs, but has contributed to untold amounts of crime and violence that threaten the lives and property of all Americans, even those not associated with the drug trade. 
I ask O'Reilly: How patriotic is it to support that? 
MIKE ANTHONY, Duluth 
Tobacco, Alcohol Deserve Scorn 
Bill O'Reilly states that "supporting criminals who sell addictive substances is anti-American." I couldn't agree more. Those criminals should be stopped, put out of business and run out of town. Can we start with U.S. tobacco companies? 
Americans can see the horrors brought about by socially acceptable yet extremely deadly drugs. By saying it's OK to buy alcohol and cigarettes but not marijuana, lawmakers send mixed messages to a confused public. 
When O'Reilly has the guts to stand up to their terrorist-lobbyists, and when he's ready to honestly discuss the real addiction problems caused by their anti-American industries, he can come talk to me about ridding the country of the true drug fiends killing us: alcohol and tobacco. 
DANIEL BOLING, Atlanta 
Arrest Prohibition - Drug War is TREASON
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on February 14, 2002 at 14:57:40 PT
Have faith!
Still, I doubt it would get more than 20 seconds on local channels, and not mentioned at all nationally.Who knows what it would do, that's where the faith part comes in. :-)
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Comment #7 posted by Zero_G on February 14, 2002 at 14:51:06 PT
Prayer Vigil
EJ, as with chicken soup, it couldn't hurt. It would help if you could get well known clerics of many denominations who can attract media attention.Still, I doubt it would get more than 20 seconds on local channels, and not mentioned at all nationally.
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Comment #6 posted by Jose Melendez on February 14, 2002 at 14:45:42 PT:
great message, E_J!
YOU ARE HARMING US, BUT WE FORGIVE YOU
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on February 14, 2002 at 14:37:16 PT
Address Hutchinson on the Christian channel
A prayer vigil in front of the Federal Building.Banners that sound like we have faith in our values, too.No hate or anger, just facts and faith.
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Comment #4 posted by Zero_G on February 14, 2002 at 14:28:17 PT
Whoops!
"Hayes was released by a Canadian judge Wednesday, Wilberg said, and is due to appear in court Feb. 27.We would have preferred that he would have been released into our custody," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman.Meyer said the DEA had "coordinated" with Canadian police, but the Canadian charges are "separate" from those Hayes is wanted for in the United States."If he's not in custody, he's a fugitive," Meyer said.From the Press Democrat article by Jeremy Hay, Staff Writer http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12007.shtmlI skipped the first line in original post...I hope it's all clearer now. ;^)>0g
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Comment #3 posted by Zero_G on February 14, 2002 at 14:22:31 PT
Confused
"We would have preferred that he would have been released into our custody," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman.Meyer said the DEA had "coordinated" with Canadian police, but the Canadian charges are "separate" from those Hayes is wanted for in the United States."If he's not in custody, he's a fugitive," Meyer said.From the Press Democrat article by Jeremy Hay, Staff Writer http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12007.shtmlThe DEA says he was deported by Canadian immigration to the U.S. Customs Service to face a pending U.S. arrest warrant. From above. Which is it? DEAth can't get a story straight. Hayes was arrested Tuesday by Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a private home in Vancouver, British Columbia, on suspicion of "cultivating marijuana," RCMP Sgt. Herb Wilberg said.From the Press Democrat article by Jeremy Hay, Staff Writer http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12007.shtmlHayes was arrested in Canada on Jan. 12, after he allegedly chartered a small plane to land in a remote airfield south of Vancouver with $13,000 in U.S. currency hidden in his clothes.I don't know about you, but now I'm really confused. Perhaps he had the $13,000 hidden in his clothes at the friends house in Vancouver, which he went back to after the plane flight? Or did he actually fly? Maybe he chartered the plane to go to the small remote airfield, then changed his mind, and went to the house where he was arrested, taken to Court and given a return date of Feb. 27th or and released without bail for a six-month visitor's stay. Anybody able to follow this? This is your brain on DEAth. Confused? (lttmp)The DEA alleges that it received a complaint from a patient and a medical marijuana dispenser named Father Nazarin that the Harm Reduction Center was selling marijuana out the back door to non-patients.This is our country on informants.I've always hated the patients vs. stoners divide. I'd much rather argue on legitimate powers of government in general. Of course, relief from the daily stress is medical, just not in some jurisdictions...Some would say that lowering ones alcoholic intake is medically significant, but again, jurisdictional divergences abound.The U.S. Constitution, still worth the hemp it was drafted on?0g
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Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on February 14, 2002 at 14:03:49 PT
Clarification
btw, when I say "we" have a bill, I mean those of us in the anti-MJ-law movement. (I'm not from Canada...yet.)-TM
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Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on February 14, 2002 at 14:01:35 PT
Timber!!!
A large tree is starting to fall in Canada...I have a feeling we will see at least decrim in Canada this year or early next. We have a bill coming up for debate in their parliament plus direct challenges to the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition in their Supreme Court.If Canada allows political asylum for US MJ offenders, with or without reformed Canadian MJ laws, all heck is going to break loose!-TM
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