cannabisnews.com: Addresses with Senators’ Names Led To Weed 





Addresses with Senators’ Names Led To Weed 
Posted by CN Staff on December 18, 2003 at 22:11:51 PT
By Jacob Ogles, Daily Commercial Staff Writer
Source: Daily Commercial 
Leesburg -- People looking for marijuana are unlikely to seek help from their state lawmakers. But on Wednesday, the names of a dozen Florida state senators direct pot smokers to a World Wide Web site with instructions for growing cannabis and links to sites selling seeds. Twelve of the state’s 40 senators have had their names purchased as Internet domains and linked to the site Overgrow.com which touts itself as “the Web’s leading authority on marijuana growing and marijuana seeds.” The fiasco has quickly created a buzz among lawmakers even as the links to the Web site were disconnected by late Thursday afternoon.
State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, was enraged by the news and called for a state investigation. But state Sen. Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg, was more mellow and questioned whether any government response was appropriate. “We will look into the matter, as well as discuss this with the senators involved,” said Sarah Bascom, spokesman for Senate President Jim King. “The president understands that this is disturbing to the senators involved and it would bother him as well. We’ll have our staff attorneys look into this and see what can be done, if anything can be done.” Lawson was unaware that allawson.com would bring up a marijuana site until informed by The Daily Commercial. His first course of action will be to call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, he said. “I want to know who is behind it,” he said. All of the affected politicians’ names are registered by Friends of Chantal, an organization based in Mossyrock, Wash. Phone calls and e-mails to the organization’s administrator, Carmine Testarossa, were not returned Wednesday or Thursday. The domain names were purchased from 123cheapdomains.com, which will disable the domain’s if it receives a legitimate complaint, according to spokesman Johnny Li. Overgrow.com webmaster Richard Calrisian speculated that Friends of Chantal is bogus and the connections were done as a prank from a kid whose “parents neglect to see what he does on their home computer.” He has asked the domain registrar to stop connecting any names to his site, he said. The Overgrow.com domain is not owned by Friends of Chantal, but is run by the Quebec-based Heaven’s Stairway. The company’s Web site, which is also administered by Calrisian, says the products are only for customers who live in places where growing marijuana is legal. Domains can be purchased on countless sites, some with more credibility than others. At 123cheapdomains.com, domains are sold for as little as $13.95 per year. There are no laws barring consumers from purchasing names other than their own. “I think it is inappropriate for anyone or any organization to connect myself, or anyone else for that matter, to something they are doing wrong, especially if it has to do with drugs,” Lawson said. “I think when they do that, they are subjecting themselves to damages.” But other lawmakers whose names were purchased as domains did not feel as violated. “The world is full of nuts, and this seems to be just another one having fun at someone else’s expense,” said state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa. Cowin has known about the domain issue with her name for months, but doubts there is any practical recourse. “I do not feel threatened,” she said. “I think for the people who did this, it’s just a waste of their money and time. It makes for good parlor jokes, but that’s it.” The domain annacowin.com was given to Cowin as a campaign contribution in 2000, but she already had a different site. When it came time to renew the domain, Cowin did not pay the fee to reserve the name, and it was purchased by somebody else. While she does not like her name attached to the drug site, she said it would be too great an effort to police every use of her name on the Internet. “You could have anna-cowin.com, cowinanna.com, senatorcowin.com,” she said. “Are you going to buy every name? I’m not a major corporation, and I can’t afford to do that. I don’t really think we can get into the business of copyrighting names.” But as the Internet grows, senators such as Lawson wonder if the government needs to be paying better attention to what happens in cyberspace. “It is going to get out of control, and we are starting to see it now,” he said. “Some people may think it’s OK until it starts affecting them in an adverse way. I believe in freedom of speech but I think there should be some limits on what you can do.” But the practicality of regulation could be more difficult than it sounds, according to Domainbank.com president Steve Heflin. “It is not my job to judge when somebody registers a string of characters,” he said. His recommendation to public figures is to get in front of the domain-buying trend. “They really should buy their names as soon as they even think of running just to protect it,” he said. “There could be no bad will, no embarrassment. It should be a matter of procedure.” Source: The Daily Commercial (FL)Author: Jacob Ogles, Daily Commercial Staff WriterPublished: December 19, 2003Copyright: 2003 MyWebPal.comContact: editor4 dailycommercial.comWebsite: http://www.dailycommercial.com/OverGrow.comhttp://www.overgrow.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #27 posted by ekim on December 19, 2003 at 16:09:14 PT
Good going Dankhank
you are doing a great job, Thanks for your efforts. Will you be going to Texas for Willies fundrasier for Dennis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #26 posted by FoM on December 19, 2003 at 14:00:16 PT
Jose
Thanks for your explanation. That makes sense to me. Way to Go, Dankhank! Sometimes it is hard to understand what someone means. Anymore I just ask. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #25 posted by jose melendez on December 19, 2003 at 13:49:11 PT
go dankhank!
If I understand correctly, he is saying he was first to inform John Edwards about the Goose Creek Pot Raid, great work dH!
Write Congress: Reschedule Pot, or Resign.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #24 posted by FoM on December 19, 2003 at 13:34:37 PT
Dankhank
I'm not sure I understand your question about Newshawk? CNews doesn't have a way to hawk news like Mapinc. does but people post a link in an comment for others to read and sometimes I post them. I hope this helps with your question. If I didn't answer it right ask again and I'll try to answer.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #23 posted by Dankhank on December 19, 2003 at 13:01:45 PT:
Newshawk
I can't ever get a newshawk from this site, but I claim one for Senator John Edwards ...When I spoke to him 'bout a week ago his face told me that he knew NOTHING about Goose Creek, till I told him ...HAH!!!!!!!Go see those Damn politicians, tell them everything!!!!!
Register to Vote ...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #22 posted by druid on December 19, 2003 at 12:30:09 PT
OverGrow and CannabisWorld - some facts
Since Max Flowers brought up CW I would just like to point out that both OverGrow and CannabisWorld are both owned by Heaven's Stairway Seeds aka Richard Calrisian.CW is just a much smaller site and RC means to keep it that way. There is way more info at OverGrow though. Either way they are both good sites. OverGrow just _seems_ to have more kids although they are banned when found because of the sheer numbers of people that visit there.CannabisWorld - Members: 13,787, Posts: 373,360OverGrow - Registered Members: 67,378 | Posts: 3,034,943 As you can see there is far more to OverGrow then CW but CW does have c-bay which is an online auction for seeds.The commercialism i.e. the sponsors aka seed dealers are all being kicked off of OverGrow starting in the first part of 2004. RC used to have a partner who ran OverGrow and RC stuck to running CannabisWorld. RC bought his partner out and is now running both sites.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #21 posted by Ron Bennett on December 19, 2003 at 11:46:45 PT
Thank Goodness They Didn't Link to Pot Price
If they'd linked to Pot Price http://www.potprice.com/ there would really be a story...no one get any ideas now...LOL!Pot Price still gets numerous hits everyday from linka in a Wired article, which ran about three years ago.As some others already said, some folks last year did a similar redirection with politicians' names linked to Overgrow...on the bright side, the more folks who read about cannabis, the better :)Ron
CANNABIS.COM
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #20 posted by Max Flowers on December 19, 2003 at 11:17:18 PT
Overgrow is cool, but Cannabisworld is better
Just wanted to put in a plug for Cannabisworld.org since Overgrow is getting one. The thing is, Overgrow has a lot of good information but is populated to a large extent by younger, more volatile and less thoughtful members (think 16-24 age bracket). Cannabisworld is smaller and doesn't move as fast, but has near zero tolerance for flaming and hating while the quality of information is apt to be as good or perhaps a little better than Overgrow's (in my opinion anyway). The point being, you have to wade through far less garbage on Cannabisworld to get to the good stuff. Also it's much more of a family feeling at cannabisworld, a lot like cannabisnews.com!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #19 posted by druid on December 19, 2003 at 08:41:37 PT
OverGrow
Same thing happened to OverGrow last year but with a bunch of NY Senator names. :)People need to know about Overgrow since High Times is not going to be passing around much info on cannabis cultivation anymore. Nice advertising plug RC got in there too. 
The Overgrow.com domain is not owned by Friends of Chantal, but is run by the Quebec-based Heaven’s Stairway. The company’s Web site, which is also administered by Calrisian, says the products are only for customers who live in places where growing marijuana is legal. 

All you ever wanted to know about Cannabis Cultivation (but were afraid to ask)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #18 posted by afterburner on December 19, 2003 at 08:29:05 PT:
re comment #11
Each gram of marijuana would be subject to a $3.50 tax. 30 grams X 3.50 = $105! Alcohol [81.37% of the cost of alcohol products is taxation: The Canadian Tax System (see Fig. 1.5, Typical government take from a bottle of liquor), Fraser Institute http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/chapterfiles/The%20Canadian%20Tax%20System-01TxFxch1.pdf#3 ], tobacco [In Canada, between 63 and 79 per cent of the price of a package of cigarettes is tax. In New York, by comparison, the tax on cigarettes is 38 per cent. http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/cigarette_prices.html ],and gasoline [81.25% in Montreal is highest in Canada http://www.petro-canada.ca/eng/prodserv/fuels/8741.htm ] are hit with steep taxes, but they are legal addictive poisons. We wouldn't mind paying a fair tax on fair market value for legal cannabis, but this proposal like others of its ilk is basically flawed prohibitionist injustice. ["There are 23 states that have passed similar laws, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. St. Pierre said he sees fault in the law because it taxes citizens for drugs that are illegal to possess."] Prohibitionist dinosaur: Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, may God have mercy on your soul.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #17 posted by Virgil on December 19, 2003 at 07:42:35 PT
The power of the pill people - continued
There is a 3 webpage article by the NTY showing how the pill people will not let their expensive products be removed by state Medicaid programs that are in the red. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/business/18DRUG.html?hpThese links to the NYT stay up only a few weeks, so I will copy some of the opening paragraphs.States Try to Limit Drugs in Medicaid, but Makers Resist
By GARDINER HARRISPublished: December 18, 2003Kentucky's Medicaid program was $230 million in the red last year, and drastic cuts were on the table. A state panel proposed excluding Zyprexa, an antipsychotic medication that is the state's single biggest drug expense, from the Medicaid list of preferred medications.That was when the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the Kentucky Consumer Advocate Network swung into action. Advertisement
 
 
The two groups, which are nonprofit, bused scores of protesters to a hearing in Frankfort, the state capital; placed full-page ads in Kentucky newspapers attacking the proposal; and sent angry faxes to state officials. What the advocacy groups did not say at the time was that the buses, ads and faxes were paid for by Eli Lilly & Company, Zyprexa's manufacturer. Zyprexa produced $3.69 billion in revenue last year, making it Lilly's top seller and the sixth-largest-selling drug in the world. In the United States, 70 percent of Zyprexa sales are to government agencies, mostly to Medicaid. If just a handful of large states were to limit Zyprexa sales, Lilly's profit and share price would be likely to suffer significantly, analysts say. So Lilly and other drug makers — whose influence in Washington was most recently on display in the debate over a Medicare drug benefit — are flexing their muscles in state capitals. In state after state, the companies are fighting proposals to create or toughen government programs that use preferred-drug lists to try to cut costs.Drug makers argue that the lists are unfair to the poor, depriving them of medicine available to others. And the lists, the companies say, tie the hands of doctors who should be making decisions about appropriate care — especially when it comes to finding the right medication for someone with mental illness. State officials respond that limiting access to some high-price drugs is one way, in tight times, to continue providing care to as many of the poor as possible — particularly in cases where there is little evidence that the costlier drugs are more effective.Lilly lost the battle in Kentucky. The state decided to take Zyprexa off its list of preferred drugs, which means that patients must try and fail on a similar, cheaper drug before it will pay for Zyprexa. But it was a rare defeat.After intense lobbying by patient groups and drug makers, the New York State Legislature in May overrode a veto by Gov. George E. Pataki and enacted a law preventing state Medicaid officials from establishing a preferred-drug list. New York's $4-billion-a-year bill for Medicaid drugs is the biggest in the nation; in just the first 10 months of this year, the state spent $205 million on Zyprexa, more by far than for any other drug. Oregon's Legislature dropped thousands of patients from its Medicaid program in August rather than restrict choices for the others by tightly policing the state's preferred-drug list. The drug makers see little room to compromise. They are reluctant to negotiate prices, for example, because under federal Medicaid law, a discount to one state must be offered to all. And preferred-drug lists for Medicaid can influence doctors' prescribing practices for patients they see outside the Medicaid program, blunting the effect of the drug companies' expensive marketing efforts.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #16 posted by yippierevolutionary on December 19, 2003 at 07:09:59 PT
Jose you had me for a second
I was like he actually said that? Nah couldn't be then I saw the date lol. Its amazing how official and accurate things look when you put quotation marks around them. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #15 posted by yippierevolutionary on December 19, 2003 at 07:05:38 PT
It is a shame that
Edwards is only criticizing SS pointing guns at children "particularly because of the racial overtones," The fact that minorities suffer the brunt of the WoD is a valid issue, but what scares me about my country is the acceptance and normalcy of these kind of tactics. So if it happened in a Maine high school Edwards wouldn't support the march?My alma mater has recently escalated it's own WoD. People I know that still go there told me about this assembly they had where the school nurse talked about how "we want our students to be morally and spiritually pure" and they are going to start searching lockers, people, cars and urine. The thing that scares me is parents love this and think its the right thing to do! Just like a lot of parents supported the goose creek terror squad. Theres something wrong here.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #14 posted by jose melendez on December 19, 2003 at 06:57:25 PT
yippie!
"we are holding sick people at gun point to protect pharmaceutical profits" - John Ashcroft, April 1, 2003*
* satire. Treason is no joke.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by jose melendez on December 19, 2003 at 06:53:55 PT
Senator Addresses School Pot Raid Issue
Story last updated at 7:08 a.m.  Thursday, December 18, 2003  
from: http://www.charleston.net/stories/121803/loc_18edwards.shtml
 
 Edwards backs march against drug raid during local stop 
   BY SCHUYLER KROPF 
 Of The Post and Courier Staff  Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said he supported this week's protest march against the police drug raid at Stratford High School, claiming it will expand the dialogue on racial disparity in the South. "I supported the march in North Charleston, particularly the way it was done which broadened the discussion of issues of equality," Edwards said Wednesday during a campaign stop in Charleston. "Obviously what happened at Goose Creek is troublesome, particularly because of the racial overtones," he said. "What I want to do as president is lead this country to a place that the next generation does not have to march for equality."(snip)
To stop drug warriors: apply existing Constitutional law
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by yippierevolutionary on December 19, 2003 at 06:51:10 PT
The 1st Ammendment
"I believe in freedom of speech but I think there should be some limits on what you can do."Is just like what O'Rielly said Wednesday night "These web sites are dangerous to democracy" about the Drudge report that reported Al Franken's book outsold Bill's by 2 hundred thousand copies when O'Reilly was claiming his sold more. Bill has a platform every night to plug his book which he does endlessly. O'Reilly calls him self conservative but he hates free speach and called the ruling that US citizens can't be disapeared a "WIN FOR THE TERRORISTS" in his talking points memo.When will the Republicans change their subheading from the conservative party to the fascist party?It is the double speak that bothers me so much. If Ashcroft would say "we are holding sick people at gun point to protect pharmaceutical profits" at least we could have an open discussion on the merits instead of this Orwellian crap. I'm sure there are plenty of Capitalists who would defend harassing sick people for profit. At least the discussion would be honest.On the same note if we framed the debate over taking over countries to "Should America rule the world by force" I am sure there would be plenty of people who would say yes God wants us to have their natural resources. AT least it would be honestThe courts have been our best friends lately guys we have been blessed with many good rulings for Freedom and Peace in our time. I am extremely optimistic about the 23rd I have great faith in the essential decency of the Canadians. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by The GCW on December 19, 2003 at 05:44:58 PT
US MO: Senator Proposes Taxing Illegal Drugs
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1940/a07.html?397"The idea is not to actually sell the stamps," he said. "But rather to go after the dealers' assets when they are caught without a stamp." (and having baggies in Your kitchen can make You a dealer)How do You talk to someone like this?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by jose melendez on December 19, 2003 at 04:37:44 PT
sticker shock
"The era of arrogant rulers is over . . ."http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20031218/od_nm/iran_sticker_dc
Congress: sponsor THIS
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by SystemGoneDown on December 19, 2003 at 02:15:49 PT
Prank my a ss
Them Senators probobly smoke weed freely....including Bob Graham
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by SystemGoneDown on December 19, 2003 at 02:12:32 PT
This is a f uckin great story!
I hope this story is an indication of inevitable change soon to come.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by mayan on December 19, 2003 at 01:44:27 PT
Hee-Hee!
"State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, was enraged by the news and called for a state investigation."Yeah, that's it. Let's waste the taxpayer's money on an investigation that will get nothing accomplished. If Lawson wasn't such a dumb*ss dinosaur he would've purchased his own domain name long ago. That's the problem with this country. It is being run by dinosaurs. They will make us all extinct unless we kick their asses out onto the street! Actually FoM, this is pretty funny...hee-hee!The way out is the way in...9/11 Commission Set to Blame Bush, Clinton Gets a Pass: 
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/12/18/03615.shtmlHigh-Ranking Officials Admit 9/11 Could've Been Prevented:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/911-preventable.htm9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/17/eveningnews/main589137.shtml9/11 For the Truth - Mariani vs. Bush:  
http://www.911forthetruth.com/
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by CorvallisEric on December 19, 2003 at 00:45:54 PT
R's have better sense of humor than D's?
State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, was enraged by the news and called for a state investigation.But state Sen. Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg, was more mellow and questioned whether any government response was appropriate.“The world is full of nuts, and this seems to be just another one having fun at someone else’s expense,” said state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 19, 2003 at 00:15:11 PT
Great article, let's keep the biggest one alive..
here at C-New where prohibition and the regime are falling simultaneoulsy....time to be thankful for all of the blessings lately!Speaking of politicians, the story of the century breaks and is met with.... Micheal Jackson instead!Bush lied, we Got him! Go Diane Sawyer! And Pooty Poot! (Putin)Now it's gonna be Micheal Jackson to the rescue, again! Remember last time the needed a distraction from bush in England? This is way too predictablle and surreal. Right after the Diane Sawyer interview, and now Putin thinks bush is a war criminal! And todays huge admission bush knew basically, and then backpeddaled:Check out the thread at Smirkingchimp.com!
(bush goes, prohibition is OVER!) 'They simply failed' - Commission head Kean says 9/11 attack was preventable"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.http://smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=14209&mode=nested&order=0&thold=0Check out the internet poll vs. the Newsweek poll and see which one is Real and which one is staged:1st column is Internet, 2nd is Newsweek:
Approve 7% 51%  
Disapprove 93% 42%  
Don't know 1% 7% http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3703611/
 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by aolbites on December 18, 2003 at 23:41:45 PT
-correction to link in comment 5
http://www.kucinich.us/petition_abc1.php
ABC Petition
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on December 18, 2003 at 22:54:46 PT
Another thing he could say
"I believe in freedom of speech, except when it causes me embarassment or inconvenience."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on December 18, 2003 at 22:53:05 PT
He believes but he doesn't believe
"I believe in freedom of speech but I think there should be some limits on what you can do.""He should just say, "I believe in freedom of speech, but not really."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 18, 2003 at 22:13:11 PT
Just When I Think The News Is Over For The Day
Then I find this article. Oh My!
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment