cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- June 2, 2005





NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- June 2, 2005
Posted by CN Staff on June 02, 2005 at 17:01:45 PT
Weekly Press Release
Source: NORML
NORML Comments On Pending Supreme Court Medical Cannabis RulingJune 2, 2005 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: The US Supreme Court could rule as early as next week on whether to uphold a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision which found that the federal prosecution of patients who cultivate and possess marijuana for their own medicinal use is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress' Commerce Clause authority.
The Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 in December 2003 that "the intrastate, non-commercial cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician - is, in fact, different in kind from drug trafficking," and issued an injunction barring the US Justice Department from taking legal action against the appellants, California medical cannabis patients Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson, for violating the federal Controlled Substances Act. The Justice Department appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case last November."Either way the Court rules, this decision is essentially a 'win-win' for marijuana-law reform advocates," NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "If the Court upholds the Ninth Circuit decision, then it will affirm the notion that the non-commercial, intrastate possession and use of medicinal cannabis is solely a matter of state, not federal law."However, if the Court reverses the Ninth Circuit's opinion, the bottom line is that state and local laws protecting medicinal cannabis patients and their physicians remain in place and are unaffected by this ruling. The federal government can choose to continue to waste taxpayers' dollars and undermine states' rights by arbitrarily raiding the homes of seriously ill patients who possess and use medical cannabis in compliance with state law, or they can choose more worthwhile priorities, like national security and prosecuting violent criminals."St. Pierre said that Congress will likely vote later this month on a bipartisan amendment sponsored by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) that would prohibit the federal government from spending taxpayers' dollars to prosecute patients who comply with their state's medical marijuana laws.Also pending in Congress is House Bill HR 2087, "the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act," sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Sam Farr (D-CA), Rohrabacher, and Hinchey, along with 31 co-sponsors, which would reclassify marijuana under federal law to recognize its medical utility and enable physicians to legally prescribe it under controlled circumstances."Regardless of which way the Supreme Court rules in this case, it remains pivotal that Congress amend federal law to properly recognize cannabis' therapeutic utility," St. Pierre said. "Throughout our history, the public has looked to state legislatures and Congress - not the courts - to be the architects of public policy. With 80 percent of Americans as well as numerous health organizations, including the American Nurses Association and the American Public Health Association, in favor of legalizing the physician-supervised use of medicinal cannabis, it's time for the federal government to butt out of doctors' decisions regarding which medicine is the most safe and effective for their patients."For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup at (202) 483-5500. Additional background information regarding this case is available at: http://angeljustice.org/DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6546Taxing And Regulating Cannabis Could Yield $14 Billion In Annual Savings And Revenue, Study SaysJune 2, 2005 - Boston, MA, USABoston, MA: Enforcing state and federal marijuana laws costs taxpayers an estimated $7.7 billion annually, according to a report released this week by visiting Harvard University economics professor, Jeffrey Miron, and endorsed by more than 500 economists.The report, entitled "Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States," estimates that legalizing marijuana would save state and local governments $5.3 billion annually, while saving the federal government $2.4 billion. A previous analysis of marijuana arrest expenditures published by the NORML Foundation in March estimated that enforcing marijuana prohibition, primarily at the state level, costs approximately $7.6 billion per year.Miron's report also estimates that legalizing cannabis would yield $6.2 billion in annual revenue if it were taxed at rates comparable to those imposed upon alcohol and tobacco."We ... urge the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition," states an open letter accompanying the report, signed by over 500 economists, including Stanford University's Milton Friedman. "We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods. At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition."A previous survey published in the April 2004 issue of the journal Econ Journal Watch found that most US economists believe that current drug prohibition strategies are ineffective and favor liberalizing American drug policies.Full text of report, Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States, available at: http://prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.htmlDL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6547Cannabinoid Neuroprotective Against Cerebral Infarction, Study SaysJune 2, 2005 - Fukuoka, JapanFukuoka, Japan: Administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) is neuroprotective against cerebral infarction (localized cell death in the brain) in mice, according to clinical trial data published in the May issue of the journal Stroke."Treatment of cannabidiol ... significantly reduced the infarct volume ... in mice" in a dose dependent manner, a research team at Fukuoka University's Department of Neuropharmacology concluded. Authors speculated that CBD "exerts a neuroprotective effect through its anti-oxidant, anti-spasmodic, and anti-emetic activity, [as well as through] vasorelaxation."Researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) have previously reported that cannabinoids are neuroprotective in animals against brain damage caused by alcohol and/or stroke.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Cannabidiol prevents cerebral infarction," is available in the May issue of the journal Stroke.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6548Source: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: June 2, 2005Copyright: 2005 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml
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Comment #24 posted by jose melendez on June 03, 2005 at 19:16:03 PT
amazing
It is fascinating that these "scientists" that once foamed at the mouth at the mere suggestion that cannabis may have medical properties are now pushing for their own slice of the cash cow.Apparently it works something like this:Deny, deny, deny, obfuscate, deny, look the other way, ignore, compare to heroin and murder, omit and finally, promote "new" discovery of overpriced, synthesized and metered doseages as reason enough to keep plants illegal. 
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Comment #23 posted by ekim on June 03, 2005 at 19:12:37 PT
an attempt
up in the Katama Momas why up high you take the finest bud and gently masage flower thru silk cloth with age old rocks smothed from untold keys of use into as old bowls, keif from the males, da---- from the gals.see where Jessys old state just passed a law for 20% ethanol for all gas use in Min. in 8 years. this was sent to Kal Gazette but it never saw day liteThe May 21 Gazette front page story on the sale of the last paperboard mill
in Otsego is a grim reminder of how deep and sick the War on some Drugs has
become.
Not 25 miles away WMU has a first class papermaking dept that should be
World Class but instead has been denied research into the Hemp plant.
While China, Canada and 30 other counties are growing and processing this
plant into hundreds of products. We here in the Land Of The Free are only
allowed to buy the finished product while our jobs and farmers vanish before
our eyes.
 The Menasha mill is using pulp from grinding up grown trees. The price of
which is rising everyday as lumber for building sores.
 The Hemp plant can be grown like corn. A study of how many acres would be
needed to run the Menasha plant must be undertaken. The fact that the
Menasha mill is cardboard should make the use of hemp far easier. It will be
a model, the first paper plant using Hemp in over a hundred years in this
country. As such it can be given Fed. Grants showcasing it on the Nat'l
scène.Gov. Engler is now head of the Manufacturing Industry Ass. He was recently
asked on C-Span -what is the USA doing to gain the expertise in using Hemp
like Canada and China -to which he said that he knew of no efforts in that
reguard but added that he was not opposed to such an endeavor but he could
not undertake it.
- Gov Engler was Gov for 8 years spent his whole life in public office,
raised on a farm. Gov. Engler in 1982 signed the Joint Resolution No.473 A
Concurrent resolution memorializing the President and the Congress of the
United States to remedy Federal Policies which inhibit and prevent State
programs of providing Marihuana for legitimate medical purposes.
- Watched as the paper industry was decimated in MI. Spent untold Billions
on prisons keeping the Prohibition of Cannabis alive and well at the expense
of the society.
- -- lets take the recent April Gazette story on how the Apjohn Group a
local Kalamazoo company of former pharmaceutical-industry executives is
working to do clinical trials on Sativex, an oral spray derived from whole
Cannabis plants in England.
- Sativex has been shown to reduce cancer pain, multiple
sclerosis-associated spasticity and other symptoms in patients who do not
respond to standard therapies.
- Donald R. Parfet Apjohn Managing Director said, "We'er excited about this
one" They Cannabis medicinals were sold until the 1930s.
- See www.jackherer.com Emperor wears no cloths. Chapter 4 - Has anyone
asked the AMA. On how in secret the Congress passed the Marijuana Tax act in
1937 with the AMA Dr. Woodworth stating that Doctors have not been notified
and medicine from Cannabis has been used for centuries.
- Canada last month allowed Sativex to be used in treatment there.
- So for 60 years the Fed. Gov't has had a prohibition on Cannabis, saying
that the plant has no medical value placing it in the worst schedule one.
The lawmakers of MI. must come to grips with the massive failure of the War
on Cannabis.
 Laws for Regulating Cannabis, such as Tobacco and Alcohol must be
presented.
New Cellulose conversion processes have been developed to allow Ethanol to
be made using the cellulose in plants at ever-cheaper rates. See
http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2004/3404_technologies_lauded.html
Hemp is 77 % cellulose a great rotational crop.We build machinery we manufacture we research medicinal products why have we
been left out of this growing industry while not 2 hundred miles to the east
in Canada they allow medical use of Cannabis and have been growing Hemp
since 1996.
see www.cannabisnews.com
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on June 03, 2005 at 17:30:59 PT
Shishaldin 
Thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
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Comment #21 posted by mayan on June 03, 2005 at 17:14:36 PT
jose
It looks like Heather Ashton pulled a "Barthwell"!!!Could it be she already has some shares of GW? 
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Comment #20 posted by Shishaldin on June 03, 2005 at 17:13:23 PT
Jack Herer
Yay! Pot-TV put up the Jack Herer talk from April:
http://www.pot.tv/ram/pottvshowse3721.ramFoM, your hard copy of his talk (w/an intro by Valerie Corral) is in the mail...Peace and Strength,Shishaldin
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Comment #19 posted by Toker00 on June 03, 2005 at 14:18:14 PT
Thanks, dankhank!
CRL. Haven't looked at it yet, but it came today. In perfect condition! I will find time to look tonight. Thanks!Peace. Legalize, then Revolutionize!(medicine)(energy)(nutrition)
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on June 03, 2005 at 11:02:02 PT
Canadian Web Site: MUMM.ca
I am a member of the ccc list and this web site is being mentioned and I thought others might like to see it too!http://www.mumm.ca/
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on June 03, 2005 at 10:46:27 PT
Thanks Ekim
I don't believe Bill Clinton is going to live much longer. He isn't recovering from his heart procedures very well and he looks thin and very tired. I doubt he'll answer questions about marijuana though. He looks like he's lost his spunk.http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=5
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Comment #16 posted by ekim on June 03, 2005 at 10:42:30 PT
Bill Clinton on NPR talk of the Nation at 2pm
he will be taking calls-- 
1800-989-8255 
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Comment #15 posted by ekim on June 03, 2005 at 10:38:53 PT
Thanks maybe New Brunswick judge will see it
http://www.kucinich.us/Speak Out Today to Preserve Political Organizing and Free Speech on the Internet
Today, June 3rd, is the last day for citizens to file their comments before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on its impending rulemaking regarding political activity on the Internet.Since the late 1990s, the Federal Election Commission has been trying to figure out whether and how to apply campaign finance laws to new media. On March 28, 2005, the FEC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to extend campaign finance regulations to certain political speech on the Internet. The question is whether the Internet will be allowed to continue as a First Amendment forum for citizen political advocacy. What happens will affect the future of independent political speech on the Internet for years to come.
http://www.marijuananews.com
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on June 03, 2005 at 10:32:44 PT
Ekim Here It Is If This Is What You Wanted
New Message Board for Weeds from Showtime WEEDS looks at "typical" family life in the suburban neighborhood of Agrestic, California, where recently-widowed Nancy Botwin (MARY-LOUISE PARKER) plays referee to a circle of dysfunctional suburbanites who assemble at weekend soccer matches, PTA meetings, and many other domestic rituals of everyday life. Left with more family debt than she expected, Nancy finds it hard making ends meet while raising her two sons, so she's recently become a very successful neighborhood door-to-door salesman. But not for Mary Kay cosmetics or Tupperware. No, Nancy is selling pot -- and it's a business that is booming. http://www.sho.com/site/weeds/home.dohttp://www.sho.com/site/message/boards.do?groupid=1505
 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on June 03, 2005 at 10:29:20 PT
ekim
I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean about the series Weeds and the message board?PS: I put the Eagles Farewell Tour DVD in my wish list I build up for Christmas. I love Christmas shopping now since I take a whole year to build my wish list and Christmas for us is fun then. LOL! If you hadn't told us about it I would have missed it. Thank you!
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Comment #12 posted by ekim on June 03, 2005 at 10:24:06 PT
FoM please post Weeds artical again 
Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 02, 2005 at 20:33:30 PT 
Lynn Wood 
CN NK: Pregnant Marijuana Seller Jailed
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n880/a08.html?397New Brunswick Woman Ran 'Cannabis Cafe', Claimed Drug Sold Only To Medicinal Users 
 
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #11 posted by Sam Adams on June 03, 2005 at 09:01:22 PT
New Brunswick
I've been to St. John, it's a very nice town, it's sad to discover that it's a police state. Consider what happens with all other medicinal drugs....if a fake patient and fake doctor were caught forging prescriptions, THEY go to jail, not the owner's of the Walgreen's that supplied the drug.  The police, prosecutors, and judges of New Brunswick are disgusting, repulsive human beings.  1984 is here, even in Canada.  The criminals get paid overtime & fat pensions, the innocent go to jail. War is Peace.
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Comment #10 posted by jose melendez on June 03, 2005 at 06:38:16 PT
heather ashton exposed as anti-pot liar in 1998!
Re: comment #9Flip Flop: Heather Ashton Caught Lying About Cannabis in 1998http://www.ccguide.org.uk/dm28apx.php
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Comment #9 posted by mayan on June 03, 2005 at 04:54:24 PT
Right Back At Em'
The miracle plant strikes again...Cannabis 'can ease mental illness'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/thehealthnews.html?in_article_id=350936&in_page_id=1797&in_a_source=THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Hustler Interviews David Ray Griffin: 
http://www.911blogger.com/2005/06/hustler-interviews-david-ray-griffin.htmlScientific American's Dishonest Attack On 9/11 Research:
http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/sciam/9/11 Related Music:
http://www.911blogger.com/2005/04/special-feature-911-related-music.htmlRe-open 9/11:
http://www.reopen911.org/Upcoming 9/11 Truth Movement Events:
http://www.911truthla.us/calendar/calendar.htm
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on June 03, 2005 at 03:35:35 PT
Pot Woman?
CN NK: Pot Woman Must Have Baby In Jail
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n881/a03.html?397CN NK: Pregnant Woman Gets A Year For Selling Pot
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n881/a05.html?397
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Comment #7 posted by Taylor121 on June 02, 2005 at 23:00:08 PT
Action Alerts
First thanks FoM for the Downsize DC link. Looks like a Libertarian lobbying organization that I have never heard of. They have an interesting idea about passing a law that requires all the congressmen and women to have the bill read before the bill becomes law. Very interesting indeed. They also have an action alert on HR 1528, the snitch bill. EVERYONE here at CNews should send a letter in asap letting your congressman know how you feel. If this bill passed, it would be a huge setback for us all.http://www.downsizedc.org/index.shtml-- Cincinnati City Council could vote next week on an ordinance that would criminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, increasing the maximum penalty from a $100 ticket now to as much as 90 days in jail.http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050602/NEWS01/506030353If you live there or near there, please take action. I would hate to see something like this pass in Ohio. California: California Assembly Considers Bill to Raise Fines For Marijuana Possession
Ask Your Assembly Member To Oppose Senate Bill 797!
 
Read about this bill
 
The California legislature is considering a bill that would increase the fine for possession of one oz. or less of marijuana from $100 to $250 ( In practice, defendants are often assessed an additional $173 in court expenses, so the real fine would effectively rise to $423). 
 
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=7663321&type=STTexas: The Texas Legislature closed its doors for the year on May 30, but not before
activists made their presence known in the halls of the state house. This
session featured two prominent marijuana policy reform bills, the first of
which, H.B. 658, would have provided an affirmative defense for medical
marijuana patients. The second, H.B. 254, would have lowered penalties for
simple marijuana possession from jail to a fine. Although neither of these bills
became law this session, the debate they sparked will provide a sturdy
foundation for further reform in the state.Please be sure to visit
https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5159061 and tell your
legislators to push for reform next session.
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Comment #6 posted by jose melendez on June 02, 2005 at 22:15:57 PT
LEGAL MS DRUG: unsafe, unethical, deadly
  
 "Biogen Idec Inc. has told the Food and Drug Administration that a fourth patient may have contracted a potentially deadly brain disease after being treated with the company's multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.If the case is confirmed, it would deal another blow to multiple sclerosis patients who have been hoping that Tysabri, which has been shown effective in reducing debilitating relapses, might again be made available. Cambridge-based Biogen Idec and its partner in Tysabri, Elan Corp. of Ireland, in February suspended sale of the drug and discontinued clinical trials after it was disclosed that one patient had died of a brain disease known as PML, and another was believed to have it. A third case of the disease was identified in March."http://www.boston.com/business/technology/biotechnology/articles/2005/06/02/a_fourth_illness_may_be_tied_to_biogens_ms_drug/" . . . someone to both promote the safety and efficacy of liquid marijuana so that our officials will accept it, while at the same time demonizing the exact same stuff in plant form. Andrea's the perfect choice. Logic and truth are no barriers for her." http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2005/04/20/andreaBarthwellSnakeOilSal.html
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Comment #5 posted by jose melendez on June 02, 2005 at 22:09:02 PT
educational
Learn about canabinoidshttp://whyfiles.org/225drug_receptors/index.php?g=3.txt
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 02, 2005 at 21:15:35 PT
News Article from Snipped Source
Marijuana Could Net Jail Time Under Pepper Plan By Gregory Korte, Enquirer staff writerThursday, June 2, 2005  
Ohio -- Cincinnati City Council could vote next week on an ordinance that would criminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, increasing the maximum penalty from a $100 ticket now to as much as 90 days in jail.Possession of small amounts of marijuana - up to 100 grams or about 3.5 ounces - is a minor misdemeanor under both state law and city ordinance. The penalty is equivalent to a civil citation: up to a $100 fine with no possibility of jail.Cops call those citations "weed tickets," equivalent to jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk."This is not about marijuana per se. It's about open-air drug markets," said the ordinance's only sponsor, Democrat David Pepper, who is chairman of the Law & Public Safety Committee. "Right now, you'd be better off holding the marijuana in your hand than throwing it on the ground, because if you throw it on the ground, that's littering."Snipped:Complete Article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050602/NEWS01/506030353
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 02, 2005 at 20:33:30 PT
Lynn Wood 
CN NK: Pregnant Marijuana Seller Jailedhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n880/a08.html?397New Brunswick Woman Ran 'Cannabis Cafe', Claimed Drug Sold Only To Medicinal Users A New Brunswick judge has sentenced a pregnant woman to jail -- forcing her to have her baby behind bars this summer -- for selling marijuana in what she claims was a compassion club for medical users. Cont.THCUNAZI judge.THCUI'm amazed, We are so peaceful, that even under these conditions We remain peaceful. We are very blessed to be so peaceful.Prohibitionists are very fortunate that We are peaceful.
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on June 02, 2005 at 20:16:40 PT
God gives Us cannabis; what does government give.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4374.htmlLynn Wood loses everything for one gram first offence
 
by Marc Emery (02 Jun, 2005) Judge Murray Cain in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, sentences wonderful med-pot martyr to one year in grim jail. 
There was a very rigourous membership requirement at the HEMP NB Medical Marijuana store in Saint John New Brunswick. You needed a sworn affidavit before a notary stating you had a medical condition which you believed marijuana alleviated. Or you needed a section 56 exemption card issued by the Canadian federal government. Or you needed a signed letter from your doctor which HEMP NB verified by calling your doctor. One of those three.So although it was unusual when the club received its first underage application, the circumstances were compelling. A 15 year old said he had a pin in his arm from surgery and needed pot to deal with lingering pain. He even went so far as to swear before a notary public in a sworn affidavit that this was so. His application was then accepted. Apparently, he would sell some of that pot to his friends at school.When cops arrested the teen for selling, charges against him were dropped if he would provide testimony against HEMP NB. It would take a long time for the police to gather evidence though. All the other members of the HEMP NB Compassion Club were bona-fide, including four section 56 exemptees, and all others with confirmed and compelling doctor's endorsements. There was nothing odd about any other member that police could intimidate or abuse.So in order for Saint John police to get actual evidence, they would go undercover and make applications at the Compassion Club. Except, as the police on the witness stand admitted, their bogus applications were always rejected by HEMP NB. The police videotaped the front door of HEMP NB for months and could find no other anomalies. So then a police officer named Brian Hutchison came into HEMP NB and submitted an application with a letter from his doctor. His application was left to an employee to verify because, as Jim Wood explained, "we had an actual wedding going on in HEMP NB that day, and this guy wanted his application fast tracked, so I gave the application to an employee to verify. Normally I would check the doctor's name in the phone book and call their office. You typically talk to a secretary and you confirm the patient exists with that condition."But the employee was naive, and only called the doctor's office listed in the letter from the 'doctor.' A man claiming to be a doctor did indeed answer, but it was, in fact, Detective Bruce Hutchison's superior officer. And the 'doctor' did indeed write that letter and of course he could confirm the 'patient' had that condition, and was very co-operative. It's legal now, after the last revision to the Controlled Substances Act, for a police officer to lie in the course of an investigation.So Detective Hutchison was accepted as a member. He bought one gram of marijuana for $15 from a petite mother of three, seven months pregnant, Lynn Wood.Lyn Wood is a devoted believer in medical marijuana. This was her place, with her husband Jim. She knew all about the benefits of therapeutic marijuana during her pregnancies. Lynn saw the improvement in her husband, Jim, in the way his spinal damage caused by a car accident in 1992 was made bearable for him. So after purchasing this one gram packet of marijuana, enough to roll two joints perhaps, the Saint John police moved in on HEMP NB. On April 23, 2004, at 11.30 a.m., 16 to 20 police officers of the Saint John police violently entered HEMP NB. Jim & Lynn were not there, volunteer Dane Richards told Cannabis Culture that he was thrown on top of another co-worker during the arrest. He said of the police, "they took all our bongs, pipes, rolling papers, all our merchandise. Even our stamp pads and garbage. Plus all the pot for our members." Police even took all the store's books, literature and copies of Cannabis Culture Magazine.In total, several thousands of dollars worth of material was taken. Lynn Wood was charged with one count of trafficking. One gram sold to 'patient' undercover cop Bruce Hutchison. He of the fraudulent doctor's letter.But Lynn Wood was no ordinary advocate. She had been doing this since early September of 2003, almost nine months now. When she worked, husband John looked after Celine, born Dec. 15, 1999, Tom, born Dec. 27, 2001 and youngest Izetta, born Dec. 4, 2003, while operating HEMP NB. It was quite a juggle, but both parents were always looking after the kids, whether it was Jim or Lynn. All three were breastfed, Celine for three years, Tom was only just weaned off when Izetta was born. Lynn was a full time nursing mother and med-pot advocate since HEMP NB opened in 1999, and she wasn't going to let one gram in the wrong hands deter her.She re-opened HEMP NB immediately after getting released on bail. She continued to sell to all her members. She still did not know who had bought the pot that lead to the enormous police resources being poured upon her store & Compassion Club, so all members were still members.Including member Bruce Hutchison, who's real purpose & identity still remained hidden from Lynn Wood. He came in and bought one more gram one day in May.On June 3, 2004, a dozen police came and raided HEMP NB again, once again taking any inventory with them.A second charge of trafficking was laid against Lynn, along with two possession with intent to sell charges for the one pound of pot in the med-pot safe from the first raid, and 8 ounces in the safe at the time of the second raid.After being found guilty of the two trafficking charges of one gram each, Judge Murray Cain was left to consider sentencing. The judge did not think Lynn Wood was a bad person, merely one who was determined to keep selling, and for that she would have to be restrained and punished. Despite the judge's belief, there was no claim that Lynn Wood had sold any pot after the June 3, 2004 raid on HEMP NB, virtually a year ago to the decision Judge Cain brought down on June 1st, 2005.Lynn Wood was 7-months pregnant, with three children, this was her first offence ever. The court was only able to show one patient had resold small amounts of marijuana bought at the club, and that a police officer posing as a doctor-approved med-patient had tried on several occasions to buy pot. Other testimony centred on the many desperate Section 56 exemptees like Patrick Hardy who claimed that HEMP NB was the only qualified place for him to buy marijuana in all of New Brunswick, as he had rejected the Canadian government pot agency's marijuana as inadequate. Patrick Hardy has sinced moved to Montreal because New Brunswick became too difficult a place for a med-pot patient to live. Yet the Judge did not think it unreasonable in the least that Lynn Wood would be torn from her three tightly bonded children for up to a year, or that she would give birth in jail, and that her baby would immediately be taken from her and given to her husband John, motherless for 6 – 10 months. The judge did not think it unreasonable that Lynn would pump breastmilk while in prison so it could be shipped home for husband Jim to bottlefeed to little Jimmy. (It's a boy, they checked.) The judge sentenced her to one year in a grim jail. Lynn was led away to jail after the sentence was imposed.Lynn Woods remains extraordinary by any account. She is the first med-pot Compassion Club owner in Canada to be sentenced to jail. She is the first pregnant activist of our movement to be ordered into jail and to have a child in prison, then to have it wrenched from her. This is the first known instance where undercover police posed as med-pot patients with the complicity of their superior officers, to the extent that police would pose as a doctor, issue letters as a doctor. After repeatedly trying to join the club, the undercover police applications always went rejected until the police themselves posed as doctors and patients.If you wish to offer support to the fine Lynn Wood and Jim Wood, you may call Jim at 506-657-4769 or 506-333-6808. Lynn is right now at:Lynn Wood, Saint John Correctional Centre,
930 Old Black River Rd.,
Saint John, New Brunswick E2J 4T3And you can write to her at that address. She will serve a minimum of eight months of the 12 month sentence. She will, godspeed, give birth there in the first week of August to a healthy Jimmy, Jr.Tomorrow: The Wood family & the Incredible Story of HEMP NB
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 02, 2005 at 17:42:19 PT
The Miron Report
I thought this was important to have so I put it on my personal web site and added it to my What's New page. I hope this report makes a difference.http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/mironreport.pdf
What's New
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