cannabisnews.com: Student Group Drums Up Opposition To Drug War 





Student Group Drums Up Opposition To Drug War 
Posted by CN Staff on March 05, 2006 at 07:55:40 PT
By Greg Miller of the Tribune’s Staff 
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune 
Missouri -- Gary Davey smokes marijuana and credits the drug with relieving pain from injuries he received in a head-on collision that shattered most of his bones from the waist down and confined him to a wheelchair in 1989."The benefit that is available to these people is incredible," Davey said, referring to the use of marijuana. "There were times I literally couldn’t work."
Davey, 44, shared his story yesterday at the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Midwest Regional Conference. The medicinal marijuana session Davey participated in was one of more than a dozen events held at the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nationwide organization of college students against the war on drugs, chose Columbia because of the success of marijuana-related Propositions 1 and 2 in 2004. Cliff Thornton, a lawyer and Green Party gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut, was keynote speaker.Thornton’s drug reform group, Efficacy, was one of 10 sponsors for the weekend gathering. Other sponsors are the Missouri chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, the Cannabis Action Network, Green Aid and the Missouri Cannabis Coalition."These drugs are not the problem; the drug policies are the problem," Thornton said in an interview before the conference. "The drug war has placed the African-American community into a de-evolving state."Thornton, who is black, said drug laws that impose greater penalties for crack cocaine violations than for powder cocaine offenses are specifically designed to target black and lower-class people. That means taxes are funding incarceration of people who otherwise could be paying taxes, Thornton said. "That’s why most inner cities are so poor," he said.Speakers at the conference included the associate county commissioner of Marion County, Willy Richmond, and a former prosecutor from Kansas City, Kan., Brian Leininger."It’s scary, more than anything, how these laws have gotten stricter and stricter," Richmond said in a panel discussion of drug statutes. "It’s not accomplishing anything."Leininger called the drug war "not only a failure but counterproductive. … It took me a lot of time, I think, to come around. But I certainly saw how fruitless it was."Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm, who did not attend the conference, said he believes the war on drugs is working. "I don’t think our policies target poor and minorities," he said.Boehm said the majority of drug-related calls that Columbia police deal with are sales and activity in poorer areas. "The best we can hope for is to ... cut down on violence that’s related to drug activity," he said. The Students for Sensible Drug Policy Web site says the group endorses "personal choice and freedom so long as a person’s actions do not infringe upon another’s freedoms or safety."But Boehm said that "drugs are not only harmful to the individual but harmful to the community. I think that it does inherently infringe upon the safety of the community."Thornton said the prohibition of drugs has led to a black market that creates violence and makes drugs cheaper and more accessible to the public."The only way you’re going to solve this problem is to bring these drugs inside the law," he said.Joe Bartlett, president of the MU chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, said the conference is an opportunity to spread information about their campaign with students from other colleges. He estimated 100 people are participating in the three-day event, including 50 or 60 from outside Columbia.Lisa Davey doesn’t see her husband’s use of marijuana as a threat to the safety of her community in St. Louis."The fact that this is an illegal drug is a sin," she said. "The use of marijuana has given us a near-normal life."Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)Author: Greg Miller of the Tribune’s Staff Published: Sunday, March 5, 2006 Copyright: 2006 Columbia Daily TribuneContact: editor tribmail.comWebsite: http://www.columbiatribune.com/Related Article:Conference Takes On The Drug Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21640.shtmlCannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml 
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Comment #11 posted by afterburner on March 06, 2006 at 10:55:58 PT
Hope, Amen
"I feel bad for every single life lost in this stupid war...on both sides."I feel compassion and forgiveness and healing for all damaged by a civil war on our own people.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by Hope on March 05, 2006 at 23:41:19 PT
Afterburner...the media and the tragedy.
They wring everything out of it they can. Everything but the truth.I feel bad for every single life lost in this stupid war...on both sides.
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on March 05, 2006 at 21:04:10 PT
With Respect for the Slain Mounties & Families
On the one year anniversay of the 4 Mounties slain by a sex offender and cop-hater, the TV media is at it again, calling the Mountie action a drug raid, when it was initiated by a failed truck repossession.Excerpt:{Const. Anthony Gordon,... 28, was one of the four RCMP officers killed by James Roszko when the cop-hater ambushed them on his rural property near Mayerthorpe on March 3, 2005. {The four Mounties were guarding a quonset hut full of stolen goods and a marijuana grow-op at Roszko's farm the day Roszko shot them dead. {Gordon left behind his wife, Kim, and two sons, Spencer and Anthony Junior -- the youngest of whom never saw his father....{Last fall, Kim spoke out publicly on the need for tougher sentences for criminals and stricter marijuana laws. {She said her husband had strong feelings about marijuana, a drug he believed led to "a path of destruction."} --The Calgary Sun.
Fri, March 3, 2006.
Loved ones remember
By ELIZA BARLOW
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/03/03/1470812-sun.html&&&Excerpt:{But Derril Butler, the reeve for Lac Ste. Anne county, which includes Mayerthorpe, says politicians must guard against simple solutions that may prove popular but won't stop a repeat of similar tragedies. {"This is a difficult problem - violence in our society and people with serious mental problems running around loose and we have no way to help them. {"It just makes me tired sometimes to hear people talking in terms of their pet projects. One guy thinks if we really up the punishment for marijuana possession that that's going to solve the problem."} --Burning questions linger in Alberta town on 1st anniversary of RCMP massacre
By JIM MACDONALD
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/03/03/1471650-cp.html&&&Moment Of Impact http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20060303-008/page.asp&&&Media Duped on Dope Story. 
Posted by CN Staff on March 12, 2005 at 07:28:27 PT.
By Ben Rayner. 
Source: Toronto Star 
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20351.shtml&&&Mayerthorpe Marijuana Connection Inappropriate, Top Cop Says 
by Reverend Damuzi (01 Mar, 2006) Marijuana not to blame
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4217.html 
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Comment #8 posted by ekim on March 05, 2006 at 19:45:45 PT
Steve are you in contact with the Nov Coalition
a email i received about steves web site listing. looked at the picture linked to this email. That is the 
November Coalition and it looks like Nora Callahan is the woman 
standing with a sign (third from the right). I think this pic was 
taken during their Journey for Justice campaign when they travelled 
around the country last year.
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on March 05, 2006 at 11:43:47 PT
who did not attend the conference
Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm, who did not attend the conference, said he believes the war on drugs is working. "I don’t think our policies target poor and minorities," he said.WI: Spiraling Prison Costs Will Swamp State, Lawyer WarnsURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n275.a02.html
Newshawk: G F Storck
 Votes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 01 Mar 2006
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 2006 The Capital Times
Contact: tctvoice madison.com
Website: http://www.madison.com/tct/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: David Callender
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)SPIRALING PRISON COSTS WILL SWAMP STATE, LAWYER WARNS Ever-rising prison costs will eventually swamp other state spending - including the University of Wisconsin's budget - unless prosecutors and judges are forced to consider the cost of their sentencing decisions, warns veteran criminal defense attorney Steve Hurley. Hurley told the Dane County Bar Association on Tuesday that crime has declined steadily both nationwide and in Wisconsin over the past 17 years. But during that same period, prison populations have risen steadily and the United States now has the largest prison population of any nation in the world. And although they remain a minority in society, blacks make up a majority of the nation's prison population, with Wisconsin having the highest incarceration rate among African-Americans of any state. Hurley argued that a generation of lawmakers, prosecutors, and judges have endorsed tougher penalties without considering the financial consequences. "There's a peculiar rule in the Legislature that no bill may be brought up without a cost estimate except for criminal laws," he said. "We have been passing bills with no notion what the cost to the taxpayers will be
 
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #6 posted by global_warming on March 05, 2006 at 10:47:42 PT
i would rather see
The Reverend Jerry Falwell or Pat Roberson holding one them signs, for further ignorance only follows unrepentant souls to their graves.
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Comment #5 posted by herbdoc215 on March 05, 2006 at 10:41:43 PT
spelling brain cell isn't working yet?
Redouble is what I meant? steve
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Comment #4 posted by global_warming on March 05, 2006 at 10:41:17 PT
has any 'body heard
from EJ?She has passed through my mind in recent times, hope she is well..
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Comment #3 posted by herbdoc215 on March 05, 2006 at 10:40:08 PT
Here is some good news...a group at Devans 
Is protesting the situation there with patients as it seems to be where the gov't sticks desperado's such as Jerry....we need to get ahold of this group and tell'em about Jerry plus Richard Cowan is supposed to write something about this case this week which should help some also. After reading what I did yesterday I've decided to resouble my efforts for Jerry and a couple of others who are being persecuted!
Bluesbud posted this as well a picture of people protesting drug war injustices outside Devans in Mass.
"There are other patients doing time at Devens with Jerry. Looks as though they are getting some support. This is a pic from a small yet compassionate group of caring people at Devens FMC.
Devens is a prison devoted to taking inmates with severe medical problems. The Bush administration believes those potheads are amongst our country's most notorious and dangerous of criminals, even as they suffer for their medicine."here is link with picture..... http://www.oregongreenfree.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9542&page=6Peace, Steve Tuck
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Comment #2 posted by global_warming on March 05, 2006 at 10:35:13 PT
she has my 'vote
That is one courageous 'Women..
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on March 05, 2006 at 09:27:22 PT
vote Nall Ya'LL 
Nall invited to candidate's forum
http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/
I'm late getting this posted but how cool is this? Loretta Nall was invited to speak before the Alabama African American Mayors Association yesterday:Please accept this e-mail as an invitation to speak to a group of African American mayors from across the state of Alabama on tomorrow, March 3,2006 at 12 Noon in Selma, Alabama. 
We apologize for the lateness of this correspondence,however, we just learned that you were running for governor. Former Governor Don Siegeleman, Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley, Mr. Nathan Mathis and
Attorney Harry Lyon will be in attendance.
Needless to say, Loretta accepted. This could be a turning point for the campaign as there's likely to be a press presence with the big name candidates there. I hope she gets some coverage and a video of her speech. I'm telling you, she can win this. I'm mulling over my dress for the inauguration ball.Update: Here's the video. Loretta starts about seven minutes in.
 
http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/
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