cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Visits To Bash Pot Measure Drug Czar Visits To Bash Pot Measure Posted by CN Staff on October 12, 2006 at 06:57:51 PT By R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette Source: Gazette Colorado -- The nation’s top anti-drug warrior came to Colorado Springs on Wednesday to denounce a statewide ballot measure to legalize smallscale marijuana possession. U.S. drug czar John Walters called marijuana use a “disease” and said Amendment 44 would result in more drug use among adults and teens. If it passes next month, Colorado would be the first state to legalize marijuana possession through a ballot measure. Walters’ visit, which also included stops in Denver and Grand Junction, shows the measure is attracting high-level interest from far beyond the state’s borders. “You already have a shocking number of young people reporting using marijuana,” said Walters, who spoke against the measure along with Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera and Chamber of Commerce CEO Will Temby. The measure, which would allow possession of up to an ounce, is sponsored by Safer Colorado, a group that successfully overturned a Denver marijuana law last year. The group argues marijuana is safer than alcohol. Walters, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the measure would create a legal market for a substance manufactured, transported and sold by organized crime. “The same mafias that kill people on the border and slaughter judges and prosecutors in Mexico make the bulk of their money from marijuana,” Walters said. He acknowledged it is “somewhat controversial” for someone from the White House to get involved in a state-level ballot issue but said his office is getting involved to counter out-of-state interests in favor of legalization. “This is an attempt to use Colorado. Let’s be clear,” Walters said of Amendment 44. “It’s important that people recognize it’s not your fellow citizens funding this.” Outside the press conference at the Chamber of Commerce, Amendment 44 supporters held their own event blasting the drug czar’s visit. Campaign director Mason Tvert said the Office of National Drug Control Policy is inappropriately meddling in a state issue. “This is a federal agent, our federal government coming to our state and lying to people about a state initiative,” Tvert said. “It’s absolutely absurd, and I think the people of Colorado Springs, if anyone, should be opposed to this misuse of government resources.” He acknowledged that about half of the financial support for Amendment 44 is from outside the state. “They see this as an opportunity for a state to take a stand. People in Alabama, Mississippi, they don’t have an opportunity to take a stand like this,” Tvert said of the out of state donors. Note: Legalizing marijuana would aid organized crime, John Walters says.Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)Author: R. Scott Rappold, The GazettePublished: October 12, 2006Copyright: 2006 The GazetteContact: gtop gazette.comWebsite: http://www.gazette.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Safer Choicehttp://www.saferchoice.org/A Vote To Legalize Marijuana is a Vote for Choicehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22259.shtmlHippie-Hating and Baitinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22244.shtml Adults Should Be Allowed To Choosehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22225.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by whig on October 12, 2006 at 15:58:38 PT kaptinemo I guess some people are anointed with urine, but that isn't you. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on October 12, 2006 at 13:51:47 PT: ROFLMAO Whig, I hope not THAT way 'Cause what should be in those specimen bottles pitched at this fraud won't be water. Since the Good Book says it's better to give than to receive, I'd be happy to provide plenty.I still think some of these drug testing guys have some bodily fluid fetish and are closet pervs for wanting to watch kids pee in cups. Sick, sick, sick... [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by whig on October 12, 2006 at 13:19:47 PT OT: The Amish do things right http://tinyurl.com/y6x5nt [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by whig on October 12, 2006 at 13:16:05 PT kaptinemo Preach on, brother Kaptinemo.You are anointed by God yourself. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by ekim on October 12, 2006 at 08:47:55 PT whos policy keeps a weed at the price of gold - “The same mafias that kill people on the border and slaughter judges and prosecutors in Mexico make the bulk of their money from marijuana,” Walters said. Oct 15 06 First Unitarian in New Bedford 09:00 AM Norm Stamper New Bedford MA USA LEAP speaker and advisory board member, Norm Stamper presents facts about the drug war gained during his experience as Seattle police chief. He is welcomed by First Unitarian in New Bedford,. This event is open to the public. Oct 15 06 The Needham Lyceum 09:00 AM Jack Cole Needham MA USA The Needham Unitarians host LEAP's Executive Director Jack Cole as part of their speakers series, "The Needham Lyceum: A Forum on Public Affairs, Spirituality, Culture, and Science." As a former undercover narcotics agent for the New Jersey State Police, Cole's understanding of the complexities of the drug war give him special insight into its futility. Cole will expound on the benefits of legalized regulation. This event is open to the public Oct 22 06 Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Congregation 11:15 AM LEAP speaker and board member Terry Nelson is welcomed by the Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Nelson spoke to their adult education class last month and now he'll speak from the pulpit. Everyone is welcome Oct 26 06 SAFER Initiative Event 06:00 PM Norm Stamper Denver Colorado USA LEAP speaker and advisory board member Norm Stamper speaks to an audience at a NORML sponsored event in conjunction with SAFER initiative. The event takes place in Boettcher Hall at the University of Denver. This event is open to the public. http://www.leap.cc/events/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on October 12, 2006 at 08:41:00 PT: Saint John the Urinator cometh! Yea, verily and forsooth! Prepareth thy specimen bottles for your salutations and offerings, for Saint John the Urinator is nigh! He comes unto the highlands to preach the Gospel of the Holy Pee, clean and blessed against the evil Metabolites! (Cursed be their name!)Yea, though he hath imbibed of the demon Rum, behold! He is yet pure and sacrosanct! While those he seeks to convert are the pagani, the bumpkins, who know not of the dangers of the Accursed Weed! Woe unto them, for they ingest a substance that hasn't killed a single person in 5 millennia but will sully their souls with unseemly merriment! They have not the gray and sad countenence of sobriety, of piety, of holiness! Indeed, often they sit before the Boobus Toobus laughing at gub'mint Bulls that proclaim the dire results of their jocularity! Alas, for they have partaken of the forbidden fruit of knowledge instead of the comfort of ignorance, and in their quest for rationality, dare question the sacred order of things! Anathema are they! They must be exommunicated!And so, Saint John the Urinator roams the land in a taxpayer funded chariot, seeking to set right (wing) what has strayed from the sheeplike fold. So, verily, I say unto you, fill thy specimen bottles...and bless Saint John with their contents via holy baptism! (making sign of the Unholy Trinity) In the name of the Bureaucracy, the Big Pharma and the Holy Testers, we anoint thee! (from the bottle, Splash! Splash!)(Switching to serious mode) God, I wish I could do it for real without getting shot... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by mayan on October 12, 2006 at 07:34:09 PT Go Home, Johnny Pee! “This is a federal agent, our federal government coming to our state and lying to people about a state initiative,” Tvert said.Yeah, it ought to go over well with folks who are already extremely pissed at the federal government. Mason is going to eat these prohibitionist dolts alive! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment