cannabisnews.com: Tandy Won't Be Dandy for Medical Marijuana





Tandy Won't Be Dandy for Medical Marijuana
Posted by ">CN Staff on July 16, 2003 at 10:15:01 PT
By Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange
Source: WorkingForChange 
Suzanne Pfiel wanted to hand Karen Tandy a letter. Tandy, President Bush's nominee to head the DEA, emerged from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room and she and her entourage tried to avoid Pfiel. Partially paralyzed from post-polio syndrome and wheelchair-bound, Pfiel, who had flown to Washington from California especially for the hearing, finally caught up with Tandy at the elevator. "Ms. Tandy, congratulations on your appointment. Can I hand you this letter?" she asked. Without saying anything to the disabled woman, Tandy took the letter. 
Karen Tandy is a longtime drug warrior recently confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to head the Drug Enforcement Administration. She has pledged to relentlessly prosecute the administration's war on drugs and pursue medical marijuana users and providers. Operation Pipe Dreams and Headhunter In late February, surrounded by veterans of the Bush Administration's War on Drugs, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment of 50 people on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. A DEA News Release titled "Operations Pipe Dreams And Headhunter -- Put Illegal Drug Paraphernalia Sellers Out Of Business: National Sweep Shuts Down Retailers, Distributors and Internet Sites," read: "The charges are the culmination of two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter and include indictments against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and businesses nationwide." "With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia business is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and Internet access. And in homes across America we know that children and young adults are the fastest growing Internet users. Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge. This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement." Attorney General Ashcroft singled out the work of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, led by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Associate Deputy Attorney General Karen Tandy, "which has taken decisive steps to dismantle the illegal drug paraphernalia industry by attacking their physical, financial and Internet infrastructures."  The nomination In March, 2003, less than one month after "Operation Pipe Dreams and Headhunter," President George W. Bush announced the nomination of Karen P. Tandy as chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to a report in the Washington Times, Tandy, a veteran prosecutor, would replace acting administrator John B. Brown III, a longtime drug agent who had filled the position since January when former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson left the agency to become undersecretary for border and transportation security at the new Department of Homeland Security. The hearing? In late May 2003, the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) launched DontConfirm.org, "a campaign aimed at pressuring Karen Tandy, President Bush's... nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, to put an end to federal raids on medical marijuana providers and patients." For more on her career, see: http://www.dontconfirm.org/In June, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a pro forma hearing on Tandy's nomination. The highlight of the day came not in the Dirksen Senate Office Building committee room. It was the attempt Tandy made trying to avoid receiving Suzanne Pfiel's letter. According to a press release by the Marijuana Policy Project, Pfeil "was in bed last September when the DEA raided the hospice -- like Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) [in California]. Agents pointed automatic rifles at her, demanding that she get out of bed. When she couldn't, they handcuffed her and left her while they destroyed WAMM's medical marijuana garden and took founders Valerie and Mike Corral into custody." After a short chase down the hallway, Pfeil was finally able to hand Tandy the letter. "I think it was getting embarrassing, running away from a person in a wheelchair," Pfeil said. "I just hope she reads my letter and shows some compassion." The questionnaire Here are a few of Karen Tandy's responses to questions submitted by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), as compiled by the Marijuana Policy Project: On marijuana's medicinal benefits:"The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, has been accepted as having medicinal value when processed into Marinol. Marijuana itself, however, has not been shown to have medicinal benefits; accordingly, I have no basis for believing that marijuana, and specifically smoking marijuana, has any such benefits." On two authoritative government reports re marijuana's medical benefits:** These are the 1999 Institute of Medicine report "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the 1988 ruling of the DEA's chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, both of which conclude that marijuana has medicinal benefits and should be made available to patients who can benefit from it. "I am not personally familiar with the sources you cite discussing the putative 'medicinal benefits of marijuana.'" On enforcing federal laws against state-approved medical marijuana providers:"DEA's priorities should reflect the need to encourage adherance [sic] to the law. ... [I]t is not improper for the government to prosecute individuals who make a point of disobeying the law, and encouraging others to disobey it, even if the disobedience is said to be for reasons of conscience." On DEA raids on state-approved medical marijuana patients and providers:"If I am confirmed as Administrator of the DEA, it will be my duty to see to the uniform enforcement of federal law. I do not believe it would be consistent with that duty for me to support a moratorium on enforcement of this law, or any law, in selected areas of the country." The confirmation On July 10, the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Karen Tandy to head the DEA. "Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) went on record as opposing Tandy's nomination, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also raised questions about Tandy's response to written questions about medical marijuana," the Marijuana Policy Project reported. Having passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee without a hitch, Krissy Oechslin, MPP's assistant director of communications doesn't expect opposition when Tandy's nomination comes up for a vote in the full Senate. "The most significant thing to come out of this process is that the Senate Judiciary Committee talked about medical marijuana for the first time," Oechslin said. "And it was really important that Senator Durbin had the opportunity to enter literature about the benefits of medical marijuana into the record." For more please see the Bill Berkowitz archive. Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right. Sidebar: Tandy has pledged to relentlessly prosecute the war on drugs and pursue medical marijuana users and providers. Note: Veteran drug warrior nominated by Bush to heading the DEA.Web Link: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=15309Source: WorkingForChange Author: Bill Berkowitz - WorkingForChange Published: July 16, 2003Copyright: 2003 WorkingForChange.com Website: http://www.workingforchange.com/Contact: http://www.workingforchange.com/help/contact.cfmRelated Articles & Web Site:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/A New Hard-Liner At The DEAhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16859.shtmlPresident To Nominate 1st Woman as Drug Czar http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15771.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by Truth on July 17, 2003 at 17:51:27 PT
Remember the bong busts?
I've been buying my roach clips from Radio Shack for a long time, maybe John Asscroft should pay them a visit.
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Comment #5 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on July 17, 2003 at 11:52:50 PT:
MY LETTER TO CONGRESSMAN PALLONE
Today, Thursday, July 17, 2003, I personally delivered a prepared letter asking for the decriminalization of Marijuana, to the "legislative office" of Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., who is the only member from New Jersey of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health. This letter had a heavy duty staple attaching the letter to various documents printed from www.cannabisnews.com, www.cannabisculture.com, www.hightimes.com, on the studies supporting medical Cannabis. AT LEAST I TRY!! I don't simply sit around griping that one vote does not make a difference!! I write and telephone State Legislators and Congresspeople asking:[1] FOR DECRIMINALIZATION OF CANNABIS;[2] AGAINST FUNDING THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
$100 million which they want to use for militarization of police in the spirit of Operation Garden Plot ["to assist local law enforcement"], to develop non-lethal weapons so they can continue to provoke violence at protests to douse us with non-lethal weapons, while military personnel wait at the hospitals to jot down notes on the harmful effects of the nonlethal weapons, using us as human experiments, an attempt to quash our Right to dissent, to force their corporate agenda down our throats, especially for the Republic National Convention coming to New York City next year;[3] VOTE AGAINST FUNDING THE UNITED NATIONS, which supports "The New World Order", because the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not have a freedom of speech [we can't talk about abortion], does not have a Right to keep and bear arms, does not have a Right against unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant, does not have a Right against self-incrimination, DOES NOT HAVE A TRIAL BY JURY. In short, falling under United Nations rule would enslave us![4] To improve the curriculum of government school so that the students are taught the dark side of government, to offer students martial arts and weapons training, so that they become fully informed, competent, citizens upon graduation. See, e.g., www.johntaylorgatto.com; 10 U.S.C. Section 311 [defining the "unorganized milita" as every able bodied male between 17 and 45 years of age].[5] To repeal most of the gun laws, for the reasons stated in www.jpfo.org, e.g.: (a) every genocide of the 20th century began with gun control laws, (b) Adolph Hitler killed more people who were NOT Jewish, (c) most crimes are committed by criminals who obtained firearms under the table, (d) the government is immune from civil liablity for failure to show up at the scene of a crime, (e) drug laws are used to obliterate our Second Amendment Rights.Today, I also e-mailed Senator Biden to thank him for setting the DEA straight on the RAVE Act.Richard Paul Zuckerman, Box 159, Metuchen, N.J., 08840-0159, (Cell telephone number)(908) 403-6990, richardzuckerman2002 yahoo.com.Member of: www.norml.org; www.normlnj.org; www.cannabisculture.com; www.hightimes.com; www.fija.org; www.jpfo.org; www.greenparty.org; www.njlp.org.Diploma in Paralegal, New York University, 2003;Diploma in Truck Driving, Smith & Solomon School of Truck Driving, Edison, N.J., 1995;B.A. in Political Science, Kean University, 1987.
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Comment #4 posted by CorvallisEric on July 17, 2003 at 06:06:34 PT
Can someone supply a source about Radio Shack?
After searching thoroughly, I couldn't find any information connecting Karen Tandy with Radio Shack (Tandy Corp.) other than a few posts here, and her being a Texan. Of course, I'm not referring to the philosophical connection.
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on July 16, 2003 at 10:47:00 PT:
Time to boycott Radio Shack
And contact their head office to tell them that you have no intention of buying any other of their (Chinese slave labor produced!) goods.Tandy is another neo-con who can afford the excesses of her ideology because other people are putting money in her pocket...namely, every person who buys from Radio Shack.If that money starts to bleed out of her pockets as she intensifies her pogrom against the sick and dying, she'll drop her principles real quick and back off. Ater all, she won't be a (choke, gag, cough at the nausea) public sevant forever. she'll want to retire toenjoy her slave labor provided fortune like all the other rich f**ks.These plutocrats have only one thing on their mind: how to get richer at the expense of the American taxpayer and consumer. Their most vulnerable place to hit them is the wallet. Give Tandy's a good hard smack, and watch her begin to soft-pedal...
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Comment #2 posted by Dark Star on July 16, 2003 at 10:36:00 PT:
Ignorance and Lies
As far as I can tell, her only qualifications for the job is her ideological fervor, and willingness to say or do anything to serve the Reich (I mean, administration).Her line here is great: "THC, has been accepted as having medicinal value when processed into Marinol."This implies that the THC in Marinol is isolated from herbal cannabis. It is not. Rather, it is expensively synthesized from other chemicals. That's sheer igorance.This is another gem: "I am not personally familiar with the sources you cite discussing the putative 'medicinal benefits of marijuana.'" It is always refreshing to meet someone willing to incarcerate patients because they're too lazy to educate themselves. Don't bother her with the truth. Let us wish her scorn, frustration and ignominious failure.
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on July 16, 2003 at 10:23:23 PT
Karen Nazi Tandy
Someone needed to say it clearly. Karen Nazi Tandy is no public servant. She is a plutocratic servant. I guess since she is a plutocrat of Radio Shack fame, she is working for herself- self-employed with a taxpayer paycheck for committing treason.
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