cannabisnews.com: Murphy Campaigned Against 'Marijuana Menace'





Murphy Campaigned Against 'Marijuana Menace'
Posted by CN Staff on March 05, 2004 at 08:13:21 PT
By Randy Boswell, CanWest News Service 
Source: Edmonton Journal 
When MPs finally rise to vote, as long expected, in favour of liberalizing Canada's marijuana laws, they can expect to feel a slight rumble of anger beneath their feet.On the east lawn of Parliament Hill, no further from the House of Commons than a sweet-smelling smoke ring might float in an Ottawa breeze, stands a towering statue of Emily Murphy, clad in sensible shoes and hat, one of her arms extended in a typically dramatic oratorical gesture.
Murphy -- best known for her role as leader of the Famous Five champions of the rights of Canadian women -- also spearheaded an anti-narcotics campaign in the 1920s that would profoundly influence national drug policies. In fact, the crusading Edmonton magistrate and journalist is widely credited with, and widely blamed for, initiating Canada's prohibition on pot 80 years ago.Critics say the country's war on weed was prompted by little more than a racist, erroneous, sexed-up dossier on a non-existent marijuana "menace" -- a 1922 essay penned by Murphy with help from a seemingly delusional Los Angeles police chief."It's galling to hear groups who support prohibition argue that there must have been a sound reason for criminalizing this drug in the first place," says Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer with the Ottawa-based Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy."There was no such thing."Note: Edmonton crusader blamed for pot prohibition. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/murphy.htmSource: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)Author: Randy Boswell, CanWest News Service Published: Friday, March 05, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Edmonton JournalContact: letters thejournal.canwest.comWebsite: http://www.edmontonjournal.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:Green Tide Shadow Summit http://www.greentide.ca/Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmMarijuana Grow Ops Raise Cash for Crime http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18447.shtmlPolice Want Private Sector To Fight Grow-Opshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18442.shtmlFanatics With a Badgehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18440.shtml'We'll Rally Everybody,' Pot Activist Says http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18439.shtmlMillions of Canadians Inhale Despite Pot Laws http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18438.shtml 
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Comment #22 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 23:59:48 PT
Not federal
I don't think there are private federal prisons.
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Comment #21 posted by VitaminT on March 05, 2004 at 22:01:17 PT
About Bryan Epis
Maybe he's in a private prison facility?
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Comment #20 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 20:36:25 PT
But where is he NOW?
The Bureau of Prsions says he is not in their custody.What does that mean? He was there before, I was able to get his address in the past.I tried to check his address today and the Inmate Locator says he is "Not in BOP custody".What does that mean?When they move someone, they say "In transit". So it doesn't sound like he is being moved.So where is he?
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Comment #19 posted by ekim on March 05, 2004 at 20:00:52 PT
10 years i have gotten so numb, Please help us
Bryan Epis Sentenced to Ten Years for Growing Medical Pot SACRAMENTO Oct 8, 2002: In the first federal trial of a defendant involved with a medical cannabis dispensary, Bryan Epis was sentenced to a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison. Epis was arrested in June 1997 while growing 458 small indoor plants at his home in Chico for himself and other Prop.215 patients. At his trial, Epis testified that he and three or four other patients were sharing the crop for personal medical use, with the excess to be allocated to a patient dispensary. His testimony was corroborated by a former partner, David Kasakove, who said that Epis thought he was acting legally and wanted to help other patients. However, U.S. attorney Samuel Wong portrayed Epis as a profiteer, based on rough notes in which he projected prices and revenues from marijuana sales. Under federal rules of evidence, testimony about medical use of marijuana and Prop. 215 was rigorously excluded by Judge Frank Damrell. Nonetheless, witnesses and attorneys managed to slip in testimony about "dispensaries," "patients," etc., until by the end of the trial it was clear that Epis was growing for medical purposes. The jury was firmly instructed to disregard the medical circumstances and duly proceeded to convict him not only for cultivating over 100 plants, but also conspiring to cultivate over 1,000 plants, a charge which carries a ten-year mandatory minimum.Epis was ineligible for a "safety valve" exemption from the mandatory minimum because his home was within 1,000 feet of a school.Epis, 35, has a wife, an eight-year-old daughter, and a successful internet business. He has no prior criminal convictions. Judge Damrell refused to release Epis on bail pending appeal. His attorney, Tony Serra, argues that Epis was denied due process of law since the law was unclear at the time of his arrest, and he had reason to believe that he was acting legally. At the time of Epis’ arrest, Dennis Peron’s cannabis club had been given the legal go-ahead by Judge David Garcia to operate in San Francisco, and it was widely assumed that clubs were legal under Prop. 215.Epis’ case has become a national cause célèbre for the medical marijuana movement, which has rallied to his support. In Washington, DC, two dozen drug reform activists protested his sentencing at the White House, four of whom were arrested for chaining themselves to the gates. 
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Comment #18 posted by goneposthole on March 05, 2004 at 19:49:19 PT
reversal of judgment
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/1579948.phpMight have something to do with Bryan Epis.
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Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 19:22:07 PT
Nobody knows anything about Bryan Epis?
Not in BOP custody -- what does that usually mean?
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Comment #16 posted by mayan on March 05, 2004 at 18:22:06 PT
"Must Have Been"
"It's galling to hear groups who support prohibition argue that there must have been a sound reason for criminalizing this drug in the first place," says Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer with the Ottawa-based Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.Yeah, there must have been a sound reason for prohibiting alcohol in the first place also. That worked out real well.The way out is the way in...America's Heartland Gets a Whiff of Bush's 9/11 Cover Up:
http://www.septembereleventh.org/newsarchive/2004-03-03-heartland.phpFairy Tales, Bush & the 9/11 Commission - by Senator ROBERT BYRD: 
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=102&mode=thread&order=0&thold=09/11 Families Outraged by Bush Campaign Ad:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=1&u=
/nm/20040304/pl_nm/campaign_bush_reaction_dcHas Bush no shame?
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=103&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0WORLDWIDE 9/11 PHONE, FAX, EMAIL CAMPAIGN:
http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1 
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Comment #15 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 15:10:40 PT
No idea
I was introduced to the guy at a dinner party. I didn't really want to get to know him too well IYKWIM.
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Comment #14 posted by VitaminT on March 05, 2004 at 14:08:46 PT
Credit? That's rich!
What does D.A.R.E.'s creator think of his brainchild now?
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 14:03:52 PT
Darryl Gates stole credit for DARE
I met the real guy who thought up DARE, he worked for Gates but Gates got all the "credit" so to speak because he promoted it.
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Comment #12 posted by mamawillie on March 05, 2004 at 14:00:51 PT
Los Angeles
LA seems to have had its fair share of "seemingly delusional" police chiefs:***Critics say the country's war on weed was prompted by little more than a racist, erroneous, sexed-up dossier on a non-existent marijuana "menace" -- a 1922 essay penned by Murphy with help from a seemingly delusional Los Angeles police chief.*****Darryl Gates, the founder of DARE,and former LA police chief also believed all drug dealers should get the death penalty...
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on March 05, 2004 at 13:33:01 PT
EJ That's Not Good?
Is there a way of asking his family?Bryan Epis Pictures & News:
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/protestpics.htm
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on March 05, 2004 at 13:30:23 PT
The Link and Poll Are Working Again!
What do you think Parliament should do about possession of marijuana for personal use? 90.99 %
Legalize it and tax it. 3.15 %
Decriminalize it and fine users. 2.70 %
Keep the status quo. 3.15 %
Increase penalties to make it less attractive 
 http://www.canada.com/national/features/marijuana/index.html
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Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on March 05, 2004 at 13:25:19 PT
WHERE'S BRYAN EPIS?
I just went to look up his address at the BOP Inmate Locator and it says:Inmate Register Number : 09636-097 Name : BRYAN JAMES EPIS Age : 36 Race : WHITE Sex : MALE Projected Release Date : 3/03/2011 Location : NOT IN BOP CUSTODY 
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Comment #8 posted by goneposthole on March 05, 2004 at 13:22:06 PT
She must be
the origin of Murphy's laws! Well, I could very well be wrong, but, that's Murphy's law. lolIt's the weekend, maybe by Monday cannabis will be legal. It's a 25 billion dollar industry. It ain't going to go away.All a result of Murphy's laws.http://dmawww.epfl.ch/roso.mosaic/dm/murphy.htmlTo answer the question from another post: Who will replace John Ashcroft?I nominate Richard Cowan. I hope that's alright with Mr. Cowan. There are other good candidates, but he would do a fine job.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 05, 2004 at 12:51:23 PT
Nuevo Mexican
What e-mail lists? I'm serious. I barely get anything from e-mail anymore. They just don't seem to be doing anything. The only list I get that is very busy and very good is the CCC list but it is canadian. Are there any good american groups? Thanks!
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Comment #6 posted by Nuevo Mexican on March 05, 2004 at 12:42:31 PT
Canadian roots of prohibition exposed, now Bush!
Send the article above far and wide, Americans are barely aware of how this racist has destroyed so many Canadians lives. I'm amazed at how my email list gets forwarded to so many people I don't even know, but if you ask your people to send far and wide, it guarantees the story will seep into the mainstream. 
Example: how many times have I said based on birthcharts that Dean, and then Kerry will get nailed for 'flip-flopping'.Enough said.Journos' are getting their storys from C-News, we've know this for years, but credit should be given at some point to C-News and C-News posters.Now for the one of many killer headlines of the day:Top StoriesBlix: Iraq war was illegal The former chief UN weapons inspector has dealt another devastating blow to Tony Blair:Mr Blix, speaking to The Independent, said the Attorney General's legal advice to the Government on the eve of war, giving cover for military action by the US and Britain, had no lawful justification. He said it would have required a second United Nations resolution explicitly authorising the use of force for the invasion of Iraq last March to have been legalhttp://www.independent.co.uk/If anyone who reads or posts to C-News still supports bushes illegal war with Iraq, it is time you came out of your denial of the truth. I can't imagine too many readers here are that stupid, but we do have an idiot as resident in thief, and stupidity is now a 'regal' quality, found to be endearing by the media. Remember the dumbing down of America in the 90's? This is what it has all lead to.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 05, 2004 at 10:30:13 PT
AP Article but Not Worth Posting 
U.S. Parents Angry With Canada Pot LawsAssociated PressPosted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004 POINT ROBERTS, Wash. - Parents at a meeting here accused British Columbia of having lax drug laws after a teenager was arrested for allegedly transporting 8 pounds of marijuana across the border on her school bus.
 http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/8115338.htm
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on March 05, 2004 at 10:27:49 PT:
Too bad they didn't include passages from the book
But it might have been too incendiary for the audience to read...particularly those Canucks with epicanthic folds or skin tones two shades darker than Wonder Bread.Have a look at some of the quotes of passages from her book, the "The Black Candle":http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/media/blcandle.htm*"When coming from under the influence of (marijuana), the victims present the most horrible condition imaginable. They are dispossessed of their natural and normal willpower, and their mentality is that of idiots. If this drug is indulged to any great extent, it ends in the untimely death of its addict."*and:*"Many Negroes are law-aiding and altogether estiminable, but contrariwise, many are obstinately wicked persons, earning their livelihood as freeranging pedlars (sic) of poisonous drugs."*And let's not forget the Asian Canadians; she certainly didn't:* "...black-haired beasts in our human jungle."*Want some more? Toke up first!from http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissues/cc09/smokesignals/emilymurphy/*An addict who died this year in British Columbia told how he was frequently jeered at as a Ôwhite man accounted for.' This man belonged to a prominent family... and used to relate how the Chinese pedlars (sic) taunted him with their superiority at being able to sell the dope without using it, and by telling him how the yellow race would rule the world.* *They were too wise, they urged, to win a battle, but would win by wits. They would strike at the white race through Ôdope' and when the time was ripe would command the world...* *Some of the Negroes coming into Canada - and they are no fiddle-faddle fellows either, have similar ideas, and one of their greatest writers has boasted how ultimately they will control the white men.* This one is to long to quote: look for yourself: http://cannabislink.ca/papers/menace.htmThere's lot's more, but I have no means of anti-emesis right now, so I leave this to the more prepared to read. But you get the picture. Like Harry Anslinger over ten years later, Ms. Murphy's obvious concern was not drugs, but 'racial purity'. In her mind, drugs were thought to be a weapon by the 'degenerate races' to bring down European-American culture through such avenues as addiction and miscegenation via the seduction of white women by the nefarious 'coloreds' and the 'yellow menace'.We laugh at this today, but back then, they meant every word. And because of this, we are saddled with archaic, destructive laws wrought by bigots. This is what you get when you blindly allow pols, who are often no brighter than you, the means of social control.  
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Comment #3 posted by ekim on March 05, 2004 at 10:22:20 PT
Please take time to read the-- rest of the story
says, 'Persons using this narcotic, smoke the dried leaves of the plant, which has the effect of driving them completely insane. The addict loses all sense of moral responsibility. Addicts to this drug, while under its influence, are immune to pain, and could be severely injured without having any realization of their condition
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Comment #2 posted by VitaminT on March 05, 2004 at 09:18:14 PT
a towering statue of Emily Murphy
This Poem by Shelley comes to mind:OzymandiasI met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.-Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792-1822
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on March 05, 2004 at 09:01:04 PT
Why the L word?
When MPs finally rise to vote, as long expected, in favour of liberalizing Canada's marijuana laws, they can expect to feel a slight rumble of anger beneath their feet.Why not call it decrimilizing cannabis possession? This liberal stuff wears thin with me. Actually what they are doing is conserving the cannabis laws that are being eroded until oblivion comes. It is not going to stop until the wrong of prohibition has ended. At least they did not say they were modernizing the cannabis laws. That is even worse than using the L word.It is nice to see the idea that cannabis should have never been made illegal make it to print. That is what makes the injustice off the scale. We have been deprived the benefit of cannabis and stunted the evolution of medicine only to impose an injustice on all of society. The criminals that brought us this prohibition and sustain it deprived those that might chose cannabis for consumption the right while imposing a black market on all of society with a borrow and spend policy that threatens the standard of living for generations to come.
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