cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- April 15, 2004





NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- April 15, 2004
Posted by CN Staff on April 15, 2004 at 17:10:25 PT
Weekly Press Release
Source: NORML
"We're Here. We Smoke. We Vote!" - Join NORML This April 22-24 For The 2004 National Conference And Congressional Lobby Day April 15, 2004 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: NORML will hold its 2004 National Conference and Congressional Lobby Day next week, April 22-24, at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. This year's conference will offer attendees a unique opportunity to network with other marijuana law reformers and deliver a powerful message to Congress: "We're here. We smoke. We vote!"
Day one of this year's conference is devoted to NORML's inaugural Congressional Lobby Day, during which activists, patients, and students from around the nation will converge on Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress and lobby on behalf of various marijuana reform bills, including H.R. 2233, "The States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act."Days two and three of the 2004 NORML Conference will feature panel discussions and speakers on a variety of marijuana-related issues. Panels include: "Marijuana and Your Health: What You Need to Know That the Government Won't Tell You," "Don't Become Another Statistic: How Not to Get Busted," "The Federal Assault on Marijuana Smokers," "Where Do We Go From Here: Strategy for the Next Five Years," as well as a "High Times 30th Anniversary Panel," which will examine editorial changes at the magazine and the launch of High Times' Grow America.Featured speakers at the conference include best-selling author Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market); Boston University Law Professor Randy Barnett, chief legal counsel in Raich/Monson v. Ashcroft, in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the federal prosecution of state-sanctioned medical marijuana patients to be unconstitutional; High Times publisher Richard Stratton; and the Drug Policy Alliance's Marsha Rosenbaum.Other scheduled events include a benefit screening of Ron Mann's latest documentary Go Further (starring Woody Harrelson), a joint reception sponsored by NORML and High Times, and NORML's annual Saturday night "4:20" benefit party.Complete Conference Information: Including conference agenda, registration and hotel information, is available online at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5888DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6035NORML Chapter To File Suit Over Free Speech RestrictionApril 15, 2004 - Columbia, SC, USAColumbia, SC: The South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing organizers of the state's largest annual music festival to allow representatives from Midlands NORML to distribute promotional materials at this weekend's Three Rivers Music Festival.Event organizers initially rejected Midlands NORML's application to host a booth at the festival because they disapproved of the group's literature - which argues for reforming marijuana prohibition. After receiving letters from the ACLU, Three Rivers Music Festival representatives agreed to grant Midlands NORML a booth at the event, but said that the group could not freely distribute their written materials to festival attendees.Festival organizers stipulated to Midlands NORML that "members of your organization may not walk around the festival site and approach people attending the festival with the express purpose of handling them printed materials about your organization, the goals of your organization, or the purpose of your organization. If any members of your organization hand out printed materials to people who have not approached your tent, such action could result in the forfeiture of your location."Midlands NORML President Henry Koch called the restriction unconstitutional. "They're saying that free speech exists only in that booth," he said. "You either have free speech or you don't have free speech."A judge is expected to rule on the issue before this weekend's event.For more information, please contact Denyse Williams, Executive Director of the South Carolina ACLU, at (803) 799-5151 or Midlands NORML President Henry Koch at (803) 691-5227.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=60363 Rivers To Allow Pro-Marijuana Booth at Festivalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18615.shtmlPharmaceutical Cannabis No More Expensive For DutchApril 15, 2004 - Cologne, GermanyCologne, Germany: Prescription cannabis regulated by Dutch pharmacies costs patients less to purchase than marijuana sold through licensed coffee shops, according to a report published this week by the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM).The report cited a March 2004 Health Ministry survey that found approximately 70 percent of Dutch health insurance companies reimburse the costs of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis. As a result, "though the selling price of cannabis [sold in pharmacies] is higher [than the cannabis sold in coffee shops,] patents usually pay less," the IACM reported.Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis has been available to Dutch patients since September 2003, when the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to establish a federally sanctioned, regulated market for medicinal marijuana.Since that time, government officials in Belgium, Spain, and Canada have expressed interest in establishing similar pilot programs to make cannabis legally available in pharmacies.For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of the NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6037Dutch State Pot Is No Heady Stuff for Supplierhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17248.shtmlThe Dutch Go To Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17247.shtmlDutch Cannabis Initiative Stirs Interest in Europe http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17212.shtmlSource: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: April 15, 2004Copyright: 2004 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Apr. 08, 2004http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18611.shtmlNORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Apr. 02, 2004http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18580.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on April 16, 2004 at 04:58:01 PT
If You've Got the Time
Pharmacratic Inquisition:
Christianity's Darkest Secrets Revealed - Running Time: 2 hr 0 min 
Date Entered: 15 Apr 2004 http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2626.html"The suppression of direct religious experiences, sexuality and drugs.
Content from new book by Jan Irvin and Andy Rutajit, due out in Nov. 2004."Colorful slides, audible sound, challenging comparisons from history and mythology.
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Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on April 16, 2004 at 04:26:54 PT:
At the risk of seeming a drumbeater
I'd like to point out something which can be easily verified by anyone using the search facility here.For months, the idea of flexing our political muscle as the largest and most politically 'underserved' minority in America had been floated here. Unlike many such minorites, our 'constituency' spans across race, creed, age, just about every demographic possible. We truly are a 'slice of Americana', cutting clear across most of the divisive barriers that prevent other minorites from cooperating with each other. Unlike them, *all* cannabists have to face a nearly universal threat caused by Prohibition Too. As a result, *because of of our sheer numbers in the tens of millions*, we are potentially THE MOST POWERFUL GROUP IN AMERICAN POLITICS, SHOULD WE DECIDE TO BECOME MORE AGGRESSIVE IN DEMANDING OUR RIGHTS AS FELLOW AMERICANS. The case had been made here over and over of how much of an advantage it would be to have anywhere from 10 to a possible 60 million swing voters ready to lend our support to a candidate that makes the realization of just how sick we are of this damnable oppression and that we're ready to back someone who publicly has the stones to say they'll end it. So, what's my point? My point, my fellow cannabists, is that shortly after these ideas were floated here, RIGHT HERE, I began seeing the *same* thoughts being mirrored on other progressive Websites I visit habitually...and within *days* of that happening. Those ideas were NOT being expressed in public until AFTER they appeared here. First. And now NORML is getting into the act.That tells you something. Or it ought to. This site is very influential. People don't just come here for the articles; they come here for ideas, for motivation, for learning, for understanding. This ain't just a Website; it's a lycaeum of sorts. A school. That's why it gets so many hits - and I predict the number of hits will rise the closer we get to the election.We truly are the Sleeping Giant of American politics. It's time the Giant woke up and flexed his muscles. With or without a candidate who's willing to lay aside stupid prejudices. Prejudices that they for the most part *know* comprise the reason for this terrible, murderous farce of a DrugWar, particularly when so many of them have partaken of the Green Lady themselves and know the truth.I repeat, we do not need a candidate to be heard. Just becoming politically active, if only by registering to vote and telling the registrars why you are becoming active, will send shock waves through the party apparatus. But one could also tell the registrars that you are doing so because you've heard the frontrunner will change the drug laws; the word will get back to the candiddate as it did with Mr. Kerry. MAKE THEM DENY IT PUBLICLY AND WATCH HOW THEY SQUIRM IN RESPONDING WHEN THEY REALIZE THERE *IS* SUCH A HUGE CONSTITUENCY.The game is far from over. Mr. Kerry's minions may try to marginalize us as I've witnessed on his boards, but they do so at their political peril. For we are *indeed* rising...and we'll remember those who held us back from the political feast table for so long. *We have the numbers*; all we have to do is prove we have the *will* to change things. I know I do, as do many here. It's time, people; it's long past time. 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 15, 2004 at 22:19:52 PT
Just a Comment and a Thought
What a day it has been. The war is getting down right scary and our news has been really different. I was thinking that this might be something people here might like to use now and then. I had time when the news was slow a couple weeks ago to make a little message board. It's a free board and basically I had no idea why I made it except I like doing things like that. I have checked it for bugs and it hasn't had any so I think it should be ok to mention it now. I can make a private board that no one can read except registered users. It only asks currently for registration and anyone can read the board. If you would like to use this board for just talking instead of email because of viruses and spam let me know and if not I really only made it because I like making things like pages.It doesn't have any pop ups but it does have a banner ad. That's why it's free. I posted a few articles on it to test the features and to figure out how it worked. Here's the link. Check it out. It's not fancy just very simple.
CannabisNews General Message Board
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Comment #6 posted by breeze on April 15, 2004 at 21:47:04 PT
Read this- another dead boy...
...because of an undercover drug deal gone arwy.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/louisville_police_shooting
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on April 15, 2004 at 20:05:21 PT
SCG
It is best not to ask questions unless you offer your own answer. Just make a statement and someone will straighten you with their opinion. My general opinion is that if you ponder the question in a circular form, you should consider cutting back. Their is a lot to be said for moderation especially because of the expense involved.But what happened to the cards? My opinion on that is that you got hung up on pictures like the Iraqi cards. The Iraqi cards needed pictures to inform the imperialist soldiers who to find. What the cards we need are quotes and information. If somehow I could project on it, I would start with article one at Cnews and start copying quotes to a word program under individual names. For a 9, I would have 9 quotes inside of the heart or spade. Somebody really needs to do some cards. I enjoyed the pictures that Jose has at http://65.18.211.65/a/ But here we see that we have not learned to work collectively as cards should be made so they can be copied without worry of copyright issues. This website that sells software and blanks for two decks of cards has not yet made them available- http://www.newtscards.com/design_a_card.asp
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Comment #4 posted by cloud7 on April 15, 2004 at 19:23:18 PT
SystemGoneDown
I think the last two questions I have seen you ask would be more appropriate at somewhere like www.overgrow.com. My feeling is this is more of a comment on the news site and not a pot faq.But to answer your question, I think the experts have made it clear over and over that any use is abuse.
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Comment #3 posted by SystemGoneDown on April 15, 2004 at 19:04:15 PT
I'm back...
I got respect for almost everyone in here, so I would respect your reply to this...
What would generally consist of a "heavy pot smoker". How many times a day, etc. ect.I'd like to contrast the difference between "overuser" and "abuser". What qualifies as abuse? 
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on April 15, 2004 at 18:35:30 PT
Vote against those against
Someone needs to publish the voting records of all these votes for cannabis reform so that we know who to vote against, if you do not have a policy to vote against the incumbent already.When the vote went against the MMJ laws in Montana it would have thrown a scare into those that voted against. The real scare will come when they see the prohibitionist stance voted out of public office. Voting against MMJ when it should be legal should be one litmus test. People should vote against those that vote against progress to the Logical Conclusion.
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Comment #1 posted by ubas on April 15, 2004 at 17:25:28 PT
Test
Test
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