cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- April 6, 2006

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- April 6, 2006

Posted by CN Staff on April 06, 2006 at 15:31:14 PT
Weekly Press Release
Source: NORML

Only Two Weeks Left Until the 2006 NORML Conference and High Times Cannabis Comedy NightApril 6, 2006 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: Only two weeks left until the 2006 Annual NORML Conference in San Francisco. If you haven't already done so, sign up today! The three-day "extravaganja" will take place April 20-22 at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in downtown San Francisco. Discussion panels at this year's event include:
- Grassroots to Grasstops: Activists Effectively Working Together at All Levels- Race, The War on Drugs and Effective Legal Advocacy- Reefer, Rhetoric and Retorts: Winning Ways to Frame The Marijuana Debate- A Look Ahead at This Fall's Pot Initiatives- Cannabis Dispensaries and Their Carrying Capacities- Marijuana and Health: Myths, Facts and Mysteries- Religion, Sacrament and Marijuana- Big Brother Is Watching: Drugged Driving, Student Drug Testing and Dog Searches- Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis- American History, Marijuana and Marijuana ProhibitionBut that's not all! Tickets are still available for the High Times Cannabis Comedy Night, a special benefit for NORML. Featured comedians include Doug Benson of Best Week Ever, Greg Proops of Whose Line Is It Anyway, Rick Overton of The Aristocrats and many more! The NORML benefit show is at 8pm on Saturday, April 22 at Cobb's Comedy Club.Network with the nation's top marijuana activists and advocates, mingle with celebrities and members of High Times magazine, as well as NORML's staff and board of directors, and enjoy a one-of-a-kind Cannabis Comedy Night!The National NORML Conference is the most respected and well-attended marijuana law reform conference in the US. Join us for the widest range of panels and speakers on topics of interests to cannabis consumers, and law reform activists!For more information, contact NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6865 Ohio Legislature Passes Per Se "Drugged Driving" BillApril 6, 2006 - Columbus, OH, USAColumbus, OH: The state House and Senate gave final approval last week to per se legislation sanctioning motorists who operate a motor vehicle with trace levels of marijuana or non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites (compounds produced from chemical changes of a drug in the body) in their blood or urine. Once signed into law, the measure will go into effect in 90 days.Senate Bill 8 criminally penalizes motorists who drive with levels of THC above 2 ng/ml in their blood and/or levels of the inactive marijuana metabolite THC-COOH in their urine above 35 ng/ml. Ohio is only the third state to pass per se DUID (driving under the influence of drugs) legislation for motorists with trace levels of THC in their blood, and it is the sixth to criminalize motorists who drive with levels of non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites in their bodily fluid.NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano called SB 8 an "all out assault on Ohio's marijuana smoking community." He said: "THC may remain detectable in the blood at low levels long after the intoxicating effects of the drug have worn off. In addition, marijuana's main metabolite remains detectable in urine for days and sometimes weeks after past use. As a result, this legislation may potentially and improperly define sober drivers as if they were intoxicated. Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver at most for a few hours, certainly not for days or weeks. To treat all marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug's effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair."Armentano added, "Ohio already has effect-based laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle 'under the influence' of illicit drugs. Under Section 4511.19 of Ohio's Revised Code, motorists face up to six months in jail if they drive 'while under the influence of a drug of abuse.' By contrast, SB 8 creates a separate crime of 'drugged driving' that is, potentially, divorced from impairment. This troubling bill looks to be nothing more than an attempt by the legislature to misuse the traffic safety laws to target the stateąs cannabis community."A similar legislative effort was rejected by members of the California Assembly earlier this week.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Additional information on state DUID laws and penalties is available online at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6492DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6866No More Decrim Debate In Canada, New PM Says April 6, 2006 - Ottawa, ON, CanadaOttawa, Ontario: Proposed legislation to depenalize the possession of minor amounts of cannabis will not be introduced in Parliament, according to public statements made this week by Canada's new Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper. While campaigning, Harper had vowed to enact tougher penalties for drug offenses.Harper's position marks a sharp contrast to that of the previous administration, which had on several occasions endorsed decriminalizing marijuana, but had failed to act on a number of depenalization proposals.In 2002, a Canadian Senate inquiry recommended legalizing and regulating marijuana for those 16 years and older, while a House inquiry recommended decriminalizing the possession of up to 30 grams (approximately one ounce) of marijuana. However, neither recommendation ever gained significant support from members of Parliament.For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6867Source: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: April 6, 2006Copyright: 2006 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml

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Comment #30 posted by b4daylight on April 07, 2006 at 16:19:50 PT
No More Decrim Debate In Canada, New PM Says
No More Decrim Debate In Canada, New PM Saysthat seems fair.Let's just not talk about it maybe the problem will go away.good conservative answer
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Comment #29 posted by Toker00 on April 07, 2006 at 03:50:25 PT
But Sam,
That's not US compromising. That's WOMEN compromising. I don't see that happening. Can you think of another one? One that mixes a little better than oil and water? lol.Toke.
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Comment #28 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 07, 2006 at 03:22:37 PT
Let's Comprmise
We need to come to the table with a bargaining chip. Why don't we offer American Society a ban on abortion in exchange for regulating marijuana for adult use?
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Comment #27 posted by ekim on April 06, 2006 at 20:47:12 PT
Jeremy Bigwood on Micoherbicides in Drug War
LISTEN Live Fridays 3:00 PM, ET, 2:00 CT, 1:00 MT & Noon PT at www.KPFT.org (29:00) 04/07/06 Daniel Williams autor of "The Naked Truth About Drugs", Jeremy Bigwood on Micoherbicides in Drug War, Terry Nelson of LEAP, Black Perspective II, Poppygate, $100 offer to listeners MP3 03/31/06 Angel Raich 9th Circuit, Cele Castillo re Border Wars, Kris Krane of SSDP, Eric Sterling of CJPF + Black Perspective II MP3
http://www.KPFT.org
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Comment #26 posted by ekim on April 06, 2006 at 20:34:05 PT
Dennis help Randy Bush --wonder if he is related
to the Prez.please read the rest of his speech. talken about soul.we need the ethanol jobs. the plastic jobs. the farm jobs.
the machinery jobs. mostly we need the makes you think jobs, something that built this great nation of free minded humans from all over this wonderful world we call mother earth.
April 6, 2006 10:05 pm ETWhat Happened to the Soul of the Democratic Party?
I need your support to continue my efforts in the House.The Democratic Party is struggling to rediscover its soul. Leading Congressional Democrats still support the war; still support corporate-run health care, still support trade without protections for workers' rights, human rights or the environment. Predictably, the corporate media which fueled our march to folly in Iraq still sides with the corporate wing of our party.Some in our party suggest that since the President and Republicans are sinking in the polls, Democrats should remain quiet. They forget the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. that "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
http://kucinich.us/
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #25 posted by whig on April 06, 2006 at 19:40:31 PT
Max
Politics is mostly grim fakery anyhow.
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Comment #24 posted by Max Flowers on April 06, 2006 at 19:10:51 PT
WTF is with all these hoaxes?
These are grim times... I don't have time for all this fakery!! It's an annoying distraction when the subject is politics. Anyway thanks for straightening me out.
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Comment #23 posted by whig on April 06, 2006 at 18:54:02 PT
Max
Walken for President is a hoax.http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/walken.asp
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 18:22:04 PT
Mayan
You said: Ohio was stolen by the neo-cons in 2004. Taft and Blackwell are dragging down the entire republican party and they know it. They have to obey their masters and pass draconian laws before they lose power. These drugged driving laws are nothing but very desperate measures meant to preserve cannabis prohibition but they will backfire in a big way! I agree with you.
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Comment #21 posted by ekim on April 06, 2006 at 18:21:04 PT
if you are for alt fuels -=- see this event
http://cannabisnews.com/news/21/thread21630.shtmlhttp://www.power-shift.org/agenda-portland.html
Saturday, April 8, 2006Location Portland State University
University Place at Portland State University - Main Ballroom
310 SW Lincoln Street
Portland, OR 97201
Contact: Anna Brones, Regional Director8:30 AM Registration
Continental breakfast, access to conference tables in exhibit hall, etc. 9:00 AM WelcomeRex Burkholder, Metro Councilor, District 5
Tom Z. Collina, Executive Director, 20/20 Vision
Anna Brones, Regional Director, 20/20 Vision, Lewis and Clark College
Lindsey Vines, Americans for Informed Democracy
9:30 AM Panel Discussion
Key Problems: Rising Gas Prices, Trouble in the Middle East, Global Warming and Jobs
Moderator: Tom Collina, 20/20 VisionDeron Lovaas, Vehicles Campaign Director, NRDC
Dan Carol, National Steering Committee, Apollo Alliance
Jeff Hammarlund, Adjunct Associate Professor, Mark Hatfield School of Government, PSU; and President, Northwest Energy and Environmental Strategies
11:00 AM BREAK 11:15 AM Concurrent Workshops #1
Workshop #1: Making Biofuels
Neil Woody, Sequential Pacific Biodiesel
Workshop #2: Messaging 101—Lindsey Vines, Americans for Informed Democracy
Workshop #3: Student Activism— Julie Philp, 20/20 Vision 12:00 PM BREAK 12:15 PM Lunch Served
Keynote speaker: Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) 1:30 PM Concurrent Workshops #2 Workshop #1: Peak Oil — Emily Pollard, Portland Peak Oil
Workshop #2: Organizing 101—Lindsey Vines , Bus Project
Workshop #3: Working Congress 101—Deron Lovass, NRDC 2:15 PM Panel Discussion
Promising Solutions: Alternative Fuels, New Automobile Technologies, Fuel Efficiency and Smart Growth
Moderator: Anna Brones, Regional Director, 20/20 VisionChris Hagerbaumer, Program Director, Oregon Environmental Council
Joanna Schroeder, Communications Director, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council
Tomas Endicott, Founder, Sequential Biofuels
Dan Eisenbeis, Staff Planner, 1000 Friends of Oregon
3:45 PM Break - Snacks Provided 4:15 PM Oil ShockWave College Tour Simulation
Opening remarks
Tom Z. CollinaOil ShockWave Executive Crisis SimulationPresident: General Merrill A. McPeak, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), Air Force Chief of Staff, 1990-94.
Cabinet: Local professors and students
5:45 PM Simulation Discussion/Q&A 6:15 PM Close
http://cannabisnews.com/news/21/thread21630.shtml
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Comment #20 posted by mayan on April 06, 2006 at 18:20:40 PT
Ohio
Ohio was stolen by the neo-cons in 2004. Taft and Blackwell are dragging down the entire republican party and they know it. They have to obey their masters and pass draconian laws before they lose power. These drugged driving laws are nothing but very desperate measures meant to preserve cannabis prohibition but they will backfire in a big way! THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...9/11 REVISITED / WERE EXPLOSIVES USED AND WAS THERE A CONSPIRACY?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060406_9_2f11_revisited__2f_wer.htmCNN Reports Overwhelming Response to Sheen Interview:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=8429/11: The Myth and the Reality - by Dr. David Ray Griffin:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060405112622982It Only Takes One - Vets For 9/11 Truth:
http://www.mytown.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=112411&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=2019/11 mystery for humankind:
http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/showarticle.php?articleid=500459/11 Widow Writes Scathing Article Regarding Upcoming Giuliani Court Appearance:
http://www.911blogger.com/2006/04/911-widow-writes-scathing-article.htmlImprobable Collapse (video):
http://www.improbablecollapse.com/page2.html9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB - OUR NATION IS IN PERIL:
http://www.911sharethetruth.com/
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 18:18:14 PT
potpal
A couple of years ago NORML did a live event if I remember correctly but I only had an isp and nothing worked right for me. It would be wonderful if they would broadcast live now since most people have computers and connections that can handle a web cast.
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Comment #18 posted by potpal on April 06, 2006 at 18:11:37 PT
Internet participation
I've seen live Web Cast in work and business, any one know if the conference will include any such web activity? I've seen live seminar with q&a from the net watchers. Thought there might.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 18:11:21 PT
Taylor121
In time people will feel the effects of the law and then they will see. That's how it happens sometimes. They have increased penalties in certain areas of Ohio but mostly in big cities. The law is in our state constitution I am fairly sure. Same thing as Alaska I believe. It takes a lot to turn that around.A question.If a person was found to have marijuana in their system how can it be prosecuted more then the law that says it is a civil citation basically? I'm sure a lawyer would argue that in a case if one happens.
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Comment #16 posted by Max Flowers on April 06, 2006 at 18:10:49 PT
Christopher Walken for President 2008?
I just learned today that he is running in 2008...! Have any of you heard this? He has a website for it and everything: http://www.walken2008.com/It kind of blows my mind. I'm encouraged that he is for dumping the income tax system and going with a goods/services type flat tax, but a little discouraged that with regard to Iraq is saying "we can't pull out quickly because we're so committed" type stuff.Two big hurdles he has though (in the eyes of the average American, not in my eyes)---he has no kids (extremely rare in presidential candidates), and is very anti-gun (same).
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Comment #15 posted by Taylor121 on April 06, 2006 at 18:03:48 PT
Maybe in time...
Ohio will repeal the unjust law. Don't underestimate what it could mean for cannabis consumers in the state in the long run if the law remains on the books though.
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Comment #14 posted by Max Flowers on April 06, 2006 at 18:02:21 PT
Saliva testing
Does saliva testing technology depend on coating/contact (it's in your saliva because it is in your mouth, and in your mouth because you were smoking) or does it test metabolites or secretions or something...? What I'm wondering is whether one would test positive from a saliva test even if one took encapsulated cannabis pills where the cannabinoids never touched one's tongue.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 18:01:36 PT
ekim
Thank you. I think it is a great song too.
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 17:58:20 PT

Taylor121
I don't think people in Ohio take the driving law seriously because most people don't even know about it. People where I live aren't on the Internet. If they are on the Internet it isn't used in any activist way. Not one of my friends has a computer. My sister is a retired police woman and she was shocked when I told her about the law. She said why would they do that in a state that treats marijuana in a light way? See what I mean?
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Comment #11 posted by Taylor121 on April 06, 2006 at 17:50:34 PT

FoM
Don't get me wrong. Ohio has some great marijuana laws, that's why I'm so disappointed whenever they pass a law like this that is a back door to persecute marijuana users. Yes it is decriminalized to possess less than 100 grams, but at the same time they can charge you with intoxication while driving for smoking over a week ago with this new law. Not to mention in one Ohio city, they made possession a criminal offense with jail time. For such a progressive state, I just find it disappointing that they are taking steps backwards instead of looking at medical marijuana and outright legalization for adults.I don't think enough people are taking these new Driving while intoxicated laws serious enough. NORML understands that if enough of these pass, and then a new detection system comes into play such as rapid saliva testing, it could mean a new way of criminalizing thousands of responsible adult marijuana consumers. That is why we need to really focus on making sure they don't gain ground in this manner.
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Comment #10 posted by ekim on April 06, 2006 at 17:40:19 PT

Yes FoM thats a great song
Apr 6 06 The Power Hour-Let's Get Busy, WGNU 920AM Radio 09:00 PM Howard Wooldridge St. Louis Missouri USA
The power person for The Power Hour on WGNU 920AM Radio, St. Louis, MO, is Board Member Howard Wooldridge. Howard will be interviewed by host Zaki Baruti in regards to the failures of drug prohibition. Call in Numbers: (314) 454-0400, 1-877-920-9468. Web site: www.wgnu.net Apr 7 06 Former Narc Says: "Legalize Drugs!" Come Ask Him: "Why?" 07:00 PM Jack Cole Newton Kansas USA
Executive Director Jack Cole presents: Former Narc Says: "Legalize Drugs!" Come Ask Him: "Why?" to members of the public and media at the Fox Theater. Apr 7 06 WGNU 920AM Radio 10:00 AM Howard Wooldridge St. Louis Missouri USA
Board Member Howard Wooldridge is an in studio guest at WGNU 920AM Radio, St. Louis, MO. Howard will be interviewed by Gary Weigert, President of the St. Louis City Police Officers' Association. Visit http://www.wgnu.net/gary.htm or http://www.geocities.com/policevoice/ to learn more about Gary.

http://www.leap/cc/events
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 17:02:41 PT

A Nice Spring Song
Louie Armstrong ~ What a Wonderful World MP3: http://tinyurl.com/erce9
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 16:51:04 PT

Whig
It has been in Washington DC a couple times but it always winds up back in San Francisco. DC is such an oppressive place and San Francisco is well San Francisco. The heartbeat of the counter culture is still there I believe. Spirits don't leave.
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Comment #7 posted by whig on April 06, 2006 at 16:40:55 PT

FoM
Is the NORML conference in the Bay area every year?
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 16:28:34 PT

Whig
Maybe you will get to go next year.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 16:21:23 PT

Taylor121
I am not disappointed with Ohio. We have one of the best laws in the whole USA concerning possession. It's like a traffic ticket for under 100 grams. If we can vote out Republicans in my state we will be ok. Then maybe those that are fighting for a medical marijuana law might make some progress.
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Comment #4 posted by whig on April 06, 2006 at 16:20:46 PT

FoM
Wish I could be there, but we won't be in SF until July.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 06, 2006 at 16:16:43 PT

My Wish Page For The NORML Conference
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/wish.htm
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