cannabisnews.com: Nation's Pot Penalties Called a Hodgepodge Nation's Pot Penalties Called a Hodgepodge Posted by CN Staff on July 04, 2007 at 19:01:54 PT By Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle USA -- Smoke a joint in Alabama or Oregon, and you can permanently lose the right to adopt a child. Smoke one in Oklahoma, and you're ineligible ever to be a foster parent. Light up in Utah, and get a lifelong eviction notice from public housing. Grow a marijuana plant in any one of a dozen states, including California, and you're permanently barred from receiving welfare or food stamps. Those laws and others are detailed in the first nationwide study of the consequences of marijuana convictions, in areas ranging from family life to voting and jury service. Researchers headed by a Northern California lawyer said they had found a hodgepodge of state and federal restrictions that seemed to conflict with the overall trend of reduced criminal penalties for pot. "For many people, (the penalties) can result in a lifetime of hardship -- an unrecognized punishment that continues long after they have served their criminal sentences or completed probation," said the report, which was paid for by a group that favors legalizing marijuana under state regulation. The chief author, attorney Richard Boire of Davis, said Tuesday that many of those in the court system are unaware of the consequences of marijuana convictions. "Judges have no idea what gets triggered" by a conviction, he said. "Defense attorneys can't advise their clients. ... Our hope is to bring more rationality to this process, with the idea that the punishment ought to fit the crime." The report recommended a uniform system in each state that would limit noncriminal penalties and restore rights to those who can show they have been rehabilitated. The study was released by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, which Boire described as a group of academics and lawyers studying ethical and legal issues involving new technologies and drugs. It was funded by the Marijuana Policy Project. The report ranks states by the extent of the penalties that accompany a marijuana conviction, apart from a criminal sentence. California -- where legislators reduced criminal penalties for personal possession of pot to a traffic-ticket-type infraction in 1975, and where voters passed the nation's first law legalizing medical marijuana in 1996 -- was among the least severe in noncriminal sanctions. The report ranked it as tied with Pennsylvania and Kansas for 42nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Online resources: To read the report, go to: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/rpts/col_sanctions.htm Snipped:Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/yrdkolSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Thursday, July 5, 2007Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by afterburner on July 11, 2007 at 14:26:17 PT Jefferson Airplane, Crown of Creation Jefferson Airplane, Crown of Creation http://lyrics.ivory.org/crown.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by museman on July 11, 2007 at 08:44:21 PT whig On the day that I find a 'politician' who actually, and really represents my interests, is the day that I find the America I lost when I went off to serve in the military. Until then, taxation without representation is what it's all about, and those who are being taxed the heaviest-not just with the standard witholding rip-off- are the non-rich, while the very rich spend our time, labors, and dreams like chump change.No amount of political posturing is going to change that. The democratic process has yet to be applied to America. Britains Parliament approaches true democracy, and representative government much more than our little club of elite power brokers. As long as they rule, democracy is a joke.When 'the people' stop giving their power to well-dressed fools and their well-groomed puppets, and start standing up, like real Americans, instead of television-bred commercials for consumerism, things might change. The ball is rolling, but only because folks like us are laboring mightily to keep it moving, it's still uphill from here, and the resistance isn't gravity, it's ignorance and stupidity,.. taught, supported, and upheld by the status quo, and the government spawned by it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by whig on July 10, 2007 at 14:16:21 PT museman I want to recreate government in our own image, and as for my own participation I want it to be voluntary and likewise for anyone. A government of the people, by the people and for the people, which corporations are not. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by museman on July 10, 2007 at 10:08:08 PT whig There is much needed reform in the current scheme of political, and governmental institution - reform that was supposed to have arrived at the end of the 'revolutionary war' with the ratification of the Constitution.That 'reform' was redirected then, in the same way all attempts to put our government back on the 'constitutional' track have been; Social status, Power and money.History reveals quite clearly that the 'bigger gun' almost always wins, and if it doesn't, just throw more money into an even bigger gun until it does. Force of arms includes a bunch of thugs running around with badges and guns 'enforcing' the 'law' of their political/economic/social-aristocratic masters. Freedom is a carrot on a stick, that is waved in front of the poor donkey who is pulling the wagon. The donkey in it's natural inclination, would not pull that wagon otherwise. The wagonmaster justifies the lie to the donkey, because the donkey is 'just an animal.'Our government, and the elite, dominant society that benefits from it, are the wagonmasters, and the majority of humanity -the 'working class' are the donkeys. They justify their world of lies, because they assume -by right of inheritance, diploma, social station, and 'breeding' that their rights are 'superior' to those whose fortunes don't measure up to the standards of conquest and aquisition -which is the real credo of America - just ask the rest of the world.When Hitler was raging, there was no thought of allowing 'the old to exist with the new' it was about STOPPING the death and destruction. Not one of the elite Nazis was allowed to remain in any kind of political power (no they came to America - like H. Kissinger, or went to So. Africa to help with Aparteid, or So. America to live out the rest of their corrupt and evil lives relatively unmolested) when Germany finally surrendered.Our political system, while on the surface seemingly representing that carrot on the stick, in actual death, destruction, and mayhem, has racked up statistics that make Hitler's little club of Jew (and gypsy)-Haters look like sloppy second rate street thugs in comparison.Just look at the politicians; hypocrits, and liars, if not every single one, then the ones that have honesty have been duped even more than middle-america 'bible thumpers.' Who and what do they truly represent? We can't really stop the madness, until we stop empowering liars and thieves as our 'representative government.' We cannot stop empowering them, until we stop empowering the various beliefs and values that put them there in the first place. If we just keep on going after that carrot on the stick, the wagon rolls on, but the false promises never get delivered. As long as money can buy power, social status, and the unbridled, irresponsible liberties of corporate rape and pillage, no true reform is possible. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by whig on July 08, 2007 at 15:52:30 PT museman I think the old and new can coexist for a time, and should because the new takes time to build and the absence of either would be too chaotic. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by museman on July 08, 2007 at 15:09:11 PT whig "Would you want to abolish the government if cannabis prohibition were ended?"For me personally? As it is currently manifest? Of course. However I recognize the need for those who cannot govern themselves to be taught to do just that, before all of the old forms will pass away. There are much much better ways to accomplish what the current forms claim to be 'accomplishing.' By advocating the end of the old I advocate the beginnning of the new by default. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by whig on July 05, 2007 at 18:03:01 PT museman Would you want to abolish the government if cannabis prohibition were ended? [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on July 05, 2007 at 13:34:28 PT museman I feel bad that I am not checking your videos out since the FAP policy went into effect for satellite. If they change it back like it was I will have a lot of videos to catch up on. I am afraid to watch much of anything since I got Fapped one time. It's terrible for 24 hours then. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by museman on July 05, 2007 at 13:03:14 PT Thought I'd 'sweeten the pot' The 'hippy's' opinion. On Cannabis [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by museman on July 05, 2007 at 13:00:50 PT Sam the 'laws' are created for the express purpose of keeping the poor people (the rabble) in line, and under control. that is their (the 'laws') reason fo being in the first place.The fact that those with resource can afford better 'justice' than those without -as you point out- illuminates this fact. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Hope on July 05, 2007 at 08:13:51 PT Rehabilitated What needs to be rehabilitated is our ridiculously and excessively punitive justice system. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on July 05, 2007 at 07:22:38 PT The Laws Affect the Poor No public housing, no food stamps, no jobs, all of these laws affect the poor. People who are established with good paying jobs or investment income are not touched, except for maybe a fine or a stint in rehab. Woo Hoo!I never could understand why the financially disadvantaged never file a motion to dismiss their cases. They can not receive a fair trial in America becasue, the prosecutors have infinetely more resources than the defendents. At least give the defendents the same resources for expert witnesses, private investigators and lab tests as the prosecutor has if you want fair jurisprudence. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on July 04, 2007 at 22:39:14 PT Five years left for America http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_v39/ai_4665092“A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.” - Theodore Roosevelthttp://www.prisonerlife.com/page_case.cfm?memberID=51A society of greed has been achieved. It is no longer worth what it has to give. A society of sloth is what we need. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Hope on July 04, 2007 at 22:37:59 PT Rehabilitated? "The report recommended a uniform system in each state that would limit noncriminal penalties and restore rights to those who can show they have been rehabilitated." [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on July 04, 2007 at 22:11:18 PT Using marijuana won't ruin your life - But getting caught sure can! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment