cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Movement Lights Up Targets Conservatives Marijuana Movement Lights Up Targets Conservatives Posted by CN Staff on September 12, 2007 at 08:23:55 PT By Azi Paybarah Source: New York Observer New York -- Advocates of legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York are now pinning their hopes on, of all people, conservatives.An early salvo appeared in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge Courier newspaper earlier this month, in the form of a full-page ad targeting Conservative Republican State Senator Marty Golden, and featuring Joel Peacock, a member of the state’s Conservative Party. The piece says that Peacock suffers from “chronic, severe pain” from a 2001 car accident and that medicinal marijuana offers him effective and cheap relief.It was one of eight print ads that ran this month aimed at Republican State Senators across New York. (The Democratic-controlled State Assembly already passed a bill on June 13 to legalize medical marijuana, and the governor supports it in concept.)The other state senators being targeted are Republicans Carl Marcellino, Kemp Hannon and Dean Skelos of Long Island; Frank Padavan and Serph Maltese of Queens, Thomas Morahan of Rockland County; and Dale Volker from upstate.All of the ads feature polling information that supporters say proves that the idea of legalizing medical marijuana is more popular than lawmakers think, suggesting that the Senate is increasingly isolated in its opposition.“The only house that hasn’t acted on the bill and hasn’t officially said they support it is the Senate,” said Vincent Marrone, a spokesman for the group behind the ads, the Marijuana Policy Project. Mr. Marrone also pointed to the fact that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, a cancer survivor with libertarian tendencies, supports the bill as well, at least publicly.“He understands the importance of this bill to people that are living in pain,” Mr. Marrone said.The campaign represents a significant departure from the days, not so long ago, when the medical marijuana issue was chiefly the domain of single-issue candidates running on the Marijuana Reform Party line.The more focused, politically sophisticated nature of the advocacy is made possible—necessary, even—by what seems to be a significant shift in public sentiment on the issue. A poll of 500 Conservative Party voters in New York, commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project and conducted by the D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., found that 55 percent said they support the legalization of medicinal marijuana.The pollsters also asked the question of registered voters in several of the eight targeted Senate districts. In the districts of Marcellino, Hannon, Maltese, Golden, Morahan and Volker, the levels of support were, respectively, 76, 70, 63, 69, 69 and 61 percent.But for all the progress proponents of legalization have made among officials in Albany and in terms of broader public opinion, the remaining opposition, for now, is holding firm.“What they’re saying in effect is, ‘Ignore federal law,’” Mr. Padavan said. “I don’t think that’s the right way to go, particularly when you have all this medical evidence opposing it.”“We have all sorts of medication to take care of those issues,” Mr. Golden said. “To go in and say you can grow plants of marijuana on your fire escape, or in your basement, it just doesn’t work here.”Mr. Golden, added, “I lost my mother-in-law and father to cancer. I know it. I feel it. But this, the way it’s set up, doesn’t work. I think it would only lead to illicit drug use in the city of New York.”Note: Medical weed boosters aim to win over Republican Senate districts.This article was published in the September 17, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.Source: New York Observer, The (NY)Author: Azi PaybarahPublished: September 17, 2007Copyright: 2007 The New York ObserverWebsite: http://www.observer.com/Contact: comments observer.comMarijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #13 posted by afterburner on September 13, 2007 at 16:01:20 PT What?!?!?! “What they’re saying in effect is, ‘Ignore federal law,’” Mr. Padavan said. “I don’t think that’s the right way to go, particularly when you have all this medical evidence opposing it.”"all this medical evidence"???You mean the meta-analysis "study" of questionable studies, dredged up by the British medical journal The Lancet, allowing British politicians to justify trying to change the cannabis laws back to punitive law-'n-order approach?Interpreting Hazy Warnings About Pot. Posted by CN Staff on August 07, 2007 at 16:40:23 PT. By Paul Armentano and Mitch Earleywine. Source: Huffington Post http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/23/thread23239.shtml "NORML Responds To New Rash Of Pot And Mental Health Claims" NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - August 2, 2007. Washington, DC, USA http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/23/thread23230.shtmlCannabis, Mental Health and Context: The Case For Regulation by Paul Armentano, Senior Policy Analyst, NORML | NORML Foundation. Updated May 2, 2007 http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6798Related UK prohibitionist thinking:DRUG SCANNER CHECKS PUBLIC (Source:Oxford Mail) 12 Sep 2007 http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v07/n1055/a03.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by gloovins on September 13, 2007 at 13:15:10 PT Yeah all These bad cops have to be exposed for who they really are.Like I said before, MOST cops are cool, nice people. It's the small % of jerks that give the profession a bad name.It would be great if more people started cam-ing these a*hole cops -- they could be the disgraced fallen "heroes" of youtube & be forced to work mall security. Haha! That would be payback.It does seem like MO has a big problem...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249801,00.htmlwww.thekansascitychannel.com/news/11713719/detail.htmlAnd here is the link to this most recent vid of the St. George cop: - WARNING: THIS COP IS A COMPLETE JERK -http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1119058177&fr=yfp-t-203 [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by whig on September 13, 2007 at 09:53:56 PT BGreen I could tell you some stories... One time I was given a "too fast for conditions" citation and when asked to state the condition (I was going the speed limit) the police officer gave "night time" as the condition. And the judge accepted it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by BGreen on September 13, 2007 at 08:56:02 PT re: a-hole MO cop I'd bet you all the money I have that if more cars were equipped with cameras and audio recorders we'd find cops like that in every single department in this country.They act shocked when they're exposed as the a-holes that they are, but it's a phony act and phony shock, and they're just shocked that they got caught abusing their power.A few years ago we met a woman at one of my band's concerts, and come to find out her husband was a mo state highway patrolman. She was telling us about her hairdresser, who told her about a mean patrolman that had pulled her over. After refusing to believe it could be her husband, it finally came out that it was her husband.I asked what his badge number was, and sure enough, it was the same SOB that had pulled me over for no reason and gave me a ticket for following him too closely (like I'm going to get too close to a marked patrol car. What a liar.)Well, come to find out, this patrolman had pulled over all five of us in our band! What are the odds? And what are the odds of meeting his wife at one of our gigs? LOLAnyway, we all signed a band photo for this wonderful public servant. I wrote "Do you know how close is too close?" which were the first words he said to me when he approached my car. He never did answer his own question, so I guess I'll never know the answer according to his rules of law. LOLNow, if you can believe it, our lead singer got pulled over again about a month later by, you guessed it, the same cop!This time our singer said "Hi, remember me?"The cop busted up laughing, told him to drive safe and let him go.I still wonder how that woman felt to hear from six different people what a jerk her husband is when he's on duty. She had no idea.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by OverwhelmSam on September 13, 2007 at 08:09:52 PT gloovins I seen the video, bully cop has probably been threatening citizens for years. No he heeds to be sued along with the city. I am really upset at police organizations using criminals as police officers.I have a dream. That we unite and put camcorders in all our cars, positioned so that you can clearly identy the police officer in your rear view mirror when stopped. And then drive around suspiciously all night long with driver's license, insurance, proper registration, stone cold sober. If stopped, refuse searches, refuse to answer questions about what you're doing, and then sue the cops when they become coercive. Hit cities, counties, states and the feds, whichever entity that is responsible for using criminal police officers.Bad Cops, Bad Cops, What'cha going to do? What'cha going to do when we come for you. All cops filmed on location by innocent citizens. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by John Tyler on September 12, 2007 at 16:48:50 PT convincing "conservatives" If you can’t get some politicians to see the light, then make them feel the heat. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 12, 2007 at 14:10:58 PT Thank You Paul http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23323.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by paul armentano on September 12, 2007 at 13:59:13 PT NM: Their view: Cannabis could replace harmful med http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/68160.html Their view: Cannabis could replace harmful meds By Chris Goldstein and Paul ArmentanoSeptember 8, 2007Millions of Americans are living in pain; so many, in fact, that doctors now prescribe enough painkillers in a single year to medicate every person in the nation. According to a disturbing new study by the Associated Press, Americans in 2005 consumed over 90,000 kilograms of powerful narcotic painkillers, not only codeine, hydrocodone and morphine, but also meperidine (Demerol) and oxycodone. In many cases, these drugs can be habit-forming. In some cases, their use can be deadly.But what if there were a safer, cheaper, and potentially more effective alternative available for pain management — one that greatly reduced the user’s risk of dependency, and one that was incapable of causing a lethal overdose?For a handful of Americans there is. That medicine is cannabis. Read the full text at the above link. Enjoy! http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/68160.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 12, 2007 at 13:23:25 PT gloovins Happy September to you too.Press ReleaseCalifornia Legislature Passes Industrial Hemp Bill for Second Time in Two Years http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,176813.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by gloovins on September 12, 2007 at 13:17:50 PT I called last night To the President Pro Tempre? & a nice girl on the other end of the line took my entire call, her name was Tiffany. So Glad this Calif Hemp bill passed...next call: Arnold.Btw, anyone see the video of the cop (now suspended) out of St. George Mo?? Man, this cop epitomizes EVERYthing wrong with a-hole cops. Now I know they aren't all like this but I'm just so glad he is off the job...I tried to get a link to it but couldn't find it. It's available at AP video news via yahoo. The driver of the car videotaped it btw. Classic.Happy Sept all.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by whig on September 12, 2007 at 12:03:21 PT The GCW I think it would be good if hemp and cannabis can be grown in California, and there is more to life than politics as I hope Governor Schwartzenegger well knows. He's a Republican so I can't say very much that would be helpful, but there will be a time when these political wars will end and we will all want to be able to live in peace together. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 12, 2007 at 11:57:26 PT The GCW Thanks. That's good news! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by The GCW on September 12, 2007 at 11:43:02 PT AB 684, Passed the Senate & Assembly! Thanks to your calls, faxes and emails ...AB 684, the CA Industrial Hemp Farming Act, Passed the Senate & Assembly!September 12, 2007 — Thank you for responding to Vote Hemp's recent emergency CA Action Alert. Because of the barrage of phone calls, faxes and emails that you generated, the Senate leadership felt enormous pressure to give the California industrial hemp bill a vote. Democracy has prevailed! The legislature respected the will of the 71% of California voters who want to change state law to let farmers grow industrial hemp by passing AB 684 out of both the Senate and the Assembly last night. In the Senate, the vote was 26-13, with 1 not voting. Four Republicans voted for the bill: Senators Aanestad, Maldonado, McClintock and Denham. Bi-partisan votes like this are hard to come by in the sharply-divided California legislature.In the Assembly, as of 3:41 AM PST, the vote was 46-27, with 6 not voting. Republican ayes were Assemblymembers Adams, DeVore and Niello (who had voted against the bill last time around). Not voting were Assemblymembers Blakeslee, Garrick, Runner, Carter and Maze.This may not be the final vote tally, but the bill definitely will go to the Governor.Within the next few days we will be asking for your help in the final stretch as we seek the Governor's signature. As you may know, we made it this far last year, only to have Gov. Schwarzenegger veto our bill. Everything is different this time around, so we are very optimistic. The hemp industry has never been stronger, making it a better time than ever for California farmers to enter the market. And, we re-drafted AB 684 to respond to each of the concerns the Governor cited when he vetoed the last version of the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act, AB 1147.Finally, we would like to extend a special thanks to Assemblymember Leno, Staffmember Bart Broome, Patrick Goggin, Steve Levine and everyone else on the Vote Hemp California team for all their hard work on this effort.Please stay tuned for future alerts and news.About Vote Hemp Vote Hemp is a non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is non-psychoactive, low-THC varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant.Web Site: http://www.votehemp.com [ Post Comment ] Post Comment