Rape vs Marijuana Prison Sentences

The average sentence for rape in Canada is 3.85 years and 6 years in the US. The maximum in Canada is 10 years for non-violent rape, 14 years for violent, and life in prison for
aggravated sexual assault. The maximum sentence permitted by law upon conviction for rape in the United States is life imprisonment.  Marijuana laws in Canada and USA  institute punishments that equal, and in many cases exceed, the punishments for rape and other violent crimes.

Marijuana sentaces in the US vary significantly from state to state.  Here are some examples for simple possession:

• Texas: 180 days to 99 years
• Florida: 1 to 15 years
• Utah: 6 months to 15 years
• Missouri: 1 year to life
• California: less than 1 oz $100 fine; 6 months maximum for more than 1 oz

In DEL RIO, Texas in 2007 a man was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for trafficking marijuana (LINK).

In June 2009, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk proposes legislation that would give harsh sentences to offenders in possession of high potency pot.  High potency is defined as marijuana that exceeds 15% THC.  This law would impose up to 25 years in prison for a first-time offence (LINK).  Higher potency pot is in fact much safer for the consumer as it takes less plant material to get high (see Potency Myth).

Drug laws in Canada are controlled by the federal government and are the same for the entire country.  Although Canada has a reputation for lenience on pot there is nowhere in Canada where you can legally posses marijuana.  Decriminalization has been proposed in the past but was shot down by pressure from the US.

The maximum sentence in Canada is 5 years for possession for over 1 oz; 6 months for less than 1 oz.  The absolute max for cultivation is 7 years.  The current government has proposed legislation that will double that to 14 years (same maximum sentence as violent rape) and add a mandatory sentence of 6 months for as little as one plant.

It is clear that governments feel marijuana is at equally detrimental  to society as rape.  I don’t think I need to explain how horrible the aftermath of rape is on the victim and their family.  What about the negative consequences of marijuana?  There are essentially no negative consequences of marijuana use other than those imposed by prohibition.  Marijuana possession, cultivation and distribution are all victimless crimes.  Any and all violence and organized crime involvement are the direct result of prohibition and in no way initiated by the plant.

Although the drug war has absolutely failed in reducing demand, consumption and supply of any illicit drugs the number of POWs grows every year.  See graph:

The drug war is irrational and unjust.  It is a war on the people.  The DEA and other organizations who benefit from this war lie and lie and lie just to keep this war going.

• http://ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/1996/m-rape.htm
• http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r136/r136_e.pdf
• http://web.viu.ca/crim/sutton.htm
• http://thesop.org/law/2007/08/02/35-year-prison-sentence-for-marijuana-trafficking
• http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/jun/15/local/chi-kirk-marijuanajun15
• http://www.criminal-lawyer.on.ca/penalties-drugs.html
• http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e3f8a100-2f8e-4b73-b131-3411c2619f58
• http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516

 

Friends of Marijuana – The Rastafari

It is hard to picture a rastafarian without ganja coming to mind. Who are the Rastafari?

The Rastafari movement is a religion from the same roots as Christianity. Haile Selassie is regarded as the incarnation of god, whom they refer to as Jah. Selassie was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. His official titles, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings and Elect of God, and his traditional lineage from Solomon and Sheba, are perceived by the Rastafari as confirmation of the return of the Messiah in the prophetic Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Selassie is considered the second coming of Jesus Christ. Rastas believe that Jesus was black and that Babylon (Western culture) has commonly depicted him as white for centuries in order to suppress the truth and gain dominion over all peoples.

The movement developed in Jamaica in the 1930s. It promotes a world view which emphasizes the importance of black people. They teach that Africa, in particular Ethiopia, is where Zion, or paradise, shall be created. Babylon is the word used to describe Western culture which is seen as totally corrupt. The word Babylon literally means confusion. Babylon also refers to the rebellion against Jah. These themes are represented by reggae artists such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Marley in particular was a powerful force in spreading the word of Jah. No other single man in modern times has advanced a religious faith to hundreds of millions in the space of three decades. Today there are over a million followers worldwide; 5-10% of modern Jamaicans are followers.

Dreadlocks are worn by Rastas as an expression of inner spirituality. The dreads are symbolic of the Lion of Judah (Selassie) and are not allowed to be cut. The religion states that they must remain whole.

Ganja (marijuana) is a sacrament to the Rastafari. The burning of the herb is often said to be essential “for it will sting in the hearts of those that promote and perform evil and wrongs.” The illegality of ganja is considered an element of Babylon, it is seen as an oppressive force. Use of other drugs such as alcohol is not permitted and believed to destroy the mind. Although it has only about one million adherents, Rastafari and its inextricable relationship with cannabis are recognized everywhere on earth.

Bob you are a legend, One Love!

• http://www.churchofjah.org
• http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/rasta/believe.shtml
• http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/rastafari-secret-history-marijuana-religion

 

Marijuana Myth – Short-Term Memory Loss

Myth: Marijuana use causes permanent short-term memory loss.

The Truth: Marijuana does cause short-term memory impairment but only when you are high. Just like how alcohol impairs your balance when you are drunk but not the rest of your life. Studies show that chronic smoking of marijuana does not produce major changes in general cognitive abilities like intelligence, memory and the ability to learn. Unfortunately there are marijuana users who help perpetuate this myth.

A study in Jamaica of 30 chronic users and 24 non-users investigated cognitive effects of long-term pot use (Bowman & Pihl 1973). The users smoked an average of 20 joints per day for at least 10 years. The testing took place in many environments from homes, huts to public places. The mobile approach ensured that even the most impaired individuals could participate. The study included many tests of reaction time, learning, perception and memory. The investigators determined that chronic marijuana consumption had no effect on cognitive abilities.

A more recent study looked at mental functioning of 1300 cannabis users in Baltimore over 11 years (Lyketsos; Garrett; Liang; Anthony 1999). The study used the Mini-Mental State Examination to examine the participants. There were no significant differences in cognitive decline between heavy users, light users, and nonusers of cannabis. Read it HERE.

Other studies show that the brain adapts to the acute memory effects (while you’re high) of cannabis.  A laboratory experiment on rats and mice show that short-term memory in the rats dropped initially in the 35 day examination but recovered to pre-drug levels by the end.  This study also shows some interesting stuff regarding cannabinoid effect of the hippocampus.  Read it HERE.  The acute short-term memory effect subsides after prolonged use.  Long time marijuana users will also confirm these results.

Marijuana does not make you dumb or ruin your short-term memory.  The myth was created and perpetuated by the anti-drug groups which continues to this day.  If this myth were true 14% of Canada and 10% of the United States would live by a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos like the guy in Memento.  As mentioned in the Amotivational Syndrome Myth, college students who smoke cannabis demonstrate comparable or even higher grades than their cannabis abstinent classmates, and are more likely to pursue a graduate degree (SOURCE).

• http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/medical/cannabisuseandcognitivedecline.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-mental_state_examination
• http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/ille-e/rep-e/summary-e.htm
• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/107380/marijuanas_effects_on_shortterm_memory.html
• http://www.abovetheignorance.org/
• http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/104524702/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1435998/
• Tolerance to the memory disruptive effects of cannabinoids involves adaptation by hippocampal neurons. Hampson, Robert E / Simeral, John D / Kelly, Erica J / Deadwyler, Sam A , Hippocampus, 13 (5), p.543-556, Jan 2003
• Bowman, M. & Pihl, R.O. 1973. Cannabis: Psychological effects of heavy use. A controlled study of intellectual functioning in chronic users of high potency cannabis. Psychopharmacologia Vol. 29(2): 159-170.
• Cannabis Use and Cognitive Decline in Persons Under 65 Years of Age, by C.G. Lyketsos; E. Garrett; K. Liang; J.C. Anthony; American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 149 (No. 9) 1999, 794-800

 

Bong Water Illegal in Minnesota

That’s right Minnesota supreme court has ruled that bong water is a controlled substance.  Under Minnesota law bong water is considered a “drug mixture”.  The state law says a dug mixture is:

a preparation, compound, mixture, or substance containing a controlled substance, regardless of purity.

In opposition a judge stated:

If bong water is considered a drug mixture, and it weighs enough to raise the crime to a first-degree drug offense, the presumed sentence for a first-time offender is seven years and two months in prison, and a felony drug offence goes on his or her record.

This bong water law is absolutely absurd.  Sadly there is more:

A narcotics officer had testified that drug users sometimes keep bong water to drink or inject later.

Marijuana smokers do not drink bong water and certainly do not inject it!  Who says something like that?  Many parts of the US are making progress on marijuana laws but Minnesota has clearly taken a step back.

• http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569269,00.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/26/bong-water-an-illegal-dru_n_333586.html
• http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/22/national/main5410119.shtml

 

Alcohol Prohibition: What Was Different?

Prohibition of alcohol came and went in the early 20th century.  In Canada liquor laws were under jurisdiction of the provincial government and lasted from 1900 to 1948 in Prince Edward Island, but for much shorter periods in other provinces.  In the US federal prohibition lasted 1919 to 1933.  Prohibition also caught on in other parts of the world:  Russia 1914-1925, Norway 1916-1927, Iran 1979-present.  Arab countries such as Saudi, Arabia, Qatar, Afghanistan, Libya, and Sudan currently prohibit import, sale and consumption of alcohol, with heavy penalties for offenders.

Temperance movements were the driving force behind prohibition worldwide.  The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was the largest and most powerful of these groups.  The WCTU had chapters throughout North America and had hundreds of thousands of members.  The main efforts prior to prohibition were suffrage and women’s rights (much like Emily Murphy).  There were many strong temperance groups in England as well dating back to 1835.  The British groups for some reason never succeeded in prohibiting alcohol.

During the first world war, while men were engaged in the war effort, the WCTU became a political force.  In 1919 the WCTU learned by a senate investigation that different Brewers associations gave money to anti-suffrage activities and they shifted their efforts towards alcohol.  The WCTU was among the first  organizations to keep a professional lobbyist in Washington, D. C.  In 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Volstead Act were passed.  The Volstead act had 3 purposes:

[1] to prohibit intoxicating beverages, [2] to regulate the manufacture, production, use and sale of high proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and [3] to insure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye and other lawful industries.

The third point is very interesting.  Not only was alcohol allowed for research but it was insured to be in “ample supply”.  Under present day law in the United States marijuana is listed under schedule 1 which means it has no medical value.  As a result virtually all public scientific research regarding marijuana is outlawed.

The law also said:

no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, or furnish any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.

Use of alcohol was not prohibited by law which is very different than cannabis prohibition.  There were many similarities in prohibition’s effect though.  The once legal alcohol industry was soon taken over by criminal gangs.  The massive untaxed revenue flowed directly to the leaders of organized crime.  Gangsters like Al Capone made millions, he was rumoured to have made $60 million per year from alcohol sales in Chicago alone.  Corruption of police and politicians was everywhere.  A Michigan State Police raid on Detroit’s Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman.  Gangs battled violently for a piece of the pie the same as drug gangs do today.

Public disrespect for the law became overwhelming as prohibition continued.  Prohibition in most of Canada ended before it did in the USA.  In Alberta prohibition lasted from 1916 to 1923 and bootlegging became a very profitable business.  The now ghost town of Whiskey Gap was a major bootleg route during prohibition.  During the Prohibition period in Alberta alcohol was smuggled through this area from the United States. Later it flowed in the opposite direction when the Americans declared Prohibition.  Many forts and bootleg routes are entrenched in our history as a nation.  Smugglers are often looked upon with respect and admiration for the ingenuity and risk involved.  Will future generations look the same way upon marijuana smugglers?

Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters made millions of dollars on illegal alcohol sales, and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies.  In a letter from 1932 John D. Rockefeller said:

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.

In 1933 the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed.  It essentially removed the 18th amendment and re-legalized alcohol.  Canadian provinces had almost all legalized by 1933 as well.  Alcohol was legalized because the public and the government recognized the problems of prohibition and decided to do something about it.  The problems of prohibition are still with us because of drug prohibition.  Marijuana prohibition is much worse.   Drug gangs make way too much money, millions have criminal records for possession, the pot market is out of public control and demand grows constantly.  Today’s public is shielded from these and other problems by propaganda.  The masses must un-learn the rhetoric and pay attention to the effects of the drug war or it will never stop.

• http://www.wctu.org/earlyhistory.html
• http://www.abheritage.ca/famous5/achievements/antiprohibition_backlash.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Gap,_Alberta
• http://www.msbrew.com/2007/12/something-to-celebrate-repeal-of.html

 

Enemy of Marijuana – Partnership for a Drug-Free America

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) is a non-profit organization whose aim is to reduce demand for illegal drugs through advertising. They are famous for ads such as “This is your brain on drugs”. PDFA began in 1986 to “unsell” drugs to the American public. Putting to use all major media outlets, including TV, radio, print advertisements and the Internet, along with the pro-bono work of the country’s best advertising agencies, the Partnership’s anti-drug messages have been able to reach the public on local and national levels for the past 20 years.

The PDFA receives its funding from major pharmaceutical, tobacco and alcohol corporations. These include:

• American Brands (Jim Beam whiskey)
• Philip Morris (Marlboro and Virginia Slims cigarettes, Miller beer)
• Anheuser Busch (Budweiser, Michelob, Busch beer)
• R.J. Reynolds (Camel, Salem, Winston cigarettes)
• Bristol Meyers-Squibb, Merck & Company and Proctor & Gamble (pharmaceuticals)
• Dupont (munitions, chemicals, everything)

It is obvious why they focus heavily on illegal drugs in their campaigns.  The ads are pure propaganda.  In the past several ads have been removed because of blatantly false claims.  They currently focus on the amotivational syndrome even though it is not generally accepted by the scientific community.  On the abovetheinfluence.com website there is a section called “Stoners in the Mist” which features cannabis users unable to perform even the most basic tasks such as moving, talking, bathing, and even recalling one’s own name.  They have taken amotivational syndrome to a new level.  Here is a commercial from a recent campaign:

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has been lying to the public for two decades. It is suspicious how PDFA leaves alcohol and tobacco out of its list of “drugs of abuse”.  There are no statistics to back up PDFA’s claim that cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, mushrooms, peyote, hashish, and a few other illegal drugs create anywhere near the havoc in society that is created by alcohol, tobacco, and doctor-prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.  It is ironic that their sponsors produce the substances that account for the majority of drug related deaths.  PDFA anti-drug partner Merck, for example, was marketing Vioxx until news organizations reported that the anti-arthritis drug was apparently causing heart attacks, strokes and sudden death. As has been the case with other high-profile pharmaceutical drug recalls, Merck has been accused of falsifying, jiggling or withholding data that cast doubts on their product’s safety.

• http://www.naturalnews.com/010613_Vioxx_Merck_e-mail.html
• http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Anti-Drug+anxiety.+%28Trouble+at+the+Propaganda+Mill%29.%28Brief+Article%29-a089389273
• http://www.drugfree.org/
• http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/

 

Roadblock for Pot Re-Legalization – Prison-Industrial complex

The term prison-industrial complex refers to all of the businesses and organizations involved in the construction, operation, and promotion of correctional facilities and the services they provide. Such groups include private corrections companies, corporations that contract prison labour, construction companies, surveillance technology vendors, and the lobbyists and interest groups that plurally represent them. Private prisons began in the 1980s but they really took off in 1990 under Clinton.

The prison industry is the most profitable sector in the US economy today. Consider the growth of the Corrections Corporation of America, the industry leader whose stock price has climbed from $8 a share in 1992 to about $30 today and whose revenue rose by 81 per cent in 1995 alone. Investors in Wackenhut Corrections Corp. have enjoyed an average return of 18 per cent during the past five years and the company is rated by Forbes as one of the top 200 small businesses in the country. At Esmor, another big private prison contractor, revenues have soared from $4.6 million in 1990 to more than $25 million in 1995. The list of companies investing in the prison industry contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. The stock price for these major corporations is representative of the number of people in jail. That is a sign of very sick society.

The prison-industrial complex makes approximately 40 billion dollars per year. This entire industry is based on an essentially limitless raw material – prisoners. Just like all massive American corporations the big prison corporations hire big time lobbyists. In 1995, Wackenhut Chairman Tim Cole testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee to urge support for amendments to the Violent Crime Control Act — which subsequently passed — that authorized the expenditure of $10 billion to construct and repair state prisons. The relationship between these corporations and US politicians ensures the prisons will be kept full. These corporations answer directly to their shareholders who want one thing and one thing only – profit. That means cutting costs everywhere possible. As a result private prisons have much  worse conditions than their government run counterparts.

In the two decades since the prison boom began crime rates have remained the same while icarceration rates have increased exponentially. Prison populations soared through the 1980s and into the 1990s, making the U.S. the unquestioned world leader in jailing its own populace. By 1990, 421 Americans out of every 100,000 were behind bars, easily outdistancing their closest competitors, South Africa and the then USSR. By 1992, the U.S. rate had climbed to 455. Reagan’s Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 added mandatory minimum sentances for simple drug possesion and trafficing.  The war on drugs is the lifeblood of the prison-industrial complex and they won’t let it go without a fight.

• http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289
• http://www.correctionscorp.com/

http://www.tgorski.com/articles/Drug%20War%20&%20The%20Prison%20Industrial%20Complex.htm

• http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/08/25/locking-up-profits-in-private-prisons.asp

 

Police Exaggerate Street Value

Here is a particularity disturbing incident where a family got busted with 15 pounds of marijuana. The RCMP took their three kids away and charged both parents with possession. That’s pretty sad as it is. Read these two different articles about the same story.

Article 1

The first one says:

Searching the vehicle revealed 15 pounds of marijuana — enough to make about 27,240 joints, which would have a street level value of $102,000.

Article 2

The other article says this about it:

A search of the vehicle uncovered 6.8 kilograms of marijuana in a “wet” state, said Sgt. Dave Hardy of the Cochrane RCMP on Thursday.

“It was in a stage of basically rotting which made the odour overwhelming,” said Hardy.

Since when is 15 pounds worth $102,000. Good weed sells for $2500 per pound which would make this worth $37,500 and this wasn’t even good weed. I can only speculate on the cops’ motive to lie about the value of busts. I assume it is to make their bust sound like it made more of an impact then it really did. The police and media almost always exaggerate marijuana street value estimates.

• http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Calgary+parents+busted+marijuana+toddlers/2133253/story.html
• http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/10/22/calgary-marijuana-pot-children-checkstop-highway.html

 

Marijuana Myth – Amotivational syndrome

Myth: Using marijuana for a long time makes some people lose interest in school, work, relationships and other activities.

The Truth: The origins of this myth go back to the 1960s.  It has been engrained in the pop culture image of a pot smoker; lazy, burned out loser.  It has been a common theme in all the recent anti-pot ads.  Despite evidence to the contrary concern over marijuana’s effect on motivation continues today.

The defination of motivation changes with different cultures around the world.  Not everyone who is motivated reflects the stereotypical Western values of motivation:  does well in school, works hard for their boss or preforms in lab tests.  Some of the most successful people in the world are high school drop-outs including Richard Branson, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, Wright brothers and Albert Einstein.  Yet these are the criteria often used in testing of amotivational syndrome.

Clinical depression shares basically the same set of symptoms (fatigue, poor concentration, apathy).  There are a sub-set of pot smokers who are self-medicating their depression.  This group is far from the majority of users though.  To prove cannabis as a cause of such a syndrome takes the same criteria used in the Gateway Theory Myth (Association, Temporal Antecedence and Isolation).  Marijuana use must precede and correlate with amotivation to cause it.  The symptoms must not have any other causes such as depression or personality.  There have been several studies that try to show these criteria but they all failed.

Laboratory studies of humans and primates offer very little support for amotivational syndrome.  School performance does not vary with pot consumption in college students.  Employment data show no links between marijuana use and lower wages, poor work performance or job turnover.  No studies show the pervasive lethargy, dysphoria, and apathy that the myth claims should appear in all heavy users.  Some studies actually show that marijuana users are more likely to go on to earn a graduate degree.

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1435998/
• http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/515.php
• http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/marij1.html
• http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/262/1/Lifetime-Prevalence-of-Amotivational-Syndrome/Page1.html
• http://www.marijuanahempworld.com/marijuana-recreational-fact-amotivational-syndrome-32.php
• http://www.school-survival.net/successful_dropouts.php
• http://www.springerlink.com/content/x22423tt4l418343/
• Gergen, M.K., Gergen, K.J., & Morse, S.J. (1972). Correlates of marijuana use among college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 1-16

 

U.S. Support for Legalizing Marijuana Reaches New High

In a recent poll conducted by the U.S. polling firm Gallup shows nearly half of Americans are in support of legalizing and taxing pot for recreational use by adults.  The poll was conducted Oct 1-4, 2009 and found that 44% of Americans  voted to legalize it.

The poll clearly illustrates a generational and political divide on the issue, with 78 percent of self-described liberals saying they would like to see the drug legalized and 72 percent of self-described conservatives being opposed. Gallup also found that 50 percent of Americans under 50-years-old are in favor of legalization, but just 28 percent of seniors agree.

This is a real confidence boost for the re-legalization movement but we still have a long way to go.

• http://www.gallup.com/poll/123728/U.S.-Support-Legalizing-Marijuana-Reaches-New-High.aspx