Sorry 'bout the misspell ...

"Environmental Hemp" Link Correction:
http://www.hemphasis.net/Environment/environment.htm

HEMPhasis Home:
http://www.hemphasis.net/

Environmental Hemp
http://www.hempasis.net/Environment/environment.htm

                               PEACE                           N
Love...

                                  PS: TY MEZ !

Thank you MW !

Liberty from (COP) Corruption
http://campaignforliberty.com/
BLOG
http://campaignforliberty.com/blog/

STOP the DRUG WAR (DRC)
http://www.stopthedrugwar.com/


PEACE W/ Much LOVE ...

Drug Library Online: http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer
Excellent MMJ Linx Below       On Vzw...                         PEACE W/ Love
Dallas Z (Prezz)
In AMarijuanaSmokersLounge@yahoogroups.com, "mezorn777" wrote:

When we try to control others right to medicate themselves or express opinions
in a free country under God we are living in neither a free country or under God
* MEZ

http://www.medicalpot.com

Lester Grinspoon  M.D.

http://www.rxmarijuana.com

Treating Yourself

http://www.treatingyourself.com

Hemp Museum

http://www.hempmuseum.org

Cannabis News

http://www.cannabisnews.com

Marijuana News

http://www.marijuananews.com


Chris Conrad

http://www.chrisconrad.com

--- End forwarded message ---

Best wishes to you and yours w/ Love. From me to you: Happy Thankzgiving ! Enjoy
and stay safe, friends ...

*PEACE

Rick Simpson will be giving a video seminar on medicinal hemp August 28th at
5:00pm eastern time.  If you or someone you know has cancer or other health
concerns and want to ask him questions- you will be able to do this during the
seminar.  For more information please go to: www.phoenixtears.ca

From: Herb
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2009 11:18:28 PM
Subject: CMAP: CN BC: Trends in HIV and injection drug use


http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20090807/SQUAMISH0604/308079952

Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: 07 Aug 2009
Source: Whistler Question (CN BC)
Email: news@...
Website: http://www.whistlerquestion.com/
Address: 238 - 4370 Lorimer Rd., Whistler, B.C., Canada, V0N 1B4
Fax: (604) 932-2862
Copyright: 2009, Whistler Printing & Publishing Ltd.
Author: Dr. Paul Martiquet

            Trends in HIV and injection drug use

Squamish - A report just released by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BC
CDC) identifies a decrease in new positive HIV tests in people who use
injection drugs in BC. The figures, from 2008, evaluate 350 new cases of
HIV, focussing on the 325 for which the transmission route was known.

They found that the number of new positive HIV tests among people who use
injection drugs (IDU) decreased from 117 cases in 2007 to 56 cases in 2008.
At the same time, the numbers of cases for heterosexual adults and
homosexual men was stable. Moreover, this trend was seen in most Health
Authorities though the largest being Vancouver Coastal, Vancouver Island and
Fraser Health.

The growth of HIV/AIDS in Vancouver is the subject of a study by Colin W.
McInnes et al from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
Published in early 2009, the work describes the growth of HIV/AIDS in
Vancouver (particularly) as an epidemic. The authors did not focus on one
method of transmission.

The study describes the history of HIV in Vancouver as showing two distinct
periods of rapid increase. The first, in the 1980s, was due to the high
incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM). The second occurred in the
next decade due to a high incidence among injection drug users.

Coming right at the end of the McInnes study period, the BC CDC report
highlights what could be positive news: that transmission among injection
drug users is decreasing. There are various reasons this may be happening.

Under-reporting new positive HIV results is one possibility, but it is easy
to discount as a reason for reduced numbers because of how tests are taken
and handled at all stages.

Changing patterns of drug use offer a potential explanation. There is a
trend to increased smoking of crack cocaine, seen both in B.C. and other
jurisdictions in Canada. This would mean less injecting overall and reduced
opportunities for transmitting HIV among IDU.

A third reason, harm reduction and other HIV prevention programs for
injection drug users have demonstrated effectiveness and have likely
contributed to the decline in new positive HIV tests among this population.

There may be multiple reasons for the decline in new HIV cases among
injection drug users, but without more data and on behaviours and trends
among IDU, finding the reasons is not simple. It is, however, critically
important. If something is working, we should make sure to encourage and
continue it.

The McInnes findings, though focussed on Vancouver exclusively, offer
cautions for the whole region. They conclude that "evidence-based prevention
and harm reduction strategies, particularly those targeted at high-risk
population subgroups, should continue to be expanded and evaluated."

From CBS
http://tinyurl.com/CBS-Pot-Relay
 
 
(CBS)  This story was written by Charles Cooper and Declan McCullagh as part of
a new CBSNews.com special report on the evolving debate over marijuana
legalization in the U.S. Click here for more of the series, Marijuana Nation:
The New War Over Weed ...

 @ Cry Justice
http://www.cryjustice.com/ ...

MJ/Pot Link 
http://www.cryjustice.com/marijuanapoetry.htm

From: MAPNews
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 2:52:10 PM
Subject: MN: Mexico: Drug Cartels Imperil Immigrants in the Desert


Newshawk: 9,903 dead http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: Front Page
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Sacha Feinman, Reporting from Altar, Mexico
Note: Sacha Feinman is a freelance writer. This story was researched
and reported under a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Mexico Under Siege

DRUG CARTELS IMPERIL IMMIGRANTS IN THE DESERT

Tighter border enforcement has driven narcotics smugglers to share
territory with migrants, adding to the dangers of the journey and
possibly contributing to a drop in Mexico's emigration.

On a cloudless afternoon in northern Sonora, migrants and drug
runners lounge in equal numbers under scattered mesquite trees,
playing cards or sipping water. The sun climbs high and the
temperature rises well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In such heat,
nothing, human or otherwise, moves more than required.

Known as La Sierrita, this otherwise unremarkable patch of Mexican
desert is a final stop for those looking to enter the U.S. illegally.
The Arizona border is only a 40-minute walk north. As soon as the sun
sets, everyone here will be gone.

It is not difficult to distinguish between those trying to smuggle
themselves and the burreros looking to haul marijuana or cocaine. The
former wear ill-fitting pants and keep their eyes cast toward the
ground. The latter dress head to toe in black, a curious fashion
choice for a trip through the desert. Some wear ski masks.

Angel de Jesus Pereda, the local coordinator for the governmental
immigration agency Grupo Beta, approaches one of the burreros. With a
weary sigh, he asks the man to stand up, lift his shirt, and turn
around. The man complies; Pereda finds no weapons. He tells the young
man to be careful in the desert. The man spits and turns back to his card game.

"My specific mission is to look for and protect migrants, to try and
convince them to turn back," Pereda said. "There isn't anything I can
do about guys like that. They might just be moving drugs, but they
might also be planning to assault the others."

It was not always like this; migrants and drugs once occupied
separate worlds. But tougher border enforcement has pushed the groups
into the same obscure parts of the desert. The close company adds a
new element of danger to migrants' already perilous journey, and may
be responsible for a drop in immigration and economic decline in
towns that depend on the migrants.

"The burreros sit there together with the migrants during the day and
then attack and rob them after they move on at night," said Pereda,
sliding into his government-issued pickup truck. "That's one reason
why they have the masks."

Tighter Space

Before arriving at La Sierrita, a migrant looking to cross this
section of the border must pass through Altar, also in Sonora state.
Once a sleepy agricultural outpost, Altar has reorganized its economy
around human smuggling. Rows of stores sell backpacks, canned goods
and electrolyte-infused soft drinks, while headhunters slip up behind
the shoppers, whispering that they can arrange for a competent guide
and a safe journey into the U.S.

During busy years, as many as half a million migrants pass through
this town of 10,000, according to Grupo Beta. But fewer are coming
through, and Altar is hurting.

Arrests in the Tucson border area were down by nearly a third between
October and April, according to U.S. border officials. The Mexican
government reports a 25% dip in its emigration rate. The recession is
largely to blame, but analysts in the U.S. say the lack of jobs
offers an incomplete explanation for why immigration in the region is
apparently dropping. Mexico's drug cartels have become a more
formidable presence here, taxing the coyotes and threatening their
human cargo as they make their way to the border.

As drug smuggling groups find their profits pinched by tighter border
enforcement, they have moved into human smuggling, according to U.S.
law enforcement officials. And with good reason: The average migrant
pays about $1,300 to $1,800 to be smuggled past the bolstered Border
Patrol as well as fences, surveillance towers and other new security
measures. What once was a wildcat operation with marginal profits has
become big business.

"It's always been a cat-and-mouse game with the narcos," said Danny
Rodriguez, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector.
"As we seize more firearms and narcotics, they rethink their
business. They are improving their operations while we improve ours."

The residents of Altar worry about the local economy, and talk of
little else. The town's entrepreneurs are convinced that the cartels
have scared off much of their client base.

A flophouse, one of dozens scattered throughout the town, sat empty,
three blocks off the central plaza. Its four tiny rooms resemble
prison cells: concrete walls and tightly arranged bunk beds. Guests
pay about $3 a night for a plank of plywood and a tattered blanket. A
pit-bull puppy is leashed next to the open-air shower.

"When we're full, we'll have 100 migrants staying here at a time,"
said the manager, who, like many businesspeople here, asked not to be
identified for fear of retribution. "This year, we haven't had more
than 40 people in a single day."

Early on a recent workday, a man and his wife set up their pushcart
in the central plaza, offering instant coffee and tamales to the
migrants waiting to head to the border.

"I used to make 1,000 pesos [about $75] a day; now I make about 100,"
said the husband. "I used to work with a coyote, too, getting people
across the border. Not now, though; it's too dangerous."

Risking Retribution

The plaza empties by 1 p.m. Those who remain seek refuge under sparse
shade. They are mostly migrants stranded for another day. A few are
headhunters.

"Five, 10 years ago, I would bring trucks of migrants into the U.S.
through the Papago reservation," said one headhunter. He wore cowboy
boots and a beat-up baseball cap, and carried two cellphones attached
to his belt. "I had to pay $100 per truck to the Indians. They didn't
ask me any questions. I brought people, marijuana, cocaine . . . It
was all the same to them. But you can't do that anymore."

Nearby, drivers get impatient as their rusted, seatless vans languish
half-empty.

"We're leaving, we're leaving, we're leaving, 2 for 1, 2 for 1, 2 for
1, let's go, let's go, let's go!" they shout.

Before making the trip, these drivers say, they must tell a local
representative of the drug cartels how many people will be inside
each of the vans, which are marked with stenciled numbers. They pay
1,500 pesos -- about $110 -- per head, depending on the migrant's
country of origin. Cartel members wait along the road, taking careful
inventory. Vehicles without authorization or with more passengers
than reported risk violent retribution.

"In the last two to three years, there have been fewer customers,
less money, and I don't plan on doing this much longer," said a guide
who goes by the name Martin. A slight man lacking his two front teeth
who looks almost sickly, Martin chain-smokes Marlboro Reds.

"I've been doing this for eight years, and it used to be much easier.
Today there is more Border Patrol in the area, which makes it harder,
and more violence in the desert, which makes it more dangerous. Each
year, we have to pay a higher tax to the narcos and be more careful
about the routes we move through. You have to be very smart to be a
guide these days. You have to know your routes, or you can get killed."

The vans creak with the weight of up to 30 people, and prepare to
move out along an unpaved road known locally as "the route of death."

If all goes well, two bumpy, uncomfortable hours later the vans will
arrive in the border town of Sasabe. The migrants and their guides
will disembark and make their way to remote ranches such as La Sierrita.

Stories of trips gone wrong are legion. "There are stories you hear
all the time, about trips that end in violence," said Marcos Burruel,
who runs Altar's only free shelter for migrants. "If you haven't paid
the correct tax, they will stop you, make everyone get out, drive the
van to the side of the road and burn it."

Whispers of bloodshed along the road and its surrounding areas move
from one migrant to the next, straddling the fine line that separates
anecdote from urban myth. But they are credible enough to give some
people pause before leaving Altar.

One migrant tells of a friend of a friend whose group witnessed a
shipment of marijuana while waiting outside Sasabe for nightfall.
Cartel members held them for a week, he said, keeping them from
making phone calls while the drugs were rerouted. Another migrant
speaks of chauffeurs murdered for underreporting the numbers they carried.

"It's no surprise that the presence of the cartels is affecting
business in Altar," said David Kyle, sociology professor and research
director of the Gifford Center for Population Studies at UC Davis. "A
migrant has historically calculated risk by considering the classic
dangers of random crime and the desert environment. Those aren't so
different than the risks against him in Mexico, so they can be
rationalized. But not criminal syndicates. The nature of that risk is
probably unacceptable to most, because the fear isn't that they just
go after you, but that if you cross them, they are powerful enough to
go after your whole family, your whole village."

Back at La Sierrita, two migrants leave a card game and seek out
their own patch of shade. They lie on their backs, tired and
sunburned, surrounded by liters of warm water and an empty bag of
potato chips. Nearby, proprietors of a tiny bodega drink cold beer
and keep an eye on the burreros and the noisy card game. Everyone
does their best to mind their own business and watch their own backs.

Cartel members are expected by sunset. The burreros need their loads
before they can set out for Arizona.

In the increasingly complex structure of operations here, the cartels
are the border's executives. The burreros are the employees, and the
migrants represent a hybrid of client and product.

Each group has its own goal. None trusts the others. A prison-yard
tension hangs over the desert.

Once they cross the line, they will part, each to a new set of
perils. First, they wait together for darkness.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

"...Where da crispy criters are!"
http://www.pakalolo.com/



[sensiseeds.com] [aclu.org ]   [drcnet.org ]
[hightimes.com ]  [mmp.org ]   [norml.org ]

'State of MMJ in Washington': http://www.cannabismd.org/ , MMJ 'MD' Linkz:
http://www.cannabismd.org/foundation/links.php

Patient Network {Seattle}: http://compassion.ws/ , Compassion Action Linkz:
http://compassion.ws/links.html


See: http://WWW.YIPPIES.ORG/



**PEACE W/ Love...
_YOURZ_

From: MAPNews
Sent: Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:41:43 AM
Subject: MN: US MI: Medical Marijuana: Legal to Smoke, Illegal to Obtain


Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Sun, 5 Jul 2009
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/EWl60zJq
Copyright: 2009 Kalamazoo Gazette
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/vggfBDch
Website: http://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/588
Author: Blake Thorne
Referenced: Initiated Law 1 of 2008 http://micares.org/
Referenced: Michigan Medical Marihuana Program
http://drugsense.org/url/nDFeNDPs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Medical+Marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Greg+Francisco
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: LEGAL TO SMOKE, ILLEGAL TO OBTAIN

Nearly 2,000 State Residents Are Authorized to Use Pot

KALAMAZOO -- Steve used to take prescription painkillers such as
Vicodin after he tore the tendons in his right hand about six years ago.

Now he's using fewer pills. Instead, he smokes marijuana to ease the pain.

"No, it's not a cure-all," said Steve, 37, of Kalamazoo. "It helps so
I don't have to take a handful of pills every day."

Steve is among nearly 2,000 residents in Michigan, including 190 in
southwestern Michigan, who are legally using marijuana to treat
serious ailments such as HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

Michigan residents last November voted to legalize medical marijuana.
In April, the state began issuing photo identification cards to users
who have been approved.

Medical-marijuana patients, advocates, law-enforcement officials and
others say the program is working fairly well, but there have been
bumps along the way. Among the concerns that have been raised:

. Patients are on their own to get the drug -- either by obtaining
starter plants or seeds to grow plants or buying it. It is still
illegal to buy marijuana or seeds.

. What constitutes an "enclosed, locked" marijuana facility?

. More research is needed to understand the medical benefits of the
plant and proper dosages.

. Law enforcement is encountering some legal issues, such as whether
a patient who has received a doctor's note but not a state
identification card is breaking the law by using medical marijuana.

Steve said he suffers from chronic pain, attention-deficit disorder
and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. His doctor recommended
medical marijuana because of the chronic pain from the hand injury,
which he said has left him unemployed and seeking disability
payments. He said he's used marijuana before, but until he got his
identification card, his only relief was painkillers.

Steve and other medical-marijuana patients interviewed for this
report declined to give their full names, fearing their use of the
drug could attract burglaries. A patient can legally possess 2.5
ounces of usable marijuana, valued on the street at $250, and up to
12 marijuana plants, valued each at $1,000, police said.

'They Are on Their Own'

As of June 23, the state had issued 2,674 identification cards for
medical marijuana -- and rejected 434 applications. In southwestern
Michigan, Kalamazoo County was tops among counties, with 70
identification cards issued to caregivers and patients. Caregivers
are those licensed to grow and provide marijuana to patients.

Across the state, 700 identification cards had been issued to
caregivers, including 78 in southwestern Michigan.

Applications have been rejected primarily because they aren't
properly filled out and fees weren't paid, said James McCurtis, a
spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which
reviews applications and issues the cards.

If an identification card is approved, it's up to the patient to
figure out how to obtain the marijuana.

"They are on their own. That's pretty much where it is," McCurtis said.

That might be the biggest challenge in establishing the use of
medical marijuana in Michigan, which is at least the 15th state to
have a medical-marijuana law.

Until a network of caregivers is established, patients can legally
smoke it, but they can't legally obtain it.

Law and Order

One legal case involving medical marijuana has been reported in the
Kalamazoo area since the law took effect, police said.

Carl was arrested in November with a stash of marijuana that is
permitted under the medical-marijuana law. But the law hadn't taken
effect yet, and he didn't have an identification card.

Carl, who lives in Kalamazoo, suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.
He isn't using marijuana now because his case is pending.

"It was great. It was a good thing," he said. "It was either that or
take a fistful of prescription meds."

Other drugs such as cocaine, heroin and larger quantities of
marijuana are "of a far greater concern" than the regulation of
medical marijuana, said Capt. Joseph Taylor of the Kalamazoo Valley
Enforcement Team.

"What I predict is that we're going to experience people saying that
they're caregivers when they're actually growing for themselves," Taylor said.

Taylor said the law requires a secured, locked area for growing
marijuana, and exactly what that means hasn't been determined.
Parameters of the law may need to be defined in the courts.

Carl's lawyer, John Targowski, said he doesn't foresee much
law-enforcement action against medical-marijuana wrongdoing.

"If I'm a cop, I'm not going to risk my life to have a guy pee in a
cup every once in a while," Targowski said.

Research Needed

Some Kalamazoo-area physicians have been reluctant to recommend
medical marijuana, forcing patients to travel to other parts of the
state to get a doctor's endorsement, several users said.

"Patients, they're having to jump through hoops," said Greg
Francisco, of Paw Paw, executive director of the Michigan Medical
Marijuana Association.

Doctors are using caution because they are trying to understand the
medical benefits before recommending marijuana, said Dr. Ronald
Seagle, the family medicine outpatient medical director at Michigan
State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.

"Right now medical marijuana is very new," he said. "It's so new it's
not within the realm of accepted medical standards yet."

Seagle and medical-marijuana patients and caregivers say more
research is needed.

For doctors, recommending marijuana isn't like prescribing drugs, Seagle said.

Doctors recommend it, the state regulates it, and patients use it how
they wish. This situation poses more confusion for doctors, Seagle said.

"In the medical community, we are taking it seriously," he said.
"Personally, why I think any research is not being done at this point
is because of the public stigma of smoking marijuana."

Tainted Subject?

Aaron Hatfield is working to erase that stigma.

Hatfield heads the Kalamazoo Compassion Club, a loose-knit group of
about 50 patients, caregivers and advocates of medical-marijuana that
meets every other week.

At a recent meeting, several club members talked about the many pills
they once took to treat their conditions.

"My wife, my family, would much rather be around me on marijuana than
(on the antidpressant and anti-anxiety drug) Effexor," Hatfield said.

He said public perception needs to change so research on marijuana
can advance. But for now, club members believe people are starting to
recognize their cause.

"I abide by the laws. I pay my taxes," Hatfield said. "I'm not a criminal."

[sidebar]

MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA:

By the Numbers

Michigan's medical marijuana law, which allows approved patients who
are seriously ill to use the drug for medical purposes, was passed by
voters in November and took effect in April. As of June 23, a total
of 1,974 people had received state identification cards to use
medical marijuana. Some 700 caregivers who are licensed to grow and
provide the drug to medical-marijuana patients also were approved.
Here is a breakdown of the number of identification cards issued so
far in southwestern Michigan counties:

Kalamazoo: 49 patients, 21 caregivers.

Calhoun: 39 patients, 16 caregivers.

Van Buren: 32 patients, 17 caregivers.

Allegan: 34 patients, 11 caregivers.

St. Joseph: 14 patients, 3 caregivers.

Barry: 12 patients, 8 caregivers.

Cass: 10 patients, 2 caregivers.

Total: 190 patients, 78 caregivers.

Source: Michigan Department of Community Health
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

From: Herb
Sent: Saturday, July 4, 2009 9:42:38 PM
Subject: CMAP: The expanded mind


The expanded mind
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-expanded-mind/article1198638/

It’s never marijuana is it? Dying of illegal drugs is so 70’s. ...


"I went down to Hollywood Boulevard yesterday to shoot some footage ..."


My favorite bit aside from asking everyone if this “was the line to see
Farrah’s star?”, was to try and circulate rumors that he died of marijuana.
Which is funny, because it’s never marijuana.

-Schadenfreude.net/


<
http://www.schadenfreude.net/2009/06/27/michael-jacksons-coroner-it-was-marijuan\
a.php >

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

From: MAPNews
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 12:59:46 PM
Subject: MN: CN ON: Annual Hempfest Festivities Will Cease This Year


Newshawk: Marc Emery's Farewell Tour: http://tinyurl.com/nf92ub
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Jun 2009
Source: Sault Star, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Sault Star
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/TR0eLgWP
Website: http://www.saultstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1071
Author: Michael Purvis
Cited: Hempfest 2009 http://www.planetarypride.com/hempfest/
Cited: Ontario Provincial Police http://www.opp.ca/english.htm
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal - Canada)

End of an Era:

ANNUAL HEMPFEST FESTIVITIES WILL CEASE THIS YEAR

Ontario Provincial Police have harshed the Hempfest buzz once too
often, say event organizers who plan to make this year's celebration
of medicinal marijuana the region's last.

In recent years, the four-day event has been the focus of what
organizer Rob Waddell contends is unwarranted police presence, with
RIDE checks that focus on "interrogation," and hindering access,
rather than weeding out impaired drivers.

"It's the harassment of people travelling to and from the festival.
The constitution and Charter of Rights guarantee us the right to
gather peacefully and demonstrate against unjust laws, which we're
doing," said Waddell.

"The police keep interfering with our people and the right to gather."

The event takes place in August in a remote area northeast of the
Sault and focuses on efforts to make it easier to use marijuana
medically, though Wadell admits there is "a little bit of recreational too."

Police in the region have said Hempfest is treated like any other
event of a similar scope. Last year, OPP laid dozens of charges,
mostly for motor vehicle infractions, and a handful of drug-related offences.

Waddell said the vehicle infractions and questioning of vehicle
occupants are "petty things,"meant to interfere with a staunchly
pro-marijuana event, and questioned why OPP have been accompanied by
law enforcement from the U. S.

"They're targeting the sick. We're not a bunch of crazies out in the
bush, getting stoned and running around, it's (mostly) people that
are 35 to 60 years old that are out there and (having) just a great
weekend of educating each other and talking about friends and talking
about the benefits and the situations that are arising about the
medical use of cannabis in Canada," said Waddell.

While others may decide in future to pick up the Hempfest torch, this
year's event will be the last to be held in Poplar Dale, a community
of less than 100 people who will be able to "get back to their
peaceful way of life out there in the country," said Waddell.

This year's Aug. 27-30 gathering will be called Hempfest: The End of An Era.

Waddell said the fading away of Hempfest will be a blow to tourism in
the area. While attendance has been down in recent years, the event
has drawn between 1,500 and 2,000 people each year.

He said roughly half of those people come from outside the Sault area.

"There's a large contingent of people who come from southern Ontario,
from the U. S., from Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, there's
people coming from New Brunswick this year. We've had people come
from Japan to this," said Waddell.

Waddell said his efforts now will turn to creating a music festival
which he hopes to turn into "a real good rocking time for four days."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

From: Herb
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:22:48 AM
Subject: MAP: Chubby Checker


Today In Entertainment History June 23

In 1970, Chubby Checker was arrested at Niagara Falls, New York, after
authorities found marijuana, hashish and some unidentified drugs in Checker's
car.

Lets twist again - Chubby Checker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaJ0s0-E1o

From: Herb
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:09:32 AM
Subject: MAP: RVD argues for medical marijuana

RVD argues for medical marijuana

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/06/16/9820341.html

From: MAPNews
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:29:16 AM
Subject: MN: US TX: PUB LTE: The Nuge Vs Drugs


Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jun 2009
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald (TX)
Copyright: 2009 Waco-Tribune Herald
Contact: letters@...
Website: http://www.wacotrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/485
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n621/a06.html
Author: Ralph Givens

THE NUGE VS DRUGS

Ted Nugent needs a brain scan. America's insane drug crusade has
utterly failed for more than 90 years ["We could be winning the war on
drugs," June 14]. Ignoring the fact drug prohibition is responsible
for the United States being the world leader in incarceration, Nugent
wants to expand this engine of destruction until we can no longer
afford police and prison expenses. We already spend a $100 billion a
year on a failed drug war without accomplishing a single worthwhile
goal.

The only reason our inner cities are "war zones" is because of a
lunatic drug policy, not drug use. The only reason terrorists can make
money selling drugs is because they're illegal. Without the drug laws
that Nugent loves so well, al-Qaeda and the Taliban would be peddling
honey and flowers to raise money instead of reaping billions from this
absurd drug policy. The reason Mexican drug cartels are wreaking havoc
is because of the billions to be made in an illegal market, not
because they're stoned out of their minds.

Incidentally, the killing of Pablo Escobar accomplished nothing toward
reducing cocaine supplies in the United States. Cocaine smuggling from
South America is up more than 20 percent since Escobar died. It's time
to stop thinking that getting tougher on drugs accomplishes anything
worthwhile.

Ralph Givens

Daly City, Calif.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

From: MAPNews
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:24:48 AM
Subject: MN: US TX: PUB LTE: Cartels Winning Big

Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Sun, 21 Jun 2009
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald (TX)
Copyright: 2009 Waco-Tribune Herald
Contact: letters@...
Website: http://www.wacotrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/485
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n621/a06.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

CARTELS WINNING BIG

Trib Sunday columnist Ted Nugent makes the common mistake of assuming
that punitive drug laws actually reduce use. The drug war is in large
part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug.

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any
European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that
still criminalizes those citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.
The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential
compared to the long-term effects of criminal records.

Unfortunately, marijuana represents counterculture to many Americans.
In subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors, government is
subsidizing organized crime. The drug war's distortion of immutable
laws of supply and demand causes big money to grow on little trees.

The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and
shameless, tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers confusing
drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.
The big losers in this battle are taxpayers who have been deluded into
believing big government is the appropriate response to
non-traditional consensual vices.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.