396 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
396 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
Ä ANEWS_SAMPLES (1:343/70) ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ SAMPLES Ä
|
|
Msg : 6 of 6
|
|
From : Uucp-link 1:1033/0 04 Jan 93 00:31:00
|
|
To : All
|
|
Subj : NORML: CANNABIS: THE RATIONAL VIEW
|
|
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
|
|
From: Blythe Systems <nytransfer@igc.apc.org>
|
|
.Message-ID: <9301040831.AA07106@igc.apc.org>
|
|
.Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 00:31:52 PST
|
|
|
|
/* Written 10:41 am Jan 3, 1993 by norml@henson.cc.wwu.edu in
|
|
igc:misc.activism. */
|
|
/* ---------- "NORML: Cannabis: The Rational View" ---------- */
|
|
Please share this as widely as possible. If there is a BBS in your area,
|
|
one whose sysop is sympathetic to the _intelligent_ reconsideration of our
|
|
traditional societal stand on the management of this particular resource,
|
|
especially as it can help our environment and economy, please post this
|
|
message on that board.
|
|
|
|
Thank you.
|
|
|
|
Wayne
|
|
WWU/NORML
|
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
|
|
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 93 04:49 GMT
|
|
From: "Gerald X. Diamond" <0003281350@mcimail.com>
|
|
To: Wayne Smith <norml@henson.cc.wwu.edu>
|
|
Subject: A direct appeal for prompt action by responsible people: DISSEMINATE!!
|
|
|
|
Gerald X. Diamond 535 13th Av.E.No.106 Seattle WA 98102
|
|
Tel:206-324-3523 MCI-Mail 328-1350 January 01, 1993
|
|
|
|
To: Wayne, Bob, Jerri, Kevin and all my colleagues
|
|
on Internet and out there in Cyberspace:
|
|
|
|
This is your planet. The quality of life you enjoy in future years depends
|
|
on the values you adopt right now. Here are three pieces to show you how
|
|
we are thinking in Seattle. Pass these thoughts on to your network and
|
|
make the future happen. Let's hear how you feel on these issues. Tell the
|
|
world...in a loud voice!
|
|
HAPPY NEW YEAR! -- Jerry Diamond (WCDPR)
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
|
|
1. Cannabis: the rational view
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
Today, I brought a bag of catnip to Beate's cat, Sire, who is dying of
|
|
leukemia. At least he could pass his few remaining hours of life in the
|
|
presence of an herb that brings him memories of happier times.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NUCLEAR POWER AND THE DRUG WAR
|
|
|
|
Last night I met a dying young man. He lost his life cleaning up the
|
|
radioactive spill from a nuclear reactor accident.
|
|
|
|
"Was it worth it?" I asked.
|
|
|
|
"No", he told me, "I know that now -- but it's too late. Some of us have
|
|
to go sooner, I suppose". He took a deep toke on his joint and began
|
|
coughing again.
|
|
|
|
A verse from an old poem came to mind:
|
|
|
|
For some we loved, the loveliest and the best
|
|
That rolling time hath from his vintage pressed,
|
|
Have drunk their cup a round or two before
|
|
And one by one crept silently to rest.
|
|
|
|
And we that now make merry in the room
|
|
They left, and summer dresses in new bloom;
|
|
Must we beneath that couch of earth descend
|
|
Ourselves to make a couch -- for whom? (1)
|
|
|
|
It was New Years' Eve. We walked the observation deck atop Smith Tower.
|
|
Below us -- between the sturdy safety bars enclosing us -- echoed the
|
|
lights and horns and fireworks of celebration. We shared the smoke. He
|
|
shared his feelings...sadness at the waste of his precious time.
|
|
|
|
His last months were being spent in and out of law courts -- battling to
|
|
stay out of jail for growing his own marijuana and sharing it with others.
|
|
The battle was far from over.
|
|
|
|
I thought of half a million other pot-smokers, living an uneasy life.
|
|
Many were behind bars for similar reasons, victims of misguided law
|
|
enforcement: victims of obsolete laws.
|
|
|
|
What a waste, I thought. We all have better things to do with our lives
|
|
than fighting battles for our freedom of thought and personal choice.
|
|
These are not crimes to be punished by heavy fines and mandatory jail
|
|
sentencing. How many others were dying like this man ... persecuted by the
|
|
very laws that were intended to give his life meaning!
|
|
|
|
--------------
|
|
(1) E. Fitzgerald, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", Dover Publications 1990.
|
|
============================================================================
|
|
-2-
|
|
|
|
2. Goals for 1993 by Jeffrey Steinborn, Attorney-at-Law
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Getting tough didn't work. It's time we got smart.
|
|
|
|
Without any perceptible progress towards a victory, the "War on Drugs"
|
|
doubled this nation's prison population in just ten years. It spawned a
|
|
black market of enormous wealth and violence, and brought our justice
|
|
system -- that crown jewel among American birthrights -- to the brink of
|
|
catastrophe. These rights we once took for granted ... these rights (which
|
|
Oliver North reminded us, "a lot of men have died face down in the mud all
|
|
over the world defending") ... these rights face extinction.
|
|
|
|
There is a real danger that the new Clinton Administration understands
|
|
neither this impending breakdown, nor its causes. Unless we educate the
|
|
new administration (and thereby perhaps embolden them to lead us), this
|
|
clearly unsuccessful and increasingly unpopular "War on Drugs" will lumber
|
|
brutally on, waged by career prosecutors and police who have done it their
|
|
way for so long, they have forgotten that there is another way.
|
|
|
|
I join hundreds of thousands of other "Drug War" professionals in proposing
|
|
a dramatic, yet simple and basic solution:
|
|
|
|
=============================
|
|
* CAPSIZE THE WAR ON DRUGS! *
|
|
=============================
|
|
|
|
Stop wasting billions of scarce tax dollars on "get tough" law enforcement
|
|
policies which serve only to inflate the price of illegal drugs, and
|
|
perpetuate the crime, violence and exploitation of vulnerable people. This
|
|
is what causes an illegal black market to flourish.
|
|
|
|
Instead, we must spend this money where we already know it will have an
|
|
impact: on the broad spectrum of activities which have proven to decrease
|
|
the demand for drugs by means OTHER THAN THE DEMONSTRABLY INEFFECTIVE,
|
|
COERCIVE FORCE OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM!
|
|
|
|
Government studies suggest that a dollar spent on a head start program is
|
|
ELEVEN TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE than a dollar spent enforcing drug laws.
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
-3-
|
|
==============================
|
|
THE DRUG PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED
|
|
==============================
|
|
|
|
Non-biased truly professional education programs work; they decrease the
|
|
demand for drugs. It is puzzling that the example of tobacco -- the most
|
|
addictive and the most deadly of all drugs of abuse -- is so often ignored:
|
|
over the last 10 years tobacco use has been reduced by nearly 20% -- by
|
|
providing accurate information in a believable form, and WITHOUT PUTTING A
|
|
SINGLE PERSON IN PRISON! This should be our inspiration.
|
|
|
|
We must act now, while priorities are being set in the new administration.
|
|
We must participate by making our opinions known immediately -- in concert
|
|
and in large numbers. Our leaders and our government must be encouraged to
|
|
capsize the "War on Drugs" at every level.
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the PROSECUTORIAL LEVEL:
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
We need to persuade our attorneys general to change their priorities.
|
|
What kind of society are we living in, where an informer can earn $5,000
|
|
for turning in a marijuana farmer, but only $500 for a rapist? Why are
|
|
non-violent drug offenders consistently sentenced to longer prison
|
|
sentences than violent and predatory criminals?
|
|
|
|
This isn't what the public wants!
|
|
|
|
With one stroke of her pen, the Attorney General could capsize the
|
|
priorities of her army of prosecutors and police. Judges would not quarrel
|
|
with prosecutors who refused to file charges requiring mandatory sentences
|
|
for first-time non-violent offenders. U.S. Attorneys who left prosecution
|
|
of non-violent drug crimes to the discretion of local authorities would not
|
|
be criticized. There is no shortage of other crimes which DO require the
|
|
attention of our Federal Government for effective prosecution.
|
|
|
|
As easily, the Attorney General could order her 7,000 U.S. Attorneys to de-
|
|
emphasize the seizure of homes from families with the misfortune to have
|
|
one member who grows marijuana, while emphasizing the literally thousands
|
|
of predatory financial crimes which go unprosecuted -- and whose fruits go
|
|
unforfeited.
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
-4-
|
|
At the LEGISLATIVE LEVEL
|
|
------------------------
|
|
We must shower our timid lawmakers with letters and calls telling them to
|
|
abandon the heavy-handed "zero tolerance" drug policies of the Reagan/Bush
|
|
years and instead use our financial resources to provide drug education and
|
|
drug treatment on demand. An enlightened government would place more
|
|
financial emphasis on programs which reduce the demand for drugs by
|
|
improving the quality of life and hopes for the future.
|
|
|
|
We must let our representatives know that their constituents are fed up
|
|
with the costs, both economic and social, and the unmitigated failures of
|
|
the "War on Drugs". Just as alcohol prohibition proved to be a dismal and
|
|
expensive failure, leaving in its wake a well-financed criminal
|
|
underground, so has the "War on Drugs" with its impossible -- and yes,
|
|
hypocritical -- goal of a "drug-free" society.
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the JUDICIAL LEVEL
|
|
---------------------
|
|
We must first return to the judiciary the power to act independently.
|
|
Second, we must educate our judiciary to the clear failures of the war on
|
|
drugs, to their own complicity in these failures, and in the erosion of our
|
|
essential rights.
|
|
|
|
"CAPSIZE THE DRUG WAR IN '93" should be our theme for the coming year. We
|
|
need to make our leaders and the public at large understand that the
|
|
overzealous drug warriors have brought us to the very edge of a police
|
|
state, while exacerbating the problem and aiding only those who profit from
|
|
the "War on Drugs".
|
|
|
|
Despite millions of arrests and billions of dollars spent, the drug
|
|
warriors have failed to make a dent in the illegal drug trade. They have
|
|
only made it more profitable, while assuring that the most vicious and the
|
|
most desperate outlaws are responsible for the distribution of drugs in our
|
|
society.
|
|
|
|
With the proper knowledge, Americans can handle an environment which
|
|
includes not only alcohol and tobacco, but also those drugs preferred by
|
|
less traditional members of our society.
|
|
|
|
Inform yourself. Then pass it on where it will do some good. Write
|
|
letters, send telegrams, make phone calls. Tell our leaders that we will
|
|
support them if they choose to capsize the war on drugs.
|
|
|
|
January 1, 1993
|
|
Jeffrey Steinborn
|
|
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
-5-
|
|
|
|
3. New Years' Report from WASHINGTON CITIZENS FOR DRUG POLICY REFORM
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
by: Hal Nelson, Lenny Maughn, Joe and Jackie Nolze
|
|
|
|
"CHANGE" ... the buzzword of the 1992 elections becomes reality as we
|
|
slink into 1993. A re-drawn world map, the end of the Cold War, an economy
|
|
on the mend, and a renewed environmental concern loom on the horizon as we
|
|
reflect on the events of 1992:
|
|
|
|
Madonna's "SEX," L.A. riots
|
|
Ren & Stimpy, Murphy Brown's baby
|
|
Howard Stern, p-o-t-a-t-o-e
|
|
bungee jumping, Garth Brooks
|
|
Wayne's World, Farewells to Johnny Carson, Dennis Miller
|
|
"1492," and Ross Perot
|
|
Malcolm X, and Elvis still lives!
|
|
|
|
Here in the Evergreen State, the "Year of the Woman" brought us a new
|
|
Senator, the Erotic (censorship) Music Bill was shot down in flames, Grunge
|
|
Rock reigned supreme, and not a single bridge sank!
|
|
|
|
And in Seattle last April, a diverse group of Washingtonians came together
|
|
to DO SOMETHING about the misguided "War on Drugs". Agreeing that both
|
|
U.S. and State policies -- particularly regarding domestic marijuana
|
|
growers and users -- are counterproductive failures, a non-profit public-
|
|
service membership organization was born: Washington Citizens for Drug
|
|
Policy Reform.
|
|
|
|
The fledgling group immediately put its efforts into signature-gathering
|
|
for the Washington Cannabis Initiative. This measure would have forced a
|
|
statewide vote on limited legalization of cannabis/hemp/marijuana. By the
|
|
July deadline, just under half the required 150,001 signatures were
|
|
gathered: an impressive showing, considering the time and money
|
|
constraints.
|
|
|
|
With this experience behind us, WCDPR has laid the groundwork for the 1993
|
|
Cannabis Initiative. We expect the approved initiative back from the
|
|
Secretary of State in late January. An intensive statewide signature
|
|
gathering campaign will follow. With your help, the initiative can make it
|
|
on a November statewide ballot!
|
|
|
|
A New Year. A new Governor. A new President. A new opportunity to end
|
|
marijuana prohibition in Washington!
|
|
|
|
On January 20, in come Clinton and Gore, and out go 12 years of Republican
|
|
intolerance and the most invasive "War on Drugs" in history. In spite of
|
|
constitutional constraints, the GOP's futile war raged on: sting operations
|
|
and property forfeiture, mandatory minimum jail sentencing, "Zero
|
|
Tolerance", using the military in domestic law enforcement, and even a plan
|
|
to airlift millions of coco-eating moths to destroy the crop in Colombia!
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
-6-
|
|
|
|
The new administration will almost certainly bring more sense and
|
|
compassion to the still-raging "War on Drugs". While they have stated
|
|
their oppostion to outright legalization, Clinton and Gore bring a strong
|
|
mandate for change. And the last time a Democrat was president, a wave of
|
|
marijuana decriminalization swept the nation.
|
|
|
|
Realizing the absurdity of criminal (jail time) penalties for simple
|
|
possession of small amounts of marijuana, eleven states decriminalized this
|
|
infraction to a simple fine, about as serious as a parking ticket.
|
|
Marijuana use did not increase in these states and millions of law-
|
|
enforcement and judicial process dollars were saved. To this day, none of
|
|
these states (representing one-third of the population) have recriminalized
|
|
marijuana.
|
|
|
|
There is already one very promising sign from Clinton. His choice for
|
|
Surgeon General -- Dr. Joycelyn Elders -- advocates the medicinal use of
|
|
marijuana in treating glaucoma, and to relieve nausea and improve appetite
|
|
in patients with cancer or AIDS.
|
|
|
|
If physicians feel marijuana "would be beneficial for use by the patient,
|
|
it should be available," she says.
|
|
|
|
==============
|
|
LETS GET BUSY!
|
|
==============
|
|
|
|
We can't let the status quo of marijuana prohibition stand still amidst all
|
|
the changes taking place. We now have a unique opportunity to carry reform
|
|
across the threshold of change. The 1993 Cannabis Initiative must be on
|
|
the agenda of change. Discredited demagogic drivel about "drugs" must be
|
|
tossed out along with the Bush Administration.
|
|
|
|
Join us in making these changes a part of your New Year's "Revolution".
|
|
|
|
We need volunteers to gather signatures, for telemarketing and to help us
|
|
establish and strengthen new chapters of WCDPR. Thousands of copies of the
|
|
Initiative must be printed. Many long distance phone calls need to be
|
|
made. Transition teams must be contacted. Inquiries need following up.
|
|
|
|
The success of this effort is purely a function of available resources.
|
|
Please give as generously as you can and reach out to your friends and get
|
|
them to do likewise. Don't let this unique opportunity pass without being
|
|
a part of it.
|
|
|
|
Rights are not given: they are taken.
|
|
|
|
Freedom isn't free: it must be won, and re-won, again and again.
|
|
|
|
WCDPR, Seattle, New Years' Day, 1993
|
|
Hal Nelson, Executive Director
|
|
Joe and Jackie Nolze, Initiative Coordinators
|
|
Lenny Maughn, Board of Directors
|
|
|
|
===========================================================================
|
|
|
|
Here are some challenges that lie ahead:
|
|
----------------------------------------
|
|
This year, upon revision of laws and codes relating to cannabis, these
|
|
things will happen:
|
|
|
|
o Prisons will begin to release half a million offenders -- many now on
|
|
parole -- who have been impoverished by the arrests and incarceration
|
|
that altered their lives. Who will reach out to these people and help
|
|
them to get on with their lives? What new values can we share -- and
|
|
what new industries can we offer them to work in? Could retiring mili-
|
|
tary personnel provide the leadership needed to do this? Who would
|
|
pay for it?
|
|
|
|
o Many clearcut forestlands will never grow new trees. Yet hemp -- grown
|
|
densely for high tonnage per acre -- is an ideal raw material for
|
|
growing in the Northwest. It reconditions the soil and also generates
|
|
fiber and cellulose. It will supply the paper industry, the needs
|
|
of homebuilders, the food industry, the fuel industry .... and the high-
|
|
priced pharmaceutical industry to subsidize the others!. How can we get
|
|
this process started in time to provide all those new jobs? Who will
|
|
invest the funds needed to convert the industrial machinery -- to open
|
|
the new markets -- to research new uses -- to gain legislative support?
|
|
|
|
One final concern:
|
|
------------------
|
|
o Cannabis has been associated for so many years -- quite unjustly --
|
|
with "illegal, immoral and violent" activities, that many people fear
|
|
it will contaminate their communities, thwart their religious beliefs
|
|
and corrupt their children. How can we best deal with these puritanical
|
|
hassles? How can we educate people whose moral and ethical standards
|
|
impair their sound judgment and acceptance of change? Can we help to
|
|
reconcile the needs of people in our society who fear, abuse and
|
|
exploit cannabis hemp with the needs of people who know how to use it?
|
|
|
|
We need answers to these questions. Indoor planting time for Cannabis Hemp
|
|
is RIGHT NOW! Fields transplanted in late April or May should yield 4 to 8
|
|
tons per acre by August or September, with a second crop by November, if
|
|
harvested for biomass (fiber, pulp, fuel). The yield from that crop will
|
|
prove beyond any doubt that Cannabis Hemp is a viable industry.
|
|
|
|
Your prompt action will make this possible.
|
|
|
|
-- WASHINGTON CITIZENS FOR DRUG POLICY REFORM
|
|
Gerald X. Diamond, Technical Director
|
|
Fax replies to: 206-682-9937 Voicemail:206-227-4164
|
|
Snailmail: P.O. Box 1416, Renton WA 98057
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--- Mapped by Uucp-link (Mail-Uf 1.8h[BETA]) @ 1:1033/102.0
|
|
.PID: FredMail 1.8-BETA
|
|
--- TBBS v2.1/NM
|
|
* Origin: NY Transfer News Service. (718) 448-2358 (1:1033/0)
|
|
.SEEN-BY: 343/70 1033/0 1
|
|
.PATH: 1033/0
|
|
|
|
|