Get Your Weed at Walmart

Well, not quite yet, but we will be there soon! It's time for the Full Court Press, non-stop, till ultimate victory is ours. Share an easy link to this post on Twitter, Facebook, etc!

http://bit.ly/WeedAtWalmart

1. Be Encouraged: 56% of likely voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana to address growing debt, rightsize prison populations, and free up law enforcement to protect us from dangerous, violent, actual criminals.
2. Read On, Listen, Learn.
• Read iGrow: "Walmart of weed" opens in Oakland
• Listen to The California Report: Pot on the Ballot Again (1 min 10 sec MP3)
• Watch Marijuana Legalization Hit the California Ballot This Year!
• Join Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar, "We always should have a debate."
• Support and Evangelize the Patient ID Center for 100% Legal Compliance
3. Take Action, Spread the Word.

Finally: never, ever, ever give up when your Cause is Just, your Mind is Educated, your Heart is Pure.

New Fed Guidelines ... Now What?

If you are reading this post, you are most likely aware that the Obama administration issued guidelines this week clearly stating that the federal government will not arrest medical marijuana patients or providers who comply with state law.

How can you help, you ask

For starters, you can help the Marijuana Policy Project build on this fantastic news by writing your members of Congress and asking them to make medical marijuana available nationwide. MPP has the form ready to go and its fast and easy to use.

Next, you can become more KNOWLEDGEABLE! Knowledge is power is not some cheap cliche! So please check out the links on this page and visit other sites to show your support.

Here is an excerpt from a great Wall Street Journal article that came out today.

"The guidelines do little to clarify the situation in California, where voters approved a medical-marijuana initiative in 1996 but rules vary widely by county. The regulations allow doctors to recommend pot for medical use and enable medical caregivers to provide pot, though not for a profit.

Since then, the state has largely left interpretation of the law to local agencies. As a result, the amount of medical marijuana a person may have -- and the ways in which the drug may be sold -- isn't consistent."

So look, listen, read and learn and stand up for your beliefs, after all, THEY CAN'T STOP US ALL!

Want to Commemorate 9/11? Legalize 4/20 for a Better World

But then, that's only a New Scientist's perspective, right?

Far from protecting us and our children, the war on drugs is making the world a much more dangerous place.

SO FAR this year, about 4000 people have died in Mexico's drugs war - a horrifying toll. If only a good fairy could wave a magic wand and make all illegal drugs disappear, the world would be a better place.

Dream on. Recreational drug use is as old as humanity, and has not been stopped by the most draconian laws. Given that drugs are here to stay, how do we limit the harm they do?

The evidence suggests most of the problems stem not from drugs themselves, but from the fact that they are illegal. The obvious answer, then, is to make them legal.

Read the rest of the article at New Scientist ...

Pot of confusion: Officials need to get a grip on medical pot law

Thanks to the ever courageous @dangillmor:

Colorado's medical marijuana law was passed NINE [FUCKING] YEARS AGO, but some municipalities are still grappling with it as if it's brand [FUCKING] new.

As of June 30, there were more than 8,900 patients with a medical marijuana registry card, which makes it legal for them to grow small amounts, buy marijuana from certain providers, and to use it to treat various diagnosed ailments.

More than 800 Colorado doctors have signed marijuana forms for their patients. For most patients, close to 90 percent, marijuana is used to relieve severe, debilitating pain.

So you'd think we'd have the hang of this.

But no.

You wonder where people suddenly contract Tourette Syndrome? Read the whole article here.

Marijuana Nation: The War is Simply Over

From Marijuana Nation:

New CBS News Poll Finding 41% Now Support Legalization. That's even more than in a CBS News poll in March when 31 percent said they were in favor of legalization in all cases with another seven percent saying they would favor legalization if marijuana were taxed and the money went to projects

The biggest shortcoming of this coverage is that it seeks to revive the War Narrative that has caused the vast majority of the damage to human lives in the first place. Let's move on. The war is simply over.

The puritans fought the weed and the weed won.

Read the Never-Before-Published Letter From LSD-Inventor Albert Hofmann to Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has never been shy about his use of psychedelics, famously calling his LSD experience "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." So, toward the end of his life, LSD inventor Albert Hofmann decided to write to the iPhone creator to see if he'd be interested in putting some money where the tip of his tongue had been.

Be sure to also read the comments and chime in on Anthony Citrano's Friendfeed thread.

More Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Than Starbucks

From American Public Media's Marketplace Money:

"In some Los Angeles neighborhoods, there are more medical marijuana dispensaries than there are Starbucks or McDonald's. Most sell more varieties of weed than Baskin-Robbins has ice cream flavors."

Supreme Court of the United States Bitch-Slaps San Diego into Reality

Let's allow Google News 154+ Results for the query supreme court san diego medical marijuana do the talking.

And we're fecking MOVING HERE.

Can you say, "We Owe It To The People to go next door and blow our Legal Pain Relief from arthritis and Dupuytren's Disease right into the face of these deliverance backwater assholes?"

I knew you could.

Gizmodo - Taking the $670 Volcano Vaporizer for a Test Drive

The rich even have their own, paraphernalia, utterly inaccessible to the commoner. On the other hand, if volume of sales brings prices down to $99, what does that further say about The Almighty Market's opinion about retarded marijuana laws?

When it comes to smoking, you can settle for a pipe or rolling papers. Or you can drop $670 on a Volcano Vaporizer, the king of all paraphernalia. We took one for a test run.

Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy?

By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles Friday, Mar. 13, 2009

"Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale — a move that could mean billions of dollars for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion a year in sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity — milk and cream — which brings in $7.3 billion a year, according to the most recent USDA statistics."

"Ammiano may be right. A few days after he introduced the bill, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that states should be able to make their own rules for medical marijuana and that federal raids on pot dispensaries in California would cease. The move signaled a softening of the hard-line approach to medicinal pot use previous Administrations have taken. The nomination of Gil Kerlikowske as the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy may also signal a softer federal line on marijuana. If he is confirmed as the so-called drug czar, Kerlikowske will take with him experience as police chief of Seattle, where he made it clear that going after people for possessing marijuana was not a priority for his force."

Related articles by Zemanta

• Debating the Decriminalization of Marijuana (laist.com)
• Kerlikowske to Drug Czar -- And What is the Drug Czar's Job, Anyway? (druglaw.typepad.com)
• Likely New Drug Czar Favors Intervention Over Arrests (alan.com)
• California measure to legalize and tax pot (boingboing.net)
• Legalizing Marijuana in California Could Be Good for the Environment (treehugger.com)
• Is California About To Legalize Marijuana? (dvorak.org)

Game, Set, Match: The Economist says LEGALIZE NOW

"Prohibition has failed; legalisation is the least bad solution." - The Economist, March 5, 2009:

The evidence of failure
"Nowadays the UN Office on Drugs and Crime no longer talks about a drug-free world. Its boast is that the drug market has “stabilised”, meaning that more than 200m people, or almost 5% of the world’s adult population, still take illegal drugs—roughly the same proportion as a decade ago. (Like most purported drug facts, this one is just an educated guess: evidential rigour is another casualty of illegality.) The production of cocaine and opium is probably about the same as it was a decade ago; that of cannabis is higher."



In sum, the Economist councils that, "By providing honest information about the health risks of different drugs, and pricing them accordingly, governments could steer consumers towards the least harmful ones. [The Economist] first argued for legalisation 20 years ago (see article). Reviewing the evidence again (see article), prohibition seems even more harmful, especially for the poor and weak of the world. Legalisation would not drive gangsters completely out of drugs; as with alcohol and cigarettes, there would be taxes to avoid and rules to subvert. Nor would it automatically cure failed states like Afghanistan. Our solution is a messy one; but a century of manifest failure argues for trying it."

San Francisco Cannabis Freedom Day, May 2, 2009

San Francisco Cannabis Freedom Day

• Saturday, May 2, 2009, 12:00 noon
• Joseph Alioto Civic Center Plaza - across from SF City Hall
• Vendor reservations and volunteer sign ups or call 415.456.4313
• Live music from 1 pm to 6:30 pm featuring: Nick Gravenites and Animal Mind,The Mermen, The Pyrx Band, Bluesetta Band, The Miles Schon Band, special guests
• Speakers include Ed Rosenthal, Dr. Michael and Michelle Aldrich, Lynnette Shaw

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Are the raids completely over?

I want to believe it, but after nearly 40 years fighting this battle and a lifetime of lies from the powers that be, I'm still skeptical. It's great news, if it's really true this time. I'd like to see some previously convicted dispensary owners RELEASED to really validate this and make it real.

February 26, 2009 Huffington Post:

Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference Wednesday that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that are established legally under state law. His declaration is a fulfillment of a campaign promise by President Barack Obama, and marks a major shift from the previous administration.

After the inauguration, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continued to carry out such raids, despite Obama's promise. Holder was asked if those raids represented American policy going forward.

"No," he said. "What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing in law enforcement. He was my boss during the campaign. He is formally and technically and by law my boss now. What he said during the campaign is now American policy."

March 9, 2009 LA Times:

The federal switch on raiding medical marijuana dispensaries is a good first step, but a more comprehensive policy is needed.

More news research:

• Google News
• Yahoo News
• CANorml Coverage