Wednesday, November 6, 2002

Stirring the Pot QUOTE OF THE DAY "Pot can get you through times of no money, way better than money gets you through times of no pot." - - An anonymous old hippie RHINO HERE: As I write this blog, it's too early to know what happened in the election, so I'm taking a sidetrack to what's obviously another hot topic in the U.S. I remember in the late '60's and early 70's, commiserating with friends who like myself, found the effects of smoking marijuana (no hangover, no vomiting, no aggressive behavior) superior to those of alcohol. We predicted that surely by the end of the 1970's, pot would be legal. Yet here we are some 3 decades later and there are still U.S. citizens being put behind bars for possession of marijuana, having been arrested, prosecuted, judged and guarded by people who drink booze and take uppers and downers to maintain their blood chemistry of choice. And many of our youth, when caught with even a small amount of pot, get a bad mark on their legal records that in some cases keep them from reaching the life goals they are capable of. If you didn't catch the November 4 issue of Time with the cover story entitled, "New Politics of Pot" you can track one down, or check out the excerpt below, and then click the link at the bottom which lets you access all the related stories in the issue: - How Marijuana Affects You; The positive and negative effects on the body - The Pot Debate; The Czar vs. the Pro-Pot Moneymen - Stirring the Pot; Marijuana legislation across the states Once at the Time cover story website, you can also vote in a poll that asks: - Should marijuana be legalized? Yes / No / Yes, but only medically VIEW ALL THE TIME POT ARTICLES AND VOTE IN THE POLL AT: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101021104/story.html Since Time didn't see fit to make the issue a scratch & sniff edition, you may want to light one before reading. If you're nervous cause it'd be your first time, I suggest tying your leg to your bedpost before proceeding. 9:16:05 AM    comment

The New Politics of Pot Can it go legit? How the people who brought you medical marijuana have set their sights on lifting the ban for everyone By Joel Stein, TIME MAGAZINE, November 4, 2002 The drug czar is ready for pro wrestling. He already has the name, and now he's got the prefight talk down cold. In every speech he makes in Nevada, where Bush appointee John Walters has traveled to fight an initiative that would legalize marijuana, he calls out his three sworn enemies as if he were Tupac Shakur. The czar has a problem with billionaire philanthropists George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling, who have bankrolled the pro-pot movement, and he wants everyone to know he's ready for battle. At an Elks lodge meeting in Las Vegas, he ticks off their names and says, "These people use ignorance and their overwhelming amount of money to influence the electorate. You don't hide behind money and refuse to talk and hire underlings and not stand up and speak for yourself," he says. By the end of a similar speech at a drug-treatment center in Reno, he says, "Let's stop hiding. I'm here. Where are you?" The czar is bringing it on. Before the new czar was appointed in December, it was the government's preference not to address the legalizers. But the pro-pot movement has gained so much ground they can't be ignored as a fringe element. Americans, it turns out, aren't conflicted in their attitude toward marijuana. They want it illegal but not really enforced. A Time/CNN poll last week found that only 34% want pot to be totally legalized (the percentage has almost doubled since 1986). But a vast majority have become mellow about official loopholes: 80% think it's O.K. to dispense pot for medical purposes, and 72% think people caught with it for recreational use should get off with only a fine. That seeming paradox has left a huge opening for pro-pot people to exploit. Eight states allow medical marijuana, and a handful of states have reduced the sentences for pot smokers to almost nothing. The midterm election Nov. 5 has lighted up the issue even more. While control of the House hangs in the balance and the race for the Senate is a dead heat, the political trend for marijuana is clear: support is gaining. The most interesting battles on the November ballot are over pot initiatives: to allow the city of San Francisco to grow and distribute medical marijuana, to replace jail with rehab in Ohio and decriminalize marijuana use in Arizona. VIEW ALL THE TIME POT ARTICLES AND VOTE IN THE POLL AT: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101021104/story.html Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ). All copyrights belong to original publisher. "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. Feedback is encouraged and can be emailed to him at: rhino@kifaru.com RHINO'S WEB SITES: http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207 (RHINO'S WEBLOG - PRESENT & PAST) http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) 9:08:41 AM    comment

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