From The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws:
Without a doubt, the landslide winner on Election Day was marijuana law reform. We legalized an adult's right to consume marijuana in Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and California. We legalized patients' access in Arkansas and North Dakota, and we expanded their access in Florida and Montana. With resounding victories in red and blue states, it is clear that marijuana legalization enjoys mainstream, bipartisan support among the American people.
Over 20 percent of Americans reside in jurisdictions where the adult use of marijuana is legal. Well over half of US states now authorize the medical use of marijuana. But we must sustain these gains.
Now is the time to double down in our reform efforts. Not only do we need to ensure that our hard fought victories are upheld, but we also must push forward to expand the marijuana revolution elsewhere.
Our work is far from done and NORML plans on fighting harder than ever before to ensure that responsible marijuana consumers like you no longer face prosecution, stigmatization, or discrimination. But we need your help to ensure 2017 is our most successful year yet.
Your donation helps us mobilize the grassroots in cities and states to apply pressure to elected officials, to buy advertising to increase citizens awareness of the benefits of legalization, to provide legal support to assure that these new laws are implemented in a timely and proper manner, to host educational events across the country to defeat the reefer madness rhetoric being spread by the likes of Project SAM and Kevin Sabet, and to have a potent presence in Washington, DC to lobby Congress and the incoming administration to not upend these successful state programs and to amend federal law to comport with marijuana's rapidly changing legal and cultural status.
Can we count on you to stand with us?
Thanks to NORML and other organizations nationwide that got recreational or medical marijuana legalized in their states. As the newsletter states we had a lot of problems with the prohibitionists but we overcame them and we prevailed. We prevailed over a mountain of lies and scare tactics that in the light of reason are a spit in the face in the intelligence of the American voter and the American voters saw through their lies and deceptions. The only place that failed to get recreational marijuana passed was Arizona. Perhaps next time NORML can concentrate on getting recreational marijuana legalized there as well. No one should be arrested,prosecuted and incarcerated for marijuana. No one.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
2016 election results
First of all congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump. We men joined together to send Killary the evil witch packing. I don't know where she is going but I know one place she ain't going and that is back to the White House. Feminists were backing Hillary and they ate a big bowl of shit. The difference between the two rallies was as different as night and day. The Trump rally upbeat and optimistic while the Clinton rally you could here people crying.
Not only have we chosen a new President we have chosen to repeal old archaic marijuana laws. Five states have gone for full legalization: Arizona,California,Maine,Massachusetts and Nevada. While other states are trying to legalize medical marijuana: Arkansas,Florida,Montana and North Dakota. Only the proposition in Arizona went down in flames. All the rest past. Yesterday 4 out of 5 states told the federal government to stuff their prohibition and 4 states decided that they would give medical marijuana a try. Yesterday was truly an historic day.
Not only have we chosen a new President we have chosen to repeal old archaic marijuana laws. Five states have gone for full legalization: Arizona,California,Maine,Massachusetts and Nevada. While other states are trying to legalize medical marijuana: Arkansas,Florida,Montana and North Dakota. Only the proposition in Arizona went down in flames. All the rest past. Yesterday 4 out of 5 states told the federal government to stuff their prohibition and 4 states decided that they would give medical marijuana a try. Yesterday was truly an historic day.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Top ten reasons to legalize marijuana
Are you one of the almost 57 million Americans living in a state that’s voting on marijuana legalization this Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016? Your vote YES may help end the criminality of marijuana for over one out of six Americans, bringing the total to almost one out of four Americans who will live in a legal state.
Here are the ten best reasons to help convince your friends and family to do the right thing and vote YES on legalization:
1) Legalized Marijuana is Safer than Alcohol and Tobacco
How did we end up in a society where the two most damaging drugs—alcohol and tobacco—are the two legal ones? There are over a half-million deaths annually from those two substances. They also lead to countless illnesses and injuries that affect society in health-care costs, lost productivity, and law-enforcement expenses.
Marijuana is non-toxic and has never caused a fatal overdose in over 7,000 years of recorded human use. Its greatest harm is the arrest, incarceration, and lifelong hurdles created by prohibition. Opponents worry about “putting a third legal drug on the menu,” as if marijuana isn’t already the third-most popular drug used in America. It’s already on the menu; you just have to commit a crime to order it.
2) Marijuana Prohibition is a Costly Failure
Next year is the 80th anniversary of the Marihuana Tax Act, our first nationwide attempt to suppress pot smoking. Back then, maybe a few hundred thousand people nationwide were “smoking reefers”. Today, it’s more likely than not that someone under age 50 has tried pot and there are over 30 million Americans consuming cannabis on a regular basis—whether it is “on the menu” or not.
The costs of this counter-productive prohibition are staggering. Since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, over 25 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations, costing us over $1 trillion to prosecute. But in the four states that have legalized, marijuana arrests have plummeted, crime has decreased, and youth use hasn’t budged.
3) Marijuana Prohibition Funds Gangs, Cartels, & Terrorists
The drug trade has long been a source of income for organized crime. But now that four states have legalized marijuana; their domestic product is beating imported Mexican marijuana in both price and quality. Mexican farmers growing for the vicious violent drug cartels have seen their returns drop from $100 per kilo to under $25.
Legalization isn’t going to put the cartels out of business—they’re criminals who will turn to other crimes for their funding. But we can take from them the market for the most widely-used drug and shrink their customer base substantially.
Heres another way to look at it: Why should we continue to give business opportunities to violent criminals who don’t pay taxes and follow no regulations?
4) Marijuana Prohibition Hurts Youth & Minorities Most
America is coming to grips with institutional racism in our criminal-justice system. Marijuana prohibition has been a prime factor in fueling that racism. African-Americans are four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana violations, even though they use and sell marijuana at about the same rates.
Marijuana prohibition sets up an incentive for police to make easy arrests and reap forfeiture and drug grant dollars. This, in turn, leads police to concentrate on minority neighborhoods where pot smokers are more easily caught and have fewer resources to fight the charges. This contributes to the cycle of distrust between minority communities and the police. Legalization won’t fix bad racist cops, but it will provide them far less opportunity to act on their racism.
5) Legalized Marijuana Protects Kids Better Than Prohibition
For the past forty years, the Monitoring the Future survey has asked high school seniors how easy it would be for them to get a bag of pot. For forty years, the answer has consistently been between 80 to 91 percent of them claiming access to marijuana was either “easy” or “fairly easy.” That’s because weed dealers don’t check ID and don’t lose a license if they’re caught selling to a kid.
Nothing’s ever going to stop a determined kid from finding a joint, any more than kids today aren’t completely stopped from accessing alcohol and tobacco. But with those drugs, somewhere along the line a corrupt adult had to be involved. Now, kids sell weed to other kids. Legalization moves weed sales into secure, adults-only stores and reduces the profit potential for illegal sales. (When’s the last time you saw a high school tequila dealer?) Last year, with four legalized states, was the first year ever that “easy” access to weed for 12th graders dropped below 80 percent.
6) Legalized Marijuana is a Safe Therapeutic Supplement
While half the states have initiated protections for medical use of marijuana, that doesn’t legalize the use of marijuana by patients. Even in California, where nearly anybody can get a medical marijuana recommendation and possession of less than an ounce is just a $100 ticket, there are still over 2,000 people a year who go to jail for marijuana alone, serving an average of over five months in a cage.
That’s because doctor’s visits and medical cards cost money; it costs upwards of $400 in some states to qualify and register for a medical marijuana card. Why should a disabled person in poverty or a sick person suffering a condition not covered by law be treated as a criminal for using an herb safer than over-the-counter aspirin or cough syrup?
7) Legalized Marijuana Replaces Toxic, Addictive Pharmaceuticals
America is suffering from an opioid overdose epidemic. Legal pharmaceutical drugs kill more people annually than all illegal drugs combined. Marijuana is an herb one can grow at little cost and use to replace over 17 popular pharmaceutical medications. Legalizing marijuana will literally save the lives of countless patients.
The pharmaceutical industry knows this. That’s why Big Pharma has been funding anti-pot campaigns. This election, one of them, Insys Pharmaceuticals, has donated a half-million dollars to defeat legalization in Arizona. They’re a maker of Fentanyl, the opioid painkiller that took Prince’s life and is 100 times more powerful that heroin, and are seeking patents on synthetic cannabinoid drugs they’re researching.
8) Legalized Marijuana Opens the Possibilities of Industrial Hemp
The demonization of marijuana is so entrenched in America that we even ban the non-psychoactive variety known as industrial hemp. We are one of the few countries in the world engaged in the lunacy of banning a plant because it looks like one that gets you high.
It’s a little like banning powdered sugar because it resembles cocaine!
While many states have passed laws allowing for industrial hemp cultivation and the federal government has passed laws allowing that to happen, these are all work-arounds for a crop that our Founding Fathers grew freely and copiously. Marijuana legalization will help open up the uses of hemp from food to fuel, fiber to medicine, building material to revolutionary energy technologies and more.
9) Legalized Marijuana Raises Millions in New Tax Revenue
Legalization doesn’t invent marijuana; it just recognizes that it is a popular commodity that should be taxed and regulated like all other commodities. The market for marijuana is never going to go away; we can only determine who controls most of it—taxpaying, job-creating, law-abiding businesses, or murderous, police-corrupting, criminal cartels.
Prohibition doesn’t control marijuana—prohibition is the absence of control. States under prohibition gain nothing from it and spend money, time, and resources enforcing it. The four states that have legalized marijuana have already reaped over $200 million in combined tax revenue, while saving money in the police department, courts, prisons, parole and probation offices, and other agencies that are burdened by pot prosecutions.
10)Legalized Marijuana Works!
It’s not 2009 anymore. Legalization of marijuana isn’t some hypothetical policy proposal—we’ve done it already in four other states. We had some initial difficulties concerning kids and edibles, but those have been addressed through education, labeling, and packaging changes the newly-legalizing states will adopt as well. Meanwhile, the older folks that legalization was intended for have increased their use substantially.
But despite putting legal marijuana “on the menu,” the roads are safer than ever, overall driving fatalities are down, workplace productivity is up, problematic dependence on marijuana is unchanged, and millions of dollars in tax revenue are rolling in. In Colorado alone, legalization has created over 18,000 jobs and contributed over $2.5 billion to the state economy.
Source
Here are the ten best reasons to help convince your friends and family to do the right thing and vote YES on legalization:
1) Legalized Marijuana is Safer than Alcohol and Tobacco
How did we end up in a society where the two most damaging drugs—alcohol and tobacco—are the two legal ones? There are over a half-million deaths annually from those two substances. They also lead to countless illnesses and injuries that affect society in health-care costs, lost productivity, and law-enforcement expenses.
Marijuana is non-toxic and has never caused a fatal overdose in over 7,000 years of recorded human use. Its greatest harm is the arrest, incarceration, and lifelong hurdles created by prohibition. Opponents worry about “putting a third legal drug on the menu,” as if marijuana isn’t already the third-most popular drug used in America. It’s already on the menu; you just have to commit a crime to order it.
2) Marijuana Prohibition is a Costly Failure
Next year is the 80th anniversary of the Marihuana Tax Act, our first nationwide attempt to suppress pot smoking. Back then, maybe a few hundred thousand people nationwide were “smoking reefers”. Today, it’s more likely than not that someone under age 50 has tried pot and there are over 30 million Americans consuming cannabis on a regular basis—whether it is “on the menu” or not.
The costs of this counter-productive prohibition are staggering. Since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, over 25 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations, costing us over $1 trillion to prosecute. But in the four states that have legalized, marijuana arrests have plummeted, crime has decreased, and youth use hasn’t budged.
3) Marijuana Prohibition Funds Gangs, Cartels, & Terrorists
The drug trade has long been a source of income for organized crime. But now that four states have legalized marijuana; their domestic product is beating imported Mexican marijuana in both price and quality. Mexican farmers growing for the vicious violent drug cartels have seen their returns drop from $100 per kilo to under $25.
Legalization isn’t going to put the cartels out of business—they’re criminals who will turn to other crimes for their funding. But we can take from them the market for the most widely-used drug and shrink their customer base substantially.
Heres another way to look at it: Why should we continue to give business opportunities to violent criminals who don’t pay taxes and follow no regulations?
4) Marijuana Prohibition Hurts Youth & Minorities Most
America is coming to grips with institutional racism in our criminal-justice system. Marijuana prohibition has been a prime factor in fueling that racism. African-Americans are four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana violations, even though they use and sell marijuana at about the same rates.
Marijuana prohibition sets up an incentive for police to make easy arrests and reap forfeiture and drug grant dollars. This, in turn, leads police to concentrate on minority neighborhoods where pot smokers are more easily caught and have fewer resources to fight the charges. This contributes to the cycle of distrust between minority communities and the police. Legalization won’t fix bad racist cops, but it will provide them far less opportunity to act on their racism.
5) Legalized Marijuana Protects Kids Better Than Prohibition
For the past forty years, the Monitoring the Future survey has asked high school seniors how easy it would be for them to get a bag of pot. For forty years, the answer has consistently been between 80 to 91 percent of them claiming access to marijuana was either “easy” or “fairly easy.” That’s because weed dealers don’t check ID and don’t lose a license if they’re caught selling to a kid.
Nothing’s ever going to stop a determined kid from finding a joint, any more than kids today aren’t completely stopped from accessing alcohol and tobacco. But with those drugs, somewhere along the line a corrupt adult had to be involved. Now, kids sell weed to other kids. Legalization moves weed sales into secure, adults-only stores and reduces the profit potential for illegal sales. (When’s the last time you saw a high school tequila dealer?) Last year, with four legalized states, was the first year ever that “easy” access to weed for 12th graders dropped below 80 percent.
6) Legalized Marijuana is a Safe Therapeutic Supplement
While half the states have initiated protections for medical use of marijuana, that doesn’t legalize the use of marijuana by patients. Even in California, where nearly anybody can get a medical marijuana recommendation and possession of less than an ounce is just a $100 ticket, there are still over 2,000 people a year who go to jail for marijuana alone, serving an average of over five months in a cage.
That’s because doctor’s visits and medical cards cost money; it costs upwards of $400 in some states to qualify and register for a medical marijuana card. Why should a disabled person in poverty or a sick person suffering a condition not covered by law be treated as a criminal for using an herb safer than over-the-counter aspirin or cough syrup?
7) Legalized Marijuana Replaces Toxic, Addictive Pharmaceuticals
America is suffering from an opioid overdose epidemic. Legal pharmaceutical drugs kill more people annually than all illegal drugs combined. Marijuana is an herb one can grow at little cost and use to replace over 17 popular pharmaceutical medications. Legalizing marijuana will literally save the lives of countless patients.
The pharmaceutical industry knows this. That’s why Big Pharma has been funding anti-pot campaigns. This election, one of them, Insys Pharmaceuticals, has donated a half-million dollars to defeat legalization in Arizona. They’re a maker of Fentanyl, the opioid painkiller that took Prince’s life and is 100 times more powerful that heroin, and are seeking patents on synthetic cannabinoid drugs they’re researching.
8) Legalized Marijuana Opens the Possibilities of Industrial Hemp
The demonization of marijuana is so entrenched in America that we even ban the non-psychoactive variety known as industrial hemp. We are one of the few countries in the world engaged in the lunacy of banning a plant because it looks like one that gets you high.
It’s a little like banning powdered sugar because it resembles cocaine!
While many states have passed laws allowing for industrial hemp cultivation and the federal government has passed laws allowing that to happen, these are all work-arounds for a crop that our Founding Fathers grew freely and copiously. Marijuana legalization will help open up the uses of hemp from food to fuel, fiber to medicine, building material to revolutionary energy technologies and more.
9) Legalized Marijuana Raises Millions in New Tax Revenue
Legalization doesn’t invent marijuana; it just recognizes that it is a popular commodity that should be taxed and regulated like all other commodities. The market for marijuana is never going to go away; we can only determine who controls most of it—taxpaying, job-creating, law-abiding businesses, or murderous, police-corrupting, criminal cartels.
Prohibition doesn’t control marijuana—prohibition is the absence of control. States under prohibition gain nothing from it and spend money, time, and resources enforcing it. The four states that have legalized marijuana have already reaped over $200 million in combined tax revenue, while saving money in the police department, courts, prisons, parole and probation offices, and other agencies that are burdened by pot prosecutions.
10)Legalized Marijuana Works!
It’s not 2009 anymore. Legalization of marijuana isn’t some hypothetical policy proposal—we’ve done it already in four other states. We had some initial difficulties concerning kids and edibles, but those have been addressed through education, labeling, and packaging changes the newly-legalizing states will adopt as well. Meanwhile, the older folks that legalization was intended for have increased their use substantially.
But despite putting legal marijuana “on the menu,” the roads are safer than ever, overall driving fatalities are down, workplace productivity is up, problematic dependence on marijuana is unchanged, and millions of dollars in tax revenue are rolling in. In Colorado alone, legalization has created over 18,000 jobs and contributed over $2.5 billion to the state economy.
Source
Rainbow mafia wants to ram through Merrick Garland's SCOTUS nomination
From Public Advocate:
I have terrible news to report.
The radical Homosexual Lobby is preparing to launch a massive blitz during the lame duck session to confirm their hand-picked Supreme Court Justice, Merrick Garland.
And, unfortunately, many weak-kneed Senators are ready to concede the fight -- even before the next President takes office.
In fact, many of them are already dropping like flies.
Sen. Mark Kirk and Sen. Susan Collins both immediately backed Garland.
While others, like Sen. Jerry Moran, have changed their position almost weekly.
This shows how contested the battle for the U.S. Supreme Court is, and why every signed petition matters!
And with just days remaining before the elections, Senators facing re-election are more vulnerable to constituent input.
That's why it's crucial you sign your "Hold the Line" petition to your U.S. Senators right away.
If you've already signed, please forward this email to every like-minded friend and family member and consider chipping in $10 or $25 right away.
You see, I predicted any nomination by Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court would be first approved by the radical Homosexual Lobby.
And as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Garland has already voted to destroy Religious Liberty.
In the case, Priests for Life v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Garland voted to force Priests for Life to comply with the ObamaCare "morning after pill" mandate against their deeply-held religious beliefs.
It's clear pro-Family Americans can't count on Garland to defend Religious Liberty.
That's why it's important the Senate refuses to confirm his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can be sure Obama and the radical Homosexual Lobby will be bringing the hammer down during the lame duck session over the holiday season.
As most Americans are focused on time with their families -- rightfully so -- it's also when the Homosexual Lobby is at its strongest.
That's why it's crucial I fight back by delivering a mountain-high stack of petitions opposing Obama's radical pick.
If Public Advocate is unable to deliver thousands of petitions, I'm afraid the Homosexual Lobby's entire radical Agenda may be forced into law by judicial activism.
That's why I hope you'll forward this email to everyone you know and chip in $10 or $25 right away so I can immediately collect petitions from like-minded Americans.
Thank you for all that you do.
For the Family,
HON. EUGENE DELGAUDIO
President, Public Advocate of the U.S.
P.S. The radical Homosexual Lobby is scheming to pressure the U.S. Senate into confirming Obama's radical pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, during the upcoming lame duck session.
It's up to you and me to respond immediately by delivering thousands of petitions from pro-Family Americans.
Please click here to sign your "Hold the Line" petition to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and your U.S. Senators right away.
If you've already signed, please forward this email to friends and family members and consider chipping in $10 or $25 right away so I can immediately collect petitions from like-minded Americans.
I have terrible news to report.
The radical Homosexual Lobby is preparing to launch a massive blitz during the lame duck session to confirm their hand-picked Supreme Court Justice, Merrick Garland.
And, unfortunately, many weak-kneed Senators are ready to concede the fight -- even before the next President takes office.
In fact, many of them are already dropping like flies.
Sen. Mark Kirk and Sen. Susan Collins both immediately backed Garland.
While others, like Sen. Jerry Moran, have changed their position almost weekly.
This shows how contested the battle for the U.S. Supreme Court is, and why every signed petition matters!
And with just days remaining before the elections, Senators facing re-election are more vulnerable to constituent input.
That's why it's crucial you sign your "Hold the Line" petition to your U.S. Senators right away.
If you've already signed, please forward this email to every like-minded friend and family member and consider chipping in $10 or $25 right away.
You see, I predicted any nomination by Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court would be first approved by the radical Homosexual Lobby.
And as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Garland has already voted to destroy Religious Liberty.
In the case, Priests for Life v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Garland voted to force Priests for Life to comply with the ObamaCare "morning after pill" mandate against their deeply-held religious beliefs.
It's clear pro-Family Americans can't count on Garland to defend Religious Liberty.
That's why it's important the Senate refuses to confirm his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can be sure Obama and the radical Homosexual Lobby will be bringing the hammer down during the lame duck session over the holiday season.
As most Americans are focused on time with their families -- rightfully so -- it's also when the Homosexual Lobby is at its strongest.
That's why it's crucial I fight back by delivering a mountain-high stack of petitions opposing Obama's radical pick.
If Public Advocate is unable to deliver thousands of petitions, I'm afraid the Homosexual Lobby's entire radical Agenda may be forced into law by judicial activism.
That's why I hope you'll forward this email to everyone you know and chip in $10 or $25 right away so I can immediately collect petitions from like-minded Americans.
Thank you for all that you do.
For the Family,
HON. EUGENE DELGAUDIO
President, Public Advocate of the U.S.
P.S. The radical Homosexual Lobby is scheming to pressure the U.S. Senate into confirming Obama's radical pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, during the upcoming lame duck session.
It's up to you and me to respond immediately by delivering thousands of petitions from pro-Family Americans.
Please click here to sign your "Hold the Line" petition to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and your U.S. Senators right away.
If you've already signed, please forward this email to friends and family members and consider chipping in $10 or $25 right away so I can immediately collect petitions from like-minded Americans.
Meet the Marijuana Lifers California’s Prop 64 Could Set Free
California’s Proposition 64—The Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA)—is a 62-page manifesto of government over-regulation. But ultimately, as the founder and director of the Marijuana Lifer Project, a non-profit organization that advocates for federal prisoners serving life sentences, I decided to vote yes because the initiative does a lot of good.
Under Prop 64, most marijuana felonies in the state of California will become misdemeanors, and that applies retroactively. This means state marijuana prisoners get an immediate chance at release. But even beyond state prisoners, this law will also help some federal prisoners.
One such inmate is Corvain Cooper, 37, serving a sentence of life without parole (LWOP) for a nonviolent marijuana conspiracy. Two California state priors for marijuana helped prosecutors win that harsh sentence in federal court. However, if Prop 64 passes, Corvain’s prior felonies would become misdemeanors, and he would no longer qualify for a life sentence.
Corvain Cooper prays to be reunited with his family. Prop 64 could help him get out of jail.
“I pray every night for the passage of this law,” Cooper said. “My daughters are depending on it, and I am tired of lying to them about when I am coming home. I want people to understand that their vote can give so many people a second chance at life. It gives me a second chance at life, and gives my daughters a second chance to spend the rest of their lives with their dad.”
Prop 64 will also help medical marijuana provider and federal prisoner Dustin Costa, 70, who has a prior cultivation felony in California on his record. As a marijuana activist, Costa expressed reservations about the initiative, but like me, ultimately came down on the pro side.
“I haven’t read Prop 64, but from what I’ve heard, it is pretty restrictive,” said Costa. “Nevertheless, its passage would legalize a drug that has been maligned for upwards of a century. What that means is that the public will finally have the opportunity for a fact-based learning experience. As for Prop 64 not going far enough, I think a better way to view it is as a pathway to understanding and thus a baby step toward full acceptance. I would vote for it on that basis alone, despite its shortcomings.”
Corvain Cooper and Dustin Costa have vested interests in the passage of Prop 64, but I wondered how other federal marijuana inmates, who would not be directly impacted, felt about activists encouraging people to vote against a legalization bill, regardless of how bad the bill might be.
Paul Free and Corvain Cooper in USP Atwater where they are serving life without parole for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Paul Free, 66, also serving LWOP in USP Atwater along with Corvain Cooper, believes Prop 64’s passage will hasten prohibition’s end.
“If California—a state that’s the 6th largest economy in the world—legalizes, the feds are going to have to do something,” Free said.
John Knock doesn’t deserve to live his life in a cage for pot.
John Knock, 69, a first time offender sentenced to TWO life sentences for marijuana, echoed those sentiments: “Old hippies tend to think things should be perfect. In politics, that just doesn’t happen. The sooner it is passed the better it will be for all.”
Edwin Rubis, 48, who has already served 18 years of a 40-year sentence, had strong opinions.
“I believe that activists who are willing to wait longer for a better bill are not participating in their call to legalize marijuana,” Rubis said. “Any step is progress and to take a neutral or negative stance only adds to the severity of injustice. Failure to act in the affirmative is to cede that marijuana should remain illegal and thus, those of us incarcerated remain as is.”
Edwin Rubis has already served 18 years in jail for cannabis. Waiting for a perfect initiative is not a luxury he can afford. It was difficult for the prisoners I spoke with, some of whom have been waiting decades for a chance at freedom, to understand how and why the issue of legalizing marijuana has become as contentious to cannabis activists in California as the presidential election is to the general public.
Waiting for perfect bills is simply not a luxury any of these men can afford.
John Knock summed up the perspective well.
“The Union was designed for one state to try something and the rest to learn from that,” he said. “Colorado did it and now it’s time for California to step up, even if it is not perfect. What, if anything, is?”
Source
Under Prop 64, most marijuana felonies in the state of California will become misdemeanors, and that applies retroactively. This means state marijuana prisoners get an immediate chance at release. But even beyond state prisoners, this law will also help some federal prisoners.
One such inmate is Corvain Cooper, 37, serving a sentence of life without parole (LWOP) for a nonviolent marijuana conspiracy. Two California state priors for marijuana helped prosecutors win that harsh sentence in federal court. However, if Prop 64 passes, Corvain’s prior felonies would become misdemeanors, and he would no longer qualify for a life sentence.
Corvain Cooper prays to be reunited with his family. Prop 64 could help him get out of jail.
“I pray every night for the passage of this law,” Cooper said. “My daughters are depending on it, and I am tired of lying to them about when I am coming home. I want people to understand that their vote can give so many people a second chance at life. It gives me a second chance at life, and gives my daughters a second chance to spend the rest of their lives with their dad.”
Prop 64 will also help medical marijuana provider and federal prisoner Dustin Costa, 70, who has a prior cultivation felony in California on his record. As a marijuana activist, Costa expressed reservations about the initiative, but like me, ultimately came down on the pro side.
“I haven’t read Prop 64, but from what I’ve heard, it is pretty restrictive,” said Costa. “Nevertheless, its passage would legalize a drug that has been maligned for upwards of a century. What that means is that the public will finally have the opportunity for a fact-based learning experience. As for Prop 64 not going far enough, I think a better way to view it is as a pathway to understanding and thus a baby step toward full acceptance. I would vote for it on that basis alone, despite its shortcomings.”
Corvain Cooper and Dustin Costa have vested interests in the passage of Prop 64, but I wondered how other federal marijuana inmates, who would not be directly impacted, felt about activists encouraging people to vote against a legalization bill, regardless of how bad the bill might be.
Paul Free and Corvain Cooper in USP Atwater where they are serving life without parole for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Paul Free, 66, also serving LWOP in USP Atwater along with Corvain Cooper, believes Prop 64’s passage will hasten prohibition’s end.
“If California—a state that’s the 6th largest economy in the world—legalizes, the feds are going to have to do something,” Free said.
John Knock doesn’t deserve to live his life in a cage for pot.
John Knock, 69, a first time offender sentenced to TWO life sentences for marijuana, echoed those sentiments: “Old hippies tend to think things should be perfect. In politics, that just doesn’t happen. The sooner it is passed the better it will be for all.”
Edwin Rubis, 48, who has already served 18 years of a 40-year sentence, had strong opinions.
“I believe that activists who are willing to wait longer for a better bill are not participating in their call to legalize marijuana,” Rubis said. “Any step is progress and to take a neutral or negative stance only adds to the severity of injustice. Failure to act in the affirmative is to cede that marijuana should remain illegal and thus, those of us incarcerated remain as is.”
Edwin Rubis has already served 18 years in jail for cannabis. Waiting for a perfect initiative is not a luxury he can afford. It was difficult for the prisoners I spoke with, some of whom have been waiting decades for a chance at freedom, to understand how and why the issue of legalizing marijuana has become as contentious to cannabis activists in California as the presidential election is to the general public.
Waiting for perfect bills is simply not a luxury any of these men can afford.
John Knock summed up the perspective well.
“The Union was designed for one state to try something and the rest to learn from that,” he said. “Colorado did it and now it’s time for California to step up, even if it is not perfect. What, if anything, is?”
Source
Legalization takes a bite out of organized crime
As the flow of cartel brick weed into the U.S. dwindles to due further legalization measures, the phenomenon of smuggling California pot southbound to Mexico has arisen.
The abundance of high-quality legal marijuana in California has created a demand in Mexico that local cartels can’t supply with their own homegrown product, reports KQED.
“If you’re in Mexico, and you want the best marijuana out there, there’s only one place to get it,” said Matthew Shapiro, a San Diego-based attorney specializing in marijuana, to KQED. “There’s no such thing as high-quality Mexican weed.”
Although smuggling drugs from either side of the border is both illegal and risky, southbound smuggling into Mexico is much easier, as drivers can sometimes cross the Tijuana border without ever stopping for Mexican officials.
Experts on both sides of the border believe that the demand for California pot in Mexico will rise if the state passes the proposition 64 initiative to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use.
“They can get it easily in the U.S., and they bring it back with them in small quantities — generally for their own consumption,” clinic director Raul Palacios said to KQED. “I don’t doubt that they share it with their friends, but not on a large scale.”
American marijuana legalization efforts have already caused a sharp decline in Mexican drug cartel revenues, and California’s impending decision could drive cartels further down.
“Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90,” a Mexican marijuana grower told NPR news in December 2014. “But now they’re paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It’s a big difference. If the U.S. continues to legalize pot, they’ll run us into the ground.”
Source
The abundance of high-quality legal marijuana in California has created a demand in Mexico that local cartels can’t supply with their own homegrown product, reports KQED.
“If you’re in Mexico, and you want the best marijuana out there, there’s only one place to get it,” said Matthew Shapiro, a San Diego-based attorney specializing in marijuana, to KQED. “There’s no such thing as high-quality Mexican weed.”
Although smuggling drugs from either side of the border is both illegal and risky, southbound smuggling into Mexico is much easier, as drivers can sometimes cross the Tijuana border without ever stopping for Mexican officials.
Experts on both sides of the border believe that the demand for California pot in Mexico will rise if the state passes the proposition 64 initiative to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use.
“They can get it easily in the U.S., and they bring it back with them in small quantities — generally for their own consumption,” clinic director Raul Palacios said to KQED. “I don’t doubt that they share it with their friends, but not on a large scale.”
American marijuana legalization efforts have already caused a sharp decline in Mexican drug cartel revenues, and California’s impending decision could drive cartels further down.
“Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90,” a Mexican marijuana grower told NPR news in December 2014. “But now they’re paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It’s a big difference. If the U.S. continues to legalize pot, they’ll run us into the ground.”
Source
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Congress wants to tax the internet
From Ron Paul at Campaign For Liberty:
You and I fought long and hard...
We thought it was defeated...
But now it's back from the dead -- and it's coming for YOU!
No, I am not talking zombies or vampires.
I'm talking about the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate!
For three years, Campaign for Liberty members have stopped every attempt to pass legislation imposing new taxes and regulations on the Internet...
But, like deranged mad scientists, the Big Government, big business cabal in Congress will not let the Monster stay dead.
They are lurking in the shadows, waiting for the lame-duck session of Congress where they plan to ram the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate into law.
Taking cues from a Scooby Doo villain, they've disguised the Monster as a "compromise" that protects small businesses and consumers.
But when our gang rips that mask off, all versions of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate still:
***Raise prices on online goods
***Force businesses to comply with out-of-state tax laws
***Impose new regulations on the Internet that could prevent development of the next Amazon or eBay
This is a treat for the special interests...
But a trick for the American people!
I'm confident you and I can slay the Internet Sales Tax Mandate monster once again.
But we need to act now!
So please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators today.
Right now, members of Congress are explicitly sensitive to the views of the people...
So if they see anti-Internet Sales Tax petitions coming into their offices in the days before the election, they are more likely to stand with us in opposition to taxing the Internet.
It is vital we get as many Representatives and Senators as possible on record in opposition to the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate before Congress returns for the lame-duck session.
I don't want to scare you, but...
The fact is, the powerful forces behind the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate are closer than ever to victory.
You see, earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- the ringleader of the Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the Senate -- promised they would vote on the bill in 2016.
Senator McConnell has yet to fulfill his promise, most likely because he did not want to force vulnerable Republican Senators to choose between the people and the special interests before the election.
But in the lame-duck, he will think he is safe to move this bill since the people are burned out on politics and too busy with the holidays to pay attention to Congress.
So we must let Senator McConnell and his colleagues know that we are not going to back down -- instead, we will keep the heat on the Senate through the lame-duck!
But the Senate is not our only, or even our main, threat.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has recently endorsed the version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate that has been proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte.
Ryan and Goodlatte claim their plan is "fair" to small businesses, even though -- unlike the Senate plan -- this bill does not include a small business exemption from the mandate.
And even if the Ryan-Goodlate plan is fair for business, it's not fair for consumers!
Like every other version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, the Ryan-Goodlate plan raises prices on your online purchases.
But unlike other versions, the Ryan-Goodlatte plan doesn't even exempt small businesses from the mandate!
The Ryan-Goodlatte plan also imposes a complex and costly tax collection scheme on online commerce.
Proponents of the Ryan-Goodlate plan claim that these costs will be borne by state governments.
But you and I know that state-level bureaucrats and politicians will find a way to make sure the costs are "passed along" to consumers and taxpayers.
The Ryan-Goodlatte plan rewards tax-hungry governors and state legislators by giving them a fresh source of revenue, allowing them to continue their fiscally irresponsible ways.
This will only make the inevitable day of reckoning all the more painful.
Now, Capitol Hill sources have told me that Goodlatte is working with House supporters of the Senate version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate to find a "compromise" version of the legislation.
And you know that President Obama will be doing all he can to help broker such a compromise.
He would love to add "signed the National Internet Sales Tax Law" to his list of "accomplishments."
The good news is, Paul Ryan has not made any public pledges to vote on the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
If he knows that we will not accept any phony "compromise" that burdens the Internet with taxes and regulations, he will likely back down on his plan.
So please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax" petition to your Representative and Senators asking them to publicly pledge to oppose any version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the lame-duck session.
And please make a generous contribution of $15, $10, or $5 to help Campaign for Liberty mobilize more Americans in opposition to the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
With your support, we will be able to contact thousands more anti-tax Americans in the weeks before the elections and keep the heat on Congress during the lame-duck session.
If funds permit, Campaign for Liberty will also run ads targeting wavering politicians across the Internet and social media.
In order to defeat the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, you and I will need to keep the pressure on Congress from now until the end of the lame-duck.
But in order to do that, C4L will need resources we simply do not have.
While Campaign for Liberty's financial position has improved over the last few months, we still do not have the resources to even plan, much less run, the type of intensive, month-long program it will take to guarantee our success over the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
So if you can, please make a generous contribution of $15.
I know that is a lot, but with Paul Ryan now pushing a version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, and with Mitch McConnell's pledge to act on it, the threat that a tax-free Internet could become a thing of the past is closer than ever.
So if $15 is too much, is there any way I can count on you for a special contribution of $10?
If we raise the resources this month, Campaign for Liberty can ramp up its efforts to get Representatives on record opposing the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate by running hard-hitting Internet ads before the election.
So if $10 is too much, could you make a contribution of $5?
And whatever you contribute, please make sure you sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators.
In Liberty,
Ron Paul
Chairman
P.S. Like mad scientists in a bad horror movie, special interests and their Congressional allies are reviving the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate for passage in the lame-duck session.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell promised Senate action, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is now pushing a new version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
If they get their way, online commerce could soon be crippled with taxes and regulations.
That's why you and I must turn up the heat on Congress starting now -- when they are listening especially closely to grassroots activists.
Please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators demanding they pledge to oppose any legislation containing any version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the lame-duck session.
You and I fought long and hard...
We thought it was defeated...
But now it's back from the dead -- and it's coming for YOU!
No, I am not talking zombies or vampires.
I'm talking about the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate!
For three years, Campaign for Liberty members have stopped every attempt to pass legislation imposing new taxes and regulations on the Internet...
But, like deranged mad scientists, the Big Government, big business cabal in Congress will not let the Monster stay dead.
They are lurking in the shadows, waiting for the lame-duck session of Congress where they plan to ram the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate into law.
Taking cues from a Scooby Doo villain, they've disguised the Monster as a "compromise" that protects small businesses and consumers.
But when our gang rips that mask off, all versions of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate still:
***Raise prices on online goods
***Force businesses to comply with out-of-state tax laws
***Impose new regulations on the Internet that could prevent development of the next Amazon or eBay
This is a treat for the special interests...
But a trick for the American people!
I'm confident you and I can slay the Internet Sales Tax Mandate monster once again.
But we need to act now!
So please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators today.
Right now, members of Congress are explicitly sensitive to the views of the people...
So if they see anti-Internet Sales Tax petitions coming into their offices in the days before the election, they are more likely to stand with us in opposition to taxing the Internet.
It is vital we get as many Representatives and Senators as possible on record in opposition to the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate before Congress returns for the lame-duck session.
I don't want to scare you, but...
The fact is, the powerful forces behind the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate are closer than ever to victory.
You see, earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- the ringleader of the Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the Senate -- promised they would vote on the bill in 2016.
Senator McConnell has yet to fulfill his promise, most likely because he did not want to force vulnerable Republican Senators to choose between the people and the special interests before the election.
But in the lame-duck, he will think he is safe to move this bill since the people are burned out on politics and too busy with the holidays to pay attention to Congress.
So we must let Senator McConnell and his colleagues know that we are not going to back down -- instead, we will keep the heat on the Senate through the lame-duck!
But the Senate is not our only, or even our main, threat.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has recently endorsed the version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate that has been proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte.
Ryan and Goodlatte claim their plan is "fair" to small businesses, even though -- unlike the Senate plan -- this bill does not include a small business exemption from the mandate.
And even if the Ryan-Goodlate plan is fair for business, it's not fair for consumers!
Like every other version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, the Ryan-Goodlate plan raises prices on your online purchases.
But unlike other versions, the Ryan-Goodlatte plan doesn't even exempt small businesses from the mandate!
The Ryan-Goodlatte plan also imposes a complex and costly tax collection scheme on online commerce.
Proponents of the Ryan-Goodlate plan claim that these costs will be borne by state governments.
But you and I know that state-level bureaucrats and politicians will find a way to make sure the costs are "passed along" to consumers and taxpayers.
The Ryan-Goodlatte plan rewards tax-hungry governors and state legislators by giving them a fresh source of revenue, allowing them to continue their fiscally irresponsible ways.
This will only make the inevitable day of reckoning all the more painful.
Now, Capitol Hill sources have told me that Goodlatte is working with House supporters of the Senate version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate to find a "compromise" version of the legislation.
And you know that President Obama will be doing all he can to help broker such a compromise.
He would love to add "signed the National Internet Sales Tax Law" to his list of "accomplishments."
The good news is, Paul Ryan has not made any public pledges to vote on the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
If he knows that we will not accept any phony "compromise" that burdens the Internet with taxes and regulations, he will likely back down on his plan.
So please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax" petition to your Representative and Senators asking them to publicly pledge to oppose any version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the lame-duck session.
And please make a generous contribution of $15, $10, or $5 to help Campaign for Liberty mobilize more Americans in opposition to the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
With your support, we will be able to contact thousands more anti-tax Americans in the weeks before the elections and keep the heat on Congress during the lame-duck session.
If funds permit, Campaign for Liberty will also run ads targeting wavering politicians across the Internet and social media.
In order to defeat the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, you and I will need to keep the pressure on Congress from now until the end of the lame-duck.
But in order to do that, C4L will need resources we simply do not have.
While Campaign for Liberty's financial position has improved over the last few months, we still do not have the resources to even plan, much less run, the type of intensive, month-long program it will take to guarantee our success over the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
So if you can, please make a generous contribution of $15.
I know that is a lot, but with Paul Ryan now pushing a version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate, and with Mitch McConnell's pledge to act on it, the threat that a tax-free Internet could become a thing of the past is closer than ever.
So if $15 is too much, is there any way I can count on you for a special contribution of $10?
If we raise the resources this month, Campaign for Liberty can ramp up its efforts to get Representatives on record opposing the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate by running hard-hitting Internet ads before the election.
So if $10 is too much, could you make a contribution of $5?
And whatever you contribute, please make sure you sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators.
In Liberty,
Ron Paul
Chairman
P.S. Like mad scientists in a bad horror movie, special interests and their Congressional allies are reviving the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate for passage in the lame-duck session.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell promised Senate action, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is now pushing a new version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate.
If they get their way, online commerce could soon be crippled with taxes and regulations.
That's why you and I must turn up the heat on Congress starting now -- when they are listening especially closely to grassroots activists.
Please sign your "No Lame-Duck Internet Sales Tax Mandate" petition to your Representative and Senators demanding they pledge to oppose any legislation containing any version of the National Internet Sales Tax Mandate in the lame-duck session.
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