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Weed arrived at jeff sessions office
The weed has arrived to @jeffsessions office #showsessions
Eidinger asking group: who wants to roll a joint on the coffee table in @jeffsessions office? #smokesessions
Spread a little sunshine everyday - Andy Griffith
Pot activists get Sessions staff meeting
Pot Activists Get Jeff Sessions Staff Meeting After Insinuating They Would Stage Office Smoke-in
The senator nominated to be attorney general said in April that 'good people' don't use marijuana.
Activists from the D.C. Cannabis Campaign met with staff at the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., . STEVEN NELSON FOR USN&WR
Marijuana activists received an unexpectedly warm reception Monday from Sen. Jeff Sessions’ staff after announcing a “#smokesessions” protest would happen at “high noon” in the office of the staunchly anti-marijuana Alabama Republican selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney general.
The group responsible for several recent smoke-ins near the White House left Sessions’ office saying that they felt heard before attempting -- and failing -- to score a meeting at the office of New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the new Democratic minority leader who could lead a filibuster to block Sessions' nomination.
At Sessions’ office, nearly a dozen members of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, which led a successful 2014 campaign to legalize marijuana in the nation's capital, were promptly told they would be given a meeting and were ushered into a conference room.
Adam Eidinger, the group’s co-founder, fessed up that he had allowed the staff to assume there would be civil disobedience and presented a red t-shirt for the senator that says “great” Americans evolve their positions on cannabis policy.
“We had to pretend we might smoke marijuana in your office to get your attention,” he said.
“We are terrified of your bosses’ comments recently in the Senate. They make it sound like we’re bad Americans,” Eidinger added before gesturing to his red-shirt-wearing peers, saying it looked like a Trump rally.
“You’re being legitimate. We appreciate that,” said Sessions communications director Chris Jackson.
Although Trump has said he supports allowing states autonomy over marijuana policy, a position adopted by President Barack Obama, Sessions as attorney general would be in a position to upend laws passed by eight states and the nation’s capital that allow recreational marijuana.
That's because federal law continues to make pot possession for any reason outside limited research a crime, meaning state-legal cannabis businesses are vulnerable. More than half of states allow medical marijuana, but those programs currently appear protected by a congressional budget rider.
A series of Sessions comments concern the activists. In April, he said at a hearing that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” During a confirmation hearing for current Attorney General Loretta Lynch in 2015, he used his speaking time to extract a statement from Lynch that she does not advocate legalization.
“We need your boss to totally evolve on this issue,” Eidinger said. “The statements that were made were like totally from 30 years ago.”
Sessions staffers politely listened to stories from the group, two members of which had recently lived in or currently have family in Alabama.
“You guys have gotten some good press from coming and so he is going to know you all were here. This is something we are going to have to talk to him about whenever he does get back,” Jackson said.
“Don’t think we will not be having this conversation with him. You have made yourselves known, so this is something we are going to have to talk to him about,” he said.
Drew Hudson, a counsel to Sessions on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sessions' nomination to be attorney general constrained his ability to talk about the senator’s positions.
“You guys have seen his public statements and we’ll those speak for themselves at this point,” he said. “We can't speculate on what he may or may not do as far as changing his position in the future, that’s up to him. But we are happy to relay any information you want.”
Participants left the meeting with mixed feelings, grateful for being heard out but uncertain that Sessions would change his position.
“We were a bit surprised that they were meeting with us,” said Sondra Battle, a medical marijuana advocate. “I got the impression they were going to pass it on to him. I’m not extremely hopeful, but we’re going to keep on it.”
Eidinger said the group would return if necessary, before leading the procession of activists to Schumer's office, where he hoped to land another meeting.
While waiting for an unscheduled meeting to materialize, the diverse group passed time with stories about the effects of pot prohibition. Duke Dunn, a veteran who promotes legal cannabis access, offered a history lesson. Tyler Hopkins, a former Alabama resident, said he was arrested four times for marijuana, one of those resulting in loss of student aid.
"If you're arrested for something you don't feel is wrong, you definitely feel like a victim," Hopkins said.
After about 30 minutes, Eidinger grew frustrated.
Despite professing that nobody in the group had brought marijuana, he impatiently asked Schumer's two front-desk staffers: "Should we be doing a smoke-in here right now? Are the Democrats our allies?"
"This is going to escalate quickly because we're running out of time," he warned. "So typical that you are taking this less seriously than Republicans."
http://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-11-28/pot-activists-meet-with-jeff-sessions-staff
Activists sneak weed into Sessions’ senate office
Legalization Activists Sneak Weed Into Jeff Sessions’ Senate Office, Roll A Joint
Steve Elliott December 11, 2016
Marijuana legalization activists on Thursday sneaked weed into Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Washington, D.C., office, in an attempt to have the Attorney General nominee, currently a senator from Alabama, to soften his opposition to cannabis.
At least two of the group of more than 20 advocates who got into Sessions’ office successfully sneaked the cannabis past a U.S. Capitol Police security checkpoint, reports US News & World Report.
Chris Jackson, communications director for Senator Sessions, reportedly listened as activists told stories about the medical use of cannabis and arguments against prohibition. Jackson, however, refused to accept a sample of cannabis when it was offered to him.
One activist laid out some weed on a table, and another rolled a joint. The joint-rolling individual also reportedly wore a nugget of weed on his suit jacket as a corsage.
Jackson, thankfully, didn’t call Capitol Police on the activists. They are empowered to make arrests for pot on Capitol grounds, and in fact, often do exactly that.
If you’re not going to arrest people in your own office who bring marijuana… why would you break down people’s doors as a federal policy? – D.C. Cannabis Campaign organizer Adam Eidinger
http://herb.co/2016/12/11/legalization-activists-sessions-office/
Russian hackers could be responsible !
That would explain Sessions AG nomination, since he looks a little like Putin's other brother. :)
Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says
WASHINGTON — American intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that Russia acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances and promote Donald J. Trump, according to senior administration officials.
They based that conclusion, in part, on another finding — which they say was also reached with high confidence — that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee’s computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks.
In the months before the election, it was largely documents from Democratic Party systems that were leaked to the public. Intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russians gave the Democrats’ documents to WikiLeaks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/us/obama-russia-election-hack.html?_r=0
Nobel Peace Prize:Santos says 'rethink' of war on drugs
The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has used his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to call for the world to "rethink" the war on drugs.
He said the zero-tolerance policy might be "even more harmful" than all the other wars being fought worldwide.
Mr Santos' government and the country's biggest rebel group, the Farc, signed a peace deal last month.
The conflict it ends has killed more than 260,000 people and left millions internally displaced.
Accepting the prize for his efforts in the peace process, Mr Santos paid tribute to the families of victims of the conflict.
Has the war on drugs been lost?
Juan Manuel Santos: From hawk to dove
He said the "great paradox" of peacemaking was that "the victims are the ones who are most willing to forgive, to reconcile and to face the future with a heart free of hate".
In a deviation from his prepared remarks, he asked the representatives of the victims present to stand and be recognized for their own efforts in the peace process, to much applause.
He has previously pledged to donate the prize money - eight million Swedish krona ($925,000) - to help the conflict's victims.
"I have served as a leader in times of war - to defend the freedom and the rights of the Colombian people - and I have served as a leader in times of making peace," he said. "Allow me to tell you, from my own experience, that it is much harder to make peace than to wage war."
No war on drugs
Mr Santos said it was "time to change our strategy" on drugs, and that Colombia had "paid the highest cost in deaths and sacrifices" in the so-called war on drugs.
The term, coined by US President Richard Nixon more than four decades ago, refers to US-led efforts to stop drug production at its source. In Latin America this has included on-the-ground policing, and fumigation of coca fields from the air.
"We have moral authority to state that, after decades of fighting against drug trafficking, the world has still been unable to control this scourge that fuels violence and corruption throughout our global community," he said.
"It makes no sense to imprison a peasant who grows marijuana, when nowadays, for example, its cultivation and use are legal in eight states of the United States.
"The manner in which this war against drugs is being waged is equally or perhaps even more harmful than all the wars the world is fighting today, combined."
Other laureates
Nobel prizes in the sciences, economics and literature were awarded at a separate ceremony in Stockholm.
Bob Dylan, the first songwriter ever to receive the prize for literature, was the only one who did not collect in person, having said in advance that he was unable to attend due to previous commitments.
He received a standing ovation nevertheless, and the Nobel Committee praised the poetry of his song-writing as "worthy of a place beside the Romantic visionaries".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38275292
Mexico is legalizing medical mj next week
BY JON HILTZ ON DECEMBER 9TH, 2016 AT 4:43 PM
In a bold move last Tuesday, the Mexican Senate has agreed to put forth an amendment that will allow medical marijuana for those in need south of the border.
The reform is expected to be officially executed next week on Tuesday, December 12th. This monumental decision will create a medical marijuana sandwich out of North America, with the US federal government being the only one still clinging to the prohibition of yesteryear.
The move comes as several members of the Mexican government call for medical cannabis access. The cross-party agreement happened between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Mexico’s three major political parties.
During the meeting this week, the Senate also heard from José Narro Robles, the Secretary of Health who underlined the importance of Mexico adopting this new legislation.
President Enrique Pena Nieto has been a vocal supporter of medical cannabis and loosening recreational laws as well. This past September, the Mexican President met with California lawmakers to discuss what might happen should Proposition 64 be successful. He has also said in the past that Mexico and the U.S. should not pursue diverging policies on cannabis.
Now that California has passed the bill and recreational marijuana in The Golden State is a reality, all eyes will be on Mexico to see if this will be the catalyst that finally crumbles recreational prohibition for the Spanish nation. Until that point, at the very least patients will soon be receiving the medicine they need without fear of persecution.
Viva Mexico!
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/12/mexico-is-legalizing-medical-marijuana-next-week/
Counteract cannabis-induced paranoia
This Everyday Household Item Could Counteract Your Cannabis-Induced Paranoia
LISA ROUGH Cannabis 101 Leafly
Anyone who’s ever consumed cannabis will tell you that overdoing it can potentially result in feelings of paranoia and anxiety, two effects that are almost universally regarded as unpleasant. Being uncomfortably high is enough to turn even the most seasoned cannabis consumer off the stuff for years, if not for life.
Well, my friends, you probably have a simple solution stocked in your kitchen that can subdue paranoia and help you breathe a sigh of relief back into a calm pool of stress-free euphoria.
We first heard about this little trick from iconic musician Neil Young. During an interview with Howard Stern, Stern confessed that he hasn’t touched cannabis in years because “it makes [him] paranoid.”
Neil Young, ever the deep and profound sage, advised him, “Try black pepper balls if you get paranoid. Just chew two or three pieces.”
We at Leafly were curious: does chomping on peppercorns actually work? Sure enough, the next time a bit of unfortunate anxiety hit, even the smallest whiff of black pepper straight from the shaker was enough to quell any panic and anxiety, and the relief hit almost instantly.
What about the science behind the synergy – why and how does this work?
According to a scientific review published by Ethan Russo in the British Journal of Pharmacology, cannabis and pepper have very similar chemical traits; pepper has a “phytocannabinoid-terpenoid effect,” which is known to help with pain, depression, addiction, and anxiety. Combining the terpenoids (such as beta-caryophyllene) in pepper with the tetrahydrocannabinol in cannabis has a synergistic chemical reaction on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
In layman’s terms, they both bind to the same receptors in the brain and, when combined, have a therapeutic, calming effect.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it has recently come to our attention that, if you're looking to lengthen your high while consuming cannabis, just eat a mango! While this idea stems more from urban legend than from scientific studies, there are legitimate factors to back up this somewhat dubious claim.
Cannabis, as you know, is chock full of terpenes, in particular the myrcene terpene, secreted from the same glands that produce cannabinoids. Mangoes are naturally high in myrcene, and myrcene is highly synergistic with the THC found in cannabis. Myrcene is also responsible for the notorious "couch-lock effect" that indicas are famous for, so it goes to reason that if one were to consume mango long enough to absorb some of those myrcenes into their system (about 90 minutes) before consuming cannabis, that it may, in fact, lengthen and strengthen the effect and duration of the high.
Who knew?
You do now! #JustSayKnow
American Legion pushes Trump to reschedule mj
Powerful Veterans Group pushes Trump on Marijuana Rescheduling
BY TOM ANGELL ON DECEMBER 9TH, 2016 AT 7:19 AM
The nation’s largest military veterans organization is pushing President-elect Donald Trump to reschedule marijuana after he takes office early next year.
Top officials from the American Legion, which passed a resolution endorsing the reclassification of cannabis under federal law earlier this year, sat down with Trump’s transition team last week to discuss key priorities for the more than 2 million military veterans the organization represents, including marijuana policy reform.
The group “initiated a call-to-action on fairly new Legion priorities – support of research related to the impacts of medical marijuana and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s reclassification of cannabis from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III,” according to a summary of the meeting on the American Legion’s website. “Reclassification of the drug would allow easier access to pure strains of the substance to cultivate quantifiable research and statistics regarding marijuana’s medical benefits.”
Louis Celli, national director of the Legion’s veterans affairs and rehabilitation division, told Marijuana.com that the Trump officials at the meeting were somewhat guarded in giving feedback on specific issues during the listening session, but that when cannabis’s potential to help heal military veterans war wounds came up, “there was an immediate change in the room.”
“All shuffling stopped, people stopped looking down at their notes, and instantly all eyes were on [Legion Executive Director] Verna Jones and everyone was transfixed and intently hanging on her every word,” Celli said. “I can’t speak for how the transition team felt, but there seemed to be a small shock that snapped the room to attention. No read on how the information was received, but I think they were a little caught off guard and didn’t expect such a progressive statement from such a traditional and conservative organization.”
There were also representatives of more than 30 other veterans service organizations at the meeting.
Separately, marijuana policy reformers received another sign this week that cannabis rescheduling under Trump is not out of the question. Legalization activist Jim O’Neill was floated in the media as possible pick to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency which plays a key role in determinations to reclassify drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pledged to respect state marijuana policies. But reformers are concerned that he has already named several ardent cannabis law reform opponents to his Cabinet and other key administration posts.
For example, he selected U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who recently said “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” to be attorney general. He picked Congressman Tom Price of Georgia, who has regularly voted against medical cannabis amendments, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. And this week Trump signaled that Gen. John Kelly, another critic of legalization, would head the Department of Homeland Security. He also tapped Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who led a federal lawsuit against neighboring Colorado’s marijuana law, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
But with O’Neill at FDA and continued pressure from a large, respected organization like the American Legion, reformers have some hope that the Trump administration could seriously consider rescheduling cannabis.
In August, the DEA rejected long-pending petitions to reclassify marijuana from its current status as a Schedule I drug. That category is supposed to be reserved for substances with no medical value.
What Would Rescheduling Do?
Moving marijuana out of Schedule I — or, removing it from the CSA altogether, like alcohol and tobacco — would have a number of effects.
Reclassification to Schedule III or lower, as the American Legion is pushing for, would protect federal employees who use marijuana from a Reagan-era executive order that defines illegal drugs as Schedule I or II substances.
Additionally, only drugs under Schedules I and II are affected by the tax provision known as “280E,” which disallows state-legal businesses from deducting normal operational expenses from their federal taxes.
Because current laws and regulations prevent the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy from fairly evaluating Schedule I drugs, reclassification would allow the government to examine and communicate about marijuana in a way that prioritizes science instead of an outdated drug war mindset.
Rescheduling would also make scientific research easier. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, testified before the Senate that marijuana’s Schedule I status means there are “additional steps” that scientists wishing to study it must take and that reclassification would expand opportunities for research.
Moving cannabis out of Schedule I would also put an end to threats that newspapers who mail publications containing marijuana advertisements are facing from the U.S. Postal Service, since the federal law that agency cites to justify its actions only applies to Schedule I drugs.
Finally, removing marijuana from Schedule I and officially recognizing that the drug has medical value would send a strong message to state lawmakers and international leaders that the federal government is beginning to address decades of mistakes on marijuana policy, and that they should too.
But rescheduling alone would not remove the criminal penalties that still put people abiding by state marijuana laws at risk of federal prosecution and prison sentences. Other statutes would have to be amended to accomplish that.
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/12/powerful-veterans-group-pushes-trump-on-marijuana-rescheduling/
MJ legalization activist could lead FDA
Marijuana Legalization Activist Could Lead Trump’s FDA
BY TOM ANGELL ON DECEMBER 8TH, 2016 AT 9:04 AM
Marijuana law reform advocates finally got some potentially good news out of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team this week following a series of ardent legalization opponents being named to Cabinet-level positions.
Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Jim O’Neill, a marijuana legalization proponent, is being considered to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Trump administration.
If O’Neill is formally appointed and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate as commissioner of food and drugs, it could bode extremely well for future efforts to reform federal marijuana laws.
The FDA is responsible for conducting the scientific analyses of cannabis’s harms and medical benefits that rescheduling rulings are based on. Before the most recent denial of a rescheduling petition by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in August, FDA concluded that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment.”
But there is in fact a lot of scientific research showing marijuana to be medically beneficial and relatively safe. Presumably, under O’Neill’s leadership, FDA would more seriously consider and weigh that literature before making future reclassification recommendations.
O’Neill, a close associate of tech financier and Trump transition team member Peter Thiel, has been active in the movement to reform marijuana laws. For example, he was a founding member of the board of directors of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, a California-based legalization advocacy organization.
(Full disclosure: The author of this article served alongside O’Neill on the CCPR board.)
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pledged to respect state marijuana policies. But he has already named several ardent cannabis law reform opponents to his Cabinet.
For example, he selected U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who recently said “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” to be attorney general. He picked Congressman Tom Price of Georgia, who has regularly voted against medical cannabis amendments, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. And this week Trump signaled that Gen. John Kelly, another critic of legalization, would lead the Department of Homeland Security. He also tapped Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who led a federal lawsuit against neighboring Colorado’s marijuana law, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
With O’Neill at FDA, however, marijuana law reformers would have a key ally in position to help shape the Trump administration’s position on cannabis policy.
O’Neill, who is not a medical professional, previously served in the Department of Health and Human Services under the George W. Bush administration. According to Bloomberg, he is a proponent of a concept called “progressive approval” for drugs, through which substances could be available on the market as soon as they are deemed safe for use even if there isn’t clear data showing them to be effective in treating any particular condition.
“We should reform FDA so there is approving drugs after their sponsors have demonstrated safety — and let people start using them, at their own risk, but not much risk of safety,” he said in a 2014 speech. “Let’s prove efficacy after they’ve been legalized.”
Medical cannabis advocates are hopeful that O’Neill would apply his consumer freedom philosophy to natural, plant-based medicines in addition to synthetic pharmaceuticals. Mike Liszewski of Americans for Safe Access told Marijuana.com that FDA’s current approval process for botanicals is “unworkable” and that as a result, very few have been approved.
“O’Neill’s appointment could lead to an overhaul of rules pertaining to botanical medicine, which could create a much friendlier environment for research and approval of cannabis and other botanicals,” he said.
But alluding to possible conflicts that could arise if marijuana’s status under the Controlled Substances Act is changed and it becomes legally available with doctors’ prescriptions, Liszewski said it would remain a key question as to whether existing state-legal cannabis businesses would be protected from harassment by the Justice Department.
“It’s important that whatever positive reforms are made at FDA under the Trump administration should not justify a crackdown on state medical cannabis programs by other parts of the federal government,” he said.
At this point, however, O’Neill’s name is only being informally floated in the press, and the Trump transition team has not officially signaled intent to place him in the FDA post. If he is formally nominated early next year, he would sit for a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions before facing a vote by the full body.
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/12/marijuana-legalization-activist-could-lead-trumps-fda/
TIME: 7 reasons a legal mj fight is unlikely
7 Reasons President Trump Is Unlikely to Fight Legal Marijuana
Katy Steinmetz Time Magazine 12:10 AM ET
Peter Thiel associate Jim O’Neill up for FDA post
By Drew Armstrong, Jennifer Jacobs and Robert Langreth
December 7, 2016 — 12:01 PM EST Updated on December 7, 2016 — 4:09 PM EST
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal Inc., speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Oct. 31, 2016.
Trump Team Said to Consider Thiel Associate O’Neill for FDA
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is considering a Silicon Valley investor close to billionaire Peter Thiel to head the Food and Drug Administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jim O’Neill, the Thiel associate, hasn’t been officially selected, according to the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the decision process is private, and the Trump team could still go in another direction.
O’Neill is a managing director at Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management, and last served in government during the George W. Bush administration as principal associate deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. He’s also a board member of the Seasteading Institute, a Thiel-backed venture to create new societies at sea, away from existing governments.
Thiel’s spokesman Jeremiah Hall said O’Neill is a good candidate. “Jim O’Neill has extensive experience in government and in Silicon Valley. He is a strong candidate for any of several key positions,” Hall said in an e-mail. Separately, Politico and CNBC reported that O’Neill could be under consideration for various positions.
Spokesmen for Trump didn’t respond to a request for comment. O’Neill also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
He would be an unconventional pick, since he doesn’t have a medical background. The head of the FDA for the last five decades has either been a trained physician or a prominent scientific researcher.
‘Reform FDA’
O’Neill also could push the agency in new directions. In a 2014 speech, he said he supported reforming FDA approval rules so that drugs could hit the market after they’ve been proven safe, but without any proof that they worked, something he called “progressive approval.”
“We should reform FDA so there is approving drugs after their sponsors have demonstrated safety -- and let people start using them, at their own risk, but not much risk of safety,” O’Neill said in a speech at an August 2014 conference called Rejuvenation Biotechnology. “Let’s prove efficacy after they’ve been legalized.”
O’Neill has been a close associate of Thiel for nearly a decade. He first served as a managing director at Clarium Capital -- Thiel’s hedge fund that made a mint by correctly predicting the housing bubble and then crumbled -- and since 2012 has worked at Mithril Capital, Thiel’s late-stage venture firm, where he is a managing director. He also helped launch the Thiel Fellowship, which each year gives a small number of students $100,000 each to drop out of school and pursue entrepreneurial ideas.
Medical Tests
In the same 2014 speech, O’Neill said that when he was in the HHS he had opposed the FDA regulating some companies, such as 23andMe Inc., that perform complex laboratory-developed tests using mathematical algorithms.
“In order to regulate in this space, FDA had to argue that an algorithm, a series of numbers that match up to things, is a medical device,” he said. “I found that really astonishing -- astonishing that someone could say it with a straight face, and astonishing that someone could claim the ability to shut down companies that were never touching a patient but only accurately matching algorithms.”
At the same conference, he advocated anti-aging medicine, saying he believed it was scientifically possible to develop treatments that would reverse aging, though the drug industry’s approach to the idea was “long overdue for innovation.”
Broad Responsibilities
The FDA has some of the government’s broadest regulatory authority. Responsible for food, drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements, cosmetics and tobacco, it touches many aspects of what Americans consume. It’s also a key part of the pharmaceutical industry’s research efforts, responsible for overseeing clinical trials. In recent years, changes at the agency have been made to speed approval of new therapies in everything from cancer to hepatitis C.
In a talk at a 2009 conference, O’Neill touted the advantages of freer markets for a wide variety of health-care goods and services.
“Basically, because there’s not a free market in health care, people are suffering very significant health consequences that in a free market they would not suffer,” he said in a talk at the 2009 Seasteading Conference. Among other advantages, a free market in health care “would drive prices much lower and allow innovation in cheaper delivery of care, both in terms of drugs and devices and better forms of delivery,” he said.
Separately, Zenefits, the human resources startup, said its acting chief financial officer, Mark Woolway, will join Trump’s transition team. Woolway used to work for Thiel’s Clarium Capital and is another example of Thiel’s spreading influence.
“Mark will continue to serve as acting CFO at Zenefits while he helps out on the transition team,” said Jessica Hoffman, a spokeswoman at Zenefits.
Trump’s Plans
Trump himself has offered few specifics on what he wants the FDA to do. His transition website says the administration will “reform the Food and Drug Administration, to put greater focus on the need of patients for new and innovative medical products” and advance research and development efforts in health care.
Trump also could go after drug prices. Time magazine published an interview Wednesday in which Trump, whose victory last month was greeted with a surge in pharmaceutical stocks, said he he’ll “bring down drug prices.” The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped 2.9 percent at the New York close, after earlier falling 4.6 percent in the biggest intraday drop since June 24.
O’Neill did his undergraduate studies at Yale University, where he was a member of the concert band and played the horn, and has a masters degree from the University of Chicago, both in the humanities. He joined the Health and Human Services Department under Bush in 2002, first as a speechwriter, rising in the final years of the administration to head some policy functions, according to his resume on LinkedIn.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-07/trump-team-is-said-to-consider-thiel-associate-o-neill-for-fda
Cannabis convict Eddy Lepp free
Cannabis convict Eddy Lepp free from prison
Lepp, age 64, hailed as a “marijuana martyr” by supporters
Eddy Lepp, sentenced to ten years in federal prison for growing marijuana, was released from the Florence, CO-based Correction Institution on Wednesday morning. He was greeted by a contingent of California supporters, organized by Sacramento’s Heidi Grossman (left.)
By LISA M. KRIEGER | lkrieger@bayareanewsgroup.com
PUBLISHED: December 7, 2016 at 9:59 am | UPDATED: December 7, 2016 at 1:48 pm
Free after eight years of federal imprisonment, one of the nation’s most celebrated cannabis convicts is coming home to California this afternoon, released from a Colorado prison into a profoundly changed world.
Charles “Eddy” Lepp, a frail but outspoken 64-year-old Vietnam vet and ordained Rastafarian minister, was convicted in 2007 in federal court for doing something that the state now calls legal: growing marijuana.
Supporters revere him as a “Pot POW” in the war against drugs, a hero who paid dearly in the fight for rights that many now enjoy.
“He’s free!” cheered supporters, who welcomed him with hugs and cheers in a motor home outside the gates of Florence Correctional Institution. He was then served a hot breakfast of eggs, toast and a pile of fragrant bacon, washed down by a Dr Pepper soda.
Lepp arrives — flying first class, with a cane, beard and “rastacap” hat — into San Francisco International Airport this afternoon, then will be dropped off at his new home: a San Francisco-based halfway house.
“Eddy Lepp is a true marijuana martyr,” said Dale Gieringer of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Calling him “a true believer,” Gieringer said “he never once tried to hide what he was doing. His garden was like an act of civil disobedience.”
Prosecuted during the tough-on-drugs George W. Bush administration, Lepp’s case also represents the deep — and tense — standoff between state and federal policies; one permissive, the other punitive. While a U.S. appeals court ruled in August that the federal government may not spend money prosecuting marijuana growers who comply with state laws, there are anxieties that Congress could appropriate new funds.
Proposition 64, approved by voters last November, establishes licenses for commercial growers. Licenses will be issued beginning on Jan. 1, 2018 to small- and medium-sized farms already licensed by local officials. One specific category of license, called Type 5, allows what it calls “large cultivators” with more than one-acre outdoors. But those licenses won’t be available to Jan. 1, 2023.
As a result of his conviction, Lepp lost his beloved Lake County home, farm and cars, which were seized and sold by the federal law enforcement. He also lost his marriage to divorce and missed nearly a decade of life with family and friends, some of whom died while he was behind bars.
Meanwhile, large agribusinesses are predicted to move into the state — doing what Lepp did, only bigger. There is no limit to the sizes of marijuana farms under Prop. 64, according to Steve Lyle of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
“They’ll be growing more plants than Eddy ever did,” said Lepp’s attorney Michael Hinckley of Berkeley. “And they’ll be making a profit, instead of doing it for religious and medical reasons.”
Lepp grew more than 50 varieties of high-grade marijuana on 20 acres at the Upper Lake farm he shared with his late wife, Linda. Called Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens, it was near the gateway to Mendocino National Forest, about 150 miles north of San Francisco. He allowed others to grow their own plants on his property.
It was a rural mountainous retreat with several tenants, as well as flowers, trees and fish ponds. Devotees of the Rastafarian faith, they consumed, shared and donated copious amounts of weed, but allowed no alcohol or other drugs.
Most of the harvest went to people who needed it for medical reasons, Lepp said. He used some to ease his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he said. It also helped Linda ease symptoms of terminal cancer.
The outspoken marijuana reformer’s vast crop was in plain view of Highway 20. He considered it legal for medical and religious reasons.
Early one morning in February 2002, a team of 34 different law enforcement officials — among them, the local Lake County Sheriff’s Department, Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Program and DEA — raided the property, arresting Lepp and confiscating 24,784 plants, processed marijuana and equipment.
It was reputed to be the largest single medical crop seizure in the United States, with an estimated street value of $18 million.
Lepp went to trial, took the stand, and admitted the farm was his and to what he was doing. While he did not admit specifically to the charges of cultivation and distribution, the jury found him guilty. Only one of the other growers on his farm stepped forward to share responsibility.
“He was brave, very brave,” Hinckley said. “It is very difficult to walk into federal court and admit to violating drug laws. When it came time to step up and take the risk, it was just Eddy.”
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison — the minimum mandatory sentence.
He spurned a plea deal that would have reduced his time behind bars because it would have required an admission of wrongdoing, Hinckley said.
“He wouldn’t say what the judge wanted him to say,” he said. “He believed he was helping people.”
His supporters stayed loyal over the years. Calling him a “freedom fighter,” the Modesto hip hop band Real One released its song “Eddy Lepp” on Wednesday morning, to celebrate his release.
“His tribe has not forgotten him,” said friend Dale Rostamo, who manages the website HerbFolks.org. “Eddy Lepp’s presence in the civilized world during his incarceration has been sorely missed.
“The gentle touch he brought to healing via his ministry has been usurped for the most part by interlopers, carpetbaggers, moneychangers in the Temple,” Rostamo said. “His safe return to the ‘maturing’ cannabis world that’s evolved since they stole him from us, is a blessing.”
He’s the most high-profile of several California activists sentenced to serve time in federal prison. Others include El Dorado County’s Dr. Marion P. “Mollie” Fry and Dale Schafer, a physician and attorney, sentenced to five years in 2011. Patricia Albright of Nevada City was sentenced to five years and five months in 2015 for manufacturing marijuana and money laundering.
Legalization will help defendants win future federal cases, predicted Amy Ralston Povah of the CAN-DO (Clemency for All Nonviolent Drug Offenders) Foundation, which seeks clemency for pot prisoners.
“The minute it becomes legal, that removes ‘the burden of proof’ needed to explain it is for medical purposes. You can just say: ‘It’s legal,’ not ‘It’s medicinal,’ she said. “It is a totally different, and much stronger, defense.”
Lepp called his sentence, later reduced by two years, “a wild and bumpy ride.” But most fellow inmates treated him “with love, respect and admiration,” he said. And with the exception of guards “who believe it is their job to punish us each and every day,” most guards “knew who I was… and were, for the most part, not that bad.”
Even in prison, he continued preaching, signing off emails with his own homespun scripture: “TRUTH. RESPECT ALL. HURT NONE. LOVE ONE ANOTHER !!!!!”
eddy lepp FB poster
Eddy Lepp’s Facebook page was updated Wednesday morning by his supporters, who revere him for paying dearly for a right that many now enjoy. Eddy Lepp
What hurts most, he said, is what’s now gone.
“We lost all the church property, our house, cars, the ministry itself. Our members are now spread far and wide,” he said in an email interview from prison.
“More important was the loss of life my (first) wife Linda Senti,” whose cancer returned because of stress, he believes.
His best friend, Jack Herer — “the grandfather of the cannabis movement” — died while he was in prison and Lepp could not attend the memorial service to pay his respects. Also dead are “my grandmother, my mother, two mother-in-laws, and so many friends I can’t list them all.” Also gone from life is his second wife, whom he married and divorced while in prison.
What remains is “the love, respect and support of so very many of those who believed in what we were trying to do,” he said. “I would never have survived as well as I have had it not been for that.”
Something else waits for him, too: “the sacred plant,” his name for marijuana
“It is the Tree of Life,” he said, “and I have seen first hand the miracles it can work.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/07/cannabis-convict-eddy-lepp-free-after-long-prison-term/
NBA's Phil Jackson talks about mj
Phil Jackson Is Latest NBA Legend to Talk About Recent Marijuana Use
"I had back surgery, and the year I was off, I was smoking marijuana during that period of time," New York Knicks president said
By Scott Rafferty RollingStone Magazine
As you probably know, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently admitted to smoking marijuana 18 months ago when he was recovering from chronic back pain. While Kerr said it didn't sit well with him at the time, he explained how he hopes professional sports leagues will eventually allow players to use marijuana as a form of pain relief.
Since then, many individuals from the NBA have weighed in on Kerr's comments. One head coach said the rhetoric around the use of marijuana has to be very careful, while some of Kerr's current players supported his vision as long as it’s being used for the right reasons. Then there's New York Knicks president Phil Jackson, who admitted on Tuesday to using marijuana in the past to help him recover from back surgery.
"I don’t know about its medicinal ability. I had back surgery, and the year I was off, I was smoking marijuana during that period of time," Jackson said on CBS Sports Network's We Need to Talk. "I think it was a distraction for me as much as a pain reliever. But I never thought of it as ultimately a pain medication for that type of situation."
Jackson also went on to say marijuana is still very much a part of the culture in the NBA and a decision has to be made on how the league can deal with it.
"We have tried to stop [marijuana use] in the NBA," Jackson continued. "I don't think we have been able to stop it in the NBA. I think it still goes on and is still a part of the culture in the NBA. It is something that we either have to accommodate or we have to figure out another way to deal with it."
It's worth noting that Jackson has talked about his use of marijuana and LSD in the past, although he wasn't too happy with how people eventually used the information to portray him. Even so, based on how relevant the topic is right now, having one of the most well known coaches in NBA history talk about it should only drive the conversation further.
http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/phil-jackson-admits-to-marijuana-use-for-back-pain-w454240
Idle threat, many growing legal weed at home now
Can't lock up everyone.
Definition of idle threat
: a threat that a person does not really mean to follow through with <She said she would leave him, but he knew it was an idle threat.>
Word by Word Definitions
idleplay
: lacking worth or basis : vain
: not occupied or employed: as
: having no employment : inactive
: to spend time in idleness
: to move idly
: to run at low power and often disconnected usually so that power is not used for useful work
See the full definition of idle
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idle%20threat
Far fetched, so they'll just print up some money ?
Recreational marijuana legalization
There are currently 25 states that allow the use of marijuana for medical necessity: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. More than half of the sum of the United States has now legalized marijuana in one way or another, yet the Federal Government has still failed to see eye to eye with the states on legalization. Though there are hundreds of other plants approved for medicinal uses, cannabis has stood out in controversy for nearly a hundred years.
Arguments for recreational marijuana legalization
Enforcing marijuana prohibition is an astronomical cost to the United States each year cannabis remains illegal. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that drug arrest across the country leans strongly towards marijuana. In 2010, 52 percent of all arrests for drug offenses were for possession of marijuana. Among a total 8.2 million marijuana-related charges filed between 2001-2010, 88 percent of those were for simple possession.
On a side note, the ACLU also found that marijuana arrests are heavily skewed towards African Americans. African Americans’ chance of being arrested for marijuana in the U.S. is almost four times higher than that of Caucasians, even though usage among both is nearly the same.
Also, per early studies conducted in the legal state, Colorado, underage usage has not increased. The percentage of teens that have smoked marijuana has decreased by about five percent since recreational marijuana legalization in 2012.
Arguments against recreational marijuana legalization
A high percentage of the U.S. population harbors a certain amount of fear regarding recreational marijuana legalization and usage. For years, government scare tactics have engraved images of loss and defeat into the minds of children whenever marijuana is presented. This regular and widespread conditioning will not easily be reversed.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3767742/recreational-marijuana-legalization-where-are-we-today/
Who's gonna pay for a big weed war Sessions?
They don't have an unlimited weed war budget
Silly reefer madness writer forgot to mention how expensive starting a new drug war against 28 states plus Washington DC could be.
Federal gov't can't even afford to do this
Reefer madness articles attract readers
Most of the articles just go on to say how it's very unlikely whatever the headline says will happen due to the high cost of the old mj prohibition drug war.
Why America Can't Quit the Drug War
After 45 years, more than $1 trillion wasted, and the creation of the world's largest prison system, America still lacks the political will to change its failed drug policy
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-america-cant-quit-the-drug-war-20160505
Nevada lawmaker wants mj sales to start asap
Nevada Lawmaker Wants Recreational Marijuana Sales to Start ASAP
Medical marijuana dispensaries in Nevada could soon sell marijuana to adults 21 or older in an effort to keep sales off the black market while generating additional tax revenue for the state.
Scott Gacek | December 3, 2016
LAS VEGAS, NV — Voters in Nevada legalized marijuana on election day by passing Question 2, allowing adults 21 and older to possess limited amounts of marijuana starting January 1, 2017.
But under the measure, a state regulated recreational cannabis market wouldn’t open until 2018, giving state officials time to craft the rules and regulations to oversee the newly created industry. So unless you’re a registered medical marijuana patient, there won’t be any place to legally purchase marijuana, forcing cannabis consumers to turn to the black market.
Nevada isn’t alone in this dilemma. When voters in Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize marijuana in 2012, a similar timeline was established. Adult use and possession became legal in both states in December 2012, but retail sales didn’t start for over a year. Legal retail sales of marijuana in Colorado began January 1, 2014, and Washington’s recreational marijuana market opened in July 2014.
Only one state so far — Oregon — has allowed recreational marijuana sales to begin earlier than the timeline set by voters. That’s because lawmakers in Oregon took a proactive approach in implementing the will of the voters, passing legislation that allowed the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries to start selling limited amounts of marijuana to anyone 21 years or older while the state worked to licence recreational pot shops.
Now, one prominent state lawmaker wants Nevada to follow Oregon’s example, and is drafting legislation to allow Nevada’s medical marijuana dispensaries to sell marijuana to adults.
State Senator Tick Segerblom (D – Las Vegas), who was instrumental in passing the 2013 bill that authorized dispensaries in Nevada, is in the process of drafting a bill that would temporarily allow recreational sales at medical dispensaries, with sales to non-medical marijuana card holders subject to a 15 to 20 percent sales tax.
“They allowed the existing medical dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana and as far as we could tell, there’s no reason we couldn’t do that in Nevada,” Segerblom told CBS affiliate KLAS-TV.
Segerblom says allowing recreational sales as soon as possible does two things: eliminates the need for cannabis consumers to buy on the black market, and adds tax dollars to the state coffers.
Segerblom points to Oregon, where recreational marijuana are projected to generate $43 million in tax revenue in 2016.
“I think, given our tourist economy, we could double that, so we’re looking at close to $100 million in just taxes,” Segerblom said.
Under Segerblom’s proposal, the temporary sales would be allowed at dispensaries until the Nevada Department of Taxation begins issuing recreational marijuana licences. Under the ballot measure, only existing medical marijuana dispensaries can apply for recreational licences until mid-2018, when new businesses will be allowed to apply for licences.
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2016/66232/nevada-lawmaker-wants-recreational-marijuana-shops-open-asap/
California treasurer writes Trump about legal mj
Letter to Trump
California treasurer asks President-elect Donald Trump to address inability of pot firms to use banks
Patrick McGreevy LA Times DEC. 2, 2016, 9:31 A.M
Just weeks after Californians voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana, State Treasurer John Chiang on Friday appointed a working group to figure out how to address problems caused by the unwillingness of federally regulated banks to handle money from pot businesses.
Chiang also sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump and members of California’s congressional delegation seeking guidance in finding a solution.
Marijuana remains an illegal drug under federal law, and banks regulated by the U.S. government have refused to provide financial services to cannabis-related firms.
“This conflict between federal and state rules creates a number of problems for the states that have legalized cannabis use, including difficulties collecting tax revenue, increased risk of serious crime, and the inability of a newly legal industry under state law to effectively engage in banking and commerce,” Chiang wrote to Trump and those he asked to serve on the working group.
The working group is made up of representatives from law enforcement, the marijuana industry, banks, taxing authorities and local government agencies, said Chiang, who is a candidate for governor.
On Nov. 8, California voters approved Proposition 64, which allowed the state to join Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Nevada, Alaska, Maine, and the District of Columbia in legalizing recreational use of cannabis.
Chiang noted that marijuana sales are expected to reach $7 billion annually in California and pot firms will have to pay about $1 billion in taxes to state and local governments.
“The standoff between states and the federal government means a lot of businesses will be hauling around a lot of cash with no place to deposit their money and putting themselves at the risk of robbery,” Chiang told reporters in a conference call.
Chiang downplayed the likelihood of creating a state bank, saying it would be a complex process that would involve thorny issues including collateralization.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-california-treasurer-asks-1480699532-htmlstory.html
Reefer madness articles attract readers
Most of the articles just go on to say how it's very unlikely due to the high cost of the old mj prohibition drug war.
Why America Can't Quit the Drug War
After 45 years, more than $1 trillion wasted, and the creation of the world's largest prison system, America still lacks the political will to change its failed drug policy
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-america-cant-quit-the-drug-war-20160505
AG confirmation is not so easy
Usually 4 days of hearings under intense scrutiny
6 Jeff Sessions Quotes About Race That Reveal What Looks Like Deep-Seated Prejudice
President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general has a sordid track record. The Alabama senator — an early, devout Trump supporter — has a history of saying questionable, racist things. Jeff Sessions quotes about race show that he harbors deep prejudices that have interfered with his ability to do his job in the past: Sessions was denied a federal judge position in 1986 after a series of hearings found him too questionable a candidate.
Ronald Reagan's nomination of Sessions occurred while Sessions was working as an attorney within his administration. Before he was installed, however, a hearing was held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. A transcript of the hearings reveals records of Sessions' racist commentary which, at the time, halted Sessions' nomination, even though the Senate had a Republican majority. Sessions ultimately withdrew, but his political career managed to survive as he became a state attorney general and was later elected a Senator.
Criticisms of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), disrespectfully referring to a black colleague as "boy," and a perceived lighthearted view of the Ku Klux Klan are just some of the moments that paint a picture of the Alabama senator's values. The six quotes below further illustrate why Trump picking Sessions for attorney general worries so many Americans. A request to Sessions' office for comment was not immediately returned.
1. Sessions Called The NAACP & ALCU "Un-American" & "Communist-Inspired" For "Trying To Force Civil Rights Down The Throats Of People"
2. He Suggested That A White Lawyer Was A “Disgrace To His Race” For Representing A Black Client
3. He Allegedly "Used To Think That [The KKK] Were OK" Until He Learned That Some Of The Members Were "Pot Smokers"
4. He Allegedly Warned A Black Lawyer: "Be Careful What You Say To White Folks," Calling Him "Boy"
5. Colleagues Claimed That He Used The N-Word
6. He Deemed The Voting Rights Act A "Piece Of Intrusive Legislation"
Called "a world-class legal mind" by Trump, Sessions will still need to be approved by the Republican Senate before he officially gets the job. Deciding to pardon Sessions' extensive racism, granting him leadership over the Justice Department, would speak volumes to the civil rights values, or lack thereof, within the Trump administration. In considering the quotes above, though, the choice seems pretty clear.
https://www.romper.com/p/6-jeff-sessions-quotes-about-race-that-reveal-what-looks-like-deep-seated-prejudice-23005
Donald Trump offers Jeff Sessions attorney general post
“Mr. Sessions is a throwback to a shameful era, which I know both black and white Americans thought was in our past,” the late Massachusetts Democrat, Sen. Edward Kennedy, said during the 1986 confirmation hearing. “It is inconceivable to me that a person of this attitude is qualified to be a U.S. attorney, let alone a U.S. federal judge.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-offers-jeff-sessions-attorney-general-post/
Sessions could takeover the world, like Hitler
But, he has to pass a Senate confirmation hearing first
Then he's coming to get your weed, man
After that he could takeover the world.
Could be a big rally if the Senate rejects him again.
Should be fun to watch.
Confirmation hearings should be interesting.
Sessions has had a ton of bad press. Some say a bad voting record.
There could be a big fight brewing at the Senate confirmation hearing .
Or maybe it's just a rubber stamp confirmation.
With a little mj education, Sessions may see the light, might even change his mind about mj, like Eric Holder did. And many others have.
Then he could turrn out to be a great attorney general, like Trump wants him to be.
Just say no
Say no to their decades old drug war.
Say no to their reefer madness.
Lots of sessions "could do" articles posted lately
It's just more reefer madness.
Our last two attorney generals were against legalization too.
Eric Holder actually changed his mind about mj legalization, but it didn't do us any good.
Attorney General Holder opposes California marijuana bill
By Steve Gorman | LOS ANGELES Sat Oct 16, 2010 | 12:45am EDT
Attorney General Eric Holder says federal authorities will continue to prosecute individuals for possession of marijuana in California even if voters there approve a ballot measure legalizing recreational use of the drug.
The Obama administration "strongly opposes" Proposition 19, Holder wrote in a toughly worded letter to former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who had written to him expressing "grave concern" about the measure.
Passage of Prop 19 "will greatly complicate federal drug enforcement efforts to the detriment of our citizens," Holder wrote in the October 13 letter obtained by Reuters on Friday.
"Accordingly, we will vigorously enforce the (Controlled Substances Act) against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," he said.
The tone and substance of the letter seemed at odds with a policy shift announced by the administration a year ago in its approach to medical marijuana, which California became the first U.S. state to decriminalize in 1996.
Reversing the position taken by the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, the Obama administration said last October that federal attorneys would no longer prosecute patients who use pot, or dispensaries that distribute it, for medical reasons in states where it has been legalized.
In his letter to nine former DEA administrators, Holder said Proposition 19 language barring "state and local law enforcement from seizing marijuana that is in compliance with state law" would impede efforts to "target drug traffickers who frequently distribute marijuana alongside cocaine and other controlled substances."
The Justice Department is considering "all available legal and policy options" should the measure win enactment, he added. The issue could very well end up moot. A Reuters/Ipos poll on October 5 showed California voters leaning against the measure, 53 percent to 43 percent.
If passed, California would become the first state to legalize simple possession of an ounce or less of marijuana for anyone 21 or older. It would also be lawful to grow limited amounts of cannabis in one's own home for personal use.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-marijuana-california-idUSTRE69F03V20101016
Say it ain't so, Joe
One of the most famous quotes in sports history is linked to the date September 28, 1920.
On that day, “Shoeless Joe” Jackson supposedly admitted during testimony to a grand jury that he was one of eight Chicago White Sox baseball players who took bribes to let the Cincinnati Reds win the 1919 World Series.
It came to be known as the “Black Sox scandal” and it was devastating for baseball fans.
A crowd of fans were gathered outside the Cook County Courthouse where Jackson was testifying.
Word spread among them that their hero had admitted he’d helped throw the series to the Reds.
According to legend, as Jackson left the courthouse, a heartbroken young boy went up to him and begged: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2009/09/it-ain-so-joe-actually-wasnt-so.html
FDA approves Ecstasy trial for PTSD ?
By Jackie Salo
November 29, 2016 | 9:24pm | Updated
FDA thinks Ecstasy could have some medicinal value and monkeys like to get high.
After successful preliminary trials, the FDA is moving forward with a large scale study for using Ecstasy as a prescription drug to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study approved on Tuesday would be the final measure necessary before the agency could legalize the drug, according to the New York Times. If the results are favorable, the drug also known as MDMA would be available to patients as early as 2021.
The trial, sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, reportedly will include 230 participants. Past research funded by the organization has studied the drug’s effect on veterans, sexual assault victims, police and firefighters suffering from PTSD.
“We can sometimes see this kind of remarkable improvement in traditional psychotherapy, but it can take years, if it happens at all,” researcher Michael Mithoefer told the New York Times. “We think it works as a catalyst that speeds the natural healing process.”
One patient suffering from PTSD who participated in a 2012 study on MDMA said the drug allowed her to confront trauma she experienced from sexual abuse as a child.
“It allowed me to rewire my brain,” Rachel Hope told CNN.
But some medical professionals had some reservations about treating patients with Ecstasy. Use of the drug raises concerns about addiction, according to Charles Marmar, the head of psychiatry at New York University’s Langone School of Medicine.
“It’s a feel-good drug, and we know people are prone to abuse it,” he told the New York Times. “Prolonged use can lead to serious damage to the brain.”
http://nypost.com/2016/11/29/ecstasy-trials-approved-by-fda-for-ptsd-patients/
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not allow the American population to use marijuana for its therapeutic benefits because it says the herb is addictive to monkeys, according to a recent analysis by Vice News.
In a series of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, federal health officials tell exactly why the FDA did not provide the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with a recommendation to remove marijuana from its Schedule I classification.
The majority of the agency’s rationale, which is utterly ridiculous, suggests marijuana should remain labeled one of the most dangerous drugs in the world because pot “is popular,” and research shows that “monkeys like to get high.”
http://hightimes.com/news/monkeys-like-to-get-high-fda/
You're confused Have another drink for me
Federal Gov't interference laughable
Has anyone ever read the 10th amendment ?
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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v t e
The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791.[1] It expresses the principle of federalism, which strictly supports the entire plan of the original Constitution for the United States of America, by stating that the federal government possesses only those powers delegated to it by the United States Constitution. All remaining powers are reserved for the states or the people.
The amendment was proposed by Congress in 1789 during its first term following the Constitutional Convention and ratification of the Constitution. It was considered by many members as a prerequisite of such ratification[2] particularly to satisfy demands by the Anti-Federalism movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government.
In drafting this amendment, its framers had two purposes in mind: first, as a necessary rule of construction; and second, as a reaffirmation of the nature of the federal system of freedom.[3][4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Will Trump paranoia stop the mj industry ?
28 states plus Washington DC legalized
Where would the mj raids start Alaska ?
They can't lock the whole country up.
C'mon man
That may take a while
The Kinks - Destroyer - 1981